The Witch Hunter System

Lady Solana's silence made Vaan narrow his eyes.

There were several possibilities for Lady Solana's silence. However, only two possibilities stood out on the list.

The first possibility is that Lady Solana did not want to recall the sad memory of killing her daughter or share it with others.

The second possibility is that Lady Aeliana is still alive, but Lady Solana doesn't want anyone to know about it.

According to the clues Vaan had gathered, of these two possibilities, the second possibility had a higher probability of being true.

"Lady Aeliana was said to be the youngest Senior Witch to become a lord. This created quite a stir back then, and you were the heart of people's criticism, weren't you, Lady Solana?" Vaan asked.

Lady Solana silently nodded while blaming herself for pushing such heavy responsibilities onto her daughter too early.

Lady Solana believed the tragedy was a result of her poor choice back then.

"It wouldn't be strange for a young witch to be drunk on success and make rash choices – is what others probably thought," Vaan said.

"Nevertheless, they wouldn't be wrong to think so," Vaan continued and said, "Lady Aeliana most likely wanted to quickly prove to people that Lady Solana's choice in making her the lord was not wrong."

"However, there are some dubious points in your story, Lady Solana. I wonder if you don't mind clearing my doubts?" Vaan inquired.

Linetta and Lillias glanced at Vaan, wondering which point in the story was dubious to him.

It wasn't obvious at first, as they were swayed by the flow of Lady Solana's storytelling. But when Linetta thought back on the story, she quickly found one dubious point.

On the other hand, Lillias was still wracking her brain in confusion.

"Of course, this is why we are chatting," Lady Solana agreed with a nod before gesturing to Vaan, "Please ask away. I will answer to the best of my ability."

"My first doubt is the rumors of the magic flower," Vaan mentioned.

"Even if the magic flower could increase a person's mana capacity, how did people find out about this? Someone had to appraise the magic flower up close to learn its true properties. Otherwise, it is just a blind rumor at best."

"However, this blind rumor managed to mobilize two lords and numerous subordinates to search for it. Thus, there must be some validity or truth to the rumor. But then, this raises another question."

"If someone indeed appraised the magic flower, why didn't that person take the magic flower for themselves? Why go through the trouble of spreading the rumor? Surely not to pass the opportunity on to others, right?"

"Under these conditions, it makes me doubt the person's motives in spreading the rumor. And even worse, it makes me doubt the true properties of the magic flower," Vaan raised his points.

Lady Solana didn't think much about Vaan's doubts at first.

But after hearing Vaan talk, Lady Solana could not help but start to think that her daughter had fallen for someone's wicked scheme.

Lady Solana was visibly shaken by the possibility.

Unless someone was meticulous, they might not have noticed the points Vaan raised.

Even Linetta was astonished.

It wasn't the same dubious point that she had found.

Furthermore, it was clear that Vaan had found more than one dubious point in the story, according to his words.

Linetta was curious how Vaan's mind works.

"Looking at Lady Solana's reaction, I will boldly assume that you don't have an answer to the questions I raised. I will continue to raise my other doubts, Lady Solana," Vaan said.

"Sorry… This is quite the shock for me," Lady Solana replied with a forced smile before fixing her expression. "Please continue. I want to hear your other doubts."

"My other doubt would be the competition between Lady Aeliana and Lady Helia," Vaan stated.

"Lady Aeliana is a newly-ascended Senior Witch, while Lady Helia is someone who can be considered as your peer. I don't want to discredit Lady Aeliana's talents. However, it is baffling to hear Lady Helia losing to Lady Aeliana in a duel."

"I can only think that Lady Helia lost to Lady Aeliana on purpose. As for a reason why; I am not privy to the details, nor is it my place to speak," Vaan stated.

Lady Solana nodded.

"Lady Helia isn't a name that we can utter carelessly. You can be charged for disrespecting or defaming a lord if rumors spread. Let us end this topic here," Lady Solana calmly stated.

However, doubts had already sprouted in Lady Solana's heart.

Lady Solana suspected someone had plotted against her daughter. And Lady Helia must have something to do with this someone—or she could be the mastermind herself!

But even Lady Solana understood that; she could not guess what the person could gain from this.

"Can you tell us more about the curse, Lady Solana? Who else does it affect? Or is it limited to Sunpeak Town?" Linetta inquired.

"The Curse of the Purple Umbala is limited to the regions hit by the spores. This includes Sunpeak Town and roughly five miles to ten miles of its surroundings. Everyone inside this spore domain will not be able to use magic or aura."

"However, you will all be fine if you leave the spore domain within three days," Lady Solana stated.

"What happens if we stay for longer than three days?" Lillias asked.

"If you stay inside the spore domain for more than three days, you will contract the curse. When that happens, Lady Helia will forbid you from leaving Sunpeak Town like everyone else," Lady Solana answered.

"Everyone fears the Curse of the Purple Umbala will spread to other cities, huh?" Vaan rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

"The spores of this Curse of the Purple Umbala interfere with magic but don't directly involve magic. If we think about it, it's closer to an illness than an actual curse…"

"Anyhow, on the topic of abominations, I wonder if Lady Solana recently heard of a Wyvern-type Abomination flying past this region?" Vaan inquired.

This is what he really wanted to know.