Ed looked up at the tall, indifferent gray city wall in front of him, stretching out to separate two areas, seemingly endless at a glance, like the horizon at the edge of the sky, completely isolating the “sky” from the “land,” never to intersect.
In the Nolan Empire, there was no such urban planning that separated nobles and wealthy merchants from commoners.
What a strange country.
Ed thought silently to himself.
But this had nothing to do with him; he wasn’t here to study the structure of this city.
Ed’s gaze passed over the iron gate guarded by soldiers beneath the city wall, toward the faintly visible corner of a pristine white building—the Hilos Grand Cathedral.
That was his target.
Although Father Andrew, who was in charge of the small church, had temporarily left Hilos, causing that small church to shut down as a result, by common sense, the Hilos Grand Cathedral, which was obviously more significant in the upper district where wealthy merchants, nobles, mages, and the emperor resided, couldn’t be casually closed like the peripheral small churches.
And to enter there, he had to cross that iron gate.
Ed hadn’t brought any tokens to prove his noble identity this time out, but proving his identity as a mage didn’t require such trouble; he could just demonstrate the fact that he could use spells in front of the guards.
The plan was arranged like that, but now, a small variable had appeared.
Ed subtly turned his head, glancing behind him with his peripheral vision.
In the shadows, a small figure was sneakily looking in his direction; seeming to notice Ed’s gaze, that figure even trembled slightly.
This guy really isn’t afraid of getting his head chopped off.
Ed sighed silently, no longer continuing toward that iron gate, instead choosing to turn into a slightly narrow alley.
As expected, that sneaky figure followed without any caution.
“Ouch!”
A certain silver-haired girl rubbed her head, letting out the expected crisp cry of pain.
Ed retracted his hand expressionlessly.
“Your tracking skills are really rotten.”
He said.
“Also, I remember I advanced you a week’s expenses, but now it seems like only the fourth day? Were you discovered and driven out?”
“N-no!” The girl explained in a panic, then lowered her head awkwardly.
“I just wanted… to ask you for a small favor…”
As soon as the words left her mouth, she seemed to feel that this request was excessive, her hands behind her back, undoubtedly twisted together without needing to look.
Ed was a bit speechless, but still nodded to indicate for her to continue.
“It’s just… could you… lend me three silver coins…”
The girl quickly glanced at him, her voice as faint as a mosquito’s buzz.
“I want to hitch a ride with those merchant uncles’ caravan, but they want me to pay fifteen silver coins for the fare, and the money I’ve saved isn’t enough…”
“Fifteen silver coins?” Ed frowned.
“Which country’s caravan are you hitching a ride with?”
“Mitia.” The girl answered honestly.
Mitia?
Ed remembered that was a quite prosperous empire.
But just looking at the geographical location, it was too far from the Nordvian Kingdom in the western part of the continent.
“Idiot.”
He evaluated unceremoniously.
“Mitia is in the south of that huge circular lake in the central part of the continent. Even if the merchants are willing to carry you for such a cheap price of fifteen silver coins, what about the other expenses on the road? Are you planning to rely on stealing to fill your stomach?”
The girl guiltily averted her gaze.
“It’s not impossible…”
“Absolutely not.” The boy refused coldly.
“Do you have to go to Mitia?
If it’s just to escape from here, choosing some closer countries is also fine.”
“But I have to go there.” She turned her head away, saying in a low voice.
“My enemy, he’s in Mitia.
I must kill him.”
The conversation fell into silence here.
Three silver coins, for Ed, he wouldn’t even blink if he just threw them away.
But.
His gaze shifted to the girl in front of him.
She was a witch, a brutal, terrifying witch as described by the church, leaving devastation wherever she went.
What if she took the three silver coins Ed gave her and went to Mitia to massacre innocent civilians?
Although Ed felt she wasn’t as bloodthirsty and evil as the church propagated, he always believed that in this world, there was no baseless slander and hatred; there must be something about witches that he didn’t know, something enough to make the church wary.
Ed suddenly felt a bit of a headache.
He didn’t consider himself a good person, but he also didn’t want to cause innocent casualties because of a moment of kindness.
If only there was someone who could help monitor the witch’s actions right now.
He couldn’t help but sigh in his heart.
Monitor… who would be good…
Hmm… wait.
Ed’s eyes suddenly lit up.
Mitia’s location seemed to be right on his way home?
Thinking of this, he suddenly had an idea.
Since there was no suitable candidate, why not monitor the witch himself?
Additionally, if the person in charge of the grand cathedral refused to tell him the truth, he could personally see on the road what special points the witch had that warranted the church’s attention.
This was simply killing two birds with one stone!
“Ahem…”
Thinking here, he cleared his throat, preparing to tell the girl his plan.
“Um…”
At this moment, the girl suddenly spoke, interrupting what Ed was about to say.
“I’m sorry.”
She said with her head down.
“Was my request too much?
If it troubles Nord, I’ll leave right now.”
“No, wait until I finish.”
Ed helplessly stroked his forehead.
“Although I’m not some great philanthropist, since you’ve specially come to me to ask, I can’t just watch with my eyes open.”
“Eh?
Does Nord mean you agree?”
“Sort of.” Ed nodded.
Before the girl could raise a happy smile on her face, he added:
“But I won’t lend you the silver coins.”
The silver-haired witch was clearly stunned, then puffed up her cheeks, but in Ed’s eyes, it still had no intimidation, even a bit…
Cute?
There was a feeling of wanting to poke that face.
“Are you teasing me?”
She seemed very angry.
“Don’t rush.” Ed smiled slightly.
“Although I won’t give you silver coins, I will personally take you to Mitia.”
The anger from feeling teased disappeared from the girl’s face.
She blinked in confusion.
“I think I didn’t hear clearly just now… Nord, where did you say we’re going?”
She deliberately emphasized the word “we.”
“Of course Mitia.
My destination is Nolan, and coincidentally, you’re on my way.” He answered with a smile.
As the words fell, those crimson eyes slowly widened, finally completely filled with the light of joy.
In that instant, her gaze reminded Ed of the sun at sunrise, red and brilliant, overflowing with hope.
Ed cleared his throat uncomfortably a couple of times.
“Hey, what’s with that look. Let me say first, although I’ll be ‘companions’ with you for a while, my real purpose is to monitor you, to prevent you, this witch, from secretly doing bad things.”
He tried hard to make his expression look more serious, to let the girl realize this was a quite important issue.
“Mon… monitor?”
Good, she was scared by this word.
“Just to avoid you killing innocents indiscriminately.”
Ed immediately pressed the advantage.
“If I discover you doing something similar, my sword won’t show mercy.”
Unexpectedly, this explanation with a bit of threat made the girl greatly relieved instead.
“I thought it was something else…” She lightly patted her chest.
“Nord, you can rest assured.
My enemy is only that one; I absolutely won’t vent my anger on others casually!”
The threat seemed to have failed, but Ed felt that getting the witch’s guarantee wasn’t bad.
“Alright.” He said.
“Then this is our agreement.
By the way, my real name is Ed Grieves, not Nord; that’s just an alias, or rather, a code name.”
“Ed Grieves.” The girl nodded heavily.
“Good, I remember!
Then correspondingly, you have to remember my name well too.”
Ed was taken aback.
He only now realized that he still didn’t know what this witch’s name was.
“Bailis.” She placed her hand on her chest, saying in a low voice.
“My name is Bailis.”
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