Chapter 574, Chapter 32: Traces of the Witch
“Miss Verafia, if you mention having seen the North Wind Witch in front of others, you’ll most likely be mistaken for one of the Witch’s followers, a member of the Frost Calamity Cult.”
The red-haired young man’s gaze fell upon the girl’s delicate face. His voice carried the biting cold from outside the camp, and amidst the wind, the fire crackled crisply on the wood, burning away the chill in the air.
Being mistaken for the North Wind Witch’s attendant, and then caught, would lead to being tied to wood and crosses, purified by fire for the evil of the Frost Calamity?
Verafia looked at the burning flames before her, amusing herself with the thought. The girl propped her snow-white cheek with a slender hand, her scorching gold eyes lifting slightly.
The gaze of the young man opposite her also fell upon her eyes. It wasn’t an interrogation or suspicion, but an expression of hesitation and doubt.
“Then, Azer… have you also seen the North Wind Witch?”
Her melodious and soft voice, as pleasing as a nightingale’s whisper, fell into the air, as if suddenly breaking through some solidified trace.
Igit turned his head in a startled manner, looking at the girl’s flawless profile. Although he had a vague feeling as well, he hadn’t expected his young lady to ask it in front of Azer.
The atmosphere in the air fell silent for a moment, followed by Azer’s heavy exhale, as if releasing a burden that had been suppressed in his heart. Then, he raised his head, his blue eyes as clear as pristine ice and snow.
“You guessed it… I wonder, is it because Miss Ophi didn’t finish speaking at the time, and I concluded that you saw the North Wind Witch, Kasraite, or is it because I didn’t report you to Lord爵士 at this time?”
A serene smile appeared on Verafia’s small face.
It wasn’t just the two reasons Azer mentioned. Her “divine sense” had perceived a special “frost blue” on the young man.
Although it wasn’t any existence she was familiar with, it wasn’t difficult to discern.
This was a trace that could only be left after transcending the concept of matter and when divine will touched the domain of deities… Similarly, under normal circumstances, it could only be detected by divine sense.
Just like Igit’s mark of the chosen, it was left after her will made contact. However, it was infused with fragments of her authority and divine power, which was why it manifested.
—If translated into concepts that mortals could understand, it would be the “aura” left by a god-level existence on the material plane.
Before the blizzard, the white-robed girl who came beside them had not reached the domain of a deity, but she had clearly transcended the concept of matter, just as Azer had said earlier, she was the embodiment of that blizzard.
And by conversing with her and Igit, their bodies had also been left with the same trace. Verafia hadn’t felt that the white-robed girl’s actions were beyond her control, but rather, an instinctive emanation… However, when Verafia took out the divine power fragments, they were melted by the firelight.
The trace on Azer had no infusion of divine power or authority. Perhaps it was just a fleeting touch of will, unable to cause any effect, but it clearly proved that he had encountered the North Wind Witch.
“Hmm, the witch’s trace, but, at present, I can’t erase it for him…”
Traces left by god-level existences were difficult for mortals to erase, but quite easy for deities of the same level, unless it was like the mark of the chosen that she bestowed upon Igit with her fire authority… let alone the North Wind Witch, whose laws and concepts were far from god-level.
However, for Miss Verafia, a Goddess Princess, unable to use divine power and authority, she could only watch here, no different from a mortal girl.
She suddenly pouted her little face in dejection.
Suddenly, her little head was gently stroked. “Young miss?”
Igit found it strange that his young lady looked so dejected all of a sudden.
“Hmm, it’s nothing.”
She shook her little face forcefully. Verafia looked up again, her gaze returning to the red-haired young man.
Before her, Azer was stained with traces of the witch… but, clearly, it was just the aura attached to the places where the North Wind Witch had been.
Even Verafia herself couldn’t think of any way to manipulate this trace, so for Azer, it should have no effect?
“Miss Verafia, is there a problem?”
Azer gave a slight cough and asked.
“Hmm!”
Startled by the sound, Verafia realized she had been zoning out, her gaze fixed on Azer. “Just now, I was thinking about how Azer encountered the North Wind Witch… and, as you said, ordinary people have never seen her.”
Verafia quickly found a reason. A gentle, faint smile appeared on her snow-white face, her long lashes fluttered, and her gorgeous golden eyes held curiosity.
“Miss Verafia asking this… If you’re willing to listen, it was actually a rather ordinary experience.”
Azer shook his head slightly. He found an empty spot and sat cross-legged opposite Igit and the girl. The firelight reflected on his face, and past thoughts flickered in his eyes.
“Miss Verafia, do you remember what I told you before? The Frost Calamity came to this world twenty years ago… From the moment I was born, the first sensation when I opened my eyes was the cold of the wind and the blinding white of the falling snow.”
“Of course, to humans, it was just frost and snow, which couldn’t prevent their survival. I grew up in a village. My father was a hunter in the village, and my mother was a weaver. Perhaps, when I grew up, my father would pass his hunting bow to me and teach me how to hunt and become a hunter like him…”
Azer’s voice was devoid of any fluctuations, steadily recounting his story in the biting air.
Verafia felt something unusual and quickly raised her golden eyes. The other party smiled at her.
“However, probably when I was five years old, when I opened my eyes, what I saw was not familiar houses, but a vast expanse of white. Snowflakes fell on me, cold, and my parents’ figures were not around…”
“I don’t remember how I left the house, but outside, there was only the quiet, white frost. It was as if the entire world had been swallowed whole by a cold, giant beast, and not a sound could be heard… Later, I understood that this was the Frost Calamity.”
Even though Verafia had only recently arrived on this land, she had felt the biting cold of the Frost Calamity. And the fate of a village engulfed by the Frost Calamity was self-evident.
“Ah. I’m sorry, Azer, I didn’t mean to bring up this sad thing of yours…”
“It doesn’t matter.”
The red-haired young man smiled at her and gently shook his head. “Miss Verafia, I told you before, this was a very ordinary experience. It’s commonplace for the entire world to be engulfed by the Frost Calamity.”
“Returning to your previous question… I wasn’t very old at the time. After crying until I was tired, I returned home alone and slept in a corner. The temperature was very low back then, and even if I hadn’t been wiped out by the Frost Calamity, I probably would have frozen to death from the cold.”
“However, I was woken up by heat: not from hypothermia, but from actual warmth. Groggily, I opened my eyes, and at the end of my line of sight stood a tall woman clad in a white robe.”
