All those who came were witches. Tasa hadn't lied. Ash could sense the magic brewing within them, and even roughly discern its strength—especially the leader before her. Her magic was like a sharp-edged blade, causing a faint stinging sensation just from focusing on it.
"I'm Ash, glad to meet you, sisters of the Witch Cooperation Association." She laid her greatsword aside and stepped forward to hug each of the four witches... no, she thought, it should be five. Ash looked up, gazing at the black dot circling in the sky. "Isn't she coming down?"
"She's guiding us," the leader smiled. "I'm Nightingale." Then she pointed to the other three witches, "Scroll, Leaf, and Echo." Finally, she nodded towards the sky, "That little girl is Lightning."
Ash paused, looking at Scroll, whose magic felt very weak, like a mist covering her entire body. This sensation greatly surprised her. "Transcendent?"
Nightingale also looked somewhat surprised. "You can see magic?"
"Not see, sense," Ash explained. "Transcendent can perceive the shape and flow of magic because it has transformed various parts of the body. I think this sister must have the same feeling as I do."
Scroll nodded with a smile. "Indeed, it allowed me to find many companions in the vast sea of people."
"Are Transcendent very rare?" Nightingale asked.
The other party first focused on the quantity, rather than "what is a Transcendent"... Ash thought to herself, could the Witch Cooperation Association also have heard of the existence of Transcendent witches? This was a secret strictly forbidden by the church because the abilities of Transcendent witches directly acted on themselves and were not constrained by God's Stone of Retribution. Any exposed Transcendent was the church's number one enemy.
"Probably one Transcendent will appear among thousands of witches," she thought, her expression remaining as usual. "So far, among the sisters I have met, including Scroll, there are only three." Ash paused for a moment. "By the way, I remember the leader of the Witch Cooperation Association seems to be called Hakala, is she alright?"
"She's dead," Nightingale shook her head. "Died on the way to find the Holy Mountain."
"...That's regrettable news," Ash lowered her voice, but what concerned her was that the other party didn't show much sadness when discussing this issue. "Then who is your new leader now?"
"Let's go back to Border Town and chat slowly," she smiled. "You'll meet him soon."
...
After the group entered the town, Ash noticed something was wrong. These witches from the Witch Cooperation Association were actually holding torches and walking openly on the streets. Moreover, even after nightfall, the town was not completely silent. Many residents' paper windows revealed faint light, and listening carefully, there were even sounds of children reciting aloud.
Candles, although not very expensive, were a limited resource for civilians, and they would never be used easily unless necessary. It was already an incredible sight that so many residents in the town lit candles at night. Adding to that the sound of reading aloud word by word, were they teaching children to read?
However, since the other party didn't mention it, she didn't bother to ask. Anyway, this was not a place to stay for long, and what she had to do was to take everyone away as soon as possible.
Crossing the crisscrossing streets, the group got closer and closer to the castle area. Ash could already see the dark walls and guards on duty in the night. "Where are we going?" she couldn't help but ask.
"Border Town Castle, we're almost there." It was Nightingale who answered her.
"Wait," she couldn't help but slow down. "That's where the lord lives, right."
"Yes, and also the witches' home."
"Did you reach an agreement with the lord?" Ash frowned. Even if the Witch Cooperation Association had a strong local influence, it would be difficult to confront the lord and the church head-on who possessed God's Stone of Retribution, so the only possibility was cooperation—this was also one of the survival paths explored by some witches. Unfortunately, faced with the disadvantaged witch group, most lords were unwilling to sit down and negotiate fairly, but instead carried out endless exploitation and exaction, so this path was quickly blocked.
"Sort of," Nightingale's tone did not show much resentment of being oppressed, but rather seemed to enjoy it. "
At least we have all signed contracts with His Highness."
Ash couldn't be happy for them. Contracts, written on paper with pen, had no binding force at all. When the lord became tired of paying or wanted to terminate the equal relationship, he only needed to crumple it up and throw it into the fireplace. No one would stand up for the witches. Their status was like a lonely boat in the sea, in danger of capsizing at any time.
Fortunately, she had come, she thought, taking them away from here, to the other side of the sea. There, witches had built their own home, away from the threats of the church and the secular world.
Passing through the castle gate, as expected, the guards were used to the appearance of witches and even greeted each other.
Compared to the palace in the royal capital, the lord's castle here was undoubtedly much smaller and darker. Only a few lonely torches hung on the walls of the corridor, and the swaying light could not cover the entire stone slab ground, making people feel a little depressed walking in it. It wasn't until entering the reception hall that the fire suddenly became brighter.
In the hall, Ash saw more witches. They seemed to have been waiting here for a long time. Seeing her appear, they applauded to show their welcome. Nightingale stepped forward, just about to make a brief introduction, when a witch suddenly rushed over.
"Wendy!" someone shouted.
Ash noticed the other party's actions, but did not take any countermeasures—she could feel the other party's surprise and joy, but no hostility. Soon, a warm body embraced her.
"You actually survived," the other party's voice was full of excitement. "Thank you for saving me back then."
Ash was stunned. "You are..."
"I'm Wendy," she let go of her hands and looked Ash straight in the eyes. "The little girl in the choir. Do you remember me?"
...
In the bedroom on the second floor, only Ash and Wendy were left.
She didn't expect to meet a partner from the monastery here.
It was a bit of a stretch to call them partners. If it hadn't been for that night, she wouldn't have had any interaction with Wendy at all. In fact, she didn't even notice that in the room buried underground, there was another unfortunate person who was forcibly sent in like her. She never thought that the other party would eventually become a witch as well.
"After I escaped from the monastery, I settled down in Seawind County." Wendy spoke after a long silence. "Later, I heard that a fire seemed to have broken out in the monastery that day, and the children inside were also missing."
"Fire?" Ash shook her head. "That was done by the church themselves to cover up the scandal. I killed some of the managers and the Judgment Army who tried to stop me, until... the church's Divine Punishment Army arrived. The scar on my eye was left by them. If I hadn't decisively chosen to escape, I'm afraid I would have died there when the subsequent Divine Punishment Army arrived."
"Divine Punishment Army..." Wendy repeated with wide eyes. "What is that?"(。)