"You suspect that ' Vice Admiral Ailment's' fleet is hiding there?" Anderson asked thoughtfully after hearing Danitz's words.
Danitz replied with great excitement:
"Very likely! Wasn't the ' Black Death ' the one that disappeared after sailing west off Seros Island?"
Anderson pursed his lips and chuckled:
"If you could find out the whereabouts of the ' Vice Admiral Ailment ' so easily, why would she need to hide?"
"How can an island that even you can find out about be considered Concealment enough?"
"Hey! What do you mean?" Danitz felt mocked.
Anderson shrugged and said:
"I didn't mean anything by it; I was just analyzing it with my brain."
"That island probably exists, but it's either the kind that many people here know about, or it's information that someone deliberately leaked."
"If it's the former, then ' Vice Admiral Ailment ' Tracy's fleet couldn't possibly be hiding there. If it's the latter, then that's interesting. Who would leak this information?"
Danitz was initially angry, but gradually followed Anderson's line of thought and began to analyze the situation:
"A trap set by some pirates or adventurers? But an island with few resources is unlikely to attract anyone to explore."
"' Vice Admiral Ailment ' herself? In order to find out who is tracking her whereabouts?"
Anderson smiled and said:
"Not bad. After my instruction, you have made considerable progress. Otherwise, I doubt that even if you drank the ' Conspirer ' Potion, you wouldn't be able to improve your brain. You would only develop the ability to make your enemies stupid, pull them into your familiar territory, and thus defeat them."
"I didn't say that; it was said by Emperor Roselle."
After this period of gathering, Anderson has obtained one main ingredient and almost all the auxiliary ingredients for Danitz's " Conspirer " Potion, and only the final step is needed to succeed.
"I doubt you have that ability..." Danitz muttered under his breath in response.
Anderson ignored him and continued speaking to himself:
"If the ' Vice Admiral Ailment ' himself leaked the information, then the Concealment island is definitely a trap. Perhaps there's nothing there, just mirrors monitoring ships and people approaching the island. Maybe it's actually a key stronghold of the Demoness Sect that Gehrman Sparrow mentioned."
"So what should we do next?" Danitz asked instinctively.
Anderson responded with a "heh" upon hearing this.
"You couldn't even think of something this simple?"
"Whoever you got this information from, we'll go find them, figure out their source, and investigate layer by layer until we find something."
"Yes..." Danitz wanted to nod in agreement, but what came out of his mouth was just a "Heh."
It was close to midnight, on the second floor of a casino.
Brown-haired Batz yawned and went into his room.
Before he could even light the candle by the Moonlight streaming through the window, he suddenly saw a bright white flame appear before his eyes, which briefly made it difficult for him to see anything.
Batz felt a chill run down his spine and lunged to the side, rolling on the ground.
He had only rolled twice when his movements suddenly stopped, as if he had been petrified.
This was because he felt a chilling cold and a slight stinging pain in his neck, which made him have no doubt that if he moved any closer, blood would spray onto the roof.
"What do you want to do?" At this moment, Batz's vision had returned, and he saw a blond man standing next to him with one hand in his pocket and the other holding a black short sword, while a guy wearing a black cloak with most of his face covered by the hood was guarding the window.
Danitz didn't answer Batz's question, but looked at Anderson with a slightly surprised expression and said:
Why don't you pretend?
"How can you let others know who you hate if you're just pretending?" Anderson replied nonchalantly.
"..." Danitz breathed a sigh of relief, "Thank goodness, I haven't caught your lousy habit yet."
"It's alright," Anderson chuckled. "Anyone on Seros Island could find out who I've been hanging out with lately."
"Shit!" Danitz blurted out.
With Anderson holding a dagger to his neck, Batz dared not move, only listening quietly, feeling as if he had returned to Trier and was watching a farce.
What were those two here for...? The information broker was deeply puzzled.
At this moment, Anderson withdrew his gaze, looked down at Batz, and said:
"Who told you about that Concealment island in the southwest, off the main route?"
Suddenly realizing something, Batz looked at Danitz at the window and said:
It's you!
In the past few days, this intelligence has only been sold to one person!
... You were recognized so quickly? Danitz was momentarily at a loss for words.
Anderson pressed the black dagger in his hand down slightly, making the stinging sensation even more pronounced:
Please respect the order of events.
Batz suddenly felt as if his life was slipping away rapidly, and quickly replied:
"Yes, it's ' Vice Admiral Ailment '!"
"When did she tell you, and why did she tell you?" Anderson continued, unsurprised.
"The night before the ' Black Death ' left Seros Island," Batz answered rapidly, fearing he might bleed to death, "I didn't ask her why. At the time, I was only focused on admiring her beauty. Truly worthy of the infamous ' Disease Maiden ' of the Five Seas..."
Even now, after so much time has passed, looking back from this extremely dangerous situation, Batz still can't hide his admiration.
"Is this the Witch's allure?" Anderson muttered to himself, then asked, "Do you have a way to contact her?"
"No," Batz shook his head quickly. "She told me to write down everyone who inquired about her whereabouts, and to tell her when she returned to Seros Island. As for anyone who got information about that Concealment island and actually left port for it, let them go."
"I see... that makes sense." Anderson nodded, sheathing his black dagger. "Was that a trap?"
"I don't know either," Batz replied frankly.
Anderson said nothing, searched Batz and took the money from the room, then pointed his short sword at the information broker and said:
"I originally wanted to kill you, but that way no one would hate me."
"Live well, and curse me a few more times every day."
He immediately turned around, walked to Danitz's side, and together they jumped out of the window and disappeared into the Evernight without streetlights.
Batz touched his bleeding neck, stood up with lingering fear, and ran to the window to confirm that the two people were gone.
"Luckily, it was someone with some mental issues, otherwise I would be dead today..." He closed the window, locked the wooden door, carefully checked the room, and finally sat down, gulping down half a bottle of Lerunqi.
Fueled by alcohol, Batz collapsed onto the bed and fell asleep.
Time ticked by, and slowly it came to three in the morning.
Suddenly, Batz sat up, his eyes bright and alert, showing no signs of drunkenness whatsoever.
He found a dagger, pried open a wooden floorboard in the room, and picked up a small piece of paper about the size of a thumb from underneath.
After unfolding the white paper layer by layer, there is a viscous, paste-like black substance in the middle.
Batz took about a quarter of it, went to the mirror in the room, and was about to apply the substance to it.
Just then, he saw two figures reflected in the mirror: one wearing a white shirt and black vest, with one hand in his pocket and carrying a short sword; the other wearing a dark cloak, his face not showing.
"..." Just as Batz's pupils began to dilate, Danitz punched him in the back of the head, knocking him unconscious.
His last memory was of a voice speaking with a smile:
He really didn't disappoint.
After dealing with Batz, Danitz bent down to pick up the paste-like substance that had fallen to the ground, chuckling as he said:
"This guy actually believed it, believed that you didn't kill him because you wanted him to hate you."
His previous conversation with Anderson was actually a pre-rehearsed drama, designed to make Anderson's decision to let Batz go seem reasonable and avoid suspicion.
"That shows you acted well enough," Anderson said with a smile. "Playing yourself makes all the difference."
"Shit!" Danitz cursed without restraint.
He then added with a sigh:
"I didn't expect him to be so patient, waiting until midnight before taking any action, while we were even more patient."
"A Hunter needs a lot of patience to catch his prey; sometimes, he can wait for days," Anderson casually replied.
For the two of them, this was really the only option. Neither the " Hunter," the " Provoker," nor the " Pyromaniac " or the " Reaper " were particularly skilled in Spirit Channeling, let alone possessing Hypnosis or other similar powers. To obtain information, aside from resorting to desperate measures like torture and threats, they had no choice but to work on "conspiracy."
That makes a lot of sense, but afterwards, it will become my way of lecturing others... Danitz looked at the paste-like black substance in his hand and said:
"It seems the plan is to smear it on the mirror surface... and then we can contact ' Vice Admiral Ailment '?"
"That should be the case, but even if we get in touch, what's the use? Invite her to have breakfast on Seros Island?" Anderson mocked.
Danitz knew that he and Anderson couldn't influence the person on the other side of the mirror, but their instinct was to do more and complete the task assigned to them by Gehrman Sparrow even better.
He frowned slightly and said:
"So what do we do next?"
"Of course, we should contact Gehrman Sparrow and let him handle the aftermath. That guy is mysterious in every way; he should have a way to solve this," Anderson clicked his tongue. "Besides, his mission for us was to track down the ' Vice Admiral Ailment,' and we already have results."
Danitz grunted in agreement and began taking out the candles and other items for the ceremony.
"What are you going to do?" Anderson asked with a slightly strange expression.
Danitz, without turning his head, continued setting up the altar, saying:
"Summon the messenger of Gehrman Sparrow."
"..." Anderson paused for a few seconds before saying, "I'm going out for a smoke."
P. S.: It's almost the end of the month, so it would be a waste not to use your monthly passes!