Witch Hunter Rhapsody

Undeniably, the scent of rose essential oil in the Starar shop always reminded Vitas Vitalius of his first woman. He smelled it the moment he opened his eyes.

He knew it would be difficult to convince his employer that everything he was doing was to fulfill his mandate, but it was indeed the case.

He stood up. The woman beside him was only covered by a blanket, her eyes closed, her snow-white breasts still tempting him. However, his gaze was drawn to the rose essential oil placed beside him. Vitas picked it up with a touch of nostalgia and took a deep breath.

Suddenly, a pair of hands wrapped around him from behind.

He smelled an even stronger fragrance, a mixture of rose and lavender. He remembered that the laundry room at this brothel loved to spray lavender perfume when drying clothes, something he had secretly observed the day before.

"You're awake? Not many people can get up early after such strenuous exercise."

"Elizabeth, my will is stronger than my body."

"That's not what you said last night."

As she spoke, Elizabeth crossed her legs over him.

She curiously stroked the scars on Vitas's back with her fingers; the stitched wounds looked like a dozen grotesque centipedes.

She was certain the cross tattoo was done after the wound had healed, because the centipedes were now wrapped around the cross.

"You haven't told me the stories of these wounds yet. Is this what knights like you want someone like me to ask?"

Vitas recalled his first woman, a shepherd's daughter, unpretentious and genuine, who would patiently listen to his mundane adventures out of consideration for his feelings, even though her disinterest was easily discernible.

After hearing her own story, she blushed deeply and kissed herself, her kiss lacking any skill but burning with passion.

She said, "Vitas, listen to me..."

What was my original plan again? Oh right.

"Don't even mention it. These wounds are still throbbing, just like last night. Otherwise, how could you be so relaxed?"

"Really? How about we go to that wizard we mentioned before? She's very skilled at healing injuries, although she charges a lot, I can get her a discount."

Great, that will work.

"Is it really possible?"

"Of course, I sometimes have to go to her too, for some...personal matters. I've spent a lot of money there, just like you've spent a lot of money on me."

Elizabeth murmured, "She loves children."

"You don't look like someone who has given birth."

"Of course, I'm only twenty-one."

At twenty-one, Vitas thought of her again. She was also twenty-one then, quite old for the countryside, while he was only eighteen. Vitas had originally wanted to marry her; he had even dreamed of a wedding in the church on his family's estate, with red roses and his parents in formal attire...

It was she who inspired this plan—a beautiful, strange death.

Elizabeth changed her clothes. She wasn't at work, so she wrapped herself up tightly in a shirt and linen skirt, even tucking her long hair into a headscarf. Women in the Duchy of Vilan preferred this style of headscarf.

"Vitas, I thought you didn't want to meet my friends. You always come sneaking around, not wanting anyone to know that the rising star, Lord Vitas, would also come here, is that it?"

Vitas did not deny it, and Elizabeth complained, "I know, you're always ashamed to associate with people like us, but it's strange that you come over at night. Don't worry, I'll keep it a secret; no one knows about your relationship with me."

She noticed the small bag in Vitas's hand.

"I wanted to ask this last night, what is it?"

"Didn't I bring my secret stash with me before?"

Vitas followed Elizabeth into a narrow alley. The paving stones were more or less broken. They came to an ordinary door, and it was hard to imagine that a wealthy wizard would live behind it.

Wizards should live in towers, or at the very least in castles, with dozens of apprentices, hundreds of servants, and even more experimental materials. Moreover, the wizard Elizabeth mentioned was quite famous; everyone in the city knew that the eccentric woman was a disciple of the renowned wizard Draco.

Vitas knew this woman wouldn't help someone she didn't know. Vitas noticed a woman in the brothel who was getting close to her, and Vitas was now right next to that woman.

It took him a lot of money and time to get close to the door and witness it open for him.

"Elizabeth, and this is...?"

Via was younger than Vitas had imagined, wearing a wizard's robe and a pointed hat, both with simple patterns embroidered along the edges.

"My friend, Viya, he needs your help."

"This isn't cheap."

"A little cheaper is fine."

She paused for a moment, then invited the two inside.

The room had no windows and no light; the ventilation was poor, and it was filled with a strange herbal smell.

Inside the door, several wooden shelves were filled with various bottles and jars. The room also contained an operating table. Wizards were often excellent anatomists and suturers, or rather, doctors.

However, their knowledge of the human body is not always used to save lives.

Vitas was asked to sit in a somewhat shaky chair, his eyes darting around among the bottles and jars, searching for anything he could use.

Elizabeth had already untied her headscarf and placed it on the coat rack to the side.

"Come here first, Elizabeth."

Viya commanded in a superior manner, then led her into the inner room. Before disappearing, she warned Vitas, "And mortals, if you don't want to end up piece by piece in my specimen jars, don't touch anything."

Vitas nodded. He stood up the instant the door closed.

He has found what he needed.

After learning that Elizabeth was able to enter Viya's lab, Vitas spent a lot of time on it, and the bag had been with him the whole time. Now was the chance.

Seize the opportunity; Vitas is an adventurous person.

He took a jar of blue powder out of the bag, roughly weighed it in his hand, and found it to be nearly three ounces.

Seven ounces.

The woman he once had asked him for a lot of this powder to paint with; the colors produced by using this powder as paint were exceptionally beautiful.

Next came two bottles of clear liquid, totaling nearly nine ounces.

Strange, he hadn't thought of that guy for many years. Really, could it be because of the perfume Elizabeth used?

He found the wizard's distillation flasks, the empty bottles lying around carelessly.

Vitas even found a stand for heating the instrument, with an oil lamp placed underneath.

He poured all the dark blue powder into the bottom of the distillation flask; the powder was as fine as dust.

He then carefully picked up the two glass medicine bottles, which were wrapped in a thick, soft cloth to prevent slipping, and slowly pulled off the corks.

The liquid inside the bottle was clear and viscous, and even from a distance, one could smell a faint, pungent odor.

Good, I didn't take the wrong one.

He controlled his hand speed, slowly pouring all the liquid into the distillation flask. The liquid overflowed the blue powder, and the two remained peaceful for the time being.

Vitas should have covered his mouth and nose with a linen cloth soaked in water, but he didn't.

He lit the candle, which he had brought himself, and the flame licked the bottom of the distillation flask.

The heated liquid began to churn slightly, with tiny bubbles constantly rising to the surface. A colorless, invisible gas slowly flowed out, gradually filling the entire room.

In this process, he'd better quickly seal the gaps in the unrelated rooms.

The scent of bitter almonds, and the scent of roses on a shepherd's daughter after they have faded.

The bedroom, which also serves as Viya's living room, has two small chairs for her to use when reading before bed.

Elizabeth and Viya sat in chairs, and the latter spoke first.

"Elizabeth, do you still have children over there?"

Viya's words did not shock Elizabeth. A quick glance around was enough to understand that tiny human tissues, some with discernible shapes and others with indistinguishable shapes, were sealed in jars and placed on an entire wall beside the bed. Some of these were clearly artificial tissues that had been stitched together.

"No, everyone's measures are very good, and it's not good to keep troubling you."

Elizabeth answered cautiously, almost instinctively.

"This kind of thing isn't troublesome. By comparison, the shrinkage and tightness you want annoys me more."

As Viya spoke, she reached out and lit the incense burner beside her. The small bedroom was instantly filled with smoke, and the numbing gas inside made her brows relax, finally bringing a smile to her face.

"And the guy you brought with you now, is he reliable? There are more people in the world who covet a mage's property than stars in the sky."

"He's new here, a mercenary, maybe a knight before. His armor is in pretty good condition, and he's very generous. A few days ago, he brought back over two hundred gum spider teeth all by himself."

Viya pouted and let out an unreadable hum.

"So it was him. No wonder the price of resin spider fangs on the market has dropped to ten copper coins. I lost a lot of money because I bought a lot of them for fifteen copper coins."

"That's why I thought of introducing him to you; he can be of a lot of help to you."

Viya held the incense under her nose, took a deep breath, and then slowly exhaled the smoke.

After a while, she continued speaking.

"My teacher might not allow it. I told you, I'm required to stay here. The size of the lab and the amount of funding are limited. I can't afford to support a knight like that right now."

"All you need is a little favor."

"Typical human thinking. Are personal connections always useful? Besides, mercenaries are often greedy and fickle; they absolutely won't do anything without money. Cough cough..."

Viya coughed twice, then added.

"And who knows if that guy is here to kill me? Wizards are much more fragile than you think. In the last year alone, I know of three ridiculous ways to die: one was being burned to death in a fire, another was drowning in their own bathroom, and the third was falling from a height. Although these guys were all worthless trash that nobody cared about, is this how wizards should die? Wizards die every day. Being assassinated is much more likely than burning themselves to death in an experiment, drowning, or falling to their deaths."

Elizabeth remained silent. Suddenly, she seemed to smell a strange odor, a bitter almond scent.

"Never mind, let's not talk about that for now. It's good that you're here. You're better informed than I am. Keep an eye out for news about Nectuus Noctunus."

Anyone in the Duchy of Vilan with even a modicum of common sense knows this name, even someone as lowly as Elizabeth.

"Isn't this our duchy's chief archmage?"

Viya's smile faded. She glanced at Elizabeth, then closed her eyes and pondered for a moment before slowly speaking.

"There's no problem telling you. We're friends, and friends should trust each other. About a year ago, the magic of the world changed, and my teacher spent a lot of time recently determining that the general area was within our country."

"He judged that only Nectus had the ability to create such magic, so he ordered us to inquire about it. Even I, the exiled disciple, received the order. If we could find anything, I could escape this damned situation."

Elizabeth's intuition, honed through years of work, told her that this was not something she could get involved in. After all, she and Viya were from two different worlds, and being called a friend by Viya was already the highest honor for an ordinary person.

How should she answer?

"I...I tried my best."

Viya pinched her nose, which was somewhat numb from the anesthetic gas, and was fairly satisfied with the answer.

"Alright, let's deal with that guy you brought here first. Your surgeries are always quite complicated, so I have to schedule them for later. How did it go?"

"The guests were very satisfied."

Elizabeth said that she was always good at keeping secrets.

She stood up and opened the door. In the space that could barely be called a living room, the tall, long-haired man had disappeared.

"Vitas?"

"Has he already left?"

Viya also came out. She glanced around and noticed that some things were missing from her shelf, but because of the anesthetic gas she had just inhaled, she didn't realize what was missing for a moment.

"Damn it, now I'm starting to suspect that man deliberately approached you."

Viya walked to the shelf where she had placed her materials; the items on it weren't particularly valuable.

She suddenly noticed the makeshift heating device in the corner.

What is that thing?

Elizabeth pinched her nose. She felt apologetic, but words of apology were never enough. The smell of the place also made her feel uncomfortable, so she decided to go outside and take a look.

She had just picked up her headscarf from the coat rack when she felt dizzy. Her fingers went out of control, the headscarf slipped from her hand, and she felt a tightness in her chest and rapid breathing.

"How could you...?"

Viya also sensed it.

Her vision began to blur, and a buzzing sound filled her ears.

Realizing it was poison gas, she tried to rush towards the door or another room, but her limbs quickly became weak and powerless. Her muscles went out of control, and she staggered, crashing into a table, scattering bottles and jars all over the floor.

The aroma of bitter almonds became clear and pungent at this moment, and a strong feeling of suffocation was as if I were being strangled.

Her body's instinct made her open her mouth wide and desperately inhale, but all she inhaled was more toxic gas.

Their consciousness receded like the tide, their bodies collapsed uncontrollably to the ground, their limbs twitched a few times, and finally they came to a complete stop.

Hearing the muffled thud coming from inside the room, Vitas sheathed his drawn blade, took some time to pull the water-soaked strip of cloth out from the crack in the door, and went back inside.

Put the bottle back.

The intensely bitter almond scent was the same one Vitas had smelled when she secretly returned to the place where she died.

The scent of death, the scent of sweetness.

Only with this kind of breath can one barely quell the pain in one's flesh, the pain that never ends.

When she committed suicide in this way at the age of twenty-three, Vitas had already been driven out of her family, and this method was something she had told herself during that wonderful night.

"Vitas, listen to me, I am ready to die. Will you come with me?"

Vitas could already distinguish the bitter almond scent amidst the strong herbal aroma in the room. He shook his head, somewhat unable to distinguish between illusion and reality.

He spoke to the woman in his memory, or to the two corpses lying on the ground.

"No, I do not deserve such a noble rest as death. Only after I have completed my revenge against Nectus Noctunus will I collapse like a skeleton."