Witch

Shasta had no idea what Morey was thinking.

She only knew that she had followed the merchant ship into Sigg Town and had stayed here for three days, yet she still had nothing to show for it.

Shasta was growing anxious. She said to Morey, "I don't care what the Lord here is doing. I can't keep wasting time here. If you still can't find her, then I'll find her myself."

Morey instinctively shook his head. "No, no, no. You can't expose yourself. It'll drag me down with you."

Shasta said, "The Church hasn't reached this place yet, and no one would think you have anything to do with us!"

"That won't do either. Sigg Town is so big, and the chances of you being exposed are too high. These past few days, my caravan has been the only one to enter Sigg Town. Do you take everyone for fools?"

The two broke into a heated argument.

Morey had a terrible headache. This was not the first time Shasta had made such a suggestion.

This stubborn fool had an extremely sensitive identity and had given no thought whatsoever to his situation.

Although Shasta was right that the chance of being exposed was very low, it was still possible.

Once this matter came to light, there would be no recovering from it. It might even implicate the family behind him.

Shasta said, "Do you think the nobles and the Church are on good terms? The descendants of Grand Duke Armor-Splitting would never leak information to the Church."

Morey knew that Grand Duke Armor-Splitting did not have a good relationship with the Church, but that was not a reason for him to support Shasta taking such a risk.

She could just pat herself off and leave, while he would have to bear the consequences. No matter how low the odds were, it was unacceptable.

Morey said, "Listen to me. Just listen to me. It's not like I found nothing. I think she might not be in Sigg Town."

Shasta frowned and waited for Morey to continue.

"Amethyst can sense your power, but I walked all over Sigg Town and never found any abnormal reaction from it. That means she is most likely not in Sigg Town. She probably got exposed. You believe she is still alive in this land, so the only possibility is that she fled into the deep mountains."

It was not hard to deduce.

There were only two possible reasons for entering the deep mountains.

The first was that she had left the human settlements of her own accord to live among the wild beasts.

The second was that she had been exposed and had no choice but to leave.

The first possibility was unlikely.

Even with great power, it would be difficult for a lone person to emerge unscathed from a forest filled with dangers, let alone survive there alone.

So Morey believed it was the latter.

Shasta frowned. "If that were really the case, this matter should have caused a huge uproar. There's no way nobody would know about it."

She felt that the exposure of such powerful strength should have caused quite a scene, not something no one knew of.

Morey asked, "Is it possible that only a handful of people actually know about it?"

Shasta had to admit that such a situation was not uncommon. Not every power was destructive, or rather, destructive abilities were the minority.

The only thing Shasta could be sure of was that she was still alive.

According to the information Morey had gathered, there had been no reports of young girls going missing in Sigg Town recently.

If that was truly the case, then the girl had most likely fled into the deep mountains a long time ago.

That was terrible news.

Morey said, "If Romain Armor-Splitting is a man with a strong desire for control, then he should help us find that girl."

Shasta's pupils suddenly contracted. "What did you do?"

Morey answered honestly, "I mentioned the mountain residents to him. In Sigg Town, only Romain Armor-Splitting can find her. Outsiders like us can't possibly know the exact situation in the mountains."

Shasta's brows shot up as she cursed, "You self-righteous idiot! How do you know Romain Armor-Splitting won't do something to her?"

"You were just saying that the Armor-Splitting Family wouldn't help the Church."

Veins bulged across Shasta's forehead as she gritted her teeth. "That doesn't mean he has no hostility toward us!"

Morey was furious as well. "Then what? Without enough manpower, are you going into the mountains alone to find your companion? Can you even find her? If you die in the mountains, is my caravan supposed to wait here for you forever?"

Shasta abruptly rose to her feet.

Morey immediately took a step back and kept a safe distance from her. Pretending to remain calm, he asked, "What are you doing?"

"Hmph!" Shasta snorted coldly, walked around Morey, and left the cabin.

Morey's scalp went numb. He hurried after Shasta, speaking at a rapid pace as he pressed, "Don't tell me you're going to negotiate with him. Nobles would never accept such a thing. You aren't qualified. He'll only think you're insulting him..."

Without slowing down, Shasta wrapped herself in her black robe and left the merchant ship.

Without looking back, she said coldly, "I don't trust nobles. Before that happens, I'll find that child and take her away from here!"

"The Church is hunting you everywhere. If you expose yourself, the Lord here will know you aren't locals and connect it to me. On the other hand, if you don't expose yourself, even if Romain Armor-Splitting finds your companion, once he investigates her identity, he'll know that the child is just a pitiful little thing. Her chances of survival will be very high..." Morey chased after Shasta, trying to stop this stubborn fool.

Shasta suddenly swept a hand behind her. Thick smoke surged from her hand and formed into a wall of mist.

Morey stopped helplessly and shouted, "I'll only wait for you here for two days! Whether you come back or not, I'm leaving!"

Were all these damned Witches this foul-tempered?

Served you right for ending up like this!

He viciously kicked a stone by the riverbank, and his face quickly twisted in pain.

Night fell quickly.

The residents of Sigg Town went to sleep in unease.

A figure that seemed shrouded in smoke entered a farmhouse somewhere in Sigg Town.

This was the most common kind of thatched hut in Sigg Town.

The mass of smoke approached a sleeping farmer, gave off a faint haze, and asked in a bewitching voice:

"Where is the Witch of Sigg Town?"

The man sank deeper into sleep on his straw bed and muttered in his dreams, "Don't know..."

Shasta was not discouraged. She left, walked several dozen meters ahead, and entered a second home.

"Where is the Witch of Sigg Town?"

"What Witch..."

The early spring night was bathed in moonlight like water.

On the filthy, foul-smelling road.

Shasta passed through this settlement in Sigg Town, questioning many people.

She did not notice that, in the farmhouses she passed, restless farmers who had not yet fallen asleep suddenly heard doors opening next door. Curious, they looked over and witnessed a terrifying sight.

A strange mass of smoke was walking about, like a monster from hell in legend. From time to time, it entered a farmhouse as though it were feeding on their souls.

The witnesses widened their eyes and instinctively covered their mouths with their palms. They did not even dare breathe, afraid of drawing the strange smoke's attention.

Shasta searched by questioning people at intervals.

After questioning more than a dozen households, she had found nothing.

Just as she was about to search a little longer and give up if she still found nothing.

She entered a thatched hut.

"Where is the Witch of Sigg Town?"

"Gevra..."

The gaunt old farmer muttered in his dreams.

It was not an answer to her question.

But Shasta immediately perked up. She knew she had found a clue. Her luck was good.

Morey really was useless!

"Where is Gevra?"

"Gevra, the Lord has come to take you... That damned merchant told the Lord to come take you..."

Shasta knew her power could put ordinary people to sleep and make them reveal secrets in their dreams.

But dreams had no logic. Shasta did not know what the other person was dreaming about, so she had to analyze it to reach an answer.

In that case, had the Witch named Gevra fled into the deep mountains?

Shasta sighed inwardly.

"What is your relationship with Gevra?"

"No, no, no! She isn't my daughter. She's an evil Witch! Church sir, please have mercy and don't burn us to death..."

Shasta frowned and repeated her question:

"Where is Gevra?"

"Where is Gevra?"

She repeated the question many times before finally obtaining a clue from the seemingly aged farmer before her...

"Don't know..."

Shasta clenched her fists. After expending so much power, she had finally found Gevra's family.

Yet this man knew nothing?

She was deeply disappointed. Just as she was about to leave, she noticed a woman sleeping beside the farmer.

She should have been Gevra's mother, the wife of Gevra's father.

Besides them, there were four children sleeping in the room. They appeared to be ten, seven, and four years old, along with a child of around two sleeping in the woman's arms.

Shasta glanced at the woman and the child, then could not help shaking her head before leaving the house.

After she left, the woman, who had only been pretending to sleep, suddenly opened her terrified eyes.

When she sat up and tried to wake her husband, she found that she could not wake him no matter what she did.

"Stop shaking him. He's entered deep sleep."

A voice drifted faintly from behind her.

The woman's entire body went rigid. She turned around and saw a mass of smoke standing on the ground, within which a pair of crimson eyes watched her silently.

The farm woman nearly fainted from fright. Her face twisted as she screamed:

"No! You demon! Don't hurt my children!"

The smoke suddenly drifted closer and asked in a bewitching voice.

"Where is Gevra?"