The Cornflower Witch Chapter 70

Chapter 70

Witch Bloodline

“Stop, don’t tell me anymore.” Talil suddenly covered her ears with her hands.

“The rest must be sad, I can guess without you saying it. I never saw my grandma when I was little, and I even forgot what my dad looked like. I don’t want to know about their later lives.”

“You child…” The old man shook his head, but didn’t insist. His gaze just lingered on the candle flame on the table. In his floating, fire-lit pupils, the scenes from many years ago seemed to reappear.

That night, Hylial and Talil returned to their familiar room and spent a peaceful night.

The next day.

After breakfast, Hylial wanted to go for a walk up the mountain by the village, the place where she came from.

“It’s not safe on the mountain, especially when food is scarce,” the old man warned, preparing to send a few strong village lads to accompany the girl up the mountain.

“No need, I can protect myself.” Hylial picked up the short sword beside her, drew it, and swung it in the air, creating a cold, elegant arc.

“Oh, has she already reached this level?” The old man, in his prime, was a second-tier adventurer, well-traveled and knowledgeable. He quickly saw that Hylial’s strength was extraordinary.

“In that case, I’m probably relieved, but still, let Talil go with you. She knows the way,” the old man instructed.

“I’ll go too.” Hearing her grandpa call her, Talil raised her hand.

So, the two teamed up and walked towards the mountain forest outside the village.

Hylial couldn’t quite remember how she had gotten out of this mountainous area a few months ago. She just wandered through the mountains, following a vague direction.

“Lia, are you looking for the place where you woke up?” Talil asked.

“That’s right. I can’t quite understand why I woke up in that place,” the girl replied.

The two of them walked through the rugged mountain terrain, using their wooden staffs to push aside the thick, obscuring bushes. The winter forest was quite quiet, with not many animals active. Even the insects in the fallen leaves were much fewer.

Estimating the distance and time they had walked back then, Hylial vaguely searched for that forest. Unfortunately, the two walked around the mountains for a long time but didn’t find the place from her memory.

In the afternoon, the unsuccessful duo returned to Linden Village.

“We’ll go again tomorrow. If we still can’t find it, then forget it.” Hylial felt that some things shouldn’t be forced.

…

On the third day, Hylial and Talil set off again. Small snowflakes were falling again today, and the sky was gray.

The forest in the mountains was a bit chilly. The rabbits and wolves they usually encountered were nowhere to be seen these past two days; they were probably somewhere hibernating.

They set off again, advancing in a different direction than yesterday.

This time, Hylial subtly had a different feeling. Some of the rocks and large trees they passed began to give her a slight sense of familiarity.

“It should be this way,” she said to Talil with some anticipation.

“That’s good if you can find it.” Talil nodded, but she seemed to have something on her mind today.

“What’s wrong, Talil?” Hylial asked.

“Yesterday, when Lia wasn’t around, I secretly asked Grandpa about what happened back then,” Talil recalled with a hint of sorrow.

“After Dad married Mom, they lived in Burntstone City for a while, then moved back to the village. He didn’t inherit Grandpa’s talent and usually just tended sheep and did simple things.”

“One day, Dad didn’t come back by nightfall. Mom was very anxious, so she went to tell Grandma. Grandma was in the village then.”

“So Grandma went up the mountain to look for Dad.”

“She searched for about three days, and then Grandma came back. She only found Dad’s abandoned wine bottle and basket and said that Dad wouldn’t be coming back. And I was only about 3 years old then, I think.”

“Was he taken by a wolf or wild beast?” Hylial comforted her.

“Possibly, but Grandpa said Grandma seemed to have something on her mind ever since and became depressed.”

“Later, Grandma went to the mountains several more times until she got injured once and stumbled back.”

“Sigh, did she always go alone?” Hylial wondered.

“Yes, Grandma wouldn’t let Grandpa follow her. Actually, Grandpa wasn’t old then and definitely had the strength.”

“Although she was injured, after that time, Grandma seemed to give up and didn’t continue searching the mountain.”

“Unfortunately, after that, Grandma’s health also deteriorated, and she passed away when I was less than 5 years old.” Talil looked sadly at the gray, snowy sky.

“According to Grandpa’s description, Grandma must have encountered some powerful enemy, and her body was eroded by high-level ‘affinity’ power. That kind of injury couldn’t be cured by ordinary herbs.”

“Lia, do you know that if an affinity level exceeds three, it will crush and erode ordinary people?”

“I heard Scholar Hyde mention it.” The girl recalled Scholar Hyde using the combat power of knights as an analogy in class.

“That’s a terrifying thing. If a third-tier winter beast runs through the forest, the insects and birds along the way will be eroded and die by the aura of ‘Sleepy Winter,’ and even the trees will freeze.”

“Not to mention fighting. Even if such a winter beast breathes near you, you will gradually fall. This is the terrifying suppressive power of high-level ‘affinity’ on lower levels.” Talil answered, biting her lip.

“It can reach such a level?” Hylial found it hard to imagine.

“Yes, it’s very terrifying,” Talil shook her head.

“So, you rarely see third-tier adventurers or professionals. They generally don’t live in crowded places, unless their control is already very strong, and they can keep their affinity power stable and calm, so it doesn’t affect those around them.”

“The requirements in the city might be lower because the power of the ‘Castle’ itself suppresses the spread and erosion of other affinities.”

One can imagine how crazy and chaotic this world was before King Morantha established his kingdom.

“But, since something like that happened in the past, why is the village chief still so at ease allowing you to go up the mountain?” Hylial didn’t quite understand.

“This is our family’s special talent, hehe.” Talil patted her chest.

“Not just me, but my sister Winnie too. We have an excellent sense of direction in the mountains and have never gotten lost. It’s said that Grandma was like that back then, which is why Grandpa felt at ease letting her go into the mountains to search.”

“It’s just that Dad didn’t seem to inherit this talent. He occasionally gets lost in the mountains, which is why Grandpa and the others worried about him.”

“Does it pass down differently for males and females?” The girl tilted her head.

“Something like that. Grandpa said Grandma’s ancestors might have been witches.” Talil’s words made Hylial particularly curious.

“Witches?”

“That’s right, witches are powerful professionals on par with official scholars, at least at the third tier, and mostly cultivate the three major moon-attributed affinities.”

“Remember the fortune teller Grandpa mentioned the day before yesterday? She was Grandma’s aunt, and she was a cultivator of the ‘Glorious Moon’ affinity.”

“Witches rarely appear to the world, and there is little historical record of them. It is said that this is due to an agreement with the Scholars of Candlefort, forbidding them from recording traces of witches in their books. So, only stories are passed down orally.”

“Then where do witches live? Since they live, they must need some basic supplies, right?” Hylial pondered.

“Of course, they live in the forest. It’s said that the origin of the witch path is related to a covenant with the fairies in the forest, where the forest protects the witches. Because of this, witches don’t get lost in the forest and can also create a kind of lost illusion to prevent outsiders from entering.” Talil spoke with great excitement about these things.

“My sister told me all this. She was also very interested in witches back then, but she said her talent was limited and she couldn’t pursue the witch’s path.”

Lost illusions, forests, Glorious Moon, moon-attributed affinities – Hylial pieced together these fragmented pieces of information like a puzzle, slowly sketching them in her mind.

(End of chapter)