Ch 288: Enter Nightingale.

Karl von Bate, one of the few teachers of Border Town, waited nervously in the antechamber.

He rubbed the back of his nearly shaved head, a habit he hadn't been able to get rid of, as he awaited for the Prince to make time for him. It seemed like the Prince had accepted Anna and the four young women who had saved her into his household. Surely that meant that he would accept another? He had to! He wouldn't let one of his precious students die if he could help it!

The door finally opened, and one of the witches, the blond one with a red ribbon tied to the left side of her head, smiled at him.

"Mister von Bate, is it? Prince Roland asked me to bring you to him."

"Ah, thank you…" replied Karl as he started to follow her.

"Chisato." grinned Chisato. "You're one of the town's teachers, right?"

"Right… Is… Is Prince Roland treating you well?" asked Karl with hesitation.

"Yes? We are soon going to be friends, I think. He's a good person."

"I see." nodded Karl, intensely relieved.

They reached another door, and Chisato knocked twice, then opened it and invited Karl inside.

Three people were already in the room. The prince was behind a desk, studying the content of a book. On Karl's right were a beautiful woman of indeterminate age, with long black hair and blue eyes, speaking with a low voice to an older man dark gray beard and hair as she pointed to parts of a large drawing set on a low table. Karl realized the drawing was a map of Border Town. The old man lifted his eyes to look at Karl for an instant before looking down at the map again, and nodded thoughtfully.

As he knelt before the prince, Karl caught words like 'optimal expansion', 'plumbing' or 'distributed heating'.

"Thank you for coming, Mister van Bate." smiled Prince Roland. "I understand you have something urgent to tell me."

"Yes, your highness. Thank you for giving my request some of your time. I wish to enquire… If your highness open to the idea of sheltering another witch?"

"I am. Do you perhaps know one?

Karl watched the prince closely, noting how his upper body had leaned forward in interest. he fervently hoped that this interest was purely platonic. But even if it wasn't, becoming a prince's plaything was still better than execution and he sighed.

"…Yes. One of my students, your Highness. She just discovered that she was a witch, and she is scared. Her parents do not know yet."

"Please bring her to me. No, better, Chisato, please come with him and escort her."

"Aye Aye Sir!" grinned Chisato with a strange gesture, lifting a hand to the side of her head, and the prince's lips twitched, as if trying to suppress a grin.

"Let's go meet our new friend, Mister van Bate."

"Mister van Bate, please return with the girl. If my information is correct, you directed the construction of a large theater in the capital, right?"

"That is correct, Your Highness." replied Karl with a stiff voice. The Prince had been tactful enough not to mention it, but said theater had collapsed. It hadn't been his fault. The plans had been well done. Unfortunately, he had been pressured to hire the son of a count to provide him with some achievements. That man had switched construction material for lower quality alternatives, pocketed the difference, and when the accident happened, Karl had taken the fall.

He had been wiped out financially and exiled from the capital. He had gone to Border Town, hoping to start fresh in a place where no one would know him, but it seemed his past wasn't so easy to erase.

"Good. I will need your expertise to build a wall. A wall to protect Border Town from the upcoming Demonic Beast invasion."

"I would be honored, your majesty, but we just do not have enough time before winter comes to build a wall. just cutting the stones to the correct shape and carrying them will be… We probably can start one and finish it for the Demonic Invasion next year, but…"

"It's possible, Mister Van Bate." cut in Chisato. "Prince Roland has witches, and we will help. You would be surprised with how fast we can do things. Now let's go."

Karl followed Chisato out of the room, and they walked out of the mention.

"May I ask, who is this man who was with His Highness?"

"Please do not inquire about him. There will be trouble if the wrong people learn he is here, and you know how fast rumors can spread." replied Chisato.

"Understood. I won't pry my nose into it."

"Thank you. Do you mind if I just call you Karl? We'll probably see each other a lot during the wall's construction, and if I am not wrong, more construction projects will follow. We intend to have Border Town quickly expand."

"I do not mind. But expanding Border Town? You will need more population for this. Larger fields to grow food, more miners to collect more iron from the mine, and so on."

"Yes." said Chisato. "We already have plans to bring in people. Prince Roland is about to announce a massive recruitment campaign with attractive salaries and working conditions. People who are able to relocate will flock to us, and later on, we will even hire some boats to ferry people from the capital to Border Town."

Karl saw that she maintained her smile as they walked, but also that she didn't miss how the citizens were crossing the streets to avoid getting close to her.

He suddenly felt sympathy for her. Chisato noticed and grinned at him.

"It's okay. I know it's not really their fault, and we need to be patient. Things will change eventually."

Karl nodded, and they soon reached his house.

He opened the door and called out.

"Nana? Are you here?"

"Yes, teacher." replied a young voice, and Nana came into view.

A petite girl with an attractive face, short blonde hair and green eyes, dressed in a simple pale green dress. She seemed to be about fifteen.

She looked at Chisato with apprehension.

"Nana, this is Chisato. A witch who works for His Highness." said Karl with a reassuring smile.

"I am… going to die?" whispered Nana, her expression frozen in fear.

"No, you won't. You may need to come live with us, for your own safety, but we will protect you, Nana." smiled Chisato.

Nana nodded cautiously and walked closer.

"…Are you really a witch?"

Chisato used Hard Light Arsenal to create a golden rose. Nana looked at it in wonder.

"Do you have any belongings to take with you? We can accompany you to your house." suggested Chisato.

Nana froze in fear again.

"I think it would be better if I went alone and explained the situation to her father, Chisato." said Karl.

"Very well. Let's go introduce you to Prince Roland, then, and he will have a room prepared for you." nodded Chisato.

Nana nodded and followed Chisato and Karl.

Karl smiled slightly as Chisato talked to Nana, asking about her life, but avoiding any question about her power or nature as a witch. It was clear she didn't want for any citizen nearby to hear about it just yet, and possibly harass Nana.

They reached the mansion without incident, and Nana beamed as she saw her friend Anna.

"Anna!" squealed Nana as she rushed to Anna and took her hands in them. "You weren't mistreated, right? What did you eat every day? What is this strange clothing?"

"Slow down, Nana." smiled Anna. "I am fine, and the food here is delicious. This is the witch's uniform here. You'll probably wear one like this."

Karl saw Prince Roland looking fondly to the side, then gesturing to him, and he followed the Prince to his office, where the same old man and the witch with long black hair were having tea.

"I will introduce myself to Nana and ask about her power once she is more at ease. Being with Anna will let her relax. Let's speak about the wall. I am imagining one high enough that the Demonic Beasts would be unable to climb it, but not so high that Soldiers standing on it wouldn't be able to use long spears to kill the Beasts. It needs to have a parapet. How tall and thick does it need to be? How deep the foundations?"

"We will create the spears as needed." said the witch. "We can make them very long, but anything longer than 6 meters would start to become unpractical for their wielders."

"Your Highness, walls four meters tall should be plenty enough to stop the vast majority of Demonic Beasts. It would need to be about two meters thick for the soldiers to stand over it with ease. But why a Parapet, your Highness? They are used to give cover for soldiers when a castle is besieged, but Demonic Beasts to not fire arrows."

"I intend for the parapet to be an additional protection the soldiers will brace themselves against to reduce the chances of one of them falling if a Beast bites on the spear and pull on it." said the Prince. "There is another reason. The soldiers defending the wall will eventually possess weapons similar to heavy crossbows. The parapet will be used as a support for the soldiers to rest their weapons upon and improve their accuracy."

"I understand, your Highness. Still, the main issue is time. Depending on the number of workers digging the foundation, cutting the stones to an adequate shape so they fit well against each other, and carrying them from the carry to the western side of the village will take months, at the very least."

"We witches could cut tens of thousands of large stones and carry them in just a few days. Same with digging the trench. One way or another, the wall will be built in time for this winter. However, we wish to leave those tasks to the citizens if possible."

"The citizens? Oh, you wish to provide jobs for the people in Border Town to improve their lives." realized Karl.

"Precisely." nodded Prince Roland. "We are also setting up a cement factory. It should be ready in a few days. Cement is a dark gray powder that, once mixed with water, becomes a sludge. When it dries up over a few days, the sludge will harden to become as hard as stone. We will use it to bind the stones to each other, so precise cutting will not even be necessary."

"A sludge that becomes hard as stone?" muttered Karl, his mind running wild with possibilities. Such a material would be a revolution for building construction!

"Yes. Producing it is slightly troublesome, as workers breathing its fumes for years would end up with some cement in their lungs, but we are taking this into account. The workers at the factory will have to wear breathing masks, and it will be well ventilated to prevent the fumes from accumulating. The workers building the wall will not have this issue, however."

"So, are you interested in directing the wall's construction, Mister von Bate?" asked the Prince with a knowing smile.

"Yes, your Highness!" replied Karl, bending the knee.

…

Nightingale absentmindedly tugged on the rim of her cowl as she walked down the deserted streets of Border Town. The near full moon was enough for her to avoid any obstacles on her way.

She stopped just before setting foot in the town square. Unlike the beaten dirt of the streets, the square was paved, and the two guards standing by the gate of the mansion's front yard would hear her footsteps.

She activated her power, and the world around her became black and white, with numerous dots joined by lines. Nightingale selected one line connecting to another dot just inside Prince Roland's mansion, stepped on it, and was instantly transported to the end point. Looking around, she saw that she was in the kitchen.

As long as she kept her power active, she would be invisible, and she selected another dot leading her to another part of the mansion.

After exploring the place for a few minutes, she found a lit oil lamp, as well as the Prince's office, and entered it quietly. Setting the lamp on the desk, she started opening its drawers, hoping to find out the Prince's real intentions regarding the witches.

She had originally scouted Border Town to search for supplies, when she heard about a witch that had been saved from execution by another group of witches. And for some unfathomable reason, the prince had offered a position to those witches, who had apparently accepted.

The citizen seemed to be unable to decide if they were more angry or scared about it.

Nightingale had temporarily set aside her mission to find supplies and decided she needed to save those witches. They would likely agree to join her Witch Cooperation Association and leave this cursed kingdom, seeking a place where they would be able to live at peace.

The three drawers on the left had some strange papers. She unrolled them on the desk, seeing that they were some kinds of plans or designs, but she couldn't deduce what the mechanisms they described were for.

When she opened the top right drawer and lifted the oil lamp to illuminate its content, however, she froze in such shock that she almost dropped the lamp. The paper on top of the pile was a single folded sheet with three words, in elegant script.

"To Veronica (Nightingale)"

Nightingale quickly looked around as she grabbed one of her daggers, expecting some guards to suddenly enter the room or burst from the dark corners, and ready to use her power to escape in an instant.

How could Prince Roland or the guards know her real name? Even the witches of the Cooperation Association weren't aware of it. That name belonged to a past she had long left behind.

But she was alone in the room.

With slightly trembling fingers, she picked up the sheet. On the other side were a few lines.

"Eh eh, were you surprised? Your appearance was predicted.

Anyway, on to important matters. As soon as you read those words, come find one of us. It is fine if you wake us up. You need to bring us to your friends as soon as possible. It was also predicted that if you took your time here, you would return to your friends only to learn that a witch has died from that Day of Adulthood thing. We may, I repeat, may, be able to prevent that. So there's no time to waste.

Chisato, the blonde witch."

Nightingale slowly exhaled. If one of the witches could predict the future, it probably wasn't a trap after all. And she had to take this warning seriously. There already had lost a few comrades during their long journey.

Taking the lamp with her, she cautiously climbed the stairs to the second floor. She barely opened the door leading to another hallway when she saw at its end someone sitting on a chair, near what she assumed was Prince Roland's door. She had long black hair and purple eyes, and was dressed in what looked like a sleeveless maid uniform, blue and white. The skirt barely reached her knees and was shorter than morals demanded. She had a lit oil lamp on a small table near her and was reading a book.

"Ah, you must be Nightingale." smiled the woman, closing her book. "My name is Takina. It's nice to meet you."

"Likewise." nodded Nightingale, sighing in relief. "It seems one of you really can predict the future."

"Not one of us, but the one we work for." replied Takina, standing. "Please wait a moment, I am waking up the others. Is it fine with you if we depart as soon as they are ready?"

"Of course." nodded Nightingale. "So you are all willing to join the Witch Cooperation Association?"

"No. What we have in mind is something slightly different." replied Takina as she opened another door.

Nightingale peeked inside, seeing Takina shake up a blonde girl and tear the cover away from her when the girl grumbled in protest.

"No more sleeping, Chisato. Nightingale is here, we got to move out."

For an instant, Nightingale thought of the scene unfolding before her eyes as being like a mother scolding her child for sleeping in, and she smiled.

The blonde girl immediately stopped struggling and opened her eyes, glanced at Takina, then Nightingale, and grinned.

"Great! Nice to meet a new friend! I'm Chisato, just give me two minutes and I'll be ready."

"Chisato is a heavy sleeper." explained Takina with a smile. "I'm waking up Caren and Da Vinci, and we can go."

Nightingale nodded, and abruptly followed Takina out of the room as Chisato started removing her sleeping wear, as if uncaring that Nightingale could see her.

In barely two minutes, Nightingale had met two more witches, Caren and Da Vinci. Neither showed any surprise when Takina introduced Nightingale to them.

"Takina, you said that the witch you worked for had predicted my coming. Is she here?"

Takina shook her head, took a strange black device from a pocket, and traced some strange pattern with her fingers over its surface, who lit up as if there was a flame inside it. Takina showed the lit surface to her, and Nightingale's eyes widened as she saw the painting of a very handsome man. A painting so perfect that it seemed real.

"This is Noah, our Master. He isn't a witch. He is something much stronger. But he lives far away, and the next opportunity to meet him in person will be in maybe two or three years."

Chisato was the last of the witches to exit her room, and she stifled a yawn before grinning again.

"I assume you saw my little message? Did your heart skip a beat?"

"…It did." snorted Nightingale. There was something infectious with Chisato's smile, and she didn't doubt that before long, they would become friends.

"I am staying there to guard the prince. Good luck, everyone. I await your return with plenty of new sisters." smiled Da Vinci.

"Yes, see you later." nodded Takina, gesturing for Nightingale to follow out of the hallway.

"How much time do we have, before one of my companions dies on her day of adulthood?"

"We do not know." sighed Takina. "Noah isn't omniscient. He knew about the bad news that you would have received if you had remained in Border Town for a few days before going back, but that is all. He doesn't know exactly when this happened, or even the name of the witch in question. It may already have happened."

"So, should we borrow some horses?" hesitantly asked Nightingale. She didn't like stealing, especially from people who already had little, but if the life of one of her companions was on the line…

"Horses are too slow." said Chisato, opening a door to the back garden. "We are going to fly. We'll count on you to guide us to your friends."

"Oh? You can all fly?"

"We can." nodded Caren. "And we will carry you. We apologize in advance if it is going to cause you some embarrassment, but we want to get there as fast as possible."

"Yes, I understand. And thank you."

"Then, please excuse me." said Chisato, taking Nightingale in her arms. Nightingale felt an acceleration upward, and when she looked down, she was already several meters above ground.

"How long can you endure while carrying me?"

"I can fly for hours. That should be more than enough." smiled Chisato. "We'll probably do the return trip on foot, though. It's not necessarily a bad thing. It will give the citizen more time to get used to witches before we bring still more to Border Town.

"Still more? Wait, are you sure you do not want to join us? And earlier Da Vinci said she expected you to return here with the witches of the Cooperation Union?"

"This is our intent, yes." said Takina as she flew close. "Noah didn't inform us only about your impending arrival. He also told us about what would happen to your group if we didn't intervene. Your leader Cara is a fool. And a dangerous one. She think the safe haven for the witches in on the other side of that mountain range, because of that book she found."

"I have seen that book, and read part of it. It is real." frowned Nightingale.

"Yes. But the thing is, the person who wrote that book lived on the Fertile Plains, the other side of the mountain range. When that person wrote about a safe place beyond the mountains, she was referring to what is now the Graycastle Kingdom, the Wolfheart Kingdom, and so on. Back then, this was just a backwater territory, underdeveloped lands. After losing the war against the Demons, humanity had no choice but to cross the mountain range and reestablish itself. Those who stayed behind didn't survive."

"The Fertile Plains, which is, the other side of the mountain range, is now Demon territory, and they kill witches and normal humans alike on sight." said Chisato.

"…Do you have evidence of this? Another book, perhaps?"

"We don't." shrugged Chisato. "Well, Noah mentioned a witch hibernating inside a tower, a survivor of those times, but that tower is deep into Demon territory, and we'll deal with that later. Is it still in that direction?"

"Yes, I think. It is a bit difficult to travel at night, especially from this high.

"Would it be better if we fly near the ground?"

"It would, yes." nodded Nightingale.

Chisato nodded, and the four witches descended, floating just two meters above ground. Takina and Caren somehow created powerful light sources, allowing Nightingale to recognize a few landmarks, and they flew at maybe three times the speed of a galloping horse.

In less than an hour, they found the Witch Cooperation Union, sleeping around two fires, Echo, who seemed to have been on watch, was yelling for the others to wake up, alarmed by the two bright lights coming toward them.

"Everyone, it's me!" shouted Nightingale as Chisato set her on the ground, Caren and Takina landing behind them. They lowered their light's brightness to something more comfortable, and the light globes floated above their heads.

Nightingale did a quick head count and breathed in relief. No witch had died since her departure.

"Nightingale?" asked Wendy.

"Yes, I am back." nodded

"Three more witches able to fly and make light?" asked Cara, an eyebrow raised. "They will be useful. I am Cara. But you will call me 'Respected Mentor'."

"Respected Mentor?" muttered Chisato with a raised eyebrow and a side glance at Nightingale, and she shrugged, hoping they wouldn't make a scene about it.

"I will do the introductions. Everyone, these are Chisato, Takina, and Caren…"

The three girls wearing the same uniforms, but with different colors, smiled and greeted each of Nightingale's companions. Laufen, Lawinne, Kanne, Ehre, Scarlett, Red Pepper, Wendy, Lightning, Leaf, Scroll, Hummingbird, Soraya, Echo, Lily, and Mystery Moon.

"It's great to have more companions." beamed Lightning. "But why do the three of you have the same power? That's strange!"

"That's because they aren't the abilities we had naturally." said Takina. "We swore loyalty to a certain person, and our Master shared some of his abilities with us. We can fly or make light, but we also know when someone is lying, and more importantly, we can heal even severe injuries with ease."

"His? You Master is a man?" asked Wendy, incredulous.

"Yes. A very powerful man, with abilities beyond any witch's power. He would be able to crush the whole Church by himself, but he lives far away and can't come here. Anyway, our Master is a benevolent and kind man, one who had good intentions toward the witches in these lands, and he can so some extent see into the future. He knew Nightingale would soon be in Border Town, and he wanted for us to meet her, then have her lead us to this place so we could talk with you guys."

"Talk with us, for what reason?" asked Wendy.

"Two reasons. The first is that according to his prediction, one of you will soon have her Day of Adulthood, and will not survive it. But we may be able to help with that, since we are very good at healing people."

"Wait, you said that you have those powers from your master. But do you have powers of your own? Are you even witches?" demanded Cara.

Chisato, Takina and Caren exchanged a glance.

"We are not witches." said Caren. "But it doesn't matter. We…"

"Of course it matters!" cut in Cara angrily. "Nightingale, are you insane? You exposed us by bringing those fakes here!"

"Respected Mentor, I do not believe they are enemies." protested Nightingale.

"Our Master warned us about you, Cara." sighed Chisato. "How did he describe you already? Ah, yes. A witch who doesn't want to live peacefully among humans, but one who wish to rule over them. A bully who gives witches a bad reputation. After meeting you for only a minute, I know he was right. And you want us to call you 'Respected Mentor'? Seriously? How big is your ego?"

"You're such a terrible person that our Master specifically said he didn't want for us to offer you a chance to work for him, and let me tell you, that's saying something!"

Cara's face was going redder the more Chisato talked, and Nightingale winced as she waited for the inevitable explosion.

She didn't know if it was really true that Cara wanted to rule over human, or about the demons on the other side of the mountain range, but the part about Cara's bullying tendencies, at the very least, was true. She had observed it many times, and been on the receiving end of it on a few occasions as well.

Then Chisato winced and stared at her feet. A small red colored snake had bitten her left ankle. She grabbed the snake, lifted it to show it to every witch, and sent a cold stare at Cara, who was now smirking. Caren and Takina suddenly threw swords of translucent light at the ground behind them, cutting the heads of a few more snakes.

"And I didn't mention it, but one of our abilities is that we can neutralize any poison." said Chisato, squeezing the snake until it collapsed into black dust. Cara's smirk disappeared.

Suddenly, Chisato wasn't standing there anymore, and Cara was sprawled on the ground, with Chisato crouching over her, doing something to her nape with a finger.

"Respected Mentor!" cried Echo, shocked.

"Release her!" shouted Red Pepper, manifesting a ball of fire in her hand.

"There, all done. No more nasty snakes." said Chisato with a satisfied tone as she stood and walked away from Cara.

Cara shot to her feet and glared at Chisato. Then her eyes bulged, and nightingale heard a bit of fear behind her fury.

"What have you done to me?!!"

"I sealed your power."

"You can do that without using a God Punishment Stone?" asked Nightingale.

Chisato nodded, lifting her left foot to examine her ankle, apparently unconcerned by the witches glaring at her, Red Pepper still having a fire ball in her hand. Nightingale could see two small puncture holes on her black leather boot.

"Now, before this regrettable incident happened, we were talking about our reasons for meeting you all." said Takina. "The first was to try to save the one among you whose death was foretold. Our second motive is to dissuade you all from crossing the mountains and to offer you a place to live in in Border Town."

"Prince Roland Wimbledon, who we are cooperating with, is creating a city where witches will be able to live in peace, using their abilities to contribute in their own ways. There already are six witches, and I mean real witches, living there, and we will gather many more within the next few weeks and months."

"You just attacked our Respected Mentor, and you want us to join you?" asked Wendy incredulously.

"She is the one who started it!" protested Chisato.

"You are full of lies! You just want to deliver us to Prince Roland! We all know how the witches are treated by nobles and by the Church!" shouted Cara, and most of the witches nodded.

A few seemed to be hesitating, and nightingale wasn't certain which side she should be on. While Chisato, Takina and Caren seemed to know a lot of things, in the end, they hadn't shown her any actual proof.

"Let's go, sisters! We won't let fake witches lead us into a trap! The Holy City of the Witches is waiting for us to reach it! They will remove that curse she put on me, and one day, I will have my revenge. You just wait!"

Cara started walking away, and the majority of the witches followed, after a last glare at Chisato. Some hesitated again, but followed their companions with a sigh. Nightingale didn't move at first, and turned to Chisato, who was puffing her cheeks as she stared at the backs of the departing witches. Her expression was so adorable that Nightingale had to fight an urge to poke them, despite her sour mood.

"What are you going to do?" softly asked Nightingale.

"We aren’t going to let your friends die." sighed Chisato before turning to Caren. "Caren, please return to Border Town. Once Ciel is available, go with her to the Wolfheart Kingdom and start tracking the witches of the Bloodfang Association. We shouldn't delay that, or more innocent witches will die. Takina and I will follow those witches from a distance, and when we are needed, we will be there. Nightingale, you should hurry to join them, before they really start thinking you have betrayed them."

"Yes… Thank you, for helping us." nodded Nightingale before leaving.