After Syl said this, the air fell into silence.
"Um... just a little joke," Syl waved her hand and explained, "I'm a person who likes to tell cold jokes."
Of course, Syl didn't actually like cold jokes; she had just used the time it took to say that witty remark to think about how to ask The Witch of Ruin some questions without exposing the fact that she actually knew everything.
After all, the Miss Witch looked like she was fully prepared to be questioned; if Syl didn't ask anything, she would even feel a bit bad about it.
"Who are you, and why are you following me?" Syl asked solemnly. "You're also the one who published that news in the newspaper, right?"
Her serious tone made it sound like a genuine inquiry.
"Heh... you're not stupid, are you?" The witch slowly descended on her black ring, floating in front of Syl, and chuckled, "You can call me Vivian, interesting child."
"I wasn't following you. Imagine looking up at a field of stars and noticing the one shining with a different light, so you moved closer to take a look... does that count as following?"
Yes, it does.
No matter how flowery the explanation was, it was still stalking!
Syl grumbled in her heart but didn't dare say it out loud.
However, Syl quickly became serious again, leaning back slightly as she asked, "What exactly do you want me to do? I don't want to be involved in any struggles."
"No, no, no, you can't say that." The witch wagged her right index finger. "It's not that I'm involving you in the struggle; you are the struggle itself."
"I've checked your epochal history. You died young in every era; that was your fate... but your fate has been reversed in this era. You've actually lived until now."
"Most importantly, you can actually transform into something from another era... it's truly incredible."
When The Witch of Ruin, Vivian, mentioned what Syl could transform into from other eras, her lips moved, but the sound disappeared completely.
Moreover, when Syl tried to recall the lip movements that described that word, she couldn't remember anything. It was as if it were being blocked by some power.
The more Syl listened, the more she felt something was wrong. It felt like she was being dragged into some major event that was completely beyond her current ability to handle.
"Can I just not cause trouble and live peacefully? Is that okay?" Syl raised her hand and asked.
"Hahahaha..." The Witch of Ruin suddenly burst into happy laughter. She clapped her hands and praised, "Good idea, but you'll find it very hard to achieve. Trouble will find its own way to your door."
"I can only say, I hope that the next time I see you, I can see a more powerful version of... you. I hope you can become strong enough before the next Calamity. Here's a spoiler: it's a Calamity that happens in every era around you."
"If you can survive it smoothly, it means you have enough potential, and we'll be able to meet again soon... Until then, don't think about investigating the Epochal Disorder; it's very annoying to fix."
"Goodbye, Sil·Saint."
After saying this, the black ring Vivian was sitting on suddenly expanded. Vivian leaned back and fell into the black ring, vanishing. Then, the black ring contracted into a black dot and disappeared.
Only Syl remained, standing there with her arms crossed, staring in the direction where The Witch of Ruin had vanished.
"An unavoidable Calamity... is this a test? If I survive that Calamity, does it count as passing the test?" Syl pondered Vivian's words in her heart. "Before that, I must become stronger..."
"I have to get stronger..." There was no need to continue investigating the matter of the witch. Syl's primary goal now was to gain the ability to protect herself before the Calamity.
The fastest way to improve, besides magic potions, was the 'The Fall of Iviza' quest... She had to get the purple card while waiting for the potion to digest.
As Syl was thinking, the flow of time returned to normal, and Barro resumed his movements.
Barro continued, "There's a stone tablet here that my great-grandfather... Hmm? Lord Silver Crow?"
From Barro's perspective, in the blink of an eye, Lord Silver Crow had stood up from the chair as if teleporting. Even with Barro's Tier 3 strength, he hadn't detected a single ripple of supernatural power.
"It's nothing," Syl shook her head, interrupting Barro. "I suddenly don't feel like listening right now. By the way, I want to ask, why did my portrait appear in the newspaper?"
"Are you talking about that? You didn't know?" Barro looked confused. "Didn't your friend say they wanted to help you put it in the paper? That's why I went to the newspaper office overnight and spent a lot of money to buy a section."
"Oh, then it's fine."
It seemed The Witch of Ruin had used some 'Divine Art: Making a Friend out of Thin Air' to do these things.
This trip to the Bonsandi manor had brought many mysteries, but fortunately, Syl knew that besides the witch, no one else knew her identity.
This meant Syl didn't have to worry so much about her transformation cards being discovered.
While waiting for Per to arrive, Barro tried to talk about his great-grandfather several times, but was interrupted by Syl each time. Finally, Barro realized that Lord Silver Crow didn't really want to hear about those things and stopped talking.
When Per arrived, Syl very seriously checked her pulse and measured her heart rate by hand, making it look real.
Finally, she nodded with a straight face and said, "Everything is normal," which completely put the father and daughter's hearts at ease.
After putting on a full show, Syl left the Bonsandi manor, ignoring their requests for her to stay.
However, it was still necessary to maintain the relationship with the Bonsandis.
After all, if she wanted to use the clown to cause trouble, the physician could obtain information from the Bonsandis.
Thinking of this, Syl suddenly felt a bit absurd.
The person in charge of the area where she was going to incite a riot actually considered her a benefactor... one could only say that fate was truly wonderful.
"A riotous army..."
When she had transformed into the clown—which had already advanced to a blue card—back at the inn, she could feel the clown card's desire for the riot quest.
Furthermore, Syl faintly felt that the skill 'Deceitful Words' seemed particularly suited for inciting riots.
"Ibiza has harbored resentment for a long time; now it just needs a catalyst to explode..."
"It needs a leader to incite the riot..."
"A clown?"
Recalling the description of the clown's features published by the Church United Press, a plan was brewing in Syl's heart.
A plan to bring the clown to the forefront and become the Savior of the villains of Ibiza.