Release That Witch

Mayne stood at the top of the Heaven Tower and looked out from afar. There were only two colors in the wilderness outside the wall—the green meadows and the white snow intertwined, like a scar of the earth left by the war during the Months of Demons. The climatic conditions were unsuitable for any crops, so all the food they needed in the new Holy City had to be transported from the foot of the plateau, that was, the old Holy City, by animal-drawn vehicles.     

After living in Hermes for more than a decade, he had been used to the coldness everywhere.     

"This time only we two are left?" Tayfun came through the door and asked, "is it okay if the meeting isn't held in the secret chamber?"     

"Do you like to stay in that tiny room?"     

"No... of course not." The old archbishop touched his white beard. "If Heather hadn't always talked about the disciplines and regulations, I would have been eager to exchange information here. Even if she talked a lot of nonsense, I could at least enjoy the scenery of Holy City. But..." he said with a faint smile, "I didn't expect such a person who's always punctually to not return on time?"     

"Maybe she met some difficulties," said Mayne sitting back to the table, "maybe she's on her way."     

"Maybe..." Tayfun curled his lips and said, "You shouldn't make an excuse for her. She often said that everyone should suit the action to the word. Even if she met with some troubles, she should report to us first. She isn't alone in the king's city of the Kingdom of Everwinter, and sending a messenger won't take long."     

"Leave her alone." Mayne pushed three letters to Tayfun and said, "we're in trouble."     

"Trouble?" Tayfun was stunned for a while and then sat down across the round table spreading out the letters. "Is it all bad news?"     

"Yes." He took a deep breath. "It couldn't be worse."     

Tayfun lost his smile and began to carefully look at the first secret letter. "... the spread of the demonic plague has been stopped and Faceless' whereabouts is unknown? Wait, what's the demonic plague?"     

"It's the latest research result of the Pivotal Secret Area. You don't need to know too much and just consider it as a rapidly infectious disease." Mayne simply explained. In fact, according to Master Crow's Eye, it was a micro demonic beast which would mutate specifically for the human body after special cultivation. And the holy medicine to restrain it was also the demonic beast, but with a smaller body. "The pathogen can't be directly observed with the eyes, so it can't be cured with the conventional means. Only one kind of person can stop the spread of the demonic plague."     

"The witch?" Tayfun quickly thought of the answer.     

"And it should be more than one," he said with a low voice.     

After reading the letter, the old archbishop punched on the table. "What was the idiot doing? Not to mention that he let the Rats encircle and suppress the mercenaries, he even let Faceless in? Didn't he even know how important the pure witch is?"     

"His idea isn't wrong." Mayne frowned. "If there were no lies about the number of people in the letter, then 1000 Rats would be enough to defeat the other party's over 100 mercenaries. However, it seems that they have powerful long-range bolts, which can be launched continuously. For this point, I remember that Priest Tylo, who stationed in Longsong Stronghold, has also mentioned that the reason why Duke Ryan lost to a group of miners was that the other party's crossbows were extremely powerful. Although the armors can significantly reduce the damage of the bolts, the Rats don't have such equipment."     

"Even if it was right to send those Rats, he shouldn't send Faceless so easily!" Tayfun said angrily, "Heather will be furious when she comes back. Every witch who would grow into a pure witch has an extremely rare ability and the training is very energy-consuming. In a sense, they're more precious than God's Punishment Army."     

"But whether it's the witches or the God's Punishment Army, their ultimate goal is to destroy the enemy and achieve victory," Mayne slowly said, "It's inevitable to lose some of them in this process."     

"Do you want to keep Priest Ferry safe?"     

"Don't forget the law of the church," Mayne said with a low voice, "only focusing on results is the way the nobles love to deal with things. Although Ferry failed miserably, his starting point and plan didn't have too many problems. It was just that the enemy was stronger. He'll certainly be punished, but the specific punishments need further consideration."     

"But Heather may not think so," Tayfun shook his head and said, opening the second letter, "don't forget that she's in charge of the arbitration of the church."     

"I'll explain it to her."     

Soon, the old archbishop turned over the letter, daring not believe what he had seen. "Timothy's militia forces sneak attacked the church in Longsong Stronghold and killed all members of the emissary delegation? Was he crazy!?"     

The contents of the second letter actually came from two aspects. One was the report from the stronghold's agent Petrov, and the other was the intelligence from local believers. On the whole, there was indeed a militia from outside the Western Region that attacked the stronghold and plundered the church. They not only took the Berserk Pills, and their target was also the pills stored in the church... So the first judgement wouldn't be wrong—the team came from either Timothy, the new king, or from Garcia, Queen of Clearwater. Between the two, the former was more likely.     

As for the latter one, Mayne felt a bit weird. According to Petrov's description in the report, the other party burned the church and immediately withdrew from the stronghold being nowhere to be found, then how could they kill the members of the emissary delegation? At this time the emissary delegation should have arrived in Border Town, so it was impossible for the two parties to meet.     

Seeing that Mayne did not say a word, Tayfun soon realized that as well. He picked up the first letter to read it again, and then the wrinkles on his forehead deepened. "Is it... Roland Wimbledon that removed the emissary delegation and then pushed it all to his elder brother Timothy Wimbledon?"     

"We might as well speculate," the archbishop said, after a moment of silence, "Roland intended to obtain the cheap population, so he sent the witches to cure the demonic plague and transported the fugitives back to the Western Region. Before that, to avoid being perceived by the emissary delegation that he was keeping the witches, he had sent the knights to raid the camp of the emissary delegation. The emissary delegation even couldn't send messenger pigeons. Then he placed all the blame on the stronghold raiders. After all, it was with Roland's support that Petrov became the agent, so it was taken for granted to help him make counterfeiting. Of course… all this is our speculation. The disappearance of the emissary delegation is indeed too suspicious, but we have no energy to send another emissary delegation."     

"In that case, we should immediately send troops to punish him for his arrogance," Tayfun said coldly, "even if the emissary delegation has nothing to do with him, the witches going to the Western Region is worth our cleaning up."     

Mayne did not answer but pointed to the third letter instead. "You'd better read the last letter first."     

Tayfun looked at him puzzled and spread the letter. Soon, his hands became trembled and could hardly hold the thin paper. "Lots of witches appeared in the Fjords, and they even destroyed all the churches? Then this letter is..."     

"It's from Sea Dragon Bay, and it's the last church being broken through." Mayne closed his eyes, leaning against the chair, with a tone filled with tiredness. "Large numbers of witches can't appear in the Fjords without any symptoms. So there's only one possibility, that's, they migrated from the mainland." The letter also mentioned the Extraordinary—It was clearly defined in the church law that once any traces of an extraordinary witch was found, it should preferentially dispatch the God's Punishment Army to catch her. Since Fjord Islands were too far away, and the Kingdom of Wolfheart battlefield was at an anxious occasion, he had no time to attend to the affairs across the strait.     

"Shall we ask the supreme pontiff for instructions?" Tayfun asked.     

"..." Mayne slightly shook his head and forced down the sense of powerlessness. Maybe it was the deities' test for the church, and the truth of the deities could only be seen when the church broke through brambles and thorns. He opened his eyes and calmed down again. "I leave the matters of the Holy City of Hermes to you and Heather."     

"Do you want to go to the Fjords?" The old archbishop stared at him.     

"I'll lead 100 members of the God's Punishment Army and Pure Witches who stayed at the church and thoroughly clean out the Western Region of the Kingdom of Graycastle. Then I'll seek opportunities to deal with the witches in the Fjords."     

"But the law says..."     

Mayne interrupted him. "It was in the case that the extraordinary appeared in the four kingdoms. Now they're separated far from us by the sea, so they have nothing to do with our plan. Don't forget that our ultimate goal is to gain more land and population, and continue to expand the God's Punishment Army. It's clear that Prince Roland of the Kingdom of Graycastle is a bigger hindrance to us."     

"But..." When Tayfun intended to contradict him, there came a rush of footsteps outside the circular room. They both slightly startled and coincidentally looked to the door.     

The door was pushed open and a priest rushed in the room in an abrupt manner. "Bad news, Your Archbishop, bad news!"     

"Calm down," Mayne shouted, "What's the matter, say it slowly."     

"Critical intelligence came from Her Excellency Heather's follower that a huge fleet had landed on the coast of the Kingdom of Everwinter. A large group of enemies was besieging the king's city and the situation was urgent. Their ships were uniformly hung with black sails, and the flags on the mast were green flags with a crown and a sailboat on it." The priest looked very anxious. "The moment when the news was sent out, two gates had been lost. Her Excellency Heather was leading the believers to fight, but there're too many enemies. Moreover, they had taken the berserk pills!"     

"What?" Mayne could not believe his ears for a while. Black sails, designed with a sailboat and a crown...     

The enemy was actually the Blacksail Fleet of the Queen of Clearwater!