Angel: "An old friend?"
"Yes." A faint sadness flickered in Ironclad Granny’s eyes as she sighed and said, "To be precise, it’s the limb of an old friend."
The limb of an old friend? Angel paused for two seconds before realizing what Ironclad Granny meant. He extended his finger and lightly tapped the tabletop, and a surge of Illusion Nodes flowed from his fingertip, casually constructing an Illusion on the wooden surface.
The Illusion depicted the scene Dororo had seen at the time.
A pitch-black underground cavern, with numerous containers and various organs placed around rectangular stone platforms surrounding the altar.
Among them, the most eye-catching organ was a female arm submerged in a long, liquid container.
"Is it this one?" Angel pointed at the black and red patterned arm, which stood out among the many organs stored in containers.
"Yes." Ironclad Granny quietly observed the arm in the image, nodding lightly after a long moment: "I didn’t see it wrong; it is indeed the right hand of the Red Butterfly Witch."
"Red Butterfly Witch..." Angel quickly searched his memory, hesitated slightly after a few seconds, and said, "Granny is talking about ’Red Butterfly Witch’ Ginny Watson?"
Ironclad Granny nodded: "It seems your recent meditative reflections have been quite useful. Yes, that’s her. Her arm’s pattern is very special; I have seen it before."
Angel: "It’s her? Recently, I haven’t heard any news about her, but in magazines from the last century, she was often the subject of gossip."
’Red Butterfly Witch’ Ginny Watson was a Level 1 Wizard from the Watson Family. Two thousand years ago, the Watson Family was quite famous, consistently ranking among the top three Wizard Families in the Winsbills powers. Unfortunately, after the "Blood Night Butcher" incident, the Watson Family dimmed alongside the declining Winsbills. Nearly a thousand years have passed, and only one Official Wizard emerged, which was the Red Butterfly Witch.
Angel’s understanding of this witch was limited; he only knew she was a Fire Element Wizard, and due to her stunning appearance and bold demeanor, she was the object of affection for many male Wizards. Of course, most of these male Wizards were Apprentices.
Precisely because of this, Ginny often graced the pages of gossip magazines.
However, that was limited to the last century; in the past hundred years, there hasn’t been much news about Ginny.
"The reason there hasn’t been any news about her is that she left the Southern Domain a hundred years ago," Ironclad Granny murmured.
"She really left the Southern Domain? I heard Ginny owed a Wizard a romantic debt, couldn’t defeat him, and fled from the Southern Domain in disgrace." The one speaking was Nis, being a typical ’gentleman,’ he was more passionate about such gossip than Angel and knew more, at least Angel hadn’t heard of the romantic debt.
"Is what Wizard Nis said true?" Angel curiously looked at Ironclad Granny.
"Nonsense." Ironclad Granny glanced at Nis indifferently and said to Angel, "Don’t listen to his ramblings, not a bit like a Wizard."
Nis responded woefully, "But back then, it was all the talk, not just me who said it."
Ironclad Granny couldn’t be bothered with Nis, setting aside her teacup and said: "Ginny indeed left the Southern Domain for some reasons, but it wasn’t the so-called romantic debt."
Ironclad Granny clearly had familiarity with Ginny and was well-informed about past events from a hundred years ago.
In Ironclad Granny’s words, Ginny was actually different from the depictions in gossip magazines. She did have a bold demeanor, but that was due to Ginny’s lack of forethought in her actions and speech, and her overly candid emotional expression causing misunderstandings.
Simply put, Ginny devoted all her thoughts to her practice, seldom caring for social niceties. Her manner was akin to some brawny individuals whose heads are filled with muscle.
The rampant gossip primarily stemmed from Ginny being exceedingly striking in appearance.
Ginny’s personality ensured the rumors about hiding due to romantic debt were false. Her departure a hundred years ago was actually because of unresolved conflicts with a Witch from Elysium Pavillion, who used to be a close friend.
Ironclad Granny didn’t elaborate on the specifics of the conflict, but it definitely wasn’t about romantic debt.
"Ginny had once integrated a unique fire butterfly bloodline, which was the ’Red Butterfly Witch’ in her title. This Exotic Beast’s bloodline granted Ginny tremendous power, but it also brought considerable trouble, which is why Ginny remained unable to embark on the path of True Knowledge."
"Ginny at the time was reluctant to face her past friend, and just happened to hear about a similar butterfly discovered during Frost Moon Alliance’s plane Conquest, which she wanted to investigate to see if it could resolve her issues, prompting her departure from the Southern Domain."
"That’s all the insider information." Ironclad Granny sighed deeply as she reached this point: "I met Ginny at a Tea Party three hundred years ago, marking her as a familiar junior to me. Before she left, she visited me in the Barbarian Cave, and I supported her decision to explore. Little did I know she would leave and never send back any news. After many years, hearing about her again turned out like this."
She always thought Ginny was still seeking the path of True Knowledge or had gone to the Origin World for practice, but recalling her now brings to mind the image Nis presented.
Ginny’s current status remains unknown, but her arm now rests quietly in a transparent container, seemingly beautiful yet tragic.
Angel could tell Ironclad Granny genuinely regretted Ginny’s fate, and he considered his words before speaking: "The information we have at present is just an unsubstantiated image. It’s difficult to make a definitive judgment about whether it’s the arm of the Red Butterfly Witch. Even if it is the arm of the Red Butterfly Witch, it’s only an arm and doesn’t necessarily indicate something amiss with her."
"I can still identify whether it’s her arm." Ironclad Granny: "Ginny’s bloodline actually lies in the hands capable of transforming into Butterfly Wings. Her hands are arguably the most crucial part of her body, even more than her heart. The patterns on her hands are an external manifestation of the bloodline, which is challenging to replicate."
Such important hands being severed; the consequences are obvious.
"Alas, who would’ve predicted Ginny’s end would turn out like this." Nis expressed somewhat sorrowfully, given Ginny had once been an object of his fancy.
Ironclad Granny glanced at him: "Angel is right about one thing; Ginny may not necessarily be dead, so it’s premature to lament her end."
"Alright." Nis didn’t argue, shrugging: "Regardless of whether Ginny ends up dead or alive, what intrigues me more now is why Ginny’s arm would appear in an underground cavern on Revelation Continent?"
"Shouldn’t you answer that? Haven’t you heard about those face-marked people?" Ironclad Granny looked at Nis.
According to Dororo’s prophecy, the culprits behind the creation of the underground altar had numbers inscribed on their faces. Thus, to understand why Ginny appeared in the underground cavern, it is crucial to find the people responsible for creating the underground altar, and these clues are something only Nis has some impression of.
Angel also looked over: "Yeah, Wizard Nis has been pondering this for several days; haven’t you recalled anything?"
When the conversation shifted to him, Nis’s expression was somewhat embarrassed; after hesitating for a while, he bashfully said, "I have, but it might not be as you imagined."
Ironclad Granny raised an eyebrow: "If you’ve thought of it, feel free to share."
Nis sighed and slowly began to recount.
"More than thirty years ago, I left the Barbarian Cave to gather undead. At that time, I was misled by that old man Wallace into accepting a Guiding task obligingly..."
At that time, it was the year 7347 of the New Calendar.
Nis, after collecting the required undead at an ancient cemetery, took a trip overseas. He spent most of the year to barely gather five Talented Ones, thus completing the lowest threshold of the Guiding task. He then boarded a cargo ship of the White Shell Maritime Company, returning to Flourish Continent.
Having nothing else to do, Nis began to enjoy this rare leisure time.
As for how to enjoy? For Nis, he was only interested in two things, one was undead, the other was beautiful women. He already had the undead, so naturally, he enjoyed the company of beautiful women.
It happened that there was a guardian from Sky Mechanical City on the ship at the time, a pretty female apprentice named Mia.