The Cornflower Witch

Book 2: Chapter 139: The Dream of Illusion

Vol 2 Chapter 139 The Dream of Illusion

Reddish-purple beams shattered armor, silver lances pierced flesh.

Men and horses were flung about, bones crushed, bodies torn apart.

Monsters shrieked, blood gushed and flesh split.

In that night’s fierce battle, Anty’s elite suffered the greatest losses since the fall of Regas. Many elites fell under the evil-eyed monsters’ beams; soldiers died in droves to the bizarre, malevolent eye techniques. Even after a night of brutal fighting, they failed to flatten the Trident Forest. After both sides left behind swathes of corpses, the battle had to be called off.

Anty’s army temporarily withdrew from the Trident Forest to regroup and recuperate, while the Hundred-Eyes Sect personnel took Prince Jabers and moved out of the forest.

Over the following two months, towns and cities across Regas learned the outcome of that battle: Anty’s elites were heavily depleted, and Prince Jabers still lived.

That result shifted the thoughts of many Regas people. Prince Jabers began dispatching a flood of envoys to reach out to hidden factions, gathering forces again to resist the Kingdom of Ante.

Thanks to the victory in the Trident Forest, many people started to believe that Jabers might actually restore the kingdom. More and more rallied to his side. But this time was different from before: Prince Jabers no longer had many loyal bodyguards. His entire retinue was controlled by the Hundred-Eyes Sect. Whenever someone came to join him, they were quickly enticed and absorbed by the sect.

Thus, using Prince Jabers and the banner of restoration, the Hundred-Eyes Sect’s influence began to snowball. They set up hidden branches in various cities, secretly gathering intelligence and recruiting members.Meanwhile, in the Trident Forest, Carkis finally personally engaged the sect leader. Unfortunately he did not win, only managed a slight advantage, and he himself was lightly wounded, delaying subsequent pursuit.

Over the next two months, despite a relentless hunt for Prince Jabers and scouring for his traces, under the cover of the Hundred-Eyes Sect, Jabers’ whereabouts became ghostly and elusive. Carkis was led astray repeatedly, his prestige further eroded. Other Ante nobles within Regas grew less fearful; some complied outwardly while secretly resisting.

In response, Carkis produced royal authorization and publicly hanged several of those backstabbing Ante nobles, finally stopping the decline in discipline.

After his wounds healed, the so-called Baron Prison Hound settled his mind and calmed himself. Through careful planning and intelligence work, Prince Jabers’ true whereabouts began to surface.

“This time, we will make full preparations and take Jabers,” he said. This time he would not be careless or hold back.

Previously he had purposely provoked the gentry in Valley City to make them stain themselves with Jabers’ blood, ensuring they could not turn back, then use them to persuade and split other hidden resistance forces. The goal was to fragment and co-opt those groups until the entire Regas resistance could no longer trust one another and unite.

Unfortunately, the current Prince Jabers no longer relied on those old Regas nobles and their loyalty. The Hundred-Eyes Sect around him had a much stronger ability to win hearts, and their cultists were better commanded, even able to order them to carry out suicide missions—something ordinary armies could never do.

With the situation changing, the Valley City matters gradually faded from people’s minds. Carkis’ elite troops were long since withdrawn from there, sent to the frontline to chase and search for Prince Jabers’ trail.

“So, can we leave now?” Sylutia stood before the officer left in charge of Valley City and asked.

Sylutia had been stuck here for two months. Even with her good nature, she was beginning to lose patience.

“Sorry, Miss Sylutia, without Lord Carkis’ written command I cannot allow you to leave,” the acting city lord, who was a knight and officer in Anty’s army, shook his head and refused.

“I see…” Sylutia thought for a moment, then continued.

“So you still won’t relent, no matter what?” she asked again to confirm.

“Th… that is correct. Unless Lord Carkis orders it,” he said, looking at the extraordinarily beautiful girl before him and steeling himself as he refused.

“I understand.” Sylutia dropped the argument and turned away with her people.

Her decisive departure surprised the officer, but he had no grounds to pursue her.

After leaving, Sylutia summoned the key members of the caravan travelling with her.

“Carkis won’t be thinking about Valley City any time soon, so we can’t keep waiting,” she told them her plan.

“I already asked the acting city lord’s officer. According to him, unless Carkis personally orders it, he won’t relent.”

“I understand. He’s afraid of being blamed by Carkis if he agrees, so he won’t take that responsibility.”

“So we needn’t beg or pressure him. We’ll just find an opportunity to leave directly.” She explained the analysis to the group.

“Start packing.”

“Yes.” The group, tired of waiting, were excited to see Sylutia make a decision.

Soon the group left; only one man remained behind. He looked at the girl, then bowed his head, hesitating.

“Speak up, if there’s something,” Sylutia sensed his reluctance.

“Thank you, Lady Tia. The thing is…” he began slowly, pouring out his heart.

“I’d like to beg you, when you leave, to take a prisoner from this city with you.” He mustered courage to voice the unreasonable request.

“That prisoner is not a villain. He is my uncle. He traveled widely but months ago joined Prince Jabers’ rebellion. During the fighting he was captured by the Ante and locked in Valley City’s dungeon, where he has suffered much torture.”

“Now the situation has changed. The Anty don’t much care for prisoners in dungeons anymore; they’re practically forgotten. I could barely bribe a guard to visit him.”

“His name is Haines. My mother is his sister. My grandfather’s family once followed the Knight King Raygard in conquering the lands, so when Prince Jabers rose, he honored his ancestor’s oath and joined him.”

“Sadly, my uncle put his trust in the wrong person. Jabers was not as wise and brave as our forefathers. During the defense of Valley City he abandoned the city. My uncle and the other knight descendants lost morale, were defeated in the chaos, and captured by the Anty.”

“He was wounded, and the dungeon has no doctor. Even if he tries to endure with his strength, the terrible environment and lack of nutrition have worsened his condition. If he cannot be freed soon, he will likely die in that dungeon.”

“I have no special skill and don’t know how to break him out. This is all the money I have. I know it’s paltry, and offering gold is improper, but I have no other means… so I can only do this.” His words stumbled and his tears fell.

Sylutia shook her head slightly when she saw him.

“All right, don’t cry for now. Tell me more details.” She wanted to learn more about the man.

“My uncle was always fond of adventure since childhood. Every time he returned he would bring novel, interesting things for my mother and me. When I was little I’d sit by his side and listen to his stories…”

“He never married. Men like him are like the wind, drifting, unable to promise anyone a lasting home.”

“I didn’t expect he would join Prince Jabers, seeking the glory and legends his ancestor spoke of.”

“I know him—he couldn’t tolerate living an ordinary, mediocre life. Joining Jabers’ forces was inevitable.”

“I am grateful to my uncle. My grandfather’s family was poor; after my mother married to Scorchstone City she had to work to help the household. When I was little I always looked forward to my uncle’s visits. He would bring fine wine, sit and drink with my father, and tell us about his travels.”

“The way his eyes lit up—he was so inspiring; I admired him deeply. As I grew up I joined a caravan hoping to travel and make a living.”

“When Valley City fell again, the family worried about him, so when Lady Tia said she would go to Valley City, I volunteered to join the caravan to search for him.”

“Last month I enquired everywhere and learned he was in the dungeon. When I visited him he was already semi-conscious. Fortunately his cellmates were old comrades, which kept him from dying earlier.”

“But his condition is terrible now. If he doesn’t get out soon, I’m afraid—” His voice choked again.

“Mm, I understand.” Sylutia nodded and told him not to be anxious.

Haines, she memorized the name silently.

Though she felt no particular sentiment toward Prince Jabers, she held respect for the knights who once loyally followed Raygard to found the woodlands. The scenes she had seen in the Shadow World—the sacrificed Knight Horlin, the Knight Morick who escorted her to the Hidden Grove, and Knight Captain Cassius of that phantom world—all left good impressions.

If he really was a knight, or a person who embodied that old knightly spirit, Sylutia was willing to lend a hand and pull him out of despair.

That night Sylutia disguised herself lightly. Dressed in a black gown with a black veil, she stepped into the night.

Over the past two months she had time to quietly improve her abilities, and she had expanded the Autumn Garden’s cultivated plants to a fifth species: the Bewildering Mushroom, a fungal species with hallucinatory properties.

At night the girl walked the cold streets holding a lantern. There was no candle inside; instead the lantern contained small glowing mushrooms of various colors, like a kaleidoscope. As Sylutia passed, tiny mushroom spores drifted out of the lantern, sending soldiers and residents along the route into slumber.

Not long after she left her lodging, the caravan members rode out masked. Each mask contained the White Camellia tea Sylutia had given them beforehand, to counteract poison and weaken the bewildering effects.

But prolonged exposure to those spores would still affect them, so to save time they moved as fast as they could, following the girl toward the city gate.

“Who are you?” The patrol captain on the wall spotted the group preparing to leave and asked suspiciously.

Before he could shout to warn his comrades, a series of thuds came from behind him.

When he turned again he saw his formerly chatting companions strewn randomly on the ground, and he himself felt an overwhelming sleepiness.

In a daze he tried to rouse himself, pinching the webbing of his hand, but his eyelids drooped and his legs wobbled.

Finally, he looked at the blurred figure standing before him and slowly sank down.

Who was that figure? He could not remember. He only recalled that the person in his hazy sight was extraordinarily beautiful, like a dream.