Witch Hunter Rhapsody

Vitas Vitalius didn't get any useful information. The only thing that could be considered somewhat useful was that the wizard did have some connection with the local wizards.

But, attacking the town?

After much deliberation, Vitas still mentioned this matter in his upcoming report.

He stopped writing and looked at the lamp on his desk, which he had bought after these few missions, because he needed to write.

He had questioned all the wizards in the city over the past few days, and so far the only one who could provide useful information was the guy who had angered him and was killed.

But this is absurd. The city of Otham has 150,000 people, and at least 20,000 of them are mercenaries and other people who can participate in the battle or have the ability to fight.

Based on his previous experience, those undead were only roughly equivalent to an average adult male in terms of combat strength.

Finally, after much thought, Vitas wrote these words.

"It could be a monster trying to take Via's place. In any case, there's a possibility of undead attacking the town. We need to be wary of the cemetery and other places where corpses might be found. However, if it's not the work of a single wizard, but rather the activity of a group of wizards, we might not be able to handle it on our own."

Vitas then stuffed the letter into the envelope, sealed it with wax, and stamped it with his seal.

Viya's monsters and necromancers made no progress, but the number of dead and wounded continued to rise, making it difficult to determine which side was responsible.

"Helena, please give this letter to the Viscount."

Vitas knew he could only do his best. Wizards were not easy for him to deal with. It was alright if they openly revealed their existence, but those in the shadows were the most troublesome.

"Hey, Vitas, your handwriting is even better than I imagined!"

"The original plan was to teach you to write, but I'm too busy right now, so I can't."

"It's fortunate that you were here. If you weren't here, it would be quite scary for us to face Viya's monster and that wizard on our own."

Vitas shook his head.

He straightened his clothes.

Without the wizard's help, finding the wizard was extremely difficult.

"Alright, give this to the Viscount. I have a feeling something bad is going to happen."

After giving his instructions, Vitas put his short sword in his pocket and went out.

He carried the longsword on his back not to show off, but because it was a rule in the city of Ortham that swords longer than three feet must be carried on one's back.

Logically speaking, he shouldn't have carried a longsword when he went out today, but the recent problems have been quite serious, and Vitas had no choice but to carry it for safety reasons.

He walked out of his house, his mind still preoccupied with the damned necromancer he needed to deal with.

They didn't even hear the coachman's calls.

"master!"

"Sorry, I was daydreaming. I'm going to Hammer's workshop."

"Okay!"

Hammer's armor workshop was unusually crowded, as it had been for the past few days. News of the necromancer had spread like wildfire, and the monsters created by Viya were causing panic.

For their own safety, everyone rushed to buy equipment, and the mercenaries, hoping to make a big splash in this dangerous situation, were also upgrading their gear.

Would calling Ether away when business is booming cause trouble?

Anyway, Mr. Hammer certainly won't be very happy.

Ether was already waiting at the door. The carriage stopped in front of her, and Vitas opened the door and whistled.

"Little Etherra, come quickly, time waits for no one."

Ether was wearing a dress that wasn't quite right; Vitas thought it was too glamorous, the red too bright, and that Ether's beauty should be matched with innocence.

He preferred the white and green dress that Ether had worn earlier, which reminded him of the meadows of his homeland and the horses he used to ride with.

However, Vitas wouldn't have too many thoughts about it; it was just a sigh.

He reached out and pulled Esther into the car. In that instant, he was certain he saw a complex look in Mr. Hammer's eyes, Esther's father.

"You must be extremely busy lately."

"Yes, things have been really bad lately. The wizards in our city are even more mediocre than I thought. I'm wondering if Viya is actually not that powerful after all."

Vitas said, lifting the curtain of the carriage to take a look.

It was evening, and people were walking around. Vitas estimated how far he was from the restaurant he had booked in advance.

"There are a lot of rumors circulating lately."

"You worked in your father's workshop, so you must have heard a lot of these kinds of rumors."

Etherra counted on her fingers as she spoke.

"Customers on West Street complained that they could always smell corpses there, as if someone was dying every day."

"The guests in the East Wing also said that they sometimes hear some really bad noises, it seems to have been like this ever since the wizard in charge died. It's always very chaotic over there."

Vitas also killed that wizard. After killing the wizard, the area fell into chaos almost instantly, but the good thing was that not many people cared about the wizard's death.

When the carriage arrived, Vitas reached out to help her down, but Ether had already jumped down impatiently, leaving Vitas alone to watch.

"Sorry, shall I come up again?"

"No."

Vitas paid the fare to the driver.

"So, has that little girl reappeared recently?"

"No, she seems to be afraid of you. I can't find the place where we met before, but the food I left there is gone."

"It would be a good thing if the poor people around them took it and ate it, but I'm afraid it was taken and used by so-called beasts."

Vitas looked at the rather luxurious restaurant in front of him and suddenly remembered the scene he had seen in the underground of that skinny wizard.

Why had I never heard of the skin that had been peeled off and the severed limbs before?

"It seems that there are still many areas in our city that are not getting much attention."

Ether nodded in empathy.

"Yes, there are some areas that are slums. No matter how many people are born or how many people die, we don't know. Only the local controllers have a general idea of ​​the situation."

Suddenly, Vitas thought of something that wasn't particularly absurd.

"Aisera, do you think it's possible that the necromancer we're looking for isn't actually hiding?"

"What do you mean? I don't know much about wizards."

"What I mean is, he didn't secretly buy materials or prepare anything. Instead, he chose a secluded community that no one paid attention to, controlled it with his magic, and created necromancers within it."

"That sounds incredible."

Vitas continued.

"Do you know anything about Wacker Street? Who is the most respected old man there?"

"This...Wakler Street was warned nine times over when my child was young that he should never go near it."

Vitas felt a sense of panic.

He may have misunderstood something. He subconsciously felt that the necromancer's collection of materials would inevitably be known to others, which is why he secretly communicated with the local wizards.

But this city has 150,000 people, 100,000 of whom live in poverty. Is it really necessary to worry about not finding suitable materials? Does he really have to rely on local shamans?

If that's the case, then the location where the undead are stored and the location where the so-called magic circle was drawn become clear.

"Excuse me, Etherra, can we call it a day? Although it hasn't started yet, I feel it's necessary to confirm."

"Where to?"

"Wakel Street".

Ether looked disappointed.

I'll make it up to you next time.

"Alright, alright, take me back. It must be inconvenient for you to wear the armor alone. Besides you, who else in this city knows your armor better than me?"

……

Wacker Street is notorious in Otherland for the simple reason that it is extremely chaotic.

One can even glean some information from their houses.

The houses on Wacker Street were originally brick and tile houses, but as the population gradually increased, more and more wooden houses and sheds were added, and the street became narrower and narrower, to the point that the original structure of the houses could no longer be seen.

This street is three li wide and four li long, yet it is home to approximately five thousand people.

Vitas rarely comes here.

Even if they come, they are merely passing through.

At the entrance to the street, several men sat on the ground, looking quite weak, either from hunger or disease.

When they saw a fully armed soldier approaching, they tried to leave but could only brace themselves on the ground and were unable to move.

"Don't panic, how have you been lately?"

"My lord, I...we are all fine."

"Very good? Those recent monster rumors haven't affected you?"

"A monster? What monster?"

Vitas was momentarily stunned. Did these people really not know about Viya's monster?

He thought of something rather terrible.

"Do you know that Viya is dead?"

Who is Viya?

Vitas then realized a truly fatal mistake.

He considered the people around him as the whole city.

Because everyone around him knew Viya and was discussing her death, he assumed that everyone knew about it.

Because everyone around him knew about the undead, he assumed it was common knowledge.

Perhaps 100,000 out of the 150,000 people in this city know this, but what about the remaining 50,000?

Damn it, Vitas looked at the street in front of him, a pressure he had never felt before surged up.

I was too arrogant.

"How much do you know about wizards and magic?"

"Wizards and magic? We don't know, what are those things?"

Vitas found this somewhat absurd. He might be able to understand what a necromancer was, but what about a wizard and magic?

Vitas ignored the group and walked into the street.

After walking several hundred meters, the surroundings were completely silent. There was no firelight, no human voices, not even the sound of insects. Only the occasional sound of the wind blowing through the cracks made some eerie noises.

Vitas continued forward, knowing he was taking a huge risk; any prepared wizard would have a detection array set up on their territory.

He could sense that something was observing him.

There was very little path left for pedestrians to pass through, and Vitas had to avoid hitting the protruding planks and other things. If he could, he would still like his armor to stay with him for a little longer.

The feeling of being watched hadn't disappeared, and Vitas continued forward.

Until some ominous signs appeared.

Vitas hated the crunching sound; it sounded like teeth and nails rubbing together, a disgusting noise.

Damn it, this is torture.

Vitas suddenly realized he had found the best adjective: torment.

My life is torture right now.

Uninteresting tasks, uninteresting things, an uninteresting life—damn it, what I truly yearn for is the kind of life I used to have.

He noticed some moving things appearing; they were undead.

These undead are different from the undead I summoned. The aura of death emanating from these undead is so repulsive; they have no anger and no loyalty.

Vitas was surprised to find that he wasn't at all surprised. Faced with a number of undead that were hundreds of times his own, he was actually somewhat excited and expectant.

Ultimately, Vitas himself is a warrior.

He took a deep breath. If he had been worried that recklessly charging through the streets would severely damage his armor, he no longer needed to worry.

After all, taking damage in battle is the most normal thing.

Vitas took a deep breath, which he would hold for ten seconds.

He charged out like a raging bull, smashing through the surrounding wood and spirits in the silent night sky.

There was no plan, no preparation, or rather, Vitas had made all the plans and preparations.

He is always ready to fight.

Whether it's exploration or investigation, these are too distant and inappropriate for Vitas; what he excels at and truly loves is only fighting.

Vitas swung his longsword, and one undead after another returned to their final death in his hands. The undead attacks were like waves, one after another, but Vitas was like a reef in the sea. No matter how turbulent the waves were, they could never defeat him.

"Come!"

Vitas roared. If he hadn't sensed something watching him, he would have already summoned his companions to join him in the battle.

He didn't know how long he had been killing undead; these weak enemies couldn't break his armor, and these trash couldn't even leave a lasting impression on him.

Vitas only needs to swing his sword, and these enemies will fall one by one in front of him.

He laughed heartily, how could such an enemy become his opponent?

Then a gust of wind blew, and a strange shiver ran down his back to his heels.

The crunching and creaking sound of bones grinding together caught Vitas's attention.

He looked up at the enemy who had made the sound.

A bone dragon.

Its body still shows the power it once possessed; its bones are yellowed, but the flapping of its wings still exudes the aura of a former overlord.

Vitas felt an unprecedented joy.

"This is the enemy I should be dealing with."

The bone dragon swooped down, and Vitas neither dodged nor yielded. The moment they collided, Vitas felt a powerful impact, and then, with great effort, he plunged his sword into the bone dragon's body.

The dragon spread its wings and carried Vitas straight into the sky.

In the sky, the wizard, protected by the mage's shield, sighed.

"It's a high-ranking necromancer from Noctis. He even brought a bone dragon. What exactly has Viya researched? That monster is definitely not enough."

It's time for him to make his move.