Chapter 82
Gremory grabbed the shoulder of the last young man who was running away and asked,
“Are you really the last one? Have you seen Isolen?”
“Miss Isolen wasn’t in this house. I thought she must have run away earlier.”
“Damn it!”
After letting the young man go, Gremory ran into the crowd of corpses.
“Isolen? Where are you? Isolen!”
The revived corpses chased Gremory madly. She quickly transformed into a cat and nimbly dodged them while running around, checking the faces of the dead one by one.
Finally, she found Isolen.
“…Isolen?”
Isolen was standing still in the middle of the field, staring blankly into the air.
It was strange. Isolen seemed to be completely isolated from this world, as the corpses didn’t attack her. The corpses passed by as if they didn’t see her.
“Isolen, are you okay?”
Gremory changed back to her human form and cautiously approached Isolen. Isolen, who had been staring into space, shifted her gaze toward Gremory.
Isolen smiled chillingly when she saw Gremory.
“You came.”
“You… what are you?”
“Who else? Isolen Sien.”
With a crack, the holy relic ring on Isolen’s finger shattered.
“For now, at least.”
Then, the holy relic necklace was scorched black and dropped to the ground.
Only then did Gremory see the deep curse dwelling inside Isolen, which had been hidden by the holy relic until now. Black energy swirled in Isolen’s green eyes.
“What is that? What kind of being are you… ugh!”
While Gremory was off guard, Isolen pulled out a silver dagger hidden in her sleeve and stabbed it into Gremory’s shoulder. Gremory collapsed and writhed in pain.
“Aaah!”
“Hahaha! Does it hurt? You shouldn’t have messed with my summoner carelessly. How dare you break the code among demons?”
“You…! Marbas…! Ugh!”
Gremory, weakened, couldn’t get up. Isolen laughed coldly and turned around.
“Stay down there and learn a lesson. If you interfere in someone else’s contract, you’ll pay the price.”
Suddenly, witch wings sprouted from Isolen’s back. She flew up into the sky, radiating a crimson energy, and commanded the corpses.
“My minions, take over this land! I will make this place the land of witches!”
Isolen’s command spread far and wide, audible even to the fleeing people.
The fleeing people stopped and looked back, drawn by the voice. They were terrified when they saw Isolen shining with crimson light.
“Who… who is that? Isn’t that the lord’s daughter?”
“I think so. She had short hair and was wearing a dark blue robe.”
“No way, Isolen was a witch?”
“Witches don’t exist! Don’t say nonsense!”
“She’s right there! Can’t you see the black wings and the crimson energy radiating from her?”
“Then could it be… that witch caused the earthquake and sandstorm?”
“A witch! I can’t believe witches really exist! Everyone, run!”
Isolen smiled proudly as she watched the terrified people run away, then flew off toward the nearby mountains.
Meanwhile, Gremory struggled to pull out the silver dagger from her shoulder. She had a strong feeling that if she lost Isolen now, it would be a big problem. What if she never got to meet her again?
“Ugh…”
Finally, Gremory pulled out the dagger. She looked around to see if anyone was nearby. Fortunately, the people had run far away.
Spreading her wings, Gremory flew into the dark night sky. There was no time to heal her shoulder wound.
“Hey, you crazy demon! Give me back my friend!”
Isolen turned around with a smirk, radiating crimson energy as she sped up. Gremory endured the pain and desperately chased after her.
Fortunately, Gremory caught up with Isolen near the mountains. When Gremory grabbed Isolen’s wings, they both tumbled down into the forest.
Gremory sat on top of Isolen and immediately put her hand on Isolen’s head, trying to remove the curse energy.
Isolen chuckled mockingly.
“You look really tired. Well, you must be after repairing the territory all day and blocking Etna’s sandstorm. It’ll get harder to break my curse.”
“Shut up and get lost if you know that!”
“Fine, I’ll get lost. This was the plan anyway. You deal with what happens next.”
Black energy drifted out of Isolen’s body like smoke. She seemed to lose consciousness for a moment, then regained it and blinked.
“Mori…”
Isolen’s eyes began to redden.
“I… I tried. I really tried not to be mean to you, but I…!”
“It’s okay.”
“Sorry! Ugh! If only I had stronger willpower, none of this would have happened…!”
Gremory comforted her gently.
“How could an ordinary human handle a curse from a high-ranking demon? It’s not your fault. You’ve done great just to endure this long.”
Moved by Gremory’s kind words, Isolen broke down crying. Exhausted, Gremory lay down beside her. Isolen hurriedly took out a handkerchief to stop the bleeding on Gremory’s shoulder.
“Mori, are you okay? Does it hurt a lot?”
“It hurts like hell.”
“Ugh! Sorry!”
“I’m fine. But Isolen…”
“Yeah. sniff”
“I think we’re in big trouble. A lot of people saw you flying around radiating crimson energy. Knights are coming this way. If they catch you, they might accuse you of being a witch and burn you at the stake.”
“What? Damn it…!”
Gremory hurriedly stood up and grabbed Isolen’s shoulders tightly.
“Isolen, listen carefully. I’ll say it was all me. You just deny everything.”
“…What?”
“We look similar, and our clothes are alike. Witnesses were far away, so they probably didn’t see your face clearly, only your general appearance. So we can easily deny it.”
Isolen’s face turned pale.
“You idiot! Even if we look alike, everyone would recognize it’s me by my voice!”
“Most people in the plains were commoners. How would they know the lord’s daughter’s voice? Unless you shouted loudly outside.”
“That’s true, but some people who talked with me often would know.”
“How many did you talk to?”
“Quite a few…”
“It’s okay. Just deny it. I’ll say it was me imitating your voice.”
Gremory spread her witch wings and started radiating crimson energy just like Isolen did.
Isolen panicked and tried to shove Gremory’s wings back onto her back.
“Hey, put those away! What are you doing?”
“When the knights come, just say you were kidnapped by me. Got it?”
“I don’t know! Please don’t do that!”
“If you get caught, you’ll be tortured terribly. Could you endure that? It’s better if I get it instead…”
“What do you mean better, you crazy witch! Let’s just run away together!”
“Then we’ll be hunted forever.”
Isolen groaned, troubled, then gathered her thoughts. After thinking hard, her eyes suddenly brightened.
“I’ve got a good idea.”
“What is it?”
“What if we both deny being witches?”
“Then we’ll both be taken to the interrogation hall.”
“That’s the point. If both of us get caught, they won’t dare to torture us recklessly.”
Gremory stroked her chin, thinking.
“Hmm, that might work. They’ll believe one of us is innocent and won’t torture both.”
In the distance, knights holding torches were approaching. The two quickly made a plan.
“Mori, you say you were just chasing and trying to catch the witch. I’ll say I’m innocent and deny everything.”
“Got it. Let’s try it.”
“We’ve done this kind of act before, so I’m sure we can do well.”
The knights arrived nearby. Count Sien was among them, worried that his daughter might be falsely accused.
One knight searching the mountains shouted to Count Sien,
“My lord, we found them!”
Count Sien hurried toward the knights and witnessed a strange sight. Miss Mori and his daughter were rolling on the ground, grabbing each other’s hair.
“…What are you two doing?”
As soon as Isolen saw her father, she shouted,
“Father! This woman is a witch! She’s impersonating me, trying to fool me, and kidnapped me! She stabbed me with a silver dagger to weaken me, so please take her to the interrogation hall immediately!”
Gremory shouted back without backing down,
“That’s nonsense! Count Sien, don’t believe her! She’s the witch, and I was just chasing her all along! You don’t suspect me, who worked hard repairing your lands all day, do you?”
