Chapter 50: The Witch's Curse

"Your Holiness, the plan has failed."

"Catherine Hainleth did not inherit the destiny within her bloodline; she failed to open the gate leading to the deeper realms."

"Nor did Olivia fall into the deep realms and perish as you desired, following in her teacher's footsteps..."

"All of this seems inextricably linked to a newly appointed Third-Class Investigator."

Sunlight streamed down through the stained-glass dome, casting a kaleidoscope of shifting colors across the space, as if the radiance of heaven were pouring directly into the room.

A soft sound of footsteps suddenly echoed from behind. The elderly man wearing the triple tiara did not even raise his head, continuing to tend to the flowers and plants in the garden.

With his benevolent expression and kind eyes, he looked precisely like an elder possessing a wealth of life experience.

"The Azure Witch," the Pope said calmly, his voice steady and powerful, entirely unlike that of a man of his advanced age.

"The witch has continuously led Olivia in circles, running her ragged and leaving her thoroughly humiliated. This effectively diverted her from her established trajectory..."

"As for the Princess, it may not have been the work of that Third-Class Investigator. There are too many ways to prevent her from fulfilling her bloodline's mission, such as—"

"Absolute agony?" the woman wearing a half-mask behind the elder interrupted.

Immediately afterward, she grinned, revealing sharp, shark-like teeth, and said,

"That would explain it. It certainly has something to do with the Divine Chosen recently born from the Cult of Agony."

"Only a bad seed of that caliber could employ methods capable of suppressing the Sanctuary."

"However, Your Holiness, this is not what we agreed upon. We are developing the New World together. The consortium only tolerates illiterate, ignorant commoners to supply our labor needs; we do not need individuals with formidable legendary power, nor do we have any use for a kingdom..."

Hearing this, the old man in the triple tiara turned his gaze toward the chattering demi-human and replied with nonchalant familiarity,

"Is this the order you look forward to—turning everyone into slaves of thousands of years ago?"

Hiding within her dark robe, the woman with sharp shark teeth flicked her tail and shook her head.

"Your Holiness, that is an outdated slave society. The consortium simply wishes to have more people laboring, uniformly coordinating wealth and resources."

"Therefore, we only need people to know from birth what they are supposed to do and how to do it, serving as mere cogs in a massive structure throughout their entire lives."

"The consortium's shareholders have specifically calculated that the lifetime value of an ordinary person is equal to 1,863.58 golden lions."

"It's only fair!"

Fair?

To the head of the Financial United Savings Bank, it was indeed fair.

In his envisioned social model, he provided everyone with the opportunity to work, allowing them to exchange labor for food, water, and shelter.

He even preserved their faith to enrich their spiritual world.

However, before launching a massive development of the New World and maximizing profits under such a social structure, the primary problem the consortium needed to resolve was a few unstable factors.

For instance, the President of the Mage Association, who represented wisdom and profound knowledge, alongside the witch harboring dangerous thoughts.

Knowledge and wisdom would cause people to think more and become greedy.

And a witch with dangerous thoughts was even more utterly evil, seeming born specifically to subvert the kind of society they envisioned.

At this thought, the shark-girl tilted her head, touched her chin, and muttered,

"Hiss... come to think of it, the cards I scattered should all have been seen by now."

"I wonder if the witch will actually show up~"

---

At noon, outside the colossal Gothic architecture.

"Little one, as you can see, the moment she encounters the witch, Olivia turns into an absolute fool."

"Although I rather adore her foolish side, someone like that is bound to be targeted by villains!"

"Still, with you around, I can rest easy..."

You have the nerve to say that; you're the biggest swindler of them all, aren't you? And did you really think I wouldn't catch your hints?

Thinking of Lord President's foolish demeanor, Ron twitched the corner of his mouth, suddenly feeling that his future was pitch black and his path to promotion fraught with obstacles and hardship.

"Hmph~ Little one, you seem to be thinking about something interesting?"

Seeing the blond youth fall silent, Elena covered her mouth with a soft laugh and poked his cheek with her finger once more.

A faint, enchanting fragrance washed over him. The baroness, exuding the refined charm unique to an aristocratic lady, brought her lips close to the youth's ear and breathed warmly,

"See you tonight. You must protect big sister well~"

With that, regardless of the youth's reaction, she gracefully boarded the luxury four-wheeled carriage and waved goodbye.

In the end, Olivia had not refused Elena's plea for help.

Although Lord President's primary motivation was most likely to slay the witch to avenge her teacher, she shouldn't have acted so utterly dim-witted when facing Elena.

There was definitely a story here!

Perhaps the two of them shared a heartbreaking past, but amidst it all, that woman Elena chose to sit in a luxury carriage and weep.

Unable to bear the humiliation, Lord President declared, "Do not bully a young man in poverty for thirty years," before being scouted by a grandmaster mage as a student, ultimately achieving a counter-attack in status and position.

What on earth am I thinking? Where did my imagination wander?

Ron shook his golden-haired head, banishing the vivid scenes constructed by his overactive imagination entirely from his mind.

Rather than guessing blindly on his own, it would be better to ask Mr. Sid after the mission concluded.

Taking a deep breath, the youth refocused his attention on the documents in his hand.

Elena was not the only one who received the warning card issued by the witch; many prominent politicians and wealthy merchants in the royal capital had received copies as well.

From Lord President's perspective, the Azure Witch's actions were undoubtedly meant to conceal her whereabouts and obscure her true assassination target.

To prevent the witch's evil scheme from succeeding, Lord President had issued critical instructions.

That was to have her subordinates gather intelligence as extensively as possible to pierce through the Azure Witch's deceptive illusions.

Unfortunately, Ron, the primary witness at the scene, had gloriously been assigned his second mission since joining the Stardust Society.

"The target of the mission is the eldest son of Count Ian, Eugene Ian."

"He is an elite student at the Enlightenment Academy, though he has not yet graduated."

"According to intelligence from the Police Department, after Count Ian received the little card, he didn't take it seriously at all."

"Yet within three days, his eldest son underwent a drastic change. Not only did he become taciturn and pale, but he also constantly locked himself inside his room."

"What is even more terrifying is that every night, eerie scratching sounds emanate from Eugene Ian's room, and by the following morning, a dozen or so mysterious clumps rolled up from toilet paper would appear on the floor."

"It wasn't until he realized the severity of the situation that the Count recalled the witch's warning letter, concluding that this was a curse cast upon his eldest son by the Azure Witch!"

"Moreover, those dozen or so toilet paper rolls appearing every night were the media through which the witch performed her bizarre curse."

"On the third day after the incident began, Eugene Ian's teachers and classmates attempted to offer assistance, hoping to borrow the divine power of the God of Enlightenment to restore the elite student to normalcy."

"However, regrettably, it only made the situation deteriorate further."

"He seemed unable to control himself; the paper rolls were growing more and more numerous..."