Er Mu - Release that Witch

“I’m unable to understand it at all, is what you think right?” Scroll said, “It was the same for me when I read the book for the first time.”

“I thought you were Nightingale,” Wendy, who had heard her chuckled and turned her head. “…and now?”

“It’s still impossible for me to understand it.”

“Fortunately, you and I are alike.” Wendy sighed, “Anna would never say that. And I would never have expected that it would be Soraya who would be the second to connect everything and evolve her ability. I feel that if I’m not working hard enough, I will soon be surpassed by the younger generation. I do not understand how His Royal Highness knows so much and that what he says about the invisible world is actually the truth.

“In fact, there are numerous things he isn’t aware of,” Scroll shrugged. “I’m referring to certain aspects.”

“Such as?”

“It’s the matter with Nightingale,” Scroll said, taking a stool for herself and then sitting next to Wendy. “Don’t you also find that her current behavior is very different from how she acted in the past? Previously she had always concealed her body when she was protecting His Highness, even if she merely went out she would still put on her hood, but… she is now even listening earnestly during the evening lectures. You, who are living with her in the same room, should be even more aware of this than I am, maybe you can tell me what had happened to her in the end?”

“Nothing,” Wendy shook her head. “She had just finally made her choice.”

Seeing Wendy’s disregarding attitude surprised Scroll, “Her choice?”

“Well, it is just as you have guessed,” Wendy closed the book and bluntly said, “Without a doubt she had developed feelings towards His Highness Roland Wimbledon, which can clearly be seen without having to guess. If they shelter one of us it is only a matter of time before they win the heart of the witch, during the journey with the Witch Cooperation Association, it wasn’t uncommon to hear rumors about things like this.”

“Those were just stories made up by others, most of the sisters did not fare well in those circumstances.”

“His Highness is not the same as the people in the stories.”

Scroll got startled, she did not expect to hear this coming from Wendy, who had held the same view as herself until recently, “You know, us witches are unable to have children, the Prince cannot…”

“The Prince will take a witch for his wife,” Wendy didn’t even let her finish speaking, “He even told you so personally.”

How can it be that she knows about it… was Nightingale present at that time? Then she suddenly understood what the other wanted to say her, “Wendy do you blame me for not telling this to you? I just didn’t want to let this matter leak out. This could bring unnecessary problems on His Highness’ road to the throne.”

“…” Wendy remained silent for a while and then said, “I know, and I’m not blaming you because it is exactly the same thing I previously said to Nightingale. Before I knew His Highness’ answer, I thought it would end well if it were to happen to one of our sisters, but since the Prince does not mind it, do we really have to try to change their minds? Previously when Nightingale suppressed her feelings, she always seemed to be depressed. I prefer how she looks now, no matter what the outcome will be, at least she followed the feeling of her heart.

So that’s the reason, Scroll thought. Although she agreed to not abandon the practice of not letting the news spread, she still doesn’t want to stop the development of the feelings of her sisters. Unexpectedly there is a difference between Cara who never allowed someone to do something on their own wanting to be the only one who decided how to deal with their problems. Where Wendy instead is always looking at it from the perspective of her sisters, even trying to cheer them up during their times of hardship.

“But is His Highness aware of this point?” Scroll suddenly thought of a serious problem, “What if his decision is based on not knowing about the witch’s inability to give birth?”

“Oh…” Wendy voice also turned depressed, “How about, you go and ask him?”

***

West of the town, outside the city walls.

Closer to summer now, the sun shone brightly on the grassland. In the near distance flocks of cattle and sheep leisurely eating grass could be seen. It was hard to imagine that only three months ago, the whole landscape had been covered in snow and that there had been nothing outside except for terrorizing demonic beasts.

The shooting training had already lasted for most of the afternoon, Nightingale was able to master the shooting skill even faster than Roland had expected, much faster. Everyone’s talent is probably just differently, he thought, some people are just born to fight. By now, her loading, aiming, and firing positions has become completely unlike that of a novice.

“If she had been born in a knighthood, she would be one of the top stars of the Knights in the Kingdom of Graycastle,” Carter couldn’t help but praise her, “Just like me.”

“Luckily she wasn’t, I do not want her arms to be as thick as yours,” Roland glanced at him, “how was the feeling, being able to achieve a draw with an extraordinary witch?”

“When I got hit, I thought that I had been hit by siege hammer, my whole chest got shattered,” Carter said honestly. “To tell the truth, it felt terrible.”

“Luckily there should not be a next time,” Roland laughed.

Waiting until another round of still-standing shooting was finished, the Prince applauded Nightingale and called her over, “So far you’re performed splendidly, because of that, let now do a simulation training.”

After putting her pistols into the belt, Nightingale walked towards the Prince and a sweat droplet on the tip of her nose sparkled in the bright sunshine,

“Do you see those targets?” Roland pointed to the five targets not far away, standing at bust height, “They are hanging above some God’s Punishments Stones, so you should be able to see their position very clearly from within your fog. Within the test you should combine your skills and your guns, knocking down those enemies, all while exposing yourself only for the shortest time possible.”

Within the fog, the objects and space were changing constantly, making it difficult to ensure that the bullets would fly towards their target. Previously when she had tried shooting directly from inside the fog, the results were that out of ten rounds of bullets, nine changed their line of flight after leaving the fog. They changed their trajectory so much that Roland, who was standing behind Nightingale, was nearly hit.

Therefore, whenever she shot, Nightingale had to step out of the fog, and the shorter amount of time she exposed herself, the more difficult it would become for the enemy to counterattack.

“Understood,” she smiled, raised her cloak with one hand, and disappeared into thin air before the two of them.

When the first shot of the revolver could be heard, Roland only saw a white figure quietly emerge and then with an eruption of a flame and gas the target got hit and broke apart. Even before the broken wooden parts had completely landed, Nightingale had already arrived behind the second target, pulling the trigger from a distance of three to four meter from the it.

And then the third, the fourth… for every shot, she had never completely stepped out of the fog, in addition to her silver pistol and a spark of fire, Roland couldn’t make out any other details. It was already difficult just to catch her position with his eyes. When Nightingale moved forward within her fog, it was just like those scenes he had seen in movies in the past. Within the blink of an eye, all five targets had been destroyed, and after another blink, Nightingale once more stood at his side.

“How was it?” Nightingale laughingly asked.

“Uhh…” Roland looked at the stunned Carter and asked, “What do you think?”

“I’m afraid no one can catch Miss Nightingale,” Chief Knight took a deep breath, “Even if they put on a God’s Stone of Retaliation, they still wouldn’t be safe.”

“So, did I graduate?” She wiped the sweat from her nose and rubbed it on to Roland’s body.

“Of… course.”

‘The Swan’ followed the Redwater River on its course westwards. May was standing on its bow, her eyes looking straight ahead. She wasn’t standing here to enjoy the scenery, she just wanted to finally be able to see Border Town’s pier.

“How much longer will it take us to reach our destination?” She asked impatiently.

“We will be there soon, Miss May, the sun is shining on you again, it might still be better if you went back to the cabin to rest,” Ghent, who was standing directly behind her said. She didn’t have to look back to know, that at this moment he would have a pleasant smile across his entire face.

And as she then turned around, she discovered that she had been right, “That is exactly what you’ve told me before, how can it is still be soon? In the end, have you really ever been to Border Town before?”

“Uh …” for a long time he only mumbled something unknown, then he scratched his head and embarrassingly said, “The last time I was there, was already ten years ago.”

“One year is already long enough to change the Lord of Longsong Stronghold, so what do you think could have happened in a decade?” May asked annoyed, “But there are always exceptions. I only have to look at you, no matter if it was ten years ago or yesterday, from the beginning to the end you’ve never stood on stage even once.”

Seeing that she had finally swept the smile from her counterpart’s face, she was finally able to find some comfort in her heart. If it hadn’t been for Irene’s message, she really would never have ever wanted to go with this group of fellow performers to perform at Border Town.

As the female star of the theater in Longsong Stronghold, she was quite famous throughout the Western Territory. She had even received an invitation from the owner of the Tower Theater, to come to King’s City and perform in “Prince seeking for Love”. The show had been a great success, and even the master of drama, Mister Kadin Faso, admired how she had played her role in the Prince seeking for Love. Although she hadn’t played the heroine, she had still left an impression that wasn’t any less impressive than that of the female lead.

But when she had excitedly come back to the Longsong Stronghold, she had discovered that the stronghold had undergone enormous changes. Duke Ryan had been defeated, and the territory had fallen into the hands of the 4th Prince, Roland Wimbledon, who had handed over the task of governance to Petrov Hill of the Honeysuckle Family… she had left the West for less than a year, but within that short period of time it had become entirely unfamiliar to her.

Fortunately, the turmoil in the political upper ranks only had a small effect over the theater. If only this had been all, but when May had spoken with her sisters about the war during a meal, she had received the news that the First Knight of the Western Territory, Morning Light had also been captured. Hearing this her heart immediately squeezed together.

Afterward, May directly rushed to the theater, looking for Irene to ask her about the situation only to discover that Irene had followed him two weeks ago and went to Border Town, probably to reunite with her husband. Hearing this news May felt a little depressed, but at the same time, there was also a little envy mixed in with it.

They both worked in the same theater, and she really deserved to play the leading figure, while Irene was the yet-to-rise newcomers, the flower of tomorrow, but the title only came from that group of inferiors actors who were flattering each other all the time. In regards to her appearance, May was confident that she would never lose to anyone. On the side of Family background, although she was only from civilian’s origin, Irene, however, was only an orphan adopted by the theater, so when comparing themselves, she had a lot stronger standing than Irene did.

However, this hardly gave May any relief. Ferlin Eltek the Morning Light still developed feelings for Irene with her naïve looking face. Later he even married her, even giving up his family inheritance for this.

“Look, there is farmland in front of us,” someone shouted, “We can’t be too far from Border Town now.”