Miss Witch, please don't leave your fragrance everywhere

Yes, the reason why the Hannibal tree is notorious is that it is a rare plant with the ability to kill people, and the second reason is the roots of the Hannibal tree. The roots of the Hannibal tree will go deep into the ground to absorb the magic of the earth veins, but the manifestation is not that the soil loses its vitality.

"The roots of the Hannibal tree can absorb the magic power in the soil, which will activate the soil for a period of time. Ten years ago, the villagers near the Dokum Mine found that the land had become fertile. At that time, the Hannibal tree should have taken root here. Although the Hannibal tree can activate the soil, it will cause irreversible damage to the earth veins. Specifically, it is like exhausting the pond to catch fish."

Excessive hunting will cause the extinction of species. Draining the lake to catch fish can catch all the fish in the lake, but there will be no harvest next year. However, the Hannibal tree naturally cannot understand this truth. It will endlessly extract magic power until the earth veins are completely destroyed.

"I think the earth veins here have reached their limit, so the Hannibal tree can no longer activate them. People who are unaware of this think that their sacrifices are not enough, and start to perform endless living sacrifices on the Hannibal tree. This is the truth behind the recent disappearances of villagers near the Dokum Mine."

"……wrong."

Victoria recovered from the shock.

"How could someone do such a stupid thing? Because - the Hannibal tree preys on living things, and it has nothing to do with its absorption of magic power!"

The Hannibal Tree has two feeding systems. One is to catch prey that falls into the trap through its Venus flytrap-like shape, and the other is to absorb magic from the earth veins through its roots. However, the two feeding systems are not related to each other. It does not mean that if you feed the Hannibal Tree a living sacrifice, it will stop absorbing magic or increase its absorption.

Seeing Victoria's disbelief, Angelica raised her head and used the brim of the wizard's hat to check the dim sunlight.

"Well, they will probably come tonight too, so we might as well wait here."

……

night.

Several furtive figures appeared in the sparsely populated forest. They were carrying a woman on a stretcher, but the woman did not seem to be a patient. There were no witch doctors living in the forest here. The woman struggled hard, but she was tied tightly to the stretcher like a mental patient.

The men leading the way lit fires to escort the people carrying the stretchers.

"arrive."

"Huh...how many is this...?"

"I don't know... you can't even count them, right?"

"Oh sacred tree, please forgive our sins and save our crops!"

"Please save my orchard! I don't have much food left at home, and my family and children all depend on the blessing of the sacred tree!"

As the men spoke, they freed the woman on the stretcher. The woman struggled even harder, but was held down by the men and had no chance to escape.

Perhaps because they thought no one would come to rescue them even if they screamed at the top of their lungs in the deep mountains and forests, the men even tore off the cloth covering the women's mouths.

The woman begged the men for mercy, crying.

"Please spare me! I haven't gotten married yet, and I don't want to die!"

"It is because no one is willing to marry you that you were chosen as a sacrifice to the sacred tree. You should be grateful. At least you, as a woman, have created some value."

"No! Save me! Father! Mother! Save me!"

"...You're still asking your parents for help? What a fool! You're going to die anyway. To tell you the truth, we took you away with your parents' consent."

"Wha...what? You lied..."

"Do we have to lie to you? Do you really think your parents love you? When they found out that it was a girl, they almost cried. The reason they agreed to let us kidnap you is very simple. Marrying a daughter requires a very expensive dowry, and they can't afford it, so they might as well let you make some contribution to the village."

"In a few days they will say that you eloped with a strange man who came from nowhere. Just symbolically look for him, and soon no one will remember this matter."

"Don't worry, you're not alone. This is how all the women who have gone missing have disappeared recently."

"We have to be careful too. The town governor has hired people to investigate."

"As long as the sacred tree shows us favor again, we will stop immediately. So instead of worrying about the investigation from the Archon, we should revive the sacred tree first."

Perhaps the content of the men's discussion was too shocking, the woman even stopped crying.

The men planned to throw the woman into the Hannibal Tree to serve as food for the tree, as they had done in the past.

"--stop!"

Victoria couldn't bear it any longer and stood in front of the villagers. The villagers immediately panicked. They didn't expect that someone would ambush them here, and it was a fully armed female knight.

Victoria's expression was not pretty. She did not have the slightest joy of finding out the truth. She finally understood why the patrols were ineffective. It was all due to the disappearances caused by a conspiracy of several nearby villages.

All the missing women were used to feed the sacred tree they mentioned: the Hannibal Tree.

"M-Mister Knight?"

"I heard everything you just said. It's ridiculous! This tree is not a sacred tree. It's a man-eating tree called the Hannibal Tree. Are you actually worshiping it?"

"Han... What kind of tree is Han? The sacred tree is the sacred tree. The sacred tree can make our land fertile, and everyone can live a good life. We only need to sacrifice one person to the sacred tree every quarter, and we will..."

"Nonsense! The Hannibal tree cannibalism has nothing to do with making the land fertile! The Hannibal tree is not a savior either. For ten years, it has been activating the soil in this area, while also destroying the earth veins...! I understand. You have been kidnapping people to sacrifice to the Hannibal tree because you found that the soil can no longer be used as a natural fertilizer like before. But the culprit who destroyed the land on which you depend for survival is your sacred tree!"

94 Princess Knight Victoria

The men were all stunned by Victoria's aura, even though few of them understood what magic and earth veins were... But from Victoria's tone, they vaguely realized that the sacred tree might not be the miracle tree that they imagined that could bestow unlimited blessings.

Miracles are limited, and now that limit has been exhausted, it can no longer be filled. In other words -

All they have been doing is meaningless killing.

Victoria demanded angrily.

"Tell me, who told you that offering a sacrifice to the Hannibal tree would bring you favors?"

"Who...? The village chief said so...?"

"No... Our land has become fertile, and the sacred tree has appeared at the same time. No matter how you think about it, they are related!"

"It must be that our sacrifice is not enough! Come! Sacrifice her to the sacred tree—"

The men were completely insane and still planned to sacrifice the kidnapped women to the Hannibal Tree.

At this moment, a ball of fire flew out from behind Victoria and hit the Hannibal tree in the riverbed. After all, the Hannibal tree is a plant, and fire is its nemesis.

"Sacred tree?!"

"I am right, Miss Victoria."

Angelica walked out yawning lazily. If Victoria hadn't made a loud noise, Angelica would probably continue to sleep.

The men stared blankly at the blazing flames, the heat waves constantly hitting their cheeks.

Suddenly, someone noticed Angelica's outfit.

"Devil...witch...!"

Then, the others also cast their eyes in Angelica's direction, their expressions becoming dazed, as if a drowning person had grabbed a life-saving straw.

"Yes...it must be the work of a witch!"

"Isn't there a rumor like that? The witch can make other people's hens unable to lay eggs and cows unable to produce milk. She can definitely curse our fields too!"

"Right! It's not our fault! Everything...everything is the witch's fault. We are just trying to save our crops...!"

"I'm not wrong... We are all right..."

Angelica was not angry at being accused without any reason.

"King, Sequence Five. Imperial Instructions. Go to the Archon and explain the whole story, including but not limited to who you have sacrificed over the years, who was involved and who knew about it. Once you have explained everything, go to prison and forget about my existence."

"Yes."

The villagers had empty eyes and turned into puppets controlled by the witch, acting according to her orders.

After they left, the Hannibal Tree was burned down, and it took Victoria a long time to calm down.

"You are a witch?"

"Yes, the black witch who never ages or dies. In terms of seniority, you can call me sister, right?"

"I always feel like I'm obviously too old to call you sister."

Victoria was extremely reluctant, and Angelica was not as tall as her and was very cute. Victoria thought Angelica was a little sister who needed her care.

However, if Angelica is a witch, it can explain why Angelica can find the cause so accurately. She has accumulated rich experience and deduced from the growth of the timid mushroom that there is a problem with the ground vein, and then concluded that there must be a Hannibal tree growing near the Dokum mine.

"They wrongly accuse you of this... You won't be angry?"

"It's okay. I knew they would put the blame on me. They always have to find excuses to justify their murderous behavior over the past ten years."

Witches don't have a good reputation everywhere, and when a witch happens to appear, it is common to put all the blame on the witch. However, witches are all extraordinary beings, and there is no reason for them to be manipulated by others.

The villagers probably knew deep down that the continuous sacrifices to the Hannibal Tree for ten years were meaningless, but they refused to admit it, so they tried to blame the witch for the loss of the land's vitality.

"Miss Victoria has an incredible expression on her face, but it's actually very common. They have no way of knowing how the Hannibal tree works. Ignorance breeds fear, and fear breeds blind worship. The village chiefs instigated this, probably because collective crime can alleviate guilt. Everyone knows and is doing it, so they can feel more at ease."

After all, no one would bother to investigate something as good as the land becoming fertile. Who would question something that is beneficial to them?

"But... why are all the sacrifices women? If it weren't for the fact that all the women disappeared, I wouldn't have suspected the goblins..."

"This is simply because you have a deep misunderstanding of goblins."

Angelica complained angrily, how can you rush into the goblin camp without any investigation? And you always pretend to lose the battle. If you change your worldview, you'd probably be a mother now.

"Haven't they explained it? Miss Victoria has a brilliant talent for magic, and she should not have lived such a life: whether in town or in the countryside, people with excellent magic talents can occupy a relatively good position in the family, followed by men with average magic talents, and finally women. It is a common custom to pay a valuable dowry for a daughter to get married, and after a daughter gets married, she becomes someone else's family and is not welcomed by the family."

The world has not yet reached the age where one can ask for an exorbitant amount of dowry when a daughter gets married. Unless the daughter is really beautiful and has no shortage of suitors, the woman's family usually has to raise her for more than ten years and still have to pay a dowry. This is especially common in rural areas, where daughters are not welcomed at home, and it may even affect the wife who only gave birth to daughters.

"So they teamed up to make unmarried women disappear, and then said they died of illness or eloped with foreign men, so they could suppress the matter."

"...What should they do from now on? The ley lines have been destroyed."

"Should they move away? We don't need to think about that kind of thing. Rather, what are Miss Victoria's plans?"

The fields in the village near the Dokum mine have lost their vitality and are no longer suitable for cultivation. This is the bitter fruit of their own making. How they clean up the mess is not something the witch wants to care about.

"I...? My purpose of traveling is to persuade good and punish evil. This is the first commission I've ever taken. To be honest, I feel a little complicated. I always thought that the villagers who disappeared were the ones I should protect. The world outside the Knight Academy is really complicated... Um, if you don't mind, can I go with you...? I feel like I can learn a lot..."

Angelica clapped her hands happily; this was exactly what she had been waiting for.

"Of course, then we will be companions on the journey from now on. I don't like riding a broom - you carry me on your back."

"Eh?!"

"We're all partners now, aren't we?"

"What kind of partner is this——"

95 [The Witch and the Caged Bird]

Beautiful Staveren is a prosperous city. The nobles built a wealthy area here. You will never see wandering beggars on the streets and the whole city is thriving.

Needless to say, there were many restaurants catering to the rich in the city, including couples restaurants, which were extremely rare in this era. They were dedicated to receiving wealthy couples and arranging dances and other services. Although there were not many customers, the high income ensured profits. The nobles did not think the prices were too high. On the contrary, they thought that this kind of restaurant, which was almost tailor-made for them, was in line with their status as nobles.

After all, restaurants that specialize in catering services are not common in this era. Most of them are hotels that also provide accommodation services and provide food as a gift.

Today, the couple's restaurant in Stavren welcomed a pair of special guests, which troubled the few male companions in the restaurant, because they were two girls whose beauty was rarely matched by the female nobles in the town. Yes, it was a couple's restaurant, but two girls came specifically to visit. The male companions in the restaurant all wanted to talk to the two girls, but they had to maintain gentlemanly etiquette due to the restrictions of the female companions around them.

The female companions in the restaurant were also unhappy because one of the girls was dressed completely like a magician, which was not in line with the etiquette of the restaurant. How could an adventurer's clothes appear in such an elegant place? However, none of the female companions dared to step forward and scold her. It was strange to say that the magician girl looked like an adventurer, but her beauty made people wonder if she was a goddess who was believed to have come to the world in the form of an incarnation.

Even if I urged the waiter in the restaurant to drive away the two girls who did not meet the status, the waiter could only respond with an awkward smile: They paid. Strictly speaking, there is indeed no explicit rule that two girls can come to a couple restaurant together, but I didn't expect that someone would be so casual.

"We really shouldn't have come to this place..."

"Not to your liking? I think it's pretty good. It's the most delicious food I've had in a while."

"Of course it's not a matter of taste. Don't you think it's strange for the two of us to appear in a couple's restaurant?"

Angelica put down her knife and fork and picked up the napkin.

She suddenly pretended to be very hurt and covered her face and cried.

"Wow... Victoria means I'm not qualified to be Victoria's lover? So sad..."

"Wait a minute! Why do you think it means this?!"

Victoria immediately became flustered.

"Okay, okay, I was wrong. It's my honor to be with Angelica!"

"Of course. It's not an exaggeration to say that I am the ideal dream lover of people all over the world."

Angelica wiped her nonexistent tears with a napkin and smiled contentedly. Victoria, on the other hand, had a completely frozen expression.

It has been like this ever since she started traveling with Angelica. Victoria never expected that Angelica would be much more troublesome than she expected. Victoria was of noble birth after all, and it was because she went to the Knight Academy for further studies that she improved her pampered habits as a young lady, but Angelica was even more spoiled than Victoria.

After walking only a few steps, she said, "Oh, I can't walk anymore," and asked Victoria to carry her on her back. At first, Victoria thought Angelica really needed care, but later she found out that Angelica simply liked to breathe the shampoo on her hair and the perfume on her neck, and she especially enjoyed blowing in Victoria's ears.

When they went to hotels in towns and villages, they insisted on booking only one room each time... a single room. Victoria herself didn't mind, but after taking off her clothes, she found that Angelica's figure was even better than hers, and she herself admitted without any reservation that she did this to show off.