3022 Wait for It, Athens The two saintesses caught the flowers almost simultaneously. Other female sages and attendants grabbed some petals as well. People throughout the city did the same. Something was wrong with the flowers. They were not olive flowers and jasmines! There were varieties of white flowers. Even olive flowers and jasmines had many different colors. Athenians were familiar with both olive flowers and jasmines. How could they have made such a mistake? “There seems to be no problem. These two are olive flowers and jasmines.” “My family grows olives. There seems to be a little difference in the fragrance and appearance of the flowers. Could it be that the municipal government tried to cut corners by buying cheap hybrid flowers for Athens?” “This is ridiculous! These are all fake olive flowers and jasmines. None of us would have known there was a shady deal in the flowers used to decorate the city if it wasn’t for the Hall Mother, Pamise, who happened to pray with both flowers.” Some garden workers, plant experts, and farmers all discovered this. These flowers resembled olive flowers and jasmines, but they weren’t exactly the real flowers. They did not know what kind of flowers these were, but if they were not jasmines and olive flowers, the Praying Magic would not work. After all, holy olive branches and thousand-year jasmines had their flower souls. How could they absorb the blessing nutrients of flowers that did not belong to their species? The face of the Hall Mother darkened. It should have been a perfect election. They would have a new goddess, and the Parthenon Temple would enter a new era. However, she had not expected such an absurd thing to happen! “Who is responsible for the decoration of the city? Where did you get the fake flowers?” The Hall Mother, Pamise, was angry. She wanted to investigate and deal with this matter in public! The city officials immediately panicked. They never expected such a ridiculous thing to occur in such a grand election! The tone of the Hall Mother, Pamise, was menacing, and many people stopped talking. Right then, a female sage walked to the Hall Mother and whispered into her ear. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶 “Speak louder so that the two saintesses can hear you!” The Hall Mother commanded the female sage. She was the Hall Mother, not the person in charge. No matter what happened, the two saintesses had to hear it. “These two kinds of flowers are not ordinary fake flowers. I have studied various magical plants. Although these flowers look the same as jasmine and olive flowers, they are a flower that we are all very familiar with,” said the female sage of the Plant Element. “What are they?” Izisha asked first. “They are… poppies,” said the female sage. “Poppy!” Ye Xinxia was also surprised. How could they be poppies?! Poppies did not look like these at all! “I guess they are the creations of an excellent Plant Element Mage. They manipulated the poppies to resemble jasmine and olive flowers,” said the female sage. “Is this a prank?” said the Old Priest, Falmer. “But the number of flowers required to decorate the whole city is unimaginable. How many acres of land does one need to plant all these poppies? Who would go to such an extent just to ruin the election?” said Izisha. Ye Xinxia and Izisha, both, wondered about the same thing. This could not possibly be a prank. The price of this prank was too high! During the Flower Festival, all the flowers in the city were replaced with fake ones! They were not jasmines and olive flowers but poppies. “Where is the Chief of the Botanical Association?” Izisha already sensed a crisis. She immediately questioned the bureaucrats of the Athens municipality. At this time, a middle-aged man in a black suit walked slowly forward. He was wearing a black top hat and holding a black cane. “Your Highness, he is in charge of the transportation of flowers throughout the city,” said the Lord of the Hall of Judgment. The stout, old man’s pace was steady. He maintained a slow walking speed. He walked to Izisha, Hall Mother, and Ye Xinxia and he formally introduced himself. He also introduced himself to the whole city. “Citizens of Athens, the two saintesses, Hall Mother, and the Lords of the halls of the Parthenon Temple, I wish you all a very happy Flower Festival,” the stout, old official said politely to everyone. “I’m the city image executive officer, but I have another identity and hobby. My hobby is growing magical flowers and plants. I have a large olive orchard in Greenbud City, where I planted the flowers. We all call it the holy flower.” Izisha stepped forward and forcibly interrupted the executive. “What is your other identity?” Izisha questioned. “You’d better let me go on. Otherwise, you won’t even know how this city perishes,” the stut, old gentleman said to Izisha. “Your other identity!” Izisha’s eyes were full of murderous intent. “Black Druggist!” The stout, old gentleman took off his black top hat and revealed his cloudy eyes. The Hall Mother, Old Priest, two saintesses, and three Lords were all shocked. Adjudicators of the Hall of Judgment quickly surrounded the old gentleman in black, fearing that he was carrying some terrifying magical weapon and would attack the noble leaders of the Parthenon Temple. “You all better listen to what I have to say. Don’t forget that my ‘bombs’ have already surrounded you!” The Black Druggist calmly faced the dangerous Adjudicators and turned to the Hall Mother and the two saintesses. The bombs that the Black Druggist mentioned were the poppies he had planted. Apparently, he transported the poppies truck by truck to the Acropolis! These flowers were his weapons! He had nothing to fear! The Hall Mother, Pamise, took a deep breath. She winked at Izisha, signaling her to deal with the Black Druggist. “Wait.” Ye Xinxia stopped them. “We can’t talk to this person. He is a member of the Black Vatican,” said the Hall Mother, Pamise. “If the flowers in the whole city are poppies, we will face a crisis of extinction… These flowers are Mad Poppies. They are poppies that can create violent rain!” Ye Xinxia’s voice trembled. Mad Poppies! The disaster in Bo City originated from a violent rain that made the demons go berserk. The catastrophe of the Ancient Capital was also due to the violent rain that allowed the Undead to move freely in the daytime. The violent spring water was extracted from the Mad Poppies! The olive garden in Greenbud City used to be a plantation site of the Black Druggist. The pollen of the planted Mad Poppies caused a demonized Tyrant Titan to lose control. He planted violent poppy pollen that caused a demonized Titan to lose control… The entire Athens was filled with Mad Poppies. This was a familiar yet scary conspiracy… … “I work for Red Cardinal Salan. You can call me the Black Druggist. I can tell that everyone loves the Mad Poppies I planted. The characteristic of this flower is that it is intoxicating. Of course, there is another creature that is also obsessed with this flower!” The Black Druggist grinned, revealing a mouthful of messy and dirty yellow teeth. He laughed maniacally! “Wait for it, Athens.”