The Tragedy Descends

"Witch, for the time being, we need to secretly monitor these few bishops," Ansu proposed immediately. "Whether this is a trap or not, we must be fully prepared."

"I was thinking the same thing," Cecilia nodded gently.

"But we cannot tell anyone else in The Order; our surveillance and investigation must be conducted in secret," Ansu continued.

"But there are only two of us," Cecilia frowned. "How can we track three people at once? Should I send out the Puppets from my estate?"

"Absolutely not!" Ansu vetoed the idea immediately. "Puppets are fine as eyes, but their ability to adapt to changing circumstances is too poor. We need a deeper investigation, one that might even require us to lurk very close to these three powerful individuals..."

"Then what do you mean..." Cecilia watched Ansu quietly. Without realizing it, she had become someone who would patiently listen to Ansu's suggestions.

"Excluding Bishop Paul, the two of us only need to monitor the remaining two bishops."

Ansu's plan was for Cecilia to monitor Bishop Leonard, who always maintained a very low profile, while he and Freya would continue to keep an eye on Terry.

"Oh?" Cecilia looked slightly surprised. "Why are you so certain that the mastermind isn't Paul?"

"Intuition," Ansu flashed a confident smile. "A Witch has her intuition, and I have mine."

In truth, the real reason was... he simply didn't dare tell Cecilia about the clues he had discovered in the simulation.

Cecilia stared intently at Ansu, and after only a moment, she nodded.

"Very well, I trust you."

After all, he had always brought her surprises, and Cecilia held Ansu's abilities in high regard.

After chatting a bit more about the finer details of the plan, Cecilia signaled her departure.

"If there is nothing else, I shall head back now."

She stood up and walked toward the door, only to stop suddenly.

Cecilia stared at the door, as if she could sense what was happening on the other side. "Your sister is pressed against the door, eavesdropping."

"Uh..." Ansu gave a dry laugh. To Vera, the succession of uninvited guests today must have seemed truly strange.

The key was that every one of them insisted on entering his room and locking the door behind them, which only made it look even more suspicious...

"Fortunately, I cast a magic barrier, so she cannot hear us," Cecilia glanced at Ansu. "However, this sister of yours..."

"What about her?" Ansu looked at her.

Cecilia's expression was somewhat strange, but she did not continue.

She felt that this sister of Ansu's didn't seem like a sister at all...

After Cecilia finally left, Ansu and Vera stared at each other in the living room for quite a while...

Feeling the atmosphere growing increasingly awkward, Ansu could only explain helplessly, "My boss and I were discussing some work matters. Um... it's regarding a secret mission in the near future."

"Oh..." Vera lowered her head, feeling dejected, and continued her homework.

Seeing that she had been staring at the same page for a long time without moving her pen, Ansu knew the child was sulking. He smiled, walked over, and sat down beside her.

"Vera, I really can't tell you the specific details; this is for your own good."

"I know..." Vera rested her face in her hands and turned away, acting as if she didn't want to talk to Ansu.

"Brother has more and more secrets these days, but in Brother's eyes, I'm just a little kid. It's normal that you don't want to tell me. I'll just be obedient."

Although his sister sounded very sensible, Ansu knew that this little girl's stubborn streak had kicked in. Every time she gave him the silent treatment when they were younger, it was exactly like this...

But Ansu truly couldn't reveal too much to her, at least not yet. He didn't want to drag Vera into this.

Sighing silently, Ansu didn't bring up the matter again and instead walked toward the kitchen.

"Take a break if you're tired of studying. I'll cook lunch today to reward you."

The smell of cooking oil gradually filled the kitchen.

Vera quietly looked up, watching Ansu as he busied himself in the kitchen.

She sighed softly, feeling guilty for her outburst earlier.

Her brother had clearly been working so hard for this family. Over the past few days, she had clearly sensed Ansu's anxiety; he seemed to be worried about something in the future...

Vera didn't know what her brother was anxious about, but she really wanted to help him.

"I wish I could grow up faster..."

"Maybe then I could be of help to Brother."

The next night.

Under the cover of the thick night, Ansu and Freya waited in secret not far from The Cathedral.

"I wonder if Bishop Terry will sneak out again tonight..."

Freya muttered to herself uncertainly, looking up at Ansu beside her.

"Master Ansu, what are you thinking about?" Freya noticed that Ansu was exceptionally silent tonight. Although she couldn't see his face clearly, she could sense that he was deep in thought.

"I am... waiting for the time."

"Time?"

Ansu nodded slightly. He glanced at the time in the system; there were less than twelve hours left until the Royal Academy open house.

For the past two nights, Ansu had been secretly monitoring Bishop Terry with Freya, but the bishop hadn't snuck out or contacted anyone in secret like he did the day before yesterday.

There were no issues on Cecilia's end either; these bishops showed absolutely no signs of abnormal activity.

This wouldn't do...

In 12 hours, the campus tragedy from the plot would occur, and he had to root out the mastermind behind it.

Ansu only had one last method left.

That was to use the system simulation to head to the Royal Academy ten hours into the future to see exactly what would happen tomorrow.

Ansu stared at the system panel, waiting quietly in the darkness...

Finally, the time reached eleven o'clock at night.

[The following times are available for simulation]

[Future]

[10 minutes later (April 23, 23:10), costs 10 points]

[10 hours later (April 24, 09:00), costs 50 points]

[Start simulation?]

Ten hours later, at 9:00 tomorrow, was the time the school gates would officially open.

Ansu pulled out his Future Diary, constantly reinforcing psychological suggestions to himself in his mind...

No matter what anomalies occur, I must record them in the notebook.

I must record them...

In fact, Ansu had already developed the good habit of keeping a diary whenever something happened during this period, so this psychological suggestion should be fine.

And so...

[Light Calendar 625, April 24, 09:00]

[Starting simulation...]

Darkness rapidly invaded Ansu's vision. When he opened his eyes, the scene before him made him freeze for a moment.

The surroundings were filled with corpses...

Ansu walked along a tree-lined path in shock.

This was the main route to the academy auditorium, but at this moment, the path was littered with the bodies of many students. Most of them had died miserable deaths, their expressions of terror frozen in their final moments.

It seems the tragedy still happened after all...

Ansu quickly stepped forward to examine the body of a student.

The skin all over his body had festered, black, filthy blood flowed from his eyes and nostrils, and... the corpse emitted a thick, foul aura of dark magic...

Ansu instinctively thought of Cecilia's Magic Flame.

But after confirming it repeatedly, he felt it shouldn't be that; Cecilia's Magic Flame would burn people to ash. These corpses must have died instantly from some kind of large-scale, unknown forbidden black magic.

Ansu looked toward the direction of the academy auditorium in the distance. The magical power there was the most intense, and even the sky was faintly turning black, exuding a sinister and eerie aura.

He immediately set off for the auditorium. While walking, he also noticed the bodies of some clergy members; it seemed a great battle had taken place between the two sides.

Just as he was about to reach the auditorium...

Among the corpses, Ansu noticed a petite figure wearing a small floral dress.

This dead girl was wearing a golden ponytail that looked very familiar to him...

Ansu's pupils constricted instantly, and a bad premonition arose in his heart.

No way...

It shouldn't be her... How could she have come to my school?

Ansu rushed to the girl's body, knelt down, and cupped her face, which was lying on the ground and had become dirty.

The girl's once lively azure eyes had now lost their luster, becoming dim and dull.

Her body was covered in festering, blackened wounds, and her expression at the time of death still carried fear and pain.

It was Vera...