I Am The Only Witch Hunter-Chapter 289: The Hunter

Siderius stopped in front of a wooden cabin near the woods. There were many drying racks in front of the cabin with leather and all kinds of meat hanging on them.

Siderius jumped down from Red. He patted the horse gently.

"Stay here, Red."

Lycan jumped on Siderius’ shoulder. Surprisingly, its big size was not a problem for him and it could stay on his shoulder just like when it was small. Siderius also grew a lot bigger the last few months.

The pair approached the front door and knocked.

"Yes, who is it?" A man’s voice echoed from behind.

"I am Lord Snow, Baron of Snowfell. I am here to ask you about the wolf." Siderius said.

"Baron of Snowfell? The White Witch?! I’m coming, my lord!" The hunter answered.

He soon opened the door and bowed. "It is my honor to meet you, my lord."

Siderius nodded. "May I come in?"

"Of course, my lord."

Siderius entered the cabin. The interior inside was extremely simple with a lot of tools and weapons hanging around. A shack of a true hunter indeed.

"How long have you been a hunter?" Siderius said.

The hunter arranged a chair for Siderius to sit down.

"Around twenty years, my lord."

"It’s rare to see a hunter live this long. Especially with all the Chaos Beast running around.

Please, sit with me. You do not need to stand."

The two of them sat at the table.

"What’s your name, hunter?"

"I am Jeto, my lord."

"So Jeto, tell me about the wolf. Everything you know about. Even the small details."

"Of course, my lord. I didn’t encounter it but rather... I saw it. It was still back in winter..."

Jeto continued to tell Siderius about a heavy snow day. The hunter profession never does well in winter. A lot of animals went into hibernation. The cold weather was also a giant hindrance to any hunting.

This forced Jeto to hunt for small games instead of big games. On that day, Jeto was going after a squirrel when he heard howling in the woods. He followed the noise to a small cave entrance in the Rottin Woods.

Soon, he saw a humanoid wolf with a bloody mouth dragging a brown bear out of its den. The bear was mauled to death. Large chunks of meat were missing from its body. Its face even showed a part of its skull.

That wolf was the biggest and most animalistic wolf Jeto had ever seen. He lowered his breath and stayed as still as possible in the bush, avoiding making any noise.

He saw the wolf feasted on the bear and left.

That was only one time. Another time, he saw the Wolf running out from the South side of Scalize, holding a human hand in its mouth. It ran straight into the woods with soldiers chasing after it.

The werewolf was incredibly fast. When it got down on four legs and ran, almost no human could match its speed.

The last time was right before Jude began an ambush toward the werewolf. A group of travelling merchants met the wolf in the middle of the road. Jeto, out of curiosity, came and watched again. He saw the wolf attack the caravan and kill most of the people on it.

It did, however, leave the woman and children alive.

Siderius rubbed his chin after he heard Jeto’s stories.

"Did I be of use, my lord?" Jeto said.

"Yes, you did. A lot."

The werewolf ran out from the South side of Scalize. It was possible that it lived around that area. It also spared women and children alive. This meant that it had a high moral ground, high enough to force its animalistic tendency to listen.

Not a lot of people would have enough will power to even remember what they did when they transformed. This beast was able to influence the wolf inside it somewhat.

"Thank you, Jeto. I will be going now." Siderius stood up.

"My lord! Can I go with you?" Jeto said.

"Oh? Why do you want to ask?"

"I never saw that type of beast before, my lord. And to be honest, I am curious as to how you are going to catch it." Jeto scratched his head in embarrassment.

"Alright. You can come with me, Jeto the Hunter."

With Jeto tagged along, Siderius went back to Scalize. He went to the steward of the barony, the person who handled paperwork for Jude. What he needed was the list of people living inside Scalize.

Jude had done a great job in documenting this information. Along with the names, he even put down each house location belonging to whom.

Soon, Siderius found the names in the South section of Scalize alongside their profession.

"Jani. Female. Dark hair. Tailor.

Juntu. Male. Golden hair. Woodcutter.

Jacqui. Female. Dark hair. Farmer.

Jonson. Male. Brown hair. Priest of Mother Trees."

Siderius’ finger stopped at Jonson. He turned to Jeto, "There is a priest in Scalize? I thought there was no church."

Jeto nodded. "There aren’t any, my lord. Jonson was a priest in Santa Roberto but he moved to Scalize about five to six years ago."

"Did he say why?"

Jeto shook his head.

Siderius closed the notebook. "We have our first suspect, Jeto."

Jonson returned from the butcher shop. He was a priest and he still practiced his religion everyday but without a church, Jonson needed another profession to live. He had been helping the butcher of Scalize for a few years now to make ends meet.

He returned to his house after a long working day. He reached for the door handle and froze mid-motion.

The door was slightly open. But the inside was still dark. Jonson looked around the street. The road was unusually empty.

There should be at least a few people at this time of day. Jonson could feel that something was wrong.

He turned his back and wanted to run away. Lycan jumped up from behind, pushing him into the house.

Jonson grabbed the knife on his waist and stabbed Lycan. The wolverine already backed off and dodged the attack.

Siderius lit up a match. Its fire illuminated the dark space inside the house, shining onto his face.

The witch hunter lit his pipe and took a few puffs in.

"Why so hurry, Jonson?" Siderius whispered under the breath.

Jonson quickly got back to his feet. His squinted eyes darted at the figure in the shadow.

"Who are you?"

Siderius stood up, letting the moonlight from outside shine to him, revealing his white hair.

"I am the White Witch."