Mystery: Mr. Witch and Ms. Hunter

Chapter 1 Assassin, Walking in Backlund
"The City of Hope", Backlund.

This is the capital of the Kingdom of Loen and the largest city in the North and South Continents.

Due to the promulgation of the Air Pollution Penalty Law, the yellowish mist that originally permeated the air has become much thinner, and at least in the early morning, gas lamps are no longer needed to supplement lighting.

Of course, this was mainly because the airship bombings by Intis and Feysac during the War of Faith caused a large number of capitalists to transfer their factory equipment to other regions.

Baron Sindras was sitting leisurely at his dining table, reading today's Backlund morning paper. A personal valet stood respectfully behind him.

As one of the richest men in Loen, he had just obtained the title of baron last year with a donation of 80 pounds. Naturally, he did not need to get up early and go to bed late with those peasants for a living, so today he was mainly going to the Backlund Theater with his mistress to watch the latest opera.

Thinking of this, he happily flipped through the newspaper quickly, and after making sure there was nothing new, he turned his eyes to the breakfast that the maid had just brought.

The valet behind him came forward silently and took the newspaper, then continued to stand behind him without any instructions from him, as if he had already known that he was going to eat.

Baron Sinderas glanced at the retreating servant with satisfaction. Although he was a newly recruited servant, Altaïr was obviously much smarter than the other new servants.

Due to the air raids, and the fact that he had a shallower foundation than the old nobles, his stored food was not very abundant. Therefore, without knowing how long the war would last and whether Loen could win, he decisively laid off a large number of servants.

However, when he planned to hire them back after the war, many of them had died in the war due to the loss of the protection of the nobles and their financial resources, and some of the maids had even become streetwalkers.

It was obviously dishonorable to continue employing these people, so Baron Sindras had to hire a new group of servants.

Of course, the quality of this batch of servants was obviously not as good as the original experienced ones. Two days ago, the laundry maid made a mistake in the amount of detergent, which resulted in Sindras not being able to wear her favorite dress at the banquet, which made Sindras very annoyed.

If Altaïr had not reprimanded the maid for him first, it would have been obvious that he was not noble enough to be so fussy. He would not mind asking this guy who had climbed up from the East District to get out of his house.

Thinking of this, Baron Sindras suddenly felt a little bitter in his mouth and lost his appetite. He picked up the napkin and gently wiped his mouth. Seeing this, Altaïr quickly took a bottle of after-dinner red wine from the wine rack behind him and poured half a glass for the baron.

"Drinking moderately will help you to show your masculinity to Miss Kingfisher. I think the aroma of your favorite Serenzo wine will make her fully appreciate your taste and style."

Altaïr said with an impeccably gentle smile.

Baron Sinderas stroked his slightly upturned mustache with satisfaction. This is what makes an excellent valet. Unlike the maid in the living room, who always secretly stared at his half-eaten breakfast while standing by his side.

The guy who grew up in the East District is just ignorant. Thinking of this, Baron Sindras couldn't help but take the wine from Altaïr and drink two more glasses.

After breakfast, the Baron boarded his own carriage and entered the carriage with Altaïr.

Altaïr gave the driver instructions about the destination and time, then respectfully got on the carriage and sat on the side seat. He reached out and pulled out the secret compartment in the carriage, revealing the brass phonograph invented by Emperor Roselle, and played Sindras' favorite piano music.

Sindras narrowed his eyes in satisfaction. He didn't need to tell Artair about his preferences at all. He would remember them after seeing them once. If this continued, he could be made an assistant butler in a few days.

Thinking of this, he felt a little drunk. The wine Altaïr took was his favorite drink before he became a noble. Although the alcohol content was not high, it was very strong. He was a little tired due to "overwork" in the past few days, and now he was a little sleepy in the carriage.

"Sir, do you want to take a rest? The show will start in an hour. I will tell the driver to drive more steadily. You can take a nap in the car first."

Altaïr's inquiries were always so timely. Baron Sindras hummed slightly in agreement and leaned back in his seat.

Altaïr also changed the music to soft, soothing sleep-inducing music. He opened the peephole and told the driver to drive to the flat area near the Tussock River. There was no other way. Many of the kingdom's main roads had been destroyed by air raids. Only places like the Tussock River had survived because they had no strategic targets.

--------Dividing line----------

"...However, Baron Sinderas's sleep lasted much longer than he imagined."

When a Punisher reported the incident to the bishop of the Storm Church in charge of the area, "Deep Blue Bishop" Raydar Valentine was standing by the river, where a wet four-wheeled carriage was placed, which had obviously just been fished out from the bottom of the river.

There was a corpse covered with a white cloth lying by the river. Judging from the slightly bulging belly, it was obviously Baron Sinderas who lacked exercise.

"What happened?" Raydar Valentine frowned, obviously he was not in a good mood.

"Through divination, I found out that Baron Sindras's vehicle clashed with a group of refugees when passing by the river. Baron Sindras' horse lost control after being frightened and rushed into the Tussock River with him. Although his driver was also a part-time bodyguard, he was not a Beyonder. More importantly, he could not swim. Although his manservant pried open the window, he was just an ordinary person and was unable to float up with Baron Sindras. In the end, he was washed away by the undercurrent at the bottom of the river..."

The team member who was proficient in divination hurried over to explain.

“Are the results accurate?”

asked Raydar Valentine.

"Three of our team members have tried divination and spiritual communication. The process just now was restored through spiritual communication with Baron Syndras. Moreover, Baron Syndras lost power in the previous political struggle and seems to have lost the protection of the Beyonders behind him."

Several Punishers quickly added.

"And the coachman and the footman, have you found them?"

Raydar Valentine nodded and continued asking.

"When we found the driver, he had already cut his wrists and left a suicide note. After all, after something like this, he would hardly be hired again. He felt that he couldn't support his children, so he committed suicide. Fortunately, our people found him in time and sent him to the hospital. As for the male servant... his body seemed to have been washed up in the East District."

The members of the Punishers sighed.

Raydar Valentine was stunned for a moment and stopped asking questions.

A corpse wearing expensive clothes drifted to the East End, and it was almost impossible to find it again. Perhaps one day in the future, he would appear naked in the dinner of wild dogs or crows, and his clothes might be picked up by a lucky civilian and exchanged for gold pounds, which would become food for survival or Southwell beer to numb himself.

"This is the East Side, this is Backlund."

A deacon sighed.

Raydar Valentine rarely lost his temper. He waved his hand to signal his team to collect the bodies, then turned and left abruptly, his dark blue cape rustling. In the whistling wind, a few words were delivered to the ears of the Mandated Punishers.

"Tell the lower level organizations of the church to recruit the driver into the church and send his children to the church school."

Raydar Valentine patted the sighing team member on the shoulder.

"Luckily, at least there's something we can do here."

Just as Radar Valentine and others were sighing, a wet hand suddenly stretched out from an empty shore downstream, and then pulled the whole person ashore.

The person who came ashore shook off the water on his body, stretched his body which was a little cold from swimming for a long time, and reached out his hand to gently wipe his hair.

Although he looked very embarrassed at this moment, which was very different from his usual appearance, his signature gentle smile still proved his identity.

He is the servant Altaïr who fell into the water - of course, now he is no longer the [Servant] Altaïr, but the [Assassin] Altaïr.

"It's finally done. This is a big order worth two thousand pounds."

Altaïr sprinted and tumbled to the small blind spot under the breakwater, where he took out the replacement clothes he had prepared long ago, then wrapped up the manservant's clothes, put a stone on it, and let it sink to the bottom of the river.

"This time, I used my words to make him drink two more glasses of wine, and then he fell asleep. Then I used the "Misleading" skill of [Instigator] on the coachman and the horse... Because I didn't use my ability directly on the baron, the church's divination couldn't find out... Even if they are psychic, I have no problem from Sindras' perspective. If they directly divine the real culprit, they will only stop at the scene where I was washed away..."

After thinking about whether there were any loopholes in his assassination, Altaïr nodded with satisfaction.

At this time, he had changed his clothes, and he looked no different from a real East District worker in this outfit. After doing all this, he took off the cheap soft hat that workers often wore on his head, and saluted to the far upstream direction where Baron Sindras fell into the water.

"I hope Miss Kingfisher can forgive you for breaking your promise."

Altaïr climbed up the jetty with ease, as light as a feather, and then smiled sarcastically.

"But now it doesn't matter to you whether she forgives you or not, does it?"

(End of this chapter)