They all call me an Outer God.

Chapter 386 The Wise Witch
"Common prosperity? That sounds a bit difficult."

Ria herself wasn't particularly wealthy; most of those gold coins were Little Swarth's "private stash," and it was normal for a dragon to have savings.

Although Little Swarth believed that the money was all for Ria, Ria wouldn't touch it unless it was absolutely necessary.

He hoped that when Shwarth was tired while inside his body, he could use gold as a bed, since the dragon guarding the gold sounded very legendary and mythical.

"What would it be like if one day everything in the world could be turned into gold?"

Lia couldn't help but think about and imagine the scene. The black marketeer's desire for gold was not something that happened overnight, but he could still suppress his greedy nature to avoid suddenly going crazy for money and selling the steam train he was on and everyone on it.

The fact that he didn't do that proves he still has humanity, and I don't know why James is so anxious every day.

"Snake-like supernatural creatures escaped from the palace... Speaking of which, what is the connection between those supernatural creatures and the World Serpent?"

Could those snakes be the offspring of King Wilton? His offspring have escaped, and someone has put a bounty on their heads. This is really interesting. It seems that the royal family is in a worse situation than anyone imagined.

This no longer resembles a puppet...it's more like livestock.

"There was another extraordinary creature that escaped from the palace and was captured again. Then more extraordinary creatures escaped. Is this really possible in theory?"
Perhaps the first escapee deliberately returned to the palace and then released his brothers and sisters. Even if their offspring's bloodline was insufficient, it was still the blood of the World Serpent, enough to cause conflict outside.

"And this conflict could lead to even greater chaos, such as the sudden loss of civilians or members of the royal family, which would undoubtedly exacerbate public panic."

If at the very end you suddenly tell them that the person who hurt them was a monster, the king they have always relied on and revered.

So, what kind of result...?

When Ria thought of that possibility, she didn't immediately feel "it's going to be bad," but instead thought it might be quite fun.

"This is bad. I think I've been influenced by those lunatics."

The young man tapped his head a few times with the handle of his cane.

"How could I think like that? But then again, from a third-person perspective, the person who wrote the script would only want things to get as out of control as possible."

The monarch carrying the cursed blood will eventually purify his bloodline step by step on the throne, until the human king becomes a monster, a great serpent that dwells on the throne and in the world.

This serpent may start the war itself, and Endlers cannot afford its awakening, or it may be killed by other heroes at some point before it awakens, and war will still descend upon Endlers.

Regardless, the prophecy will come true, the second cursed seal is destined to be broken, and the War Knights will eventually unleash war.

Peace is fleeting; the world has never truly experienced a moment of peace. Conflicts, large and small, are occurring in places known and unknown to many.

"Perhaps I should pay a visit to His Majesty and, while I'm at it, hear what the nobles think of our mentor."

Ria leaned her cane against the chair beside her: "But what identity would be best to use to approach His Majesty? In my current identity, I am merely a disordered individual, and I must be careful not to reveal my former identity."

No one knew the extent to which Wilton IV's cursed blood had awakened, and it might be risky for Ria to approach rashly. Although he didn't care about that, he still wanted to uncover the dark secrets of those nobles little by little.

"So at this point, we need to consider our network. What useful connections do we have?"

Ria looked at Little Swarth, who also stared at Ria with wide eyes. After a moment, it pointed to itself with its paw.

"Goo?"

You mean yourself?

"Goo."

Little Swarth nodded.

Ria pondered: "It wouldn't be bad to transform you into a suitable candidate. We might need to contact those poor little snakes first. For no other reason than that the king's child was lost, and I found him. He paid me a lot of money, isn't that what I should do?"
"Oh, and there were many demons trying to harm these children. I was seriously injured while saving them, so that'll cost extra."

"Goo!"

Little Swarth became agitated, filled with righteous indignation, as if he had suddenly seen someone injure Ria, revealing an expression of anger and sorrow.

Lia felt that its expressions were becoming more and more varied. Although to outsiders it was just two golden eyes that kept flashing, they could not see any expression at all, only a bottomless blackness.

Mythical creatures, without opening their eyes, are like black holes, absorbing all the light around them.

It seemed to know it was special, often hiding in dark places and waiting for its host to find it, and Ria always managed to find it successfully.

This is amazing.

Little Swarth kept turning his head left and right.

The train journey was relatively smooth.

They were not attacked or destroyed en route, nor did any of the passengers suddenly transform into superhuman beings and kill each other.

These few hours were a rare period of peace for Ria. He quite liked the atmosphere on the train; not many people were talking, and everyone was quietly doing their own thing, such as wiping guns or blades until they were so clean that they could reflect one's own image.

Bounty hunters are probably all itching to make a fortune, just waiting for the train to arrive so they can go and earn enough bounty to last them a lifetime.

The bounty posters clearly state that these snake-like supernatural creatures have no extraordinary abilities; their only characteristics are their immense bite force and sharp claws and teeth. Sometimes, even the Order Association doesn't need to intervene to deal with them.

A shotgun is sufficient.

And what's the difference between a superhuman creature without extraordinary abilities and an ordinary wild beast?
In other words, if the royal palace offered a reward of five thousand gold coins for capturing a wild beast, first come, first served, which person who was afraid of poverty wouldn't be tempted, and which person wouldn't take the risk?
Even though their power is beyond the imagination of ordinary people, bounty hunters who have firsthand information are very willing to go and fight them.

Ria called out to the flight attendant who was pushing a food cart past her again. She no longer sold expired beef jerky, but had started selling expired mutton jerky.

Perhaps there are no expired products on the train. Now, Ria is very suspicious of the age of the coffee she drank, but it won't do any harm. Even if someone poisoned her, she still wouldn't die. Having a strong vitality is not without its advantages.

"Miss, a pack of dried mutton, please."

The young man bought an item according to the principles of trade, then looked at it closely and discovered that the production date was older than his own age; the sheep may not have even been born when it died.

"So they've been selling lamb jerky in this kind of packaging for so long? Endreus is truly an amazing country."

He put the item back, and the flight attendant lowered her voice: "Is there anything else you want to ask? Anything is fine with me, as long as I know it, including the story of that male customer in the third row who was wearing pink teddy bear-patterned boxer shorts." "..."

Ria didn't want to know how she knew about it; she just asked the question she wanted to know.

"Who caught the first snake and claimed the bounty?"

"These kinds of things are usually kept confidential, but since you asked, I definitely have to get an answer for you right away."

As she spoke, she left the metal trolley behind, straightened her business attire, pulled up her skirt, and walked towards a passenger not far away.

Wearing high heels, she walked gracefully to the passenger's side. Without saying a word, she bent one knee and pressed it onto the seat, hooking her finger under the passenger's chin.

"Sir, congratulations on winning a special prize on this train. Would you like to experience a wild and unrestrained adventure?"

The passenger was a bounty hunter. The moment flight attendant Alice approached, his breathing became noticeably heavier. Looking at the beautiful woman beside him and feeling the warm and fragrant scent surrounding him, the man's Adam's apple bobbed involuntarily.

"Looks like I'm really lucky today, honey—"

He smiled, stubbed out his cigarette, put his arm around the woman's waist and gave it a couple of squeezes, then led her toward the train's restroom.

During this process, the man's hand moved lower and lower until, when they entered the washroom, his hand had already slipped deep under the skirt.

Ria took a sip of coffee, and not long after, everyone heard a scream suddenly coming from the direction of the restroom.

"Ahhhhhhh!!!!!!"

The cry was exceptionally shrill, filled with panic, yet also revealing a strange excitement that was incomprehensible to ordinary people.

How come you have one too?!?

"No, don't come any closer, don't come any closer! Ahhhhhh, no ahhhhh! I was wrong... wrong... I was wrong..."

"Yeah——"

The last, ambiguous cry was particularly jarring.

The entire carriage fell into an eerily quiet silence.

Alice pushed open the door, tidied her hair, and then walked over to Ria and handed him the information note he needed.

Ria opened the note.

"You're welcome. My lord is in trade, and this is all I should do."

Actually, I'm not a train attendant. The train attendant was already late and missed the train. Oh, what a poor and negligent girl. I'll have to fill in for her today.

Your question has been answered. Those bounty hunters are indeed the best intelligence carriers. Just inject a little bit of magic potion into their bodies, and they will tell you anything.

The hunter who escorted the first snake to collect the bounty was a woman. She was characterized by wearing oversized hunter's clothes that did not fit her body and carrying a small package, which she said contained the snake-man's head.

What happened after that is unknown.

Alice licked her lips, clearly satisfied with the bounty hunter's body. This person was no ordinary person; she was a contamination patient, a witch, who had infiltrated the group.

There will always be people who find ways to evade fares, and those with extraordinary abilities will only have more diverse methods.

The jerky on those carts were all raw materials for her potions, and it's possible that some of them contained real human flesh.

"In short, that's the gist of it. My name is Alice, also known as the 'Wise Witch.' I'll be wandering around randomly in Cranbea from now on. If you run into me, you can still ask me for any information you may have."

"I am honored to be able to provide you with the information you need."

New content continued to appear on the note, and just as Ria finished reading it, the note disappeared automatically. To ordinary people, everything this woman did was normal and reasonable, without anything suspicious. Perhaps they had already been under the influence of the witch's potion from the moment they entered the carriage.

Ria pondered the meaning of Alice's name, "The Wise Witch," and seemed to recall hearing a similar name somewhere before.

Ilint is known as the "Dream-Capturing Witch," Leilana as the "White Rose," and Favorine as the "Black Rose," while this Alice calls herself the "Sophist Witch."

Witches are a very inclusive and united group. There are not many witches with special titles in the whole group, but these witches probably all have their own special abilities, or they are synonymous with mystery.

For others, witches are undoubtedly shrouded in mystery, allure, and temptation, but most people simply shun them.

Many people think that witches are terrifying.

Originally, Ria didn't quite understand the meaning of this sentence, but after experiencing this today, he probably does.

"It's really scary."

The young man smiled at Alice, then pushed his metal food cart away to sell his expired goods elsewhere.

No one knows how she got on the train, or why she's here, but right now, she's just an ordinary steam train attendant, responsible for selling some simple products to make a profit for herself, nothing more.

There was only one disorderly person in this carriage, Lia, and he couldn't see the expressions of the other disorderly people, which made him somewhat disappointed.

Soon, Ria turned her gaze out the car window again. The scenery outside was rushing past, from trees to roads, from roads to numerous houses, and from houses to wilderness.

"Woo——"

The train sounded its horn, and the steam above spread and obscured the sky. After an unknown amount of time, the train finally stopped at a certain station.

At that moment, everyone stood up and rushed out of the carriage with their packed belongings and guns. It's not that it's hard to understand why trains don't prohibit carrying guns.

If carrying firearms were truly prohibited, these hunters would never be able to come here. Not being able to see their beloved guns at any time would be no different from losing half their lives.

Moreover, the vast majority of people on the vehicle were bounty hunters. Some of their bullets were more valuable than human lives. The bullets used by hunters were made of special materials, and the forging of a single bullet often involved countless processes.

It's certain that they were all making weapons to hunt extraordinary creatures, so why would they waste those weapons on ordinary people?

(End of this chapter)