The deceased in ritual five years ago.
A pregnant woman died of dystocia two and a half years ago.
Today, the newborn baby…
“If you take the Black Sea as a mirror.”
Bishop Daryl pondered for a moment. His face turned a little serious as he spoke, “The locations of Roseburg and Howling White Tower are almost symmetrical.”
Obviously, Salvatore’s speculation persuaded the fat bishops.
On the other hand, Annan frowned slightly, thinking hard.
The information he had was more than Daryl.
Nottdamm’s new house, “Rusty Water Street 12,” was next to the Gerald Dental Clinic.
If Benjamin the Great Wizard wasn’t murdered, he should have arrived at Freezing Water Port. The Freezing Water Port was only a few hours away from Roseburg.
Plus, Annan looked exactly like Maria Austere-Winter five years ago.
What does that mean? Annan’s pupils shrank slightly.
According to Salvatore, Michelangelo’s ritual went south at the end of the ritual. The news Annan got from the nightmare was that the ritual would end when there were only four people left.
Then, the final survivors should be “Michelangelo,” “Maria,” “Benjamin,” and “Gerald.”
In other words, when Michelangelo died five years ago, Maria, Benjamin, and Gerald were all beside him.
If nothing went wrong…
In the current situation, Annan, Benjamin, and Gerald should all reunite here. The only exception would be Maria.
Annan’s thoughts ran quickly.
If he didn’t transmigrate into this world as ‘Annan’ and Benjamin had not been murdered, what would the situation be like now?
—Benjamin and Don Juan would arrive when he was unconscious on the beach. Benjamin, who met Maria, would recognize Annan’s identity immediately and protect him.
—Knowing that Benjamin, a well-known great wizard guarding the Freezing Water Port, the viscount would not launch an attack with Salvatore’s Black Fire. But the viscount and Guard Captain Klaus were on the same side, and then they knew Annan’s identity.
—To deter Don Juan from acting rashly and quietly completing the reincarnation ritual, the viscount would invite Benjamin, Don Juan, and Annan to a banquet in the viscount mansion.
The Viscount Mansion was adjacent to Nottdamm’s house.
Just like Nottdamm’s new home and Gerald’s dentist’s office were adjacent…
“Now that I think about it, something is wrong.”
Salvatore looked at Annan with a serious expression, “Nottdamm once told us before if Gerald wins, then Nottdamm will invite Gerald instead to show viscount’s good favor.
“But we overlooked one thing. Nottdamm is just an ordinary tax officer, not even Transcended. So why did viscount send such a person? Is it to shoulder the blame? He mentioned his hard work under viscount and has never offended viscount.”
“He is telling the truth.” Annan continued on Salvatore’s words and said thoughtfully, “At least Nottdamm was at a loss when he told those previous words.
“He doesn’t even know why viscount wants to target him. But besides that, there is another possibility…
“That is, Nottdamm knows Gerald. But at that time, he didn’t know Gerald…”
—If there were two tax officer Nottdamm at the same time, everything could be explained.
Annan remembered that when Nottdamm sent Annan and Salvatore back to the viscount house, he accidentally mentioned that his wife Maemis Nottdamm was a Black Tower’s apprentice. His wife knew what Soul Snatch wizard was, and she also learned about Transcended.
Salvatore told Annan that the apprentices in the wizard tower were generally youths. Once they failed to learn the first spell at the age of twenty-four, they were usually dismissed because it meant that they lacked the talent to learn spells.
For ordinary people, learning the first spell was the hardest. It required them to control a part of the curse, sort out and absorb it via complicated but non-contradictory rules. The process was roughly similar to computer programming with imagination.
If they had mastered a spell, they were deemed to have obtained the “wizard apprentice” profession, abbreviated “apprentice.” Therefore, they would be allowed to study until they were thirty-six years old.
By then, they must have learned enough spells. If twelve years had passed and they failed in advancing to the Bronze Rank, then it meant that they were either in the process of learning, profoundly understanding the misfortune of entering the transcendence or being afraid of becoming Transcended. But, in the worst situation, they were too stupid even to purify a nightmare successfully.
Only then would they be dissuaded from their Transcendent journey. Before that, if any apprentice decided to abandon the wizard path or no longer wanted to use the wizard path to step into the transcendence, they could leave at any time.
The only constraint was that once you left, you may not come back.
Maemis Nottdamm was an apprentice from Swamp’s Black Tower, which meant she must have mastered one to four spells.
The magic schools taught by Swamp’s Black Tower only included Alteration, Shaping, and Soul Snatch. Before Salvatore enrolled, Gerald killed all the Alteration School’s apprentices.
In other words, Maemis Nottdamm had a high probability of knowing Gerald.
Calculating from her age, she was probably the apprentice taught under Gerald.
She might even be the chess piece prepared before Gerald left Swamp’s Black Tower.
“If I didn’t guess wrong,” Annan slowly said while looking at Salvatore, “The key lies with the doors.”
Looking back now at the creepy house, all the doors were unlocked, which was bizarre.
When Annan and the others walked in from outside, they barely touched anything.
The only thing that was interacted was when Salvatore closed the doors casually because of his habit.
After all the doors were closed, the “Nottdamm couple two and a half years ago” suddenly appeared.
“I suspect it might be the same on the other side.”
Annan looked at Bishop Daryl and lowered his head slightly, “Please investigate it. First, whether this ritual is related to the opening and closing of the ‘door.’ Then we need to check again if our previous speculation is correct, whether two different ‘Nottdamm’ in the timeline can appear at the same time?”
Bishop Daryl’s true identity was the Silver Sire Church Cardinal Bishop.
There was no doubt Daryl had the highest combat strength, albeit his poor appearance. He should be among the elites.
It was better to have this “boss” scout the path.
It was not cowardice but being cautious.
“You can depend on me.” Bishop Daryl nodded, not feeling anything wrong about it.
If Annan were rash with this, Daryl would need to be concerned about holding Annan back and telling Annan not to be suicidal.
It was worry-free to have good teammates who don’t give ‘free kills.’
“However, it sounds like…”
The fat bishop looked at Annan curiously, “Do you two have other arrangements?”
“Yes.”
Annan and Salvatore looked at each other and replied, “We plan to go back to Freezing Water Port to make some preparations. In the next few days, please verify if the failed labor is the boundary. Then, what is the actual date of birth? After that, you can send someone to notify us one or two days in advance.”
“Oh, this is not necessary.”
Bishop Daryl smiled, “I did a mental calculation, and the final date should be December 14. It will be fine for you two to be back before the evening of the 13th.
“If you two have other plans, you may go back. I will settle the viscount matter for you too…
“Silver Sire reminded us to put priorities on our matters.”
Fat bishop smiled kindly, “It just so happens that the mortals are motivated by profit. Those entangled with petty power struggles are the most insignificant batch.
“If they dare to stir up trouble at this time, I will let them pay the price.”