“Oooh no, how scary-wary.” Witch pulls the corners of her eyes downwards with her finger into a fake, upside-down crying face. Or so I thought, but she simply winks and laughs. “There’s no way a kind lord knight would raise his hand against a fragile young maiden, is there?”
“Tch… Shut it.”
Dragon sighs behind me. “It is our loss. She has the upper hand. She was here first and likely prepared an ambush well in advance of our arrival.”
Grinding my teeth, I lower my fists. Witch snickers, releases her thread, then does a backflip so that her feet land on the ground and her head is right-side up. She tosses back her gleaming silver hair and smooths it out. In contrast to her young appearance, her gestures are truly that of a refined woman. Her obsidian features granting her a rare exotic beauty not seen in these lands, still—it’d be hard to call any of her actions ladylike.
Just how many years has she lived for? How long has it been since she took the darkness into herself and became Witch?
“Say, Gideon? You are called Gideon, aren’t you? Princess refers to you as such.” Her face is close. She instantly closed the gap between us. I flinch.
“Y-Yeah.”
“I haven’t done anything to those girls. I just slept between their corpses,” she clarifies, leaving the implications unsaid.
“…Hmph.”
Not a single child had been alive by the time I arrived. I couldn’t save them. But she’s sayin’ that she wasn’t the one who dealt the deathblow.
You can say whatever ya want, but that doesn’t make it true. What’s the truth? Even if she didn’t raise her hand against them, hadn’t she abandoned the children to their deaths?
…No, I don’t think she did.
I’ll believe in the glimpses I caught of her past self. I won’t deny that she’s different from the past, but the past is what makes you who you are in the present.
“Have you calmed down? I’m about to tell you something very important, so both of you listen to me, okay?” She smoothly holds a single jet-black finger up. Dragon and I do as she says and look at her fingertip.
Damn! She’s taken complete control of the situation!
But she’s solemn enough that I can’t defy her.
“There’s a barrier around the castle. A barrier meant to make sure Dragon absolutely can’t go inside. The stronger you press against it, the stronger the power that rebounds at you will be. You won’t walk away unscathed if you try to force your way in,” she coolly lays out the horrifying truth without hesitation. I can only wordlessly listen to what she has to say.
“You can’t get any more foolish than trying to launch a suicide attack by going up against Lord Designs’ private army. It’s the same as knowingly charging to your death. Oh, and as a side note, your resonance with the scale will be cut off too, okay?”
Dragon raises his neck and carefully observes the castle. I imitate him and strain my eyes, but I’m stuck with the same problem as before—it won’t come into focus.
“…She is right. I would not have been able to tell without her warning, but now that I am looking for it, there is a distinct ward against my presence tied into the ley lines…”
“Seriously?”
“Aye. With the power of the ley lines supplementing it, an intricate current of power has been ingeniously braided together into a series of wards. It’s almost like a spider’s web…the prey can’t see it until they are ensnared. It is truly a masterpiece in warding.”
Red flushes Witch’s cheeks and she holds her hands behind her back. She bashfully sways from side to side.
“Ehehe, thanks.”
I glare at her through narrowed eyes. “Why are you getting all shy about it?”
“The person who made that is moi.”
“What?!”
What the heck has this witch gone and done?! My eyes peel back and my hand shoots to my sword.
“Okay, okay. Settle down. Don’t jump to conclusions.” Her slender black finger presses against the middle of my forehead. She’s only touching me and I can’t move. A knight can’t defy a young maiden—that’s the rule. “I created the barrier, so I also know how to undo the spell. Understand?”
I nod compliantly. The fact she exposed her advantage means that she was ready to tell us how to defuse it.
“A protective barrier is meant to block attacks from the outside. They’re easily destroyed from the inside.”
“Just like how you destroyed the Fairy Barrier?” Dragon asks blandly.
“Pretty much like that.”
Interesting. She’s definitely well-informed on it.
I hum in thought, wondering how it compares to some of the other barriers I’ve dealt with on missions before.
“It’s a large-scale barrier. Seeing as you, the caster, are here, that must mean there’s a mechanism in place that allows it to be controlled from the inside. Am I right?” Dragon points out.
“You’re as quick to catch on as I’d hoped!” Witch cackles. Her coral lips narrow and curl into a woman’s smile on a child’s face. It’s extremely mismatched and unsettling, it disturbs me.
“You see, there are two black magic items supporting the barrier inside the castle.” She withdraws her hand from my forehead. She waves it in the air, then swiftly holds up her fingers—two this time.
“Are you listening? There are two. TWO. The barrier will disappear as long as you destroy both.”
How are we supposed to take this?
There’s no question ‘bout it, she’s not our ally. But she’s also no longer our enemy either. At the very least, she’s informed us about the existence of the barrier and how to remove it.
“…Okay, I’ve got it. I’ll go.”
We’ve no chance of winning without Dragon sieging the castle. Then all I’ve gotta do is make it so he can get inside.
“It originally belonged to my king. I know the layout like the back of my hand.”
“Now, just a minute.”
Rustling comes from behind us. Grass and twigs are being brushed right and left. Wondering what the ruckus is, I notice Dragon with one eye shut, swinging his tail in small waves.
“Now, wait a minute. Why would you inform us of these things?”