— "What even is the plan, Leo?!"

— "We have to find a witch!"

My eyes widened in fear and surprise. A witch?! That's the last thing I want to encounter in this forest! But if this is our last resort then so be it.

— "F-Fine!"

— "We need to follow the current of the river to lead us to a marshy part of the forest. Keep your hearing out for burning wood, the smell of strong herbs, and wooden structures. Got it?"

— "Got it!"

I picked up the girl and ran with Leo, following the current of the water. Ever since I met her my luck never faltered so please, if this is the case now then grant me another lucky encounter!

As I ran, I could feel her cold blood on my arms and feel her hoarse breathing close to mine. I can't afford to let her die—even if I don't know her, I must save a life.

Everywhere we ran, I could hear the trees laughing at our despair. The crows and birds were watching us from the sky, struggling to keep a barely alive person. The laughter of the trees is getting louder and louder. I swear I could see eyes on those trees, looking at us down as we frantically ran.

But as soon as we saw light, the eyes of the tree were gone. We found the marsh.The grass were yellow instead of green and are shorter than the average blades of grass. We lost track time and it's sunset. The sunset's yellow light complimented the yellow shade of the short blades of grass of the marsh. We had to be careful not to slip as we tried to find a witch's hut...

...Although, it didn't take long for us to find one. It reeked of powerful smelling herbs and the smell of wood burning. We had no choice but to ask a witch for help.

Without thinking, I knocked on the door.

— "This is an emergency! Please help us!"

I knocked on the door more than three times but after the fourth knock, the door immediately opened.

There stands a woman with a witch hat and a black dress. She doesn't look like what the witches looked like in the literature that I've read. They're always depicted as hags. She had fair skin with the only flaw being that she has a small dot of mole under her left eye–if you could even call it a flaw.

— "What is it that you two need?"

Right after she asked, she looked to me and down to my arms to look at the girl. It looked like she knew her. She went back to her hut to quietly beckon us inside–but something was wrong... The inside is bigger than the outside. It was a small hut outside but on the inside, it's the interior of a large house you would pay millions for in the capital of a rich kingdom.

The walls were made out of Ebony wood. Everywhere we looked, it's spotless and clean. The walls were accompanied by taxidermied heads of dears, boars, and bears with the occasional paintings.

Hanging from the ceiling was a chandelier that emits a soft, gentle, gold glow that lights up every room of the inside of the "hut".

All of the furniture had gold trimmings from the tables, chairs to even the ceiling.

We followed her inside, walking close behind her as me and Leo looked around the interior of the "hut".

— "Just set the girl down on the sofa."

She commanded whilst pointing at the sofa. It had a soft texture and the cushions were red. Everything around the interior of the "hut" was high quality and was probably made by a professional artisan.

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I did as told and set the girl on the sofa. Leo, however, was instead still looking around the interior of the "hut". Even he was surprised that we went from finding a small hut in the marsh to being inside of a luxurious home.

The witch walked over to the girl and summoned her Mana Crystal with a Magic Tome on her hand. She was healing her but what was interesting is that her Mana Crystal's Runic Texts weren't being spent but instead the Runic Texts on the pages of the Magic Tome were being spent at a slower pace so as to not burn the Magic Tome from excessive use.

She holds the temple of the girl with her free hand. It was emitting a soft green glow, a complete contrast to the golden light of the chandelier above.

I scooted over to Leo who was still amazed by the interior of the "hut".

I teasingly put my hand on his head, touching his fox ears which spooked him a bit and snapped him out of his thoughts.

— "Are you alright, Leo?"

— "Yeah, I'm fine. I was just thinking for a bit. I'm kind of surprised that the interior of the hut was this big."

We then turned around to watch the witch heal her and in return she looked at us.

— "We've never asked you for your name yet so what is it?"

— "Cassandra. Cass for short."

She then looked back at the girl and looked back at us both with a solemn expression.

— "I can't do much with my magic. Please take my nephew to the kingdom's physicians. This is the best I could do with my magic without any medical procedures. You two boys must get going now."

— "Your nephew?"

— "What? You can't just say that and not explain."

I asked curiously. She just glossed at the sudden revelation. Even Leo was stumped after he heard what she said.

— "I'm related to her. That's all there is to know. Please do not pry any further. Take her to a physician."

I guess it would be rude to actually pry further into a stranger's life—witch or not, I need to respect everyone's privacy.

I carried the girl back in my arms. She was breathing steadily not with only a few more wounds around her body. But she was still in critical condition...

...But what was weird is that after we took a step out of the "hut", we were suddenly back in Aevum like we exited from a random alley. Nevertheless, we found a hospital near the castle's town.

As soon as we stepped inside, they immediately took her to the emergency room to get her treated. One guard rushed out of the hospital and ran towards the castle. What's going on?

After that, we went outside to notice that the guard that ran was already back but behind him was an elegant woman, similar to the witch but not exactly. She wore everything in red instead of black like the witch. She hurried her walk to the hospital but as soon as we stepped out of the hospital the guard pointed at us.

— "Those two boys were the one to find her nearly dead, your majesty."

— "There is no time for this. We need to hurry. Make way."

— "Yes Ma'am!"

The guard then commanded his fellow guards to clear the people out of her way so she could go to... The hospital? Why?

She walked past us and the hospital's staff was frozen in shock.

Leo was getting too annoyed at not being caught up to what was happening. He walked up to the least competent nurse of the hospital and tugged on the sleeve of her uniform to get her attention.

— "You, who is that woman?"

She looked down to him with quivering eyes and lips.

— "T-That's... That's the matriarchal queen."

Although Leo didn't understand what the word "matriarchal" meant, he knew that she was the queen...

...But Leo was still not fazed like the other hospital staff and instead pressed further.

— "Okay. But why is she here?–"

— "That's enough, Leo–"

— "You two boys are coming with me.

Before he could press further, we were both dragged by a guard into the nearest jail for questioning without informing us both.

After a while of him dragging us from the hospital to the jail, we were put in a small room with a table and two seats, naturally we both sat down and waited for something to happen.

— "Did he really have to do that?"

Clearly Leo wasn't having any of it and was annoyed. And rightfully so.

— "He's just being a jerk."

After waiting for what seemed like thirty-minutes, the door opened and revealed the Queen from earlier and the same guard that dragged us here.

— "You two explain what happened and why my daughter was found in that state."

She was clearly angered and agitated...

— "We didn't do it! It was her party that did it!"

...But as soon as she heard the word "party", her eyes quivered in shock. She covered her mouth with her hand–Wait, did she say daughter? What is this?! First the witch saying that she's her nephew and now the queen of a matriarchal kingdom claiming her to be her daughter?! Now I'm lost—and so is Leo.

— "Would you kindly explain to us who the witch was in the marsh part of the forest and her connection to the girl we took to the hospital?"

The guard left the room and left us three in the room. Leo isn't making any noise nor is he being annoying this time. It's rare that he's actually serious about something.

— "Are you two willing to listen?"

She asked whilst looking at us both. It feels as if she is going to talk about something confidential or something of the sort.

— "We are."

Me and Leo said in unison as a reply to her question.

— "Well... It started when–"