Millennium Witch-Book 3: Chapter 202: Blood and Fire
In the latter half of the night, when darkness is deepest, Lucia was jolted awake by a shrill alarm bell. She shot upright in bed and saw torchlight flickering along the distant village road, silhouettes swarming.
She didn’t know what was happening, but she still threw on clothes at once and grabbed her sword. By the time she pushed open the door, her father was already on the first floor, set to head out. He’d donned leather armor and belted on his longsword, brow deeply furrowed. He said to Lucia in a low voice, 「Stay home. I’ll go see.」
「I’m going with you!」 Lucia said immediately.
Given how different Lucia was now from before, Eamon hesitated, then didn’t refuse.
As soon as father and daughter stepped outside, a fully armed militiaman came sprinting down the road, out of breath: 「Captain— th-they’re here— so many knights—」 Eamon’s expression turned grim at once. In the Eagle Roost Kingdom’s feudal system, knights were nobles, and usually at least junior magic swordsman level. If many knights were coming, this was no small matter—high chance it was a very high-level military operation.
He rushed for the village gate.
A crowd had already gathered there—militia, all of them—and every gaze was turned the same direction. Eamon and Lucia looked too. What met their eyes was the watchtower outside the village blazing in flames. A tide of enemies was lit by the firelight all at once, cold gleams flashing off their armor.
「They’ve gotten this close already!」 Lucia gasped, hand over her mouth. 「And there are so many!」
In the past, clashes with the Eagle Roost Kingdom mostly erupted along the border by day; very few raiders ever slipped as far as Sanglen Village.
Not so this time. The enemy’s numbers and quality were far too high. If they’d routed the border garrison and pushed this far, it was beyond imagining how much the Eagle Roost Kingdom had invested in this raid.
Like Lucia, the other militiamen were shaken and panicked. In all their years in Sanglen, this was the first time they’d seen so many regulars.
A few months ago would have been better—when work on the dam had just begun, the Kingdom of Jisul had stationed heavy forces nearby to prevent an Eagle Roost raid. But maintaining a garrison was expensive, and with the enemy quiet for so long, the kingdom had relaxed and withdrawn many troops. No sooner had they pulled back than the enemy struck.
「This isn’t right. Go organize the women and children—evacuate to the nearest Scorchfire Village,」 Eamon said, eyes narrowing as he turned to his daughter.
「No. I’m a key fighter too. I’m staying!」
「This isn’t training, Lucia. It’s war!」 Eamon seized her shoulders. Shadows pooled in his deep-set eyes. 「And we can’t stop everyone. There are many knights. The villagers need an escort for the retreat. This task falls to you—listen, alright?」
Lucia bit her lip, struggle flashing across her face, but in the end she gave a small nod, turned, and ran into the village.
Eamon let out a breath, looked back to the enemy, and his gaze swept quickly, seeking targets for a beheading strike. When he noticed the man at the very center—a mounted figure in ornate armor—his face turned extraordinarily ugly.
He’d lived in Sanglen for over ten years; of course he recognized the man: Count Vladmir of the Eagle Roost Kingdom, a powerhouse at intermediate magic swordsman level as well—an absolute top master across the two kingdoms’ lands.
A noble count personally leading an assault on a village—and bringing so many knights? That was the sort of treatment for an attack on Autumnwind City.
With that in mind, and seeing the obvious mockery on the other man’s face, Eamon’s heart sank. He silently tightened his grip on the hilt.
The battle erupted faster than expected. Lucia had barely run any distance before the clangor of steel and the screams of warhorses rose from the gate.
She had no time to look back, calling as she went for the elders, women, and children who hadn’t yet fled to withdraw toward the village’s back gate.
In the village square, the resident priest Arnold was doing the same. He gripped an oak staff he rarely brought out and strained to keep order, barking anxiously, 「Move! Head toward Scorchfire Village! Don’t take anything—being alive matters more than anything!」
The women’s cries tangled with fear. Children were hugged tight in their mothers’ arms as they stumbled forward. The men had all gone to the gate to help, so only a few boys who usually frequented the training ground stood at the rear of the group with axes or choppers, forming the last line with Arnold.
Lucia jogged up, scanned the crowd, and asked Arnold, 「Yvette—have you seen her?」
「Miss Yvette hasn’t appeared. S-she lives a bit off the beaten path, doesn’t she? Would she even hear the bell?」 Arnold said, worried.
「I—I’ll go warn her!」
「Wait, Lucia—you can’t!」 Arnold called her back as she turned. 「That direction’s all enemy now. You have to stay here!」
「But—.」
「Miss Yvette isn’t that weak. She’s very mysterious—she should have ways to protect herself,」 Arnold urged. 「And the woods where she lives—no one goes there normally, there’s no clear path. Those Eagle Roost soldiers may not even investigate it. If you head over, you’ll only lead them there!」
It sounded reasonable. Lucia hesitated a few seconds, then stopped and shifted into a guarding stance, watching for an attack from the gate.
But that state lasted less than a minute. Hoofbeats rang out, followed by well-equipped knights. The faces of women and children went bloodless—screams rippled.
Lucia went blank for a moment. She hadn’t expected them to break through the militia line her father led so quickly—driving straight into the village’s heart!
Seeing their target, the knights set for a charge and leveled their lances.
「By the Tree God—」 Arnold muttered, then his face hardened. A verdant light flared—and he became a giant wild boar, bellowing as he thundered headlong into the charging knights.
The impact was brutal. The foremost knights were flung from horse and saddle, scattering to the ground—but the giant boar’s body opened with many wounds; he collapsed with a groan, blood pouring out to stain the earth red.
Lucia’s pupils tightened.
Unlike ordinary cavalry, these were noble knights of the Eagle Roost Kingdom—each with a squire—and every one of them matched her realm.
If it had been regular cavalry, Arnold could have crushed them easily. But now he was badly hurt while the knights had only light injuries. For everyone in Sanglen, the situation was truly despairing.
Then a small detachment of knights dismounted. Instead of finishing the boar, they sprinted toward the main group. Lucia met them on instinct, a clear, furious cry tearing from her throat.
And so, in just a matter of dozens of minutes, roars, wails, warhorse screams, and clashing steel braided together, shredding Sanglen Village’s silent night. Fire leapt across thatch roofs and timbered walls, casting twisted, demon-dance shadows. Black smoke rose; even the Silverthread River outside the village, ever rushing, seemed to take on a sobbing note.
Deep in a stand of trees, where a cottage stood in seclusion, all was quiet as usual, precisely because it lay off the beaten track. By the time the sounds reached here, they were as soft as leaves brushing, ensuring the owner a perfect sleep.
Soon enough, an uninvited guest shattered the peace.
He was a young man in leather armor—the squire to a knight. With the Count’s entry at the gate turning the battle one-sided, squires like him could break off, push into the village, and hunt down those hiding—the ones who’d slipped the net.
He reached the door of an unfamiliar cottage, pushed it—found it locked—then drove a savage kick into it and barked, 「You dare lock the door? Someone’s in there, for sure! Who’s hiding inside? Let your lord have a good look!」
With no special reinforcement on it, the first-floor door of the two-story cottage gave at once, revealing an empty room. He stepped in and was just about to search when a figure came down the stairs from the second floor, rubbing her eyes as she walked. In a pleasant, lazy voice, she said, 「What’s going on—」
The squire’s lip curled. 「Still pretending you don’t know? You think that’ll make your lo—」
He stopped. By moonlight, he finally saw her face.
It was the most beautiful face he had ever seen—perfection in every feature. More striking still was her hair: a silver he’d never witnessed before, flowing smooth down her back. Moonlight pooled on it and refracted into iridescent hues, like a brilliant river of stars fallen to earth.
In a heartbeat, the curse he’d planned to spit died in his throat, replaced by a surging, reason-shattering greed.
How could there be a girl this beautiful!
Staring, vacant, at the silver-haired girl before him, he stepped forward by reflex and reached out to seize her.
Before he could touch her, fire from nowhere swept him up. In an instant—without time even to scream—he became ash.
Then, with a flick of wind magic to blow the ash outside, Yvette stood where she was and arched her brows slightly.
She’d set very few defensive measures on the cottage. First, no one dared come here. Second, there was no need. Third, warding could easily hurt the innocent. The night with the ghoul and skeleton scaring Mars and the others five years ago had been deliberate, not a pre-laid trap.
Ordinarily, villagers wouldn’t trespass here, much less lay hands on her. This man was clearly an outsider—something was happening in the village?
With that thought, she stepped out, focused briefly, picked out the sources of the distant, overlapping sounds—and rose into the air, flying toward the fiercest clamor.
Book 3: Chapter 202: Blood and Fire
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