Release That Witch

Roland opened his eyes and found himself lying on a big soft bed. There was a familiar ceiling above his head and even every crack coincided with his memory.     

This is my... bedroom?     

He turned his head to look at both of his shoulders. Both his left and right arms looked completely intact. He even tried to move both of his arms and they were working fine.     

Everything was like a dream.     

However, he knew that it was not a dream and that the investigation of the demon and the attack were facts, things that had certainly happened! That he was safely lying in his bedroom showed that they had escaped the pursuit of the demon and successfully returned to the castle.     

However, did all of the witches return safely?     

Thinking about it, Roland's heart sank. He attempted to prop himself up, but his arms felt feeble. Just when he was about to call for someone, he saw a row of witches leaning against the wall opposite the end of his bed. Anna, Nightingale, Lightning, Maggie, and Nana, they were all leaning against each other and breathing smoothly with their eyes slightly closed. They looked like they were sound asleep.     

Roland quietly lifted up one corner of the curtains and he found that the sun was rising from Redwater River, it looked like a dazzling gold was sprinkled upon the earth.     

"You... are awake?"     

He turned around, and Anna already opened her eyes. She was slowly walking towards Roland while kneading her sleepy eyes.     

"Yeah, I'm awake. The other witches..."     

"They all returned to the town safely. In fact, you're the only one who was injured."     

"Is it?" Roland was relieved and said, "That's really good..."     

"You're an Idiot."     

Before he could refute her statement, Anna firmly hugged him. The arms that were buckling behind him were powerful that they were almost embedded in his flesh.     

Anna's actions awoke the other witches.     

"Your Highness!"     

They stood up in surprise and came around. The second to hug Roland was Lightning, followed by Nana and then Maggie. Nightingale hesitated for a while and then held everyone in her arms from behind. For a long time, everyone hugged in a group like they did not want to let go. The moment seemed to freeze time.     

…     

After breakfast, Roland figured out what had happened after listening to the detailed story.     

The witches defeated the demon pursuers together and let Lightning and Maggie bring him back first.     

His broken arm quickly recovered after he was brought back to the castle to accept Nana's treatment. However, he lost consciousness for an entire day due to the severe blood loss. It was now the fourth day since the departure date.     

The action this time was a little careless. Roland did not expect the demon to actually discover the hot air balloon that was coated with the sky-like camouflage from over 5 kilometers away. According to Sylvie, the giant multi-eyed Demon did not appear to notice them until she had fixed her eyes upon it, and it was at that moment that it instantly aimed at her with its eyeballs.     

He had never heard of this investigation method before. Other than Sylvie's Eye of Truth, even looking through a telescope, everything would be a blur at such a distance. It was even more difficult to see what the demon was doing over such a distance as the Red Mist was covering the top of the spire. But still the demon discovered them?     

Having said that, the harvest of the intelligence was incredibly good despite the fact that they had incurred major risks.     

The demon was no longer a mysterious and unknowable hell messenger. They owned urban and organizational systems. They belonged to a higher evolution of civilization, just like humans.     

Also the demons were not strong in the air, at least those in the area behind the snow mountain were not. Hundreds of demons drilled out from the ground and they had ended up with only two of them pursuing them on mounts, which meant that flying was still a rare ability for them. For now, it was still unknown whether the mounts were rare, or the riders were rare. However, in general, this was good news for Border Town. At least he did not have to worry about a group of demons coming around from the south side of the mountain and going straight into the Western Region to burn and loot.     

Besides, it was also an important discovery that the demons possessed magic power.     

According to Nightingale's report, although the magic power of the demons running after them was scarce, it formed a cyclone which was very eye-catching under the Mist. However, the way they activated the magic power seemed to be completely different from the witches. They did not activate it by themselves, but they used some kind of mechanism, such as a glowing stone to release the power. It was not as flexible as the abilities of the witches, but it was a more standardized weapon which they could mass produce.     

Of course, that was just speculation. Unfortunately, the demons' bodies had all fallen into the sea and so Roland could not verify it further.     

The last point was the building.     

Those small and slender black stone spires were not the demons' residences and the material was also quite strange. The surface did not have any traces of Red Mist corrosion. Some of the stone spires were empty inside while others were filled with red liquid inside, similar to a storage tank.     

Perhaps the Red Mist in the sky was formed by the liquid after its gasification?     

Perhaps the demons did not further expand their territory to Barbarian Land nor the four kingdoms due to the gas coverage limitation?     

Anyway, they would, at least temporarily, not pose any threat to the security of Border Town, according to the comprehensive information.     

However, Roland also knew that since humans had been driven away from Barbarian Land by the demons over 400 years ago, perhaps they would come back again someday, so he had to be prepared for that day.     

…     

Night has fallen, and due to the blood loss, Roland quickly retired to bed after casually dealing with a few decrees.     

He was preparing to blow out the candle and go to bed after reading half of the history book on his bed when someone knocked.     

He was slightly stunned and climbed out of the bed to open the door. It was Anna.     

This time she did not have a thick book in her hands about "Secondary Physics" or "Natural Science Theoretical Foundation" as she had done previously. With nothing in her hands, she was walking into the room dressed in a white sleeping robe. She did not even wear shoes and her delicate feet touched the floor without making any noises.     

Roland swallowed his saliva.     

Anna shut the door behind her and locked it. Then, she held Roland's hand and walked to the bed.     

Her flowing hair had just been washed and it was flashing with the golden light of the candle. It smelled fragrant when he was close to her and the enchanting fragrance was not from rose scented soap, but from her own body.     

Her long eyelashes were slightly trembling and her cheeks were blushing. Her blue eyes looked like autumn water. Although she looked a little nervous, there was no trace of anxiousness, and she stared at Roland determined.     

He understood Anna's meaning despite the fact that he had never experienced anything like it.     

"Ahem, this..."     

"I don't want to wait anymore," Anna whispered, "especially after experiencing such a terrifying encounter." She paused and continued to say, "I don't want any regrets."     

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