NOVEL WEB Chapter 891
“It’s a trap!”
But Odilia’s expression was utterly indifferent.
“Oh really? Is it a trap?”
This was completely predictable.
We’re talking about a witch who’s just come to her senses after being high on some drugs, claiming, ‘I can explain everything, the situation is urgent, and this is a trap, so we need to leave immediately!’ Seriously?
Let’s think logically here.
In that situation, who would really think, ‘Oh my! This situation is so dangerous, I guess I should leave right away!’?
If common sense was in play, they’d probably think the witch was just spouting nonsense because of the drugs, or they’d say anything just to get out of the place, then destroy the evidence to avoid being caught by the police or becoming gossip fodder.
“Once upon a time, there was this guy named Pin who lived in the next village. One day, he was found rolling around naked with a goat in the stable. He said something similar to what you just said—what a strange coincidence, right?”
Odilia mocked the witch with a sardonic remark, bringing up ‘Goat-loving Pin,’ who desperately claimed he knew nothing when caught rolling around with a goat.
“No, um… trap? What? Uh…”
Even drugged up, the witch seemed to realize she was being mocked and started to angrily rebut Odilia. But her slurred speech and frozen tongue failed to articulate anything coherent, and her still-foggy brain couldn’t come up with anything that could convince Odilia.
Odilia looked at the pathetic witch with disdain, about to unleash a torrent of insults, but the touch on her wrist made her clamp her mouth shut for a moment.
A beautiful bracelet that looked like it was woven from a Golden Rose.
It was a gift from a young shaman.
Seeing the bracelet made her remember.
To have good fortune, one must not accumulate bad karma.
Like it says in the Bible’s golden rule, if you wish to be treated well by others, you must treat others well too. So, she should think carefully about her words and actions, right?
Odilia touched the bracelet once and turned her gaze back to the witch.
She watched as the witch twisted her head from side to side, making crackling sounds, perhaps trying to shake off the effects of the drugs.
And this time, she remained silent, waiting to see what absurd excuse the witch would come up with.
And sure enough, the witch surprised—or maybe disappointed—Odilia with her answer.
“Odilia, here—here, the food and cocktails in the metal dishes… they’re laced with medication that reacts with alcohol, heh, heh.”
The witch had just provided evidence supporting her earlier claim of “It’s a trap.”
Just as Odilia had anticipated.
But… something felt off.
‘Isn’t that a bit… too specific?’
The witch’s excuse was unusually detailed.
To argue it was a trap, one would typically say things like, ‘I was forced to join this group,’ ‘someone injected me with drugs,’ or ‘someone attacked my mind, preventing me from thinking clearly.’ That’s the kind of excuse you’d expect…
Yet the witch’s words flowed too smoothly, with vividness suggesting she had actually experienced this, even providing easily identifiable evidence to bolster her credibility.
‘Wait, what?’
Odilia’s expression hardened.
She quickly summoned her life force and began infusing it into the dress she wore.
The fabric of the dress began to twist and move as if it were alive, sprouting little leaves like new sprouts. And those leaves unfurled, revealing numerous transparent petals.
She plucked one of the transparent petals and dropped it into the food on the metallic plate the witch mentioned.
As expected, the petal began to change color like litmus paper, displaying a fresh green shade that indicated nothing was wrong.
Odilia briefly admired the green petal before dropping it into the leftover cocktail.
Hoping it wouldn’t change color.
Swoosh.
But her hopes were shattered.
The moment the green petal touched the drink, it rapidly turned pink.
And it didn’t stop there; white specks began popping up all over, shimmering brightly.
‘…There really is poison, isn’t there?’
Green indicates safety.
Pink suggests a mild effect.
White denotes drug-related substances.
The sparkles hinted at something altered through synthesis.
‘So, they mixed in synthetic drugs with mild effects? And designed it to trigger as soon as alcohol interacts?’
Odilia’s expression began to harden further.
‘There were definitely lots of metal plates and cups around the banquet hall. Could it be?’
The images of the banquet hall she had casually observed moments earlier flashed through her mind.
The food and drink seemed overly green in theme, as though to showcase environmental consciousness, yet they were made of metal, which was totally off-theme.
Of course, there were some efforts to adhere to the theme—like green paint or using copper to create a greenish hue—but still…
‘Could they all be like that?’
Odilia shot up from her seat.
If she didn’t speak up now, everyone in the banquet hall would definitely be in danger.
But in that moment, a troubling question crossed her mind.
‘Wait a minute. If that’s the case, then what is this place?’
She knew strange drugs were circulating in the banquet hall.
But then, why does this place even exist?
If it wasn’t secretly created for debauchery and wild acts as she initially thought, but a spot where people had been drugged with ill intentions, then who had created this place?
‘…That’s not all. It can’t just be the witches in this area randomly high on drugs. If that’s true, then someone must have quietly lured these drugged witches here and abandoned them.’
Just like the syringes scattered about.
Someone had definitely been injecting witches, leaving needle marks on their arms and legs.
Isn’t this…. bizarre?
‘Who could pull off something like this?’
Odilia’s expression turned serious.
‘There are three great witches here: Joanna, me, and Gabriella. So… who could be bold enough to do such a thing without getting caught by the trio of powerful witches?’
To even pull this off, one must be an exceptionally strong ability user.
No, not just strong.
This isn’t a crowded place.
This is an enclosed space.
A designated area where a specific number of witches were invited to mingle for social purposes.
In such a place, someone disappearing without raising suspicion would require more than mere strength.
They would need to distract attention from the odd occurrences, preventing people from noticing anything wrong while ensuring socializing carried on smoothly.
‘One would need control over the atmosphere here, to dictate what happens.’
Who could manage that here?
‘…The people behind this charity auction.’
There’s no one else but those involved in organizing the party who could cleverly draw attention or provide plausible excuses. Of course, that’s obvious.
This bizarre space, currently isolated from the outside, must have been created by some method like formations or magic, which can’t be easily done.
If it were a formation, arranging the objects would be necessary, and if it were magic, one would also need to include artifacts and methods to conceal magical exposure.
Clearly, this would be a tough job for anyone other than the one who planned this banquet.
‘And on top of that, they’d have to be powerful enough to evade the eyes of the three great witches.’
Odilia worried that the mastermind behind this scheme might be a strong ability user, or perhaps an opponent too tough to easily contend with, even if they combined forces.
But then, she felt an odd unease at the thought she had in mind.
To evade the eyes of the three great witches.
Great witches.
Three of them.
‘…What if it’s not three?’
Evading the notice of the three great witches isn’t easy.
But what if it were only two?
‘No, it might not even be two. What if it’s just one…?’
Then that one would, of course, be Odilia herself.
The foolish witch who sat idly, internally complaining how boring it was, utterly clueless that she had walked into a trap.
The one who squandered a precious golden opportunity, now finally realizing her perilous situation after all that time in peace…
‘Wait, did Joanna drink here?’
The thought finally crossed her mind.
‘When did Gabriella show up?’
All the things she had taken for granted suddenly seemed relevant.
‘From dish to glass…. Everything must have passed through Joanna’s hands?’
Questions emerged.
Did Joanna really know nothing about this?
Could Joanna truly be uninvolved in this affair?
Odilia’s gaze turned back to the witch.
‘What if they’re just embarrassed about their own misdeeds and purposely crafted a creepy theory to paint the picture in a way that misleads me? What if those wild children planned this to deceive me on purpose?’
But even as she tried to force herself to think of their wrongdoing, the questions lingered.
‘But if Joanna were to pull such a stunt, why invite me? I’m a great witch, someone who’s endured a turbulent era with considerable battle prowess. Unlike those fools who only focus on grooming and training, I’m much more complex. Why…?’
‘And the venue is odd too. Typically, these charity auctions happen in Western or Central Europe, but this one is taking place in Eastern Europe, Belarus—a location we’ve never met at before. Is there something here that Joanna would fancy?’
A flood of questions. A primal instinct ringing alarms of danger.
Odilia looked down at the bracelet on her wrist.
The color of the Golden Rose had changed.