Chapter 471 - 216: This Is Bad

This was also why business at Witch’s Bay was getting better year after year.

Even some families with their own intelligence agencies would recommend people to them, all for the sake of the goodwill it generated.

In a way, you could call it a win-win-win situation.

"Alright then."

Sean hadn’t expected an intelligence agency to have so many twists and turns.

’As expected,’ he thought. ’Anyone who can build a big business is never simple.’

So what if they didn’t pay?

Worst-case scenario, he could just go fishing again when he had time and have someone deliver the fish to the Grev Family.

"Well then, Mr. Ain, Miss Elisabeth, I’ll let you two talk?"

Miss Owl smiled. "I’ll get back to my work. Just give me a shout if you need anything."

Sean nodded. "Okay. Thank you for your trouble, Miss Owl."

"You’re too kind, Mr. Ain." Miss Owl gave a slight bow and returned to the work area.

After she left, Sean and Elise didn’t have much to talk about either.

Mainly because there was a stranger nearby, making it unsuitable for any lewd conversation.

And clean conversation was boring...

Might as well read a magazine.

So Sean and Elise waited in the lounge area.

And wait they did—for an entire day.

He and Elise had arrived in the morning, but they waited all the way into the afternoon. In the meantime, Miss Owl had them eat a boxed lunch, and Sean even took a nap on Elise’s shoulder, but there were still no results.

It wasn’t until Sean started feeling sleepy again that there was finally a breakthrough.

Miss Owl came over to inform them.

"Mr. Ain, Miss Elisabeth, thank you for waiting."

"How did it go?" Sean asked.

Miss Owl nodded. "We found them."

"If you two would please follow me."

She led Sean and Elise back to the previous workstation.

On the computer screen was a map, with the route taken by Fan Ke’er and his group marked out in several pink and red lines.

Miss Owl gave her subordinate a look, and the subordinate immediately began to explain.

"According to intelligence from our field agents, Fan Ke’er’s group entered the city after leaving the harbor."

"For the next 18 hours or so, they were likely resting and moving about freely."

"This is because many of our colleagues spotted them in different places within the same short period."

"For example, at the Curly Convenience Store, the Yi Stone Hotel, and the Hangover Red Light District."

Sean: "..."

’People from the Church Court visit red-light districts?’

In fact, not only did Fan Ke’er’s group go, they went as a group.

Led by him, the Captain of the Forbidden Guard, about ten of them entered an alley called Hangover Street together and didn’t emerge until the early morning, when they returned to their hotel to sleep.

「The next day.」

Which was yesterday.

Fan Ke’er’s group started traveling again.

"The pink lines on the map show the places they’ve passed through and stopped at. The red line is a projected route I’ve calculated by cross-referencing all nearby Church Court institutions and analyzing the data."

The subordinate explained, "I remember Mr. Ain saying they were on a mission, so their final destination must be related to the Church Court."

"And among the many Church Court institutions, only one place has had similar incidents."

"Namely, large groups of Wizards or Knights appearing in the city, only to quickly disappear."

"So I speculate that’s where they are headed this time as well."

"Disappear?"

Sean didn’t understand. "What do you mean?"

"Disappeared in the literal sense," said Miss Owl’s subordinate. "Our colleagues over there have reported seeing people from the Church Court show up several times. There were a lot of them, at least a hundred, but each time they left, there were only about ten remaining. The others seemed to have vanished into thin air, with no one knowing where they went."

Something stirred in Sean’s mind.

’Could it be a channel?’

’Is the Church Court transporting these people and goods to the Farm World?’

’But the problem is, the Farm World doesn’t allow Grand Mages to exist. Correspondingly, there shouldn’t be any so-called ’treasures’ there either. But if it’s not a ’treasure,’ why send a Grand Mage to escort it?’

’It doesn’t add up.’

Sean temporarily put the question aside and asked, "Where is this place?"

Miss Owl’s subordinate moved the mouse, zooming in on the map to reveal the outline of a city, and said, "Cadola Royal City. Elderidge Cathedral."

’Elderidge Church again.’

’Sean was getting sick of hearing that name recently, unless ’Olivia’ was in front of it.’

"Cadola Royal City... whose territory is that?" Sean asked.

This time, it was Miss Owl who answered his question. "It’s called a Royal City. That means it’s the center of power in Austinburg State. The only ones qualified to live there and manage the Royal City are, of course, the Potter Earl Family."

Sean pondered, "So, you’re saying the Potter Family knows about this?"

"That depends on how you look at it," said Miss Owl. "Strictly speaking, the churches in every region are directly under the Church Court’s jurisdiction. Neither the local government nor the local families have the authority to meddle in church affairs."

"But that’s just on the surface."

"If it were me, and a large group of unknown Wizards showed up on my turf—even if they were from the Church Court—I’d find a way to get to the bottom of it. Otherwise, if something went wrong, you wouldn’t even know what hit you."

Miss Owl’s meaning was simple: although there was no concrete evidence to prove the Potter Family was aware of the situation, she believed they were involved.

Besides, the so-called nobility were basically lackeys for the Church Court. It was perfectly normal for them to do the Church’s bidding.

Sean nodded, indicating he understood.

He turned to Elise and asked, "Are there any Potter Families on our side?"

Speaking of doing the Church Court’s bidding, the first thing that came to his mind was being a Witch Hunter.

Elise frowned and thought for a good while before shaking her head. "Never heard of them."

The Dawn Council had files on all the Witch Hunter Families entrenched in the various states of the Farm World. The information might not be complete, but they at least knew the names and their primary operations. After all, they were enemies; it was always good to know more to be prepared.

But the name "Potter" didn’t ring any bells for Elise.

Sean fell silent.

He trusted Elise’s memory.

’If there’s no Potter Family in the Farm World, it means the Potter Family didn’t go through the channel. So where did all those people who disappeared go?’

’Or did those people go to the Farm World, but the Potters themselves didn’t?’

’The Potter Family knows, but isn’t participating?’

Sean’s thoughts were a bit of a mess.

The reason he kept thinking about a channel was that Chris had most likely come to the "New World" through it. But this raised a new question—if the Church Court knew about this channel and used it often, there would surely be guards posted nearby. Chris would have been caught the moment he came through. How could he possibly have escaped and been rescued by Hoyev?

At that moment, Sean truly felt like he was back in the old days studying Mysticism.

The more you knew, the less you knew.

"Is there anything else you’d like to look into, Mr. Ain?" Miss Owl’s smiling voice brought Sean back from his thoughts. "If not, then we’ll consider this job complete."

She could finally go ask her old friend to wire her the money.

"Fine," Sean said. He had no more questions.

His only request had been to track the movements of Fan Ke’er and his group. Miss Owl’s subordinate had not only done that but had also thrown in some related intelligence "free of charge." She had already exceeded the mission’s requirements, so he naturally wouldn’t push his luck.

Miss Owl extended her hand to Sean again and said with a smile, "I look forward to working with you again, Mr. Ain."

Sean smiled back. "You’ve worked hard."

Miss Owl glanced at the time. "It’s almost dinnertime. Would you and Miss Elisabeth like to stay for dinner, Mr. Ain?"

It was just a boxed meal, but a very exquisite one.

Intelligence work required both mental and physical stamina, so their employee meals were specially prepared nutritional plans.

But when Sean heard the word "dinnertime," it was as if he’d remembered something. He quickly pulled out his phone to check.

It was already 6:20 PM.

"Crap!"

The banquet started at seven. Even if the traffic was as good as it had been this morning, it would still take close to an hour to get from the city center to Grev Castle in the suburbs.

’I’ll have to fly.’

’Good thing this city doesn’t prohibit Magic.’

"We have somewhere to be, we’re leaving now!"

Sean didn’t have time for more pleasantries with Miss Owl. He grabbed Elise and ran for the exit.

He didn’t even take the stairs.

He used a Wall-penetrating Technique to dart straight from inside the building to the outside.

From a height of more than forty-five stories!

Looking down, the cars and people on the road were as small as bits of moving eye-gunk. The sight gave Elise a huge scare, and she quickly clung to Sean.

"Bruce Com... Corey!"

Broom Spell—Broom, come!

Just as the two of them were about to fall, Sean summoned a broom, which carried both him and Elise as it sped toward Grev Castle.

...