The Aftermath

In the courtyard of House of Cadell, moonlight fell on four incomplete skeletons. Most of the bones were slender, their surfaces stained a pale yellow.

The principal, her waist wrapped in a pristine bandage, studied them with a sharp gaze. Confusion crept across her face, pale from blood loss.

"We already killed that monster. Why can't I remember anything at all? Other than Tom, what were these four children's names?"

"Though the journal never mentioned it..." Roy pressed his lips together. "I think this forgetting is irreversible, even after the Child Hunter Ghost's death. Only traces left in the real world by survivors like Tom can be restored." The five-pointed star on his left sleeve had returned to normal.

Cadell shook her head, seeming dissatisfied with the outcome.

"At least we saved little Tom," Roy said. "And from now on, the children at the school won't have to fear that monster anymore."

It was strange. An hour after they removed all the bones from the hollow, it had closed up again at the base of the Horn Tree. When Roy tried sprinkling salt on it, the hollow no longer appeared. The Horn Tree seemed to have lost all its magic.

Roy had a vague feeling that the underground space where the Child Hunter Ghost had lived wasn't actually inside the Horn Tree, but in another dimension. After the Child Hunter Ghost died, the magic sustaining the space gradually faded, so the hollow vanished without a trace. He'd originally wanted to go back and cut out the tongue of the charred corpse. Oakes had said that thing was worth quite a bit.

But it seemed he wouldn't get the chance now.

"How did it go? Did you find out anything new?" Faywen walked over from the house, her pretty face weary and downcast. The relative she'd searched for so long had turned into a skeleton without a word, and she hadn't even gotten her memories of him back.

It seemed like two years of effort had all been for nothing.

"Can you tell who these children were?"

"I'm afraid not... It seems the forgetting can't be reversed." Roy noticed her troubled expression and tried to comfort her. "Faywen, 'he' is free of the monster's lair beneath the hollow now. Maybe he's entered Prophet Lebioda's kingdom. We've avenged him, and we've found, uh... his bones. At least now we can find a grave for him. Don't be too sad."

Faywen covered her face and took a deep breath, wiping away the tears in her eyes. "Actually, when I saw the journal, I guessed he was already gone. I just couldn't accept it at first... But you're right. His soul must have entered the Prophet's kingdom. I'll find a good place to lay his bones to rest."

After a brief silence,

"Let's talk about something happier... How's that little brat Tom?"

"I just gave him a hot bath and put some ointment on him. He's fallen asleep again." At the mention of the survivor, a little light finally returned to Faywen's eyes. "He was lucky. He only has a few scrapes and a bite on his neck, and he doesn't remember being taken at all. He only remembers going to sleep, then waking up and seeing you and that monster..."

"The Child Hunter Ghost might give him nightmares for a few days, but otherwise he's fine."

"That's good." Roy glanced at the sky. "We can deal with the rest tomorrow. I should get back to the Mill."

"Wait, Roy." Cadell suddenly asked, "Where did you get that bomb you used on the Child Hunter Ghost?"

Roy saw the hopeful look in her eyes and understood. As a member of the Revolutionary Army, she'd set her sights on the Dancing Star.

"It's a special Alchemical Bomb made by Witchers..." Roy lied. "Only someone acknowledged by a Witcher can activate it. It was a gift from my teacher to protect myself. I only had the one, and it's gone now."

"Is that so?" Cadell couldn't hide her disappointment.

When Roy got back to the Mill, he found Toya by the pond. The girl was staring blankly at her reflection in the water, her face gloomy and her back radiating loneliness. Roy thought that if she'd been at House of Cadell, she wouldn't have escaped being hunted.

"Sorry I'm late today." Roy sat down beside her. The girl's shoulders jerked, and barely restrained delight appeared on her round face. Even the end of her sentence trembled. "It's okay, I understand... You have work in the city too. You must've been busy today, right?"

In truth, she'd been terrified. She couldn't shake the thought that the happy time she'd spent with Roy over the past half month had been nothing but an illusion. When she realized he hadn't returned to the Mill on time, her fear reached its peak, and despair filled her heart.

Thankfully, it had all been a false alarm! He'd come back... This friend of hers really existed.

Toya felt every cell in her body relax with relief.

Roy shook his head. "It wasn't work. Something strange happened to me at House of Cadell recently, and it was connected to the magic I told you about last time. It was also about those children everyone overlooked. Do you want to hear about it?"

"Yes!"

At four in the morning the next day, Roy woke on time after finishing his Meditation and first disposed of the bald man's corpse in his inventory.

Then he headed to the market in Edersberg. At the herb stall where he'd worked for over half a month, he still had a score to settle.

But when he squeezed past a crowd of bare-armed laborers and reached the stall, he found it had vanished without a trace.

The stall owner Tross, who'd set him up twice in the Lower City, was gone. Even the shelves had been dismantled, leaving nothing but an empty patch of ground.

Unwilling to give up, he went to ask Emil, who sold grilled meat... but Emil gave him an answer that shocked him.

"You mean Uncle Tross? I thought he'd told you. After setting up his stall yesterday morning, he left Edersberg with all his family and belongings."

"He moved away with his family?"

He'd been running a business in Edersberg for over ten years. Could he really have given it all up?

Was he afraid of a teenager like me?

It made no sense.

"Who told you he'd been running an herb shop in Edersberg for over ten years?" Emil asked, looking bewildered. "He only came to the city two months ago, not much earlier than you. Come to think of it, his business was actually pretty good. Why would he suddenly move..."

Who on earth was that guy? A professional con man?

Roy thought it over for a long while, remembering only Tross's leering smile. For some reason, he felt uneasy.

Well, if he wanted to leave, let him!

Since the herb shop job had fallen through, Roy spent more of the morning at the poultry stall. After killing the monster beneath the hollow, his Experience Points had reached LV2 (820/1000). If business picked up, he might reach LV3 in less than a week.

That afternoon, House of Cadell was as peaceful as ever. The children played merrily beneath the Horn Tree, seemingly unaware that the lonely boy gazing at them from the classroom door had returned.

The ones who were overlooked were still overlooked. Nothing had changed.

"Tom, go join them." Roy ruffled the boy's blond hair and encouraged him. "You escaped from the jaws of a savage monster and crawled back from the brink of death. What do you have to be afraid of?"

"If you want people to notice you and make more friends, you have to take the initiative. Standing around like an idiot and staring won't do a thing. If anyone bullies you again, just fight him!"

Roy gave the dumbfounded boy a sudden shove toward the crowd, watching as he blushed and awkwardly greeted the other students.

Cadell quietly came to Roy's side. She didn't look well; the injuries she'd sustained the night before would take some time to heal.

The principal had kept quiet about both the Horn Tree and the monster that had lived beneath it.

The traces left by the dead children hadn't been restored. The world still forgot them. What could making it public bring, except suspicion and trouble?

"This morning, Faywen and I buried the bones in the nearby cemetery." Cadell paused. "There's something else. Roy, no matter what, the school has you to thank for helping us deal with this danger. Faywen got her relative's remains back, and those poor children have been brought into the light again. I thank you on their behalf. I know the Witchers' rules... I'll pay you a reward. How about 100 Crowns?"

In truth, a hundred Crowns wouldn't even cover the cost of the Dancing Star's materials. But it was probably all Cadell could afford.

"That's not enough." Roy glanced at the boys and girls running around the courtyard. Something soft in his heart was suddenly touched. "Just buy me a meal instead."

"Then you must accept this gift, Roy."

Faywen quietly stepped out from behind Cadell, took off the silver pendant around her neck, and hung it around his.

Her beautiful eyes shone with gratitude. "Trust me, it'll bring you good luck and blessings..."

Thanks to Night Lord and Zhuang Mengxin for the tips and support with monthly tickets! Thanks, everyone, for your support!