Witcher's Sacrifice

"You can live here. This place is quite hidden, and you should know that your identity now is a wild witch, not the Miss of the Walker family. Appearing in front of others is not good for you."

Horn briefed Annie on what she needed to pay attention to. He didn't want the companion he had worked hard to save to be captured and burned by the church before they could even become acquainted!

After taking care of these matters, Horn left Enoch's cabin. Even though Annie passed Horn's initial test, it wasn't yet certain whether she was suitable to become a companion. She would need to be observed for a few more days.

Upon returning to Douglas's carpentry shop, Horn briefly discussed Annie's situation with Enoch.

They agreed to visit and observe Annie in shifts. If no complications arose in the next few days, Horn decided he would begin teaching Annie magic.

After speaking with Enoch, Horn described Annie's situation in detail to Douglas. Initially, Douglas wasn't interested in getting involved, but as Horn spoke, he became intrigued.

"From what you've said, I have a guess about her abilities," Douglas confidently stated.

"What guess? Tell me," Horn offered Douglas a glass of water, sitting upright, awaiting his teacher's instruction.

"This young lady's awakened ability isn't summoning monsters as we initially thought," Douglas took a sip of water.

"What is it then?" Horn was puzzled. If not summoning monsters, then where did those creatures come from?

"Let's put it this way, it wasn't the girl who summoned the monsters, but the magic circle. What she released was merely a trick that activated the magic circle," Douglas finished his glass of water.

"Why do you say that?" Horn quickly refilled the glass.

"Firstly, it's clear that those creatures all come from another realm. If they were summoned by the girl, she couldn't possibly have no control over them.

Secondly, she can recite spells without a wand. If it wasn't for the trick, she would have been dead already."

"But if it's completely uncontrollable, why wouldn't those monsters harm Annie?" Horn raised another question.

"That's not very clear, but it probably involves some rules we're unaware of during the summoning, or maybe the girl is the source of magic power for those monsters to act in this world," Douglas put down the cup.

"I've learned a lot."

Horn bowed respectfully to Douglas.

If it were possible to draw magic circles in the outer world through other means,

Could there be a future where merely trick-level magic power could activate powerful spells?

Or even without magic power at all?

Horn thought about this with anticipation.

...

The death of a black-robed deacon in Lien City was a significant event. The fire that lit up the North District that night was seen by most residents there.

The promising future of Deacon Joseph, who might have been promoted to a white-robed deacon in a year or two, ended with his death in this incident. Additionally, the cherished daughter of a respectful merchant family also perished that same night.

The killer of Deacon Joseph was identified by the church as the Evil-face One, who had previously defeated White-Robed Deacon Reeves.

But the Evil-face One was so well hidden that no one knew where or who he was!

The church conducted a thorough search of Lien City but found no one with a face full of cursed artifacts, not even a suspect.

Ael Walker, the head of the Walker family, tearfully told the investigating deacons that his daughter and Deacon Joseph were in love. The reason Deacon Joseph visited their home that night was to meet his daughter, who self-immolated in grief over Joseph's death.

He even presented a charred corpse to the church officials.

Days later, the church posted a notice still seeking the familiar Evil-face One, but with two additional charges:

One for the brutal murder of the respected, helpful Deacon Joseph and the innocent, beautiful Miss Annie Walker;

The second for being responsible for the monsters that terrorized the North District, aiming to instill fear among Lien City's residents.

Except for killing Joseph, none of these actions were committed by Horn. The church liked to attribute unrelated incidents to significant threats, reminiscent of previous accusations against Horn for cruel murders.

After this incident, the Walker family became even closer to the church. Now, everyone in Lien City knew Miss Annie and Deacon Joseph were killed together. How could the church neglect the Walker family?

Unfortunately, not long after Horn became a major topic in Lien City, another significant event occurred – a real crisis, different from previous minor disturbances. If mishandled, it could harm the city's foundation.

Everyone in the estate of the city's lord was slaughtered!

Except for the count's family, who were out touring, everyone in the estate was brutally murdered without a survivor.

Even the dogs weren't spared!

From Lien family relatives to the knights and servants guarding the estate, all were beheaded, with over two hundred heads used to build a pyramid in the estate's center. The remaining bodies were arranged in circles around this pyramid.

It was a gift to the abyssal demons, crafted by a witch!

Even the city's high priest mobilized urgently, and many clergy members combined forces to severely wound the witch, unfortunately allowing him to escape.

At the horrific scene created by the witch, over two hundred headless bodies were left, each harboring a worm. When the church was momentarily relieved from injuring the witch, over two hundred worms burst forth!

Each of these worms was larger than an adult man, with over thirty of them being first-level threats! Even the weakest was more powerful than those summoned by Annie, and the strongest even killed a white-robed deacon!

After a tough battle, the Church of the North Wind finally eradicated these worms but at a great cost,

One white-robed deacon and eighteen black-robed deacons fell!

They felt no joy in their victory, knowing as long as the witch lived, such battles would surely recur.

...

In a dark corner of Lien City,

The injured witch licked his wounds. The city's high priest was unexpectedly formidable, managing to injure him!

He had originally slaughtered the count's estate to heal and regain his strength, but now his injuries were even worse.

However, it didn't matter. During the sacrifice, he gained important intelligence:

The Demon Lord had a desired offering!

With that offering, he would become even stronger!

In the night, the witch's cracked mouth smiled. He was very happy!