She unconsciously released the strong grip on the handle of her knife, and instead began to quietly watch as the woman that was walking on the stage. Not long after the ceremony, she was found by two guards who had been tasked with escorting her to the palace.
As long as she herself didn’t want to follow them, the guards would have never been able to stop her. But she did not ask anything from them, she just simply began to follow the two further into the inner city, until they finally reached the magnificent palace that stood at the end of the road.
Within a secret room of the palace, she met with the 5th Princess for the first time.
“…So it was like this.”
“It’s an unfortunate story, and afterward you’ve eventually come to live within the Kingdom of Graycastle.”
“Do not worry. In the future, you will not have to wander around any longer. From now on you’ll be staying with me.”
“I will give you a good makeup and make sure that they will not be able to recognize your face.”
“I have heard that the monastery was destroyed by a fire and that all the children have gone missing. Only ruins and ashes are left of the buildings.”
“Do you have a name from before that time?”
“In that case, from now on your name will be Ashes.”
…
When Ashes opened her eyes, the first thing that caught her eye was Maggie’s face.
The other side blinked a few times and then she came up and embraced Ashes, “You finally woke up goo!”
Ashes tried to move her lower fingers, only to discover that she wasn’t hit by the weakness or numbness that she had expected. Furthermore, she also felt that there was no pain coming from her waist.
“How long have I been asleep?”
“One afternoon,” Maggie said, “Nana said that your medical treatment was already completed and you could wake up at anytime. But when you wake up your body will feel very tired and you will first have to rest for a while. However, when you wake up for the second time you should feel much better and all of your energy should already have recovered.”
Ashes began to pat Maggie’s head and slowly sat up on the bed and opened her clothes to examine herself. Only to discover that her abdomen was now completely intact. The huge wound was gone as if it only had been a nightmare, and now after she had woken up, it had disappeared into nothingness.
“She is … how did she heal me?”
“I think that you would prefer not to know about it,” Maggie begun, but when she saw the determination in Ashes’ eyes she decided to continue, “They put the scattered… goo, parts of your body back into their places, and then filled the stomach wound back up. When everything was back in its place, Nana began to release her magic, restoring your stomach back to its original state. The more parts they collected, the faster she could heal you, and if something was completely absent, she would be unable to grow it back again.”
Ashes felt goosebumps all over her body, “All of the dirt and grass my body parts was stained with, were they also…”
“When Nana was healing you, all the dirt was discharged out of your body. It seems that her ability can distinguish between what is useful and what is harmful.”
Hearing this, she felt relieved and tried to stand up from her bed, testing how much power her body had recovered by now. The result was that it was completely opposite to what Nana had previously said. After waking up, she couldn’t feel any traces of weakness from her body. Instead, it felt as if she now possessed even more power than she’d had in the past.
After putting on her black robe, Ashes took a look at the sky outside of the window and then started walking toward the door.
“Where are you going?” Maggie asked, confused.
“I’m going to see His Royal Highness,” Ashes answered without looking back.
Chapter 169 Farewell
Entering his office, she met once again with Roland Wimbledon. At this moment, he was still busy writing, probably dealing with government affairs. The sun was already going down behind the western mountains, infecting the sky with a touch of gold. The last of the sun’s light was still shining through the windows, throwing long shadows across the table.
Waiting until the Prince put down his quill, Ashes declared: “I won.”
“Indeed, you won.” The other simply acknowledge it with a nod.
That Roland would yield in such a frank and straightforward manner came for her unexpected. She had thought that he would still try to quibble about it, never believing that he would recognize the result so easily.
“But I admit that you have the power to fight against the God’s Punishment Army,” Ashes continued, “The God’s Punishment Army isn’t impervious to sword and spear, their body strength is similar to mine, but they have lost their consciousness and ability to think. Which is also the reason why I can simultaneously cope with three of them at once.
“If during the previous test the Knight’s opponent had been a member of the God’s Punishment Army, I think that they would have just simply rushed forward. Because of this, the God’s Punishment Army cannot be sent out like the Army of Judges can. If my guess isn’t wrong, the Church has to always send someone who will lead them during the fight.”
“Thank you,” Roland smiled. “This information is very important.”
“What was the new weapon your knight was using?”
“A firearm,” Roland explained, “In the future, all of my soldiers will be equipped with this kind of weapon. Even an untrained farmer, as long as they have a gun, will be able to defeat even a well-trained Judge.”
For a moment, Ashes hesitated but then she still asked, “Can you give one of those firearms to me?”
“Unless you join the Witch Alliance that will be impossible,” Roland said determined, “after all, at present this weapon is still very rare.”
Having already expected his refusal, she slowly exhaled. “I have to meet up with Tilly as soon as possible, so early tomorrow morning I will be leaving Border Town. If you aren’t able to push the church back, you can always move to the Fjord, asking for asylum.”
Roland nodded, “You too, do not forget to tell my dear sister the news, that at the western border of the Kingdom of Graycastle there is a place which shelters witches.
“…” For a moment Ashes fell silent, “I will consider it.”
As she prepared to leave the office, but the Prince stopped her unexpected, “Wait, I have a gift for you. It is behind the door.”
A gift?
She stared blankly into the air, but when she came back to herself she turned around and saw that there was huge sword placed beside the door and because it had been previously blocked by the open door she hadn’t noticed it when she had entered the office.
“Your sword cannot be used any longer, so I let Anna create a new one for you. This sword, however, isn’t made out of poor quality pig iron, no this is made out of pure steel.”
Indeed, its whole body surface was evenly smoothed, in the light of the sunset, it held an orange-red metallic luster. Stepping forward, she gently stroked the sword, discovering that the blade’s thickness was very uniform. Showing traces that it had gone through a tempering process, there was no doubt that this was a weapon of excellent quality. The only thing which still puzzled Ashes, was its strange shape. Compared with the usual double-edged sword blade system, it only had one blade, while the other edge was about as wide as her little finger. Furthermore, it didn’t possess a tip, instead it end was trapezoidal.
But the most peculiar part of the sword was that within the first quarter of the sword, strange runes had been carved into it. In addition, there was also a half-moon painted at the blunt edge of the sword. The moon was painted in gold, and was thus very eye-catching.