Witch Redemption

So it's one thing for humans to hate witches, but even monsters are so averse to them?

For a moment, Li Lan thought she had misheard, but after realizing what she had heard, she was puzzled. This was just too annoying.

"Since he has revealed such information, we must avoid that direction tonight. Since we absolutely cannot kill ordinary people before they are attacked by monsters, we can only consider avoiding it."

After all, a monster with intelligence is definitely not an easy opponent.

While No. 47 was saying this to Li Lan and Lana, he was thinking to himself, "Tonight I need to notify No. 93 and No. 94 to take care of that old man. Anyway, we've already killed so many people last night. With the first layer of restrictions lifted, I don't mind killing one more tonight."

In other words, if it weren't for the fact that the witch's restriction would lead to the killing of ordinary people and attract powerful guards, he would have preferred to eliminate any potential instability from the very beginning.

………………

Kate, the capital of the British Empire, the Witch Prison, the Central Sanctuary.

The Undying Ellis is meeting with a young man who has just returned to report. This man is none other than Eisen, who taught number 47 and the others a lesson last night.

Eisen and Geno are actually members of the Witch Cult. Their official identities are heretics of the Holy See, but they are secretly only under the command of the warden of the Witch Prison. They are generally engaged in various tasks such as monitoring witches and retrieving witches.

“I have already seen the general situation in your telegram. What I need to know next is the reaction of number 47.”

"Which aspect is the warden referring to?" Eisen asked with some awe. Even as a warrior with the strength of a lieutenant general, he could still feel a tremor from the depths of his soul in front of this warden who had lived a long life.

"After killing those ordinary people and assassins."

"They did not show any intention to resist, and it seems that they have accepted their fate. However, according to the investigation, the situation last night was somewhat unexpected."

"explain."

“At first, Jeno and I mistakenly thought it was premeditated murder. But after a secret investigation, we discovered that the seventh son of the Dick family lost his job over some trivial matter and then harbored resentment towards those witches. So he hired a lot of people to go and kill those witches…”

Eisen recounted everything he had investigated that morning, saying, "In other words, this might just be a coincidence."

But it was precisely this coincidence that caused the already difficult task to spiral out of control.

Because Gabby Dick, the seventh son of the Dick family, did not actually commit any major offenses. His father, Duke Leo, claimed that he was exiled and stripped of his title, but it was clear to everyone that this was just a short-term gesture to curry favor with the Witch Cult. Once the storm had passed, they would find a reason to recall him.

But now Gaby Dick is dead, and according to the Imperial Royal Intelligence Network, it's impossible to completely cover this up.

It's only a matter of time before it's exposed, and this could further deepen the conflict between the Royal Family and the Witch Cult, and even lead to many negative repercussions.

After hearing these words, the Undying Iris remained silent for a moment, then raised the pocket watch wrapped around her left hand and let it swing like a pendulum in front of her eyes. The wrinkles on her face, like the bark of an old tree, began to tighten, and her green eyes radiated a cold aura.

Eisen knew that this was a method the warden often used: divination!

A moment later, the old woman, the Immortal Iris, squeezed out a sentence from her throat: "It's a coincidence, but not a simple coincidence."

She didn't elaborate on this point, only mentioning, intentionally or unintentionally, that "the conflict between the royal family and the Witch Cult is already irreconcilable and has inevitably come to the forefront; you don't need to worry about that."

"By the way, how did those two newcomers perform?"

“These past few days, No. 47 has been teaching those two how to survive, and has already achieved some success. After we retrieve No. 47, No. 86, No. 93, and No. 94 tonight, Jeno and I will peer into their memories to decide whether to let them continue to live.”

Eisen's words were filled with intense killing intent, and his expression turned icy cold.

"I'll leave everything to you. There's one more thing I need you to do: mobilize a portion of the Survey Corps to Mori City to fend off the Crimson Night Flood next month."

"This?" Eisen suddenly felt puzzled; this was different from previous years.

"This batch of witches will be sent over together after the witch summoning is over. Each witch will only have one chance to have her memories spied on. If you cannot obtain any valuable information from those two, then let them go. I will arrange for someone else to handle them."

In any case, any witch who has had contact with number 47 must know something.

Since external dismantling is not an option, we must resort to internal infiltration, and do it all in one go!

Chapter 19 Crimson Night Torrent

Number 47 led Li Lan and Lana to familiarize themselves with the general layout of the entire border defense zone of Mori City, and determined the location of the main artillery positions on the inner city wall and the border defense zone wall.

It wasn't until evening that they returned to the witch's dwelling.

The atmosphere was a bit heavy. The four witch seniors, including number 47, invited Li Lan and Lana to the side to continue absorbing the knowledge from the magic book. After that, they each went about their business in silence.

These four seniors all lived in rooms on the first floor, and the rooms were actually the same style as Li Lan's and the others', equally simple.

Apart from number 86, who liked to have some fancy things, the other three people's rooms didn't look like the boudoirs that women should have, even though in Li Lan's mind, none of the people present were women in their previous lives.

During this time, the four seniors gathered in a nearby room and whispered for a long time. After they came out, No. 47 went up to the next floor without making a sound, while No. 86 leered and squeezed next to Li Lan.

"Hey, Karen..."

"No, no, no, I didn't, I didn't..."

As a former shut-in, Li Lan instinctively denied it three times.

"Don't be shy, I started out just like you, until one day I opened the door to a new world and started to indulge myself..." Senior No. 86 teased him with a smile, until Li Lan blushed a little before he let him go with a grin.

After a second or two of silence, the somewhat irreverent Number 86 pulled Lana, who was reading a book nearby, over and whispered, "Tonight will be very dangerous. You and Lana will stay together from now on and don't go anywhere. Just follow Number 47 closely."

“Yes, I understand,” Li Lan and Lana said in unison.

In fact, Li Lan always had a misconception that the teasing of number 86 just now was like covering up something.

Time passed slowly. Since going downstairs today, Li Lan and Lana have never returned to their rooms. Meanwhile, the four witch seniors, who had been busy, were organizing their medicines and checking various information in the magic books.

The bells rang out ten times loudly from the inner city's clock tower, signaling that it was already ten o'clock at night.

"It's time, let's go."

Number 47 stood up, put the sword ring on the Libra Cross Greatsword, and carried it on his back.

The other witch seniors also silently shouldered their weapons and took the lead in walking towards the old wooden door.

The moment she opened the door, she was met with a bizarre situation that Li Lan had never seen before in her life.

Everything visible outside was tinged with a hazy, blood-red hue, evoking a sense of madness and fear.

Looking up, you can see a huge blood moon, the size of a washbasin, in the very center of the sky. The center of the enormous blood moon is like a vortex, giving the illusion of slowly rotating.

Affected by the blood moon vortex, ripples slowly spread across the crimson sky, surging towards the horizon like waves.

"..."

Li Lan and Lana were almost stunned; they had never seen such a bizarre and terrifying sight before.

It was because of the shock of this strange sight that they suddenly realized they were in a perilous alien world, not Earth.

"Ah, I hate nights like this the most. This moonlight always makes me feel inexplicably agitated."

Number 86 muttered a few words, then stepped to the side and said, "Then I'll walk in this direction."

"Yes, everything is in your hands." Number 47 gave a reassuring smile.

Number 86 turned around, his gaze lingering on Li Lan, Lana, Number 93, and Number 94 for a while before finally returning to Number 47. He simply choked up and said, "Thank you."

"Me too."

Even at this very last moment, number 47 still didn't show any negative emotions; he remained as cheerful as ever.

Number 86 has left, heading towards the northern area of ​​the border defense zone.

"Then we should set off."

Number 93 seemed to be trying hard to control his emotions, and his tone was much lower than usual.

He thought for a moment, then his gaze lingered on Li Lan and Lana.

Li Lan keenly sensed the low mood of number 93, but she didn't know what was wrong for a short time and was too embarrassed to ask.

Li Lan thought for a while, then slightly opened her mouth as if to ask something, but unexpectedly, No. 93 avoided her gaze and instructed, "Karen, you must follow No. 47 closely later. Lana, you too. You must survive."

"Yes, we will."

After receiving affirmative answers from both of them, number 93 took a few steps toward the city gate, waiting for number 94.

Number 94, this usually taciturn senior simply nodded and took a few steps toward the city gate. Suddenly, as if remembering something, he turned back and uttered a cold voice.

"My two juniors, in this unfamiliar world you need to rely on each other, just as I have always trusted Number 93. In that case, no difficulty is insurmountable."

Raising their hands in a gesture, as if bidding farewell to everyone, numbers 93 and 94 simultaneously took a step forward.

In less than a few minutes, only number 47, Li Lan, and Lana remained at the entrance of Building 1 of the Witch's Residence.

Li Lan sensed something was off about the atmosphere. Didn't Number 47 say before that the witches would unite before the arrival of the Crimson Night Torrent? Why did Number 86 and Numbers 93 and 94 choose two different directions tonight?

"Senior, we..."

Just as Li Lan was about to voice her doubts, number 47 took the first step, saying, "Let's go. Stay close to me and don't fall behind no matter what happens. Remember what I did tonight."

………………

Number 47 led Li Lan and Lana directly to the inner city. Although it was much more prosperous than the defense zone, it was still in the outer city, so it was deserted at the moment.

"The Empire's army is mainly concentrated in the border wall area, and they will not leave the city walls unless something unexpected happens."

"Our witches' area of ​​activity is much wider. The specifics depend on the missions issued by the Witch Order. When there are missions, we may have to go outside the city gates to confront the Crimson Night Torrent head-on, which means we're going to our deaths."

Along the way, number 47 kept giving Li Lan and Lana some extra tips and precautions.

"..." Li Lan was speechless for a moment, then asked, "Can we ignore the orders of the Witch Cult?"

“Orders are absolute. Since we can’t resist them, we have to find a way to get through this difficult time.” Number 47 shook her head as she recalled many thrilling memories. “Even outside the city gates of the border area, there are good ways to survive. The premise is that you have to unite with multiple witches and make sure you don’t fight amongst yourselves.”

"The method is to make flexible use of the scouting function of the magic book to determine the direction and location of the monsters. After all, the berserk monsters in the Crimson Night Torrent have lost their intelligence and will not hide or anything. Avoiding these monsters according to the magic book is one aspect. On the other hand, if you encounter a lone monster attacking head-on, you must fight quickly. If a single witch cannot kill a monster, then ten witches or twenty witches should go together."

"If quality doesn't work, you can win by quantity, understand?"

Li Lan and Lana nodded vigorously.

"The principle is the same when 'pulling monsters' in the inner city. It is inseparable from the use of magic books. However, the inner city is not as dangerous as outside the border defense zone, but you still can't be careless."

As they were talking, the clock tower in the inner city suddenly rang out to mark the hour.

"Clang—", "Clang—", "Clang—"...

Following the midnight chimes came gusts of cold wind, which ruffled the three people's cloaks and the strands of hair peeking out from under their hoods.

Li Lan was horrified to hear that the regular chimes were mixed with faint roars. The roars were somewhat like the hoarse roar of the sea, and also somewhat like the buzzing of bullfrogs in heat on Earth. In short, it was a terrifying sound that penetrated deep into the soul.

Immediately, just as the twelfth bell rang, a rustling sound came from all directions, as if something was rapidly approaching from afar.

"here we go!"

The smile on number 47 disappeared, and his expression became unusually solemn.

He skillfully and quickly unfolded the grimoire in his hand, letting it hover beside him, and then calmly drew the Libra Cross Greatsword from his back. "We'll just stand here and wait, and decide whether to flee or confront them head-on."

Seeing this, Li Lan and Lana followed suit, taking down the magic books from their waists and letting them float in front of them.