Chapter 1556 - 22: Witch and Traitor

Chapter 1556: Chapter 22: Witch and Traitor

The old lord’s snoring was intermittent, tormented by parasite eggs, coupled with several days of exhaustive day-and-night toil, leaving him mentally and physically exhausted. Even though the parasite eggs inside him have been removed, he won’t live too long; at most, a month, at most half a year, before the old lord’s life energy will be depleted and he will succumb.

Anyone with a discerning eye can see that Su Xiao saved the old lord’s life, and the attendants surrounding him looked embarrassed.

"Ahem, sir, this way please."

An attendant bowed to express his apology.

"Sir, you have had a tiring journey; why not rest first..."

"No need, take me to the source of the water."

"Yes."

An attendant, a confidant of the old lord, signaled a servant nearby to prepare a guest room, meals, and more.

"This way please, sir."

Following the confident attendant out of the castle, a burnt smell hit them, half the city turned to charcoal, and the smell within the city was understandable.

Half of the civilians were displaced, and the streets were filled with cries of despair. The civilians tormented by parasite eggs were wailing loudly; not everyone had the tolerance of the old lord.

As Su Xiao arrived on the street, he saw several shriveled corpses, and based on his perception, the parasite eggs were still inside the bodies. If the witches wanted these things, it wouldn’t be a simple task.

"How are these bodies handled?"

"Unified incineration."

"Who’s responsible?"

"Lord Awajin is in charge."

The confidant attendant spoke while keeping his head down, his eyes somewhat evasive.

"Bring him to see me."

"This..." The confidant attendant looked troubled: "Sir, it’s like this; there are too many corpses in the city, and it’s been so long since anyone has seen Lord Awajin."

"Is that so, then forget it, take me to the water source."

"As you command."

The confidant attendant quickened his pace; his name was Kan, in this world, a single-character name serves both as a first and last name.

Kan’s build was relatively thin; although he looked weak, as the old king’s confidant, his combat strength shouldn’t be too weak.

Under Kan’s guidance, Su Xiao, Bubu Wang, and Meilodi headed towards the water source; A Mu was too conspicuous and was tasked with watching the carts; unless it was a tough battle, there was no need to deploy A Mu, the admiral.

As Su Xiao was walking, Meilodi reached out to grab the clothing at Su Xiao’s lower back, gently tugged it, then let go.

Su Xiao ignored Meilodi, who was so angry she rolled her eyes; watching this scene, Bubu Wang sighed, meaning: "Just make sure you don’t die unnecessarily."

Half an hour later, Su Xiao arrived at the water source on the eastern side of the city, a man-made river about five meters wide and more than a dozen meters deep, with stone steps built on both sides for civilians to fetch water conveniently.

Judging by the depth, this was originally a natural river, later altered by man to have such a clean appearance.

Several fishing boats drifted on the river; this river was not only for daily water use, but civilians could also fish here. Besides, this river connects to a large river outside the city, useful for waterway transportation of goods, which can be said to be why Nikto City used to flourish due to this river’s existence.

"Sir, it’s right here..."

Before the confidant attendant finished speaking, Su Xiao splashed into the river, and shortly after, his wet body emerged on the shore.

"No other issues, take me to rest."

"Already prepared, sir."

Kan led the way, and the group headed back towards the castle; they hadn’t walked far when two women in black robes emerged from an abandoned residential building.

"The Witch Hunter has arrived."

One of the women spoke.

"Just a White Level Witch Hunter, this is a good thing; handle it secretly to prevent other Witch Hunters from noticing. The arrival and death of a Witch Hunter here can buy us 10 days, that’s enough."

"Do as you please; however, it’s the first time we’ve seen a Witch Hunter collaborating with the White Witch."

About a few minutes later, a sneaky figure reached the riverbank, seeming somewhat nervous.

"Put down the item, then disappear from my sight."

"Yes, yes."

The visitor, a man, carefully placed down the cloth bundle in his hand and left quickly.

...

Within the old lord’s castle, in a bedroom on the third floor.

Thud, thud, thud...

The wooden door was knocked on, and Su Xiao, who was sketching designs, looked up at the wooden door, signaling Meilodi to open it.

"Masters, lunch is served."

A maiden pushed a dining cart into the room, stopping in front of Su Xiao.

Su Xiao casually picked up a piece of bread, just about to put it in his mouth, when he seemed to think of something, bit the bread, and resumed sketching and drawing on the blueprint.

After drawing two strokes, Su Xiao looked up at the maiden beside the dining cart, who bowed and exited the room.

"Pleh."

Su Xiao spat out the bread and took out a test tube, rinsing his mouth with the light green liquid inside.

Through preliminary observation, Su Xiao was certain there were problems not just with the witches in the city but also with many of those around the old lord, such as confidant attendant Kan and corpse handler Awajin, who might all have issues.

With internal and external troubles, it’s understandable why Nikto City became like this; of course, Su Xiao was not here to rebuild Nikto City. He was not interested in those traitors; he only needed to identify the witch and eliminate her.

This is the fundamental difference between Su Xiao and typical heroes. If typical heroes arrived in Nikto City, they would first rescue civilians, then make a mess, investigate traitors, and if they had a foolish female teammate, they would need evidence to handle the traitors, creating even more chaos.

Only after all this could they deal with the witches, by which time the witches might know the color of the hero’s underwear. A battle that should have been a rout turns into a tough fight, and eventually, everyone’s happy.

Su Xiao’s plan is straightforward and ruthless: find the witch’s location and kill her. As for civilian and traitor issues, the old lord needs to handle them himself. Although he looks close to death, he is quite experienced in dealing with power and civilian matters throughout his life.

Nonetheless, identifying the witches isn’t easy; Su Xiao suspects there are at least three witches in the city; otherwise, they wouldn’t dare harm this large city.

As Su Xiao was contemplating, the room door opened, and confidant attendant Kan entered, glancing at the bread on the floor before approaching Su Xiao without altering his expression.

"Sir, we’ve found Awajin, but..."

"He’s dead?"

"Indeed, when Awajin was discovered, he’d already been deceased for over three days."

"Oh."

Su Xiao dropped the feather pen in his hand and turned to look at Kan.

"In other words, those witches found a more suitable candidate and no longer need Awajin for corpse disposal?"

"Hmm~"

Kan looked puzzled at Su Xiao, seemingly unable to comprehend what Su Xiao was saying.

"If I were those witches and had damaged ’Nikto City’ this badly, I would ensure all people around the local lord were either bribed or blackmailed. Compared to those rickety, foul-smelling residential buildings, the old lord’s castle is clearly more suitable for residence."

While speaking, Su Xiao observed Kan’s expression change; the more Kan listened, the more puzzled he looked, showing no signs of guilt.

Is it really the case? Only those who’ve committed sinister deeds would deliberately disguise themselves as calm. If Kan were sincerely on the old lord’s side, his expression would not show shock, but he would start to suspect and be concerned about the old lord’s safety.

"So, you’re useless."

"Hmm?"

This time, Kan was genuinely confused, not grasping the meaning of Su Xiao’s remark.

A short knife formed from Blue Steel Shadow energy appeared in Su Xiao’s hand, constructed similarly to the energy shield.

With a swoosh, Su Xiao tossed the energy short knife, and Kan, just about to dodge sideways, was struck through the head by the energy short knife; this guy had a lot of audacious moves, but unfortunately, lacked the strength. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ

With a clang, Kan was nailed to the wall.

As Kan died, the wooden door swung open, outside it pitch black, despite now being one in the afternoon.