Basking in the effervescent radiance of the evening, the grass inside the lush forest gleamed golden. The light sprinkling on them looks like scattered jewels. Other than the looming presences of trees and the frequent buzzing of animals, no one else could be seen—giving the feeling of being secluded from the world.

In that forest, a lone figure could be seen treading along a path. His posture was firm, his gait was steady. His entire figure was draped by a traveling cloak, and inside the hood, ash blond locks could be seen swaying every so often. Each of his steps was accompanied by the clanking of a sword which hung sheathed on his waist.

This was because even as beautiful as it was, the forest hid a secret most vile to all.

***

Halfway to his supposed destination, something caused him to halt.

He had seen something under the tall, looming, shadow of the tree—

—...a person?

“—!”

He immediately reached for his sword.

Inching closer, he could further assert that said figure belonged to a woman—a young maiden, to be precise. Said maiden was resting under the shade of the tree—in a rather carefree fashion, at that. Her long, glossy, black hair was spread on the grasses as she laid on her side.

Just like him, she donned a cloak. However, unlike him, her cloak was pure white and fluttery—more like a dress. It spread around her like a pair of butterfly’s wings. Underneath was a pair of curled up, slender legs covered in knee-high traveling boots.

Standing near her feet, he could see her side profile—which revealed her unblemished cheek, tinted with red, cherry-colored lips, and eye adorned with long eyelashes.

He realized he was taking in the sights for a lot longer than he preferred—such that if he was indeed in the face of a danger, he’d have died already.

To put it simply, what he had seen was too pure for that world—and especially for that forest—

—and as they said; ‘When something is too good to be true, it probably is.’

However, instead of tightening, his grip on his sword only faltered—

—but, what if...?

To just pull his sword against someone based on plain suspicion. Not only was it presumptuous and carried grave consequences, it was also against his principles.

Besides, he also didn’t feel any malicious intent emanating from the girl, a skill he had honed through years of countless battles.

Sighing inwardly, his hand left the handle of his sword as he buckled down, trying to wake the mysterious girl.

“...Are you alright?”

It didn’t take long, for the girl was also about to wake up.

As she slowly opened her eyes, he realized that her eyes bore the same color as her hair—which was jet-black, like a lustrous onyx. After a stretch and a yawn, the girl started to look around, still confused.

It was only a brief moment later when said pair of onyx eyes found him—

“—...What time is it?”

Tonelessly, nonchalantly—such was the very first question the girl had asked.

Facing the absurdity of her question, his voice took a stern tone—

“—On behalf of the Church of Magnolia, I beseech you to kindly state your name and what manner of business were you having here, at the depth of the Forest of Helleborus!”

Although seemingly still half asleep, it seemed that she managed to register his question.

Rubbing her eyes, the mysterious stranger suddenly lifted her cloak, which was scattered on her side—and revealed a basket full of mushrooms.

“This morning, I woke up with a penchant for mushrooms. Hence why I thought of procuring some.” The girl, clad in pure white, said matter-of-factly.

The man stared at the mushrooms— the lack of patterns and their dull brown color spoke of their edibleness.

...At least that’s one thing done right.

“...You only answered half of my queries.”

He stared intently into the girl’s face, intending to not miss even the slightest facial movement.

Her small lips formed a nervous smile. “I live around here—"

“—‘Around here’ where? Especially when the area is infested with demons.”

“A secluded place, safe from them.”

“What kind of secluded place? For what reason are you there?”

“I suppose I could say that I’m some kind of hermit. I usually explore the forest to procure ingredients—is that supposed to be forbidden, nowadays?”

From the way she tilted her head, the man faintly understood she wasn’t being sarcastic.

At the same time, he realized he was being aggressive. However, the girl wasn’t exactly being cooperative with her answers, either. But he did understand that some people might get defensive when being confronted like that.

As such, his next words were spoken with a more generous tone.

“...Excuse my rudeness. I didn’t mean to corner you like that. It’s just that as I’ve said, this place is full of demons, and to answer your question, night is about to fall. Surely, I don't need to explain why we mustn't overstay our welcome in this kind of place?”

The night was the time when the demons were the most active, and unlike him, the girl before him was without a weapon whatsoever.

...Not to mention, there were also those recent incidents.

“Sure...” The girl answered, tilting her head yet again.

The only thing he was sure about was that the girl didn’t actually understand the danger she was in.

...The girl did mention something about living in seclusion, perhaps that was why she wasn’t up-to-date with the recent happenings.

As he placed his hand on his chest, the man straightened his posture—

“—My name is Julius Visconti, the Church of Magnolia’s knight templar. It’s unsafe for you to be loitering around here, especially considering the recent cases involving the witch. As such, allow me to escort you home!”

The man—Julius Visconti—revealed his golden knight insignia, which was fastened to his collar. A quick flap of his cloak revealed the luxurious attire he wore beneath. It seemed that the tall man was of noble birth, or at the very least, of high stature.

 ***

Surrounded by the rows of trees, the two walked side by side. The rustling of the trees and the crisps sound of grasses being trodden upon were all that could be heard.

Julius kept his eyes towards his vicinity. Although his gait could be perceived as somewhat casual, the same couldn’t be said about his right hand, which rested on top of his hilt, ready to unsheathe his weapon at any given moment.

In contrast, the girl walked with spring in her step, sometimes swinging her basket. The basket, filled to the brim with mushrooms, frequently entered his corner of vision.

In all actuality, it wasn’t that strange for someone to go procure ingredients in that forest.

The Forest of Helleborus was home to all kinds of plants—be it medicinal, or plain deadly ones. Due to receiving the proper amount of sunlight and rain, those plants—which were said to be uncommon in most other regions of the world—thrived, making the forest the prized emerald of Freyja, a small city located right beside the forest.

However, even if it was so, it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows.

Due to the forest’s seemingly never-ending resources, the place was brimming with magical power, making it a penchant for beasts. Beast who grew addicted to magic-producing plants would become oversaturated with magic, and turn into a demon.

Usually, as long as someone was well-equipped, those demons wouldn’t be much of a problem. Not to mention, their routes were easy to predict, making it easy to avoid them. They also wouldn’t attack unless provoked—and even then, their intelligence was still that of a mere beast.

As of the present, the main issue wasn’t those demons, but something greater—something much more horrendous—

—a much viler, not to mention, sentient being, who possessed a portion of the devil’s power.

—indeed, the lush forest was also the house of a witch.

For a long time now, the rumors of the witch’s presence had loomed over the small city of Freyja. It was an unspoken rule for the people of Freyja to never speak of the witch. As such, the presence of the witch was mostly disregarded—however, she definitely existed. Akin to a shadow, although people shut their eyes to her, the fear caused by her mere presence trailed them.

The fear which ended up becoming reality.

“...As you may have guessed, I know next to nothing about the recent happenings. What’s this incident involving the witch?”

That was their first conversation after he had started escorting her.

Julius was a little surprised that the girl dared to strike up a conversation with him, when no one else would. His colleagues often told him that he exuded an ‘unapproachable’ aura—even more so when he was on duty.

“...It involves a curse—as you would expect from a witch. The victim’s mind is driven to the point of no return—basically speaking, they’ve gone mad.”

“So, an ‘enchantment’ of some kind? And this happened right after their supposed encounters with the witch?”

The once laidback girl was now in deep thought. Julius articulated it as anxiety.

“Not ‘supposed’, because such is the fact. All the evidence found in the crime scene led to the witch. We, the knight templars of the Church of Magnolia, have this situation under control—therefore, there’s no need for you to be concerned, Miss—...”

After a brief silence, they both came into a sudden realization—

“—Oh! That’s right! I haven’t given you my name, yet! I’m sorry, must’ve been years of lacking proper communication!”

The carefree smile of the girl was back. At the same time, Julius felt as if the interior of the forest had brightened. For an instance, the terrifying forest, which was also a house to a witch, had become merely that of a forest astir with life to him.

However, it was also important to take note.

“...You still haven’t given me your name, yet.”

“My! Sorry—my name is Anicca.” After softly smacking her own head in embarrassment, the girl finally spoke of her name.

It seemed that the girl had truly forgotten—right after she had recalled it, too.

A faint smile rose to Julius’ face.

“...Ms. Anicca.” He repeated in an even softer voice.

Afterwards, the tense atmosphere had improved—as proven by how easy the girl found her next question.

“So, Mr. Julius how long have you been the knight templar to the Church of Magnolia?”

Julius, who was aware that he wasn’t much of a talker to begin with, also answered with ease.

The sound of leaves of all shapes being crushed under their heels accompanied their chatter. As the two delved deeper into the forest, Julius also went further into his early memories.

“...Ever since I was taken into the Church of Magnolia, I’ve been trained to someday become a knight templar. Now that I think about it... that was six years ago.”

“My, that long ago?”

“Indeed. I seem to have lost track of time... no thanks to the recent cases.”

His most difficult quest was slaying hordes of archdemons—well, up until the witch decided to make her existence known once again.

“Mr. Julius seems to have it hard... I sincerely hope the case gets resolved soon. Also, my condolences to those poor men, who are bewitched by the witch...”

The sound of the leaves being crumpled by the soles of their feet stopped in the next instant. For a moment, it was as if all the noise inside that forest had vanished.

A second later, the sound of his boots trampling upon the unearthed ground could be heard as he turned around.

At the same time, his sword left its scabbard—for he had finally found the threat.

The threat; which stood next to him, clad in white.

“...When have I ever specified that the victims are males?”

The girl, who stood uprooted on the ground, hurriedly tried to come up with an excuse—

“—I, because I heard the word ‘enchantment’, I just concluded so. Besides, witches are into that sort of thing, right?”

—a pathetic one, at that.

A shame. He had expected a lot more than that. However, said excuse had also nailed why a witch was such a sorry existence—

“Never once have I ever affirmed that it’s indeed an enchantment. I said that it’s a curse, that’s all. For all we know, it could be an actual curse that drives people to madness. Now, ‘bewitchment’, that’s oddly specific—or is it an admission of guilt?”

—a selfish being who, after creating all sorts of messes for others, could only hide behind their pathetic excuses.

“Oh, it’s so happened that the actual case actually involves bewitchment? Wow, my guess seems to have hit the mark. As you can see, it’s mere coincidence!”

After failing to feign ignorance once, she decided to repeat the same mistake—again, as expected of the witch!

Also, it was important to note that not only her gaze and manner of speech were faltering, her fingers, which were clasped on the basket, were shivering. In fact, it was as if she was holding it as a foundation to not lose her balance—most likely, she was about to faint.

The corners of his lips rose—that time, in both amusement and mockery.

...There was no way the person before him was innocent.

 “Oh? And what about our direction? Is it also an utter coincidence that we’re headed towards my original destination—the dwelling of the witch herself?”

At that point, he was simply deriving as much joy as he could from his enemy—the witch, before finally dealing with her.

That seemed to be the final blow.

The girl was solidified and couldn’t come back with an answer. She seemed to be gnashing her teeth.

That was when Julius’ expression became serious. Faster than any voice ever could, his gaze spoke of his utter contempt for the witch—it was terrifyingly menacing; his gaze alone could probably freeze the entire forest.

“—Witch, you will cease all of your pretenses! For the crime of bewitching those men, and also trying to lure a knight into a trap, I’ll be taking you to the church so that you’ll be punished for your crimes!”