Chapter 121: The Witch and the Land of the Centaurs
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 121: The Witch and the Land of the Centaurs
Dorothea’s knowledge of magic beasts was quite extensive.
No, it wasn’t just her knowledge that was extensive; she had personally faced a great number of them.
This was because her teacher, the Witch of the East, would constantly throw her into the remote wilderness under the guise of running errands and put her through the wringer.
But even Dorothea couldn't help but freeze like a statue at the sight before her: a creature with the lower body of a horse and the head of a horse, yet not quite a horse… a bizarre-looking being, clad in ornate knight’s armor, chattering on about civilization.
It felt as if her brain was filing a complaint with her eyes and ears, saying, Hey, I think you two are malfunctioning. Run a diagnostic.
While Dorothea remained frozen, the fight between the civilized horse (a name she’d tentatively given it) and the humans continued unabated.
The result was an overwhelming victory for the civilized horse.
The humans’ crude stone axes and spears failed to pierce its gleaming armor and barding, and their flimsy leather clothes were uselessly torn apart by its well-forged steel sword.
Realizing they had no chance of winning, the humans tried to flee, but even that proved difficult.
The civilized horse’s light trot was far faster than the humans’ full sprint, and it was intentionally crippling their legs.
Dorothea frowned.
It's toying with them.
If it had fought with its full strength, the battle would have been over long ago. But the civilized horse was deliberately dragging out the fight, mocking the humans. It looked as if it were enjoying a sport.
Though she found the scene distasteful, Dorothea didn't immediately rush in.
She was a rational witch, not one to pursue justice or goodness.
In a situation where she still had no grasp of her surroundings, suddenly joining one side—especially the weaker one—was hardly a wise move.
“Hm?”
It was then that the civilized horse’s gaze fell upon Dorothea.
After casually kicking the nearby humans into submission, it approached her.
Just as Dorothea was wondering what she should say first, the civilized horse spoke.
“Hmph. How unsightly.”
Swoosh. The temperature in the air dropped slightly.
Unaware of the chill, the civilized horse continued its appraisal—no, its complaint.
“Judging by the craftsmanship of its clothes, it doesn't seem to have been made by those ignorant humans. Did it escape from a pen somewhere? Good grief. To think someone would dress an inferior species in such elaborate, custom clothes and dote on it. What a peculiar taste. No matter how much you dress up something that's ugly to begin with, it won't make much of a difference…”
The civilized horse’s monologue went on and on.
It didn't seem to be trying to provoke Dorothea. In fact, it looked as if it couldn't even imagine that Dorothea understood its words.
Dorothea didn't bother to correct the misunderstanding.
She no longer had any intention of conversing with the creature before her.
Toss.
Dorothea took a small bone fragment from her pouch and threw it to the ground.
Then, she poured her mana into it, a bit more violently than usual.
Crack, creak, snap.
With a bizarre and gruesome sound, the bone rapidly expanded in size.
When she first threw the bone, the civilized horse had watched with an expression that said, ‘What trick is this animal trying to pull?’ But as the bone grew of its own accord, it shrieked in terror.
“Wh-what is that!?”
《Grrrrr…!》
The undead hound—no, hounds—did not answer the civilized horse’s question.
No matter how much the civilized horse dressed and spoke like a person, it was no match for the bond between humans and dogs that had been forged over thousands of years.
The hounds unhesitatingly tore at the civilized horse’s legs.
A normal animal’s teeth would have been broken by the barding, but the saliva of the special dogs from the garden had a powerful corrosive effect.
Seeing its armor hiss and melt, the civilized horse panicked and tried to shake off the undead hounds, but whether it stomped on their heads or slashed them with its sword, the hounds simply regenerated.
Worse, when they were split into pieces, they would multiply by that number.
Realizing it had no chance of winning this way, the civilized horse was left with two options.
Flee with all its might, or strike Dorothea, who seemed to be the cause of this whole mess.
The civilized horse chose the latter.
“This is your doing!!”
The civilized horse charged at Dorothea.
The sword it had been holding was long gone, snatched away by the dogs, but the front-leg kick it delivered by heaving its entire body packed enough force to dent a steel plate.
Just as the civilized horse’s hoof was about to crush Dorothea’s head…
Clang!
The staff in Dorothea’s hand let out a short cry.
“What!?”
The civilized horse’s attack never reached Dorothea. A circular barrier had formed around her, completely blocking its assault.
The civilized horse was horrified, and Dorothea was annoyed.
She couldn't help but be irritated, having been forced to use a trump card she'd prepared for Algind in a place like this.
As if sensing their master’s anger, the undead dogs bit down on the civilized horse with even greater force.
From the moment it made the wrong final choice, the civilized horse had no chance of recovery.
Its neck bitten, it rolled its eyes back and died.
Gazing down at the civilized horse’s corpse with cold eyes, Dorothea fell into a quiet thought.
The closest thing I know of would be a centaur, I suppose? But there are too many strange things about it for that to be the case… Hm?
Dorothea’s thoughts came to a halt. She turned to the humans who had surrounded her and asked with a bored expression.
“…What, you want some of this too?”
In response, the humans all dropped to their knees and bowed their heads.
“※▽▼X(!@$!”
“※@&@&(##@*!”
Dorothea couldn't understand their words.
But from the way they raised their arms in cheers and bowed repeatedly with looks of overwhelming gratitude, it wasn't hard to guess their meaning.
《Grrrk?》
An undead hound looked at Dorothea and tilted its head.
As if to say, What should I do with them, Master? Should I bite 'em? Dorothea let out another sigh, the umpteenth one of the day.
*
In the square of a certain city.
A large crowd of civilized horses had gathered, listening intently to a debate taking place in the center of the square.
A white horse, standing at the podium, began to speak.
“Recently, many of our youth have been indiscriminately slaughtering wild humans, enjoying it as if it were a sport! Humans are living beings too! To kill them for sport, treating their lives as mere entertainment, is not something that we, who possess reason and intellect, should be doing!”
A red horse retorted.
“I cannot simply stand by and listen to such words! Humans are inherently hideous, lazy, selfish, and violent creatures! Their very existence is inferior, and by simply breathing, they consume the resources of this island! Instead of encouraging the extermination of these parasitic vermin, how can you scold those who do so?”
A black horse also added its opinion.
“I, too, cannot condone indiscriminate slaughter. It is true that humans are foolish and ignorant, but is it not our burden as civilized horses to guide such beings onto the 'right' path?”
A yellow horse spoke loudly.
“I think you are all overcomplicating things. We should reclaim all the valuable land that the humans have presumptuously occupied, use the submissive ones for appropriate labor, and kill all the defiant ones. Wouldn't that solve the problem? I believe this is a rather decent compromise.”
The four horses raised their voices, each proclaiming their own opinion, while the citizens watched, licking sugar cubes or chugging beer.
“Why not just kill them all? What’s the point of keeping harmful creatures alive?”
“Tsk, tsk, so simple-minded. Are they not also a part of nature, crafted by the great Elphaba? It is right to seek harmony rather than recklessly driving them to extinction.”
“It’s because of that kind of dawdling that the human extermination projects keep failing. I could understand if they were obedient dogs, but do we really need to show mercy to creatures like that?”
“There have been several incidents where innocent young colts were harmed by wild humans. It’s better to just get rid of them!”
“Hmph, you people, really.”
As usual, public opinion leaned toward the radicals.
The prevailing argument was that for the sake of the civilized horses’ comfortable and safe lives, it was right to ‘drive out’ the barbaric and hideous humans.
Of course, what would happen to those who were exiled was none of their concern. If they didn't like it, they could work as laborers under the horses.
Or they could be kept as pets by horse owners with peculiar tastes.
“Th-this is terrible!”
The shocking news reached the city just as the debate was reaching its climax.
The horses of the city were horrified to hear that a young horse from a high and noble family had been brutally murdered by humans.
The young horse had been a devout believer who truly trusted and followed the great Elphaba, and he was also an ordained knight.
There had been a few incidents in the past where ignorant colts had lost their lives to wicked humans, but this was the first time a heavily armed knight had been so mercilessly killed.
The atmosphere in the city instantly heated up.
The few moderate voices were crushed by the enraged public opinion.
It was only a few hours later that a fully armed subjugation force departed.
*
The humans’ treatment of Dorothea could only be described as utterly devoted.
They willingly gave her the largest and most magnificent house in their settlement (though it was still just a hut) and offered her various fruits and something she presumed was grain porridge.
Sitting on a stone chair that had been made plush with layers of leather and straw, Dorothea looked down at her wrist.
The golden thread bracelet Franka had given her was wrapped around it. Four strands stuck out from it, each pointing in a different direction.
So Franka did something. Looks like they're alive, at least.
Her companions should be in the directions the strands were pointing.
The problem was how to reunite with them.
Dorothea covered her eyes with her hand as she recalled the coastline she had discovered after heading straight in the direction one of the strands pointed.
“I know the workshop is big, but this is ridiculous. But having an ocean and islands inside it is just too much, isn't it?”
That’s right.
The place Dorothea had been dropped was, surprisingly, an island.
It couldn't have been a real ocean, of course; it was probably more like an extra-large lake. But that wasn't much of a comfort.
The fact remained that she would have to set sail to reunite with the others.
I kept a part of the sea serpent's corpse, but undead created by using a fragment as a core and forcibly granting it a body with mana don't last long. If it collapses in the middle of the voyage, I'm screwed. I need to find a boat somehow.
Even for the multi-talented Dorothea, the best she could build was a raft.
If she wanted to use necromancy, she would need the soul of someone with shipbuilding skills to borrow their power, but judging by the state of the humans here, she doubted they could even build a simple boat.
“@#&@#$#*#!”
“…First, I need to be able to communicate.”
Dorothea held out her left hand.
Making a grasping motion, she rotated her wrist counter-clockwise. Spin, spin, spin.
Seeing Dorothea's chain ring transform into a birdcage, the humans gasped and looked on with awe.
Accepting their reaction with a grimace, Dorothea tapped the cage with her finger and said, “Any of you who can speak, come here. In return, I will grant you clear reason.”
It didn't matter whether the spirits understood her words or not.
The magic birdcage Dorothea had received from the Witch of the East was an incredibly powerful magic tool, and one of its effects was to act as an intermediary between its owner and spirits.
As long as the other party was a spirit, she could convey her will, even if it was an animal and not a human.
Sure enough, a few spirits soon gathered around Dorothea and entered the cage.
The spirits, now in the form of skeletons, sang.
《Witch, Witch, Great Witch! Please give us your command!》
“Translate what they're saying.”
At Dorothea’s question, a skeleton replied.
《They are calling you a goddess! The Crow Goddess who stands against the Golden Goddess Elphaba!》
“………….”
Dorothea was silent.
She opened and closed her mouth for a long moment before finally muttering a single phrase.
“I'm seriously going to lose it.”
For some reason, she felt as if the Tin Knight's mocking voice was echoing in her head.