I Am The Only Witch Hunter-Chapter 316: The Hallow Road
The Hallow Lands. The land of the fanatics. What separated this area from the rest of the North was that the nobles here all came from very religious families and were loyal to the Mother Trees religion. Most of the families were High Clans.
Compared to Snowfell, and Scalize, the Hallow Lands must have at least twice the number of active witches the two of them combined.
Siderius did not provide any assistance or benefits to witches in his domain so most of them moved out. Jude was much more focused on getting wealthier, a land of merchants, not for witches, so they also moved out.
The Hallow Lands, however, were much different. In this area of the North, the differences in society roles were more defined than anywhere else.
Siderius rode in front with Ashe. Behind them was the carriage with Caterina inside and Jude as a driver. On the road, they had seen many desolate fields, hangmen and hangwomen here and there.
This place looked like it was an entire different world compared to Snowfell.
"This is hideous." Ashe bit her lips and said.
Empty fields. Dead Trees. Corpses were everywhere. The place looked like a wasteland or the aftermath of a battlefield. But there was no battle.
"This is what witches are, my apprentice. If you kept their number low, nothing much would happen. But if you allowed them to flourish, they’d eat their environment from the inside out. That is the true nature of witches." Siderius said.
Ashe clenched on the leash tightly. She might not be a witch. But in her flowed the blood of a witch.
They came across a group of people on the road. Three men and one woman. The men were crawling around in the dirt with half of their limbs. Their noses were cut to be similar to the shape of pigs. The men were still wearing their mercenary clothes but their minds were broken beyond repair. They crawled in the dirt acting like pigs.
Siderius stopped and looked at the scene.
The witch smiled at him. "Enjoying what you see?"
The hunter’s red eyes squinted. He despised senseless violence and cruelty the most in this world. Violence and cruelty without a purpose. Or more precisely, a beneficial purpose. These witches just liked to see people suffer because it scratched the itches inside them.
"Let’s go."
Siderius tapped his feet lightly on Red’s belly. They continued to move forward.
When Jude passed the witch in the mud, he stared at her without blinking. He too had fallen into his desire. He ate his own child and the mana core of his wife because of that. Jude had abandoned the way of the witch. But he still felt horrified whenever he looked at it.
Ashe rode with Siderius but then she froze. The female witch hunter dropped down from the horse.
"Make it quick, Aske." Siderius also stopped. He didn’t say anything and kept looking forward.
Ashe unsheathed the Shrieking Swallow. The Dull Steel Blade screamed as the air element inside it roared into existence.
The following was a combination of grunts, screams, noises of flesh being cut, and then Ashe’s soft voice.
"Depart in peace."
"Depart in peace."
"Depart in peace."
"Depart in peace."
Siderius took out a small clean cloth from his satchel and gave it to Ashe when she returned. Her face was covered in blood.
"Thank you, Master." Ashe took the cloth and wiped her face.
"Did I make a wrong choice, Master?" Ashe couldn’t help but asked as she looked back to the bloody scene.
"You did invite unnecessary attention to us. But if you had continued to walk, this scene would have haunted you to the last day of your life. For us, the most important thing is a clear conscience. That is enough."
Ashe nodded. She quickly brushed off the negativity on her face and hopped back on the horse. The group continued on the road, leaving behind three piles of dirt and a witch being hung on the tree.
After a few days on the road, they arrived at the first town in Hallow Lands, Esmeralda.
The town was different from all the towns in Snowfell and Scalize at first glance. It had multiple tall churches spanned all across the town. The town was no bigger than Rivertown but it had five churches in total.
They went inside the town and could see the rundown state of this place. The streets were filled with horseshit as no one was cleaning them up. Beggars were all already, reaching and begging to everyone passed by for food and coins
Beggars were a very common thing in Rivertown. Until Siderius had taken care of them. He gave jobs to those that still had hope in them. For the fiends and those that were broken beyond repair, he sent them to jail and forced them into a working schedule.
Jail in Rivertown was better than most jail in Eldoria. They fed you, they showered you. But you needed to do as you were told.
Some would say what Siderius did was inhumane. But he rather had clean streets and everyone doing their parts then having useless people around. He was a total human supremacist at the core.
They arrived at the inn.
"Let’s go inside." Siderius said.
"You go. I need to watch Caterina." Jude said.
Siderius jumped down from his horse and approached the carriage. He applied a defensive seal onto the carriage, preventing anyone from getting in. They could force their way in but they’d pay greatly.
"If anyone tried to get in, I would know. Come. You need to rest also. Lycan will watch the carriage." Siderius said.
Lycan the Wolverine jumped from Siderius’ horse to the driver seat. It stood up and did a salute.
"Uh... Do you think this little guy can do the job?" Jude said.
Ashe covered her mouth and chuckled gently. "Baron Fisher. Lycan is not just an ordinary ferret. He can turn into a very big werewolf."
"What is a werewolf?" Jude said.
"A being that can transform into a wolf-like creature. But not an ordinary wolf. Werewolves are much faster and much stronger than any animals and most humans." Siderius said.
"No way." Jude widened his eyes and looked at the wolverine. It was the biggest kind of ’ferret’ he had ever seen but he never thought it was that crazy.
"Alright then. I entrust my wife to you, Lycan." Jude said.
The wolverine saluted Jude.
