Chapter 12: Leaving

Golden morning light slipped into the castle.

A ray of warm sunlight slanted across Zhe Zilin’s face.

Its warm touch gently tickled his skin.

His eyelashes were dyed a light, downy color by the light.

He unconsciously furrowed his brows and slowly lifted his eyelids.

“Last night was quite an adventure.”

Although he had encountered danger, the gains were substantial.

He now knew the escape routes and part of Ailia’s magic.

He had originally thought witches needed to chant mysterious incantations to launch attacks.

In battle, one could seize the casting time to close in and fight.

Last night, Ailia had demonstrated her words were law, which undoubtedly dispelled that naive notion.

One drop of blood and one sentence could kill a person.

Moreover, this was only part of the World-Ender Witch Ailia’s power.

From beginning to end, no one had seen her exert her full strength.

Among the Four Great Witches, Zhe Zilin vaguely remembered that only the South Island Witch had ever used her full power.

With her own strength alone, she had eliminated over a hundred warships.

From then on, the South Island King had no voices of opposition left.

As one of the Four Great Witches, Ailia was by no means inferior to the South Island Witch.

After all, the North where she resided was far more perilous than the South Island.

Now it seemed ordinary methods of escaping from Ailia would not work.

Zhe Zilin got up and stretched his lazy waist.

He estimated he would have to stay by Ailia’s side for a long time.

First, he would focus on increasing her trust, at least enough to dispel her suspicions.

A beautiful day starts with breakfast.

He got dressed and prepared the Loving Meal.

“Depart as soon as possible. If you’re late by even a step, you know the consequences.”

Outside the window, at the castle’s main gate, an impolite warning caught his attention.

Ailia stood facing a knight clad in silver-white armor.

The man maintained several meters of distance, his hand always gripping the longsword at his waist.

Clearly wary, yet his words carried a warning.

“You must arrive before nightfall.”

With that, the man mounted his horse and quickly left the castle.

The repeated Hyah! sounds showed how urgently he wanted to get away.

Ailia turned her head.

Her gaze happened to meet Zhe Zilin’s as he poked his head out.

She looked full of worries.

After a simple smile, she turned and entered the castle.

“What’s going on?”

Zhe Zilin felt puzzled.

He quickened his steps and left the room, finding Ailia in the kitchen.

He proactively took over breakfast preparation.

While slicing bread, he asked curiously, “Who was that person?”

Ailia wiped her hands and let out a deep breath.

“Airigo, the guardian knight of North City.”

Although she did not usually smile often, she had never looked this dejected.

Seeing this, Zhe Zilin said with concern, “If you have any worries, you can talk to me about them. Keeping them bottled up will only suffocate you.”

Ailia nodded lightly.

She pressed her lips together and forced herself to recover her usual expression.

She was willing to share many things with Zhe Zilin.

“The King of the North is about to die. As the witch of the North, I must go pray for him.”

“But once I leave, it might be several weeks. You’ll have to stay in the castle alone, Ed.”

“This morning I hunted twenty wild beasts. That’s enough for you to eat.”

Zhe Zilin lowered his head to cut the meat.

Even though he knew hope was slim, he still opened his mouth and asked, “Can’t you take me with you?”

Ailia was thinking.

She did not want to be separated from Zhe Zilin, not even for a day.

Yet many things were beyond her control.

In the end, she refused.

“I’m sorry, Ed. The Royal Capital will send high officials and nobles to attend the mourning. Those people are familiar with your father and will definitely recognize you. Also, as far as I know, Princess Osha will arrive in North City soon. So I cannot take you.”

Zhe Zilin had not held much hope to begin with.

He treated it as just a casual remark and continued making the Loving Meal.

Ailia knew Zhe Zilin would get bored.

She observed his expression, lost in thought.

After a moment of silence, she took out a packet of seeds from the kitchen cabinet.

“Ed, while I’m away, if you’re interested, you can use these seeds to plant some vegetables and fruits.”

Zhe Zilin’s hands kept stir-frying.

He turned his head and glanced over.

The grassland in front of the castle had indeed been cleared into a large plot for planting vegetables.

But did he really have the leisure to farm right now?

Ailia would be gone for several weeks.

It was impossible for him not to try escaping.

Farming and sowing held little interest for him at the moment.

However, he did not decline Ailia’s kind intention.

“Mm. It can just pass the time.”

Ailia felt a bit more at ease.

She placed the seeds in the storage cabinet and helped Zhe Zilin tidy up the plates, preparing to eat breakfast.

After a hearty breakfast, Ailia reluctantly left the dining table.

She packed her luggage and planned to depart immediately.

Before leaving, she reassured him, “There is a barrier over the grassland. Things from the forest cannot come in. But still be careful of Charm Ghosts. You must stay alert.”

“To prevent you from being lured away, I’ve set up another layer of barrier. When you try to enter the forest, the barrier will stop you.”

Zhe Zilin figured the main purpose of this second barrier was probably to prevent him from seizing the chance to escape.

He did not want to undermine her, so he nodded.

Ailia hummed in response.

She kept looking back every few steps, reluctant to leave, and mounted her horse.

Her gaze could not leave Zhe Zilin.

“I’ll come back as soon as possible.”

Zhe Zilin watched Ailia ride away on horseback.

Before entering the forest, the horse turned several circles in place before finally leaving.

Staying alone for several weeks?

He had to find a way to break the barrier and go into the forest.

He had to consider that this might be the most hopeful opportunity to escape.

He drew the Dragon Slayer.

He thought that killing six wild beasts could upgrade his title.

Now there were twenty.

How many points would that add?

Entering the forest to face ogres and half-orcs should be enough for self-defense.

Considering that the twenty wild beasts he had killed would definitely all rot within a few weeks, there would be no food source then.

If he could not break the barrier, he would starve to death in the castle.

So, carrying the Dragon Slayer, he came to the boundary between the forest and the grassland.

As long as he had enough strength, the Dragon Slayer cut through everything.

This barrier was invisible and intangible.

Could it be cut?

Zhe Zilin tried to stab the sword tip into it.

Unexpectedly, the barrier reacted.

The surroundings of the grassland seemed wrapped in a thin film that gradually began to shine.

It worked!

If he used more force, perhaps he could break open a hole to slip out.

Ailia had just left.

To prevent the barrier from being broken and her finding out, Zhe Zilin sheathed the Dragon Slayer, a joyful expression appearing on his face.

He had several weeks.

No need to rush.

……

In the forest, just a few meters away from where Zhe Zilin stood, five half-orcs made no effort to hide the greed in their eyes.

“The witch has left. Our chance has come.”

“But there’s a barrier here. That person can’t come out, and we can’t go in either.”

One of the one-eyed half-orcs carried a leather pouch.

He reached in and pulled out a blood-stained fragment of stone.

The stone was covered in spells.

“A spellstone I found in the polar region, tainted with ice demon blood. It can cut through any barrier.”

“One-Eye, you actually dared to go to the polar region. I heard the Ice Demon is about to awaken.”

The one-eyed half-orc sneered.

“If I hadn’t obtained this spellstone, I wouldn’t have dared to target the witch.”

“When it gets dark, we’ll sneak in quietly and kill him.”