I met a witch

When I first started being a fraud I wasn't too successful, I remember doing the same act as I did when first began here only that I didn't make much profit and was even jailed for it. My second time was a bit more successful, this time with a card trick. I learned from my mistakes and this time upped my ante, I strayed far away from the usual spots where fellow tricksters like me roam and the cops tend to often patrol, and my cleverest idea yet was getting near to bars in a bustling city. There, people were rich, drunk, and most of all arrogant, they thought that a kid like me wouldn't know what I was doing and when they lost, it wasn't much anyway and they could console themselves with the thought that they were giving charity to a hobo child.

Now if you were to ask me which of my attempts I'd rather never happened at all, I would choose the second one no doubt. For when my first defeat led me to a fantastic victory, my first triumph led me to an even worse disaster. There's a reason why helpless people like me don't gig in such places and even risk getting caught by the police, it is as simple as knowing that gangs are much more terrible than the cops.

I made hanging in there a regular thing because of my new found confidence and it was on my third night there when a bunch of rascals attacked me and stole all my earnings, I was rather lucky to get just that, apparently I was trespassing in the turf of a rather influential gang and they weren't so kind on treating outsiders. These goons had been living on these harsh streets and unlike the cops who whether or not caught me would still get home to their comfortable beds, for these men, a kid taking from their customers is a matter of life or death, it's a matter of whether they can put food in their stomachs the following days.

I would have known better than to stick in one place too long but see this is the effect of victory to a person, it makes him complacent, lazy, unmotivated. If you let the small wins get in your head, then small wins are all you are ever going to get. You can see it in all the greats, they will always lose much more than the average, but in the end they will win more spectacularly for defeat is not the result of failure, it is the prerequisite of victory.

Getting back to me, I now have to learn that lesson once again the hard way. I had unbelievable luck ever since I first stepped in this world, I happened to meet the king, I managed to find Lacquer's one weakness, I even managed to develop such tight relationships, despite my little effort to do so. All of these are undeniably victories and I had not noticed that all of those got in to my head and made me see what wasn't there, made my experience fog my logic.

The trip towards the capital was rather peaceful, finally the weight of all the people I have killed was behind me rather than on top of my shoulders but that isn't to say that the guilt is no longer there, just simply that I have ignored these and regarded them as problems I cannot solve yet. Other than that there was the new ally I found in Saber who had bared a fragment of his rocky soul to me, things were going well and after I negotiate a proper arrangement towards the Bronsleyt king then I shall justify my place as an advisor and get the respect of fellow officials.

Time went on and finally we have arrived in the Bronsleyt Castle, I sat next to Blade as he directed the horses inside but then a guard stopped us.

"Halt, state your business with the king"

"I am Spade Escroc, the Cebunillan King's advisor"

The guard snorted in my statement with a sarcastic look of agreement.

"Sure you are kid, now unless you tell the truth then I shall have no choice but to rid of you"

I was about to explain in my defense when Saber went out of his carriage and immediately the guard recognized him, hehe I bet he's sorry now.

"OH General Corpial, I am sorry for my disrespect" The soldier bowed his head apologetically, I would punish you but it was probably my mistake as I sat in the coachman's place, it wasn't a hard guess to assume I was. I looked at Saber signaling him to confirm my identity but to this Saber only grinned shrewdly

My eyes widened upon realizing what that dark smile meant, I just escorted my country's traitor towards one of its greatest enemies. I thought I had enough ammo to tame Saber or that he would have enough respect towards me as to not defy me the second time but although these two are indeed existent, I had failed to account for how much hate he sheltered in his heart, and how much it accounted for in him. Shit this could mean war.

With Lacquer the country's protector retired and Saber the mighty general making a switch as the enemy, a war like this would prove lethal. Cebunilla's men have become far too reliant towards Lacquer and an attack this early, before we could adjust to his absence is one that would exhaust our every resource.

"It is quite alright. I should be the one to apologize for my coachman's imprudence. You know what this is your last insubordination, get out of my sight"

Saber said coldly towards me and without a horse then I would have no hope of getting back to warn Rexcarius before he commences an attack in the most tactically advantageous areas. Alone Bronsleyt would barely be a challenge or the fortified Cebunilla but with its second general who know most of the soldiers and every single weakness the country has, things have developed for the worse.

This is really bad, even if I manage to return before the attack, Rexcarius would still hang me and everything I have achieved would have been for nothing. I have to stay here and stall while I send Blade to call for Lacquer, he is my last hope in convincing Sabre to stop, no even if Sabre saw him he would only be more resolute in his attack...Still Lacquer's help would be a monumental advantage for me.

Blade was hesitant to leave me alone but understanding there was no other option left he did so leaving me to my schemes. Before I acted I first had to know what I was dealing with so as I circled the castle I found a wall that was climbable and having no patrols in it so hastily I climbed over it which allowed me to enter the castle just a nick of time until a group of guards patrolled the area.

There was a gathering occurring for the moment but I wouldn't be able to hide among the crowd with the garments I wore so I had to find a change of clothes as for the moment, thankfully castles have relatively similar structures and I just had to find the deeper areas where the rooms are more protected and I should be able to enter the nobility's rooms.

I found a room that wasn't locked but the quality wood and well maintained flooring showed that it was a room hosting a noble which should be locked at any moment, I suppose I was lucky this time. I entered the room and I found a rather plain looking room absent of any ornaments but the bed was slept in which meant someone was staying there, I quickly opened the closet hoping to find nobility's clothing and what I came to find did turn out to be from nobility but to my dismay was that of women's clothing and I may be many things but a crossdresser is not one of them. I close the closet door hoping my next ransack might be successful but before I could even notice there had been a woman at the door silently waiting for me to notice.

Panicked because I never even heard the door open I just did what I could and tried to distract her with my Mirror World spell, as I finished uttering the words she flicked her finger and something of a glass forcefield came out, noticing this I immediately reacted by trying to break it, my quick reaction time took the lady by surprise and before she could counter me, I had already nicked the forcefield but still it did not allow my spell to reach her, at least the way I intended. The moment I broke the forcefield my spell came bursting out every direction, then it finally hit the lady but reflected back to me which by then trapped me in her memories, during that time I could only assume she was also trapped in mine.

The woman turned out to be Penelope Von Nazir, a noblewoman coming from Bronsleyt, I tried my hardest to browse through her memories as quickly as I could to gain the insider information I needed but fast enough that she wouldn't learn too much about me that would put me in a disadvantageous situation.

Penelope could have pummeled me without lifting a finger, she was a magical prodigy having all the natural elements in her arsenal even the opposing fire and water she could cast simultaneously neither one being hindered by the other. She didn't just have the talents for it but the unwavering focus as well, she worked on her magic day in and day out but her unrivalled powers in her country made her a freak in the eyes of her countrymen. One would have thought that due to the presence of magic, the hunting of witches would become an absurd thinghere but I couldn't have been more wrong.

The very same concept that caused the burning of innocent women in our world still exist in this realm. Something unexplainable happened and people needed someone to blame, or rather a common enemy to unite them and the magically gifted became that source of resentment for the people of Bronsleyt. Penelope was hunted and labelled as a witch, a devil woman. Someone that wasn't human and only appeared to be.

Before I knew it I became attached to Penelope's story and I found it almost impossible for me to stop browsing her memories. Her life was tortured and filled with pains that would bring the ordinary people to the brink of insanity. In a matter of 5 years everything she held dear was taken in front of her very eyes. Her mother killed herself for she could not bear the thought of her giving birth to a witch, her friends all scrutinized he the moment her true power became known, and her first love dragged her along with the intention of killing her from the very beginning.

I went deeper and deeper into her memories eager to learn what endured next until it all was interrupted by Penelope herself who pulled me away from her mind. The next moment she was standing above me as I knelt down from the fatigue of using my magic for much longer than I ever did. I looked at the sun and it has dropped down significantly, at the least I have been in her memories for an hour but I saw a decade's worth. I could only assume she was the same but after all I saw I knew that she wasn't my enemy.

"Don't you know it's bad manners to look at someone else's mind Spade?" Penelope remarked gasping as well, I guess escaping my mind then diving in hers to pull me away was no easy task even for a prodigy but my exhaustion was much grater than hers for I struggled to utter even a word. Magical exhaustion was much different than physical, it is as if your soul itself is the one needing a break and without the mind, the body cannot act no matter the condition.

"Get up Spade, Sabre is meeting the king right now"