In the world of science and the world of magic.
'Ever since that woman entered the village, everything has gone wrong!'
'Beat her immediately and drive her out!'
'Burn and destroy the house and furniture she used!'
Superstitions never disappear.
Perhaps, as long as intelligence exists, superstition will always coexist with it.
Unfortunately, in the world of magic, witches were not merely superstition but actual calamities.
When a witch secretly hid in a village, droughts would occur, floods would strike, things that were going well would fall apart, or even plagues would spread, leading to deaths.
Each time, the villagers would find the most unlucky and gloomy woman in the village, burn her to death, or beat her half to death before driving her out.
If it had been a real witch, she would never have fallen victim to such ridiculous and fake witch hunts by humans.
It was all just superstition.
Why would witches benefit from causing droughts or floods? While there were witches who controlled monsters, they rarely attacked villages.
After all, they knew that such actions would immediately draw the attention of witch hunters.
Most witches with some intelligence and power lived in hiding.
However, the image of witches as malicious beings had already solidified in people's minds, thanks to the heinous acts committed by witches in the past.
Witches were thought to bring evil deeds, ominous auras, and diseases, and were blamed for all misfortunes.
"That evil witch is the cause of this!"
"We must drive the witch out of our divine forest!"
"How dare she disturb our forest!"
This mysterious forest, known as the 'Secret Forest,' was called by another name until half a century ago.
The Forest of Hunters, the Forest of Massacre, the Forest of Predators.
Despite being home to numerous powerful monsters, there were several strong tribes of beastmen living in the forest. The strongest warriors among them hunted monsters to protect their tribes.
But those days were long gone.
One day, a mysterious witch entered the forest and distorted its space, throwing it into chaos.
The warriors, who had relied on their instincts to survive in the forest, could no longer stand against the monsters and were driven out of the forest entirely.
Until now, the beastmen continuously endured, but as they could no longer live in the forest, they lost their dreams and hopes, and even their self-esteem hit rock bottom. Eventually, half a century later, today:
Having gained confidence by mastering the magic of the world, the beastmen decided they could drive the witch out with their own strength and began setting the forest on fire.
From Baek Yu-Seol's perspective, it must have been utterly absurd.
'Wait, if they burn the forest, where will they live after driving out the witch?'
But for the beastmen, the aftermath was not important.
The best way to resolve the spatial distortion blocking their path to the witch was to burn the forest.
In reality, their method was effective.
The witch couldn't distort the entire vast forest, so she relied on minor spatial distortions and the dense trees to create illusions. But once the trees were gone, the spatial distortion lost most of its power.
Thanks to this, the hundreds of beastmen who had been exiled from the forest quickly found the witch's hideout.
"That... mansion..."
"This wretched witch! After driving us out, you were living luxuriously in a place like this?!"
Although they had expected the hideout to be a mere hut or cave, they were briefly astonished to find a massive mansion. However, their shock didn't last long.
Each beastman grabbed a torch in hand and began shouting furiously.
Syclen, who was being accused of being a witch, glanced at Baek Yu-Seol.
"They're calling me a witch."
"What an interesting story. Let's go check it out."
Baek Yu-Seol gracefully leaped from the roof and landed right in front of the beastmen.
Such a high jump wasn't easy even for beastmen, and they flinched, trembling slightly as they cautiously stepped back.
'Let's see... The leader in front is at best a Class 4.'
Considering there were still no Class 9 beastmen, it seemed their bodies weren't well-suited for learning magic. Their overall skill level wasn't very high.
To be honest, Baek Yu-Seol could handle all of them even with his eyes closed.
"So, what brings you here?"
"It's the witch! The witch drove us out of the forest!"
"The witch? Who?"
"That woman over there!"
When the beastmen pointed at Syclen and shouted, Baek Yu-Seol let out a mocking laugh.
"That woman is a witch? Have you guys ever actually seen a witch? On what basis are you saying that?"
"Do we need any prior knowledge to identify a witch? She polluted the forest and brought misfortune to our village. Ever since she appeared, sickness has been rampant!"
"Sickness?"
Syclen didn't seem to have any abilities that could cause such things.
Then, noticing the state of their attire, Baek Yu-Seol frowned.
"Do you guys even wash yourselves regularly?"
"Beastmen don't bathe."
"...Well, now I understand why you're always sick."
Magic was a complex discipline.
However, anyone who dedicated over 50 years of effort could achieve at least Class 4 magic mastery.
The beastmen before him were a perfect example of this.
They had studied magic for a long time but refused to abandon the core tenets of their beastmen traditions.
Scratching his head with the back end of his staff, Baek Yu-Seol said, "I've seen real witches and plenty of beastmen. That woman is no witch. And the reason you're miserable is because you're stupid."
"Don't speak nonsense! Do not belittle the instincts of the beastmen!"
"Oh..."
It seemed they weren't going to listen easily. Baek Yu-Seol decided to demonstrate a little of his power.
He pulled out his Teripon and unsheathed his magic sword, swinging it lightly twice before sheathing it again. The entire process took only 0.1 seconds.
The time was so brief that even the beastmen's sharp eyesight couldn't register the magic sword being drawn.
But the impact was unmistakable.
A fierce gust of wind surged forward, forcing the beastmen to shield their faces with their arms as they stumbled backward.
As the wind subsided, the sight before their eyes left them stunned.
"Th-this is...!"
A massive scar in the shape of an 'X' was carved into the ground. It was so deep and wide that its full depth couldn't be immediately grasped at a glance.
The beastmen finally began to see Baek Yu-Seol in a different light.
"Do you understand now? I am a far more skilled mage than you."
In truth, the result had been achieved through swordsmanship honed to its peak. However, since no one in modern times could demonstrate such swordsmanship, it was understandable that they mistook it for magic.
"So, why don't you listen to me?"
The beastmen were drenched in cold sweat and nodded hesitantly.
"Fine, we admit it. You are indeed a more powerful mage than we are. But that doesn't prove that woman isn't a witch."
"No, you're not only inferior in magical skill but also in experience and knowledge. I've met real witches before, and I've even killed one."
"You've killed a witch?"
"Yes. And do you know how absurd it seems to me that you accuse this woman of being a witch without ever having seen one yourselves?"
"Hmph, fine. Let's say we believe that you've met a witch."
Baek Yu-Seol had expected them to demand evidence, but surprisingly, the beastmen didn't.
"But that doesn't give you a reason to stand in our way."
"Why not?"
"It doesn't matter whether that woman is a real witch or not. The fact is, ever since she showed up, we've been plagued by misfortune!"
"That's right!"
"So stop interfering with us!"
"Get lost right now!"
"What...?"
Baek Yu-Seol was dumbfounded.
In other words, the beastmen didn't care whether Syclen was actually a witch or not.
'...So that's how it is.'
He couldn't entirely disagree.
'I guess I was the one being foolish.'
Even if Syclen wasn't truly a witch, the fact remained that she had taken their homeland.
While Baek Yu-Seol sided with her for now because she had valuable information, wasn't it undeniable that the blame mostly lay with her?
"This is as far as I'll go. There's no point in continuing this conversation, it's clear they won't listen. Not that I didn't expect this."
Turning to Syclen, he saw her smirk bitterly before jumping down from the roof. She quickly disappeared into the grand mansion, while the beastmen, unable to contain themselves any longer, charged forward.
"Burn it! Burn the witch's house!"
"Burn it all to the ground!"
"Waaaah!"
The beastmen began setting fire to Syclen's mansion without a care.
Baek Yu-Seol wanted to stop them, but there was neither justification nor reason to do so, he simply couldn't intervene.
And so, for over half a day, the beastmen celebrated as they burned the witch's mansion. Dancing in circles around the blazing house, they drank and sang in revelry.
Watching the scene from a distance, Baek Yu-Seol let out a deep sigh.
"Sigh."
"Hey, don't worry too much. Do you really think that crazy woman will die in flames like that?" Panallet chuckled, grinning and downing another drink.
"Of course not."
A witch hunter couldn't die in such a feeble fire even if they wanted to. It was akin to trying to drown a fish.
"Let's just wait quietly. Once those crazy beasts leave, we'll get her out of there."
"That's the plan."
Baek Yu-Seol nodded, waiting for the beastmen's celebration to end.
But then, an unexpected event occurred.
"Th-this is...!"
"C-chief! Come quickly and look at this!"
"Unbelievable...!"
From a tree nearby, Baek Yu-Seol, who had been waiting with his eyes closed, lazily opened them.
"What's that?"
It didn't take long for Syclen's grand mansion to burn to the ground. Once the flames consumed it entirely, what remained in the ashes revealed something extraordinary: strange symbols and patterns that immediately caught the attention of those versed in magic.
"A sealing magic circle...!"
It was an ancient magic circle, easily over 50 years old, etched into the ground beneath the mansion.
Unlike 50 years ago, the beastmen now understood magic.
Because of this, they immediately realized what the magic circle was and the magnitude of the dangerous entity it was meant to seal.
The array was imbued with advanced magic that required at least class 8 incantations… something no mage could overlook.
"N-no way..."
Crack, crackle!!!
Fissures began forming in the magic circle.
The fire that had burned the ground where the seal had been inscribed caused the circuit to malfunction. The magic circle, which had already been deteriorating over the course of 50 years, began to lose its function entirely thanks to the beastmen's interference.
Crack, boom!!!
The situation escalated in an instant.
A massive arm burst out of the magic circle, striking terror into the beastmen.
"Ka-Kajilisk...!"
"Aaaaah!"
"R-run away!"
Panic ensued, and the beastmen scrambled to flee. But it was already too late. The creature, known as Kajilisk, emerged fully, unleashing chaos and slaughtering the beastmen indiscriminately.
"Wow, a Kajilisk. That's the crazy monster that roamed the Secret Forest 50 years ago. I wondered why it suddenly disappeared, it turns out it was sealed here... Wait, where did he go?"
Panallet was saying something, but Baek Yu-Seol had already disappeared. Turning her head to see where he'd gone, she found him plunging a sword into the monster's neck.
"Pfft, what a ridiculous guy."
No matter what those beastmen had done, Baek Yu-Seol couldn't just stand by when a life was in danger right in front of him. It was truly a peculiar personality trait.
"I would never act like that. Isn't that right, sis?"
As Panallet turned her head with a sly look, Syclen emerged from the bushes.
"... It's their karma."
She had gone through the effort of sealing the rampaging Kajilisk and driving the beastmen out of the forest to prevent its energy from leaking out.
And yet, they had the audacity to return and call her a 'witch' with ungrateful disdain.
"By the way, you seemed to be enjoying yourself earlier. Are you a masochist or something?"
When Syclen shot a sharp glare at Panallet, she quickly avoided eye contact.
But she wasn't entirely wrong.
Despite being treated like a witch, Syclen couldn't help but feel oddly pleased. Perhaps it was because she had once loved a witch long ago.
Clenching and unclenching her fists, Syclen exhaled quietly.
'...I was lucky.'
She no longer had the strength to face the Kajilisk. Perhaps the real problem had been that a witch hunter like her had used her true power against a mere monster in the first place.
Now, she was suffering from the massive penalty that followed, rendering most of her abilities useless.
It wasn't as though Panallet was likely to help her, nor would she have happened to show up here on her own.
Syclen turned her gaze to Baek Yu-Seol, who was relentlessly swinging his sword at the monster.
The Kajilisk, even though it had been severely wounded 50 years ago, had been a formidable opponent that even Syclen had struggled against. Yet Baek Yu-Seol was cutting it down as if it were nothing.
Amid the blazing ruins of the mansion, the serpent-shaped Kajilisk roared as it emerged, and a swordsman left streaks of blue light in his wake, moving at lightning speed as he swung his blade.
It was a sight so dazzling and romantic that Syclen found herself mesmerized, unable to look away.
'A man like that, searching for a witch... Who could possibly be the witch that captivated such a swordsman?'
It was almost reminiscent of the 'Story of the Blood Witch'... a tale of a witch who had once been the queen of witches but fell for a swordsman born in the age of mages.
"...He's becoming more and more interesting."
With curious eyes, Syclen watched Baek Yu-Seol.
Whoever the witch he sought might be, she suddenly felt a strong desire to help him find her.