Chapter 76. Follow the witch

"Who are you, and why do you keep following me?"

I froze in place waiting in case she was bluffing. I was after the corner, she shouldn't be able to see me.

My worries were proven to be true as an arrow passed the corner I was at.

"That was a warning shot! Come out with your hands up or I'll take more drastic measures."

In the end, I had to come out, but I wouldn't show any weakness like other times.

I equipped my iron armor fully and in my hands, I had a shield and a crossbow, ready to respond to any action.

When I was in full view the witch became more tense, a crossbow in one hand and a potion in the other ready for any movements.

After a few tense minutes of silence, I was the one who broke it.

"Why are you here?"

"What do you mean why I am here? I have the right to be here like every normal person."

"That would be true if you weren't a witch."

She froze for a moment before eyeing her shot to hit me at my most vulnerable place possible.

"That's not a way to talk with a lady young man. Hasn't your mom taught you anything?"

"You have pale skin, and a mole on your nose. The only thing that's missing is a purple robe and a pointy hat."

The witch realized that I was serious and knew what I was talking about, but she relaxed her posture a little while still pointing her weapon at me.

"You seem to want something from me if you haven't attacked yet. Has a rouge witch killed your loved one and you're looking for him? I'm sorry but he's someone that works on his own and even the Witch Clan has no clue about its warehouse."

"What? No, I wanted to know if you had any connections with the party from the Sandstone Kingdome."

"We don't have a lot of connections in that place, can you tell me what happened more exactly?"

"Someone killed the Sulatn in public with potions while invisible!"

Once I said that, she seems to freeze in place before getting nervous.

"Shit! This is bad, this is no longer a small matter that we can brush it off. It must be those Pillagers again! Do they plan to have a whole crusade against us? This is bad, we have to go in hiding again."

She looked panicked by the sudden news and wanted to leave before remembering the situation she was in.

"Stranger, you have to believe me. My clan has nothing to do with the Sultan's death, we actually have a pact to not harm anyone unless attacked. We strive to have a peaceful life isolated from all the problems of the world, this whole move would be counterproductive!"

She sounded sincere enough, but maybe she's not high enough to know about the big plans.

"How can I believe you? You could just say this to me so I'll let you go."

"Maybe we started on the wrong step, my name is Catharine, and I'm a second rank in the Witch Clan, I swear on my life that my clan has nothing to do with this."

She looks honest enough, but I don't know if what she said is true.

I don't really care about Sultan's death really, that's not even on my list.

I just want to know who killed me and get my little revenge, and Prince Amun would be last to suffer the consequences.

"Here's what we'll do. I do believe you for now, but I want to speak with someone with a higher authority to see if it's true. Next week at night I'll be here roughly at the same time, if you're not here, I'll tell my friends from the palace to look out for witches in their city."

Was I being too harsh with those conditions?

Most likely, but I found a clue that could lead me to the people that killed me and I don't want to miss it.

But I still remember the deal with Froggy, and I didn't want to suddenly disappear right when we had our reunion.

This time I'll plan things out, I'll make a safe file in case anything goes bad, and prepare for anything that I can think of.

Catharine bit her lip with frustration, but after a few minutes of silence, she decided to give in.

"Well be here next week, I don't want to create more problems for my people than we already have."

I already feel bad about this, but I won't back down after coming this far.

"See you next week then."

With that I went back the way we came, I changed a few streets in case she was following me, before finally unequipping my armor.

She couldn't see too much of my face because of the armor, so even if she looked for me she wouldn't know where to start.

Just to be safe, I'll try to stay as much as possible with no armor on me while in the city, even if it's useful.

After walking around the streets to see if anything caught my eye I decided to get back and try sleeping.

I have a lot of preparations to do, and tomorrow I need to be as energetic as possible.

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A week has passed since I met the witch.

It was night outside, where the only source of light came from the lanterns hanging on the walls.

I was back on the street where we last made the deal, waiting for the other party to appear.

But I wasn't alone this time, we were four people instead of the two I expected.

Merry, Bobby, and Froggy decided to join me once they heard about the event.

I tried to tell them that this was am overkill, and well most likely intimated them but Bobby said that's a stupid thing to say, and he was still shocked that I managed to find another witch when he only knew them as legends.

He mumbled something about me being the most unlucky or most lucky person in the world.

Merry said something about wanting to join this adventure since she couldn't miss the opportunity to interact with a 'secret' clan or something like that.

Froggy was just worried about me, but also curious about the other witches. His whole life was isolated from being different then the others.

Now he found out that there was a whole clan with people like him, and I can understand why this would pick his curiosity.

We were all in enchanted iron armor. I made some upgrades in case things will escalate into a fight, and we looked more intimidating like this.

Of course, if we somehow managed to get captured I made a failsafe at the castle.

It's something that brings back bad memories, but I couldn't deny the effectiveness of the method.

We all have an ender pearl safely stored on a pillow at the castle, and Bobby instructed a servant if he didn't come in the morning to break all of them.

With this, we can safely return wherever we are in the world.

We waited for a little while thinking that they won't arrive at the end when suddenly steps were heard from the other side of the street.

Soon four people were right in front of us.

All of them wore some enchanted leather armor with the exception of one, that had an iron chest plate.

While we were better geared they still had crossbows pointed at us with coloured arrows.

If it hits any of us, they will hurt a lot.

"You called us to talk, but why do you look more ready to use the sword than your words."

The witch with the iron chest plate was the first to break the silence.

Everyone was tense now and ready for a fight, but I didn't want to arrive at that point so I made the first act of pace by taking off my helmet and lowering my weapons.

"Sorry, I have some bad experiences with surprise attacks so I came prepared. I want to talk not to fight if possible. My name is Trader."

The others lowered their weapons as well, which seemed to calm down the others.

"I'm glad you ask first before hitting, it's a rare trait among the nobles. Catharine told me about what happened at the Sandstone Kindome, and I was shocked to hear about it. After some digging around, we found out that the Sultan died, but there weren't too many details about it."

Looks like she confuses me with a noble. I think it's better that way since she won't make any drastic moves.

"Yeah, I was unfortunate to be at that place when it happened. It was at midnight when the Sultan came and equipped a cursed armor, and then out of nowhere magical arrows were shot at him. After all of that was done, a potion of Instant Damage where thrown to finish the job."

"That doesn't explain why you think it was us that did the attack. We're not the only one who knows how to brew potions."

"Before another guest died he managed to kill one of the invisible attackers, and it was a Pillager, we also think the Prince worked with the attackers to kill the Sultan."

The people started to talk among themselves worriedly, while the leader somehow managed to become more paller the she was.

"Those bastards! They really want to kill us all because we didin't sell them potions. Don't they know how dangerous is to madle with any nation's politics? Lunatics! Sir Trader, my clan had nothing to do with this, we actually try to stay away from those lunatics and their attempts to use forgotten knowledge."

She sounded sincere, and I lean towards trusting her for now.

"I believe you, but maybe we could work together to solve this mystery, this could benefit both parties from what I can tell."

The people from behind started to whisper something between them before looking at their leader and waiting for her decision.

After a few minutes, the decision was made.

"I'll talk with the others to see what the next step should be. As a token of trust, I'll leave one of our members with you. Catharine, you'll stay with the gentleman until tomorrow."

One of the members from behind seemed confused about the new role, but with small steps, she came towards our group.

"Hy again, please take care of me."

She sounded more shy than the last time I met her.

While I was also confused by the sudden predicament.

"Tomorrow night we'll meet at one of our hideouts, Catharine will be your guide."

With that said, the group turned around and left us alone.

"Congrats Trader, you managed to bag another Waifu! I'm kind of gelos how easy it was for you to get such an awesome quest."

Merry finally spoke after she was forced to stay silent, and I could only sigh at her comment.

"Merry, don't confuse the others more than they are, plus you're already in your training ark, you'll have your fun afterwards."

I thought once she got to the castle, she would be more aware that this was a new reality, not a story where she's the main character.

But instead, she got worse.

Apparently, once the Royal Family found out about her, they got super intreated in her, with the help of Bobby and Froggy she got the super soldier training.

They also seem interested in her ability to have three skills at once and how quickly she can break blocks.

So for the past week, she's been training nonstop with the sword, and she doesn't seem to mind.

Today she caught on about the plan to meet with the legendary Witches and she wanted to be a part of it as well.

We didn't see a reason to refuse her so here she was.

"I think we should leave before were teleported to the castle. Trader you can stay with Catharine until tomorrow, Froggy will send his last bach tomorrow morning."

Bobby spoke with a tired voice.

The Princess wasn't too happy about Froggy leaving, but he did too much for them to say anything else. And after he told her that he could work one more week before leaving, she's been working him nonstop.

Froggy didn't seem to complain about this, Bobby even saw him smile while he was brewing.

I'm glad he's getting better, and I hope I won't drag him through too much trouble with this sudden adventure.

We all unequipped our armor and split up to our own ways.

Catharine seemed shocked by our casual display but followed us without saying anything.

The other three left with their horses towards the castle. While me and Catharine went to the inn.

She seemed distracted for some reason.

I bought her a separate room and wished her good night.

"Good night, get some rest tomorrow will be a busy day."

Without waiting for a response I closed the door and went to bed.