Chapter 222 – Witch

An impromptu Magical Inquisition was conducted on Elmer, Donovan, and Lionel, confirming the details regarding the Marquis Zilbolt incident.

Though Donovan and Lionel initially hesitated to testify, when Elmer and I informed them that if their claims were true, I would work toward helping Marquis Zilbolt, they admitted the facts. After confirming they weren’t spies for the Crown Prince’s faction, we moved the three from their cells to another room for questioning. Mildred continued to accompany us.

“…First, allow me to thank you for our current accommodations,” Lionel said quietly, bowing his head. All three wore solemn expressions.

After baths, shaves, and changes of clothes, their demeanor… indeed appeared to be that of nobility or those close to such status.

Regarding Elmer’s subordinates, they were currently undergoing Magical Inquisition. Once their claims were verified and deemed trustworthy… well, even if we couldn’t remove surveillance and Subjugation Magic, they’d likely be released from their cells.

At the very least… if they were willing to speak in detail about their personal motivations rather than their affiliations, our response would change accordingly.

“I’ll convey your gratitude to His Majesty,” Mildred said.

“Now then… about these hostages – who is holding whom, and how? I’d like to clarify that first.”

“The hostages are… the entire Zilbolt Marquisate.”

The entire territory. What exactly was happening here?

“…That witch… was brought by the Crown Prince,” Elmer murmured haltingly.

“Witch?” Mildred asked with a puzzled expression.

“There’s no other way to describe her. The witch cast Curse Magic on the Marquis’s wife and daughter. While tormenting the two of them, the Crown Prince laughed and said he could crush their hearts anytime, anywhere.”

Elmer’s face twisted bitterly. Apparently, the Crown Prince and the witch had said this to the Marquis while he embraced his suffering wife and daughter.

“You were present at the scene?”

“I was. Donovan and the others haven’t seen the witch’s face,” Elmer said, looking down.

“According to that witch, she also cast Curse Magic on the Spirit protecting the volcano near the Marquisate. She said if we betrayed them, the Spirit would suffer similarly, and the volcano would erupt with lava destroying the town. We don’t know if it’s true or not… but the lives of the Lady and her daughter would certainly be lost. We cannot risk testing this.”

…I see. Marquis Zilbolt is the territory’s lord. Taking just his wife and daughter as hostages wasn’t enough, so they took the entire territory and its people hostage too.

But once they played the eruption card, there would be no turning back or stopping it. By casting Curse Magic on the two members of the Marquis’s family as well, they were threatening gradual destruction if he resisted.

“Since then, we’ve been dogs. We’ve been forced to dirty our hands with various tasks as ordered…”

“The Marquis was targeted because he maintained an Intelligence Unit like ours, I suppose.”

All three wore similarly dark expressions.

“I see… What about Curse Magic on Marquis Zilbolt himself?”

“He shouldn’t have any cast on him. Things like Curse Magic, Subjugation Magic, Contract Magic…”

Right. As a public figure, there would be ways to check if such things had been used on him. That’s precisely why they aimed for indirect control.

“…I see. Then—” That meant contacting Marquis Zilbolt himself was possible.

“D-do you have some method?” Lionel asked, perhaps detecting something in my reaction.

“First, we’ll research how to break or counter the Curse Magic. Then contact Marquis Zilbolt. Work with him on the curse removal. I’m thinking of proposing this approach. For that… I might need your cooperation too.”

“If that’s necessary… we have no choice in the matter.”

Marquis Zilbolt would be coming to Termwills… and during that time, the Crown Prince would likely have surveillance on him. We could have these three make false reports that everything was proceeding smoothly… Well, I’d need to discuss with King Melvin and devise a proper plan.

“Crush their hearts?”

“That’s what the Curse Magic supposedly does. They say the Spirit has also been cursed.”

After reporting to King Melvin, I returned home and made time to consult with everyone. We agreed with King Melvin that curse removal should be our approach.

If we could secure Marquis Zilbolt and Elmer’s cooperation after resolving the problem… it would benefit Verdgar too. Sitting around the low table in the Japanese-style room, I explained what we’d learned.

“Regarding such Curse Magic… I believe it shouldn’t be a problem if we can apprehend the caster. The ability to activate it anytime from anywhere means it’s a Spell Formula activated by the caster’s will. Such methods cannot be incorporated into Contract Magic, right?” Rosemary said.

Right. Indeed.

Apprehending the caster… was a strategy unavailable to Marquis Zilbolt and his associates.

But since we had no apparent connection to Marquis Zilbolt, we could take the hard approach of crushing the witch, the caster, ignoring the hostage situation and its authenticity.

As for neutralizing the witch, there might be differences between taking her life or sealing her magic. But as an opening move, cutting her consciousness down without discussion would probably be best.

“However, to do that, we must first locate the witch herself,” Grace said.

“Yes. If we can solve that problem, that approach should work…”

Creating such a situation proactively might be somewhat difficult, though?

The Crown Prince’s faction probably couldn’t make the witch’s existence public either. Once the hostage problem was resolved, there would be an opening there.

“Do we need the Thieves Guild’s cooperation?” Sheila asked.

Ah, right. The Thieves Guild had someone who could draw facial composites from descriptions.

“That’s right… We should also learn the witch’s appearance. Can you handle that?”

“Leave it to me.”

We could have Elmer and the others describe her appearance to that person later… But we should consider other measures too.

Marlene wore a serious expression, placing her hands over her chest.

Yes, I understood what Marlene wanted to say.

“What about using Blessings to protect those under Curse Magic?”

When I turned my gaze to Claudia, she nodded.

“That’s possible too. If the cursed person or the caster is nearby… we can repel or suppress the Curse Power itself. In that case, we’d need to ensure the Blessing doesn’t break…”

We wouldn’t need to identify the specific Spell Formula or type of Curse Magic.

Since the witch held the command authority to activate the Spell Formula, we just needed to block either the source or the commands themselves.

“Regarding the two members of the Marquis’s family, couldn’t we arrange to have them summoned here?” Ashley said.

Using balls or other events as excuses, we could maneuver for the Marquis to bring them out himself. Since they’d be coming here under the pretense of deepening understanding or promoting friendship, they’d have no choice but to accept invitations.

“I think that’s possible. Then… the biggest problem would be the Spirit, right?”

“If it’s a Spirit capable of controlling a volcano, we know its location and origin. I think we could summon it using Summoning Magic. However, within Termwills, it would be confined by the Barrier. In this case, we might need to perform the ritual outside the outer walls.”

“…Spirits and Summoning Magic. We might need Auria-san’s cooperation for this too.”

“I’ll help as well!” Seraphina said, clenching her fist and standing up on the table. When I nodded, she nodded back. Perhaps she had thoughts about the volcano lord’s current situation. She’d likely be helpful in communicating with the Spirit too.

Blessings would also be necessary. That meant we’d need to coordinate with Penelope and work to cover both the Marquis’s family and the volcano Spirit.

Anyway, the advantage was that we didn’t need to go out and set traps. Ideally, by the time they noticed, the hostages would be freed and the witch’s composite sketch prepared.

The hostages protected. By the time the witch realized countermeasures against her Curse Magic were in place, we’d have already issued warrants throughout the Zilbolt Marquisate.

Marquis Zilbolt would arrive slightly before the Magic Light Water Vein’s gate opened. That meant we could continue preparing for both situations in parallel.

Creating a ritual site to summon and contain the Spirit. A place for the Shrine Maidens to stay. We’d also need barracks for soldiers and Knights to protect the Shrine Maidens.

We might get somewhat busy, but the burden before Marquis Zilbolt’s arrival wasn’t actually that heavy. More importantly, we should meticulously arrange the steps for after he arrives.