#017. The Den of Forbidden Men (2)
Beneath two moons, three people walked.
Virgil, Hanna, and Ekireuna.
They had come as far as the vicinity of Berner by spatial movement, and were now walking, having heard Ekireuna say they could go no closer.
“Wow! Where is that?”
Hanna pointed at the massive city visible in the distance.
Built in a terraced form encircling broadly raised peaks, that place had a structure where a magnificent central castle was surrounded, layer upon layer, by three walls and three city districts.
Even though it was night, it was filled with bright lights—a stark contrast to Javelin.
“It’s a sight to behold, really….”
Looking at the city, Hanna recalled the tiered ceremonial cakes she had often seen back on Earth.
“Child, that place is called Rown, the second largest in this Drain City Union. To the people, it is also called the City of Knights.”
“Wow… it’s incredible.”
“Yes, one might call it a small kingdom rather than a city.”
Thus admiring the distant Rown, they walked for several dozen minutes more.
Ekireuna, who had been leading, stopped.
“There.”
Ekireuna pointed to a spot visible between the dense trees.
A half-collapsed farmhouse stood there, but rather than any sign of people, it was only desolate.
Hanna made an openly disappointed expression.
“This is… where the witches live….”
“Hehe, child. How could that be? That is merely one of the entrances to reach Berner. One can never walk to the Witches’ Den. Entry and exit are only possible through the witches’ sorcery, and only Mater knows the exact location of the city.”
I know that as well.
Virgil swallowed his desire to brag.
“Anyway, I cannot go any closer now. I will wait in a nearby village, so find me there when your business is done.”
“Understood.”
“Ah, and you must take your belongings.”
When Ekireuna tapped the ground with her staff, Virgil’s greatsword emerged hilt-first.
“It cannot be helped for the time being.”
Virgil lifted the greatsword and slung it onto his back.
Heaviness spread throughout his body.
The emptiness he had felt for a while vanished.
“Let us meet again in good health.”
“You as well.”
Ekireuna headed toward the opposite side of the forest, and Virgil entered the collapsed farmhouse together with Hanna.
Inside, there was nothing.
Nothing but a fireplace that held no warmth.
Virgil approached it and lit a fire, and Hanna came to sit beside him.
“Ah, it’s warm… I want to sleep….”
Hanna, who had been warming herself by the fire, was now dozing off.
Seeing her, Virgil crossed his arms and closed his eyes.
But before long, he opened his eyes wide and took something out from his belt.
A single silver coin.
He tossed it straight into the fireplace.
Shortly after.
Fwoosh!
The fire grew in size as if to devour the fireplace.
Hanna startled and rolled backward.
“Save me….”
“Get up. There is no time to rest.”
“Yes….”
“Hanna.”
“Yes….”
“Remember exactly what I say from now on.”
“Yes, speak.”
“When you go inside, you will meet a woman called Mater. Deliver these words to her.”
“If you do it yourself….”
“Son, Rown, wall.”
“…What?”
“Son, Rown, wall. Remember.”
“…What does that….”
Fwoosh!
The blazing fire gradually changed into something like a human face.
As a complete woman’s face formed, a hoarse voice came from it.
“Who goes there?”
“I am a demon hunter.”
As expected, this was the easiest way to introduce himself.
“What is your business?”
“I have brought a witch who used sorcery without permission. I heard a rumor that if I brought her here, she would be exchanged for money.”
“Wait.”
Shortly after, two people walked out through the fireplace flames.
Women wearing black dresses and wide-brimmed hats.
They matched exactly the appearance of the witches Virgil knew.
One aimed her staff at Virgil, and the other muttered sorcery.
Soon, a bluish light formed in the woman’s hand, and she chanted quietly.
“indagátĭo.”
A breeze blew from somewhere and swept past Virgil and Hanna’s bodies.
“Seeing that neither has traces of mana, they are not ones from Myul.”
“The girl.”
“The type of her magical power is the same as ours, but no divine protection is felt. She is indeed a feles.”
“I see.”
The woman holding the staff threw a purse to Virgil.
“I don’t know where you heard about feles, but you had best keep it moderate, demon hunter.”
“I shall.”
“Um… Virgil-nim… what is this….”
When the witch holding the staff reached toward Hanna, Hanna’s body was bound by mana.
“Ugh! W-why are you doing this!”
“If you do not shut your mouth, I will pull out your tongue.”
“…….”
Seeing the frightened Hanna, Virgil mouthed,
‘Don’t worry.’
He did not offer any additional explanation.
Because he knew the witches would not harm her. And because it was a hassle.
But Hanna, who had no way of knowing that, had tears welling in her eyes.
To think she had already been abandoned.
“You… hey! You bad bas….”
Bound by mana, Hanna entered the flames together with the two witches.
***
“Where are we going….”
Hanna was currently blinded by sorcery.
On top of that, her entire body felt tightly bound by something.
She was clearly being dragged somewhere… but had no way of knowing where.
Into her ears came the voice of the witch she had met at the farmhouse.
“You are a feles.”
“What on earth does that mean….”
“It is what we call thieving wenches like you. Because of you lot, we live under oppression.”
“What on earth… that’s not me….”
“I would tear you apart right this moment if I could, but you must face judgment, so I endure. So shut your mouth.”
“…….”
After being dragged along for a while.
Other women’s voices reached Hanna’s ears.
“Is it a feles?”
“Yes, we will likely burn her at the stake tomorrow, so make the preparations.”
“Yes.”
“B-burn at the stake!”
Hanna screamed at the top of her lungs.
At that moment, extreme agony struck her abdomen, and soon she lost consciousness.
***
“Mater, we have brought her.”
The voice Hanna heard the moment she came to her senses was, as expected, the same witch from before.
The difference was that the voice was rigidly stiff.
Judging by the echo of the words, it seemed to be a large cavern.
Snap.
The sound of a finger snap was heard.
The darkness that had blocked her sight peeled away, and faint light entered.
Hanna frowned and looked around.
As expected, it was indeed a large cavern.
Hard stone floor and walls of the same material.
The surroundings were filled with all kinds of artworks, but because of the dark interior, they could not be identified clearly.
Had the faint light descending from the ceiling not been there, it would have been complete darkness.
Following the light with her gaze, she saw round luminous orbs somewhat like fluorescent lights on Earth.
And at the innermost part of the cavern.
Upon a splendid throne where a king might sit, a woman sat haughtily, looking down at Hanna.
Beauty and dignity to the point of leaving one breathless.
Her gaze looking at Hanna was by no means friendly.
It was tranquil and indifferent, as if looking at a worthless inanimate object.
After a brief moment of eye contact.
Her sculptural lips parted, and a voice cold enough to bring frost flowed out.
“You are insignificant. Like a speck of dust. And yet, I sense a god’s blessing. Not Lord Ragna’s, yes… Elam… you feel similar to her followers.”
A chill was felt.
“What is your name?”
“…….”
Hanna, tense, could not answer immediately, and once again, terrible pain was felt in her abdomen.
“Kyaaak!”
Hanna rolled on the floor.
Trembling and raising her head, she saw a woman standing beside the throne extending a small staff and muttering something.
“Stop, Azel.”
“Yes, Mater.”
When the woman called Azel lowered her staff, Hanna’s pain also ceased.
However, although she had only lowered her staff, Azel’s hand was still full of magical power.
Azel stepped forward and spoke to the witches standing beside Hanna.
“Why have you not stripped her face?”
“That is… this is her true appearance.”
“…What?”
A spiteful look akin to jealousy appeared and disappeared in Azel’s eyes.
“For what reason did you learn our sorcery without Ragna’s blessing?”
“…Why are you doing this to me….”
“Speak quickly!”
For ordinary women who could feel mana, the reason they learned sorcery rather than magic had much to do with appearance.
Because even with little magical power, they could change their appearance to some degree.
Therefore, they had naturally assumed Hanna’s appearance was altered by sorcery.
Only Mater, who had known from the beginning, remained indifferent.
“Feles.”
Azel, who had come before Hanna at some point, grabbed her chin.
“Then, to kill whom did you learn sorcery?”
“That is….”
Hanna tried to explain the reason she had learned sorcery, then faltered and closed her mouth.
Because Virgil told me to.
There was no other reason.
“Tsk, how could such a slow-witted girl learn sorcery… who brought her?”
Azel asked the witches beside her.
“He said he was a demon hunter.”
“Those bastards who should be torn apart, they should just catch filthy monsters, and now they set their eyes on witches? Could it be he was hired by Myul or Rown?”
As her voice grew louder, Mater slightly raised her hand.
“Azel.”
“Yes, my Mater.”
“Enough. The formal trial appears to be over already.”
“Understood.”
Azel looked at the two witches who had brought Hanna and said,
“Go and imprison her.”
“Yes, Lady Azel.”
When a staff approached her eyes, Hanna’s mind snapped to attention.
She didn’t want to get hurt.
At the same time, the words she had heard from Virgil came to mind.
Damn it, I don’t care.
“Son! Rown!”
And then….
“How dare that wench raise her voice here! Pull out her tongue at once!”
The furious Azel and the witches reaching out.
The flustered Hanna let out a shriek.
“Son! Rown! Suc… successful!”
Touched by the light extending from the staff, Hanna collapsed backward powerlessly.
Seeing that, Azel clicked her tongue and stood beside Mater.
“Tsk tsk, unable to overcome Ragna’s power and gone mad, it seems. I shall go attend to my robes now… hup!”
Azel drew in a breath.
She nearly collapsed to her knees.
“M-Mater….”
Mater, who had been sitting haughtily upon the throne.
Now, not a trace of her former appearance could be found.
Her face had transformed into fire and blazed wildly, and from the holes of her face, something like crimson lava dripped, melting her clothes.
“Everyone, leave.”
Despite her outward appearance like a fire pit, her voice was still filled with coldness.
“H-how could you be so angry….”
The moment Azel showed signs of approaching, a sound of skin tearing came from behind Mater, and flaming wings—the symbol of the queen—spread wide, filling one wall.
Crack.
The throne crumbled powerlessly.
“Take everyone and leave at once.”
“Understood… my Mater….”
Once the witches left, Mater came down and stood before Hanna.
From the scorching heat, Hanna groaned and opened her eyes.
“Ugh….”
“Say those words once more.”
“What…? What… hieek!”
Seeing Mater’s face transformed into a ball of fire, Hanna swallowed her scream.
“The words that came from your mouth, say them once more. You have only one chance.”
“Ah… son… Rown… w… wall!”
The moment the words ended, Mater grabbed Hanna’s neck.
“Hhuk!”
Terrible crushing force.
Pulling Hanna’s face close, she glared as if to kill her.
“What meaning did you intend by those words?”
“I-I don’t know… Virgil-nim told me to deliver them….”
“Virgil?”
“The demon hunter who came with me! I have done nothing wrong! It’s all that bast… kyak!”
Mater threw Hanna aside.
At the same time, the moment she moved her lips, Mater’s form vanished instantly.
***
The collapsed farmhouse, not far from Rown.
This place was one of many paths to Berner, the holy land of the witches, and very few knew of it.
To the point that even Virgil had not known.
Had it not been for Ekireuna, he would have ridden a horse much farther and thrown himself into an abandoned well.
Swish. Swish.
Virgil was half-reclining before the fireplace, tending to his greatsword.
Someone appeared before him.
A woman with a beautiful but cold face.
Though her clothes were half gone, exposing parts of her body, it could not damage her nobility.
“Half-man, half-demon… are you Virgil?”
Mater.
Queen of the witches.
A neutral figure who sometimes becomes an ally and sometimes an enemy.
What is certain is that she is a reliable ally and a terrible enemy.
And judging by her expression now, she recognized Virgil as an enemy.
“It seems Hanna delivered the message well.”
“Give me a reason I should not kill you.”
“Hmm, then before I die, I should like to ask one question.”
“…….”
“If a high-ranking witch has relations with a man not chosen by the council and bears a child, what indeed happens?”
Mater bit her lower lip hard.
She wanted to tear the man before her eyes apart right away, but endured.
Because she had to find out who else knew her secret.
“A ban is placed on her heart and she is exiled.”
“Harsh. Would it be so even if it were the current Mater?”
“…Speak what you want, filthy blood.”
Her manner of speech was aristocratic and calm, but the momentum flowing from her was nothing of the sort.
Had there been blades in her voice, it would have minced Virgil’s body hundreds or thousands of times.
“What I want is simple. To have you formally grant that girl you took Ragna’s blessing.”
“…You risked your life merely for that?”
“How could that be?”
Virgil met Mater’s frigid gaze exactly.
“I need an oath from you witches.”
“…I can listen to this no longer.”
Her face blazed once more.
Her dress tore, and fingers transformed like bird talons burst forth.
“It does not matter who else knows. From now on, the witches will find and kill everyone connected to you.”
“Hmm. It seems you misunderstand. I do not believe I have yet told you what I would do for you.”
Despite her threat, Virgil did not draw his greatsword.
Mater was also bothered by that.
Even though she openly released her magical power, he was not afraid.
He seemed overflowing with confidence to the point of recklessness.
Just what demon’s blood had he inherited…?
If she had to kill him, she thought she must leave no trace.
“If you spout such absurd words as you just did, after this you will be erased from the world.”
“Do as you please.”
Magical power like a storm gathered at Mater’s hand, and Virgil calmly watched the sight and opened his mouth.
“I shall make your son the king of Rown.”