EP9. Epilogue – Revealed Identity
It took some time for Shawn to calm down.
“…Witch hunters? Sepia too. . . . Tina too?”
“Why are you forgetting my name? I’m a little embarrassed.”
In spite of Edward’s light joke, Sean’s expression didn’t change much.
Tina stared blankly at Sean before opening her mouth to answer.
“The Witch Hunters are a secret society founded by the United Bishops’ Conference to hunt down the children of witches who bring chaos to the continent.”
“···· Even when she came to the village after all, Tina was a priest serving the god of truth····.”
“She had no intention of cheating on Sean. But she had to hide her identity back then.”
“…Because of Riel’s sister?”
“·······.”
Tina was silent, but Shawn wasn’t stupid enough to not know what her silence meant.
According to what Cruise, Sepia, and Edward said, it was almost certain that Lielcia was a pagan.
And the god Tina serves is the god of truth, and her role is to uncover the heretics.
Combining that information is enough to understand what sepia’s silence means.
“I heard yesterday that there was a one-sided ceremony, but from the looks of it, it doesn’t sound very good.”
“Shaun. If you feel uncomfortable, you can just leave now.”
Despite Edward and Sepia’s concerns, Sean looked at Tina quietly.
Tina was busy avoiding Sean’s gaze, her head bowed, her guilty look on her face.
“No. ····Is it okay if I just talk to Tina for a minute? Just the two of you.”
“····Let it be. We are dodging for a while.”
Edward left the room with Sepia. With only the two of them left, the silence continued for a long time.
In the end, it was Sean who spoke first.
“It’s been a while since we ran into each other before, didn’t we?”
“·······.”
“Why did you run away a few days ago?”
“·······.”
Tina kept her mouth shut, and it took a while before she finally opened her mouth and answered softly.
“Because she said she would never show her face again.”
“Did you say that? Then why are you showing her face now?”
Tina flinched at Sean’s cold answer.
Her Sean was in stark contrast to her proud adventurer who lingered in her old memories.
She also looked no different from the desolate Tina she saw at the moment of her last farewell.
“I want to stop Sean…”
“Dry me? Why?”
“····The witch’s child is a dangerous being. If I’m wrong…”
Shaun cut off Tina.
“I am not the kid I was when I was a kid.”
“····Of course I know. But.”
“Ever since Tina’s colleague kidnapped Levy, I have been training relentlessly.”
“·······.”
“To never lose someone again. To protect me.”
After chewing on his promise, Sean held the locket hanging from his neck in his hand for a moment.
“…Actually, I know it’s not Tina’s fault.”
“·······.”
“Whether or not that man knew about Levy through Tina. After all, Tina didn’t mean to put Levy in danger.”
Tina asked, raising her head in surprise as her Sean put something completely unexpected in her mouth.
“Really…? It might have happened because of me…?”
“Of course it is. In fact, I still do. …But it’s not certain. I’m not even sure if it’s because of Tina, isn’t it strange to do it only with the possibility?”
Sean didn’t show a definitive attitude in the end. He didn’t hate Tina as much as he did back then, and he didn’t completely forgive her either. He vaguely stepped over the boundary line.
Tina was relieved by that alone. Even though she’s not completely forgiven.
“What I want to say is, I will never let that happen again.”
“Yes.”
“Then let me join you in catching the witch’s child. Yes?”
The boy who was innocent became more like a serpent before he knew it.
I don’t know if it’s part of it, but after pointing out my faults like this, I can’t refuse if you ask me.
Finally, Tina let out a sigh.
“Shaun was and still is stubborn. All right.”
“You won’t regret it.”
When the conversation was over, Tina opened the door and brought in the two waiting outside her.
Tina shook her head excitedly as Edward came inside and winked at her.
The four of them sat around in the room and started organizing the conversation. Said Edward.
“Then, the results of the meeting of the three witch hunters currently dispatched to Elioden. More than half of the votes were in favor, and you joined the temporary witch hunt.”
“Yes. ····For a moment. A majority, not unanimity. Who did you say objected to?”
“Hmm. The outcome of the meeting is private to outsiders.”
At Edward’s shameless reply, Sean responded with a puzzled expression.
“What is private? Because Tina said she would admit it….…As expected, the old man objected, right?”
“Heh heh. I feel sorry for this. I was the first to agree after seeing your sword skills.”
“・・・・Yes? Then the rest will be…”
Sean was the only one who naturally stayed. He looked in sepia.
She took a leisurely sip of her tea while catching Sean’s gaze, then confessed.
“Yes. I objected.”
“Why?”
“Because it is dangerous.”
“You don’t believe me?”
“Unfortunately, I didn’t get to see Sean’s skills first hand. And apart from combat prowess, witch hunting is a very dangerous job.”
At Sepia’s words, Edward nodded in response.
“That’s right. A witch hunt should never be taken lightly.”
“Right. I actually agreed, but I’m worried too.”
Even Tina, who had been quiet, said that, and Sean also felt a little anxious.
Those three are experts in witch hunting. In particular, I don’t know about the other two, but Tina was a witch hunter more than ten years ago, so how much of an expert she must have become now.
And Shaun naturally had an idea.
“Then you might as well tell Levi, right?”
“Levy? She seems to be a woman whose name has only been mentioned. Is she your companion?”
Edward, who did not know anything about Levy, asked that question. Sepia was as expressionless as usual, and Tina was dubious.
“Isn’t it Levy who called Shawn last time? I couldn’t see her face properly…”
“Yes. She’s on an adventure with Levy.”
Sean recalled the memory of that time. The sight of Levi holding the food she bought from her street vendor with a happy expression in one hand might feel useless in battle. In fact, she is the strongest person in the world, perhaps even stronger than herself, compared to everyone here.
How many times she had been nagging her for choosing to go to war when Levi had fallen in Laes not too long ago. How much effort did he have to make to free the upset Levi?
He has no reason to leave out Levy. However, she takes her magic lessons a bit…
“Um… I think Levi would be better off not being with him.”
“Yes? Why····?”
Sean woke up from Tina’s suggestion and asked in bewilderment.
She answered, choosing her words carefully so as not to offend the boy as much as possible.
“It’s not because I was afraid Levy would be in danger, as before.”
“Then what is it for?”
“A witch child is, simply put, an expert in magic. Since her birth itself is an artificial creature imitating a witch, she has a talent specialized in magic.”
I understood roughly what Tina was worried about.
But Shaun didn’t give in to her words and refuted them.
“But Levi is also a formidable genius.”
“Of course I know that, but in the first place it is difficult for a wizard to beat a witch.”
“Why is that?”
“Wizards only deal with magic, but witches deal with both magic and curses.”
It was a cryptic answer. Does this mean that curses are lethal to wizards?
When Shawn didn’t seem to get it right, Tina added her own explanation.
“I’m not a wizard, so I can’t explain in detail, but battles with wizards are often divided by who knows more magic.”
“You can just use strong magic.”
Tina shook her head at Sean’s reply.
“With very few exceptions, wizards basically sing. It’s just an incomprehensible language to ordinary people, but it’s different to wizards.”
“Because you can tell what kind of magic is being cast through the chant of the other mage. So the more magic you know, the more advantageous you are in battle. It gives us an opportunity to respond immediately and counterattack.”
“Now let’s consider the battle with the witch’s child. A witch’s child, she can’t handle magic, she has room to counter wizard’s magic. On the other hand, what about wizards? She doesn’t know anything about the curse the witch’s child uses, so she won’t be able to counter it. That is why it is very difficult for wizards to defeat witches.”
Sean just nodded at Tina’s extremely long and detailed explanation.
Actually, Sean didn’t understand magic well because he didn’t know much about magic, but he realized that Levi’s fighting witches could be more dangerous than he thought.
From noble mtl dot com.
“Okay. Is it okay if we just talk?”
“Hmm. The fewer people you know, the better, but…”
“Levy is not going to tell anyone about this. Isn’t it?”
When Tina asked Sean for his consent, Sean confidently replied.
“Sure. Levi is very shy.”
“Um… She’s a bit vague about why. All right.”
“Then I can’t help it. Make sure she keeps it a secret. Oh, and of course you too.”
“Okay. So, are you starting today?”
Sepia shook her head in response to Sean’s question.
“We will start hunting in earnest tomorrow. The witch candidates have already been narrowed down.”
“····Already? Who is that?”
“That Tina figured it out, she just needs to ask her.”
At Sepia’s words, Shawn turned her head to Tina.
Tina cleared her throat as her eyes turned to herself and asked Shawn a question.
“Shaun. Perhaps the characteristics of the witch’s child I mentioned. Do you remember?”
“·····Ah. How many?”
Sean answered with a slight sinking. As he recalled the memories of that time, it was because he naturally reached the point of thinking about Rielsia.
“I said she was good at magic and had purple eyes.”
“Right. In particular, the second characteristic is a characteristic that is rarely seen in ordinary people who are not actually witch children.”
“So you’re saying you found someone with purple eyes?”
Sean spouted out the reasoning he had in mind.
However, contrary to Sean’s expectations, Tina denied the reasoning.
“No. I searched everyone all over Elioden, but I couldn’t find it.”
“So what?”
“That’s why I thought of it the other way around. Could it be that he is hiding it? I do.”
“Hiding it, how did you use your pupils…”
Sean was speechless. Hiding the pupils is virtually impossible.
However, hiding the eyes themselves is difficult but not impossible.
It’s enough to completely cover it up.
“Viola Lipeor. She must be a witch’s child.”