Chapter 4

Chapter 003. Witch Hunt Squad

"Come out!"

The knight kicked the door and, waving away the dust that billowed out, shouted. Then, after a moment, Miu walked out of the hut, covering her nose and mouth with her sleeve.

Miu, who had lived as a charcoal burner for 18 years, had never seen a knight with her own eyes before. Even when she occasionally went down to the village to buy supplies, she only saw the town guards, who wore armor that protected only their torsos. Miu was so afraid of these guards that she couldn't meet their eyes and would sneak around to avoid them.

The knight in front of her was clad in full plate armor, with the visor of his helmet raised, and he glared at Miu with fierce eyes. At that moment, Miu recalled the stories her grandfather used to tell her about knights.

"Miu, you must never look a knight in the face. If you do, your head might just—snap off right there!"

Her grandfather would say this while cutting corn stalks with a sickle, and Miu felt as if her own neck would be cut like those stalks.

—Thud

"Please, spare me! Please, spare me!"

Although it was not her intention, Miu believed that she was now doomed to die because she had inadvertently made eye contact with the knight. She fell to the ground, burying her head in the dirt, and earnestly begged for her life.

"You. Did you see a witch?"

The knight in front of her asked Miu, who was trembling, if she had seen a witch.

His eyes were serious and grave, and his determination to torture even a poor charcoal burner if he sensed anything suspicious was clear.

"Witch...? No! I haven't seen one!"

Miu answered in a loud voice without realizing it.

"Dirk."

The knight nodded, and Dirk, another knight, entered the hut.

He seemed to be looking for traces of the witch.

"Are you a charcoal burner?"

The knight in front of her asked Miu. Inside, Dirk was rummaging through things, and Miu became increasingly worried and anxious.

"Yes. I've lived here since I was a child..."

As the knight asked Miu various questions, other knights, including Commander Melvin, were dismounting from their horses. The ground around the hut had been leveled, making it easy for the knights to dismount, and soon the ground was marked with the hoof prints of horses and the metal boots of the knights.

Commander Melvin scanned the area around the hut with a sharp eye. They had followed the trail of blood from where Lord Luke was killed to this place. If they couldn't find new traces here, their pursuit would be difficult.

"It seems this is the end of the proper path. Well, find a way."

Following Commander Melvin's order, a knight named Well led three other knights into the forest behind the hut to find a path.

When the news of Lord Luke's murder by a witch reached Wissen, the fief was thrown into chaos.

Since the lord of the fief had died, his sons needed the king's permission to inherit the title.

Usually, when a lord was nearing the end of his life or suffering from a serious illness, he would choose a successor and obtain the king's permission in advance. This way, even if the lord died, the transition could be smooth, and the title could be inherited within a week.

However, Lord Luke's sudden death left no time to seek the royal permission for the succession. Moreover, if neighboring nobles applied for a fief war to claim the vacant position of the lord, it would be a disastrous situation for Wissen.

Therefore, they needed to capture the witch who killed Lord Luke as quickly as possible to restore the lord's dignity and establish the eldest son as the acting lord to maintain a stable appearance.

Melvin's expression hardened.

He was the most skilled knight in Wissen and led the lord's elite knight squad, but recently, his relationship with the lord had become distant. The reason was that Lord Luke, in the name of witch hunting, had committed atrocities by capturing female mages, regardless of whether they practiced black or white magic, and eating their organs while they were still alive to gain power.

Melvin could not accept such behavior. In his view, it was merely a manifestation of twisted sexual desire and sadistic behavior, unrelated to gaining power. Therefore, he always avoided accompanying the lord on witch hunts, citing knight training as an excuse.

'Sigh... Perhaps it's a relief that the lord, who was going mad, died like this... No, his sons are no better...'

"Damn it."

As Melvin muttered to himself, Dirk, who had been searching the hut, ran out and shouted.

"Commander! There's blood inside!"

"What?!"

The eyes of Melvin and the other knights turned to the hut.

Finding blood meant they had found traces of the witch, so Melvin hurriedly entered the hut.

"Commander, here."

Dirk led Melvin to a wooden tub filled with potatoes.

"Hmm."

Indeed, the wooden tub was stained with blood. When he rubbed it with his finger, it was not old blood. The color and the stain clearly indicated it was from yesterday.

"Commander, here too!"

Dirk lifted the leather blanket on the bed, revealing more bloodstains. According to the lord's guards who had returned the previous day, the witch had suffered severe injuries and was bleeding heavily. They had followed the trail of blood to this place.

Melvin thought deeply and walked out of the hut.

Outside, a knight was already holding Miu by the neck and pressing her to the ground.

"You! What's this blood inside?!"

Despite the knight's pressure, Miu, pressed to the ground, only trembled and teared up.

'Witch sister! You said you removed all the traces... Huh, what good is it to remove only the magical traces... You should have removed the bloodstains too...!'

Miu resented the witch sister, but it was too late. Commander Melvin, who had come out of the hut, stood in front of Miu, and the knight who was holding her down pulled out a sharp dagger from his belt.

"Boy, listen carefully."

Melvin slowly bent his knees and sat down, looking directly at Miu.

His eyes were as fierce and terrifying as a predator's.

"Did you help the witch who dared to harm the lord?"

A strong killing intent emanated from Melvin's eyes.

For an ordinary person like Miu, it was an overwhelming presence. If Miu hadn't gone to the bathroom that morning, she would have wet herself by now.

The knight holding Miu's neck grabbed her right hand, spread it on the ground, and pressed it down with his knee. He then placed the sharp dagger against Miu's fingers.

As a knight, it was embarrassing to do such a thing to a mere charcoal burner, but they were in a desperate situation. Capturing the witch was far more important than maintaining knightly honor.

"Speak. The witch..."

—Thud thud thud thud

—Clank clank clank

At that moment, the sound of horsemen galloping through the forest echoed.

Hearing the sound from the mountain path they had taken, Melvin had to stop and look in that direction. Only their Wissen knight squad was in this area, and the attendants and rear guard were waiting on the flat ground below. Therefore, the heavy sound of the approaching horsemen naturally drew everyone's attention.

"Damn it...!"

Recognizing the armor of the approaching horsemen, Melvin involuntarily cursed.

The other knights also gathered around Melvin, tense. The knight who was about to cut Miu's fingers quickly sheathed his dagger and lifted Miu by the neck.

Miu, who had been saved from having her fingers cut off, was forced to stand and saw a group of people pouring out of the mountain path.

They were also knights.

However, unlike Melvin's Wissen knight squad, they wore breastplates with a crimson flower pattern. There were twenty of them. They slowly surrounded Melvin's knights in the order they arrived, and finally, a knight in a luxurious fur armor rode to the center of the group.

She had bright blonde hair and wore a beautifully decorated fur cap instead of a helmet, with a crimson cloak draped over her back. She looked down at Commander Melvin from her horse and greeted him.

"Commander Melvin, I heard the sad news about the lord. I truly offer my condolences."

She placed her right hand on her chest and slightly bowed, and Melvin, maintaining his stern expression, also bowed in gratitude.

"However, how did Commander Sharic of Marihill end up here..."

Marihill, a fief adjacent to Wissen.

Unlike Wissen, Marihill was the fief of Baron Roman, a barony.

When asked why his baron's knight squad had entered another fief without permission, Sharic smiled naturally and replied.

"The witch who assassinated the lord is very evil and dangerous. Baron Roman believes that such a witch should be captured as quickly as possible, regardless of fiefs. Besides, this is a border area between Wissen and Marihill, and we were just following the witch's trail."

Melvin tried to suppress his rising anger.

It was a well-known fact that Baron Roman was eyeing Lord Luke's fief. Lord Luke had died just yesterday afternoon, and now, the next morning, they had met here, chasing the witch.

'How many spies have you planted, Roman...!'

Marihill's Baron Roman had always been a source of anxiety, wondering when he might declare a fief war. Now, with the lord of Wissen dead and his sons not yet officially inheriting the title, Wissen was essentially a fief without a master.

Melvin suspected that Baron Roman might have orchestrated this incident and was using it as a pretext to launch a large-scale fief war.

Wissen was already at a disadvantage in terms of the size of the fief, the number of fief residents, the number of soldiers, and the strength of the knights. Moreover, while Lord Luke was engaging in bizarre behavior, Baron Roman had been steadily preparing for a fief war.

The vague unease Melvin had felt all along was now becoming a clear reality due to the Marihill knights before him.

Melvin took a deep breath to calm his rising anger and spoke to Sharic.

"Commander Sharic. I am truly grateful for your concern. However, avenging the lord is our duty. Please do not tarnish our honor as Wissen knights. I beg of you."

Sharic, in response to Melvin's polite words, continued to smile faintly.

This only made Melvin more uneasy, as he knew how violent and aggressive she was.

The immense power and brutality hidden behind her beautiful appearance and pretentious smile were well-known even before he became the leader of Wissen's elite knight squad.

"Commander Melvin."

After a moment, Sharic, still smiling, spoke.

The cold wind that brushed against her face made her already cold smile seem even colder.

"To reject Baron Roman's goodwill and your concern for the deceased lord... I must say, it is truly regrettable."

'Ugh... Ultimately, it's a provocation!'

Melvin tensed his entire body, ready to draw his sword at any moment.

He was certain