Witch Hunter

Within a warmly lit room, a figure was leaning against a rectangular wooden table placed at the corner of the room. An oil lamp with fiery flames burning within was set to the side of the desk as papers were strewn across the working table, with some falling off to the ground.

"10 grams of dried Enchanted Chamomiles, 5 grams of Cloudweed's Stem, 12 ml of a female Twin-head Lizard's lifeblood…"

Serene mumbled as she crossed out those ingredients from her list. The journey to Eurodette's cottage ended up being an unexpected surprise. Other than the Enchanted Chamomiles, she gained 2 more ingredients that were believed to be hard to come by, especially in the East.

Together with the other materials she had gathered in the past, there were a total of 7 more to be collected. A mage's lifeblood and essence wasn't something to be worried of as she herself possessed that and recently, there was news of the golden-tinted Turmerics and the much-precious Holy Water circulating in the black market. With enough gold, she wouldn't have troubles in obtaining them, which left the list to a mere 3.

Wise Sage, Bitter Grass, and Spotted Ganoderma.

Wise Sages and Bitter Grasses could only be found respectively in the North and West while Spotted Ganodermas, which were currently strictly monopolized by the Shura royals, could only be obtained when its next harvest season arrived.

Serene was drowned in her thoughts, thinking of ways to gather the ingredients as fast as she could, when her focus was disrupted by a sudden knock from the window.

"Serene! Serene!"

Once she pushed the window's door open, scattered dots of moonlight crept into the opening before they gathered to form a 6-winged silver butterfly.

"Eli!"

Serene exclaimed in excitement as the little butterfly fluttered around her, flapping stardusts wherever it went.

"Is there news about my father?"

Serene quickly rushed over to question the butterfly.

"Serene, it had only been half a day since he left!"

Eli furiously flapped its wings.

"Well, how has he been? Is everything alright there? Is the weather nice? I should have packed more clothes lest it gets too chilly."

Worry was evident in her voice as she played with her fingers. Her schedule has been hectic lately. She didn't spend much time preparing for her father's luggage and thus, there were bound to be mistakes.

"Don't worry, the master is doing great! The weather is nice and throughout the journey, the path has been smooth. He and his entourage are now resting for the night in a nearby town. It will at least take another half day for him to reach his first destination, Nefrit.

"Half a day…"

'If it takes yet another half day for him to reach his first destination, when will he be home by then?'

She thought as she walked back and forth. Her father Henry's business trip usually spans for a month and after each trip, he wouldn't stay for long since he was in charge of most of the village's expenses. In short, he was a very busy man despite being a mere mortal amongst many mages in the village.

Serene was never a person with many friends to begin with. It was inevitable for her to feel lonely whenever her father was gone. Afterall, there's only Eli and herself in the house.

She brushed the empty feeling inside her aside. It was a good thing that his father wasn't here for the time being. There's so much thing she needed to do without being found out by her father that always seemed to worry too much.

"Eli, check for the recent situation in Nefrit. Do make sure that no troubles will hinder father's work."

Nefrit used to be a small town located on the furthest edge of the Peron Kingdom, an insignificant place so tiny that it was easily overlooked in the map of the Shura Empire's territory.

It was not until a few years ago when Peron almost lost the town to the Moon Clan's beast tide that eyes started to gather on the small town and to the hero who had defended the town alone.

As she once again recollected that heroic tale that had never failed to make her blood boil in excitement, a thought suddenly occurred to her.

"Eli, what about Leon?"

The flap of Eli's wings slowed down before the little butterfly landed on Serene's left shoulder.

"That… will be a long story."

***

Next day. Kingdom of Peron, City of Bright.

At the center of the city's main square, the area surrounding the public announcement board was packed like sardines as people fought to stand before the recent official statement.

[Count Argus' heir had met his demise and the Count demanded for his son's corpse to be brought back along with the head of the culprit!]

Beside the main statement, a wanted poster was pasted with a stunning reward of 100,000 gold!

Only one piece of information was stated in the poster, about the said culprit being a malicious witch dubbed as the Silver Fairy.

Since morning, the shocking news had quickly become a hot trending topic, spreading like wildfire amongst the people so fast that not even a single soul in the city was oblivious to the news.

Diving into the massive sea of people, a tall and robust man with his whole figure covered with a hooded cloak from head to toe and a pitch-black crossbow strapped across his back forced his way to the center. Behind him, a shorter man with a round figure struggled to keep up to his steps, his back heavily drenched with sweat.

"Sir Hart, slow down. Sir Hart!"

The shorter man, Dante, shouted at the top of his lungs. Unfortunately, it was all in vain as the gossiping noise of the crowd completely drowned his meager voice. It was not until he saw the tall man stopping on his track that he could finally release his breath.

"S-Sir Hart, where are you going? We still have work to do!"

Coincidentally, a random man from the crowd heard Dante's words. Taking a step back, the man agitatedly asked, his eyes shining in awe as his gaze was glued to the cloaked man's figure.

"Sir Hart? Are you perhaps the Hero of Nefrit, Witch Hunter Raeleon Hart?"

It seemed that the mysterious man was quite a famous one as the crowd obediently parted away for the cloaked figure and his follower once they heard his name.

"Sir Raeleon Hart? Are you here to capture the Silver Fairy?"

Another man from the crowd chimed in. The nosy man had initially intended to fish for some hot gossip to tell his buddies later at the bar; however, when the cloaked man moved his head to peer at him with a gaze so cold as if he was weighing the worth of his prey, the nosy man couldn't help but tremble in sheer fear and terror.

Despite the cloaked man not bothering to answer any of the questions thrown at him, his next action was enough to show his intention. The crowd watched with their eyes wide and mouths gaping in shock as the man moved with lightning speed, unhesitatingly tearing down the wanted poster from the board before turning to leave.

Seeing this, Dante could only cry silent tears as he rushed to follow behind.

A moment of silence occurred in the crowd before it was quickly replaced by a huge roar.

Breaking News! The kingdom's top Witch Hunter Raeleon Hart had shown his interest in joining the hunt!