บท 8: 8: Inside the Witch's Tent

Defolta's curious eyes were focused on the books that were situated in the bookshelves.

She skimmed each one of the books, looking for crucial information regarding where the prisoners were exactly held. Some of them were novels, Matilda's pastime most likely when she was not out there committing atrocious acts.

Thankfully, the alphabet symbols were not so far off from the Modern English Alphabet that she was accustomed back from his world. The only difference though was the writing was slightly italic with elements of the Old English System. It was yet another stroke of luck that she could understood the letters of this world.

It would certainly be a pain in the ass to learn a whole new different language, coupled with their alphabet and pronunciations in the mix.

Other books piqued Defolta's interest the most, like the two Spell Books that she uncovered.

"Spells, the System mentioned that I can learn them by reading these kinds of books." Defolta muttered with excitement as she opened the first book, "Let's see here, we got… Dominate."

In an instant, an influx of strange information invaded Defolta's mind. Countless words and otherworldly diagrams were being crammed like her head was being poked by needles.

In the end, Defolta managed to compose herself and the spell successfully integrated within herself.

System Notification: Spell Unlocked: Dominate.

Dominate (B) (MIN) – The Magical Girl invokes her demanding will towards her victim, stunning them aggressively as long as she commands it. Individuals with a Higher Mind may resist and break free of the spell's control. Mana cost: (10 / s).

Quote: "The most common of all Mind spells and a testament of a Witch's mental prowess. It is mostly employed notoriously against weak-willed slaves for them to do her bidding. As per tradition in Witch Society, Witches sized up against one other with the use of this spell, to put an end to the debate who the superior magic user truly is. While non-magic users are indeed more susceptible to this spell, there are numerous instances when the will of a strong body may brute force its way out from the filthy illusion that was casted upon them, hence proving that such mind spell is not one without flaws."

"This spell, it is the same that Matilda used against me." Defolta realized upon reading the spell's effects, "And now I too can perform a similar feat. It's official, The Mind Attribute is not to be taken lightly."

As Defolta moved on to the next spell book, she felt another tinge of pain in her head, and a notification appeared yet again, this time telling her:

"Your feeble mind is unable to comprehend the contents that are found inside this book. Perhaps by expanding your inferior knowledge, it may be easier, even for someone mentally challenged such as yourself, to grasp the intricacies of the spell that you oh so are desperate to acquire. Int Required: 40, Mind Required: 30."

"Or in layman's term, you dumb, hehe." Nekowa took a jab at Defolta, causing the latter to blush in embarrassment.

"Well, fuck you too! Who needs Int when a dagger shoved right at their throats can do the same thing!" Defolta was flabbergasted, bamboozled, and outright furious by the audacity of the System Notification.

Nekowa giggled at the Magical Girl fuming and continued to help in search for any relevant information about the camp and its prisoners. As luck would have it, the cat seemingly found what they were looking for as she told Defolta, "Hey, I think I found something."

"Neat, let me see." Defolta's eyes brightened.

It was a small red notebook. Glancing inside for its contents, the two instantly surmised that it was the journal of none other than the wicked witch Matilda herself.

The journal basically stated about her circumstances surrounding this region. Matilda was a former member of an organization called the Arkanus Sorority, the official guild of Witches sanctioned by the Empire. The apprentice Matilda rose to prominence when she displayed academic knowledge and magic that far surpassed most of her peers in the apprenticeship program. When she was officially granted the Witch title, Matilda worked for the Sorority for ten years, becoming one of its prominent members due to her powerful fire and illusion magic unmatched by many. Although many of her colleagues find her condescending attitude distasteful, displaying sheer amount of arrogance and would often belittle lower-ranked Witches for even the slightest of mistakes. Of course, her magic was undeniably powerful, and Matilda was irrefutably an asset despite her unfavorable disposition. Although one fateful night, Witches discovered of a secret lab located beneath Matilda's manor, showcasing horrifying and grotesque experiments that was in violation of the Empire's laws. When confronted about the issue, Matilda wasted no time and burned her confronters to melted flesh, fleeing away from the city and was out hiding away from the Witches' eyes.

Thus, the Sorority declared her as a Wild Witch, a Witch gone rogue. For three years, Matilda was on the run, away from prying eyes of the lawful authorities. She viewed the Sorority as weak, spineless fools who were frightened of doing whatever means necessary to further their knowledge of magic.

In her point of view, the laws of the land limited a Witch from achieving her true potential. Why should they bound themselves to the pathetic notion of morals. It made them weak, for the mortal shell only served to cover the fact that a Witches in the truest sense strived constantly for power and dominion.

At least, that's what Defolta and Nekowa both summarized from what was written in Matilda's journal, a collection of statement that detailed the Witch's mindset regarding the whole matter of this Sorority and the state of magic as a whole.

"Sorority?" Defolta could not help but question, "Wait, so does that mean that only women on this world are capable of using magic? Or at the very least, based on what we just read."

"Maybe," Nekowa shrugged with uncertainty, "A single diary does not exactly tell us the full picture though."

"Hmm, let's just keep reading, for now."

Matilda naturally would still conduct her horrendous experiments, this time rather freely and away from the restrictions of the Sorority and the Empire. One entry mentioned of how she arrived at a small village sometime a year ago and enslaved the villagers for her experiments. From then on, the entries of the journal specifically detailed on what her experiments entailed. During the course of her journey, she utilized live human subjects who she kidnapped from distant, insignificant villages from the middle of nowhere and subjecting them to perverse experimentations that involved twisting and manipulating the human anatomy in hopes of rediscovering some kind of forbidden magic that was lost to the ages.

"The Magic of Blood: Hemomancy?"

The Dread words were uttered by Defolta as she felt the chill of every syllable that came out from her mouth.