Locke let out a sigh of relief. He had still helped Esther escape the pursuit.
Even now, he had not seen through all of Witch Catherine's schemes. Was Esther a traitor, or an undercover agent?
On the surface, Esther was a traitor.
Of course, from her perspective, she had probably only changed jobs. Yet Witch Catherine had asked him to secretly help her leave the Golden Crown Mountain District.
There was far too much hidden information in this.
At that moment, two old acquaintances of Locke stood aboard the small void craft. One was Lana, a witch of the Rose Council, and the other was Nina, also a witch of the Rose Council.
The two wore wizard robes styled after different varieties of roses. One was a smoggy gray-blue robe based on the cup-shaped blue Ocean Song Rose. On its left shoulder sat a real magical rose plant, an Ocean Song Rose.
The witch wearing that robe was Nina.
The other robe was apricot-yellow, based on the Golden Celebration Rose, which resembled a lord's crown and possessed an unusual fragrance. It was likewise a wizard robe themed after that rose, with a real magical rose plant, a Golden Celebration Rose, resting on its right shoulder.
What made Locke pause was that Lana wore this wizard robe.
It had been Nina who reminded him at the defense meeting to buy a World Stone before entering the competition.
She had actually been hinting that the High-Ring Wizards of the Rose Council behind Solas Barefoot and Meraki Magicstep would hire Black Wizards to ambush and kill him after the competition.
Besides having a good impression of him, the main reason she had done this was that Lana had praised him before her many times.
He had simply never expected to encounter these two