Release That Witch

"‘Your Highness’? What a weird title! It seems like a name that’s only heard in ancient fables."     

She turned her eyes and looked behind her. A man with gray hair appeared, surrounded by several girls.     

" How are you feeling?" he asked in a soft voice.     

She didn't reply but asked back, "Where am I?"     

"Welcome to Border Town, in the Western Region of the Kingdom of Graycastle."     

Well, things were progressing in the direction she most did not want to see: She was in a strange place at an unknown time, and was facing a group of strangers. She even had no strength to lift herself from the bed. She tried to get off the bed, but realized that she did not even have an ounce of strength.     

"I am the Fourth Prince of the Graycastle Kingdom and the lord of Border Town.… Roland Wimbledon." he added. " These women are members of the Witch Union. Have you... forgotten everything?"     

"The Witch Union?" A deep frown formed on her face. "Were they really witches?" She knew nothing about this new organization. It must be a young organization, she thought, but at least these witches were of the same kind as her. "However, why do they appear to be the subordinates of this man?" "Wait, is he a... prince?"     

She tried to search for some fragments from her memory, and was dumbfounded. "Wasn’t this one of the titles in the secular regime during the first Battle of Divine Will? Did she... return to the intact world before the war? Was it possible that God has given her another opportunity to get well prepared in order to rescue the Holy City and its citizens?"     

"No, calm down," she told herself, "This kind of ridiculous thing only exists in the gossip among customers in dingy taverns. Come on, what happened to me before I fell asleep?" When a group of Mad Demons rushed into the basement of the laboratory, she used all her magic power to erect the strongest ice wall to repel them. The Stone of Echo continually broadcasted signals for help, and she patiently waited for the day that her sisters returned to the Fertile Plains and found her.     

"You saved my life, didn't you?" Yes, now she had escaped from the ice cage, it most probably meant that the witches' corps was back! "Did the demons retreat? Did we win the war? How is the Holy City…of Taquila?"     

After she voiced these questions, she perceived changes in their facial expressions. They exchanged glances and revealed looks of delight and excitement.. " Indeed, we found you in the basement of a stone tower," said a witch who looked mature and had long reddish brown hair, "Do you really belong to the world 450 years ago?"     

This witch reminded her of the Bliss Warrior, as the two of them had the same type of hair, which was like a flame that shone a light on one’s heart. Compared to the gray-haired man, she was more willing to answer this witch's questions. Although she usually didn't care about status or ranks of people, she felt vaguely offended to be interrogated while being stared at.     

If she was a petulant master, the man would most likely be severely punished for his indignity.     

"My name is Agatha, and I'm a witch of Taquila Quest Society." She paused for a moment, "What do you mean by saying ‘450 years ago’? Have you been fighting with the demons for more than 400 years? I think it is impossible. "     

"You've been asleep for too long, and the matter is totally different from what you think," the man who called himself Roland said. "If you feel well enough, we can tell you the whole story."     

"Fine, go on then."     

Agatha closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Although the prince was very rude, she had no time to care about that.     

After hearing Roland's presentation on Graycastle's history and Four Kingdoms' evolution, she started feeling some pinpricks of cold sweat emerging on her back. Agatha quickly recognized several landmarks in his narrative, for example the Mist Forest, the Impassable Mountain Range and so on, but after digging into her memory for these landmarks, she was shocked by the conclusion that she gathered.     

If these names corresponded with the old ones, the so-called Four Kingdoms was previously the Barbarian Land. That was a slim region between the mountain and sea. In their ancestors' eyes it was a barren place that had little development value. As for her hometown, the beautiful Fertile Plain, they called it the forbidden area in the wild land now. The Holy City of Taquila had become a place nobody knew about, and had been buried deeply under the Fertile Plain for a longtime.     

How ridiculous it was!     

But the following words were more absurd.     

The status of witches was interred together with the Holy City of Taquila. People expelled and killed witches. In the Four Kingdoms the regime was controlled by mortals. They made themselves the kings and nobilities. In fact, these names were obsolete playthings from before the first Battle of Divine Will.     

Yet, these deplorable, feeble and incorrigible persons became rulers, and humiliated the witches.     

How could it be like that?     

"Outrageous!" she couldn't help breaking in. "How dare these mortals hunt and kill witches like animals? Who dares to do that? "     

Agatha couldn't hold her rage. She raise her hands and wanted to teach this impudent man a lesson, but, unexpectedly, she was unable to summon her frost bolts per usual.     

It was only at this time that she felt a metal ring locked around one of her ankles. She lifted the quilt and found that the stone embedded in the ring was the God's Stone of Retaliation.     

"Are you all crazy?" she glared at the witches unbelievably. "What's wrong with you? Why are you siding with a mortal against me? And how dare you violate the Union’s ban and use the God’s Stone of Retaliation without permission!     

The Union only authorized the enforcement team to use these stones. Apart from them, anyone who carried, sold, modified and destroyed these stones would face severe punishment, and possibly death.     

"That's what I’m worried about," the prince sighed heavily.     

"Take it easy, Your Highness, I'll tell her the whole story," the witch with reddish brown hair sat down beside her and covered the quilt on her body again. "My name is Wendy. His Highness is telling the truth and he always has mercy on witches... I have no idea what happened about the Holy City where you lived 450 years ago. But now Taquila doesn't exist anymore. And we hear nothing about the Union. We were preyed and hunted by the Church until we met His Highness.     

"He gave us a safe place to live and encouraged us to use our abilities and find ways to use them to change the world for the better. Here, we have the freedom like all the ordinary people. We do not have to hide from the persecution from the Church or the human beings who hate us. You know, in this world there're a lot of God's Stones of Retaliation. A witch is as vulnerable as an ordinary person when she loses her ability. "     

Hearing these words, Agatha fell into a deep silence.     

The Union was a large organization established by several witches' kingdoms, in which there were a lot of Seniors and Extraordinaries. In order to win the Battle of Divine Will, the Union established a formidable military, and then controlled all the holy cities. They took charge of training and dispatching witches, meditating arguments, maintaining the stability and building more order cities. Only the Union had the power to arrest and sentence witches... but, such a divine organization finally ended up with interment under the debris...     

Where were the survivors who wanted to rebuild the new order? Where were they now?