At Daggers Drawn

At Daggers Drawn

It was a cold, condescending voice from above.

The Armor-Splitting Family was renowned for its martial prowess. This stemmed from the first Grand Duke Armor-Splitting, who had nearly achieved the feat of slaying a dragon and had followed the Conqueror Emperor in sweeping across the world. His descendants all possessed considerable skill with the bow.

And Romain was the finest among his generation of the family.

With the Armor-Piercing Greatbow, the power of his archery increased three- to fivefold, enough to make anyone shudder. Even the strongest knights would not dare take such an arrow head-on with nothing but their flesh.

Shasta's heart sank.

Romain Armor-Splitting moved far too quickly.

Shasta could only force herself to remain calm. "Are you going to attack me? Attack a witch of the Witch Forest?"

Romain lowered his bow.

"A witch! You came to my territory and dared to abduct my people? You must be tired of living!"

"This child is also a witch," Shasta said gravely.

But Romain showed no courtesy. "I don't care whether she's a witch. Everything on my territory is my property, and you want to take her away? Take my property?"

Shasta laughed in fury. "You can accept witches as your subjects? Ha, that makes things easier. I'll have every witch in the Witch Forest come here as your guest."

Romain frowned. "Are you threatening me?"

"You were the one who started joking, Romain Armor-Splitting. If you don't want to see the witches destroy this land of yours, then let the child and me leave."

The Witch Forest was a secret society composed entirely of witches, established to resist persecution by the Church and the secular world.

Most of the time, they had to remain hidden, evading the Church's searches everywhere like homeless dogs.

But against a tiny place like Sigg Town, the Witch Forest still had the ability to utterly destroy it.

Yet Romain did not believe the Witch Forest would mobilize such forces for the sake of two witches.

If they lacked even that much restraint, those witches lurking in the gutters would never have survived until now.

Romain stepped closer. He looked at the witch before him, wrapped in a black robe, strikingly beautiful, around twenty-five or twenty-six years old, with black hair and black eyes.

"You have no right to negotiate with me. Neither does the Witch Forest. I forbid you from taking anyone from Sigg Town. My people belong on my land. There is no room for discussion!"

Once Romain saw Dota, he understood everything.

The apostles he had drawn from the pool all came from among the people living in his territory.

Though he had yet to figure out what star ratings meant, judging by four-star Aaron and three-star Green, higher was undoubtedly better.

Even across all of Sigg Town, the talents of those two were exceptionally rare.

Most people were probably only one-star. Even Dota, an outstanding hunter capable of speaking with him, only had two stars.

That meant high-star apostles were scarce, while the proportion of witches who awakened was extremely low—meaning Gevra was most likely a high-star apostle, perhaps even the highest-star apostle in all of Sigg Town.

After all, although Aaron and Green were War Knights carefully selected and specially trained since childhood, they had not displayed exceptional talent when they were young. Otherwise, Romain would never have been able to bring them out.

Gevra was a potential card, and she wanted to take her away?

What a joke.

Though he had not drawn Gevra's apostle card yet, it did not matter. The meat was already in the pot; the prize would not go to an outsider.

Given enough time, he would definitely draw this high-star apostle.

Shasta was left speechless by Romain's unyielding attitude.

Smoke rose from her entire body as she said darkly, "Do you think that, as a lord, you are stronger than those high-ranking War Knights?"

"If you're confident you can kill everyone here, then why don't you do it?" Romain said. "That way, people would only think we died beneath the claws of magical beasts."

Were fifth-rank superhumans really that formidable?

Romain scoffed at the idea.

Fifth-rank War Knights were still flesh and blood. There were countless ways to kill them.

If I used an AK to mow down ten fifth-rank superhumans, would that mean I was stronger than all of them combined?

Shasta gritted her teeth, realizing that this noble truly could not be threatened.

And she truly did not dare kill a noble in public.

If even one person here escaped and spread the news to the outside world—

Then the Witch Forest would face not only the Church's forces in the future, but also the noble forces that were at odds with the Church.

The two most terrifying powers on this land would join hands to crush the Witch Forest. If that happened, the witches would truly have no hope left.

The situation was stronger than the individual. Shasta had to acknowledge that.

But... was she really going to give up like this?

Give up her companion and sister, hand her over to a decadent noble—what would he do to her? What could he do to her? What depraved desires might a noble with bottomless appetites possess? The mere thought of such things made Shasta's skin crawl. She could not bear it.

She stared fixedly at Romain, her grip on the short sword tightening further.

Escaping would not be difficult. No one here could stop her. But taking Gevra with her was another matter entirely.

Aaron raised his round shield and stepped in front of Romain, assuming the best defensive stance.

Romain had also noticed Shasta's subtle movement, and he cursed that fool for not knowing what was good for her.

As long as she abandoned Gevra, the latter could leave this place. He would not stop her, nor would he even notify the church.

He himself held no prejudice against witches. It was only because Gevra was important that he had to keep her.

If they truly fought this Witch who claimed to have killed a fifth-tier War Knight, Romain believed that among the guards and hunters he currently led, at least five, six, seven, or eight would likely be killed or wounded. That absolutely counted as heavy casualties.

And Aaron could only guarantee his own safety.

Of course, if Shasta truly did this, then once he escaped these mountains, he would gather everyone in Sigg Town and immediately retaliate. Unless Shasta avoided the waterways, unless she could cross the treacherous and complex mountain range to escape into the outside world, she would surely die.

Shasta hesitated, while Romain waited for her decision.

He would not yield to this Witch. Who the hell do you think you are? If it comes to a fight, then we fight. Don't even think about taking Gevra away.

Thus, the atmosphere in the mountain forest grew increasingly tense.

Many of the guards and hunters also sensed that their Noble Lord and the Witch were on the verge of fighting.

They were deeply uneasy, especially the hunters. They had only just decided to pledge loyalty to Romain—were they really going to risk their lives to help a noble fight?

After all, there were two witches!

Witches who knew evil spells!

They did not have the habit of carrying salt with them. That stuff was far too expensive!

Even with two War Knights on their side, they could not feel at ease.

In their hearts, they prayed that this battle would not break out.

Then, at that moment, a wolf's howl from deep in the mountains shattered the tense standoff.

After that, both Romain and Shasta panicked somewhat.

"Kill the Evil Dragon! Kill all of you! Hee hee hee!!"