363 363 Camp Liberated
None of the fleeing bandits made it past the explosions and vines to reach the tree line outside the camp.
All that was left were the people lying on the ground and the ones in the cages when Wolfe landed in the camp next to the spot where the prisoners were held and completely deactivated the Gravity Array.
If some of the prisoners were weak or sickly, it could cause them issues to continue being in the raised gravity, though the effect was nearly unnoticeable here in the cages.
“Good morning, Ladies and Gentlemen. You have the honour to be in the presence of the Snow Demon. These despicable sorts of bandits attacked the farmers I was travelling with, and I take that sort of thing personally, so please do point out if there are any others hiding among the survivors.” Wolfe greeted them.
Every eye in the cages went to the Merchant who was freeing the Witches from their bonds earlier, and the man began to panic, raising his hands in surrender.
“I admit, I was put in here to keep an eye on them, but I swear on my life I didn’t hurt anyone. I was trying to give them a chance to flee from the attack, I promise,” he begged.
“Does anyone here vouch for his version of events?” Wolfe asked.
A few of the Witches visibly sighed, and one hand went up.
“As much as I hate to admit it about a Grand Dutchies Soldier, he’s a decent guy. He got extra food for us and medicine when we needed it. He might be one of them, but he probably doesn’t deserve to die badly.”
Wolfe sighed and looked around the cage before a great idea came to him. There was a prisoner chain hanging on a hook by the door, so he grabbed it and then set a Gravity spell that ripped the cage door from its hinges to walk inside.
The prisoners looked at the demon in horror, not realizing that he had used Gravity Magic to remove the door, not brute strength.
“This is what we will do. You vouched for him, so you are his Warden. Place the cuff on his wrist, and then pick up the handle yourself. It will activate with a touch of mana, and then he becomes your problem.” Wolfe instructed.
The Witch didn’t look happy at the prospect, but the pitiful look that the soldier was giving her was enough to move the softhearted woman to have some pity on him.
“The duration of the sentence is until he is no longer a threat to others, including the threat of returning to the Grand Dutchies Army and informing them of current events,” Wolfe announced, then activated the Prisoner Chain in advance.
“Wait, I can’t just walk around on a leash forever. That would attract way too much attention, and we would all get killed.” The man protested.
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The soldier moved to sit next to the Witch who had vouched for him, which made the other Witches all laugh at his strict adherence to Wolfe’s warning.
“If there are any other suspicious people here, especially the ones who remained on the ground outside the cages, let me know, and I will deal with them. It will be much easier than sorting out who is who among the survivors.” Wolfe instructed.
“The ones outside were taken out to work. If they’re witches, they are all from among the prisoners.” One of the Witches in the cage informed him.
“Well, that makes it easier. I had worried that there was an overseer, traitor or other Witch who wasn’t part of the prisoners.” Wolfe explained.
The Witch who had spoken last spit on the ground.
“Oh, there are plenty of them around, but they’re all in the castle inside the city. They wouldn’t deign to stay here after our auras were bound.”
Ella, Christa and Grok finally made it to the prison area, escorting over a dozen battered-looking witches.
“This is everyone we found alive in the camp. Have you sorted out which of these people is a prisoner and who are the embedded traitors?” Ella asked after helping a witch whose artificial leg had been damaged to sit comfortably against the cage bars.
“I believe we have. If there are more traitors, they are doing it well enough that the other Witches haven’t realized that they aren’t part of the group yet.” Wolfe agreed.
“Which one is the soldier? If we question him properly, I think we can find out how many other prisoner camps are in the area.” Christa suggested.
The man moved to hide behind his Warden, who burst into laughter at his antics and dragged him forward again.
“I don’t think you’ll have to torture him. All of the prisoners that get caught near this territory get brought to this camp, and then every few weeks, they come and take another batch away.
They prioritize the ones with the strongest magic, but they’re not taking them far, I think. I have a Blood Oath with one of my squad mates, and she avoided the gas by being on patrol. They took her the first day, and I can still feel her moving around in the city.
Sometimes she’s quite near this wall, so she’s not with the traitor Witches. She’s working in the city itself.” The Warden explained.
The soldier nodded. “They need the prisoners to do the drudge work that nobody else wanted. We were supposed to get a lot of reinforcements and logistics workers, but they didn’t make it through the Frozen Wastes.”
Ella looked at Wolfe, who could only shrug. That might have been his fault, but he wasn’t the only one hunting them. At least he wasn’t the only one after he started giving enchanted bullets to the locals.