The principles of a witch’s spellcasting were recorded in quite detail in the publicly available materials from the church.
Ordinary humans mostly had interconnected mana circuits within their bodies.
If they had outstanding elemental affinity talents and underwent systematic training for a period, the mana circuits in their bodies could be used to transport mana, achieving the effect of aiding spellcasting.
Now, speaking of witches, their bodies could be said to be completely different from ordinary people.
According to some records, all the mana circuits in a witch’s body were replaced with “magic circuits” similar to those of demons, storing and transporting magic power rather than mana.
It was precisely this difference in bodily structure that made their use of elements worlds apart.
Human mages were better at forming temporary contracts through incantations, using the mana in their bodies as a condition to command elements to fight for them.
Demons and witches, on the other hand, used elements in a rather crude manner.
For example, right now.
In Ed’s perception, the thin fire elements in the air were being roughly kneaded together, forming a flame in a somewhat unnatural shape.
“It’s not over yet! Don’t think you’ve won just because you caught up!”
The silver-haired witch shouted and hurled it straight at Ed.
Ed shook his head.
“Who do you think this limp attack is going to hit?”
He casually swung his sword, and the moment the wind flow on the blade touched the flame, it completely dismantled it, turning it directly into scattered sparks that vanished in midair.
The girl shrank back in fear.
“Are you human? Is this something a human can do?”
“It’s just that your magic is too weak,” Ed replied flatly.
In his eyes, this witch’s strength didn’t match that five-thousand-gold-coin bounty at all.
This wasn’t a small amount of money.
Taking the Nolan Empire, which Ed knew quite well—his homeland—as an example, a few dozen gold coins were already enough for an ordinary person to live a worry-free life in terms of food and clothing.
Doubling that amount would be no problem for buying a spacious two-story house in a more remote location.
Even for the true big spenders of gold coins—those extravagant mages—five thousand gold coins could buy countless “circuit shaping potions” and “elemental affinity potions” from greedy alchemists.
If one only considered mana reserves and elemental affinity levels, these potions were completely sufficient to forcibly cultivate a large number of low-tier and mid-tier mages, or even one or two rare high-tier mages.
In other words, in this world, five thousand gold coins could absolutely be called a fortune—a fortune that could drive any ordinary person, adventurer, or even some nobles mad.
Ed instinctively felt a trace of abnormality.
Had the Radiant Church become this wealthy?
Or did this weak witch hold extraordinary significance to them?
But if that was the case, why didn’t they handle it directly with Holy Knights like when witches appeared in history, instead issuing a bounty to various countries?
What exactly were those people busy with?
“Something’s off.”
He furrowed his brow, then suddenly relaxed it.
Forget it.
Even if there was a problem here, it would have to wait until this matter in front of him was over.
Thinking this, Ed turned his attention back to the witch.
In the short time he had been thinking, the witch seemed about to run away again, tiptoeing in an attempt to slip away right under his nose.
Now, seeing Ed looking at her again, she simply stopped pretending and raised her hands high.
“Wind!”
She shouted, and the whistling wind followed.
This time, the wind blades were different from before.
Ed looked at the faintly visible wind barrier in front of him, where dense wind blades were crackling against it, the impacts seemingly quite concentrated.
He instantly realized the witch’s idea.
She wanted to rely on continuous strikes focused on one point to forcibly break through the wind shield.
“Good idea,” Ed commented.
However, “Wind Shield” was a second-tier wind-type defensive spell.
In terms of defensive performance, it wouldn’t have much issue even facing direct chops from ordinary material swords, let alone these wind blades whose power really couldn’t be called high.
Of course, this spell wasn’t without flaws—its defensive surface only covered the caster’s front and couldn’t be rotated.
But in this narrow environment, with that girl’s speed, she clearly didn’t have the ability to circle behind him for a sneak attack, and her magic level didn’t seem like she could finely control turns—hmm?
Ed made a puzzled sound from his nose.
He suddenly swung his sword, cleaving apart a wind blade flying from behind, then looked at the witch with some surprise.
“Not bad at all.”
A faint smile appeared on the girl’s grimy little face, and a joyful light seemed to flicker in her crimson eyes.
“You’re done for, I found your weakness!” she shouted happily.
Alright, that was his misjudgment.
This girl’s observation and control were both quite good.
Her poor control of fire magic earlier might have something to do with Hilos’s slightly humid weather right now.
“But if that’s all, it’s not enough.”
The girl was stunned. “What nonsense are you talking about?”
Ed didn’t answer.
He calculated the time, figuring it was about right, pointed his sword tip at the witch, slowly lowered his body, and assumed a charging stance.
The girl was so frightened by his posture that her whole body trembled.
“Who are you trying to scare! Watch me beat you until you kneel and beg for mercy!”
She bared her teeth again, trying hard to look fierce, then swung her hand heavily.
A fiercer gale than any before howled like a man-eating beast pouncing over, vowing to pin Ed down dead in place.
The wind blades no longer recklessly attacked the front; instead, they circled as much as possible, attempting to bypass the barrier and launch ruthless attacks from various tricky angles.
But in the next instant, the golden-haired figure in the girl’s eyes suddenly vanished from the spot, reappearing right in front of her.
The witch’s pupils contracted sharply, and she hurriedly commanded the wind blades to slice the air around her, trying to force the enemy back.
“It’s useless.”
After a series of crisp ding ding dang dang sounds, the wind blades all vanished, and Ed appeared unscathed in front of the girl.
“You you you you stay away!” she shouted in terror.
In her panic, she actually swung a punch at Ed!
Pa!
The punch was caught in one of Ed’s hands.
The girl tried to pull her hand back but failed.
Seeing her right hand immobilized, a flash of panic crossed her face.
In this brief breath, the witch seemed to quickly think about something.
Then, with her free left hand, she instantly gathered a brilliant crimson flame and slapped it heavily toward Ed!
She got her right hand back as she wished.
But Ed seized the opportunity to grab her left arm, pulling gently, and the girl lost her balance.
The flame in her hand lost control and flew off somewhere unknown.
“Wah!”
The girl cried out in panic, but before she could recover, her whole body was yanked back by Ed, practically falling straight into the boy’s arms.
This posture looked rather intimate.
That is, if one ignored the sword gleaming with cold light at the girl’s neck.
“Let me go, let me go!”
The girl formed a fist with her unbound right hand and pounded desperately on the boy, but due to the position and the hindrance of the leather armor, it felt limp.
Perhaps due to the intensity of her struggle, several pieces of bread suddenly fell patta patta from her body to the ground.
“My bread!”
The girl looked like she was about to cry.
Ed glanced sideways at the bread on the ground and tapped her head with the sword hilt, neither lightly nor heavily.
“Alright, behave a little.”
After being hit on the head, the girl seemed to realize her struggling was completely wasting energy.
She stopped swinging her fists and just turned her head to glare at Ed.
Ed glanced at her and pressed the sword against her neck a bit tighter.
“Aren’t you here for that bounty or whatever? If you want to kill me, you can do it now!” the silver-haired witch shouted stubbornly.
Right after saying that, she got hit on the head again.
“What are you doing!” She glared angrily once more.
“Spare me the unnecessary little schemes, Miss Witch.”
As Ed spoke, he glanced downward.
“Don’t think I don’t know you’re planning a sneak attack. Behave, and I might let you off.”
The girl in his arms suddenly quieted down.
After a while, the flame hidden in her palm slowly dissipated.
“That’s more like it.”
He nodded in satisfaction.
The girl silently pinched the corner of her clothes, wrinkling the edge of her cloak.
When she spoke again, her clear voice carried a hint of pleading.
“Wh-what do you want me to do?”
Ed thought for a moment. “Do you have money?”
“No…” Halfway through, she suddenly changed her words.
“Yes! I… I can give you all the money I’ve saved!”
“How much?” Ed looked at her with a half-smile.
“Ten silver… sixty copper.”
She said softly, and for some reason—perhaps nervousness—her face seemed to flush slightly red.
“Come on, your life is worth a whole five thousand gold coins to the church.”
“Five thousand gold coins? Have they finally gone mad?”
The girl widened her crimson eyes.
“I couldn’t steal enough bread in a lifetime to exchange for that much…”
“You’re right about that.” Ed nodded.
“So, have you figured out what to do?”
“B-but that’s all the money I have…”
The girl lowered her head, actually looking a bit aggrieved.
Good, at this point, his and that “adventurer companion’s” plan could be said to have succeeded halfway.
Ed pretended to think.
“How about this: I don’t want your money, and I don’t want your life.”
“Really?”
The girl stared suspiciously at his face, shaking her head repeatedly.
“I don’t believe it, I don’t believe it. That’s five thousand gold coins—enough to buy bread I couldn’t eat in a lifetime.”
“You’d better think clearly before speaking.”
Ed gave her a sidelong glance, tapping his index finger on the sword body, producing a clang clang sound.
“A bounty is called a bounty because it means more than one person will come to hunt you down. Others may not be as reasonable as I am.”
“I don’t feel like you’re that reasonable either.”
The girl muttered softly, then immediately shut her mouth.
After a long while, she couldn’t help asking again: “You’re really not lying to me?”
“Of course.” Ed smiled faintly. “As long as you behave later and don’t move around, it’ll be fine.”
When Morales arrived, he immediately saw the golden-haired boy and the girl who was bound tightly, glaring at the two of them.
Silver hair, crimson eyes.
Morales’s eyes lit up sharply, but he quickly suppressed it.
“Kid from out of town, what are you doing here?”
He pretended to be nonchalant, slowly approaching.
The boy also noticed him, and his face showed just the right amount of respect and fluster that a newcomer should have when facing a senior.
“Senior Morales.”
He said respectfully.
“I just came here to look around, didn’t expect to run into the witch from the bounty.”
“Nord” also knew about the witch bounty, and Morales wasn’t surprised at all.
Ordinary people might not know about the church bounty on the witch, but adventurers’ information was always well-informed.
These days, he had seen quite a few out-of-town adventurers coming to try their luck.
What truly surprised him was that this kid had actually caught the witch.
You know, when the bounty news first came out, he had practically turned Hilos city upside down except for the upper district, but still couldn’t find the witch from the bounty—only hearing from passersby in the slums that someone resembling the target had passed by.
He had even posted the witch information in the guild himself, just to speed up the search.
As for his plan?
His plan was simple.
When some lucky fool found the walking five thousand gold coins and was happily grinning like an idiot, he would chop off the witch’s and that lucky fool’s heads together!
Now, the opportunity had come!
As Morales saw the distance between him and the boy getting closer, he couldn’t help but grin.
“Your luck is pretty good then. Come, let me see what the witch looks like…”
The boy suddenly stepped sideways, blocking in front of the witch.
“Senior Morales, I found her first.”
Mixed with the sound of swallowing saliva, it made “Nord” seem a bit nervous.
But this also matched Morales’s expectations—after all, no one didn’t want those five thousand gold coins, and no one wasn’t afraid of five thousand gold coins slipping from their hands.
So he just pretended to laugh heartily a few times.
“Hahaha, don’t worry! Since you found her first, the money is definitely yours. I just heard that witches are always quite beautiful, and now that there’s a chance, I have to see for myself if it’s true or not?”
“You’re not lying to me, Senior?” the golden-haired boy asked suspiciously.
“I’m your senior, how could I lie to you? But if you’re not willing, as your senior, I won’t force it.”
The boy seemed to sigh in relief.
“Then thank you for your understanding, Senior.”
“Of course, it’s only right, hehe…”
Morales responded casually, but his hand quietly lifted.
This distance was about right.
He suddenly pulled out the giant axe from behind, without thinking, smashing it ruthlessly down at the defenseless boy in front of him!
Bang!
Didn’t hit?
Morales frowned and looked up—the boy had already retreated several steps, completely out of the giant axe’s attack range.
“You were lying to me?”
His face darkened.
The boy drew the sharp sword that had been silent in its black sheath.
Under the hazy and dim moonlight, the sword body gleamed with an eerie light.
“Weren’t you lying to me too? There’s nothing surprising about that.”
Morales snorted and lifted the giant axe again.
“You’re right.”
His face suddenly twisted into a grimace.
“Then don’t blame me for being ruthless!”
“In this situation, holding back would indeed be quite foolish.”
But he saw the boy nod.
“So, I specially prepared a surprise for you.”
“Surprise?”
Morales repeated in confusion.
“It’s here.”
The boy smiled.
A shrill whistling sound suddenly came from behind.
Morales heard it too.
With the reflexes of a level-four adventurer, he barely turned around before the short blade gleaming with eerie light could pierce his body, blocking it with the wide axe face.
“What a pity.”
The boy sighed.
But at this moment, Morales had no mind to pay attention to “Nord.”
He just stared fixedly at the lanky man in front of him, letting out an angry roar from his mouth:
“Do! Na!”
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