Witch Hunt Chapter 3 part5

(Part 5)

While I pursued my headdress, I bumped into three people as I ran looking upwards. Despite that, I chased it desperately without taking my eyes off it, while clutching my throbbing chest with a hand.

My precious headdress exited the marketplace riding the wind and went down a street; by the time it reached the town square, it finally began to lose altitude.

Ok, now’s my chance. I need to catch the headdress once it falls to the ground, before the next gale blows.

Guided by that determination, I ran down the paved street, trying to estimate the landing point of the headdress. But in the end, the headdress never reached the ground.

When it was about to land and I stretched out my hand, unsure of whether I would be able to grab it…A big hand swiftly snatched it off the air.

“Ah…!”

“This headdress is yours?” The tall man with beautiful deep purple hair showed me on the palm of his hand the very thing I was looking for.

“Ah….ah….y-yes?” For an instant, his graceful actions left me so captivated that I breathed out like a dunce. I tried to answer, but I had spent myself running to the point that my respiratory system was at its limit.

“Hahaha, this one won’t escape from you any longer. Calm down and take a deep breath.”

Resting my hands on my knees, I inhaled and exhaled as I was told.

“That’s it, just like that. Slow, take it slow…”

Inhale. Exhale.

I heard the man before me inhale and exhale along with me. It was just like a grown man teaching a child how to breathe.

“Hehehe, don’t make me laugh, please!” After I exclaimed that, the man looked confused and tilted his head.

“I wasn’t trying to make you laugh. Did I do something strange?”

 “It’s just….hahaha!” Apparently, there was enough air in my lungs to laugh.

The man in front of my eyes wasn’t intending to make fun of me, and there was nothing further from his mind than to make me laugh; he was just a very unaffected individual.

“Well then, I shall ask again. Is this yours?”

In my opinion, there was no room to be mistaken, since the headdress never left my sight during its flight. However, under the man’s earnest stare, I felt a mysterious sense of duty to take the matter as seriously as him. As such, I examined the headdress from all angles and made sure.

“Yes, no doubt about it. Thank you very much.” It’s not like I expected otherwise, but it was indeed the genuine article, the headdress my boss gifted me, so I thanked the purple-haired man and returned the headdress to its spot on the top of my head. I was very glad I could go with my life without having lost it.

“Is it important?” The man in front of me was smiling at me with a kind expression.

“Yes. Someone important gave it to me; I would’ve been in trouble at the store tomorrow if I didn’t have.”

“The store…?” He considered this for a moment, then took a sniff and clapped his hands together. “Are you by any chance Lucca from the bakery?”

I was startled. My heart throbbed wildly as I met the eyes of the man who appeared to see right through me.

Who was this man? Was he a customer of the store? No, I remembered the faces of every client that came into the store. Perhaps we had seen each other elsewhere? No, there was no way that was true. Even if we had, it was weird that he even knew my name.

Although I knew it was impossible, the thought that he might’ve figured out my true identity began bounding around inside of my confused mind.

“Why do you know about me…?” My fear grew and grew. Who are you?

“Hm, I wonder.” The wind blew his deep purple hair, as he gave me that evasive answer with a grin on his face.

When I gazed into his kind eyes, there was no way I could think that man could be a threat to me. Still, it didn’t feel right to be in a situation where he knew about me, and yet I didn’t know a single thing about him. When I was just about to vent my dissatisfaction, he suddenly made the source of his knowledge clear.

“The truth is, it was Michelle…” It finally clicked in my mind when I heard the name.

So in all likelihood he was an acquaintance of Michelle, and he had heard about me from her that very day. If that was the case, was he a member of the church as well? Considering his warm demeanor, perhaps he was a priest.

 At first, I didn’t realize it, but after taking a good look at him, I became aware that he was wearing expensive clothes; he probably was a person with a higher social standing than me…As I thought about it, I gazed at his face and saw his expression cloud a bit.

“Damn, they found me.”

“…Eh?”

He seemed to be staring at a point behind me. I turned around and saw a contingent of soldiers coming into the square, while shouting things like “That’s the one!” and “Catch that person!”
“Perhaps it’s an incident of some sort,” I thought and then promptly realized how odd the situation was.  Those men were coming straight towards us, there was no mistake about it, and running with great haste.

What in the world is going on? Do they know my real identity…?

“Dammit, I wanted to speak with you some more…” He scratched his forehead with a finger in a childish gesture, looking troubled.

From what he was saying, I could discern that the objective of the soldier wasn’t me, it was the man.

Who was this man, who had to be pursued with more zeal than a witch like me? Maybe he was an arch-villain, capable of throwing the world into turmoil. Even though he appeared so kind, looks could be deceiving.

Was he a robber? A swindler? A master thief?

“Sorry, but I’m going to escape now…Please be kind to Michelle from here on.”

As he was about to leave, I suddenly caught hold of his hand. If he was truly an evil man, I had to detain him until the soldiers from the palace arrived. At least, that was my reasoning when I grabbed his hand; but the thought soon vanished from my mind. I couldn’t believe that a man concerned about Michelle’s well-being could be a bad person.

He looked at my face, surprised. I suddenly realized, as I stared head on at those eyes, that I had no idea of what to do now that I was gripping his hand.

“You want to come with me?”

“Eh?”

I nodded my head in response to his invitation, delivered with narrowed eyes like those of a mischievous child.

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Chapter end