Chapter 170 - Who is the Witch? (1)

I knocked on the door before slamming the door open when I heard desperate screams for help. Olive's head was bloodied and beaten up with bruises as she struggled to escape. She tried to grab on anything she could to keep herself from being dragged. The person who pulled her hair was a grown man with a wicked smile.

"What's going on?" I stared coldly at the man.

"We are getting rid of this witch," the man smirked.

I gasped as I recalled the book about the witch hunts in the fifth district. It was hard to believe they were actually true that people believed those nonsensical things. Olive continued to be dragged on the floor by the man who was about to leave the house.

"Olive is not a witch, let her go," I blocked the door.

The man continued to pull on Olive's hair as she looked at me for help. Her lips were blue with fear and she trembled uncontrollably. I fiercely stared at the man to let go before I turned when I heard my name called behind me.

"Rika!" Luke caught up to me, panting to catch his breath.

Luke pushed me out of the house while sending an apologetic smile to the man. He ignored Olive's tortured state as he focused on dragging me back home. What was his problem? Couldn't he see an innocent person being framed to their death?

"Let me go," I struggled to get out of his tight grip.

"Stop making more trouble," Luke continued to drag me.

"I know you care for her, but we can't interfere in the fifth district," Luke locked the door once we entered the house.

"It doesn't go against our mission," I argued.

I couldn't understand why I couldn't help Olive. Witch hunts were ridiculous! There had to be a reason behind choosing Olive as the next witch. I had to figure out the reason and go from there to prevent her from being burned at a stake.

I knew the village square was the perfect place to obtain more information since it was the place with the most crowds in the village. But I couldn't go out as Luke blocked the door in front of me. He watched my every movement like a hawk to anticipate my next move.

"Come on, I'm only going to the village square," I stomped my feet.

"Please, or I might have to use the windows," I clasped my hands together.

Luke sighed, "I'll go with you and from now on when you go outside, we'll go together."

When didn't he follow me when I went out of the house? He stuck to me like glue as we walked towards the village square. My stamina was getting better ever since I figured out how to pace my steps. I was impressed with how I only needed his support for a quarter of the distance instead of half.

"Rika?" Mill was heading toward our direction.

"You're also going to the village square today too?" I wondered if he had any business there.

"I was actually heading towards your house to warn you about something," He fidgeted with his hands.

Warn us about something? Luke's eyes narrowed as he gestured to Mill to continue. Mill nodded, "the village chief had lost money from gambling a week ago and is framing Olive as a witch since she rejected the marriage proposal."

"So he is framing Olive as a witch because he needs money?" I became confused.

It made sense if he had strong pride and became humiliated from the rejection, but not for money. It wasn't like he was getting a reward like gold coins from purging a witch, would he? I laughed from the insane idea.

"It's because the village receives a bag of gold coins if they help with the purge. That's why the village already killed six witches from his greed," Mill continued.

I stopped laughing when my insane idea was actually right. This village chief was insane! He was killing people for money and was getting away with it. Instead of going to the village square, my next destination was the village chief's house to talk some sense into him.

"We need to go to his house to stop him. Where is his house?" I turned to Mill.

Before Mill could answer, Luke covered my ears. I shook my head with annoyance before turning to glare at him. Mill awkwardly smiled as he scratched his head under the eyes of Luke. It appeared like I wouldn't be able to go to the village chief's house today with Luke around.

"Fine, we'll continue going to the village square!" I yelled, feeling that I lost.

I kicked some tiny stones along the way to the village square. It was frustrating to be unable to do anything to help Olive. At least what I could do now was to ask the villagers more information about the village chief to know who I was up against.

"Stupid village chief," I mumbled.

"Corrupt people like him should be disposed," I spoke louder.

"Girlie, you should be careful about what you're saying," a concerned stall owner came up to me.

"The village chief is someone to fear," he lowered his voice.

"Is someone talking about me?" An old man with a big jiggling belly walked towards us.

The old man appeared like the definition of a typical villain. He was surrounded by poor villagers begging to delay the payment of their taxes. He ignored them as they were tiny bugs as his eyes glinted with interest at our conversation.