Release that Witch

Greatly surprised, Ashes said, ”What did you say? I’ve never thought of leaving you.”

”That’s not what I mean. To tell the truth, this place is not bad... and you like it, right?” Tilly explained, finding out that Ashes misunderstood her.

After a moment of hesitation, Ashes nodded and said, ”The Witch Cooperation Association must have their reason to stay here and work for Roland, but we’re different. We have our own home...”

Tilly interrupted Ashes, saying, ”There are only three possible endings for us in this war. The first is that we get defeated by the God’s Punishment Army and die in the last ditch in the Northern Region. Under such circumstances, neither Sleeping Island nor Neverwinter matters to us anymore.”

”I swear, by my life. My lady, you’ll never die at that kind of place,” Ashes said and hurriedly covered Princess Tilly’s mouth with her hand, and even used the honorifics in her haste.

Tilly kept looking at Ashes with a smile until Ashes removed her hand, and then said, ”That’s just a hypothesis. I don’t think I’ll get killed by the church, either.”

”So don’t say it out loud. A frequent saying of yours is that...” Ashes said with worry.

”It’ll become a self-fulfilling prophecy,” Tilly added. She walked to the small window of the kitchen to look at the castle backyard which was full of energy and vitality, and she continued, ”That’s why I tell you this hypothesis at first. The second possibility is that Roland loses the war but we survive. That way, the Kingdom of Graycastle will no longer be able to resist the church, Neverwinter will be caught in fire and Roland will have only one place to go.”

”Sleeping Island?”

”Yes, we’ll continue to fight against the church on the island until the Battle of Divine Will began. Maybe the human species will be extinct hundreds of years later but there’s nothing we can do as we can’t live that long.”

”What about the third possibility...”

”If we defeat the church and take over Holy City of Hermes, all of the witches will be free from bullying and persecution, and the Sleeping Island’s mission will be fulfilled.”

”Ful-fulfilled?”

”Yes, it’s just the witches’ hide for now. If the church is destroyed, we won’t have to confine ourselves on an island of the Fjords any longer. The Fjords can’t offer us a pleasant environment to live because of its limited supplies and unpredictable weather... But, of course, we won’t abandon Sleeping Island and we’ll continue our Sleeping Spell. The only change is that we’ll be able to choose to live in the cities we like, right?”

”I’ll always stay by your side even in hell and besieged by numerous demons.

”And in the world full of salted fishes and fish soup?”

”Uhm...” Ashes suddenly did not know what to say.

Tilly could not help but laugh. She said, ”Relax, eating too much of them makes me feel sick, too. I’ll probably come to live in Neverwinter for a while every now and then. I also want some changes in diet.”

”Hey there, what’re you talking about?” Andrea pushed the door open, craned her neck to look inside and asked. She wore a bathrobe and carried a wooden basin on her head.

”What’re you going to do?” Ashes asked, frowning.

”To take a bath,” Andrea twitched her mouth and said, ”I have stunk after staying on the ship for over ten days. Of course, it’s not surprising that somebody just can’t notice even such a strong smell of fish. Lady Tilly, are you going with me?”

”Yes, wait for me. I’ll change my clothes,” Tilly replied.

”Ahem... so am I.” Ashes pretended not to hear the satire and expressed her intention to join the bath.

”Come on, I did not invite you,” Andrea rolled her eyes at Ashes and said.

”I’ll accompany Tilly, not you. Don’t take me wrong.”

Looking at them who gazed at each other in a speechless confrontation, Tilly relaxed and began to imagine that all of them would be able to live easily and happily like they did now after they defeated the church.

*******************

Roland had been in a daze in his office for a long time until Nightingale came in with dried fish in her hand.

Out of his expectation, Tilly who had not recognized him as her elder brother the last time when she had been here suddenly called him big brother today. Roland felt overjoyed and at the same time confused, wondering whether she really considered him as Prince Roland or just a reliable friend and guardian.

”Yeah, she called you big brother. It’s not a big deal. I can call you like that if you want,” Nightingale said incredulously.

”You’re three years older than me. Aren’t you nobles value your integrity?” Roland sighed inwardly and thought, ”but it’s not bad to have an elder sister as my... No, stop thinking about this anymore.” Roland banished those thoughts and asked, ”What do you think that changed her attitude towards me?”

”Who knows? Maybe she saw your sincerity, as you didn’t use the Bloodfang Association witches to split Sleeping Island and you quickly declared war on the church. Compared with empty promises, those actions are more convincing. But that’s just my guess. Maybe, it’s just a slip of tongue,” Nightingale shrugged and said.

”Yes, the reason isn’t as important as the facts. No matter what made Tilly change, she did get closer to me. That also means I’ve gained wider recognition among the Sleeping Island witches,” Roland thought.

Then he said to Nightingale, ”Now. it’s time for us to meet Heidi Morgan.”

...

Roland stepped into the jail in the basement of the castle and saw Heidi lying unconsciously in a bed made out of straw. The wound in her leg covered with black and red blood stains healed perfectly.

”To ensure Nana’s safety, I knocked Heidi Morgan out before Nana started to cure her. Otherwise, it would be too dangerous to take off the God’s Stone of Retaliation on her. I heard from the other Bloodfang Association witch that she tried to hold Andrea as the hostage when she was besieged,” Nightingale whispered in Roland’s ear.

”I see. You did a good job.”

There were iron hoops mounted with God’s Stones of Retaliation around Heidi’s neck and wrists, and it was impossible to unlock it without special tools. They did this to her because she was a very powerful combat witch.

She could cause fatal damages to all the objects within ten steps by making them collapse inwards. According to Tilly, this kind of collapse won’t be affected by any other factors, as no matter what kind of vessels Heidi used her power to affect, they would collapse. A wooden one would be crushed, while a metal one would be squashed.

And abdominal cavity and thoracic cavity of a living being would also collapse and squeeze the soft inner organs out, which reminded Roland of squeezing toothpaste out of a tube.

From Roland’s perspective, Heidi should work in the factory instead of combating,

Since she could act as a punching machine to process the raw material with molds, which was the most basic use of her ability. Roland believed that her potential would be great if she realized that there was a space between moles and between atoms during her studies.

But unfortunately, he also knew that it was too late for her.

”Wake her up,” Roland said.

Nightingale nodded and dashed into the jail to lift Heidi up and drag her over to the steel bars.

Roland looked down at her, saying, ”I’m Roland Wimbledon, King of Graycastle. I’ve heard you wanted a private talk with me. You can talk to me now.”