(Diao Chan POV)
Now that I knew we were dealing with Witches, I simply needed to use a Spell of my own to trace where they had sent themselves to.
The others in the tent gave me enough space after I told them what was going on. I even sent sister Manami a quick telepathic Spell to let her know of my new findings, making sure the others are also aware of the newcomers.
Since Master was already planning on leaving tomorrow morning, we'll just keep our findings a secret until Master comes back.
"'Hidden is my prey, but a portal shall lead the way. Trace!'"
My Spell took effect instantly in the form of a tear in the space appearing in the centre of the tent with a view of the outside through the opening.
This should send me directly to where they had teleported and I can simply pick up the trail from there.
Stepping through that portal placed me on the cliff of a mountain top. Looking down, I realised this was the mountain near the pass and the Witches must have seen the gates from here and descended to make contact.
When they got cold feet, they escaped back here again to back out of it, how stupid.
The fact that there are Witches who arrived from another Plane is quite interesting though, I didn't know that they could ascend through Planes like other Practitioners too.
I assume that since their power comes from Spells, the Earthen Plane's harsher conditions should also not affect them much.
That means out of everyone that managed to come over to the Earthen Plane, they should, ironically, be the strongest ones amongst them.
Looking around, I found traces of a group of people moving away from this cliff towards a path leading down the mountain.
Hmm? Am I dealing with amateurs here? They didn't even set up any traps for me or hide their tracks either.
If it was me, I'd have did another teleport and put them in a place where I can torture any pursuers however I want~
"'The light of protection shall shine upon me, Shield.'"
The protection Spell materialised as a translucent barrier around me before fading away from sight. Even though I know Master had inscribed layers upon layers of protection on me, it would not do me any good to grow complacent.
Not to mention the fact that the protection comes with the added risk of alerting Master if I were to get hurt, something we had been very fortunate in avoiding so far.
With my shield prepared and over a dozen Spells at my fingertips, I made my way down the path until the footprints turned the corner and into a cave.
Hearing the telltale crackling of a campfire, I knew I'd found my quarry.
Although… Starting a fire inside a cave? I'm guessing they must have a Spell to deal with the smoke somehow, unless they planned to die from asphyxiation.
I turned the corner to come face to face with a girl with blonde hair wearing a simple brown travelling robe wrapped around her body, the girl more surprised to see me than I was to see her.
I took a step back to create distance between us and she did the same, pointing the club in her hands that was a little more than a stick at me.
"Who are you?! What are you doing here?!"
I shifted my gaze to the interior of the cave to find four other women sitting inside, each of them sporting a unique hair colours of their own. The only thing similar about them was the brown travelling robes they all wore.
"Sister Light, stand down, she is one of us," A girl with brown hair called out from inside the cave.
The blonde girl gasped, turning to look at her companions before looking at me, all traces of hostility gone.
I most certainly am not 'one of them' but I guess what she meant was that I am also a Witch. I'm guessing that brown haired girl must have a Spell that lets her know about that.
As though confirming my thoughts, the blonde girl spoke up, "You're a Witch ascended from the Astral Plane too?!"
I smiled at her, "I am indeed a Witch…"
The girl dropped her stick and started moving towards me with her arms outstretched for a hug but stopped when I raised my hand.
"However, I am not from the Astral Plane. I am a denizen of the Earthen Plane."
I could feel the temperature in the cave drop.
I almost expected them to attack me but surprisingly, all of them stood up and came towards me with eyes full of sympathy.
The one with the brown hair stepped closer to me and held my hand, "It must have been hard, sister… But do not worry, you are not alone anymore. You do not need to suffer alone anymore."
I was genuinely confused.
Suffer alone? I'm having the time of my life here! If Master would punish me more, then everything would be perfect!
"Sorry, I… I'm not sure I follow? Why do you assume that I'm suffering?"
She tilted her head, "Are you not ostracised by the Practitioners? Even back in the Astral Plane where there are more Witches, the Practitioners still look down on us for being inferior to them."
"Is that why you chose to come to this Plane?" I asked.
"That is part of the reason, yes. Forgive me, we have not even told you who we are. I am Sister Earth," The brown haired woman introduced herself.
"And I'm Sister Light!" The blonde one chirped, despite me already knowing her name.
"I am Sister Aqua," The blue haired one bowed. For some weird reason, I suddenly have the weird feeling that this girl might be the stupid one.
"My name is Sister Flora," The one with green hair added next.
And before the one with red hair even opened her mouth, I already knew what she was going to say.
"And lastly, I am Sister Fire."
I tilted my head at them, "Is there a reason why your names are so… Unique?"
"Witches are not given the privilege to have names, so we simply adopted calling each other by the element we are best at," Sister Earth explained.
It feels so weird to be calling her 'sister' despite her not being my sister. Oh? Is that perhaps why they did this? To give themselves more solidarity by acting like a family?
Remembering my court etiquette, I curtsied, "I am known as Diao Chan, High Priestess and disciple of the Divine Master. I bid you all welcome to His Earthen Plane."
Sister Fire gasped, "You… You have a name?"
I smiled at her, "I believe we do not have the same type of discrimination against Witches here, although I'm quite sure I might be the only one in this Plane that is even aware of their own Witch heritage."
The blonde girl squinted her eyes at me, "If… If there's no other Witches here, how did you even know you are one? You can cast Spells, yes?"
"Yes I can. It is all thanks to my Master that I could do everything that I can right now."
Sister Aqua tilted her head slightly, "Your Master? Is she a Witch too?"
I couldn't help but let a smile materialise on my face.
"I thought you'd never ask… Allow me to introduce to my Lord and Divine Master~"
Time to pull out the holy scriptures!
