Release that Witch

After Roland fell asleep, Nightingale entered the Mist and quietly left the castle.

Her destination was the Foreign Affairs Building.

Even at night when the land was cloaked in darkness, in the misty world, she could still see everything clearly in black and white. Taking advantage of distorted outlines, she could jump several meters in one leap. With merely a few steps, she passed through the courtyard wall around the building.

Roland had called this way of moving ’Flash’. He described it as a masterstroke to move with super speed, which required no buffering time. She liked the name ’Flash’ the first time she heard it. Just as it implied, such a movement was as quick as a flash of lightning and as quiet as a shadow. She could come out and disappear anywhere in a sudden, making it hard for anyone to predict her movements.

She liked such a description but did not quite understand what the buffering time meant.

But she did not mind it, as she had already got used to this old talking habit of his. It was not a rare thing for her to hear some strange words from him.

After getting out of the Castle District, Nightingale did not follow the ramp that she often took to descend the hill, but directly leaped high above the hillside and walked in the air. She followed the lines that appeared in the air, and after several strides, she landed straight on the top floor of the Foreign Affairs Building.

The building was located in the area between the Castle District and uptown, a four-story structure as high as the upland where the castle stood. It was the second concrete building after the Witch House.

Initially, it had been built to detain some important prisoners, such as the family of Duke Ryan, who had been kept in the dungeon. As far as Nightingale could see, Roland treated them with much more respect than what they deserved. Although they were given the titles of prisoners, this new place was much better than the previous dungeon, and they were also offered the chance to walk outside to relieve themselves.

Maybe His Majesty thought he would not have many enemies to detain here, so he used the rooms overground as the first place to temporarily accommodate the new-come honored guests, such as the alchemists of the Alchemist Association of the King’s City, the sages of the Astrology Association, as well as sea traders from the Fjords, who had lived here for some time.

Since most of the rooms in the Foreign Affairs Building were unoccupied and the location was quite far from the central heating system, it was merely supplied with tap water. As the residents in the building had different backgrounds, His Majesty had deployed some of his guards here in order to show his respect for the guests, as well as keep an eye on them.

Nightingale, of course, would not take the corridor in case of alarming the guards. She passed directly through the walls of the top floor, heading for the bedrooms where the witches from Wolfheart lived.

She did not find anything strange about the witches in the afternoon examination. The Magic Cyclones they showed were very stable, and their capacities were quite ordinary, which meant that they belonged to the most common type of witches. In the inquiry, she knew that they basically told no lie except for some vague, subtle answers they offered about their past. With her derivative skill, she captured those details, but she thought that this kind of concealment was reasonable. These withes were tortured, hunted, and even treated in ways they were simply unable to speak of. All they had suffered had become shadows in their hearts, which they were unwilling to talk about.

If they were the only ones coming to Neverwinter, she probably would accept them as new sisters at once.

But they came with the ordinary woman called No. 76, and she was the one arousing Nightingale’s suspicion.

She had no magic glow or different demeanor, but Nightingale could still sense something strange about her. When she recalled afterward, she realized that it was the woman’s attitude in answering all her questions that bothered her. She had hidden nothing from her, which was really weird.

Nightingale had seen that many people tell everything they knew when they were dying. Yet, this woman who had once served as a maid for the underground Chamber of Commerce, told the truth about herself to a stranger she met for the first time. This was indeed a rare attitude.

But Nightingale could not judge whether the woman was using a fake identity or not based on what she knew now.

After all, No. 76 did not lie.

That meant that by now, what she said about her past and background was authentic. In addition, the testimonies of Yorko, Amy, and Annie could corroborate that. She indeed was a guide who had served the exhibition ’Black Money’ and been bought by Yorko because of getting involved in the witch auction.

That’s why Nightingale decided to visit No. 76 at night and watch her behavior in the Mist.

If No. 76 harbored any malicious intentions, this would be the easiest moment for her to show some flaws.

She went through the bedrooms one by one, and soon she found the room where her target was.

Most of the witches had fallen asleep, but No. 76’s room was still lit up. She was sitting on the bed, playing with a ring in her hand by the candlelight, eyes full of joy and intoxication.

”Is it because of the fair gemstone on the ring?” Nightingale wondered.

She walked close to the bed, quietly watching No. 76.

But she saw nothing suspicious about her behavior, all she did was play with the ring, like a lucky woman who was too excited about harboring a treasure to sleep.

The ring was glittering with a faint magic glow, but it was not a rare thing for a guide in the exhibition, which often auctioned relics of unknown origin, to have such a Magic Stone.

One hour later, she was tired and sleepy, drowsily dropping her arms and closing her eyes. At this moment, Nightingale gently sighed.

She thought, ”It seems that I’m over-scrupulous.”

After giving No. 76 one last glance, Nightingale reached out her hand to extinguish the candle and turned to pass through the wall, entering the howling snowstorm.

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

The heat of colorful Magic Stone subsided, showing that the one who used magic power had left the bedroom.

No. 76 slightly let out a sigh of relief.

Even if they had gained infinite life by the way of Soul Transfer, it did not mean that they could stay awake overnight. When she disconnected her soul from her body, she could rest far more efficiently than taking an ordinary sleep. In this way, it would only take her two or four hours to rest every day to fully recover herself.

Given that, she went to bed much later than the witches.

But she had never expected something incredible to happen because of this habit.

No. 76 opened her eyes, looking at the empty bedside where the visitor had stood. Through the magic stone on the ring, she had seen a bright beam of orange light there just now. It had been as thick as an adult’s trunk, directly rising up to the ceiling. No. 76 had been surprised to find that this ’Key’ had surpassed the remaining Senior Witch of Taquila, Pasha, and was on par with that of the Three Chiefs of the Union. Although she had not been able to see the visitor, she knew that her ability must be very complicated, rather than a simple invisibility skill.

She wondered if the visitor was Anna or Leaf mentioned by Nana.

Judging from the light, she knew that there was still a certain gap between the visitor and the Chosen One, but that strong beam of orange light was enough to thrill her.

It was very simple to activate the colorful magic stone ring. As long as someone nearby was performing some magic, the Magic Stone on the ring would absorb a small part of the surging magic power and indicate the complexity of the magic skill through the beam of light she could observe through Magic Stone. The thicker and stronger the beam was, the more complicated the ’Key’ was.

No. 76 became increasingly excited as she thought of it. She simply walked out of the room and went to the top of the building.

The snowstorm was blowing against her face, but she was not able to feel cold at all. This lack of feelings usually made her sick, but now as her heart was filled with excitement, she felt vigorous standing in the wind and chasing the last glimmer of light.

She raised the ring and pointed it at the castle, according to Wendy, that’s where the witches lived. Now that the first Senior Witch had appeared, would the Witch Union give her more surprises?

She was looking forward to it.

However, something abnormal happened in a sudden.

The ring in her hand started to shake, as if it was resonating with something.

Through the Magic Stone, she saw a beam of light she had never seen before. It was almost like a wide high wall, filling half of the sky.