There are many classic stories in every country, whether it is the common people of Nari who tells the legend of the golden king, Godling, or the daughter of a nobleman who lives in a castle eloped with whom, or the farmer who repaired the waterwheel and found a large expanse of gold in the river.

The Nari people like this kind of bloody story that is more in line with life, just like the tactful love sung in "Moonlit Night", which is close to their own life and has a faint layer of magic.

However, this is not the case at all, probably because even their founding emperor believed that after killing the giant serpent, there are many stories of gods and ghosts that are difficult to find out whether they are true or false.

Fisher smuggled into Schwali from Nari and then across the entire Schwali to the Kadok border, where he was completely immune to the legends of the "Devil Ringing the Bell in the Night", "Conscious Magic", and "Molting".

So he was a little impatient when Fisher sat in the carriage and listened to his hired Schwally coachman repeat the story.

"Every night, our village is attacked by unknown monsters, but the frequency of this thing is very irregular, some say that the monster is an old pervert with a huge wolf head and feathers, who often knocks on widows' doors, and likes to sneak around to catch chickens in our henchpen."

Inside the carriage, Fisher, dressed in a white shirt and suspenders, holds a quill in his hand and is planning his route against the map next to him.

This time he enters Schwally, disguised as an urban reporter from Clemion, the capital of Schwali, and travels around specifically to investigate these rural anecdotes, but in fact, his real purpose is to find a rare sub-race hidden in the Western Continent, the witch.

Next to the map on Fisher's desk, a book glowing with gold displayed the contents of its title page, four predestined prophecies, the last of which was,

[The immortal witch uses magic to write an epitaph for them]

"Stealing chickens? And then what? ”

The coachman outside had just finished this paragraph in a rather bold Schwali language, and Fisher didn't listen to the outside words at all, just acted as a merciless compliment with a blank face, which would minimize the risk of his identity being exposed, after all, Schwali and Nari were not on good terms now, otherwise Godlin IX would not have sent Elizabeth to the border

Thinking of a lady with golden eyes and a bright smile, Fisher paused as he dipped his quill in ink, and did not write down his next words for a long time.

"And then? Hey, weird to say, the men in our village were worried that it would be a wild subhuman or a monster that looked like a monster coming to attack the village, so they stayed outside the house for a long time at night, waiting for the monster to come and catch him. It turned out to be really strange, every time we kept a vigil he didn't show up, and then as soon as we rested, the chickens in the pen would disappear into thin air. ”

"Could it be that the chicken has run away?"

Fisher then perfunctorily replied with a preface that did not match the afterword, indicating that he was listening.

"How could it be that I got lost?! It is true that there are monsters stealing our chickens, and the next day Alina picked up a very long black feather in the chicken pen, and what is even more terrifying is that her son really saw a woman's figure catching chickens in his chicken pen when he was in a daze, and those chickens did not say a word, as if they had been subjected to demon magic! ”

"The villagers thought that the thing was either a mountain god in the mountains or some kind of monster monster, but some people said that the guy was a . Witch! ”

Fisher's writing came to an abrupt halt, and he didn't listen to all the words that had preceded him, but he was drawn to the last word of the old man.

After a pause for a second, he put down the quill in his hand and pushed open the carriage door, looking at the old man driving the carriage with a pipe in his mouth.

"Repeat the story just now, what witch?"

"Huh? Oh yes, we've been throwing chickens out of the chicken pen in our village since a few months ago. Wait, you didn't listen to me just now? ”

The old man glanced back at the young gentleman sitting in the carriage, the gentleman's face was handsome and angular, obviously with a heavy bookish anger but a somewhat cold appearance, his expression was serious, so that the old man who just wanted to complain pouted, and then continued,

"Well, that's it"

After the story was finished again, Fisher sat down at the door and touched his chin, originally he came near the border between Schwali and Kado for the witch, the junction here has a very complex mountain structure, and various ancient forests have been preserved to the present, since the records of ancient classics, many records of witches' activities in history are near here.

Now that he has caught an obvious clue all of a sudden, Fisher suddenly has a goal, whether it is true or not, it is best to check it first,

"Kind of funny, how often does she come over and steal chickens?"

"I can't say for sure, sometimes once a week, sometimes several times a week, and the time of day is different, and the widows say they feel someone approaching in the middle of the night, but when the little boy sees the woman, it is almost dawn. She hadn't stolen anything this week, though. ”

"I see, I'm interested in her, so I'll keep a vigil for you this week and see if I can catch her."

But after hearing this, the old man in front of him hurriedly shook his head and persuaded,

"Oh hey, this can't be helped, you're a reporter from the city, and you're guarding a thief who doesn't know what it is, and if something happens, it's worth the loss To be honest, after several times I didn't catch that thing, the villagers were scared by the evil thing, and I'd rather she steal something than hurt anyone."

Fisher smiled silently, and poked out the cane standing next to him, only to see that the cane soon spread a fine white light,

"This is, magic? Oh my God, I only saw it when I was a kid when I went into town to pray, and it was just a magic that could turn on a lamp."

In fact, most magic is far away from the common people, and the high cost of magic is not something they can consider, and they don't need it at all, so they rightly think that the magicians who can use magic are the great people in the city.

"Don't worry about me, if something happens, I'll keep myself safe, and even if something happens, you're not responsible"

Nonsense, Fisher is now a smuggler from Nari, his identity can't stand up to verification, and if something happens to him, the Schwali government will thank the villagers for helping to subdue the Nari spy

"Besides, the village faces an attack from an unknown monster every night, and I think you've had enough of it, right?"

Since Fisher said so, the old man opened his mouth, of course, he would not refuse, and even felt in his heart that this reporter from the city really thought about them, instead of coming over to find some irrelevant news and leaving quickly, and then the people were attracted to kill time, and they also got a gimmick, but no one paid attention to the civilians who really found out about these things.

"Alright, here we are, this is our village."

The carriage came to a slow halt at the entrance of the village, and what appeared before Fisher was a small village of peace and tranquility, with all kinds of smoke, running water, waterwheels, etc., and further into the village, he soon saw a dense jungle in the distance.

Deep in the jungle are the mountains that stretch from Schwali to the border of Kado, and the endless mountains are still forbidden to man, like a moat that separates the northern border between Schwali and Kado.

The two countries have only set up border patrol armies at the edge of each other's jungles, and the mountains in between have truly become natural sanctuaries, a mysterious three-way zone.

A dozen miles further from the village, the Swally outpost could be seen, but Fisher didn't plan to lean there unless it was necessary, although he brought a very, very much magic with him, and a graduation gift from Haytham to himself, it was still too dangerous to cross a border without permission.

The old man was glad to receive Fisher in his own home, along with a wife and two daughters, who were not yet ten years old, and a twenty-year-old son, who had gone to work in the factories in the city, and who had only returned twice a year.

And when she heard that Fisher, the big reporter, was going to help them keep vigil at night, the old man's wife couldn't stop talking, and she shared her presumed monster identity with Fisher, and they were both talkative people, and even the two daughters could mix in a sentence or two.

"I heard that there was an exiled Swali magician in the mountains before, and that guy studied a forbidden magic and was condemned and banished by the king! The magic was to kill the living and use their organs to perform the magic, and even if he was banished here, he would not stop, and even used his daughter to do magic experiments. ”

"People in our village say that the woman who came to steal the chicken was the dead daughter of the Swali magician, who had been abused all the time and wanted to eat a meal of chicken, so she came to steal the chicken every day."

In the midst of such conversations, the night was dark, and Fisher was ready to go to the village to watch as agreed, to see if anyone came to steal chickens, and the old man wanted to persuade him, but seeing that Fisher was too persistent, he had to hand over his hunting single-barreled shotgun to Fisher for his own self-defense.

He lies alone in the straw pile outside the chicken pen, so that he can not only keep warm but also hide his figure to the greatest extent, there are not many chicken families, he sleeps here very close to each chicken pen, he holds a musket and a cane, and counts all the chickens before lying down.

In the sky, a huge and extremely cold full moon had risen into the sky at some point, and countless bright stars next to it seemed to be just dots, unable to cover a trace of the brilliance of the huge moon.

Fisher kept his eyes open, listening vigilantly for any wind and grass around him, but nothing happened until the moonlight grew darker and Fisher's eyelids darkened.

"Giggle.."

Surrounded by the sound of roosters, for some reason, Fisher's eyelids became heavier and heavier, and his consciousness seemed to slowly sink into a dream, the scene in the dream was extremely dark, and Fisher stood alone in the dead darkness, until at a certain moment, a bright full moon suddenly rose in front of his eyes, staring at him coldly.

The cold gaze instantly awakened Fisher, and he suddenly remembered that he was still helping others watch chickens.

He staggered to his feet from the straw pile, only to find that it was frighteningly quiet.

It was still midnight, and when he looked up at the sky, under the huge full moon, there was a purple lark standing on the roof of a villager's house, the lark's feathers were unusually beautiful under the night sky, and it even tilted its head humanely when it looked at Fisher, who had woken up.

"Larks?"

An ominous premonition came to his mind, and he hurriedly looked around the surrounding chicken pen, and looked at the chicken pen under the eaves where the lark stood, but was surprised to find that there was a chicken missing!

"Goo!"

The lark seemed to notice Fisher and noticed the clue, and the next moment it spread its wings and flew in a certain direction of the forest, and the surrounding area was silent, and the other villagers basically had no combat effectiveness, even if they screamed, it would only add a burden to Fisher, so he followed the direction of the bird's flight alone.

The lark led Fisher all the way to the forest behind the village, and when the night wind swept by, the whole forest seemed to be agitated under the light of the huge full moon, but Fisher's face was grim, and he was not in the slightest flustered by the battle, and behind him he also took a spinner's silk thread for fear that he would get lost in the forest.

"Goo!"

The lark flying in the forest seemed to find a direction, and with a crisp sound, it landed downward, and Fisher's pace stopped at this point.

For no other reason, there was a fire in the direction in front of him.

He frowned, and looked in the direction of the fire, and saw that it was a small clearing in the woods, and in the middle of the clearing, a firewood was roasting a wooden skewer with a feathered chicken.

Fisher raised an eyebrow and looked in the direction of the owner holding the stick, and the first thing that caught his eye was a black hair that spread out like a waterfall.

"Hum Hum Hum ~"

The black-haired owner, humming a song that Fisher couldn't hear, was crouching in front of the fire and engrossed in roasting the chicken, her hair so long that it hid a lot of the simple linen clothes she was wearing, but even then it could not hide her bumpy figure.

The lark, which was being chased by Fisher, fell obediently on her shoulder, muttering something in her ear, and the next moment, the woman turned her head in Fisher's direction in surprise.

Under her black hair, her face was beautiful, and a pair of deep purple eyes showed a seductive charm, and then, her beautiful face revealed obvious panic,

"Woo!"

"Goo-goo!"

Just as she spoke, Fisher noticed that several larks that looked exactly like the one on her shoulder had fallen on the branches around her, and the moment the woman spoke, all the birds began to make a "cooing" sound.

When she saw Fisher, who had caught up with her musket in her hand, she panicked and got up and prepared to run in the other direction of the woods, even though she still had the skewer of roast chicken in her hand.

Then the next second, to Fisher's surprise, she had been squatting for too long, and she didn't notice that her legs were numb, and then this sudden rise made her stumble on her left leg and her right leg, and she fell on the spot and ate.

"Plop!"

This set of operations stunned Fisher, and it was not until a second later that he jumped down with the cane in his hand and pounced towards the chicken thief.

"Run?"

Fisher didn't want to hurt her, he just wanted to control her and not let her escape, so the method he used was to use his magic power to attach to the cane and hit her body, so that hitting her body and magic circuit at the same time, even the toughest tough guy in the world would be unbearable.

Seeing that she still wanted to run, Fisher knocked on her back with a cane,

"Oops."

The woman let out a coquettish cry of pain and made an extremely lovely sound, and then quickly squatted down, holding her head with both hands, and hurriedly shouted loudly,

"Don't fight, don't fight, woo. I'm a good person, I'm a human being, I didn't do anything, help, kill someone! ”

The woman held the chicken in her hand, her face covered with both hands, and a series of sounds like a bombardment came, the first half of which was in Nari, and the second half of which was composed of Schwali and Kadu, as if she was afraid that Fisher would not understand and kill her.

The woman's painful cry made Fisher's movement of holding the cane stop abruptly, he looked at the woman fragile holding the chicken curled up on the ground and trembling for a while, and after a second of silence, he withdrew the cane in his hand, and frowned at the woman with a blurred face in front of him,

"Who are you and why do you steal from other people?"

This sentence was said in Schwali, and he did not want to reveal his Nari identity.

But at this moment, the compassion and deep moonlight made Fisher not notice that the expression of the woman in front of her hidden under the black hair turned into a "triumphant" smile, and the next moment, when she delicately held the chicken and got up to pick up the black hair on her forehead, her beautiful expression was all pity and grievance caused by pain.

She didn't seem to want to tell her identity, but she cautiously glanced at the cane in Fisher's hand, for fear that he would hit her again, so, at last she nodded and spoke in an extremely delicate tone,

"I didn't mean to steal from other people. It's just that I'm so hungry, I can't help it, so please don't hit me again, it hurts, woo woo"

“.”

Fisher didn't speak, but looked at her, as if waiting for her to explain.

The other party cautiously raised his head to let his eyes go out, and saw in the afterglow that the other party had no intention of attacking again, and the other side immediately opened his mouth to explain,

"I'm actually the daughter of a Schwali magician, and my father took me to live in the mountains and forests a long time ago in order to study magic. But since my father died, it was difficult for me to survive in the forest alone, so I really couldn't get out of the mountains. I was so hungry, but I couldn't do anything else but steal from other people's food. ”

Her words were vivid and pitiful, and Fisher held her cane, and she saw the scabbed wound on her arm, and her ankle was bruised from the fall, and she looked badly injured.

The woman in front of her became unnatural because of Fisher's naked gaze, and she covered her skin uneasily, and the next moment, there was a distinct sound in her stomach.

She was so hungry that the woman looked down in embarrassment, glanced at the chicken in her hand and swallowed a mouthful.

"Eat, I'd like to ask you a few questions by the way."

Noticing that there was indeed some ungentlemanly sight in his gaze, the young Fisher coughed embarrassedly to hide his embarrassment, and then he got up and looked at her, and said so.

"Can I eat it?"

"You've stolen it so many times, even if you don't eat it now, do you expect the cooked chicken to turn back into live chickens and go back to the farmer's pen?"

After hearing this, the woman in front of her finally couldn't help it, she took a bite of the cooked chicken, took a big bite and enjoyed this rare delicacy,

"Thank you, great man!"

"Good people can't talk about it, so, you were the one who went to the village below to steal chickens all the time?"

The woman ate the chicken in her hand and pretended not to hear it, as if she was temporarily deaf, and almost didn't make Fisher laugh, and when he raised the cane in her hand again, her expression immediately became pitiful again,

"It's me! It's me! I know it's wrong, but I'm so hungry that I can't do it, right? ”

Fisher raised his eyebrows and asked, a little puzzled,

"The villagers reported a lot of unnatural phenomena to me, and I thought it was one who went to steal. Witch. ”

Renee's pupils shrank slightly, she quickly waved her hand, and explained with a dry smile,

"How is it possible, how can I be a witch?"

"And what are those larks in the trees?"

"That's . It's my father's own magic, he's a magician with a lot of knowledge of magic, well, if you can give me some more food, I can show you my father's original Schwali magic! ”

Fisher was a little moved when he heard this, but he thought that he still had the "search for the immortal witch" to complete, and there was no need to waste too much time here, if there was no witch on Schwally's side, then he would have to go in another direction, and even the time to travel halfway would take a long, long time.

After hesitating for a moment, he shook his head and said,

"No need, I have other things to do. However, it is unrealistic for you to keep stealing other people's chickens, I will compensate you and the villagers for the chickens you stole before, and you can do the rest yourself. ”

As if to confirm that the woman in front of him was really harmless and just an ordinary chicken thief, Fisher took his cane and prepared to turn away.

But behind him, the woman's pitiful expression just now disappeared in an instant, and she carefully glanced at the man in front of her, as if she saw some dangerous aura on him, and then hurriedly opened her mouth and asked in a somewhat trembling tone,

"Wait! You.. Are you looking for someone? ”

"Well, you know I'm looking for someone?"

"Well, I saw you this morning in the bushes, and you were asking the villagers about something. I don't hear very clearly, but you seem to be looking for some kind of witch? ”

Fisher looked back expressionlessly, looked at the harmless and pitiful woman sitting in place, swept around the wounds on her body, and said,

"I'm looking for an [Immortal Witch], do you have any clues about her?"

"Immortal. The witch? ”

She paused slightly, and then naturally tilted her head, as if she was thinking.

But Fisher didn't notice that although her expression was natural now, all the larks in the tree were looking at him at this time.

"Well, I don't know. But I. There are many accounts of witches in my father's magic tower, and there may be clues."

At this point, she stopped abruptly speaking, and just blinked at Fisher in front of her.

You can see what Fisher means, this guy is asking for payment,

"So, what do you want me to do for you?"

"It's just a dinner. It would be nice if you could give me some money. But in addition to helping you find information, I'm going to show you the unique magic that my father studied! ”

She said this without thinking, but Fisher squinted at her, and it was better not to trust the chicken thief in front of her too much,

"No need, you can do it yourself, farewell."

The woman in front of her pursed her lips, and then smiled reluctantly,

"Well, actually, I didn't dare go back because I left my father's magic tower. There are a lot of dangerous beasts in the mountains, and I'm afraid that a person will be eaten in the past, but all of my father's stuff is still there, and I want to get them back. But no matter what, thank you for not caring about me stealing. ”

Fisher looked at her, waved his hand, took his cane and turned away, and the woman sat on her knees, quietly watching his back, as if watching him leave.

But from where Fisher could not see, the woman's watch in the firelight turned into an intriguing smile, and she gently raised three fingers as Fisher walked farther and farther.

As Fisher walked farther and farther, the fingers on her hand were broken off one by one, and when the last index finger was lowered, Fisher's movements in the distance also came to an abrupt halt, he sighed, and looked back at the woman with a pitiful expression,

"I'll go back and take care of some things, and prepare some supplies by the way, it's too dangerous to go into the forest at night, it's better to set off during the day, and tomorrow I'll bring you something to eat, and don't steal anymore." In return, give me information about witches and show me your father's magic, deal? ”

The dim purple eyes of the woman in front of her became brighter little by little, she was a little incredulous, but she seemed to be grateful for Fisher's promise to herself,

"Okay, I promise you!"

"Well, that's it."

Just as Fisher turned to leave, the woman suddenly called Fisher again.

Under her somewhat messy hair, a bright smile bloomed on her not-so-clean face, and her purple eyes were deeper than the dazzling stars, making it impossible to see the specific meaning.

She smiled innocently and asked Fisher,

"I forgot to introduce myself and ask for your name, what's your name?"

"My name is Renee."

(End of chapter)