Lord of Mysteries:The Good Witch

As Angel left the room with the contract and approval slip, Klein Moretti was chatting with Miss Rozanne outside. The girl was stifling a laugh at their conversation but quickly coughed and regained her composure when she saw the door open.

Klein noticed Angel had finished her talk with Captain Dunn and asked with a smile, "All settled?"

Angel nodded, "Yes, the captain wants to see you now."

"Captain..." Klein paused, glancing at the contract under Angel's arm. Understanding dawned on him, and he extended his right hand to Angel, "Congratulations, we're colleagues now?"

"Thank you!" Angel shook Klein's hand warmly.

Without further small talk, Klein quickly adjusted his hat and coat, knocked twice on the door, and entered after Dunn's permission.

Quite polite, this one... Angel thought, watching Klein until the closing door blocked her view. She then turned to hand the approval slip to Rozanne.

"Miss Rozanne, the captain asked me to collect some materials," Angel said.

The brown-haired girl in a light green dress snapped out of her reverie, responding with a series of "Oh, oh" as she took the slip.

"Did you... really join us too? I never expected that. I thought you were here to see the captain for some personal matter," she said, scanning the contents of the slip and nodding slightly.

"Yes, I've signed the contract," Angel replied, waving the thin document.

The girl looked up expectantly and asked, "Is it an administrative position?"

Realizing her question might be inappropriate, she quickly added, "I just thought that with one more person, our shifts could be easier." She waved the slip in her hand to emphasize her point.

Seeing Rozanne's excitement, Angel chuckled. Although Captain Dunn had only asked her to make some special bullets for now, he probably wouldn't assign a Beyonder like her to manage the warehouse.

Likely, once the captain submits the report on this battle next week and verifies her identity, there will be further arrangements. Or perhaps they'll discover her false identity, and she'll face the Church's Arbitration Council?

At this thought, Angel's mood sank. She forced a smile and replied, "I'm sorry, but the captain probably won't assign me to an administrative role."

"Oh..." Rozanne's face fell from expectation to disappointment. "I didn't expect Mr. Moretti to be administrative, while you..." She trailed off, then her eyes widened in surprise as she looked at Angel, "Could it be that you're already a Beyonder?"

Angel didn't hide it, figuring they might be colleagues soon and would find out eventually: "Yes, before this, I was already, well, in your terms, an unofficial Beyonder."

"Wow, that's amazing! Are you a Sleepless or a Spectator?" The girl's brown eyes sparkled with fan-like admiration as she looked at Angel curiously.

"...Assassin."

"..."

An awkward silence fell between them.

"That's... that's impressive too. Oh, right, I need to take you to get the materials. Come on, the warehouse is in the basement," Miss Rozanne said, abruptly changing the subject and holding up the slip.

Angel had thought they would enter the basement from the first floor, but Miss Rozanne led her straight to the end of the corridor and into an office against the wall. The room contained only a stone staircase leading down, with no other furniture. They descended the spiral staircase, and after two turns, the sunlight from above completely disappeared, replaced by the glow of elegant gas lamps on both sides of the wall, casting a circle of shadows at their feet.

After countless turns, they left the staircase and entered a long corridor. Angel estimated they were at least ten meters underground. The corridor was paved with smooth stone slabs, and both sides were luxuriously fitted with numerous gas lamps. Angel also noticed the emblems of the Church of the Goddess inlaid on the walls, and despite only knowing the Crimson Moon for a few days, she could already feel a deep sense of tranquility reaching into her heart.

At the end of the corridor, they came to a crossroads. Rozanne, leading the way, explained, "Ahead is the 'Chanis Gate,' Mr. Fry is on duty today; to the left is 'Saint Selena's Cathedral,' and to the right is the material warehouse where we're heading. Mr. Neil is there."

The "Chanis Gate" was where Leonard had prepared to take refuge during Mrs. Sharon's attack earlier. It seemed to house some important Beyonder items, requiring constant supervision by Beyonders. Angel was surprised that Saint Selena's Cathedral had a direct connection to the Nighthawks' headquarters, befitting an armed force directly under the Church.

As Angel recalled the location of the cathedral, she followed Rozanne past the intersection to the right.

"By the way, have you met Mr. Neil yet?" Rozanne asked.

Angel shook her head, remembering Leonard Mitchell's detailed introduction of the Nighthawks members yesterday: "Mr. Mitchell mentioned him to me, but I haven't met him. Was he also a combat member of the team?"

"Yes, he's a Beyonder too, a Sequence 9 'Spectator,' but he's older now and his health isn't good, so he's no longer suitable for field work and has switched to an administrative role," Rozanne nodded and explained as they walked.

Angel mentally noted the potion name "Spectator," which should be different from the others' "Sleepless" and belong to a completely new pathway.

They arrived at a half-open iron door and knocked.

An elderly voice came from behind the door: "Come in."

Rozanne pushed open the iron door and entered first, with Angel following.

The narrow room contained a desk and chair set. An old man in a black robe sat at the desk, carefully studying several yellowed pages and taking notes on a nearby notebook. Behind him was another closed iron door.

"Mr. Neil, hello. This is our new employee... um..." Rozanne politely greeted the old man but stumbled when introducing Angel—she had forgotten the new colleague's name.

Angel stepped forward and briefly introduced herself, saving the flustered girl, who still blushed deeply and hurriedly handed the slip to the old man before leaving.

Taking the captain-signed and stamped slip, the old man—Old Neil—shifted his gaze from the pages on the desk and squinted at Angel for a moment. He grinned and said, "So you're the newcomer who caused quite a stir upstairs last night? Even took down a Sequence 7?"

Unsure of what rumors he had heard, Angel could only explain, "I just assisted from the side. The main credit goes to Miss Daly and..."

"I know, and that boy Leonard too. He told me all about it this morning. He also mentioned you used a special type of bullet different from the 'Demon-Hunting Bullets,'" Old Neil said, pulling out a brass shell casing from his robe pocket. In the flickering gaslight, Angel recognized it as the "Storm Convergence" bullet she had used yesterday.

"Very interesting patterns, similar to the Demon-Hunting Bullets, but different in the details," he said, standing the shell casing up on the table and stuffing the slip into his pocket. He grabbed paper and pen from nearby, "It seems the captain wants you to collect materials to continue making these bullets?"

Angel nodded, "Yes, I need to submit 80 of these bullets to him next week, so I need quite a lot of materials. Considering the failure rate, at least 120 handgun bullets, preferably .45 caliber, 300 grams of screaming grass, 100 grams of luminous lizard scales, 250 milliliters of alcohol, at least 500 milliliters of etching solution—which I can prepare myself—and finally, 50 grams of star crystals."

She had calculated the required items on the way, considering the success rate and material loss, and had increased the demand slightly. She still had some auxiliary materials left in the basement at home, but she planned to directly collect the main, expensive materials here. After all, she was working for the organization and couldn't spend too much of her own money.

Old Neil dipped his pen in ink and wrote down each item as Angel listed them, but he paused at the mention of star crystals.

"We have plenty of bullets, and the other items are available in the alchemy room, but star crystals... That's a main ingredient for certain potions. I'll have to go to the 'Chanis Gate' and hope there's some left."

With that, Old Neil stood up, took out a key from the drawer, opened the iron door behind him, and went in. Soon came the creaking of rusty hinges and the sound of drawers opening and closing.

When silence fell behind the door, Old Neil emerged carrying several boxes of ammunition. Angel stepped forward to help, taking the boxes one by one and placing them on the table. There were four paper boxes and two smaller metal boxes.

"Here are 120 handgun bullets," Old Neil said, pointing to the paper boxes, "and 20 Demon-Hunting Bullets," he gestured towards the metal boxes. "They're all .45 caliber. I'll need to go to the alchemy room for the other items. Please wait here for a moment."

Angel nodded and opened the boxes to check. The paper boxes contained bright brass bullets, similar to what she had used before, but clearly more finely crafted and well-maintained. She could even smell a hint of oil. The two metal boxes each contained 10 silver-white bullets engraved with complex patterns, looking like silver ammunition or possibly some alloy.

After inspecting the ammunition, her gaze drifted to the yellowed papers on the side, which Old Neil had been reading when she arrived.

Initially thinking they were personal letters, she hadn't intended to look closely, but this glance made her freeze.

Although the characters were separated and looked like a child's clumsy imitation, she immediately recognized these square symbols as writing from an Asian country, perhaps Chinese or Japanese. One thing was certain: this was definitely not a common script in this world!