Responding to Mozzoni's words was a familiar laughter from the front seat.

"Madam, was that a proper attitude for someone who required our help?"

First they saw her vague smile along with the two symmetrical moles, then her beautiful red eyes that could see through what people hid behind their masks.

"What do you mean, young girl?"

The old lady slightly raised her eyebrow and deliberately emphasized the two last words as she looked at the woman.

"You may have more 'experiences in life' than any of us, but..." She paused to let her eyes make contact with the other, "...we aren't that immature to be fooled by your threatening words."

That woman was gorgeous like a passionate red rose. However, even at first glance, no one would see her as a delicate rose that needed to be protected inside a glass cage.

"I may underestimate you due to your young age." The old lady smiled, "What do you want to know to accept my second option? Tell me."

"Madam, a fair negotiation only begins if there's no secret between two sides."

The woman calmly said.

"You have the advantages of information and possibly force, while we have the possibility that you are seeking for."

Before the old lady could refute her, she continued giving the evidence to prove "the possibility" in her speech.

"You knew the Marino clan, right? Of course, if you didn't have any relationship with them, you wouldn't be here."

The woman pretended to be surprised as if she had just discovered something.

"Then you've already heard from them about what we've done."

The old lady slightly shook her head.

"Those things are still not enough to persuade me, including your latest performance."

"I haven't done my speech yet."

Tennant replied confidently.

"At the wedding scene, we found a sacrificial ritual that was related to arcanum."

The moment Mozzoni's calm face appeared a tiny change, she knew she had taken the initiative in this conversation, though it was just temporary.

"How much did you know about that ritual?" The old lady immediately asked.

"We may know a lot, or we may know just a little bit."

The woman narrowed her eyes with the smile of a fraudster.

"...And that will depend on your sincerity."

In Mozzoni's eyes, Tennant was more like a spider that used rose as a bait to lure its prey into the spiderweb, her trap.

The old lady let out a small sigh, accurately, a sigh of relief.

"To see the young generation of the Foundation like you children was a blessing."

Her expression now looked more relaxed and genuine than before, to the extent that Tennant could trust 30 - 40% of her words. Of course, the number was just estimated.

"Alright, I will introduce myself again properly." Mozzoni said.

"My name is Francesca Mozzoni, a retired employee of the St. Pavlov Foundation, Italy's branch, Sicily's Office."

"My former position was the Chief of Sicily's Office from 1920 to 1952."

Her answer was beyond Vertin and Sonetto's expectations. About Tennant, she had returned to her seat and rested again. Others also let the two girls handle the communication, just like the first day they came to Sicily.

"The Sicily's Office has formed a friendship with the Marino mafia clan during the 1910s. The reason was the further picture about the future we had depicted before and after World War I."

"During World War I, we sensed some great changes in the political apparatus and knew that the war wouldn't easily end like that. There would be another war, which had a larger scale and brought more deaths to the lands it reached."

"With the help of the Marino clan, we found the unregistered arcanists and received the latest information in Sicily. In exchange, we provided them shelters with absolute safety if natural or man-made disasters struck their homeland."

The old lady stopped to ask the orange-haired girl for some water to moisten her dry throat. After receiving the water bottle from Sonetto and thanking her, she took a large sip and sighed contentedly.

"You didn't know how long I've waited for you at that spot under the scorching sun."

She returned the bottle to Sonetto and continued.

"The earthquake and tsunami in Messina in 1908 have given them an impact that made them wary until today. It was also one of the factors that shaped the friendship between the Sicily's Office and the Marino clan."

"Thanks to the benefits from this relationship, I was appointed to be the Chief of Sicily's Office and stayed firmly at this position for 32 years."

As soon as Mozzoni finished, Vertin once again asked the previous question.

"What do you know about the current Chief?"

This time, the old lady actually answered her question.

"The first time I met the current Chief, Federico Zanelli, was in 1947. He was transferred from the Foundation's Headquarters."

"He had worked under me for about 5 years, not only as my resourceful subordinate, but also as my potential student."

She didn't hide her pride when she talked about him. Maybe there was another emotion similar to pride, but more deeper coming from the bottom of her heart that no one in this car could recognize.

"He is patient, hard-working, smart and knows how to read the situations. Besides, Zanelli is an arrogant and ambitious child."

A person definitely had at least one flaw to make them a human, so did the arcanist. The flaws would give people around you a feeling that they knew about you, or in other words, you were under their control.

That was why Mozzoni saw his flaws as something that made him a good candidate for her seat.

"After my retirement at the end of 1952, Zanelli was appointed as the next Chief of Sicily's Office. And I was the person who wrote a letter of recommendation for him."

At this moment, the old lady changed to her serious tone.

"Unusual things began a year later."

"More and more conflicts among mafia clans and other criminal groups occurred. Although they were just small-scale, they spreaded across this island."

"Palermo, Messina, Catania, Siracusa, Agrigento, Trapani... as if someone intentionally started these conflicts to distract us from something."

Mozzoni furrowed her eyebrows as she recalled the ritual drawings in Siracusa.

"The first arcanum trace we discovered was a circle drawing on the ground where a blood feud between two groups of mafia took place. It was hidden by an arcane skill, so normal humans couldn't detect it."

"According to what I've examined, that circle drawing activated like a battery and its energy came from human bodies after they died."

"You meant, the souls?"

Suddenly interrupting her speech was the quiet girl at the rear seat. She was wearing black outfits that gave a vibe of funeral with a glass cage in her hands. The old lady still remembered what the people of Marino called the girl in black.

The Doctor and the Boss.

"The Doctor" may be from her healing ability, but "the Boss" title didn't seem suitable for her.

"Yes, you can see it as souls." Mozzoni nodded.

The girl tightened her fingers when hearing the confirmation from the old lady.

"Are you sad?"

Noticing her strange behavior, Balloon Party worriedly asked.

"It's okay. I'm fine." Necrologist looked at the girl and smiled gently.

The old lady continued.

"After the first one, we tried to detect more, but most of their energy was already extracted before we arrived at the scene. As if the one who was behind this knew exactly about our directions."

"There were traitors on your side?" Sonetto guessed.

"Yes, apart from traitors, there was also an arcanist who has an ability to stalk our footsteps."

"That arcanist used rats, right?" Vertin said.

"That's right, the one in your report." Mozzoni replied, "He was arrested by the staff of Sicily's Office on the night of April 15th, in the suburb of Palermo."

"Have you taken his testimony yet?"

"Unfortunately, that man was hospitalized and in a deep coma as soon as I arrived in Palermo." She sounded a bit frustrated.

"How about the other arcanist that was captured at the same time as him? Giovanni Ferrozas?"

Sonetto repeated the culprit's name.

"His mind doesn't seem stable anymore." Mozzoni slightly shook her head, "Though we've tried all the interrogation measures, he just screamed and cried like a baby. He didn't even recognize his beloved children for whom he could sacrifice himself."

"We still want to meet Ferrozas once."

Vertin didn't easily falter because of the deadlock in Mozzoni's words.

"Can you help us distract Mr. Zanelli while we are interrogating Ferrozas?"

"Can I take that as an agreement between us?"

The old lady narrowed her eyes with an unpredictable smile.

"We've already received your sincerity, so we will respond to you with our possibilities."

With a trustworthy face, Vertin held out her right hand to Mozzoni and the other grasped it.

"Now tell me about the sacrificial ritual you saw at the wedding scene."

To the old lady's surprise, the person who replied to her was neither Vertin nor Sonetto, but the quiet girl at the rear seat.

"Did you bring a sample of the circle drawings you've found?"

"Sure. Here you are."

Mozzoni gave her the paper in her pocket.

After receiving the paper, the girl tilted her head, murmured something to the glass cage and scribbled in her notebook. Then, she looked at the old lady and said:

"All the batteries are created for a single purpose: to provide energy for the final ritual."

"It was originally a reincarnation ritual to bring back the deceased to life. However, its energy source was polluted by the negative emotions of those who couldn't rest in peace."

Necrologist took a deep breath and slowly exhaled.

"The result of this false ritual will turn this land into purgatory."

"Based on the drawings we saw at the wedding scene, that ritual's energy was almost completed if we didn't interfere.

"Have we already prevented it?" Vertin looked at Necrologist.

"Not yet." The girl shook her head, "It was just delayed for a certain time until the next battery was fully charged."

"How long will it take?" Mozzoni asked.

"24 hours for the next battery. But the final ritual depends on the day and time when the chosen deceased passed away."

Necrologist turned to another page.

"According to the old records, 10 years is the exact period that is required to perform the reincarnation ritual. If the ritual fails, the chosen soul will eventually be erased."

"What if that person behind the scene wants to perform another ritual?" Sonetto expressed her hypothesis.

"Actually, the conditions of this ritual are really strict."

Necrologist flipped her notebook.

"Firstly, you need a soul that can last more than 10 years. Secondly, the soul must be moved to the place where they died and the ritual must be performed at that place."

"Thirdly, the soul must awake during the ritual. Fourthly, the soul must agree to do the ritual. Fifthly, you need a matched body for the soul if their original body has already perished."

"Sixthly, you must perform the ritual at the exact time and place in which the soul left their body, after a 10 year period. Remember that the time must be no more and no less than 10 years."

"Finally, the energy source for the ritual must be pure and completely voluntary."

As Necrologist closed her black notebook, she also finished the speech.

"That's why the latest reincarnation ritual was performed more than 1000 years ago."

Her throat already dried and itchy to the extent that made her cough a little.

"Have some water, Necrologist."

Sonetto gave another water bottle to her.

"...Thank you, Sonetto."

Necrologist gave the other a grateful smile.

The old lady was still digesting the new knowledge she had just listened to. After a while, she just realized something odd on the journey so far.

"In my expectations, there would be more enemies on our way. " Mozzoni curiously asked, "How could you do that?"

"It's because we have a professional driver who has lived in this land for more than 10 years."

Tennant, who had rested enough, replied.

"He's also a gentleman, if you ask me."

She looked at his annoyed face and chuckled.

"Tsk." The man clicked his tongue and grumbled, "I'm hungry as hell while having to listen to your voices!"

"Next station, I will order as much as I want and that's the price for my patience!"

"What a straightforward child."

Mozzoni laughed comfortably.

"I will pay for all of your food."

*Writer's note:

Thank you so much for following this story until this chapter 🥺❤️