The Immortal Witch’s Death Wish

They finally arrived in East Goumei. Even though the outcome before was unfavorable, Lusha had elected to fly. It made for a much speedier, and more enjoyable means of travel. Thanks to that, they were able to get to Goumei only within 3 days. For the first time, she could have sworn she saw the young girl also crack a slight smile. She had casted flight magic on her as well, allowing her to utilize the technique as she willed.

In truth however, she was merely being pulled along by the witch, who would pick up on her slightest attempted movement, and do it for her. The feeling of flying is exhilarating. Once a mage learns that advanced technique, they tend to utilize it as much as they can. Unfortunately, it burns quite a lot of fuel, so most cannot use it for extended periods of time. 

The nearest area they ended up arriving at was a town called Allon. It was huge in size and definitely more visually appealing than Carthage back in Alzabania. They had intricate building styles, a mixture of the eastern continent’s sharp, slanted appeal, and the western jagged, gothic structures. Furthermore, the multi-leveled layering of the town gave it a beautiful feel and allowed one to cram a copious amount of buildings within one spot.

She’d probably have liked to meet the architect behind this design, but alas, from the appearance of the buildings alone, this was created almost 200 years back. Perhaps she had already encountered him. The world was a strange place. They landed in an alleyway while still under the influence of the invisibility cloak. “Alright. We’ll stop here for some quick food and rest.” 

Little did she know, the peculiar abilities of the merchants here, was not going to make this a quick shopping trip. When they arrived at the market district, there was just nothing but chatter. That didn’t bother Lusha though, what intrigued her was the amount of food that was lying around. Some she recognized, but the vast majority of the food was completely new to her. Her mouth watered to test out the innovations of this new generation.

In contrast, Rinn didn’t seem interested at all. At least, until she tried the first bite of the stir fried noodles they had offered. The taste was exquisite! She almost gasped when she took the first bite. Unlike everyone with her mother’s status, Rinn had not been afforded many things. She ate the bare minimum, and the worst foods possible. She actually had no idea food could taste like this.

Though the market was overwhelming for her, she tried her best to ignore everyone. If she really focused on something she liked, she could suppress the emotions enough to ignore them for a couple of seconds. This was not enough however. Lusha noticed this and patted her on the head. “What if I told you there’s a way you can eventually still see, but no longer view their emotions?”

This clearly caught Rinns attention, as she stopped eating and looked up at Lusha. Lusha smiled. It won’t be easy of course, but there’s a way for it to come to fruition. “I see... “ she nodded and for a second there may have been a slight smile… or perhaps she was just doing it to express gratitude towards Lusha’s efforts.

“Well, its getting late. It will be better if we meet with your client tonight.” The location was a castle in the ruins of Baylor, just a couple miles outside of this city. The duo prepared to leave when suddenly, Rinn clutched onto the side of her pants tightly. “Is something the matter?”

There were two people standing in front of them just now. Lusha’s eyes trailed off and rested on the subjects of her reaction. A young boy with a head full of gold, and a young man with a head of white. Their outfits clearly depicted that they were of a higher status. But she saw nothing that would elicit the reaction from them. Wait.. that boy.. Is something wrong with him?

He stood absolutely still, yet he was sweating. It was as if he was a still image. Actually, he wasn’t even breathing. “That boy … right now he’s extremely afraid.” It was unusual it looks like the child was staring directly- “of you.”

She put a hand to her chin. “Oh well, put no mind to it.” The duo walked right past the baffled Earl who was tending to the now unconscious young king. “Hold it…. You two. Who exactly are you people?” He asked this as he picked up the unconscious child and placed him over his shoulder. The earl had recognized virtually everyone in his domain. These two were new faces.

Lusha turned her head and took her hands out of her pocket, picking up her necklace to show the young lad her adventurer’s tag. “We’re adventurers. Team Infinite.” Her smile was calming enough and she seemed pretty kind. The other girl seemed too timid to make eye contact, and clutched onto the older one’s leg. 

To think kids at that age are pursuing the adventurer’s guild? It is not uncommon for that to happen, but usually they die off pretty early. There were only three relatively successful children within the guild.- The Three Prodigies. But that was only because they were trained by platinum adventurers. 

“The child ya got over there. Is he okay?” She asked. She wasn’t truly concerned for the kid in the slightest. Rather, she was more interested in what it was that elicited that much fear in him. She placed a hand to her chin. “Perhaps, I can help you with that. I am quite skilled in healing magic after all.” She walked over to the child and squatted, placing a hand on his forehead.

Regalia wasn’t exactly sure if she was trustworthy, but as of the moment, there was no motive to push someone to kill the young child. Furthermore, as adventurers there was no way they would participate in political actions or even espionage. However, there was a chance that this was also a ploy and they were not adventurers. The tag could be fake as well. 

“He’s rather cold. This child… Do you find anything he says odd? Or does he have any weird perception abilities?” This was the conclusion she stumbled upon after giving it some thought. The way he reacted was similar to the way the young girl, Rinn, had also reacted. Of course, it could be coincidental health problems, but given what Rinn had said, that was highly unlikely. 

“Odd? No…. there may be some underlying health problems. This is the second time something like this has happened.”

“I see. I will be casting a healing spell now.” Her hand lit up with a light blue aura. The earl looked uneasy. “Don’t worry. It’s just a healing spell. See?” She cut open a piece of her hand with her nails and put the aura over the cut. The wound progressively healed. This was of course not truly the result of her healing ability. It would have done so regardless due to her regeneration factor.

Within a couple seconds of placing this hand on her head, the young master was finally stabilized. He was no longer shaking, or sweating, or trembling. Earl Regalia looked pleased by the results. He smiled and thanked the adventurer with a light bow. 

“The child should be awake within a couple hours.”

“You have my gratitude, Team Infinite.” He picked the child up and piggybacked him. “By the way, I am Earl Regalia. This is my domain.”

Lusha was shocked. He knew they were of higher status, but for an earl to be walking amongst the common folk of his town and not feel the need for security surprised her. “What business brings you to East Goumei?” The earl asked as he was ready to part.

“Ah, I’m here on a mission from a client here. Do you know where Baylor ruins are?” 

The earl thought about it for a second. “A- yes. About 6 miles due east of here. You should follow the cobblestoned path until you reach the first stretch of loose gravel. Then you take that right and it should lead you straight to Baylor.”

“Thank you. We’ll be off then.”

“Oh- but do be careful. There has been a lot of political unrest recently. Avoid any odd groups of people on the paths. East Goumei is not as peaceful as it once was.”

“Very well. I will take your heed. I guess this makes us even.”

The duo promptly left that night. Their next course of action is to take the head of a certain someone. As the hours tick on, the events that will befall the tormented man could be seen coming from a mile away. Whether this was the better course of action for East Goumei or not, was not a question that one should think.

Rather, it should be, will East Goumei truly survive the death of this one being?