I Picked Up a Witch With Amnesia

2. Winter Expedition – 01

To start with the conclusion, the expeditionary force formed to subdue the ‘witch of winter’ consisted of a small number of people. Excluding me, who would serve as a guide and meat shield in case of emergency, there were only four of them.

Well, thinking about it, I sometimes think that these few elites are more suitable in the current situation.

First of all, due to the endless winter sweeping the continent, the empire was suffering from severe food shortages. No matter how much food they had stored up, it was quite dangerous to organize an expedition and get food for them to eat in this situation.

To put it mildly, let’s assume that in order to reliably subdue the witches, they selected about a thousand strong men, gave them food, and sent them off to the north. Of course, nothing could be better than if a thousand powerful men decapitated a witch and returned with dignity.

But what if a thousand powerful people were given away by a witch and returned as cold corpses? There was nothing to say. On that day, the empire will fall apart. Food disappeared as food, and precious manpower to confront the witches was lost, so all hope would be in vain.

However, if such a small party-type expedition goes, the empire will not have much food to borrow, and if they fail, they will have to organize another expedition.

The only thing I didn’t like was how a heinous criminal like me was entrusted with the role of a guide in the wonderful and glorious mission of defeating a witch who could be called the hero of the present continent…

“…You’re such a f*cking human being. If it wasn’t for the emperor, you’d really be attacking with a rank insignia.”

The Emperor’s dark inside was very clearly visible.

First of all, first. As for the reason why the emperor forcibly included me in the expedition, taking on the role of a ‘guide’, it must be to restore the honor of the Duke of Estelle, who had just fallen to the ground.

It’s obvious, but I guess that the fact that the duke of Estelle is one of only four dukes in the empire had a major effect on the emperor’s decision, not because he thought deeply of the duke of Estelle.

The Duke of Estelle was a poor family located at the far end of the barren north, but at the same time, it was a musty family with a history deep enough to accompany the founding of the empire. At the same time, based on such legitimacy, the family that supported the power that the imperial family could exercise in each region was the 4th duke.

In other words, it was as if the emperor had staged such a play not because he felt sorry for me, but because he was afraid that his power would diminish if the Duke of Estelle were toppled.

Second, it is an unmistakable fact that, as the emperor said, I am the most suitable person for the role of ‘guide’. As I said just now, the Estelle Territory is a poor village at the far end of the north, which is famous for being rugged and barren. There were very few adventurers who wanted to visit Kangchon, where there were no special products and no exceptional scenery, and even more rare were those who knew the topography of the Estelle Territory.

It’s really funny, but even I, who patrol Estelle’s estate once a year and know a little about the geography of the area, couldn’t deny the fact that the role of ‘guide’ suited me the best.

Lastly, the members of the expedition were all high-ranking people. With only five people including me, we would have to face each other face to face for a long time, but it would have been impossible to have a commoner sit in that seat.

At the end of such circumstances, Duke Cain von Estel was able to confidently succeed in washing his identity as a member of a glorious expedition to defeat the witch from a prisoner in a dungeon.

…But looking back now, I think I shouldn’t have accepted the role of guide.

No, I think it would have been easier if I had bitten my tongue and died in the dungeon.

It took one year from the formation of the expedition to the subjugation of the witches.

For that year, I literally went through hell.

****

First of all, I would like to introduce the four members of the ‘Winter Expedition’, which will go down in human history in the future.

First, let’s talk about the sorceress, a woman named Bianca del Castana.

A woman named Bianca del Castana was a really fresh, beautiful, stunning beauty if you looked only at her appearance.

Her blazing red hair showed that she had inherited the lineage of the Marquis of Castana, and her perfect body, where she had to go in and come out, made her beauty stand out even more.

…but then what? In my eyes, Bianca was nothing more than a demonic bitch just out of Hell.

Because this woman, Bianca, hated me very, very, very, very much. No, it wasn’t that I didn’t like it. It was clear that I was less than a passing cockroach.

The reason Bianca hated me was a bit complicated. If I had to explain it properly, I might have stayed up all night, so I’ll just say that it was caused by the deep-rooted antagonism between the Duke of Estel and the Marquis of Castana.

Even as a child, I never imagined that the karma accumulated by my glorious ancestors would come back to me.

It was because I thought that even though Biancara was a bit cheap, it would be enough if she didn’t see her anyway. Except for a few coincidences in my life, I never met her.

…Yes. That is, until she hears that she is the one who plays the role of the wizard in ‘Winter Fellowship’.

“Oh my, isn’t it Duke Estelle who is making the whole continent buzz these days? It is truly an honor to have the Duke personally take on the role of guide.”

When I saw Bianca staring at me, her eyes shining as if she had been caught, I was so terrified that I almost stopped peeing.

In the expedition, I am only a guide, and she is a member of the expedition to defeat witches.

From there, the relationship between the two of us was as if it had already been established.

“…Please keep your voice down. Now that I am a Viscount, I am not something for Lady Castana to comment on.”

At first, the superiors forcibly took away my title, citing the ‘feeling of the servant of the Baekui’.

However, since it was a simple honorary position, it could not be denied that she was a descendant of the Marquis of Castana, and at the same time, compared to Bianca, a great wizard ranked among the top five in the empire, it was undeniable that she was a far behind, and that she dared to speak comfortably toward her. It was impossible.

“Hmm. okay? Then don’t let go. Oh Cain. Let’s do well in the future Whoops.”

Bianca puts her words down right away without a single moment of humility. It would not have been my mistake to think that the eyes looking at me are like the eyes of a hawk looking at its prey.

However, while preparations were being made for the expedition, she did not crave me or insult me. Unexpectedly, she was docile, and I was relieved that Bianca had grown up since I hadn’t seen her in a while. Hey, it’s been 20 years since I last saw her, and I naively wondered if a woman named Bianca would have changed a little even if she didn’t care.

…however, it was not. Like the clear and sunny weather before the storm, the misfortune that would overtake me was just looking for the best opportunity.

As time passed and preparations were completed, and as soon as the expedition team left the islands and started moving north, Bianca began to reveal its demons in earnest, just as a snake reveals its fangs.

“Cain. I have something to tell you.”

“yes. What’s wrong, Bianca?”

Bianca told me to just let go, so I answer her without hesitation. Of course, I thought it would be better to just use honorifics with each other, but Bianca was so damned that I had no choice but to stop talking. It made me realize how hard it is to pretend to be friendly with someone you’re not very close to.

“I left my earrings at the camp where I stayed this morning. Go get it.”

“…the campsite we stayed in the morning? Would it take two hours to get back there?”

“…so, you don’t want to do it now? uh?”

As soon as the negative comments came out of my mouth, Bianca’s eyebrows rose. I know that damn girl for quite some time, but Bianca has a habit of raising her eyebrows whenever she doesn’t like something. In other words, I never knew when Bianca would get mad and put her magic through my head.

“…No, it’s not because there might be a witch on the way back. If I get hurt or die on the way there, the schedule of the expedition could be disrupted.”

While spouting such excuses, I looked at the other members of the expedition, wondering if someone would stop this crazy woman, but they only had a look on their faces asking who the dog was, and they didn’t seem to have any intention of stopping Bianca. It’s new, but I’ve only confirmed once again that I’m not on my side in this f*cking expedition.

“Um, what. I guess so. If there is no guide, the expedition may be disrupted. You are right. Cain.”

Saying so, Bianca throws a strange looking amulet at me.

“…what’s this?”

“An amulet that makes the demons retreat. It will probably stay in effect for a day, so there is no problem now, right?”

Bianca waving her hands as if to drive away flies, not even paying attention to the bizarre contortion of my face.

“what are you doing? Aren’t you going?”

‘The first year.’

However, what can I do? Wouldn’t it be better to run like a dog for 4 hours to get the earrings than to die?

Bianca, who ran as hard as she could to get the earrings, but without saying a word of thanks, Bianca puts them in the back of her bag. By the way, the earring did not come out from the depths of the bag for the rest of the expedition.

For your information, these episodes were really just the tip of the iceberg among the incidents that occurred during the year of the expedition, and they were really trivial incidents.

The humiliation I received from Bianca became a precious time for me to feel the bottom of my patience.

Another day something like this happened.

“Hey, Cain. Are you free?”

FYI, at that time I was diligently chopping wood to prepare firewood for a bonfire. If you were to pick the most useless person in the expedition, I would like you to understand that I was struggling hard to help the expedition somehow because my presence was so insignificant that I took first place.

‘You don’t even have eyes. Can’t you see I’m chopping wood?’

Of course, I couldn’t get those words out of my mouth, so I couldn’t help but nod my head.

“It was good at my leisure. Come into my tent in a little while.”

“tent? why?”

“Oh, that’s a lot! If you just want to come in, you can just come in. Why are you talking so long!”

Out of the blue, Bianca bursts into anger and then hurries back to her tent.

‘Is it an anger control disorder?’

However, it wasn’t a day or two for that bitch to act like that, so I quietly entered her tent.

“Bianca. I go in.”

“Oh, hurry up and come in. Because cold air comes in.”

When I step into Bianca’s tent, I am greeted by a warm air that is different from the outside air.

It must have been that she was using magic to make it so comfortable by herself.

Every night I try to sleep with all my clothes on so I don’t freeze to death, but the fact that this bitch sleeps in a really cozy place really starts to upset my stomach.

When I looked up at Bianca, I saw that she had long, slim white bare legs.

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Maybe it wasn’t the moment I was about to wash my body.

“Why did you call me? Is there anything you need?”

“No, not that.”

Bianca tapped her long legs with her fingers and spoke to me.

“Are you free? Give me a massage.”