Release That Witch

Chapter 225: The Avenger

t turned out that there was more than one rat. Iron Axe looked expressionlessly at one of the arrestees. ” You’re already the third person to jump ship. The refugees have said that you aren’t from the Eastern Region. Do you have any last words?”

The previous two arrestees had confessed everything about their background and purpose after two of their fingers were chopped off with a dagger. Of course, their bodies were already thrown into the canal—Iron Axe was never a kindhearted person. His combat experience in Iron Sand City informed him that the best way to extract information from these evasive characters was to chop their fingers off one by one. However, what surprised him was that this fella, who knelt on the floor with his hands tied behind his back, appeared to be in very good health, as though he had not contracted the disease.

Could he be a death warrior from a faction somewhere?

“I’m not your enemy.” The first sentence that the man spoke surprised Iron Axe slightly. “I’m Hill Fawkes. Theo knows my name!”

…

At this time, Theo had still not left the pier area and was thus quickly called over by Iron Axe’s men. He looked briefly at Hill and said with a grin. “This person is Black Hammer’s subordinate.”

“Not yours?” Iron Axe asked.

“He has no relation to me. He’s simply a Rat that just joined.”

“You deceived not only Black Hammer but also Skeleton Fingers,” Hill suddenly said, “you aren’t working for Timothy, but are instead serving His Highness Roland Wimbledon of the Western Region!”

“He knows too much already.” Theo made a throat-cutting gesture at Iron Axe. “The best resting place for this person is at the bottom of the canal.”

But Hill continued to blabber on. “I heard the contents of the propaganda announced by the mercenary. We can work together! I’m willing to serve His Highness Roland!”

“His Highness doesn’t need the loyalty of a Rat.” Iron Axe pulled out his rapier.

“I’m no Rat. I’m a… free citizen of the king’s city. I’m Timothy’s enemy!” Hill exclaimed.

“Wait.” Theo held back Iron Axe and walked up to Hill. The latter raised his head and made eye contact with no sign of fear. There even seemed to be something burning in his eyes.

[I see… this is the answer which I couldn’t figure out when I first met him.] Theo thought to himself. Hill’s eyes were filled with an extreme hatred which he could not completely cover up even though he deliberately tried to do so.

“Tell us more about your reasons for wanting to serve His Highness.”

“Although I indeed lived in the north district of the city, and would occasionally go to Covert Trumpeter to drink, it wasn’t the case that I lost my property through gambling, nor did my wife run away with someone else…,” Hill said while gnashing his teeth, “she was killed by Timothy!”

The story behind this was not too complicated. Theo quickly understood the sequence of events.

Hill and his wife were formerly members of the acrobatic troupe “Dove and Hat”, which often held performances in the inner city area of the king’s city. The troupe consisted of only seven people, but the atmosphere between them was very harmonious. As the only female in the troupe, his wife was courted by everyone else, and it was Hill who eventually succeeded in winning her heart. Their marriage life was sweet indeed, and after not long, they were able to save up enough money to buy a house in the inner city area. This was all destroyed by Timothy’s witchhunt operation. Under Langley’s command, the patrol team arrested suspects as recklessly as a pack of rabid dogs. His wife was one of the unlucky ones to be arrested by mistake.

Hill had thought that if he paid the ransom, his wife would be released, or at the very least, he could enter the prison to see her once more. Although the warden accepted the ransom, he did not release her or agree to Hill’s visit requests. He simply reassured Hill that his wife would be naturally released after it was confirmed that she was not a witch. However, things took an unexpected downturn. When he was told to enter the prison to claim his wife, all he saw was a corpse covered in scars and bruises.

Filled with rage, Hill went to Langley to demand justice, but in the end, the warden, the castellan and the guard were only sentenced to 10 lashes and a fine of 25 silver royals each. As for himself, he only received a compensation of three gold royals. This punishment was completely unacceptable to Hill. He even sought out the highest leader of the patrol team, “Steelheart Knight” Knight Weimar, but it was to no avail. Weimar explained to him that Langley was Timothy Wimbledon’s confidant, and hence the new members of the patrol team were also the latter’s minions. Furthermore, the witchhunt was decreed by His Majesty himself, and thus even Minister of Justice Pilaw, would not speak up on Hill’s behalf.

Consequently, Hill was determined to take revenge on the new king. What he did not expect was that this decision garnered the support of all of the members of his acrobatic troupe. However, as a bunch of performers who did not possess combat expertise, wealth or men, it was virtually impossible for them to achieve their aim of revenge. All that Hill could think of doing was to gather intelligence about Timothy and provide it to his enemies, such as Queen of Clearwater Garcia. Thus, the troupe members quickly joined and hid themselves in various Black Street organizations, and started collecting information that had to do with the new king.

This also explained why Hill had covertly kept watch on Theo’s movements. If Timothy intended to banish the refugees, he had to think of a way to stop it. However, before he could take action, the plague broke out and Theo had discontinued the transportation of refugees on the king’s behalf. It was only on this day that Hill discovered that there were people resuming such activities. In order to investigate further, he disguised as a refugee and blended into the crowd. In the end, he discovered that Theo was actually serving Roland Wimbledon, the fourth Prince of the Kingdom of Graycastle.

There was no question that, as one of the qualified contenders for the throne, Roland was an archenemy of Timothy.

From Hill’s perspective, he was willing to serve anyone who could topple the king, even if it was a demon.

“The last question I have is, when you blended into the crowd to obtain information, did you consider the possibility of being infected?” Theo asked with interest, “and I don’t believe that someone who seeks revenge would belittle his own life.”

“I have an antidote.” Hill pouted his lips. “It’s in the pocket of my undershirt. A pal from my troupe spent a great deal of his family fortune to purchase it from the black market for me.”

Theo reached out his hand and felt Hill’s pocket. He then fished out a transparent vial that was as thick as an index finger. It seemed to contain a blue liquid. Theo passed the vial to Iron Axe and said, “The church’s elixir… I believe that His Highness will be interested in this.”

“This person…” Iron Axe questioned after receiving the vial. “What do you think?”

“Oh.” Theo stroked his chin and pondered. Under normal circumstances, he would have no means to verify what Hill said, and therefore he would choose the safest option—send Hill on his way swiftly. However, there was coincidentally someone in the camp who could accurately determine whether Hill was lying or not. “I’ll like to have Miss Nightingale verify this.”

…

In the evening, Theo returned to Covert Trumpeter.

Black Hammer seemed to be in poor spirits. The spread of the plague had caused the tavern’s business to drop heavily. Silver Ring’s and Pott’s contraction of the disease also caused him further distress.

Hill appeared as if nothing had happened during the day, and sat opposite Theo with his usual restraint.

Theo’s personal guard smiled and tossed a small bag of gold royals in front of Black Hammer. Theo then said, “Don’t be so depressed. Let me tell you a piece of good news: there’ll soon be business again.”

Black Hammer counted the royals, kept the bag in his pocket, and replied feebly, “I’m not taking any business. With the plague spreading, who would dare to stroll in public? The money I earn won’t be enough to buy the medicine for everyone. Do you know how much a vial costs on the black market these days? At least 25 gold royals!”

“What a coincidence.” Theo laughed heartily. “The business I was about to mention is also selling medicine,” he paused before continuing, “… a special cure for the demonic plague.”

Chapter 226: The Action in the City

quot;Have you gotten the holy medicine?” Black Hammer immediately came to the spirit.

“Holy medicine?” Theo stopped smiling and sneered. “We can also cure patients who’re infected with the epidemic without the medicine of the church.” He removed the two small bladders from his waist and put them on the table. “Blaming the witches is just their usual trick, after all, the dead won’t refute them.”

Black Hammer was puzzled and picked up one of the bladders, shaking it by his ear and then untying the rope to smell. “No smell?”

“You take it to Silver Ring and Pott and let them drink it to see if it’s a real medicine,” said Theo, “The two men should be still in the pub.”

“Since they were found infected, I let them hide in the basement, and they don’t come out. Because now black spot patients are easy to be attacked outside, and Skeleton Fingers wouldn’t open the door to put them in,” Black Hammer picked up the bag and said, “Lord Theo, I’ll try it.”

When Black Hammer left, Hill was still staring at the table, not saying a word, which made Theo shake his head inwardly.

As an ordinary person living under the demonic plague, when hearing that a medicine could cure the disease, how could he have been so calm? Even if he was not excited to take a look at the medicine, at least he would ask about it more. As an intelligence officer, such a performance was not qualified.

“This medicine can really cure the demonic plague?” cried Little Finger, “Lord Theo, how did you get it?”

Even a little girl was better than him. Theo drank a glass of wine and said, “Of course, His Lordship in the palace gave it to me. Except him, who dares to do something against the church?”

A moment later, Black Hammer came back with Silver Ring and Pott. “My God, this medicine is incredible! Not long after drinking it, their black spots were gone.”

“Lord Theo, thank you for your medicine.” The two thumped down, kneeling on the ground, while Pott’s cracked skin was still bleeding. “You’ve saved our lives!”

“First, bandage the wound.” Theo waved his hand. Although the water could get rid of the disease, it could not heal the wounds. If people who were seriously injured wanted to recover, they needed at least a week or so. “You don’t need to thank me, and you had better thank my employer. If you complete this task well, you’ll have the opportunity to get rid of the Rats’ status.”

“No, I mean that your employer is really going to let us sell the medicine?” Black Hammer asked excitedly. Obviously, he also realized that selling that special medicine could bring in much more income.

“Yes, the church tricking the people in this way has made him very angry. If these church scoundrels continue to act unscrupulously like this, I’m afraid the whole king’s city will become a big church, rather than the domain of Wimbledon,” Theo said heavily, “In addition, he doesn’t want to see that there’re few living in the huge city. Therefore, the medicine can’t be sold at a high price, so that most civilians in the city can afford it.” He took two bladders again and said, “This bag can be sold for, at most, 10 silver royals.”

“Ten, ten silver royals!?” Black Hammer widened his eyes in astonishment.

“Yes, you have to give six silver royals to my employer, and then the rest belongs to you,” he said, “And the medicine is enough for 5,000 to 6,000 people, so you can get at least a few hundred gold royals. Even if you share it equally, it isn’t a small number, enough for you to spend in a lifetime.”

They had a hesitant look, staring at the bladders on the table as if they were considering how to get more benefits from them.

Theo had a clear idea of what these Rats were thinking.

The medicine itself had no cost, and it did not matter even if it was given freely. However, such a big share, if he distributed by himself, would be inefficient and it would be too noticeable. It could reduce risks by letting Rats sell the medicine, and 10 silver royals was affordable for the majority of the people. Of course, these people could not honestly sell at low prices, but whether they sold some to Inner City or handed them over to the black market, they could both gain a huge income.

Eventually, less than half of the medicine could be sold to civilians at a low price, but that was not the focus of Theo. The task His Royal Highness gave him was to thwart the church’s conspiracy as much as possible, as long as people all understood that the holy medicine was not the only antidote to fight against the epidemic, and it was not something rare or expensive. Then the contents of the priest’s propaganda would be questioned by the public, especially those believers who took a great expense to bring the holy medicine. They would be more doubtful from the bottom of their hearts if the spokesman of the gods was deceiving them.

“I know what you’re thinking,” Theo said, “You hide some of the medicine and sell it secretly, or give priority to the buyers who offer high prices. I’ll ignore these… but don’t forget.” His tone became cold. “My employer isn’t kind, if you don’t want to be sunk into the moat, you’d better restrain yourselves. After all, only those who’re alive can have the opportunity to enjoy life.”

“But what happens if someone else sells it?” Silver Ring asked.

“It’s very easy. Everyone can only buy one and use it on the spot.” He finished saying that and looked at Black Hammer. “How about this business? Are you interested?”

“The Covert Trumpeter may not be able to sell so much medicine, so I want…”

Theo stopped his words directly. “Who and where to sell the medicine is your business, while my duty is to watch for you for His Lordship.”

Black Hammer gnashed his teeth and looked around. Seeing that there were no objections around, he smashed a fist on the table. “This business, I accept!”

“Very good.” He nodded. “As the sun sets on the day after tomorrow, the carriage carrying the potion will reach the gate of the pub. You’ll have to arrange the manpower and release the news of new medicine. Work hard, my employer doesn’t want to see failure.”

Theo thought that the day after tomorrow was the last day of the First Army’s stay, and no matter what the city would look like later, it would not cause a threat to His Highness.

…

Not long after getting out of the pub, Hill chased him from behind.

“Won’t you meet my partners? They’re all eager to avenge against Timothy.”

“I believe you temporarily because you’ve passed the test, but it doesn’t mean that I believe them also.” Theo shook his head. “If you hadn’t been caught today, what would you have planned to do?”

“I wanted to go back to tell the news to the others, and listen to their views, whether we continue to observe for some more time, or go to His Highness directly,” he replied.

“Oh?” Theo asked with interest, “What’s your personal view?”

Hill hesitated a little and said, “I think His Highness is different from most of the nobles, for few people will do their best to save the fugitives like him, and… he also treats the witches equally. If Timothy did everything like him, my wife wasn’t… ” He was silent for a moment. “So I’m more inclined to work directly for His Highness.”

“Then you go back and don’t say anything, and you’ve never been to the wharf.”

“Why… ” He raised his head in amazement.

“A good intelligence man should be accustomed to hiding secrets in his heart, rather than share them with others, especially at this critical moment,” Theo said slowly, “If you want to work for His Highness, there’re many other things you need to learn.”

Chapter 227: The Informer

n the splendid hall of the church, Priest Ferry was looking down at a farmer who was kneeling beside his feet.

The farmer’s tough body had become bent into a ball, as his hands were trembling and an abnormal purple color appeared on his skin. These abnormal purple spots would cohere and turn into black spots, which would spread all over the body within half a day, and he was considered to be strong enough not to be infected until today.

The priest said, “I know you. You’re Rock Hill, living in the eastern district, and you often bring us some fresh wheat grain.”

“You… remember me! That’s great, Your Reverence,” he repeatedly kowtowed and said, “All my family members are infected with a demonic epidemic. Please give us some holy medicine, please…”

Ferry said slowly, “But what have you brought for us this time? You know that the holy medicine is so precious that it can’t be given at will, but you can exchange it with your sincere heart.”

Rock Hill said in a trembling tone, “In order to buy medicine, my money was all cheated away by Rats, so please forgive my insincere heart by seeking the black market as a shortcut. Now all I have is an egg, please accept it.” Rock Hill pulled out an egg from his bosom and held it above his head with two hands.

Ferry received the egg with a smile on his face and said, “When pinning your hopes on the black market, fraught with fraud and unfairness, you’ll certainly end up with punishment. But God will always help those lost sheep like you. As long as you’re aware of your error, you can go farther on the road of pilgrimage. Stand up. God has forgiven you!”

“Rea-really?” Stone Hill said unbelievably.

“We, the messengers of God, never deceive commoners.” Ferry waved, and another believer holding a box of medicine came forward. Then Ferry picked up four bottles to hand over to the farmer. “If I remember correctly, you have four family members?”

“Yes, Your Reverence.” Rock Hill swallowed his saliva and held the bottles in his hands. He bent down to kiss the priest’s shoes. “Thank you! Thank you very much! I’ll devote myself to the church and to God for the rest of my life!”

Believers beside them were all moved by this scene and cheered, for a sincere believer was joining the big family of the church.

When the cheers stopped, Ferry lowered his hand down to make everyone quiet and said loudly, “The next one.”

…

This medicine distribution ceremony lasted until sunset.

As the clock of the king’s city rang at its integral point, Priest Ferry announced that today’s ceremony was over and that it would begin again tomorrow. Even though commoners begged him to stay, he left the hall.

Although he was a little exhausted, he felt very fresh. Standing in the hall to hear the commoners’ pleas and dreams, and watch them ingratiate himself, Ferry could not help feeling like he was God himself.

“No, the church itself is God,” Ferry thought, “It developed the demonic plague and its medicine so that it could control commoner’s lives easier. Its power is no different from God.” Ferry could not help feeling that the best choice he made in his life was to plunge himself into the church instead of inheriting his family business.

Nobody could stop in the presence of such power. Could a rich merchant or a powerful noble? In the face of death, they all would abandon everything in exchange for an opportunity to live.

Back to the resting area in the apse, a priest came forward in a hurry and whispered in Ferry’s ear. “Your Reverence, Rats reported that there has been something wrong.”

“About what?”

“Refugees of the Eastern Region. But he insisted on telling the details after seeing you,” the priest replied.

Based on instructions of the church, Ferry should make full use of the demonic plague and antidote to convert many believers to the church for Hermes. So it was part of his plan to draw in refugees who, compared with residents of the king’s city, were not so important. In his plan, in two or three days when half of those homeless died, he would go out of town to spread medicine to them, and make them become residents of the king’s city at the same time. Hence, 90% of residents of the king’s city would become believers of the church. With such achievements plus what he had done for the Royal Decree on the Selection of the Crown Prince, Ferry would even set foot on the road of becoming a bishop.

Regarding blood and identity, the church was quite fair to grant rewards to the due person. As long as a believer made a great contribution, he could get a promotion.

Is there something wrong with the refugees?

Ferry hid his doubts and said calmly, “Take him to the secret chamber and I’ll be there soon.”

“Yes, Your Reverence.”

Ferry took off his priest’s robe and took soft armor out of the wardrobe to wear. Then he wore a loose coat and checked himself against a silver mirror, walking toward the secret chamber.

Ferry met that “informer” in a small room in the basement—messy hair, sallow face, as well as his thin and dry arms, in which could be seen the bones’ shape. Oddly, there were not black spots on his body.

The moment the informer met Ferry, he kneeled down and said, “Your Reverence, I’m Needle and I have very important intelligence to tell you.”

“Go ahead.”

“But…” He looked up to see the other people in the secret chamber and stopped speaking.

“It doesn’t matter. This’s my right-hand man, Priest Shattrath, while the other one is Hera, responsible for guarding and cleaning up this room and she never leaves here,” Ferry explained to him.

“I’ll tell, but you’ve promised me…”

Ferry shook a small blue bottle impatiently. “The potions are here. If your intelligence is worthy, I’ll cure your demonic plague.”

Needle looked up and said confidently, “Your Reverence, I can guarantee that this intelligence is well worth it. Someone is sending refugees away and I’ve witnessed that ships are everywhere in the canal. I’m afraid that they would carry all refugees away in a few days.”

Ferry frowned. “Those black spots patients? Are you sure?”

Ferry had heard that there were ships to carry away refugees of the Eastern Region, but he had thought that it was normal—after all, all nobles of different domains would like to purchase a batch of laborers at a quite small cost when other domains suffered natural or man-made disasters. In any case, when the demonic plague came into effect, God would punish those stupid refugees. However, now that the demonic plague had gotten rampant, why did someone still accept them?

“No, they have cures for the demonic plague! Mercenaries help patients drink a kind of strange water, and then the black spots soon disappear. Besides, someone claims that they came from the Western Region and that as long as refugees go onboard, they would obtain food, houses, and remunerations.” Needle paused and continued to say, “But the most incredible thing is that there’re witches.”

“What’re you saying?”

Needle shouted, “I’m quite sure, Your Reverence. Dressed up as one of the refugees, I went onboard and I didn’t find out until someone jumped into the water to escape. Mercenaries on land soon ran after him and at that moment, I noticed that a dark shadow in the sky wasn’t a bird, but a flying witch. I was so stunned that I waited for an opportunity to jump into the water after the ship sailed away for a few miles and the witch disappeared. It almost took one day for me to swim back.” He rubbed his hands and continued to ask, “Your Reverence, don’t you think the intelligence is worthy of a bottle of holy medicine?”

“Wait a moment, you’ve mentioned that they have cures for the demonic plague and you’ve already drunk it. And now, you’re healthy?” Ferry asked him anxiously.

“Ugh… that’s right. But you’ve said that if I have valuable intelligence, I can…” Needle smiled embarrassedly, revealing his uneven, yellow teeth.

“So, he wants to sell this available holy medicine on the black market.” Ferry thought for a moment and said, “How many people are there? Are you sure that they are mercenaries of a caravan?”

Needle scratched his head, saying, “I’m sure. They don’t have armor or horses, and their weapons are wooden spears. There’re 100 people at most.”

“The ships belong to which family?”

“I don’t know because most ships don’t hang flags. What’s more, even if they had flags, I can’t recognize them. But according to the mercenary, the ships will go to the Western Region. He also mentioned that this is recruiting of the Lord of Border Town. It seems that the lord needs more men to reclaim land. That’s all I can remember.”

Ferry took a deep breath, pulled out that blue holy medicine, and then threw it at Needle, saying, “Well, it’s very important intelligence. Take it, it’s yours.”

“Thank you, Your Reverence.” Needle was in a panic to catch the bottle, but he suddenly trembled and his eyes widened. Standing behind him, the old Hera had used a short sword to cut through his neck.

.

Chapter 228: Faceless

he old woman drew back her short sword and laid Needle down on the ground. She then picked up the medicine bottle, wiped it on her clothes to clean it, and then handed it to the Priest.

“Nice work.” Ferry nodded. “Drag his corpse out and dispose of it.”

“Yes,” she replied in a hoarse voice. She dragged the corpse effortlessly, utterly unlike an old woman who had one foot in the grave.

“My lord, do you believe what he said,” Priest Shattrath asked after the old woman left. “A caravan is working with the witches under the command of the Lord of Border Town. As I recall, isn’t that lord Roland Wimbledon, the fourth Prince?”

“We’ll know whether it’s true after we send someone to check it,” Ferry said with a serious look, “but I think he has no reason to lie. As long as someone takes a look from the top of the city walls, he’ll notice the actions of the refugees. If he wanted to tell a lie to exchange for the holy medicine, at least he would have made one harder to verify.”

Shattrath bowed and said, “I will send people to check the situation immediately.”

“Go ahead. Report to me immediately, as long as you find anything.”

Ferry slowly walked to the desk and sat down, playing with the holy medicine in his hands. Those refugees had already been in the bag for him. In order to control their movement and prevent them from fleeing, after the demonic plague spread out, he commanded Dreamland Water to send some Rats to mingle into the refugees and spread the news that the church would save them. As long as the refugees could stick it for a few more days, they would not only acquire salvation of deities but also be accepted by the church. And they would also become a citizen of the king’s city of the Kingdom of Graycastle. As for those Rats, most of them had already been infected with the disease. In order to exchange for the holy medicine, they would spare no efforts to follow his orders.

If that Rat was telling the truth, then those people had started to ship refugees away at least since yesterday. It seemed that they would not stop until they delivered all refugees away. This would seriously impede his plan. What was worse, they were cooperating with the witches. Ferry believed that the person among them who was able to cure the demonic plague must have been a witch.

“My lord, the corpse has been disposed of.” The old woman quietly walked into the secret chamber. “Has another Fallen appeared?”

“Most probably.” Ferry lowered his voice. “Maybe more than one.” He paused for a moment. “There’s no one else in the room. Stop wearing such an ugly disguise. It’s so disgusting.”

“Yes.”

She bent over, and then the sounds of bones stretching and rubbing crackled over her body. She quickly became taller, her gray hair turned dark in a blink of eyes, and her wrinkled and loose skin gradually tightened and glowed with health again. Time seemed to flow backward. When she finally stretched her body again, she had turned into a beautiful young woman.

“Now much better-looking.” Ferry smiled contentedly. “I remember it’s… the one who was hanged at the city gate?”

“Yes, my lord,” she nodded, “you spent the most time with her among the four.”

“You really know…how to please me.” the priest smacked his lips,” But Shattrath is probably coming back soon. We don’t have enough time.” He fought down his lust and said, “And I need you to handle those Fallens, just like what you did before.”

“Leave it to me, my lord.” She bowed. “I won’t let go any Fallen witch.”

About 15 minutes later, Shattrath returned to the secret chamber. He cast a quick glance at the witch, and then reported to Ferry, “My lord, many refugees outside the western gate left the camp indeed. It was dim outside, so I ordered my men to walk through the camp with torches, and they found that many tents were empty. But there wasn’t any flame at the dork, so we were uncertain whether the caravan was still stationed there. As for the witches…”

“No need for a further check.” Ferry interrupted. “Since they dared to ship the sick refugees away, then the information from the Rat shouldn’t be wrong. So there were at least two witches, one flying in the air to supervise the action, the other one clearing up the demonic plague. Especially the latter one is a great threat to my plan, so we must stop them.” They were only transferring refugees outside the city at present, but if they brought the witches into the city and publicly cured the infected citizens, the “holy medicine” of the church would become a joke!”

“Then what should we do?” Shattrath asked, “Should we send the Judgement Army to catch the witches?”

Ferry shook his head. “We’re in the king’s city, not Holy City of Hermes. There’re only around 20 soldiers of Judgement Army in the church. If we send them to catch the witches, then who’ll maintain order during the distribution of the holy medicine tomorrow? Moreover, we have too few soldiers, what could they do except giving the other side a warning? Even if they’re able to defeat the mercenaries, I’m afraid the witches will run away.” Just because they were in the king’s city, the number of Judgement Army which was responsible for protecting the church was limited to several dozens. Otherwise, thinking of such a powerful army of hundreds of soldiers owned by the church, the king would not be able to sleep well.

“Then… should we write to Holy City and ask the bishop to send over more soldiers?”

“When the Judgement Army comes, I’m afraid the refugees will be already gone.” Priest Ferry responded with a sneer, “By the way, we don’t need to bother the elite army of the church just to deal with a group of mercenaries. Leave it to Dreamland Water.”

“Leave it to the Rats?” Shattrath was stunned.

“At least they keep a lot of Rats, so they can surround the dock in advance, and then attack the mercenaries together. How many Rats can a mercenary handle, since he wears no armor and uses only a wooden spear?”

“About two or three.”

“Then they’ll only be able to deal with about 200 people, while Dreamland Water can summon more than 1,000 thugs. Of course, these aggressive and violent dregs may not be able to defeat even a small team of Judgment Army. But they’re enough just to kill those mercenaries without armors.” Ferry stood up. “Tell my words to ‘Fiercetooth’ Tanis. He only has a day to summon his men, as many as possible. And then he’ll attack tomorrow night. Don’t tell him that there’re other ways to cure the demonic plague or they’re going to deal with the witches. Only tell him not to spare anyone’s life. His reward will be a box of holy medicines. If he hesitates and attempts to put it off, then tell him he won’t get any poppy flower and sleeping fern from me anymore.”

“What about… the witches? Especially the one who can fly?”

“She can’t fly forever, and the Rats won’t finish fighting in a short time… In other words, their role is to attract the attention of the mercenaries.” Ferry walked to the witch, stretching his hand to stroke her face. “As long as Faceless finds a chance to sneak into the camp, what’ll happen is for sure.”

Faceless was able to completely disguise herself as someone else as long as she touched him. Not only her appearance, but also her body shape and voice would be perfectly substituted, and this state would not be relieved by God’s Stone of Retaliation. It was a perfect ability for an assassinator. For this reason, she was one of the few witches who was kept and specifically trained by the church.

“Once they realize they’re unable to win, the camp will certainly fall into chaos. At that time, Faceless can guarantee that no witch is able to survive.” The priest laughed.

Chapter 229: The Eve of Returning Day

n the third day, outside the eastern city gate of the king’s city.

Nightingale hid in the Mist, quietly watching those refugees who dressed in rags. They were summoned here group by group by Echo’s magic sound, slowing moving after knight Brian toward the dock.

Now the witches did not have to be as cautious as they were two days ago, where they had to pass through the edges of the refugee camps and lead the refugees off in small numbers. After lots of refugees had left with them, the rest who had already noticed that would constantly follow them. Even the guards on the city walls had noticed what happened at the foot of the walls, but they only wished that these refugees with stinky smell would leave as soon as possible.

The whole plan was progressing smoothly. Few refugees were left in the eastern district, and the refugees outside the northern city gate were making a proactive approach to them after they heard the news. It was likely that before sunset, all people would be able to be safely sailed away.

Everyone was busy, while Nightingale seemed to be the only one at leisure. Echo was surrounded by the “mercenaries” who were responsible for guiding the refugees. Lily was making purifying water under the protection of the First Army. Her protection seemed to be unnecessary.

Only when the “mercenaries” left to carry those patients who were too ill to move by themselves, she would keep a wary eye on Echo. Just then, Nightingale saw Echo raising her head to look at the magnificent eastern city gate and sigh to herself.

“What’s the matter?” she walked towards her and asked.

“Nothing. I just recalled something.” Echo seemed to be sad. “Before I was sold to King’s City, I had suffered so much on the way. I thought that they treated me so cruelly because I came from Sand Nation. But now it seems that they’re equally merciless to their own people. There isn’t much difference between them and the people in Iron Sand City.”

Recalling that Echo had been sold as a slave, Nightingale was not sure how to comfort her. She gently patted her on her shoulder and said, “Not all people are like this. There are many kind-hearted people, for example, the sisters in Witch Cooperation Association, or… Prince Roland.”

“Do you think… His Highness can really end the wars?” Echo whispered, “no matter where we’re from, the kingdoms of the continent, Sand Nation, or the Fjords; no matter who we’re, a witch or an ordinary man, we’ll live together peacefully, instead of fighting each other. Do you think His Highness can really make this happen?”

“I believe His Highness can,” Nightingale responded in a positive tone, “it’s not because of the strange machines and powerful cannons he created, but because of him… I always think that His Highness is different from us.”

“Of course he’s different from us. He’s a prince of Kingdom of Graycastle.”

“No, not about his identity.” She shook her head. “I can’t tell the difference. It’s just my instinct. Maybe only someone like His Highness can produce so many strange theories. He even repeatedly carries out studies to figure out our abilities. He also thinks in a different way. No matter what strange things he creates in the future, I won’t be surprised.”

“You really have confidence in him.” Echo snorted with laughter. The sad expression on her face seemed to be lighter. “I hope when that day comes, I’ll be able to revisit the Southernmost Region.”

Confidence? In some aspects, yes. But in other aspects, she did not have any confidence. Nightingale could not help looking toward the Western Region. [What’s he doing when I’m away? Is he busy with the blueprints and strange machines, or is he together with Anna?] She shook her head, trying to shake off these strange thoughts.

[At the end of this day, we would return to Border Town,] Nightingale thought. She would ask him directly; after all, he had not been lying to her.

…

At noon when they returned to the camp, Lightning slowly landed to have a rest.

During these days, she had the toughest work of all of them. She had to fly to patrol under the hot sun. Especially for concealing her from the guards, she had to wear a special sky-like camouflage coat made by Soraya, which tightly covered her body and even her hair. This outfit with a strange name given by His Highness was obviously not designed for a better appearance. Instead, it was coated with blue and grey patterns, which made her almost melt into the background when she flew. It would be hard to notice her without careful observation.

The first thing this little girl did after landing was to take off the coat and grab a water bag to drink. Nightingale noticed that her clothes inside the coat were completely wet, beads of sweat broke out on her forehead and nose, and her windproof glasses left a circle of marks on her white cheeks.

“You’ve done a hard work.” Nightingale bent down to help her wipe the sweat.

“Fortunately, these people aren’t coming endlessly from the Eastern Region.” Lightning stuck out her tongue naughtily. “Or I’ll really faint under such scorching sun.”

“We can go home tomorrow, right?” Lily slouched to Lightning’s side. “I haven’t taken a shower for several days. I feel itchy from head to foot now.”

Nightingale couldn’t help laughing. When they were in the Witch Cooperation Association, they only got time to take a bath every half a month and no one complained. Now they couldn’t tolerate it for just more than a week. She suddenly thought maybe the bathroom and scented soap were Prince Roland’s “conspiracies”. Since he invented those strange yet useful things, it was difficult for the witches to determine to leave Border Town.

However, peace was broken before the plan of shipment of refugees was completed. After lunch, Theo, who went to the king’s city to gather information, came back with a bad news.

“Did you say… Dreamland Water is summoning its people and planning to surround the dock?” Iron Axe frowned.

“They ‘may’ plan to surround the dock.” Theo corrected him. “The first part is a confirmed fact, while the second part is too strange for my informers to believe it. Now other Black Street organizations in the king’s city have sprung into action, in case Dreamland Water suddenly attacks them. However, I don’t think that ‘surrounding the dock’ was a smokescreen deliberately put up by Dreamland Water. I believe this news was accidentally leaked. It’s very common for the Rats. After all, most of their members are rogues and dregs, so it’s impossible for them to form some tightly-unified group. If my information is correct, Dreamland Water should have been controlled by some powerful force, otherwise, it’s rare for them to leave their territories.”

“They were just Rats,” Iron Axe said with no regards, “If these people flee hither and thither, will it interrupt your plan of selling healing water?”

“I guess not,” Theo said, “they can’t interfere with the patrol team, so they’re unlikely to stop me passing in and out the side city gate. After entering the city, Skeleton Fingers will protect the convoy to transport healing water. I’m worried about you, as I have to stay in the city tonight and supervise the sale of healing water. I’m afraid I can’t see you off tomorrow morning.”

“That’s all right.” Iron Axe patted his arm. “When His Highness comes in person to the king’s city in the future, we’ll meet again at that time.”

Just as Nightingale had expected, at dusk, the last sailing ship which was full of refugees slowly left the dock, sailing toward Silver City. As for the over three hundred people unwilling to leave the king’s city, they were ordered to scatter by Iron Axe.

Then all of them retreated to the other side of the canal, waiting for the arrival of the night.

Chapter 230: The Assassination (Part I)

efore the sun completely disappeared behind the mountain, Faceless had already quietly crossed the canal and hid somewhere behind the mercenaries’ camp.

Her real name was not Faceless, but Aphra. It meant dust and was given by Heather, an archbishop of Holy City of Hermes. She was fond of this name because dust was plain. Once it fell on the ground, it would be difficult to be recognized, just like her.

Only in front of Heather, would Aphra resume her real appearance.

As a member of the Tribunal, she had assisted Archbishop Heather to dispose of many Fallens, including witches who betrayed the church, and believers who were degenerated by the secular world. She came to the king’s city under the archbishop’s order to complete a crucial task, which was to transform a pious chief justice into the King of Graycastle. As for catching fallen witches, it was one of her leisure activities. She liked to imitate those witches who suffered from punishment and torture and then experienced all of their pains. That made her deeply understand the significance of what she did. It was also her atonement for owning the demon’s power.

The mercenaries had chosen a clever place to set the camp. It was located on a slope surrounding the fields by the riverbank, making it difficult to observe their whereabouts from a lower place. She dared not to approach the camp, as she saw a witch flying in the air. Aphra had to hide in a farm warehouse, waiting to take actions after the nightfall.

When the night finally descended, she was surprised to discover that the situation had changed.

The mercenaries had already retreated from the dock to the camp. The morons from Dreamland Water were gathering by the riverbank, holding some torches up. They were literally telling the mercenaries that “We’re going to attack your camp.” Even if there was not any flying witch, at a quick glance, the mercenaries would know what was happening on the other side of the riverbank, as long as they were not all blind.

[That’s too bad,] she thought, [If they know the Rats outnumber them and they have no chance to win, they’ll certainly retreat to the east. Though a night march is bad for them, who cares it when they have to run to save their lives? They may run in all directions, while the Rats haven’t encircled them yet. Dreamland Water has just occupied the dock and is slowly crossing the river by some rafts. When they finally surround the camp, the enemies will have been long gone. It’s impossible for the Rats to chase enemies in the night. Then where can I search for those damn witches?]

Aphra hastened to the camp, hoping to mix into the mercenaries before they retreated.

But when she finally hurried closer to the camp, she was surprised by what she saw.

Some mercenaries were still on patrol around the camp, and the bonfire was burning high, there were shadows of people walking in the camp. It was different from her expectation, and everything was in order.

They did not choose to retreat?

After careful observation, Aphra confirmed her judgement and could not help laughing silently. She did not know why they chose to station here instead of running as quickly as possible. However, they were doomed to die. She drew a dagger from her belt and observed the action of the guards for a while, choosing the weakest position.

Her Excellency Heather had endowed her with the significance of life, and also taught skills of combat and assassination. The mercenaries were not broadly experienced elites, which could be told from their watch arrangement. The moment a mercenary turned to another direction, she crouched to approach him from a blind angle and then pounced on him from his back, one hand covering his mouth, the other stabbing the dagger into his throat.

After killing the mercenary without any noise, Aphra pressed him with one hand and laid another hand on her bosom, casting her substitution ability. This process could be long or short. When she replaced the king, to create a long-term effect, she almost used up all magic power in her body, and the substitution process lasted for about an hour. But now she did not need to bother. She transformed herself into the mercenary in a blink. The effect could only last for half a day, which was long enough for an assassination.

Before the patrol team returned, she quickly put on the clothes which she took off from the dead mercenary, and dragged his corpse into the wheat field. But she became a little confused when she picked up his weapon. It looked like an iron spear with a wooden handle. But where was supposed to be a spearhead was a dark hole instead.

Damn, what weapon is this?

She thought about it for a while but still failed to figure it out. Seeing the patrol team was approaching, she recalled what the mercenary did before and carried the weapon on her back, pretending to be on watch.

Just like in other assassinations she experienced before, the patrol team passed her without noticing anything strange.

Aphra did not haste to return to the camp and look for the witches. After all, through substitution ability, she was able to imitate a man’s appearance, but she could not read his mind. If she met one of his acquaintances, she would be easily exposed. When these people fell into chaos under attack, she would have numerous assassination opportunities.

When the moon was hanging high in the sky, the morons of Dreamland Water finally managed to cross the canal, walking toward the camp. She immediately heard a whistle, while the mercenaries who were watching and patrolling retreated back to the camp. Her opportunity finally came.

Following them into the camp, she was shocked to find that there were far more than 100 mercenaries. They formed a long circle to surround the top of the slope, crouching or standing, holding that eccentric weapon in their hands, with the dark hole pointing to the enemies.

She had no time for a careful observation. When no one noticed her, she bent over and got into the nearest tent.

Soon shouting and cries broke out, which was interrupted by a burst of more fierce explosions. Aphra was startled as she found that the explosions were so intense and did not pause for a second.

“What on earth happened?” She wanted to have a look, but then she restrained her curiosity and patiently waited.

As time went by, the camp became busy again. She could hear footsteps and commands everywhere. Maybe they were adjusting defense forces according to the attack of the Rats. Aphra felt anxious, as the Rats hadn’t occupied the slope yet after such a long time. How was that possible?

She continued to wait. The explosion sounds gradually became less and less, and she could no longer hear the shouting of the Rats. Thinking of this, Aphra’s heart sank.[Are… the dregs of Dreamland Water defeated? Even if the number of mercenaries doubled, there were at most two or three hundred. How are they able to fight against thousands of Rats from all directions and prevent them from stepping on the slope?]

Her opportunity seemed to be leaving.

Aphra immediately decided to get out of the tent. Then she sneaked to the center of the camp. When the combat was finished and they began to have a roll call, it would be difficult for her to pretend in front of everyone. After all, she didn’t make full preparation this time, so she was familiar with the members of the mercenary group and their passwords. She had to act quickly.

After passing two tents, Aphra then hid behind a tent, secretly looking towards the central area of the camp. She saw four women sitting by the bonfire. They were probably the witches described in the information. The number was not correct, but the damn information was never accurate. What’s more, it did not matter if she had to kill two or four witches. Any suspected Fallen should be interrogated, or be killed in case time is limited for interrogation. Even if she was not a Fallen, that was a necessary sacrifice.

She looked around to plan her retreating route. Then she stood up from behind the tent and walked towards the bonfire as if nothing had happened.

The moment she stepped into the central area, she felt something cold and hard against the back of her head.

“Don’t move,” a woman said, “who’re you?”

Chapter 231: The Assassination (Part II)

aceless felt a chill on her back. She could not help thinking, [How was it possible?]

She swallowed her saliva and lowered her voice. “Are you kidding? I’m Vorte.”

[It’s impossible that she happens to know Vorte. After all, there’re so many mercenaries in the camp; can she remember everyone’s name?]

She did not expect to hear a reply with a sneer. “Really? I never knew that magic power would also gather inside a man’s body. You’re either a witch who tries to get something from the camp, or you’re an extremely rare wizard. No matter what your answer is, it’s impossible you’re ‘Vorte’. I never saw such an eccentric soldier like you in the First Army.”

She… was able to see the demonic power? Aphra’s heart sank at her words. Now she knew why she was exposed. There were more than four witches in the camp, and the woman behind her was also a witch, whose ability was probably similar to the Eye of Truth. This kind of ability was recorded in the “Canon of Magic” of the church. As one of the hundreds of derivative skills, it was not in conflict with the main ability.

[I haven’t seen anyone around me or approach, so… her main ability is invisibility?]

“Kneel down and put your hands behind your back, then I may spare your life,” the woman shouted, “do as I tell you.”

The mercenaries were still fighting outside the camp, so they didn’t notice what took place in the central area. But the four witches by the bonfire realized that something happened and turned their sight to them, “What’s wrong, Nightingale? What happened?”

Aphra realized this was her last opportunity. She was good at assassination instead of direct combat. Especially when she did not wear any God’s Stone of Retaliation, she got no edge on witches with various strange abilities. It did not matter that the flying witch would escape, but she had to kill the witch who was able to cure the demonic plague, as she was a great threat to the church’s plan.

It was also possible that she would not be able to escape after she killed the witch. Thinking of that, she felt a heavy heart but soon calmed down again. To unify the four kingdoms and resist the demons from the hell with all forces, the church had sacrificed many excellent soldiers. She would be proud to contribute to this great course.

She believed that Heather would not forget her, and her name would be recorded in the Canon in the future.

“Don’t come over,” the witch named Nightingale shouted, “here’s a…”

At that very instant, Aphra suddenly moved, turning back to raise her elbow to hit Nightingale’s arm, and simultaneously lowered her head to avoid her weapon. Anyone who was talking was unable to be utterly focused. That was why her coach repeatedly told her to hold breath when she was caught. What’s more, if she wanted to escape or counterattack, she would better grasp the opportunity when the opposite side was talking.

The trigger hidden in her sleeve was simultaneously pulled, with white powder spurting backward. This alchemic powder would release abundant heat when it met water. If it was thrown into the enemy’s eyes or mouth, it would make her instantly impotent. Even if she was lucky enough to avoid the powder, she would be in a panic for a while.

Then Aphra pounced on the four witches by the bonfire. A blonde witch immediately flew up. Another witch who appeared to be the oldest stepped in front of the other two witches, trying to protect them in regardless of her own safety. Aphra drew out a sharp and slender short sword and stabbed toward that witch. She would kill all of them anyway, so it did not matter who she would kill first.

At the moment when her short sword pierced that witch, Aphra saw an incredible scene.

A white shadow appeared in front of her, with eyes under the hood flickering with anger. But no one stood there just a blink before.

[Is it… Nightingale who was behind me?]

[Why isn’t she affected by the powder spurting from a short distance?”] Faceless could not believe what she saw. Nightingale raised her hands, and then a flame burst out from her shining silver weapon. Faceless felt that she was fiercely pushed backward by something. She immediately lost her balance and fell back onto the ground. No, she had to… kill the other two witches. She struggled to get up and draw her sword to stab next witch, but she failed. She could barely raise her arm, and soon she fell into a comma.

[What a pity…] That was her last thought.

…

Nightingale was startled after she fired. She stood there, watching the soldier who got hit in his chest fall down. His body began to twist and shrink, slowly turning into an unknown young woman.

This was her first time to kill a witch by herself.

She did not recover from her thoughts until she heard Lily’s anxious cry.

She tried to suppress her wild thoughts. Then she put back her pistol and ran to Wendy.

“Are you hurt?”

“No, I don’t feel any pain.” Wendy waved her hand, indicating that they did not need to worry. “I guess the sword didn’t pierce through the clothes.”

“Did the protective clothing work?”

“I suppose so.” She unbuttoned her coat, only to find that the sword hanging on her coat. When her coat was opened, the sword fell out of the hole to the ground, without any blood on it. Only the external layer of the protective clothing was pierced with a small hole, while the soft internal layer was not damaged at all.

“I, I’m really scared.” Lily gave a deep sigh and fell on the ground out of relief. “Why did you try to parry the sword for me. I don’t need you to do that for me. I, I, I…”

“All right.” Wendy gently touched her head. “You see, nothing happened.”

Lily leaned on Wendy’s bosom with her head drooping, grunting with an upset.

“I’m also scared when I stood there. I even forgot to use my ability.” Wendy shook her head. “If I had blown a strong wind, she wouldn’t have been able to stab me.”

“Because you rarely fight with others, so it’s normal that you can’t react quickly.” Nightingale tried to comfort her.

“Fortunately, we have the protective clothing,” Echo said with a terrified look, “or we would have been in danger.”

Before their departure, His Highness gave each witch a special vest and demanded that they should never take it off. The vest was very light yet very thick, and it was composed of many layers. According to the description of His Highness, each silk layer was coated with Soraya’s sky coating, which made it highly flexible and hard to be pierced through by sharp swords, knives, and crossbow bolts. If Wendy had not been protected by the vest, she would probably not be able to survive and wait for Nana’s treatment.

Lightning slowly landed beside the dead witch. “Why did she attack us? Isn’t she one of us?”

Nightingale stared at that dead woman for a long time, not knowing how to answer Lightning’s question. The eyes of that witch were closed, and her blue long hair spread on the ground. She had a peaceful expression on her face, so it seemed that she did not suffer too much. But Nightingale would not forget that she pounced toward Wendy without any hesitation. At that moment, her eyes were filled with firm determination as if she was not trying to kill someone, but to fulfill her life-long duty. Maybe in her heart, what she did was absolutely right.

“No.” Nightingale sighed. “She’s not one of us… She’s just a pathetic person.”

Chapter 232: The Shadow Islands

quot;The Fjords are blessed with countless islands and no one has seen the borders of those islands,” a tall and bold man with a rough appearance said. “The more eastward you go, the more unpredictable the climate is, and the same is true of the islands. What’s worse, I don’t know how strange they’ll be in the end.”

“Have you also never been here?” Tilly asked curiously, “They said that you’re the excellent adventurer, and that only you dare to cross Searing Flame Island and continue going eastward.”

“Hahaha,” he said with a hearty laugh, “This is an exaggerated praise. In fact, there’re brave people of the Fjords crossings to the east every year, but it’s hard to find anything new. A storming hurricane and sudden fog will make the ships difficult to move.”

He was Thunder, Ashes thought, an adventurer who was the first one to discover Shadow Islands. However, many people thought that he had been killed since he disappeared in a shipwreck two years ago. Unexpectedly, he showed up in Sleeping Island and reached an agreement with Princess Tilly—he bore a responsibility to blaze new trails, chart maps, and discover new ruins for Sleeping Island while Tilly dispatched witches to assist him. As for the two-year disappearance, Thunder never told and Tilly was indisposed to talk, but she always thought Tilly knew the inside story, otherwise, they could not have such a tacit understanding, which made Ashes feel unhappy.

“Like yesterday’s hurricane?”

“Yes, it both came and went in the blink of an eye.” Thunder shook his tobacco pipe, sprinkling ashes into the sea and then filled in some tobacco. “But for a mysterious witch…”

“Her name is Molly.” Ashes reminded him callously.

“Ah, yes, look at my memory.” Without taking it seriously, Thunder touched the backside of his head and smiled. “Without Molly, the ship would have been capsized. And I often think that her magic power is so amazing that witches may be the most qualified adventurers.”

“There already are, aren’t there?” Tilly smiled. “… Witches who bear the name of the best adventurers.”

“Hmm…” Thunder sucked his pipe and exhaled a long string of smoke. “I hope so.”

“Come on.” Ashes frowned and had no idea about what they said, so she left the bow for the stern to calm her mood down. Princess Tilly seemed to be very urgent to explore new ruins, so after cleaning up the church of the Fjords, she set out to prepare for sailing. But to her surprise, no matter how much she tried to dissuade her, Her Highness asked to go in person.

Sitting on the stern, Molly was controlling her magic servant to hold a fishing pole to learn fishing from the sailors. Even though the sailors were not happy about her being on board, their attitudes changed completely after yesterday’s hurricane—the magic servant summoned by Molly expanded rapidly so that the middle part of the sailing ship was embedded into his body, which protected them from storming winds and heavy rains. Even if the ship floated on the sea fluctuating, its body kept stable. Therefore, each sailor considered witches the gods of luck and even said that they dare not sail without the company of witches.

“Sister Ashes, I got a big fish!” Molly pointed at a bucket behind her where there was a scaleless fish with a sharp beak, completely different from the freshwater fish in Graycastle.

“What’s that?”

“Swordfish. They like to follow ships, and sometimes they would destroy the bottom of a ship with their beaks,” a sailor replied, “but they’re delicious, especially the meat on its stomach, like a piece of melting ice when it’s placed into your mouth.” He smacked his lips. “In the evening, we can all enjoy the tasty, fresh swordfish.”

“I may have another fish!” Molly was surprised.

She saw a dark shadow under the green water. As the magic servant pulled his fishing pole more and more powerfully, the more the shadow emerged from the sea.

“This, this is.” The sailor was stunned. “No, drop your pole immediately!”

Before those words were finished, a monstrous creature popped out from the water and opened its big mouth biting directly towards Molly.

The moment that Molly was about to be swallowed whole, Ashes, at a faster speed than the creature, held the little girl with her left hand and swayed her giant sword in her right hand to directly clap on the creature’s head.

The monster made a painful noise and was dropped down from the air forcefully, but it moved quickly with its six legs and wanted to escape into the water. However, Ashes did not give it an opportunity. She put Molly down and held the sword with both hands and struck downward to nail it directly to the deck.

It twitched for a while, exhaling a string of white bubbles, and soon stopped moving.

“What’s this?” At the moment, Ashes had the opportunity to look carefully at the monster in front of her. It was somewhat like a fish with a crab’s short feet, and its mouth was open and rounded, almost as large as its body and filled with dense teeth. The most disgusting thing was that there was a pair of furry arms on both sides of its mouth, and the ends were divided into five fingers, looking like human hands.

“A mutant sea ghost!” Still suffering from the shock, the sailor patted his chest. “They are often disguised as fish and will bite the fisherman and drag them into the water. And I’ve heard that the sea ghost, having eaten humans, can grow hands!”

“That last sentence is only a rumor,” said someone behind her. Ashes turned her head to find that Thunder and Tilly had both come over.

“Mr. Captain!” The sailor stuck his tongue out and made room for him.

“The more formidable the rumor is, the more incorrect it’ll be.” Thunder stepped forward and kicked the monster on the ground. “In fact, it has a name you might be more familiar with.”

“What?” Ashes asked.

“Demonic beasts,” he said word by word.

“Mr. Thunder, there’s fog!” suddenly the lookout shouted.

“Everyone must cheer up!” Thunder ordered loudly, “Drop the sail down. We’re sailing into the waters of Shadow Islands!”

Ashes noticed that a sunny sky had almost suddenly darkened and that the green waters had turned into ink green as if a mass of ink was unfolding under the water. After a while, the ship was shrouded in dense fog whereby, and at the stern, she could not see people clearly at the bow.

“What happened?” Tilly could not help catching Ashes’ arm.

“This proves that we did not go wrong.” Thunder smiled. “When Shadow Islands emerge from the sea, the waters will be covered by fog. Of course, the correct statement is that the sea is ebbing with a range of about 110 feet, so that a huge decline will produce a lot of water vapor, coupled with reefs everywhere, so a little bit of carelessness will lead the ship to be stranded and sunk. Therefore, I need you witches to protect the ship from crashing.”

They all came to the bow. Just like against that hurricane, Molly ordered the magic servant to enwrap the bow and expand his body as much as he possibly could with one part of his body deep into the water. So if there were hidden reefs in front of them, the servant would have felt them first.

“What if there weren’t any witches?” Ashes asked.

“It would only depend on patience and luck.” Thunder sighed. “We would send a boat to explore the road ahead and ensure that there weren’t any dangers, and then we’d follow forward. However, this area of water isn’t so tranquil, for demonic beasts, like you’ve seen before, will become more and more plentiful as we got closer and closer to Shadow Islands. The mist, reefs, and monsters… they’re why many adventurers went there, but few of them could find the entrance to the ruins.”

After another hour of sailing, the Mist faded away gradually and Ashes saw more and more islands surrounding her. However, there were not any plants, but only green moss or algae and crustaceans on the islands. “Are these islands sunk into water?”

“Yes, just like Sleeping Island, but the gap between ebb and flood tides is much shorter, almost once in half a month,” Thunder replied, “What’s more, the speed of flood tides is very fast as if there’s a huge hole which madly engulfs the surrounding seawater. And, I even guess that it has a huge influence on the changing sea levels of the whole Fjords. If we’re lucky, we can witness the whole process of its main island emerging from the bottom of the sea.”

Chapter 233: The Ancient Ruins

he more eastward they went, the thinner the mist became. But the sky was still darkened, as if the sun could not shine in these waters.

In addition, the surrounding reefs were becoming higher and higher, turning into sturdy stone pillars. Somehow, though the water line was declining, the ship still sailed at a steady speed. Even the waves became smaller and the sea was as tranquil as a windless lake.

Tilly asked puzzledly, “Why not enter the Shadow Islands waters after waiting for the seawater to completely recede? Once the reefs are exposed, you won’t be afraid of crashing into them.”

“Because before the seawater recedes, we can see the Ghost Shadow Red River, which is the only way to lead us to the ruins,” Thunder explained. “The locations of these pillar-like islands aren’t stable, and vary from each ebb and flood tide. Besides, most markers would be flooded so that they can’t be used for positioning.”

“The Ghost Shadow… Red River?” She repeated.

“Right. Look at this…” Thunder whistled, pointing to the bow.

The witches looked in the direction that he pointed, only seeing several red shadows under the ink-green seawater—they flashed past, just like phantoms. But soon, two or three more red shadows flashed past again, and this time Ashes found out that they were fish, red in their whole bodies.

“These’re… fish?”

Thunder touched his jaw and smiled. “They’re red-scale fish, unique to Shadow Islands. After a while, you’ll see the real face of the Ghost Shadow Red River.”

Gradually, more and more fish appeared in flocks instead of two or three and swam together toward the stern. Looking far ahead, Ashes was shocked at this phenomenon—as more and more fish joined this flock, there was a dark red, thick line appearing in the sea. Apparently, the sailing ship marched on by following this red line, and she could hear the sound of striking from time to time as those fish swam through the bottom of the ship.

Out of the blue, she realized that this was the Ghost Shadow Red River he had mentioned—a non-existing peculiar river! As the ship marched on, this intense fish flock expanded itself to admit several ships to sail abreast. It was as if the ink-green seawater had disappeared with the ship marching on the fish flock. If the two directions were not opposite, she could think that the ship was being held up by them.

Surprised, Tilly asked, “Why would this happen?”

Ashes also wanted to ask this question, because such a phenomenon would never take place in Graycastle or other kingdoms—the enshrouding mist, darkened sky, peculiar giant stones, as well as a “river” made of red-scale fish. For the first time, she was astonished by the sea’s spectacular scenery.

Thunder continued to say, “That’s because its main island is like a triangular spire with a huge empty hole centered on the tower and red-scale fish love to lay eggs in the hole to pass down. Each time the ebb arrives, the empty hole emerges from it and these fish are the first to sense the change and rush over in great numbers. Therefore, as long as we’re following along the Ghost Shadow Red River, we’ll arrive at the main island of Shadow Islands.”

“Captain Thunder, there’s a giant blockade ahead of us, like a mountain!” the observer shouted.

He shook his pipe. “We’re almost there. Ladies, welcome to Shadow Islands!”

Soon, Ashes could also see the main island. Just as Thunder described, it was as if it was made of several triangles, narrow toward the top with a wide bottom, and its surface looked very smooth at first sight and not like it was naturally made. However, it was a little stunning to say that the whole spire was cut by people because the exposed spire body was almost similar to the size of half a city, and the hole in the middle was big enough to hold the Tower of Babel of the Hermes’ church.

Seawater still receded and water on top of the giant hole was flowing down like a fountain, while the submerged part deep into the water was covered by the fish flock, painting the waters in front of her red. Ashes thought secretly that there were, perhaps, ten million red-scale fishes living in the hole.

Until it was dark, seawater retreated back to the bottom of the hole. At that moment, Thunder ordered sailors to anchor and tie the ship to a copper pillar in the hole with sturdy long ropes. Standing on the edge of the hole, people could see a perforated mouth at the opposite side—sunlight from the two sides could only illuminate a very small area and its center area was in darkness, which made people feel depressed.

“These pillars were left by you last time?” Ashes asked.

Thunder shook his head. “No. They were here when I first came, so I guess that they might have been built by the ruins’ owner.”

“Where… are the ruins?”

He pointed upward with a smile on this face. “Right above us, and we’re already standing on the entry to the ruins.”

…

The rest of journey was quite unimaginable. Following Thunder, the witches entered from a stone gate in the bottom of the huge hole and stepped upward along those gurgling stairs. Even though everyone held torches, their shaking fire, compared to these endless stairs, was weak and tiny.

Walking forward in the dark abyss, Tilly held Ashes’ arm closely and lost her usual calm.

This was the princess she was familiar with, Ashes thought. Princess Tilly was famous for having her own thoughts and being confident when facing any difficulties in the palace but her greatest weakness was fear of darkness. Even when going to bed, her room must have lit candles. So after escaping the palace, Ashes would escort her to sleep if that was not possible.

Walking in the dark and dampened spire, Ashes instead felt much happier.

There were no demonic beasts, nor tricks stopping intruders—though if there were, they might be ineffective after a long time soaking in seawater. The only trouble was that, after a long time of stepping upward, all of them were exhausted so their actions became sluggish. Thus, when the stairs reached their end, the team all cheered.

The last barrier of the ruins was not made of stone, but metal, and reflected luminous light against the torches. Thunder pushed the gate with two hands, and then the heavy planks made noise and opened slowly.

With one hand holding a sword, Ashes was the first to enter, and after ensuring that there were not any dangers, Tilly and the other witches were allowed to step in.

After torches were hung on the walls, a spacious hall appeared before them. As spacious as it was, it was empty, without anything worthy of being researched.

“This is the ruins?” Ashes touched on the stone desk that looked green due to being soaked in water. “There’s nothing except for some stone desks and chairs.”

Thunder nodded. “There’s indeed nothing. Because of being soaked in water for a long time, nothing can be preserved except for stones. I’ve told Princess Tilly, but she insisted on coming here personally.”

Tilly asked, “How about those red stones? Where did you find them?”

“On the ground. There were maybe dozens of stones scattered on the ground at that time.”

However, there was nothing. Ashes lowered her head to see the slippery ground where seaweed had grown. More than one adventurer had arrived here, so it was impossible to find Magic Stones after many times looting.

But Tilly was still excited. Holding a torch, she looked carefully at each corner and even asked the sailors to add more torches to see the greatly dampened corners. Molly summoned out her Magic Servant to flatten itself on the ground and serve as a cushion for them to sit down on. Ashes accompanied Tilly to see her touching the walls.

“Hey.” Princess Tilly stopped suddenly. “What’s this?”

Following her sight, Ashes saw a wall covered with green algae, reflecting some firelight.

Tilly tore off the green algae to see a gemstone revealed with half of it hidden inside the wall—as red as the others, it was shining like a magic stone. Shaped like a prism, it was as thick as an arm but its edge was embedded with golden filaments as if it was fixed inside by a card slot. However, even though it had steeped in the seawater for such a long time, the golden filament was still bright and clear.

Tilly tried to pull it out but the gemstone stayed motionless.

“Let me try,” Ashes said.

Princess Tilly shook her head and appeared to think of something, and then she touched the prism with her eyes closed.

Suddenly, there was a flash in the center of the prism—Ashes thought that there had been something wrong with her eyes, but a rumbling echo appeared behind the wall like something had been triggered, and it soon spread to the entire hall. A crunching friction noise enveloped the wall and soft white lights came from the wall, even the ceilings became bright.

Panicked, the sailors stood up, pulling out their swords, but did not know which side should be defended. Finally, standing back to back closely and surrounding Molly’s Magic Servant, they gathered together.

However, there were no monsters coming out.

When the noise disappeared, the hall had become luminous.