Chapter 61 Return
Just when Roland squatted down to install the base for the new steam engine, three figures suddenly emerged out of thin air. They landed, staggering, in front of his feet and took him with them when they fell to the ground.
Anna was so scared that she immediately jumped back and set up a wall of green flames to try to block the strangers.
When Roland looked up, he found that one of the women was the long-awaited Nightingale. From her face, she seemed very exhausted. Her cheeks were abnormally red, so obviously she had been running in the cold and windy weather for a long time, but despite the wind, her forehead was covered with dense sweat.
Nightingale lifted her head and cried with palpable anxiety. “Your Highness, please call Nana and have her come over! We need her immediately!”
Now, Roland noted that the woman tied to her back was very pale and had her eyes closed. She was wrapped in clothes which were dark red from the oozing blood and had a nearly cut off arm.
He immediately reacted and shouted toward his guard. “Cardin, run to the medical center and fetch Nana!”
“Yes, Your Highness!” answered the guard as he dashed away immediately.
Aside from these two, there was also a young girl caught in Nightingale’s armpit. She looked like she wasn’t in a serious situation, and was looking around with eyes full of curiosity.
“You aren’t hurt, right?” Roland stepped forward to untie the woman with the injured arm from Nightingale’s back.
“I’m fine, Your Highness, Keke … I’m very sorry, I couldn’t bring back my sisters from the Witch Cooperation Association.” Nightingale gasped for air, her voice was very weak. Apparently she had had a very long journey and had almost physically overextended herself.
“Say nothing more, you need to rest first.” Roland picked up the unconscious and injured woman and let Anna lead Nightingale. Like this, the five people returned to the castle. Nightingale had the room next to Anna’s, so when they came to the castle, he immediately ordered the maids to build a fire in her room and to also deliver a vat of hot water. After Nana arrived, he first explained to her what had happened before she began to clean the wound and treat the injury while Roland stepped out of the room.
As long as she wasn’t dead, Nana would be able to heal every injury like they had never happened, so the problem wasn’t if she could save her life. Although Nightingale had carefully tied up the arm, the blood circulation had been cut off for far too long, so he did not know if it could be saved. The following cleaning and treatment required the patient to undress, so as a gentleman, Roland consciously chose to step out.
But how could it have developed into this? Asked Roland himself. Could it be that the Witch Camp was attacked by demonic beasts and there was no one else she was able to save? If that was true, then that would really be a great loss.
Roland was nervously hovering at the door. About half an hour later, the door was pushed open and the first person who came out was the unknown girl who looked unharmed and who had come together with Nightingale .
When she saw him waiting in front of the door, she nodded and said, “You’re exactly the same as Nightingale had described you.”
” … ” Roland didn’t know what to make out of this sentence, “What did she say about me?”
“A prince who would care about us witches.” while answering his question, the girl lightly shut the door, “Unfortunately, the news was so unbelievable that most of the witches didn’t believe what she said. In fact, I also couldn’t believe her, but it is exactly like my dad had always said, ‘the world is so big, and it has all kinds of people’. My name is Lightning, Your Highness, glad to meet you. “When she finished speaking, she bowed her head and laid her right hand on her left shoulder – it probably was her way to salute.
However, Roland didn’t think any longer about the salute, the part “most people did not believe her,” was the important information. “The Witch Cooperation Association wasn’t attacked by demonic beasts?”
“Attack? No, ah … Why would you think this?” She nodded her head while thinking but then she suddenly put her index finger on her forehead and revealed an enlightened expression, “Yes, I see. That big sister with the broken arm is Wendy, she was injured by our respected mentor Cara.” Then, Lightning began to tell the story.
After hearing what had happened, Roland fell silent and thought, so it was actually like this … I really have underestimated the cruel oppression the witches have to face. Now, after being accumulated over many years, the hatred between the witches and the upper nobility of the Church has reached its peak. This Cara, is one of the extremists. Then, Roland got the impression that the first thing the leader of the Witch Cooperation Association would do when she had the power to do it was to eradicate people with the same attitude like herself.
But fortunately, Nightingale was still able to return safely.
And not only that, but she even brought back two new witches with her to Border Town. As for the witch house, Roland thought, he would still let Karl build it. Even if they didn’t need it at the moment, there was still the possibility that the number of witches would increase.
“So you were also a sister of the Witch Cooperation Association?”
“Not anymore.” Lightning sighed and then continued, “It’s the same for Wendy and Nightingale. Since we left, it is now impossible to ever go back. I’m afraid Cara won’t be able to swallow her pride.”
“Will she survive even though Nightingale pierced through her body?” Roland asked disbelievingly,
“Probably. In the camp we have a witch called the Herb Witch, who can increase the effectiveness of herbs several times,” explained Lightning, “by multiplying the effect of some hemostatic grasses and turning them into a blood replenishing medicine, rescuing Cara’s life should not be a problem, but compared to your witch who has the ability to heal, the effect is inferior.”
Hearing this, Roland thought, this will really be a nuisance, it seems like it wasn’t enough to just worry about to the Church, now I also have to look out for the witches. Fortunately, their purpose is to look for the Holy Mountain, so I hope the trouble of looking for Nightingale is too much for them.
“Previously you had said that you didn’t believe in what Nightingale had said, so why did you go with her and leave the Witch Cooperation Association?”
“Because you have a machine that huffs and puffs black and white smoke, and you can also create stones out of gray powder and even have powder that breaks apart mountains with a thunderous bang.” Lightning repeated the exact same words she had said to Nightingale, “Maybe there wasn’t be a Prince who was good to the witches, but she wouldn’t have lied to me, it is impossible to make up such lifelike ideas – at least this was what my intuition of an explorer had told me, and just seeing the monstrosity in the yard which is capable of ejecting white gas shows me that I was right. This monstrosity? Nightingale seems to call it…a steam engine, right?”
“Explorer?” Roland automatically ignored the last question.
“Yes, explorer!” Lightning emphasized the word, “This is the reason why I choose to follow Nightingale. All explorers are curious about the unknown.”
“…” Roland secretly sighed. What should I do with this witch? Someone like her could only survive in this age if they were born in a rich family. Anyone only had to look at her once to see that she was a tomboy, not only because of her clothes, but also her short golden hair, “Are you sure your name isn’t Izawa Riel?”
“Who would that be? My name is Lightning.” the little girl proudly explained.
At this point, the door opened once more and Anna and Nana came out.
“How was it?” asked Roland, “Did the healing go well?”
Seeing Nana nod, Roland could finally feel relieved. Generally, a limb needed to be reconnected within six to eight hours. When this time limit was exceeded, the success rate would be greatly reduced. Since Lightning said that they had taken more than one day to travel from the camp to Border Town, the chance to save the limb was actually already very small. It would almost be impossible to reconnect the nerves by conventional surgery. This once more showed how unbelievable Nana’s healing ability was.
Now the young witch was also tired; it seemed that the treatment also cost her great effort. So Roland encouragingly said to them, “You all have worked hard today, so after eating dinner, you both should sleep here with Anna.”
Of course, he thought that would also mean that Sir Pine would also sleep here.
ED note: Izawa Riel is the chinese name for Ezreal from League of Legends
