365 – Westward

Disclaimer:

I don’t guarantee a 100% perfect translation. Feel free to correct me in the comments..

 

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Petrov yawned, after getting up from the bed, his body immediately felt a cold chill. If possible, he wanted to remain in bed, not only because it was warm, but his partner Sheryl was also there.

“Aren’t you going to sleep a little more?” the woman turned over and whispered while still drowsy, “It is still very early, isn’t it?”

He leaned over and kissed her forehead—Sheryl, she had brown curly hair, skin as smooth as a baby, and a pair of big and cute eyes. The first time he met her was in Longsong Theater, and almost at first sight, he was captivated by her.

“It should be almost noon, I have to go downstairs and see if there is any business to deal with,” Petrov whispered, “If you don’t want to wake up yet, you can go back to sleep, I’ll have an attendant send lunch to the bedroom later.”

“But I want you to be here with me,” Sheryl stretched her arms and encircled them around his waist, “It is snowing outside anyway, what official business can be done now?”

That was about right, since the arrival of the Months of Demons, the whole city had quieted down, even the theater only opened once a week, all the merchants in the market had evacuated, and even the taverns were closed. If you were to walk in the streets during the day, you might think this was an abandoned city.

Then… should I just go back to sleep? After courting Sheryl for nearly a year, he had finally now gotten his wish, so he was a little reluctant to leave. Last night’s pleasure time was exhausting, but now he was energetic again, so maybe lunch could wait, and they could go back to warming their bodies together a bit more.

At this moment, a knock was heard from outside the bedroom.

“Sir Petrov, a blue-skinned letter arrived.”

He was startled, but then immediately got out of bed and picked up a robe which was lying on the ground, and as he draped it over his body he answered, “I’ll be right there.”

“Sir?” Sheryl said in a low voice.

“It will only take a moment,” Petrov hurried to fasten his belt and left the room. After a moment, he returned inside and crawled into the bed, holding a letter with a blue cover on it in his hand.

“What is it, who wrote it?” the woman had basically already woken up by now, and she yawned as she sat beside Petrov.

“It’s from Border Town,” he replied, “It should have come directly from the prince.”

After unwrapping the cover and pulling out the paper, he quickly swept through the contents of the letter, and furrowed his brow, “His Highness, he wants me to go to Border Town.”

“Right now?” Sheryl said while surprised, “He wants you to go in this weather?”

“Well, it is probably something important,” Petrov sighed, “I’ll prepare my luggage and be ready to set off in the afternoon. You should go home first, I’ll see you when I get back.”

He couldn’t help but to remember that time one year ago, when he also sailed to Border Town despite the wind and snow, in order to bring Duke Ryan’s warning from Longsong Stronghold. And now, the reason he had to go to that barren land was because of a letter from that same small town’s feudal lord, this made Petrov sigh at the unexpected turns of fate.

“Can’t you pretend like you didn’t see it?” she said while unhappy, “He indeed captured Longsong Stronghold, but you are the de facto ruler of the stronghold, even if it were the king’s order, it doesn’t have to be done right now, right?”

If it were the duke, he might, but he knew the disposition of the fourth prince. He caressed her head and said, “It is not the same, the king cannot maintain control of the western region, but His Highness Roland can…   He is not only Border Town’s feudal lord, but the master of the entire western region.”

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After entering the Months of Demons, Longsong Stronghold did not have that much official business to deal with, so he just gave some of the tasks to his subordinates, and had his father, Count Hull, assume personal command of the castle while he was gone.

Unlike the last time when he worked as an assistant, this time he would be riding the duke’s special ship “Lionheart”, carrying his retinue of more than 10 servants and apprentices, in addition to two knights sworn to him, it could be called rather excessive.

Across from the city’s outer block, as he was heading to the fortress’ wharf, a noise from near a corner attracted Petrov’s attention.

He saw a little over 10 people around in a circle, seemingly observing something. By looking at them, they were probably civilians, and were likely from the neighborhood and were attracted by the noise. Inside the circle he could hear one or two people saying such things as “Devil!” “Hang her!” among other roars.

Petrov’s mind was stirred, and he spoke to a knight near him, “Go and take a look, if it’s an ordinary dispute, make them return to their houses.”

“Yes, my lord.”

The knight pushed through the surrounding crowd, and after walking to the middle he pulled out his sword, causing the crowd to soon disperse. He then brought back a woman and two children, one of which had a hemp rope coiled around her neck.

“What is going on?”

“My lord,” the woman prostrated at Petrov’s feet, “you must hurry and kill her! She has fallen and turned into a witch!”

These words slightly shocked him, “Witch?” he shifted his gaze to the two children, the tall boy immediately went in front of the girl, making a ferocious expression.

In his face, there were some purple bruises, making it apparent that he had been beaten up quite a bit, “She is not a Devil’s lackey, they even say it in the theater play, there are good and bad witches, what are you planning to do with her?”

“Are you sure she is a witch?” Petrov paid no attention to the boy and continued to ask the woman.

“Yes, my lord, do not be fooled by those people in the theater, if the Church was still here, they would not allow them to talk all that nonsense on the stage. This bastard is a little devil, I was just punishing her in place of the Church. My lord, hurry up and hang her, we should not allow the demonic aura to spread in the Longsong city!”

“Get to the point!” he yelled.

After the other party’s incessant babbling was over, Petrov finally found the root of this issue.

After the church was burned down by Timothy, she and some other believers suddenly organized, and continued to preach and pray in the outer city area, while waiting for the Holy City of Hermes to reassign a new priest and build a new church in the western region.

As for this situation, it was just a coincidence. She caught sight of the girl’s ability while she was using it to remove the snow from the woman’s roof. In her story, the woman also repeatedly complained about the absurdity of the content imparted by the elementary education, as well as the theater’s performances. “The nearby onlookers only dared to catch the boy, but few were willing to hang this abominable devil, if it was before, her body would have already been hanging from the beams…” These words of hate cause Petrov’s eyebrow to jump.

“Take her back, and do a thorough interrogation,” he commanded the knight, “This time you’ll have to stay in the stronghold, when I come back I want to see her and every believer related to her, detained in prison.”

“What… No! My lord, how can you do something like—” the woman couldn’t finish her word, her protest was stopped by the knight who slapped her around a few times.

“Are you really a witch?” afterwards, Petrov looked at the frightened little girl, “Show me.”

The girl knelt down slowly without answering.

Petrov shook his head and raised his voice a little, “If you can prove yourself to be a real witch, I can let you go.”

After some time, the cowering girl placed both of her hands into a snowpile that was as thick as a palm and soon, the snow gradually turned into flowing water.

“That’s enough,” Petrov nodded, “come with me.”

“Come?” the little girl looked up, “Where to?”

“A place suitable for witches to live in.” he motioned an attendant to pick up the girl, and then they continued moving towards the pier.

“Put her down, you liar! You promised to let her go!” the boy wanted to get close, but he was blocked by several other servants, and his shouting gradually disappeared in the distance.

 

 

 

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