Mystery: Mr. Witch and Ms. Hunter

Chapter 18 Emergencies

About an hour later, Altaïr and Vinata came out of the darkroom. Vinata was holding an ID with a photo she had just taken attached to it, and Altaïr was constantly thanking Benson.

"Then, in the future, when you and your family need protection or other security services, you can come to me at this address. The security in Backlund after the war is not as good as before - although the security in the East District was not much better in the past - but it is always a good thing to be prepared."

Altaïr placed his hat on his head and bowed slightly.

"I hope you have a nice morning."

Venata and Altaïr arrived at the street corner, and Venata said to Altaïr with some envy:

"You are really capable. That guy was really convinced by you just now. Isn't this a great advantage in social terms?"

After a while, Venata noticed that Altaïr did not respond, and turned around curiously, and found that Altaïr's face was a little pale.

"what's wrong with you?"

“…It didn’t work.”

Altaïr whispered.

"What didn't work? What are you talking about?"

Vinata was a little confused.

"My 'instigation' was unsuccessful. Something blocked my extraordinary ability. Benson was just accidentally moved by my last sentence..."

Altaïr shuddered suddenly, grabbed Venata's hand, and walked a long way away with her before she could react.

"Go away, stay away from here, and don't have anything to do with this guy again!"

……

Thousands of kilometers away, at the former site of the East Bailang Empire, Leonard's brows relaxed slightly.

"This guy seems to be very smart... When the spirit I left in Klein's brother was triggered, I thought something had happened. I used the séance ritual to find out that it was the guy recommended by Miss Audrey. He is so smart, there is no need for me to waste my spiritual energy to come down to warn him."

"After all, he was preparing to wake Klein up. If it wasn't necessary, I didn't want to do something like this to show my power... I didn't expect that he would actually trigger the spirit that I left in Benson to serve as his bodyguard. If it really doesn't work, I'll just use my identity as the archbishop to recite a book for him and his female companion..."

Leonard thought for a while, and suddenly laughed as if he remembered something.

"Hey, Mr. Witch... this name sounds interesting."

……

Backlund is such a dangerous place, you can easily run into a Beyonder... After saying goodbye to Venata at the street corner and letting her go to the newspaper for an interview, Altair leaned against a low wall and gasped for breath. Fortunately, the other party was quite friendly, and only prevented his ability from affecting Benson, and did not try to fight back.

On the contrary, he was scared half to death after discovering that his abilities were blocked. Later, when he accompanied Vinata to take pictures, his whole body was tense and his shirt was soaked with cold sweat.

No, I have to go to the underground market to calm my nerves...Altaïr carefully turned into a small store in the east district.

Although this house looked small, it was actually built on top of a huge air-raid shelter. During the air raid by the Feysac people, part of this air-raid shelter was destroyed. Due to its relatively low strategic significance, no funds were allocated for its repair.

Later, a mysterious rich man bought the land, built the building on it, and expanded the underground area to operate the black market, and all income had to be handed over to him 5%. The boss here seemed to have received official endorsement, and no one ever bothered him.

Altaïr hoped to purchase ingredients for the "Witch" potion here, including Golden Mandragora juice, Daffodil juice, and Shadow Lizard scales.

Of course, he was not a rookie who would directly purchase these things. Instead, he directly bought golden datura flowers and daffodils and kept them at home until he collected the other materials.

He did this for two reasons: first, the spiritual energy contained in this kind of item is very thin, and if it is extracted too early, it will easily dissipate, which will only waste a lot of money. Second, he did not want others to judge his potion sequence through the materials he bought.

Although buying other things to cover it up is also a good option, it will cost a lot of extra money and be troublesome. Now, in the eyes of others, I just bought two pots of ornamental plants.

I just happened to break a few of Vinata's pots of flowers, so I bought some for her to take care of, which is a way of making up for it. I just hope she doesn't get mad when I use those flowers to make juice later.

Altaïr picked two pots of flowers and negotiated the price with the stall owner, buying them for 1 soli 8 pence and 2 soli respectively. Of course, he didn't take them with him immediately. Although carrying two pots of flowers sounds artistic, it is not very friendly for a person shopping.

One pound is 20 soli, one soli is 12 pence... Sometimes I really wonder if those bigwigs who created the currency system came up with this currency system when they were drunk. Is the decimal system too complicated for those bigwigs' brains? Altaïr complained in his heart.

As his thoughts were wandering, he had already walked to a stall selling auxiliary materials.

The stall owner was wearing a dark black robe and looked very gentle, but considering that this was in the East District, we could not rule out the possibility that he would pull out a revolver and a meat axe from under the wide hem of his robe.

"How much is this Shadow Lizard Scale?"

Altaïr pointed the tip of the "Blood-Taker" umbrella at a small box on the ground. Inside the box lay seven light black scales, emitting a warm luster under the light of the kerosene lamp.

"One piece is 10 soli, and if you buy seven pieces, you can take them away for three pounds."

The other party was obviously the type that matched his appearance and had no interest in haggling over a small amount of money.

"Deal, I want all seven pieces."

Altaïr paid promptly. Although he was a thrifty man and had the ability to instigate, bargaining was not difficult for her, but he did not like the feeling of haggling. He felt ashamed to haggle over a few pennies when he could earn hundreds of pounds for killing a man.

To be honest, it went much more smoothly than I thought. If I could keep going like this, I could go home and cook for myself at noon, saving the money of eating lunch at those small restaurants in the East District that don't even cook as good food as I do.

As Artair walked down the street carrying the flower pot, he thought to himself. He had thought that the underground market might not have all the materials, and had planned to go to several places in a row, but he didn't expect to buy everything in the first place. Extraordinary materials are different from daily necessities, so there is no need to compare prices.

Altaïr, humming a little tune, arrived at his door, only to find an unfamiliar middle-aged gentleman standing in front of his door, looking at him. He was holding a black cane, wearing a light blue suit and a pair of gold-rimmed glasses, and looked very conservative.

"Sir, who are you looking for?"

Altaïr greeted the gentleman.

"Are you Mr. Altaïr?" The other party took out a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped the sweat off his face. "I was introduced by Ms. Gagran. She said that you... are trustworthy in some aspects."

"Can we go inside and talk? I'm afraid it's not safe enough here."

The middle-aged gentleman suggested.

"Ok, no problem."

Altaïr gestured with his hand, inviting the middle-aged gentleman into his home.

After the other party sat down in the living room, Altaïr poured a pot of boiling water into the thermos to make tea.

"I only have Xibo black tea and Marquis black tea here, or do you prefer coffee?"

"Before that, can you give me a glass of cold water?"

The other person seemed to have just finished a strenuous exercise and had been sweating since entering the room.

"Of course." Altaïr turned back to get the water. "By the way, you have to be careful of the bench under your feet. That's where I put my whetstone. Don't trip over it."

However, he heard a familiar voice behind him.

That was the sound of a metal revolver magazine turning.

"Put your hands up, Mr. Altaïr." The gentleman's voice suddenly became steady. "Turn slowly. Yes, that's it. Move slowly, or I'm worried that I'll fire accidentally... or, to be more precise, prematurely."

Altaïr slowly turned around to see the gentleman pointing a revolver at him.

"I do not understand, sir," Altaïr said slowly. "Have I offended you in some way? Or are we in the same profession?"

"You understand it very well." The other party laughed sarcastically. "When you kill someone, you should be prepared to be killed by others. Emperor Roselle is really a good philosopher. What do you think?"

"It looks like we have something in common. What a shame."

Altaïr shook his head regretfully.

"You're about to die. Is there anything else you want to say? I personally like to hear the last wishes of the person being killed. You can take this as a bit of hypocrisy from a killer."

The other party sneered and raised the gun slightly, placing it at his waist so that no one outside could see what was happening inside.

"What a shame. I thought people who knew Roselle would be more reasonable." Altaïr sighed. "Why do you think I reminded you of the chair?"

"What..." The other party was about to answer when Artair suddenly raised his foot and stepped on the end of the bench closest to him, causing the other end of the bench to bounce up and hit the other party's gun hand heavily, causing him to raise the muzzle of the gun and shoot at his chin!
"I am indeed prepared to be killed by others - but you seem to have misunderstood one thing," Altaïr said to the slowly falling assassin, "Emperor Roselle meant to prepare people, not to persuade me to give up resistance and let you kill me at will."

Altaïr leaned down and removed the other's finger from the trigger and placed it on the edge of the guard.

"Hopefully this will help you get your gun in the right position."

(End of this chapter)