Chapter 67 : Chapter 67

Chapter 67 - Forest Witch

I was thrown into the forest.

Even the Forest Witch had never done this.

She had never thrown me out like garbage like this.

KYAAAA─

The Griffin flew for a few minutes and dropped me somewhere in the forest.

Then it flew back in the direction it came from without a single glance back.

It was only a few minutes, but it wasn't on foot; it was at the speed of a Griffin.

It was too late to run back now.

Besides, the inhabitants of this forest didn't seem to have any intention of letting me.

Krrrrrrrrrr─

The sound of a throat being scratched could be heard not far away.

“......”

It was a troll that would have been given a modifier like ‘Giant’ or ‘Colossal’ in the outside world.

And it wasn't just one.

A pack of five trolls was gathering, slowly starting to surround me.

The distance between each of them was wider than twenty steps, but it didn't feel far at all.

“Damn it.”

There was no time to blame anyone.

Now was the time to survive.

The Forest Witch had raised the child she had painstakingly obtained to be able to protect himself from any threat.

Though I had run away from home because I hated it, that method of discipline had not disappeared.

“It's been a while since I've fought in a forest like this.”

Why was it?

A smile spread across my lips.

The son of the next Great Witch.

The prodigal son had returned.

JUREUREUREUK─

The branches of the tall trees descended without a sound.

They were originally nothing but hard logs, but the moment magic imbued them, they became as flexible as ropes.

HWAAAAAAK─!!

They rushed in at once and grabbed the trolls' necks.

Coiling like snakes and tightening like snakes, their breathing was cut off.

KUEOOOEOK─!!

KWEEEK─

The trolls were flustered, their hands naturally going to their necks.

A scheme to snap the branches at once with their overflowing strength.

But even that was a trick.

Magic Assimilation - Wood

Rapid Growth

The small twigs attached to the thick branches rapidly swelled up.

They became another set of ropes, binding the hands that had grabbed the large ropes together.

UDDEUDDEUK─

The trees, with their roots planted deep, possessed immense strength.

“The colossal strength they don't know how to use, I'll use it for them.”

The Forest Witch had said so.

The captured trolls were lifted up just like that.

Their arms and necks bound together, their feet left the ground.

The huge bodies flailed in mid-air.

“You trolls recovered quickly no matter where you were pierced or cut.”

Old memories came flooding back.

There was no way the Forest Witch, who trained her son to protect his own body, would skip practical training.

Among the numerous practical battles, trolls were regular customers.

“You're helpless against this.”

Magic Assimilation - Wood

Flower Plucking

I momentarily augmented the magic I was infusing into the trees.

The branch that had coiled around their necks also leaped a couple of stages in strength.

So much so that even the thick bones of the trolls could not withstand it.

PPUDDEUDDEUK─

A sound that shouldn't be heard from a body echoed sequentially.

Simultaneously, the trolls' bodies went limp.

They became corpses.

“...I made a mistake.”

But the long absence of the Forest Witch's style of training had created a small opening.

The Forest Witch had spoken about that opening.

─An opening is easy to pierce. And if you're pierced, you die.

JUREUREUK─

The blood flowing from the trolls' mouths seeped into the earth.

The scent of blood spread through the air, and winds blew from all directions in the forest.

The smell of blood spread in all directions where the wind blew.

It meant the appearance of a hungry beast.

“You don't show up when I'm looking. Are you punishing your runaway son?”

A sigh-filled mumble towards the Forest Witch.

It wasn't as if the Forest Witch had sent the monster.

It was purely due to a mistake, but wasn't the mother of the son who made that mistake the Forest Witch?

So the son blamed his mother.

It was just like that.

“Come.”

I moved the tree I had first given magic to more fiercely.

The branches that had become ropes changed their use to dozens of whips.

The beast running from over there right now.

An elegant predator with glossy black fur.

It was a head taller than the troll I had just caught, and it ran, avoiding the trees with its flexible movements.

“This time, so that no blood comes out. For sure.”

Mulling over my mistake, I extended the branches.

But before that.

TAAAAAANG─!!

A bullet fired from a gun barrel far darker than the predator's hide.

PWAAAK─

Was faster at blowing the predator's head off.

The bullet, swallowed and spat out by the darkness, ignored the gun's effective range as long as it was visible to the eye.

It also ignored the wind, and the tough hide couldn't cover the eyes.

“Are you alright.”

The father, who appeared from within the shadows, placed his hand on his son's shoulder.

For him, it was a very courageous gesture.

The son did not refuse it either.

He was too worried about the greater amount of blood that had just burst out to refuse.

“That blood will call more monsters now.”

“What blood are you talking about.”

“Uh....”

The blood was also scattered as a shadow.

The shadow cast on the ground reluctantly swallowed the pouring blood and then ate the corpse as well.

A scene where not even a trace of something having died remained.

Soon, even the trolls disappeared into the darkness.

The hunter slung the sniper rifle over his back and glared in the direction he had run from.

“That Fifth Son bastard....”

“No. This is the fastest way, isn't it? We can't waste days or weeks here.”

The son spoke more maturely than the adult and reasoned with him.

So Halsin couldn't get any angrier and just gritted his teeth.

“Let's go back for now. It's not good to go in deeper.”

“My mother doesn't show up in the end.”

“We can't be sure she's watching. And if she is watching, she was confident you would survive.”

He could tell from the state of the dead trolls.

Kio's response. Kio's composure. Kio's level.

It was flawless.

Still, if there was something to be desired.

‘It would be good if he used a weapon.’

He wasn't talking about a firearm like this.

Because wood could take on various forms depending on how it was processed.

The father expressed his love in his own way.

***

Jubel Maxman.

People called him a money-grubbing demon.

The factory owners, mine owners, and logging site owners of the eastern region.

Those who processed and supplied materials had that moniker, which hadn't been heard recently, carved into their minds again.

So much so that they ran all the way to Eclipse, which was still under construction, to find the site manager, Marvin.

“Oh my...! Vice-Captain! We were wrong a hundred times over! We will absolutely make the deliveries on schedule! But a contract revision!”

“You know we have no money after you brought up what we had tucked away...! If we sell the materials at this price, our employees will starve!”

“Vice-Captain! Please! Just give us some breathing room...!”

The base camp set up outside Eclipse.

In front of the collection of barracks for laborers and managers, the merchants wailed.

The Vice-Captain wasn't right in front of them, but they shouted loud enough for him to hear.

The gazes upon them were not kind.

Because there were more than one or two idle hands, as there were no materials to build with, no matter what they tried to build.

“Vice-Captain...!! Please meet us just once!”

“We'll beg like this!”

The merchants knelt and did not leave the front of the barracks.

As their tears and snot seeped into the precious land.

A land-grabber who could no longer watch walked out.

Thump. Thump.

Such footsteps weren't actually heard, but it was a build that seemed like they should be.

And that build was a face known to the provincial merchants as well.

“L-Land General Manager! Please relay our words to Vice-Captain Marvin!”

“We really did it because we had no choice due to Mystics' threats!”

“Mystics threatened to kill us if we didn't delay the material supply...! So what could we do...!”

The Land General Manager Felson, with a shovel on his back and his arms crossed, chuckled.

“You're spouting bullshit.”

The weak's plea of injustice was dismissed in an instant.

Without even giving them a chance to be dumbfounded.

The mouth, shaggy with a short beard, opened first.

“Did Mystics really only threaten you?”

The main point to be thrown on top of their injustice.

“You weren't just threatened by Mystics. Because merchants like you, if you press them too hard, will try to spring back up like a spring.”

“Th-there was nothing like that.”

“Y-yes! The masked people from Mystics tried to touch our families!”

“After showing you they could touch your family. They probably showed you enough money to make you abandon your family.”

The Land General Manager had served the family for a long time.

There was no way he wouldn't know about the land of Mystics, an in-law family of Millesdusk.

And in that ever-changing gorge, one could not survive by sticking to just one attitude.

That people living on such land would push forward with only one method, threats?

It was impossible to settle in the Fantasy Gorge with such a rigid personality.

“You were tempted by the money Mystics showed you, and even if it wasn't money, you were bribed by some value and cut off the supply.”

What could that value be?

“Mystics must have tried to turn your business partners to their side by mentioning the Fourth Son's name. And you probably clapped your knees at the thought of being able to form a relationship with a blood relative, right?”

Even just thinking about it, the interests progressed smoothly.

But why did they know one thing but not the other?

“The land you were supposed to supply to is Eclipse. The land of the Fifth Son, a direct blood relative.”

The words the Executioner Knight would have said with his Cursed Sword.

“And yet, you dare.”

The Land General Manager Felson took the shovel he was carrying on his back and held it firmly.

“To take sides in a competition between Millesdusk's direct blood relatives. And not only that, but to weigh who is better. To judge. And to insult.”

“...!!”

“Do you know the weight of this sin?”

The merchants, whose expressions had gone from injustice to stunned shock, waved their hands wildly.

“W-we didn't mean it that way...!!”

“W-weighing! Please take back those words...!!”

Felson's expression was cold.

“Whether you knew and did it. Or you didn't know and did it. What you did was taking sides and weighing. And at the end of that, the Youngest Son suffered damage.”

That damage was the delay in Eclipse's completion.

“How should I handle this sin?”

A cold chill ran down the merchants' spines.

The moment they misspoke here.

It wasn't a matter of slush funds and contracts; their lives would be forfeit.

It would be a relief if their heads were just cleanly cut off.

If they were dragged away like this and fell into Millesdusk's Great Prison, Mugan....

“P-please save us!!”

“We'll go back without another word and deliver the goods somehow...!!”

“P-please, just spare our lives...!”

The Land General Manager caressed the dirt-stained tip of his shovel.

Great Prison or not, if they were hit by that shovel, their limbs would be chopped off like carrots in a soup.

But even that was an infinitely more beautiful end compared to Mugan.

The merchants were prepared to bite their tongues if they showed any sign of being dragged to Mugan.

But unfortunately, Mugan was closed for the day.

“The punishment will be decided after seeing the progress of the work and the quality of the materials. Your lives are on the line for the completion of Eclipse.”

“Y-yes, we understand!”

“Thank you! Thank you!”

“We will definitely complete it!”

The merchants got into their carriages without looking back.

A gesture closer to fleeing than going to work.

“Because the land is good, all sorts of bugs are drawn to it.”

He snorted, slung the shovel onto his back, and returned to the barracks.

***

The dim evening.

Night came quickly to the forest.

The Youngest Son, who lived the night as if it were broad daylight, lit a single campfire and leaned his back against a tree.

“Ureung....”

Constantly focusing one's senses is a tiring task.

Cailin snored faintly, gathered soft grass, and lay down on it.

Next to her, the empty cans were piled up, indicating she had eaten three days' worth of food by herself.

I didn't know if it was because she was a growing werewolf or if she just ate with a hearty appetite.

But it was certain that she looked much healthier than before.

The crackling sound of the campfire. The hooting of an owl. The gentle mountain breeze.

I was soaking in the tranquility of the forest.

Into that, Enad's voice cut in.

[The ones you tossed out still aren't coming.]

‘I threw them quite far with the Griffin. Halsin ran off without caring about the distance. The two of them are probably preparing for bed now too.’

[Crazy bastard. Never mind that, just get ready to greet our guest.]

Enad gave a rough report and closed his mouth again.

As he said.

A guest was coming now.

“There are plenty of empty seats, so sit wherever you like. Forest Witch.”

“......”

Beyond the campfire light, in the darkness, a pair of eyes gleamed.

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