"You suspect that Vice Admiral Ailment's fleet is hidden there?" Anderson asked in thought when he heard Danitz's words.
Danitz replied in excitement, "It's very likely! Didn't the Black Death vanish after steering towards the west and after leaving Theros Island?"
Anderson curled his lips and chuckled.
"If Vice Admiral Ailment's whereabouts were so easily discovered by you, why would she need to hide?
"How can islands that you can find out about be considered hidden enough?"
"Hey! What do you mean by that?" Danitz felt like he had been mocked.
Anderson shrugged.
"I don't mean anything. I'm just using my brain to analyze it.
"That island should exist, but it either belongs to the type that many people here know about, or it's intel that someone deliberately released.
"If it's the former, Vice Admiral Ailment Tracy's fleet definitely wouldn't be hiding there. If it's the latter, that would be interesting. Who would release this intel?"
Danitz was still a little angry at first, but later, he began analyzing Anderson's line of thought.
"A trap set up by some pirates or adventurers? However, an island without any resources isn't enough to lure others into exploring it.
"Vice Admiral Ailment herself? To figure out who's investigating her whereabouts?"
Anderson smiled.
"That's right. After my teachings, you've improved quite a bit. Otherwise, I suspect that even if you drink the Conspirer potion, you wouldn't be able to enhance your brain. You'll only mutate and turn your enemy stupid, bringing him down to a level at which you're familiar with, and then defeat him with experience.
"I didn't say that. It was Emperor Roselle."
After this period of searching, Anderson had already helped Danitz obtain one of the main ingredients of the Conspirer potion and nearly all the supplementary ingredients. He was just one step away from success.
"I suspect that you have such an ability..." Danitz muttered softly in response.
Anderson ignored him and continued, "If Vice Admiral Ailment got someone to release the news herself, the secret island must be a trap. Perhaps there's nothing other than a mirror that monitors the ships and humans that approach the island. Or perhaps it might be an important gathering base of the Demoness Sect that Gehrman Sparrow mentioned."
"Then what should we do next?" Danitz subconsciously asked.
Anderson chuckled when he heard that.
"You can't even figure out such a simple matter?
"Naturally, we'll seek out the person you heard this intel from. After finding the source of his information, we can trace it back, and we'll eventually find something."
That's right... Danitz wanted to nod in agreement, but the words that reached his mouth turned into a "heh."
Nearing dawn, on the second floor of a casino.
Bartz, with his brown hair, yawned and walked into his room.
Before he could use the moonlight outside the window to light the candle, he suddenly saw a bright white flame light up in front of him, momentarily blinding him.
Bartz's heart tightened as he pounced to the side and rolled.
After rolling twice, he suddenly stopped his actions, as though he had been petrified.
This was because there was a bone-chilling coldness and a slight pain around his neck. This made him have no doubt that if he proceeded any further, blood would definitely spray onto the roof.
"What do you want?" At that moment, Bartz's vision had recovered. He saw a blond man with one hand in his pocket and a black short sword in the other. Beside him was a man wearing a black cloak that covered half of his face with a hood.
Danitz didn't answer Bartz's question as he looked at Anderson in surprise.
"Why didn't you disguise yourself?"
"If you disguise yourself, how can you let others know who to hate?" Anderson replied with a nonchalant look.
Danitz exhaled. "Thankfully, I haven't been infected by this crappy habit of yours."
"It's fine," Anderson said with a smile. "Any random person on the island can know who I've been hanging out with." "Dogsh*t!" Danitz cursed.
Bartz, who had Anderson's sword at his neck, didn't dare to move. All he could do was listen quietly. He felt as though he had returned to Trier and was watching a comical scene.
What are the two of them here for...? The intelligence peddler was deeply puzzled.
At that moment, Anderson retracted his gaze and looked down at Bartz.
"Who told you about the secret island to the southwest that deviates from the main sea route?"
Bartz suddenly came to a realization as he looked at Danitz.
"It's you!"
In the past few days, this information had only been sold to one person!
...I was recognized so quickly? Danitz was momentarily at a loss as to how to respond.
Anderson slightly lowered the pitch-black short sword in his hand, making the stabbing pain even more obvious. "Please respect the order of what is to come and follow."
Bartz immediately felt as though his life was rapidly slipping away. He hurriedly replied, "I-it was Vice Admiral Ailment!"
"When did she tell you? Why did she tell you?" Anderson asked without any surprise.
"The night before the Black Death left Theros Island," Bartz replied quickly, afraid that he would die from excessive blood loss. "I didn't ask her why. Back then, I was only focused on admiring her beauty. She lives up to being the infamous Ailment Maiden of the Five Seas..."
Even after a long time, Bartz couldn't hide his admiration of her, even when he recalled her while being in extreme danger.
"Is this the charm of a Demoness?" Anderson muttered to himself before asking, "Do you have a way to contact her?"
"No." Bartz quickly shook his head and said, "She told me to take note of everyone who asked about her whereabouts. I'll tell her when she returns to Theros Island. And if anyone leaves the port after obtaining the information on that secret island, they shall be left alone to leave freely."
"Is that so... Very reasonable." Anderson nodded and withdrew the short pitch-black sword. "Is there a trap?"
"I don't know either," Bartz replied frankly.
Anderson didn't say a word as he searched for the money on Bartz's person and in the room. Then, he pointed at the intelligence peddler with his short sword.
"I wanted to kill you, but no one will hate me if that's the case.
"Live well, curse me a few more times every day."
He then turned around, walked to Danitz's side, and jumped down the window with him, disappearing into the dark, unlit night.
Bartz touched his bleeding neck and stood up in fear. He ran to the window and confirmed that the two of them had disappeared.
Thankfully, I met a guy with mental problems. If not, I would be dead today... He closed the window and locked the wooden door. After carefully inspecting the room, he finally sat down and gulped down half a bottle of Lanti Proof.
In his tipsy state, Bartz collapsed onto the bed and fell asleep.
Time ticked by slowly until it was three in the morning.
Suddenly, Bartz flipped over and sat up. His eyes were bright and spirited, and he didn't even feel the slightest bit drunk.
He found a dagger and pried open a wooden floor in the room. He took out a thumb-sized ball of paper.
After the white paper unfolded layer by layer, there was a sticky black object in the middle.
After taking a quarter of the blob, Bartz walked to the mirror in the room and was about to smear it.
At this moment, he saw two figures reflected in the mirror. One of them was wearing a white shirt and a black vest with one of his hands in his pocket and the other carrying a short sword. The other wore a black cloak that didn't reveal his face.
Just as Bartz's pupils dilated, Danitz punched the back of his head, causing him to faint.
And his final memory was a voice with a smiling tone.
"He really didn't disappoint."
After dealing with Bartz, Danitz bent down to pick up the sticky substance that had fallen to the ground. He chuckled and said, "This fellow actually believed you. He believed that you didn't kill him because you wanted him to hate you."
The conversation he had with Anderson was actually a rehearsed play. It was to make it reasonable for Anderson to let Bartz go without being suspected.
"This means that you acted sufficiently well," Anderson said with a smile. "It's truly different when you're acting as yourself."
"Dogsh*t!" Danitz cursed without any qualms.
He then sighed.
"I didn't expect him to be so patient. He waited past midnight before he took action. But we were more patient."
"If a hunter wants to capture his prey, he has to be patient. Sometimes, he can wait a few days," Anderson replied.
To the two of them, there was actually nothing they could do. Be it a Hunter and Provoker, or Pyromaniac and Reaper, none of them were good at mediumship, much less having the ability to hypnotize others. In order to obtain information, other than interrogating and threatening others, they had to work hard on "scheming."
This is very reasonable, but in the future, it will be done with the words I use to school others... Danitz looked at the black sticky blob in his hand and said, "It seems like it should be applied on the surface of the mirror... before contacting Vice Admiral Ailment?"
"That should be the case. However, what's the point even if we contact her? Are we going to ask her out on a date to join us for breakfast at Theros Island?" Anderson mocked.
Danitz knew that he and Anderson were unable to influence the person in the mirror. All he instinctively wanted to do was to do something more, so as to better complete the task that Gehrman Sparrow assigned him.
He frowned slightly and said, "Then what should we do next?"
"Of course it's to contact Gehrman Sparrow. Let him handle the aftermath. This fellow is very mysterious in every aspect, so he should have a way to resolve it," Anderson said with a tsk. "Besides, the mission he gave us is to seek out Vice Admiral Ailment's whereabouts. And there are results already now."
Danitz acknowledged and began taking out the candles and other items for the ritual.
"What are you doing?" Anderson asked with an odd expression.
Danitz set up the altar without looking back.
"Summoning Gehrman Sparrow's messenger."
Anderson fell silent for a few seconds before saying, "I'll go out for a smoke first."
