Your Highness?
A peculiar title… it's like a word you'd only hear in ancient stories.
She struggled to turn her eyes, casting her gaze to her side, where she saw a gray-haired man entering her field of vision, with several women standing beside him.
"How are you feeling?" he asked in a low voice.
"..." She didn't answer, but instead asked, "Where is this?"
"The Kingdom of Graycastle, Western Region, Border Town."
Good, things were developing in the direction she least wanted to see, an unknown location, an unknown time, unknown people. She wanted to turn over and get out of bed, but found she couldn't muster even a bit of strength.
"I am Roland Wimbledon, the Fourth Prince of the Kingdom of Graycastle, Lord of Border Town," he continued, "These are all members of the Witch Union. You… don't remember anything?"
Witch Union? She frowned. They were actually witches? Although she didn't know what kind of emerging organization this was, at least they were her kind, but… why did they look like subordinates of this man?
Wait, Prince?
She recalled for a moment, and couldn't help but stare in amazement. Wasn't this the title of the secular government four hundred years ago, during the First Battle of Divine Will? Could it be… that she had returned to before the war began? Could it be that the gods had given her a chance to start over, allowing her to prepare in advance to save the Holy City and its people?
No, calm down, she told herself. Such illogical things only happened in fictional tavern stories. Right, what did she encounter last? In the basement of the experimental building, a group of maniacs rushed in. She released all her magic, constructing the most solid ice barrier. Echo Stones continued to release distress signals, waiting for the day they would return to the Fertile Plains, able to find her again.
"Did you save me?" That's right, now that she had escaped from the ice barrier, it could only be that the witch army had returned! "Have the devils retreated? Did we win! What about the Holy City… the Holy City of Taqila?"
After this series of questions blurted out, she saw the expressions on several of their faces change, looking at each other with joy and excitement. A witch with a more mature appearance and long auburn hair couldn't help but ask, "We did find you in the basement of a stone tower. Are you really from four hundred and fifty years ago?"
The questioner reminded her of the Holy Guard Warrior who turned the tide, that person's hair was also like this, illuminating people's hearts like flames. Compared to the gray-haired man, she was more willing to answer the witch's questions. Although she didn't usually care much about status, being stared at and questioned by inferiors always felt like being offended.
If it were a more calculating master, this man would most likely be severely punished.
"My name is Agatha, a witch of the Taqila Exploration Society," she paused, "What do you mean by four hundred and fifty years ago? Could it be… you've been fighting devils for over four hundred years? That's impossible."
"You've been asleep for too long, things might be a bit different from what you think." The man who called himself Roland said, "If you feel alright, we can slowly tell you about it."
"Speak."
Agatha closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Although this prince was being very rude, she didn't have time to care about it now.
As he began to explain the history of Graycastle and the evolution of the Kingdom of Dawn, she felt cold sweat gradually breaking out on her back. In his narration, Agatha quickly found several corresponding landmarks—such as the Misty Forest, such as the Impassable Mountain Range… but plugging these landmarks into her memory, the conclusion she reached was incredibly shocking.
If the place names matched, the so-called Four Kingdoms were just the former wilderness—a narrow strip of land between the mountains and the sea, barren land that they considered to have no development value. And the Barren Forbidden Land he spoke of was actually the Fertile Plains she was familiar with. As for the Holy City of Taqila, it had long become an unknown region, buried deep beneath the Fertile Plains over the long years.
How ridiculous was this?
But even more ridiculous things were yet to come.
Buried with Taqila was the status of witches—in his words, witches had become objects of universal pursuit and humiliation. In the Four Kingdoms, the government was firmly controlled by ordinary people, who called themselves kings and nobles, completely the old-fashioned stuff from before the First Battle of Divine Will.
But it was this bunch of old fogeys who had become the rulers trampling on the heads of witches.
How could this be?
"Preposterous!" she couldn't help but interrupt, "Witches are actually being hunted by ordinary people? Who dares to do that?"
Out of anger, Agatha struggled to reach out and give this man who was talking nonsense a bit of a lesson, but she didn't expect that her magic couldn't turn into frost as usual.
Only then did she feel that there was a metal ring fastened to her ankle. Lifting the quilt, she saw that the stone embedded on it was a God's Stone of Retaliation.
"Are you crazy!?" she looked at the group of witches in disbelief. "You're actually helping an ordinary person deal with a High Awakened, and even violating the Union's ban, using God's Stone of Retaliation without authorization!"
Only the Union's law enforcement team was allowed to use God's Stones. Apart from that, anyone who carried, sold, modified, or destroyed God's Stones would be subject to the most severe sanctions, and possibly even the death penalty.
The prince sighed, "I was worried about this."
"Don't worry, let me talk to her," the red-haired witch sat down on the edge of the bed and tucked the quilt back around her. "My name is Wendy, things aren't what you think, and everything he said is true… I don't know what the Holy City you lived in four hundred and fifty years ago was like, but now, Taqila no longer exists, and the Union you mentioned has never been heard of. We've been living in hiding, until we met His Highness Roland."
"He gave us a safe place to live, and encouraged us to use our abilities, and research how we can better use our abilities to transform the world. Here, we can live freely like normal people, without having to hide, and without having to worry about being hunted by the church or the people. You know, God's Stones of Retaliation are everywhere now, and after a witch loses her abilities, she's not much stronger than an ordinary person."
After listening to Wendy's account, Agatha was completely silent.
The Union was a vast organization established by several witch kingdoms, with many High Witches and Transcendent beings. In order to win the Battle of Divine Will, to concentrate their power, the Union formed an extremely large army, and also brought all the Holy Cities under its control, responsible for cultivating and dispatching witches, resolving disputes, and maintaining city stability and order. Only they had the authority to arrest and try a witch… Yet such a powerful organization, now no one has heard of their name…
What about those refugees who wanted to rebuild order, where are they now?