Olivia and Adrian freed the missing people and escorted them back to the town. Afterwards, they went to regroup with the other Royal Red members who each had an encounter with a dark creature. Most of the dark creatures had been eradicated. However, there were still a few roaming around which they had to take care of. It didn’t take long for them to complete the job.

“I still haven’t found Ham.” Olivia sighed.

Suddenly, they both heard a bark.

“Olivia!” Shina was surprised to see her. Ham the dog was following Shina like he was the dog’s owner. He gave Ham a pat on the head. “I bumped into this dog here while I was setting up wards. He wouldn’t stop following me.” Ham licked Shina’s hand.

“Shina! Ham!” Olivia exclaimed happily. “Thank goodness you found him!”

Ham ran over to Olivia and licked her too.

“Oh, is that your dog?” Shina was surprised.

“It’s the pastry shop owner’s dog. I’m helping her look for him.”

“You can tell her that Ham is a brave dog. He helped fight off the dark creatures. I was thinking of adopting him for the union, but I guess he’s taken.”

“I’ll take Ham back to her now. Good luck with cleansing the forest!” Olivia waved and walked away with the dog.

Shina turned to face Adrian, who was deep inside his own thoughts. “You seem troubled by something.”

Adrian couldn’t stop thinking about the witch and those books she kept at the hut. The presence of a single witch usually indicated the presence of others. Who was the one turning them into witches? The problem would never end if they didn’t find the cause.

“You should come see this,” replied Adrian as he led Shina to the witch’s hut.

***

“Ham!” The old shop owner hugged her dog happily when Olivia returned to the shop with Ham. “Thank you, dear Olivia. I’m glad Ham is safe and sound. He didn’t cause you a lot of trouble did he?”

Olivia laughed awkwardly. “Well… I did end up having to fight some evil beings on the way, but it was alright. Ham was a brave dog.”

“Oh dear. I should give you a little extra for your efforts then.”

“No, no. You don’t have to!”

“Oh, but I insist.”

“Thank you.”

Olivia remembered that she still had the witch’s locket in her hand. Out of curiosity, she decided to ask the shop owner. “Do you recognize this person?” She showed her the pendant.

The old lady’s eyes widened upon seeing the photo. “Where did you get this?”

“I found it in the forest.”

“I knew her. She was my friend. One day, she suddenly went missing. No one from the town ever saw her since.”

So the witch really was a normal person before she became a witch, Olivia thought sadly.

“Did you meet her in there?” asked the shop owner.

Olivia wasn’t sure about how to answer. She just nodded.

“She was always a strange one. She would claim to hear voices and made friends with forest spirits. The forest was where she spent most of her time, until she stopped coming back one day. I don’t know what really drew her there, but we all knew the forest was home to many dark spirits. If you see her again, please tell her to be careful.”

Olivia felt that she shouldn’t mention about how the girl the shop owner once knew turned into a creature of evil. Nevertheless, the old lady had an idea about what happened.

“She became evil, didn’t she?” Gone was the usual calm and cheerful tone the shop owner usually had.

“Yes.”

“I had a feeling it was like that. So she never left the forest…” She paused. “Keep the pendant. Let it remind you of what happened here and every person led astray.” Her old bony hands held Olivia’s hands. “A summoner’s duty is to cleanse this world of evil and prevent this from happening. You may feel safer having a simple job at my little pastry shop, but you have to face your true path one day. You are a summoner, Olivia.”

***

“Mezolas.”

It was sunset. Olivia was walking home from the pastry shop. The shop owner gave her an extra bag of cinnamon rolls to take home as a reward for finding Ham.

“Yes, my Lady?” The Eye of Nightmare’s appearance was timely.

“What do you know about witches?”

“Not more than what you already know about them. Until now, their existence remains a mystery.”

“I see…”

“Stay vigilant, my Lady. You might encounter another one in the near future.” Mezolas vanished.

Olivia took one last look at the forest before continuing home.

***

Within the walls of the Royal Red headquarters, a single room still remained brightly lit. Adrian sat on his desk in the middle of the night trying to decipher the cryptic language of the books they seized from the witch’s hut. He couldn’t stop thinking about them. The sooner he understood what the books said, the sooner he would find some relief.

“You should get some sleep.”

Adrian turned his head. It was his good friend Leonel Aelius, the brute of the union, standing at the doorway.

“You had a long day, my friend. You must be tired after defeating a witch.” Leonel sat on the cushioned chair in front of Adrian’s desk.

“I wasn’t the one who defeated it.” The union leader kept his gaze on the faded pages of the books.

“What? You went in the hut alone to confront the witch, didn’t you?”

“I wasn’t alone. There was someone else with me.”

“A person outside of our union?”

“The one who rescued the kidnapped graduates from the cult.”

Leonel was shocked. “What was she doing there?”

“Looking for a dog, apparently.”

The large man laughed. “She must be powerful then.”

“Dangerously so.”

“Which union is she from?”

“She belongs to none.” Adrian calmly flipped a page.

“Why not invite her to Royal Red?”

Adrian’s eyes finally left the books and met his friend’s. “I could, but I’m a little concerned about her familiar.”

Leonel glanced at the pile of old books. “Are you going to turn these in to your family members? They could certainly decipher them for you.”

Adrian recalled the fate of his uncle Glen Icarus. “I’d like to translate these myself, just to make sure they don’t fall into the wrong hands.”

“Alright.” Leonel stood up. “Get some rest, friend Adrian. Tomorrow will be a long day.”