Chapter 77 : Chapter 77

Chapter 77 - A Fight Done as a Favor

The Land General Manager arrived at Styx Falls and surveyed the area for a while.

It had taken him an eternity just to get here.

The Family Head of the Mystics had tried to keep him confined to his room, adding all sorts of flowery words.

Then, from a certain point, she had placed no restrictions on him, as if she had never done so.

It seemed as though she wouldn't have stopped him even if he had packed up and left right away.

But he couldn't really do that.

“I should at least make a show of it.”

Chwaaaaaaa─

With his hands behind his back, he enjoyed the refreshing sound of the waterfall.

A torrent of water fell over the terraced land that resembled stairs.

Just watching it felt as if his mind was being purified.

And then there was the tranquil forest surrounding the area.

“It feels like I’m on vacation.”

It was a moment that reminded him a little of his past, before he became a General Manager, when he used to run all over the continent as a land expert.

However, that sentiment was soon shattered.

“I’d like to ask for directions.”

“…!”

It was shattered by a guest who had arrived without him even noticing.

He turned his body in a hurry.

In the direction the voice came from stood a woman in a plain robe and a wide-brimmed hat.

Thin branches and leaves hung from the brim of her hat, swaying with the wind.

The robe she wore was the same.

“You….”

She wasn't close enough to touch by reaching out, but the scent of a forest at dawn flowed from the woman.

In the eastern lands, there was only one person who carried such a scent.

“Are you the Forest Witch?”

“I’ve recently abandoned that moniker. But that’s how they remember me. The people of the world.”

“Then I remember you.”

“Yes. You got lost after fearlessly entering the Great Forest.”

The Land General Manager, Felson, bowed his head.

“It’s sudden, but I’d like to take this opportunity to thank my benefactor.”

“If you wish to repay the favor, then tell me the way as well. It’s embarrassing, but I’m not familiar with the geography outside the Great Forest.”

“Of course. If you tell me where you wish to go, I will tell you immediately.”

“Mystics.”

“……”

“I want to go to a place called Hojeopgung.”

Silence fell.

The only thing filling the gap was the sound of the cascading waterfall.

What had felt so refreshingly liberating just a moment ago.

Now only sent a chill down his spine.

“…I wish to ask my benefactor a shameless question.”

“Ask away.”

The Forest Witch answered nonchalantly.

Felson was the only one with beads of sweat forming on his forehead.

“May I ask why you intend to go to Hojeopgung.”

“I was asked a favor.”

“A favor…? What on earth. No, who and how.”

Could someone even make a ‘favor’ of the next Great Witch?

And to think the target of the favor was Millesdusk's maternal family.

Was that someone trying to mess with Millesdusk?

The words that followed were on a level far beyond just messing with them.

“I’m going to destroy it. Hojeopgung.”

“……”

Kuuuung─

The tip of a giant pickaxe struck the ground.

“In that case, I, Felson, can never let you go.”

“You called me your benefactor.”

“Millesdusk is also my benefactor.”

Kuuuung─!

The pickaxe was driven more forcefully into the ground.

The Forest Witch looked at its tip.

“I didn’t ask for the location of the Pantheon. You just need to tell me about Hojeopgung.”

“That is the same thing.”

Ptooey.

He spat on both his palms.

The pickaxe, which had been stuck firmly in the ground, was now held securely in both hands.

“Hojeopgung is the main fortress of the Mystics, the maternal family of Millesdusk. Its destruction would be an act that tarnishes the honor of Millesdusk.”

“Ahh…. If that’s the case.”

The leaves on her hat’s brim trembled faintly.

So did Felson’s shoulders, and the ground.

That wasn't all.

‘…The forest, it’s vibrating.’

It wasn't an empty phrase.

Nor was it a simple feeling.

As a land expert who had tasted the soil of every region in the east, he could tell.

The vibration, which ants would perceive as an earthquake, was felt precisely at the tips of his toes.

It was a prelude to the use of force.

But that was as far as it went.

“……”

Thud.

The Land General Manager collapsed right where he stood.

The Forest Witch, who had been staring quietly at the fainted man, moved somewhere.

And not long after.

“Felson. They said your loyalty to the family was beyond doubt.”

The Bronze Mask stood before the fainted man.

“A loyalty upheld even before a benefactor. I was impressed.”

With those last words, the Bronze Mask also disappeared.

But there was something one wouldn't know just by looking at the surface.

The earth, cracked from the impact of the pickaxe.

That those cracks, like those on a glass window, were pointing in one particular direction.

***

The Family Head of the Mystics.

Moirena Millesdusk.

However, inside Hojeopgung, she was Moirena Mystics.

As the Master of Hojeopgung and the Family Head.

She greeted an uninvited guest for the first time in decades.

“In this place, where there is nothing to steal, nothing to hold hostage.”

The one who approached Hojeopgung and passed through the crystal gate.

“What business brings you here. Forest Witch.”

“……”

She looked on without a word.

The ground she was currently stepping on.

The crystal gate she had just passed.

The Hojeopgung she was about to enter.

The single human blocking her path.

That human, strangely, was not visible.

It was clear that she was there in front of her.

But nothing about her appearance could be specified.

Whether her hair was green or red.

Whether she wore a dress or was naked.

Nothing could be known.

She spoke to that living ghost.

“Moirena Mystics. Step aside.”

“And if I don't.”

“You’ll get hurt.”

It was a natural consequence, as indifferently as she had spoken.

“You haven’t come to kill me, then.”

“I have no intention of going that far. I bear no grudge either.”

“Is that so? And here I thought you’d grown greedy for the position of Millesdusk’s maternal family. Since you were essentially pushed aside by me.”

“…Grudge. I didn’t have one.”

The leaves on her brim trembled violently.

At that sight, Moirena’s eyes narrowed.

Provoke her to gauge the extent of her power.

Forest Witch was one of her monikers, but the one more famous than this was the next Great Witch.

Even though it was their first meeting, thinking of that moniker made her tilt her head.

‘They said she’s the second Great Witch to appear in the world. But it doesn’t seem like she’s on that level.’

It was clear she was a formidable powerhouse.

But the second Great Witch?

It was hard to agree with that statement.

So, suspicion naturally grew.

“What are you hiding. Who is it that brought someone like you out of the forest?”

“You don't need to know. Your forest is about to collapse anyway.”

A voice distinctly different from before.

It was a voice filled with grudge.

However, the listener, far from being scared, laughed lightly.

“The second Great Witch. That undeserved moniker will be stripped from you today.”

“Do you think so.”

“The thing that made you be called the Great Witch. That curse which assimilates you with the forest. As you can see, this is not a forest.”

“Haa.”

A deep sigh flowed from under the brim.

“Everyone misunderstands.”

The pale hands hidden inside the long sleeves.

When she put her palms together and then parted them.

A staff, like one an old man might use to walk, was created.

It was a staff with a turquoise jewel embedded at the top.

“They think I became a Great Witch with just the Curse of the Forest. When they don’t even properly understand that curse itself.”

“……”

“I’ll show you. Why I am the Great Witch, and why your Family Head acknowledged me as the Great Witch.”

Koong─

The tip of the staff struck the ground, neither strongly nor weakly.

“It's because I'm the first human, not an elf, to hear the voice of the ‘Great Tree’.”

***

There were two things that were the most fun to watch in the world, as long as they weren't my own business.

One was watching a fire.

The other was watching a fight.

“They’re all quite amazing.”

The Youngest Son had taken a seat in a distant spot in Fantasy Gorge from where Hojeopgung was visible.

Here, there was no worry of being detected, nor of being caught in an illusion.

All he had to do was sit comfortably with his legs crossed and watch the fight between the second Great Witch and the Mystics Family Head.

It was also very helpful.

The more I watched, the more I felt my horizons broadening.

“So you can break an illusion like that too.”

The battle flowed in a single pattern.

Moirena cast an illusion.

The Forest Witch broke the illusion in various ways.

And then she counterattacked.

Moirena blocked or aimed for a counter with another illusion.

This pattern repeated or continued with only the order changed.

And yet, the Forest Witch thoroughly carried out the favor.

Kwaaaaaaang─!!

Kwaaaaaaang─!!

Hojeopgung was hit here and there with every exchange of offense and defense, collapsing as a matter of course.

“This way, they’ll be busy building their own house and will have less time to worry about someone else’s.”

It was a simple yet effective method.

The reason it couldn’t be executed was that no one dared to destroy the main fortress of Millesdusk’s maternal family.

But the Forest Witch didn't care about such things.

Furthermore, who would ever think that such a Forest Witch had come here at the request of the Youngest Son?

A perfect crime is born from a twisted perception.

“I understand your intention to plant a bomb inside Eclipse, but do you think it will go your way?”

I smiled wryly.

Whether it went my way or not.

“I’ll enjoy the money.”

Of course, since it was an investment.

The better Eclipse did, the more money the Fourth Son's faction would make.

After all, the amount invested was enough to make the General Manager of the Treasury blush.

Of course, that amount was within a manageable range.

“You have to fatten up a pig enough before you eat it, after all.”

I summoned the Griffin.

“It seems the conclusion is near.”

At some point, the pattern had broken.

It had simply become a one-sided fight.

I had expected it to be so from the beginning.

Anyone who knew the true power of the Forest Witch would have expected it.

Of course, the number of people who knew that was close to one here.

Chwaaaak─

The Griffin with its red wings spread disappeared into the red sunset.

***

The Black Floating Castle.

The castle that flew in the sky came to Fantasy Gorge.

Urgency could be seen even from the castle itself.

The Fourth Son, who had been flying, was now practically running like he was flying to his mother.

The shattered Hojeopgung was in such a state that it was impossible to tell what it originally looked like.

Everything was broken and fragmented.

Only those fragments were sharp and empty, like the atmosphere of this place.

“…Mother.”

A voice so low it felt awkward even to himself.

The child called out 불안하게 to his mother standing in the ruins.

It was all the more so because he couldn't tell what she was thinking or what her expression was.

“You’ve come. Young Master.”

A voice lower than usual, but flat nonetheless.

Jamie’s eyes swept the surroundings.

“Where are the masks? What were they doing while the palace was being turned into such a ruin!”

“I sent them away on purpose. They wouldn’t have been of any help.”

“…Who on earth did this.”

“It was the Forest Witch.”

“The Forest Witch…? The Forest Witch I know? The next Great Witch?”

“That is correct.”

She answered nonchalantly.

She was calm for someone whose residence had been utterly destroyed.

So only Jamie ran his hands through the back of his hair and asked.

“Why the Forest Witch all of a sudden! Why would someone like that come all the way here and destroy the palace?”

“A terrorist does not commit terrorism while revealing their reason for it. All that’s left is the result.”

The remaining result.

The destroyed Hojeopgung.

The General Managers whose return was decided due to the commotion.

On the surface, it looked like this.

But there was something more.

There was something more in this.

“The Fifth Son…. Thanks to our power being diverted elsewhere, his work will become much smoother, I suppose.”

“…Are you thinking that Dante sent the Forest Witch right now?”

“Because the one who benefited the most is the Fifth Son.”

“Haa…. Mother. It’s the Forest Witch. The next Great Witch! And you think Dante sent her? Ha! That’s just absurd!”

“Yes. It is absurd.”

Moirena, who said it herself, readily admitted it.

“It is an absurd thing… indeed.”

But why?

It was stuck in her throat like a fishbone and wouldn’t go down.

Currently, there was only one suspect.

But no matter how much she thought about it, there wasn't the slightest possibility of it being true.

“Stay at the castle while the palace is being rebuilt. It was originally your castle, wasn’t it, Mother? You should be able to stay comfortably.”

“Thank you. Young Master.”

“Yes, yes. So let’s go already!”

The son took his mother’s hand and left the ruins.

He boarded the floating castle again and looked down.

He could see the palace, with only its foundation and rubble remaining.

Gadeudeuk─

He gritted his molars.

His fists were clenched tighter than ever.

Anger and a sense of defeat he had never felt before seeped into his body.

As a son, he couldn't even protect his mother’s home.

Even after pursuing power so much.

It was utterly ridiculous.

“The Forest Witch…. I will find her, not the family. I will find her and even the someone behind her. I will make sure to kill them.”

“Just hearing you say that gives me strength.”

She let out a laugh that no one could see.

It was a smile tinged with the bitter taste of defeat.

One she hadn't made in a very long time, but had started making often at some point.

It was a smile that had become a habit since turning the Youngest Son into an enemy.

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