Reasons to Protect the Witch's Son

Ash was running through the corridors quickly.

“He’s over there!”

“Get him!”

After parting ways with Elaine, he had deliberately appeared in front of the mercenaries and pulled down his hood to attract attention. Then, as expected, the mercenaries who had recognized his face became frantic and chased after him. Ash ran as far as possible in the opposite direction from where Elaine and the others were, hoping to divert the mercenaries’ attention and give the others as much time as possible to find the hostage.

Of course, the mercenaries weren’t able to keep up with Ash’s speed. He was able to skillfully avoid them and moved to another building with less guards. At the same time, he deliberately maintained an appropriate distance to stay within their sight. That way he could keep their attention focused on him.

Thanks to this, the mercenaries were in a state of chaos.

“If we catch you it’ll be a slow death!”

“You rat! I’ll make sure to kill you with my own hands!”

Ignoring the shouts and curses behind him, Ash grabbed the railing, taking all the stairs in one leap.

“He’s downstairs! He went down!”

“What the hell! How is he so fast?!”

Compared to the central and west buildings, the east building had almost no security, so it was easy to navigate. Of course, there was now a crowd trailing behind him, but it was still manageable. He passed through the hallways and around a corner, intending to go deeper, then froze when he faced an unexpected sight.

“What is this?”

Several people were trapped behind iron bars. They all had black hair and pitiful expressions and were locked in cages like livestock. Then, from across the hall, a voice reached Ash.

“What do you think? Do you like it? I specifically chose those that resembled you.”

A large man then walked out of the darkness.

“You…”

Drayton smiled, showing his teeth as he watched Ash with a cold gaze.

“I killed one person every day. Every time I wanted it to be you so badly. When I look at these people, your face comes to mind.”

Black hair and fair skin. Everyone behind the bars was beaten and battered. Ash clenched his teeth. He didn’t care if the man took out his grudge against him but, involving innocent people in this matter was unacceptable.

Ash drew his sword with a cold face.

“Stay still and don’t move.”

Drayton spoke, taking something out of his pocket.

“You haven’t forgotten, right? Edwin Listers life is still in my hands.”

It was the switch to the bomb. Ash paused when he saw this. Drayton then stretched out his arm and grabbed one of the men inside the cage.

“Ugh!”

The mag was roughly grabbed by the hair and forced to kneel on the floor.

“Kneel down, like this guy. Then maybe I’ll spare the young master’s life.”

“…”

“I knew you wouldn’t follow directions like I had asked so I hid the boy away a long time ago. You won’t be able to find him no matter what you do.”

Drayton who had been giggling happily, suddenly stopped laughing.

“So, drop your weapon.”

Shing.

Drayton pulled a sword from his waist and held it at the man’s neck.

“Unless you want to see these people die as well.”

“Please save me…”

“…”

Jet black hair and a handsome face. Other than that, he bore no resemblance to Ash. He had suffered terrible things just to serve as an outlet for Drayton’s rage. As the mercenaries closed in around Ash, Drayton commanded.

“Hurry up.”

Blood slowly trickled from the man’s neck.

‘Damn it.’

The moment he met those eyes filled with fear, Ash gritted his teeth and loosened his grip on the sword. Soon, there was a loud noise as it fell from his hands and landed on the ground. Then one of the mercenaries surrounding Ash took out a magic tool in the shape of handcuffs.

A light, similar to chains, was emitted from the magical restraints forming a six-pointed star, binding his body.

Bound in the chains, Ash let out a short groan. When Drayton witnessed this, he was ecstatic. He finally felt triumphant.

“At last.”

The device that was holding Ash was a restraint that sealed mana. Now, he was just like any other ordinary person with no powers.

‘The moment has finally come to make him kneel before me.’

He carelessly threw away the man he was holding onto and quickly approached Ash, grabbed his hair and forced him to kneel down.

“I’ve been waiting for this moment for my whole life.”

He said, eyes shining with madness.

“It won’t be an easy death. I’ve lived for this day, to take revenge on you.”

“So, you’ve been tormenting innocent people all this time?”

Upon hearing this, Drayton’s face distorted in anger.

“It was their fault for resembling you, they have paid the price for your sins!”

“How ridiculous.”

“What did you just say?”

Ash looked straight at Drayton and sneered coldly.

“You’ve only been taking your anger out on those weaker than you since you don’t have the power to touch me. Did it give you a sense of victory, were you satisfied?”

Drayton’s face turned red in anger.

“You arrogant bastard!”

With a powerful swing, Drayton struck Ash, whose head was then sent sharply to the side.

“You still don’t understand the situation, do you? Instead of begging for your life, you dare speak so arrogantly?!”

Relentless kicks rained down upon him mercilessly. Despite being defenseless, Ash never uttered a word, not even a groan. A vicious hand then grabbed Ash’s face, turning it in his direction.

Drayton spoke while looking down at him, eyes shining.

“If you want to die so badly, I’ll kill you, but before that…”

Drayton paused for a moment and smiled maliciously.

“Let me give you a special gift.”

He continued.

“I’ll give you back Edwin Lister.”

The bomb switch was then dangled right in front of Ash, as if mocking him. Drayton let out a sinister laugh.

“Of course, not in one piece though.”

“…!”

Ash’s eyes widened and at the same time, Drayton pressed the button before him.

***

Edwin Lister was shivering, alone in the darkness, like a small tree in the wind.

‘I wonder what kind of expression your sister will make when she receives her brothers’ finger.’

When the man named Drayton said that, he had raised his knife. The boy closed his eyes tightly in response.

“Commander!”

But then, one of the mercenaries raced inside.

“The duke has arrived!”

“What?”

“A while ago we received a message from the surveillance team planted at the Count’s residence. They spotted the Count’s butler and a person that appeared to be the Duke entering the mansion.”

A few days before, the spy had said he saw the butler hurriedly heading somewhere. He had been so conspicuous, it would have been hard not to notice him. After that, after watching for the butler to return, they had seen him with someone appearing to be the duke.

Hilaire had wanted to protect her master, even if it meant the death of her brother. It was funny to think that the loyal butler would be the one to help.

‘Then we should prepare to welcome him.’

Drayton, speaking as he rose back to his feet, glanced down at Edwin.

“You lucked out this time.”

Then, without any regrets, he turned his back and walked away with a smile. All the mercenaries who had come into the room with him, followed him out and closed the door.

Edwin remained alone in the dark silence, trembling from the fear that lingered.

‘What will happen to me in the future? Will they really come and save me? Also, where on earth is this place?’

Mossy walls surrounded him on all side. It was too cramped of a space to be called a room. When he had woken up after being kidnapped by the mercenaries, he was already here. He wasn’t able to hear any sounds from the outside so it was impossible to tell how much time had passed.

How long has it been like this?

Creak.

The door opened again. Did the mercenaries come back? Or maybe it was the man named Drayton.

Maybe, this time, something terrible really would happen.

Edwin raised his head with a frightened look on his face.

“Edwin?”

However, what appeared before him was neither the mercenaries nor the fearsome man. A strange woman wearing a black hood was calling out to him.

***

Elaine sighed inwardly as she looked at the boys frightened face.

‘I can’t believe there was a secret room like this here.’

It had looked like an ordinary wall on the outside, but there was actually a hidden space beyond the wall. It was a space that hadn’t even been marked on the map. It was a mystery to how they had even been able to discover this place. They had hidden the hostage here, so no matter how much they had searched it would have normally been impossible to find him.

Elaine looked at the boys face closely. Light blond hair and bright blue eyes.

‘It’s him.’

The boy was undoubtedly Edwin Lister, Hilaire Lister’s younger brother.

“My name is Elaine of the Knights of Philres. I have come to save the Count so rest assured, you are safe now.”

She then knelt down on one knee in front of the boy, making eye contact so that she wouldn’t frightened him any more than he already was.

“Philres…Order?”

After removing the gag covering his mouth, Edwin spoke in a cracking voice.

“Then, my sister?”

“Dame Hilaire is here also. You will be able to see her when we get out of here.”

Elaine untied the ropes binding his wrists and inspected his overall condition.

‘Fortunately, there doesn’t seem to be any serious injuries. Now, all that’s left is to get him out of here.’

There was still one problem left though. What looked like shackles around his neck caught her eye. A crystal-like magic stone was embedded in the center, with an elaborate magic circle engraved on it.

‘It’s the bomb.’

This was the weapon that has allowed them to cause so much trouble, threatening Edwin’s life with it. The leader of the mercenaries probably had the switch for it with him.

‘I have to get that thing off quickly before they use it to threaten us again.’

Elaine then cautiously reached for the bomb.

“Don’t touch it!”

Edwin was startled and slapped her hand away, as if she had burned him. He then lowered his eyed nervously.

“Uh… If you try to force it… The mercenaries said it would explode on its own.”

The voice that said this slightly trembled. Looking closely, she saw that the magic circle spread all over the chains as well, not just on the crystal. The magic circle seemed to activate on its own when an external force was detected.

‘If this is the case, I have no choice but to remove them after dispelling the magic.’

For this reason, there was a wizard that had been placed on standby to disarm the bomb. However, in this situation, where they had already been discovered by the mercenaries, they didn’t have enough time. Not only would it take too much time to go and retrieve the wizard, it would also take a considerable amount of time for them to dispel the magic.

‘In the meantime, if they were to threaten to explode the bomb or it actually exploded, it would be a huge problem.’

So, if possible, they needed to disarm the bomb right there. Of course, she was not very good at magic. As expected, it was at a more advanced level than she was able to deal with.

In that case, she would need to try another method.

“What!”

When she tried again to touch the bomb, Edwin stiffened then shook his head urgently.

“No! If you touch it wrong-!”

“It’ll be alright.”

Elaine calmly grabbed his hand and spoke.

“Its okay. There’s no need to be frightened.”

Meeting his anxiously shaking eyes, she smiled softly to reassure him and grabbed the crystal without hesitation.

“Ugh!”

Edwin closed his eyes tightly without realizing it.

 

‘If it’s forced off, it’ll just explode.’

‘Then do you think his top will go first or the bottom?’

 

The laughing voices of the mercenaries were clear in his mind. But, even after a few seconds, no explosion happened. Edwin slowly opened his eyes again.

Then they widened in surprise.

“…!”

Light was radiating brightly from the crystal that she was touching.

“What is going on?”

Instead of answering, Elaine focused all of her attention on her fingers.

Neutralizing the magic was not the only way to disarm the bomb. Absorbing the mana contained in the crystal was also possible. If the mana was completely removed, the magic would not be able to be activated.

It was simple and crude logic. At the same time, it was the only method that she could use. To absorb mana, normally someone had no choice but to touch the magic formula associated with it, and by doing that, it would sense outside interference and would immediately be activated. Extremely precise mana control was required to absorb the mana without touching the magic formula. No matter how excellent a master or wizard was, they could not freely manipulate mana that was not their own.

Elaine was different though. In her hands, the mana in the crystal moved as she directed. She had absolutely crazy mana control. Edwin’s eyes widened even further as he watched the crystal lose its light and shatter eventually.

She roughly cut off the magic tool that had now become an ordinary piece of scrap metal and threw it away. Edwin looked up at her, grabbing his neck in disbelief at the freedom he had obtained.

“How did you…”

He wasn’t a knight so he was unable to comprehend what she had done, but he knew for sure that she had done something amazing. Her light green eyes curved up in a smile as she held out her hand to him.

“Shall we leave now?”

Entranced, the boy took her outstretched hand.