Chapter 111 : Chapter 111

Chapter 111 - There's Always One Life Left

The Youngest Son brought the two Daughters into the Dark Moon Grand Castle.

Glancing at those following behind, the Butler approached.

“Young Master. I’ve patched up the scratch on the Gatekeeper’s soul.”

“Good work.”

Unlike humans who only knew how to inflict wounds, demons also knew how to heal.

The Butler caressed the Gatekeeper’s punctured soul.

And in doing so, he could tell.

“It wasn’t a curse…? It was hit by a physical attack, but the soul was what took the damage. This is a first for me, too.”

The Youngest Son nodded.

‘Because that’s the Third Daughter, Melaine’s, unique ability.’

I knew her identity, but it wasn't a topic to be discussed with the person herself right behind me.

“Go inside. And send everyone in the castle out.”

“Okay. I’ll do that.”

The Butler whispered his reply.

He glanced at the Daughters one more time before scurrying away.

He pushed the outer wall shut as a child would close a door.

The Second Daughter Melisende let out a small laugh.

“To think the Demon of the altar was such a child.”

“He wasn't like that from the beginning.”

A marquis of the demon world who had molded a demon with Yin energy and hidden the sun.

He who had created a small hell here was worthy of the title of a demon noble.

Now he was in a position to monopolize the guest's attention, but he didn't particularly enjoy that attention.

“I wonder what a soul would look like if I saw it directly. I want to take it out.”

Because that attention mostly threatened one’s life, or rather, one’s existence.

From the perspective of someone who wanted to live, it was attention best kept at a distance.

It was the same for the Youngest Son.

“I don’t think your purpose today is to kill me.”

“That’s right. If it were, we wouldn’t have come like this. Still, we’re family….”

She continued speaking softly from her younger brother’s back.

“Even if it was late, I would have shown a little more courtesy, and I would have thoroughly finished you off, right down to your soul. I have no feelings for Dante.”

“…Are you sure you have none.”

“Of course.”

She may have meant it to reassure me, but her words weighed heavily on my body.

Finishing me off down to the soul.

Having played both of those twin characters, I knew what she meant.

“From what you’re saying, it seems the Spirit Prison has many rooms left.”

“It will never be full. You don’t have to worry.”

Thud─

We arrived at the lowest floor.

The very bottom of the castle, where I had made ‘various’ adjustments on the way.

The wall that served as a door closed.

The Second Daughter naturally came down from my back.

She materialized her lower body, which was as good as nonexistent, and stood on the floor.

“Melaine will not use her sorcery. If she uses it even once, it’s my sister’s defeat. If Dante falls before that.”

“It would be my defeat. I understand.”

However.

“There is one thing I don’t understand.”

“What would that be.”

“Why I.”

A pale hand pointed to himself.

Me, inside Eclipse.

Me, in the Dark Moon Grand Castle.

Why on earth.

“Am I being seen as the challenger.”

“…Are you asking because you don’t know?”

“I really don’t know. So please, enlighten me, noona.”

I spread my arms wide.

“The reason why a sorcerer in his own domain should be considered a challenger.”

“……”

Drrrrrrrrrrrrk─

The ground I stood on began to vibrate.

Wall against wall. Ceiling against floor.

The structures that formed the castle rubbed against each other, changing their positions in an instant like a shuffle of cards.

A deafening roar erupted.

An earthquake occurred.

Crack-crack-crack-crack-crack-crack-crack─

The ceiling was violently blown away.

The processed stones that made up the ground shattered like natural rock, becoming sharp and baring their teeth.

[Are you mimicking Amon’s technique.]

From the air that allowed breathing, to the floor beneath my feet, and the ceiling above my eyes.

The surrounding walls, and of course, the sky above.

The sorcerer’s domain no longer tolerated the fearless intruders.

“Noonas, as soon as you arrived, you attacked and wounded my Gatekeeper. Furthermore, you destroyed my land.”

Craaaaaaaack─

The dark sky was revealed.

As the black sun revealed itself.

The Ghost Ship below it shyly extended its cannons.

“So, what’s about to happen is.”

The youngest’s cute revenge.

Ah, and as a postscript.

“I have no feelings either.”

For a Spirit Sorcerer, Spirit Sorcery was the orthodox method.

Ruuuuuumble─

Through the wide-open ceiling, the lowest floor was visible below.

The ghost pirates’ cannons unleashed a gray bombardment.

It was as if a meteor shower made of clouds was pouring down from above my head.

“Are you sure you have none?”

The corners of the Second Daughter’s mouth rose slightly.

And the Third Daughter, standing under the rain of cannonballs, looked down at the floor instead of the ceiling.

The floor, cracked like a stone-hit window, had at some point begun to sink, trapping her ankles.

Bare feet, caught in the world’s hardest swamp.

The corners of her mouth, hidden beneath her dark purple hair that covered even her eyes, drew a gentle arc.

It was a sneer directed at herself.

It was the same for the Second Daughter.

“Right, Melaine. We were a little careless.”

Nod.

After a small nod of her chin.

Swaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa─

Only a heavy mist from the simultaneous bombardment remained on the lowest floor.

But even within it, a faint figure could be seen.

“…It’s coming.”

[What. What’s coming.]

The spirits she had killed with her own hands and personally imprisoned in the Spirit Prison.

Heroes who had left their names in past history and died became the Daughters’ minions in the form of spirits.

The Third Daughter, with such spirits on her back, would come.

That said, I had no intention of just taking a beating unsightly.

This was literally my domain.

A fight where even a neighborhood dog wins 50% of the time in its own house.

It was time to clearly show them who the challenger in the lowest floor was.

***

The messenger who took the Forest Witch’s hand was transported somewhere.

A process closer to kidnapping than guidance.

The place she arrived at was a secret room of sorts.

Then again, it wasn't exactly a secret room, as it had a door and windows.

Ransis introduced the place she had just set foot in.

“The family business, Dark Elixir. This is the branch for that business.”

The next thing to introduce was the person who had arrived here first.

“That person is Felson, the Land General Manager who was reappointed by the direct authority of the Family Head. He will be working on this project with you, so please greet each other.”

Felson blinked, looking back and forth between the messenger and the Forest Witch.

His lips were sealed as if he had many questions but shouldn’t ask any of them.

Only his eyes rolled around, following the situation.

The messenger looked at the personnel who had been brought in.

“This project is being promoted by the Fifth Son-nim, and he is also the one in charge. Therefore, you two will follow the Fifth Son-nim’s orders.”

Strangely, there was no opposition.

Felson was used to it, having worked with the Youngest Son on Eclipse.

“I will.”

Elder Lorelin, as Lores of Hexa, was already an employee.

The messenger didn't know it, but the three had been collaborating for a long time.

Only the subject had changed to Dark Elixir.

The messenger, oblivious to such facts, took a step back.

“Please talk amongst yourselves and look around the branch. If there is anything you need, there is a Messenger Ghoul directly connected to me, so please tell me right away.”

As soon as she finished speaking.

“Me.”

The Forest Witch raised her hand.

“What is it.”

Her finger pointed around the business-like interior of the branch.

“Don’t watch while I’m working. Don’t monitor me either. Things like that just break my concentration.”

“Understood.”

Ransis accepted without much of a reply.

It didn't particularly matter to her if the Forest Witch acted like an untamed cat.

The one leading them was her disciple. The Fifth Son.

On the contrary, it was a chance to confirm his abilities.

“I will be on my way. Good work.”

Swoosh─

The messenger disappeared as if erased after a few steps back.

She was a ghostly woman.

Felson tapped his still-aching thigh and looked back at the Forest Witch.

“You truly succeeded, just as you said.”

“Tell me about it. I didn’t think it would work either.”

“…?”

“As I said, I haven’t heard anything. I’m not that interested either.”

“For someone like that, you’ve become a family elder.”

“Well, this is….”

It could be seen as a way of repaying a favor.

“He’s the benefactor who got me out of the forest. I have to do at least this much, don't I?”

“The Fifth Son-nim is the witch-nim’s benefactor. Hoho. I wonder what kind of things he’s been up to outside.”

The way to become the benefactor of the second-generation great witch.

He couldn't even begin to fathom it.

Felson, who let out a hearty laugh, just shook his head, which soon led to a sigh.

It was good to be released from Purgatory, but another punishment called 'family business' had been handed down.

“Dark Elixir. Just by looking at it, it’s not an easy task.”

“Well. I suppose so.”

“More importantly, what is this land that I have to find?”

“I don’t know. I haven’t been told any─”

“You haven’t. My apologies. I made you say it three times.”

Haa.

His sigh deepened.

His large frame had become thinner than before from walking without rest.

He sat down on a chair as if collapsing.

“Still….”

The Forest Witch sat next to him, her legs tucked together.

“There’s something I know, too.”

For the first time, ‘know’ came out of the mouth that had only been saying ‘don’t know.’

Felson’s eyes turned.

“What is it. Please tell me anything.”

“You know that thing they’re calling Dark Elixir now.”

“Yes. I’m listening.”

“There were things I felt when I first made it and poured it into the bottle.”

Someone who makes something.

A creator feels something when they look at their creation.

It could be pleasure, or it could be a sense of accomplishment.

Depending on the result, the emotion is divided into pleasant and unpleasant, but this was something different.

It was a sensation she had never felt before in her life.

Furthermore, this type of emotion.

“I think you’ve felt it a lot more than I have.”

“…Felt what?”

“The feeling of having ‘discovered’ something.”

“……”

Invention and discovery.

The difference between the two was clear.

The Forest Witch was a person of the former, Felson a person of the latter.

The former invents potions and curses, and the latter discovers new lands.

That's why this feeling was unfamiliar to the Forest Witch.

“I. I didn’t invent Dark Elixir. I feel like I unintentionally discovered something that definitely existed.”

“Why did you feel that way.”

“Sorry. I don’t know again. It’s just a feeling.”

“I can understand this, so you don’t have to be sorry.”

Sorcery, unlike pure magic, was a realm of intuition and sensation.

It was just a feeling she got through intuition, and pushing her to explain it was nothing short of torture.

Felson nodded, and the Forest Witch continued speaking with her chin propped on her hand.

“Also. This is just my feeling, but I see some kind of leeway.”

“If you say leeway….”

“No, should I say it’s like a fox? This Dark Elixir thing is wagging its tail at me.”

It seemed like it could be caught, but it wasn't.

It maintained a certain distance and just moved its tail as if to tease.

“I’m sure there’s something more. Something I haven’t discovered yet. And the President seems to know what that something is.”

“Then…. Until the Fifth Son-nim says something separately, we won’t be able to proceed with the business.”

“That’s right.”

So.

“We need to know where the person in charge is and what he’s doing.”

She pulled a few chairs together and made them into a long line.

She lay down on top and closed her eyes as if to sleep.

“…What are you doing?”

“I’m sending my consciousness. To the wooden doll in Hexa.”

“Right. Looking at the land and terrain outside the window, it seems similar to the area around Eclipse, so it must not be far from there.”

“I didn't know that far.”

Anyway, it meant she could use her puppetry sorcery more comfortably.

She concentrated her magic into her brain and used the magic wavelength of the puppet, which she had carved more diligently than anything else, as a curse.

It was a curse she cast on herself, like the Curse of the Forest.

Her consciousness was soon separated.

And automatically transmitted to the doll made to look like a human.

“Lubosch. As expected, he’s neat.”

The worker, who was also in charge of cleaning the wooden dolls, did his job so well that there was no creaking at all when moving the joints.

“Should I upgrade the performance of the maid corps next time I see him?”

She could already imagine him jumping for joy.

“The President must be at the castle.”

She came out to see the President rather than her fellow worker for now.

She wore a wide-brimmed hat, smaller than usual, and went to the Dark Moon Grand Castle.

The knight who usually stood there every day was not seen.

“Where did he go.”

She wasn't interested, so she moved on.

Then she saw one person fidgeting outside the castle and a familiar face.

“…Lores. Did you stop by from the Pantheon? I sent Kio to Josephine.”

Halsin, who came to work under the same President.

For some reason, he was standing here.

“Yeah. Why is Butler Uncle acting like that?”

“Because the Young Master is engaged in a serious battle inside.”

“…You surprised me.”

Another employee who appeared silently from behind.

“Could you make some noise with your footsteps, Head Maid-nim.”

“My apologies. It’s a habit.”

“More importantly, a serious battle? What are you talking about?”

The Head Maid silently looked at Butler Amon.

Only he could see the situation inside.

That’s why he knew.

“Uaaah…! He got hit again! Half of his soul has already been shaved off!”

Half of it.

The news, which was not good for anyone to hear, announced that the tailwind had turned into a headwind.

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