The Unwelcome Intruders
Epsilon got very busy while completing both versions of the spell — the Star Panel and the Solar Panel. After finishing up all that he needed to do, he got up to make himself some black tea in his kitchen.
In this world, this was a novel experience for Epsilon. When he first came, he was a slave barely hanging on to life with a thread. The Werfurs offered him shelter but that was more like living in a ‘co-working’ inn that provided a bed, food and office space. Now, however, he was in a place that was his own.
After he prepared the tea, he took his cup and went outside to sit on a wooden bench, watching the forest. The builders had had to clear up a large portion of the trees to build his house. But they were also able to open up a good space for the courtyard.
Epsilon drank his tea as he watched the forest. It was a moment of rest, where he enjoyed the finer things of life. Drinking a simple tea and looking around may appear mundane but one has to know that even doing simple things had their fun. Epsilon believed these things were important for his peace of mind.
It was not long, however, before this rare peaceful moment was disturbed. Epsilon suddenly saw a small girl, around 12-14 years of age, showing up from the forest. On seeing Epsilon, she began crying bitterly.
The young girl looked rather tragic but it would take a lot more than this, especially in this world, in the middle of a forest, for Epsilon to reach out and help a girl in distress.
The girl had blonde hair and green eyes. By regular standards, she was very pretty. But she was dressed in simple, brown leather clothes; this did not suit her looks at all.
At this time, the small girl started talking.
“Mister, please help me…”
Epsilon did not stop drinking his tea and asked.
“What is the problem? What is your name?”
The girl answered hurriedly.
“I am Elicia, a witch apprentice from the Black Flower Coven.”
Epsilon raised an eyebrow and started thinking.
“Black Flower Coven!”
As Epsilon was free in the past two days, he had some time for research. A coven was a mage organization that, in most cases, was filled with female mages and the larger majority of them were dark. There were good natured covens as well but the Black Flower Coven was definitely not among them. This particular coven was not too strong but its mages specialized in their spells expertise.
Epsilon asked.
“So, Elicia from the Black Flower Coven, what do you need?”
Elicia hesitated as she felt the magical energy radiating from the man she encountered. She figured this man must be a mage if he was residing in the Anderium Forest, where the Werfur Base was stationed and where many magical creatures lived. But she did not expect him to be this strong. At the very least, the man in front of her was at Provec Level.
As an Imper Level Witch, she could easily sense this without having to put her mind to it.
“Mister, I do not know you but I can feel that you are a mage. My sisters were attacked when we were travelling to Blue Tear City. We were attacked by some mage bandits that we have not heard of until now. I managed to escape from their hands and needed to find somebody to help me save my sisters.”
Epsilon shook his head and gulped down his tea. He then started talking.
“You and your sisters, which means other witches, were attacked by bandit mages. And you, most likely the one with the best face and of young age, managed to escape from them who were powerful enough to take out your whole group. And, at the same time, you luckily found a mage in the wilderness whom you believed would help you…”
“Not only this, you found me at exactly the time I stopped working to take a break. Just after a few seconds of me leaving the house, you appear here even though you were waiting at the same spot for three hours… Such a strange string of events…”
Epsilon smiled gently and shook his head as he said this.
Epsilon’s words hit Elicia’s head several times. In the next few seconds, more than 50 witches, all females and of different ages, showed themselves. Their power level was not much, most being at Imper Level (Student Level 1). Five of them were at the level of Prive and only one of them was Provec (Student Level 3) Level.
For an organization, these 50 members were stronger than the 200 members of the Deep Water Organization, simply because of the existence of the five Prive (Student Level 2) mages and one Provec mage.
The Provec Level woman was around 30-35 years old. She had black hair and green eyes with a height that made her look like an Amazonian from the ancient tales. She was wearing simple black mage robes and looking at Epsilon with a deep expression in her eyes. A myriad of emotions was fleeting through her eyes and face at the same time.
Epsilon smiled as he looked at the woman. At this time, the witch started talking.
“I am the Coven Master of the Black Flower Witches. My name is Maliana. We really were going towards the Blue Tear City but we heard about you along the way, Mister Viscount Epsilon. We wanted to see you with our own eyes. That was the reason we used a cheap trick to try and understand you.”
Epsilon smiled and sat back on his bench. He shook his hand pouring himself another cup of tea from nothing.
This move did not escape from the eyes of the witches but no one uttered a word.
Epsilon poured himself a tea and then looked at the witches as he started speaking.
“So, if nothing else, you people are on my land without notifying me, even trying to use your cheap tricks to get information about me. These are enough reasons to call this situation hostile. Not to mention, even if nothing happened and I became your enemy and the enemy of your coven, nobody would miss any of you. Am I wrong, Miss Maliana?”
Epsilon’s words were laced with naked threat but could not be challenged. All witches looked at each other on hearing him.
