Chapter 126
Translator: penny
Chapter: 126
Chapter Title: If You Want to, Go Ahead. - 1
***
Veronica was fumbling to hide the book, her face flushed bright red.
For a split second, I caught a glimpse.
Of the illustration in that book.
A brief silence settled in. She was trying to act defiant with her cheeky expression, but the blush on Veronica's face showed no sign of fading.
What should I say?
You like that kind of stuff?
...She'd hang herself tomorrow.
How about we look at it together instead of keeping the good stuff to yourself?
No. Absolutely not.
In that short moment, I ran through dozens of possibilities in my head and tossed out the most appropriate line.
"What're you doing?"
Playing dumb is always the right answer.
Even Veronica might look at something naughty sometimes.
She's not a kid.
"U-Uh?! N-Nothing! I swear, I wasn't doing anything?!"
Anyone could tell she was up to something.
I narrowed my eyes at Veronica, and she hurriedly averted her gaze.
Sweat was dripping down her flushed skin.
"Gh?! S-So, what is it?"
"Oh. I need to step out for a bit. But I had something to tell you first."
"...What?"
"The followers of Chronos will be making their move soon. And..."
I explained about Chronos. Even she, who had been embarrassed from earlier, quickly regained her composure due to the gravity of the topic and listened intently.
"So... they're dangerous, huh."
"Yeah. In terms of threat level, they're practically Demon King tier."
Since they're trying to destroy the world, just like him.
"But isn't Cosmo, the Outer God of Space that you worship, also a dangerous Outer God who wants to destroy the world?"
"What?! My Cosmo isn't like that!!"
"..."
"Cosmo's satisfied with just offerings, but Chronos is different. He wants everything under his control. He twists time completely to create chaos."
"...Cosmo wants offerings... What kind of offerings?"
If they mentioned human sacrifice, I wouldn't stay quiet.
But Cosmo isn't a god who demands human sacrifices.
"All she wants are magical beasts, and precious things like jewels or elven silk. It's nothing like the heresies defined by the Church."
The Church considers only religions that practice human sacrifice as heresies to be eradicated.
They tolerate other faiths.
I met Veronica's skeptical gaze while recalling the game's lore, and she nodded.
"If you say so, it must be true. Anyway... something dangerous is about to happen. And."
Veronica pointed at the Moonlight I was holding.
"You're saying people who want to attack you will show up. Why not just seal Moonlight away at the Church?"
She said it out of pure concern, but I shook my head.
Carrying gear around was already a hassle, and I'd need Moonlight for parts of this DLC攻略.
"I see... Well, still, be careful."
"You too."
I stood up. We'd said everything there was to say, so it was time to go.
"See you tomorrow morning. I have somewhere to be..."
"Huh? At this hour? Where?"
"To pick up Wheelrot."
At the name Wheelrot, Veronica's eyes went wide.
That's cute.
Working less, earning more, and getting praised just for breathing—that's everyone's dream.
But everyone knows the world isn't that easy.
I arrived at the place where someone crushed by that reality had holed up and looked up.
It was a pitch-black forest.
A forest shrouded in darkness even thicker than the sky above.
Located at the southwestern edge of the continent, a forbidden zone no one should enter lightly.
A rope barrier blocked outsiders at the entrance, and hanging openly there— as if to ward off intruders—was the mangled corpse of a powerful magical beast, a Twin-Headed Ogre.
Not just that—recently killed human corpses and identifiable human skeletons were torn apart or shattered like toys, decorating the forest.
A warning.
No one should provoke the inhabitant of this forest.
No one should enter this forest without reason.
Defy that, and you'd meet the same fate.
In the game, barging in without clearing certain events and quests led straight to game over. Facing this forbidden zone, I crossed the barrier and entered.
I had no intention of provoking her, and I had a good reason.
The only sound was the crunch of fallen leaves underfoot tickling my ears.
No common animal noises in the forest—no, not even the chirp of insects in this eerily silent place. When I reached deeper inside...
I beheld a familiar sight.
"I-I-it's time for the great witch's... l-lesson. To begin."
A woman in a blood-red robe, wielding a staff wreathed in flames, wearing a red conical hat. Yellow frizzy hair, dark circles under her eyes. She was scribbling on a battered blackboard with a chipped corner.
"N-Now... s-say it. Wh-who am I?"
Her voice rose and fell wildly, laced with madness. No one answered.
Of course not— what she was teaching was just wooden puppets.
But she didn't care.
She just strutted around, swinging her staff this way and that, scribbling on the blackboard.
"That's right! The gr-great... witch Wheelrot! S-so you must worship me, tr-treat me like royalty. G-got it?"
No response, naturally.
It was just wooden puppets, after all.
Wheelrot paused in silence, then grinned.
"Good... good student. Q-quiet. Y-yes. Now, what I'll teach is... Th-Thunderbolt."
The highest-damage lightning spell, 'Thunderbolt.' Mentioning it, she swiftly drew a magic circle on the blackboard.
Despite her stammering speech and unblinking eyes, it was an incredibly precise magic circle.
No archmage could draw one so perfectly, so quickly.
She finished the circle in an instant and lightly swung her staff.
That alone.
Triggered Thunderbolt.
-Kwaaang!!
A golden bolt of lightning struck somewhere in the forest.
As the fallen thunderbolt set the woods ablaze, she casually swung her staff again.
"N-next... W-weather control."
Just swinging her staff summoned storm clouds in the black sky. The downpour from those clouds extinguished the forest fire in one go.
That's when I spoke to her.
"What're you doing?"
"Eek?!"
Startled, she whipped her staff toward me. Frowning fiercely, she growled.
"Lesson!! I'm in the middle of a lesson!! T-teaching Thunderbolt to my one and only disciple, the Prince of Wood No. 32!! D-do you know how amazing my d-disciple is? He's the Prince of Wood..."
"Oh yeah? Want the chance to become the great witch who teaches magic to the kingdom's princess, my one and only disciple Lucille, and leads her to archmage status?"
"...You're not tricking me? Not like those other g-guys... trying to use me..."
Wheelrot was as wary of others as her power was immense.
One wrong word, and people died—not just one or two.
Without years of building rapport, stroking her ego, talking to her like this would be impossible.
But her suspicion didn't bother me. 'Suspicion' was part of her character.
"Last time with the spirit hunt and the giant beast, you listened to me, got tons of praise and rewards, right? Hey, is our trust really that shaky?"
"Th-that's true... Y-yeah. Heh. Hehehe. The sage wouldn't deceive me. Hehehe. Uhehehehe! T-teaching the p-princess! The kingdom princess's! Ehehehe!!"
"But whether Lucille accepts you as her master is questionable."
"...Huh? The princess's o-only... one and only m-master?"
"That's up to her. But she'll at least treat you like a benefactor."
"Uhehehehe! That's fine too! G-good!"
Her anger vanished in an instant as she swung her staff.
The wooden puppet flew through the air and got sucked into the rundown house.
"I'm going! I'm going! Heh. Hehehe. Teaching the kingdom's princess... P-people will worship me. Heh. Worship! Then just breathing gets praise, right?"
"If you make Lucille an archmage, yeah. Oh, maybe other places will want to serve you too."
"Heh. Hehehe. Then we go. Y-you're the best, sage. Always bringing g-good offers. Uhhe. Uhehehehehe!"
A witch with exceptional talent, but who wants to mooch off life more than use it.
I'd recruited Wheelrot.
"But earlier you called that 'Prince of the Forest' or whatever. You okay treating it like that?"
"How's a wooden doll a prince? Sage, dummy?"
This woman?!
"Oh. B-but, sage."
"What."
"L-lately, something... w-weird happened."
Pleased with my offer, she grinned smugly and pointed her staff at one side boastfully.
The ground where a few trees stood began to rumble.
"Ta-da! Glow-in-the-dark n-nutrient!"
"It's neither glow-in-the-dark nor a nutrient."
It was a person, bound by tree roots, life force being drained by the trees.
I approached, checked their condition, and let out an impressed whistle.
"Look at these guys."
"K-kill... me... I don't... want to go back... anymore..."
"Immortal! A-amazing, right?!"
"Not immortal. They just rewind right before death."
Simply.
Trapped in a time loop, forever denied death, slaves craving an end that never comes.
Until Chronos descends, they never reach the conclusion of death.
Watching the undying return to the earth, I sighed.
No wonder the corpses outside looked so fresh.
These must be the minions he dragged in.
Seeing the pre-order pack characters appear one by one, I could feel the DLC Main Story was close.
Things were about to get busy.
"S-so? When? When? Huh? When?"
"If we leave now... we'll reach the kingdom in a week?"
"You're not going, sage?"
"I'll use teleport."
"Tch."
Wheelrot grumbled, but no choice. I couldn't ignore my promise to Veronica.
"Don't cause trouble on the way. I'll arrange a carriage. Closest city here's Osibel, right?"
"Y-yeah."
"I'll book one to the capital through the Adventurer's Guild there. A really expensive one."
With her ego and love for worship, she'd love it.
"Kuhuhu. Ku. Luxurious c-carriage?"
"Yeah. Three meals a day, lodging, everything handled. You just ride."
It'd cost a lot, but better than a cheap one leading to fights.
"Got it. Yeah. See you in the capital."
"Yep."
Wheelrot laughed darkly, giggling nonstop.
To a stranger, it might seem sinister, but it wasn't.
Her head was probably filled with visions of Lucille as queen, basking in praise, haughtily answering questions.
She'd claim she saw Lucille's potential young.
The sage is great, but so is she.
Without her, could Lucille become an archmage?
The queen birthed her, the sage guided her, but she perfected her.
When Lucille's queen, she'll leech off the palace.
"Kuhuhu. Kuhuhu."
Yeah. If she plays it right, it's not impossible.
I patted Wheelrot's shoulder lightly.
Hang in there.
It won't be easy.
Author's Note
See you later~! Bye~!!