348 – Mortals and Peculiarity

When Agatha woke up again, there was nobody left in the room, the thick window curtains were closed, and everything seemed exceptionally quiet.

Probably considering that she was not in a familiar environment, near the side of the bed a candle had been lit, its orange flame was quietly burning.

She looked at it for a long time, and found that no wax had been dripping, the candle was still long, like it will burn forever.

This should be caused by magic, she believed.

The fabric of the quilt is very soft, probably woven with good cotton, making the inside very warm and light. This kind of treatment should not be below of that given in Taquila, it was very hard to believe that these savage lands could have such comfortable bedrooms.

As she moved her fingers, she noticed she had recovered most of her strength. Agatha stood up from the bed, and after circulating her magic power, the cold air started to overflow from her fingers, it seemed like the Prince really did not play any tricks on her, and properly removed the God Punishment Stone, noticing that, this gave her a sense of freedom to a certain extent.

She went to the window and opened the curtains. Outside was dark, there were no stars, nor she could see the moon, the whole earth seemed to be swallowed by darkness, only at a distance she could see several places being illuminated by a shaky firelight. Through the window, she could hear the howling of the wind outside, and the occasional snowflake falling gently on the glass.

It appeared to be winter, the perfect season for a witch to awaken to her powers. Back in Taqila, there were no nights like this, during winter every day was a day of celebration. The streets were lit up by bonfires which remained up all night, and when she observed the view from her tower, the whole city appeared illuminated. The bright bonfires were like the stars, symbolizing hope and the future. The people gathered to pray around the fires, eager to obtain the power of magic and transcend the mortal realms. Whenever a witch appeared, the fate of her family also changed, they no longer needed to worry about food or clothing.

Agatha pulled the latch, opening the window towards her, immediately the cold wind rushed inside, blowing on the curtains and raising them. The candles inside were also extinguished. Darkness poured in, filling every corner of the room. When her eyes adapted to the darkness, she could see the faint white reflection of the snow on the roofs in the town. Judging from number of buildings, this place was really small, and the name “Border Town” she heard from the mouth of the Prince, was indeed fitting.

In such cold weather, the average person will be frozen after spending a few hours outside, but Agatha was not afraid of the cold, so the slight discomfort of the chill was naturally omitted by her body. She did not remember how the cold felt like before she awakened to her powers.

Closing her eyes, Agatha recalled the earlier conversations.

The Federation died out, the witches went to be known as the Devil’s pawns, the mortals rely on the God Punishment Stone to hunt and kill the witches…   From all that, even if Akaris and Natalia successfully fled from the fertile plains, maybe even they wouldn’t be able to stop all this from happening, the demise of the Federation was already set in stone.

Just what exactly happened, that made these two Transcendent be defeated by the hands of mortals?

She simply refused to go on with that thought.

– “Aren’t you cold?” Someone suddenly asked.

Agatha was startled, as she turned back, she noticed under the veil of darkness, the figure of a woman sitting by her bed, her face completely hidden in the night, as if she were just a quiet spirit. The door was still closed shut, and no footsteps were heard before.

– “If you could close the window, I wouldn’t mind lighting the candle again.” She added.

She was without a doubt a witch.

But, what is she doing here so late?

Agatha calmly nodded, closing the casement, and quietly started letting a thin layer of ice flow little by little on her own skin. But the other person did not take any threatening action, and instead opened the first drawer of the nightstand, taking out a flint and steel, and lighting the candle with it. She saw the appearance of the witch: beautiful blond curled hair, slender eyebrows, a gaze very sharp, different from any witch she had seen before.

– “This is our first meeting…   no, this would be our second meeting.” The corners of her mouth turned upwards. – “My name is Nightingale.”

This meant…   she was hiding in the crowd before? – “Is this your ability?” Agatha frowned. – “Are you also a High Rank awakened witch?”

Even if she was an honorable High Rank witch, it was very disrespectful trespassing without even a greeting.

– “Ah, you refer to the evolution…” Nightingale shook her head – “I’m not so clever like Anna, who completed in a short time the «Theoretical Foundations of Natural Something», when I see those formulas and theorems, I feel like my head will explode. I will probably never experience the evolution of abilities in my whole life.”

In her short answer, she did not understand half the words, Agatha gawked, she did not expect such words to come out of the mouth of this “low ranked witch”¹, and by looking at her expression, it wasn’t like she was deliberately teasing her. Was this what the prince talked about… the knowledge?

– “That foundations of natural…   could you show it to me?”

– “If course, as long as you are willing to join the Witch Union and work for the Prince” She shrugged.

– “You want me to serve a mortal?” Agatha’s eyes went wide open and after a while she quietly spoke – “I believed myself to be pretty weird, but did not expect you to be crazier than me.”

– “Weird? Crazy? Why do you say that?” Nightingale tilted her head.

– “In the Holy City of Taqila, most of the witches only treat ordinary people who cannot use magic as humble servants, inferiors, or…   just tools to give birth. But I didn’t think like that, although some are stupid, they are not hopeless, as long as you teach them to think and learn, these people can perform no worse than witches. Because of this view, many people thought of my natural disposition to use mortals, and have them manage some of the tower’s affairs, as strange. That’s why I did not expect you to be stranger than me, going as far as to recognize a mortal as the main focus, serving under him.” Said Agatha.

– “Prince Roland does not regard us as servants.” Nightingale said as she curls her lips – “I’m not sure what strange misunderstanding of the word serve you have, but the truth is, he sheltered us witches away from the oppression of the Church, gave our sisters now strength, and allowed us and the citizens to live together in this western land, all while resisting the Church and the demonic beasts, and in the future, also resisting the Devil together.”

– “But this pattern has already been proved to be a failure!” Agatha raised he voice a bit – “Over 400 years ago… for you it would be 8… 9… 800 years ago, that was an era where the mortals and witches ruled together, at that time humanity was at the peak of prosperity, however, after facing the attacks of the Devils, the result was a crushing defeat, only leaving a small corner, the fertile plains.”

– “Oh, and this is a problem?” She raised her brow.

– “You say this as if it’s buried history that ended over 450 years ago. According to the records of the federation, the Third War of Divine Will, will soon begin, and you know nothing about the Devil! At the east is the Vortex Sea, where would you retreat? If the Federation is rebuilt, the witches unite, and make use of that knowledge to improve the chances of a high rank awakening, only then, we will be able to have a chance at stopping the Devil’s attacks!”

– “Why do you believe that?

– “What?”

– “It’s been more than 400 years now, isn’t it? 400 years can change a lot of things, why do you still cling to that old concept, refusing to let it go?” Nightingale sighed. – “You heard the words of His Highness as he left, mortals can defeat the Devil. He is also working hard to unite the people, not only the witches, he wants to unite all the people in the mainland, he has told me, creating the most powerful community.”

“Savage lands” Agatha just wanted to refute this nonsense, but suddenly paused. The witch in front of her must have already seen the result. Can 400 years really change all this? Did this grey-haired prince’s abilities were unexpectedly high as to let mortals have the same power of a witch?

– “Seems you have already realized it, we still have a lot of time, so why don’t you break this shell you made, and confirm it with you own eyes?” Nightingale said with a smile.

Agatha was silent for a long time.   – “…I can see that you don’t like me.”

There was no rebuttal from the other side.

– “The witches of the Exploration Society were always looking at me the same way, since I had mortals appointed as testing assistants in the tower.” She continued. – “You obviously don’t like me, why do you tell me these things?”

– “As long as you restrain that arrogance of yours, and treat the Prince normally, I don’t have much reasons to dislike you, as for the latter…” She paused. – “it’s because His Highness said he didn’t want to see you being left behind by time.”