Ch. 81 The Two Witches (50-1)
by Afuhfuihgs
Witch – Chapter 81 – The Two Witches (50-1)
Holy Capital Florencia
The capital of the Holy Kingdom, located in the eastern part of the continent. A place where the will of god is spread to the world, or where those who wish to follow that will gather. The heart of it all.
Lucia stepped onto the soil of the Holy Capital, dragging her exhausted body.
Just being in the Holy Capital seemed to rejuvenate her weary flesh, and the pain dulled. The expression on Lucia’s face, who had just narrowly escaped death, softened considerably.
She had almost died. No, she had experienced something so horrifying that she had begged for death.
The witch.
She recalled the witch with pink hair, fluttering in the wind, who had crushed her with an overwhelming power that defied reason.
A fighting style she had never seen before. Witches usually stayed in their lairs, casting curses and illusions, never stepping forward to fight directly…
But the pink-haired witch had overturned Lucia’s expectations, confronting her head-on and overwhelming her in a battle of strength, even taking her left arm.
If Carté hadn’t arrived in time to save her… Lucia might have been torn limb from limb by the witch, thrown into an orc den, and doomed to a fate worse than death.
“You should’ve returned sooner. Look at the state you’re in.”
As Carté stretched, the hood covering his face fell back.
His golden hair, said to carry the deepest connection to the will of the god, and his narrow eyes, which were hard to tell whether they were open or closed, glared at Lucia.
“Now that we’re in the Holy Capital, the witch won’t be foolish enough to chase us. The return scroll was expensive, but saving the life of our captain is worth it, isn’t it?”
The Holy Capital was surrounded by a holy barrier, a sanctuary where no power other than divine energy could manifest. It was a place called the resting place of the god.
As Carté said, the witch wouldn’t chase them here… but even though her life had been saved, Lucia couldn’t let go of her tension.
The timing had been too perfect.
It was as if Carté had been watching from somewhere and appeared at the exact moment of crisis…
“What’s with that look? Are you glaring at the person who saved you?”
“What’s your motive?”
“What motive? I saved you as your vice-captain. Do you think I had something shady planned?”
Lucia found Carté’s shameless attitude disgusting. There was no evidence, only suspicion. All Lucia could do was glare at Carté, biting her lip in frustration.
She wanted to punch that smug face right then and there, but the damage from the battle and the curse eating away at her body in real time held her back.
From the severed stump of her arm, a dark, crimson curse was slowly rising.
“This is the Holy Capital… but it doesn’t seem like an ordinary curse. It looks like you need treatment urgently. Should I heal you?”
Now that they were in the Holy Capital, the curse shouldn’t be able to exert its power.
Carté looked at the curse manifesting on Lucia’s left arm and recalled the situation.
The witch’s broom, emitting crimson mana in three streams.
Even at a glance, it was clear that it wasn’t an ordinary broom.
Just as Lucia and Carté were exceptional forces within the Heresy Inquisitors, it wasn’t surprising that there were witches who were also exceptions.
Even listing the witches that came to mind… there were primordial witches like the Witch of the End, the Witch of Fate, and the Witch of Curses, who the Heresy Inquisitors had heard of at least once. There was no guarantee there weren’t more.
You should’ve picked your battles more carefully.
Carté couldn’t help but feel regret that Lucia, whom he had come to respect as both a captain and a human, had been reduced to a broken toy.
“We’re going to the Grand Cathedral.”
“Huh? The Grand Cathedral? To see the Pope? With that look, you’ll just get scolded.”
Ignoring Carté’s sarcasm, Lucia began to walk.
She didn’t trust the witch’s words, but there was something she wanted to ask.
‘Beneath the Holy Capital lies the Embryo. Go ask your superiors about it. The secret of divine energy. Even if you learn it, can you continue as the Heresy Inquisitor? You don’t even know who the real heretics are. Not that you’ll live to continue as the Heresy Inquisitor anyway.’
What is the Embryo?
There was a place beneath the Grand Cathedral, accessible only to the Pope, called the Garden of Eden.
Only the cardinals who assisted the Pope and the royal family would know about it… Lucia had only heard rumors and didn’t know exactly what the Garden of Eden was.
Had a heretic revealed the Holy Kingdom’s secrets to the witch? Or was there a secret even Lucia didn’t know?
Normally, Lucia would have dismissed the witch’s words as nonsense. The wicked tongue of a witch was always moving to push people into their demise.
But… this time, she couldn’t ignore it. The witch had looked down on her as if she knew a secret of the Holy Kingdom that Lucia didn’t, treating her like a pitiful, foolish human.
That was nothing short of humiliation for Lucia. Worse than death… worse than being thrown into an orc den.
Perhaps the humiliation was even greater because it was a witch who had spoken those words.
“The Pope is busy right now. If you go to the Grand Cathedral and get turned away, what will you do? Have you gone mad after being beaten by a witch?”
“…….”
Ignoring Carté’s incessant chatter behind her, Lucia didn’t stop walking.
“The Pope has ordered that no one is to enter.”
“Step aside.”
Even as the holy knights guarding the Grand Cathedral blocked her path, Lucia didn’t stop. She walked unimpeded into the Grand Cathedral and reached the door to the Pope’s chambers. After a brief pause, she opened the door.
“I clearly ordered that no one was to enter. How have you come this far?”
Pope Arius frowned as he interrogated the uninvited guest.
“Haha. Well, you see, Your Holiness. Captain Lucia said she had urgent matters to discuss with you…”
Carté, who had followed Lucia into the Grand Cathedral, explained the situation to the Pope as if defending her.
“Ah, I see. Captain Lucia. Why have you come to see me in such haste?”
The group of holy knights who had failed to stop Lucia, and the veiled woman standing beside the Pope…
This wasn’t a place to discuss what she wanted to talk about, but… Lucia didn’t hesitate or delay.
“I have confirmed the survival of the Third Prince, Leo Patrick Florence. He has fallen to the temptations of heresy and become an apostate.”
“I see…”
She opened the conversation with the matter of the apostate, which the Pope had been curious about.
The Pope sighed and wiped his face, but there was no trace of sorrow or pity in his actions.
Leo, now an apostate, was the one who had caused the death of the Holy Kingdom’s only saintess and was a fool. Yet, no one dared to whisper about it.
“And… Leo, no, the apostate, has been bestowed the Holy Eye.”
“The Holy Eye, you say.”
If it weren’t for the Holy Eye, she might have been able to judge the apostate and the heretic, even if she had lost to the witch.
Losing to the witch was unavoidable, but failing to judge the apostate and the heretics was nothing short of humiliation for Lucia.
The Pope’s eyes gleamed at the mention of the Holy Eye, but he quickly stroked his long beard.
“Captain Lucia. What happened to your arm?”
“This… while judging the apostate and the heretic, the witch intervened.”
“You are alive, and that is enough. Go and receive treatment.”
The Pope gestured for her to leave, as if he had no further questions, but for Lucia, this was just the beginning.
She didn’t fully believe the witch’s words… but unlike other witches, the pink-haired witch had shown power that seemed to hint at a secret of the world. Perhaps… if she learned about the Embryo, Lucia might gain that kind of power herself.
“What is the Embryo?”
“……!”
Lucia didn’t miss the Pope’s surprised expression at the mention of the Embryo.
“Who told you that?”
“The pink-haired witch.”
“I see… Captain Lucia. To believe the words of a witch. Have you been cursed?”
“Huh…?”
But contrary to Lucia’s expectations, the Pope continued in a pitiful tone.
“Holy knights, listen. Lucia has been cursed by a witch and is seeing illusions and hearing voices. She may become a puppet of the witch and turn her blade on us at any moment. Therefore, I will send Lucia to Salem, treating her as equal to a witch.”
“What are you…?”
Salem was the underground prison where Lucia had imprisoned witches she couldn’t kill as a Heresy Inquisitor…
Lucia felt a chill she had never felt before.
If the Embryo was a secret even Lucia, the head of the Heresy Inquisitors, wasn’t supposed to know…?
Could it be that the witch had planned this…?
Her entire body was drenched in cold sweat.
She felt like she had been hit hard on the back of the head and almost let out a bitter laugh, but she held it in and tried to think of a way out of this situation.
This is a trap. A trap set by the witch.
First, she needed to convince the Pope. No, she needed to beg.
Lucia was content with just hunting witches.
She didn’t need to know about any secrets…
“There’s been a misunderstanding…!?”
The group of holy knights pounced on Lucia at once.
Pinned to the ground with her one remaining arm twisted, she couldn’t even resist.
No matter how many holy knights came at her, it would have been laughable, but the exhaustion from rushing to the Grand Cathedral without rest had left her unable to resist.
“Carté…!”
As she was dragged away by the holy knights, Lucia hoped that Carté would extend a helping hand once again.
Carté was the Pope’s closest confidant. She held onto the small hope that Carté could somehow save her.
Salem… anywhere but there!
“So… why are you saying such things, you wretched woman?”
Contrary to Lucia’s expectations, the second miracle did not happen.
Lucent
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