Chapter 113 - Witch's Garden

A sudden murder.

The silence was brief, and panic soon set in.

"G-Gasp!"

"T-The Regent committed murder...!!"

He had killed someone without hesitation right in front of everyone.

In the midst of such a chaotic crucible, Ferda was the only one entirely unbothered.

He merely stared down at the woman he had killed.

"What a severe waste of time."

The woman did not move.

It was only natural.

How could she move with her forehead pierced?

While everyone flinched at Ferda's sudden action,

Ferda alone remained calm and resolute.

"Drop the useless act, witch. It must be hard sprawling out like that."

At that moment, the body that no one doubted was dead began to twitch.

"Gasp!"

"T-The corpse is moving!"

She stood up on the spot, jerking unnaturally like a poorly strung marionette.

With her forehead still pierced, she opened her mouth.

"... How did you know?"

An awkward smile spread across the terrified woman's face.

CRACK—

A moment later, that form began to split apart.

The skin slid off like a shedding snake, revealing the flesh within.

Hair made of white scales, vertically slit pupils, and a staff shaped like two entwined snakes.

A snake's tongue protruding from her mouth, flicking back and forth.

Her true identity was instantly recognizable.

"It's the Witch of Snakes, Yor!"

"A witch has entered our castle!"

The kneeling people scrambled back in terror.

In an instant, a circular empty space formed around the witch and Ferda.

'Yor Philiaz.'

Ferda knew that name too.

She was a witch whose infamy ranked among the highest even among witches.

As a highly skilled witch, her demonic energy was equally thick.

And proportional to the thickness of that demonic energy, it mercilessly crushed the surroundings.

The witch lifted the hem of her skirt and playfully offered a greeting.

"Nice to meet you, Regent Valdrova."

Not a husky voice, but a sharp, high-pitched tone.

Deep malice could be felt within it.

"You're the first person to pierce my forehead the moment we met. As the Grand Duchess's Consort, shouldn't you treat me with a bit more class?"

"Stop exaggerating. If I wanted to kill you, I would have used another method."

"Oh my, how brave. My hobby is plucking out the hearts of brave humans like you..."

She licked her blade-like fingernails.

"I suppose you're trying to indulge my hobby?"

The moment she finished speaking, Yor's figure vanished.

No, something flying at a speed the eye couldn't follow had pounced on her.

It was Luri.

She pinned Yor down, crushing her neck under her foot.

"Your heart will be plucked out first, witch."

Luri growled.

However, the witch did not panic.

She merely looked up as if finding it cute.

"You're a cute flat-chested missy. Try tempering your personality and living a bit more smoothly. You need to do that to become an adult, right?"

Then she cast a glance down below Luri's skirt and smiled in satisfaction.

"Quite cute."

"You crazy bitch—."

"Enough."

The moment Luri's fist was about to smash her mouth, Ferda stepped in to stop her.

"I have no time to play with you, Yor Philiaz."

Ferda flicked his finger.

"Stop digging for information with useless provocations. Just leave Big Sister's message and get lost."

Yor narrowed her eyes at those words.

She, who had been showing exaggerated movements, seemed genuinely surprised.

"Well, knowing that I'm digging for info is one thing, but how did you know about that too?"

"Because even though Echidna met with a mishap, things ended too cleanly."

Witches and Demons.

The majority of those who got entangled with those two ended up suffering terribly.

"It's your job to eternally hunt down and curse the humans who kill witches."

"Hmm... You're spouting nonsense. Don't you know that Echidna is an excommunicated child?"

"If a witch has an excuse, what couldn't she do?"

"Hehe, you've got a point."

At that moment, Yor's figure, which Luri had pinned down, scattered into dozens of snakes.

Yor casually walked out from among the crowd as if she had been there all along.

"Our Regent knows far too much about witches for his own good."

She dropped her smile, looking bored.

"Anyway, I'll give you Big Sister's message."

One of the snakes on Yor's staff wriggled and regurgitated something long.

It was a sealed scroll.

Yor cleared her throat and recited its contents.

"Ferda Valdrova, I hereby declare that you have been invited by Lucy Philiaz, the pillar of the Philiaz roots, Mother of Witches, and Big Sister, and that you are obliged to accept this invitation."

She playfully mimicked a royal envoy before tilting the invitation she had brought toward Ferda.

"If you unroll this invitation, you will arrive at the Witch's Garden immediately."

Then, as if suddenly remembering, she smiled brightly and added one more thing.

"There are no traps."

Ferda quietly looked down at the invitation.

"You must not accept it."

Luri grabbed onto him from the side.

"Flat-chested missy, I'm sorry, but this is an adult conversation. Could you step out of it?"

"Shut up, witch."

Luri's expression grew even fiercer.

A rage and disgust on a completely different level from before could be seen.

"Know that the only reason your maw isn't ripped open right now is because I am being patient."

"Oh my, how scary. But this big sister's maw is already ripped open. Wanna see?"

The skin around her mouth ripped open with a cracking sound, revealing an inside large enough to engulf a human head.

"Eeeek!"

The people recoiled in horror at the witch's bizarre appearance, and Yor cackled as if satisfied.

Ferda merely looked down at the invitation without getting swept up in the atmosphere.

"Why should I go?"

Ferda asked her.

Yor replied with a smiling gaze.

"Because Echidna died while messing with the Rune you created."

A simple and already known answer.

"That's enough."

"Are you serious?"

Upon hearing Ferda's response, Luri turned her head.

She was so shocked that her burning killing intent completely vanished.

"Your opponent is a witch. And the leader among them at that. They're creatures who hate men and use them as playthings; do you really believe her words?"

"Oh my, that hurts my feelings. Hey, we have emotions too, you know?"

After showing an exaggerated gesture in response to Luri's words, Yor sneaked a glance at Ferda.

Her eyes sparkled with curiosity.

"But I'm curious too. What are you placing your trust in?"

Ferda kept his mouth shut and accepted the invitation.

Yor shrugged her shoulders.

"Well, whatever. Make sure you come alone. I mean, you can only come alone anyway, but I'm just telling you to save you the pointless effort. Then..."

Her eyes turned toward someone.

It was Zed.

Looking at him, she gave a radiant smile.

"Handsome playboy. How've you been?"

"Oh, I've been doing just fine. How have you been, noonim?"

"Hoho, since when do we know each other well enough to call me noonim? But it feels nice hearing it from such a handsome guy."

In contrast to her smiling eyes, what could be felt was killing intent.

"You know, right? There's a bucketload of women holding a grudge against you."

"Haha, I know, but I don't really want to care about that."

"Sure, sure. Don't care about it. That way, when your guard is down, they can kill you very painfully. Please live like that for the rest of your life."

She smiled with her eyes at Zed and flicked her finger.

"Then, adieu~."

Her figure sank into the floor and vanished completely.

People looked at each other and let out sighs of relief in the silence left behind by the witch.

Everyone returned to their livelihoods, but those two did not move from that spot.

Ferda stood there, quietly looking down at the invitation.

"You must not go."

Luri stopped Ferda once again.

"Do you know where you're heading right now?"

"The Witch's Garden, I assume."

The Witch's Garden.

A space for all witches, where they are born and granted the name Philiaz.

Having been summoned by Lucy Philiaz, he would surely head there.

"Are you doing this knowing where that Witch's Garden is?"

Limbo.

The space between dimensions.

A place ordinary humans couldn't perceive because the time spent passing through that microscopic gap was merely an instant.

The First Witch, Lucy Philiaz, had established the witches' sanctuary in that place.

"If you enter, Lord Ferda, you might not be able to return."

"That won't happen."

"What is your reason for being so certain?"

"Because she formally invited me to her own territory."

Ferda knew a lot about witches.

They also had their own rules, and the Witch's Garden was a sacred domain.

They could not use that sacred domain as a trap of hatred and disgust.

Even if it was for a man they hated.

"Besides, I have to get Echidna back."

"That witch isn't that important."

Luri could not understand it.

To her, it only looked like he, who spoke as if he would live for Valdrova, was risking his life for a single witch.

"If you fall into a trap and die, Lord Ferda, Lady Valdrova will be left all alone."

Ferda was slightly shaken by those words.

It was because the image of her left alone entered his mind.

"Please do not forget your position."

However, as her words continued, Ferda had a realization.

My position.

'My position is...'

...that he was still lacking to stand by her side.

Ferda unrolled the invitation.

The sensation of being sucked in.

His body was being disassembled.

From a body into chunks.

From chunks into molecules.

From molecules into atoms.

The sensation of even those atoms being split apart.

It was a sensation that made it difficult to maintain one's sanity, not just for ordinary humans, but for mages as well.

The same went for Ferda.

His instincts were constantly screaming that it was fatal even for a 4-star Mage, who was treated as an official mage.

However, Ferda's body was safely transmitted, rendering the alarms pointless.

'Incredible.'

Limbo was a microscopic space that existed between spaces.

A space that did not exist and could not be perceived, an infinite space precisely because it did not exist.

Pinpointing its location and transmitting something flawlessly was something Ferda could never accomplish.

It was proof of how long she had lived within Limbo, understanding and utilizing it.

At the same time, it was also proof of why the existence of witches could not be eradicated from the Serdes Continent, even if they were described as a menace.

Ferda opened his eyes.

A dizzyingly undulating sky of various colors.

Below it lay dark, damp grass and a dirt path.

At the end of the path were thorny brambles forming a wall, intertwined with black roses.

Ferda walked along the given path.

An exotic wooden gate welcomed him ahead.

It was an architectural structure from the East that only existed in records.

- Oho?

A voice ringing throughout the entire garden.

Ferda knew this voice.

It belonged to Lucy Philiaz.

- It hasn't even been an hour—no, not even ten minutes since the invitation arrived, yet you opened it right away? What an impatient fellow you are. Or are you just that confident in your own skills?

She let out a laugh.

CREAAAK—

The main gate leading into the garden opened.

- Either way, I'd like to get a look at your face, child. Hurry up and come in.

An exotic-styled building that had been blocked by the gate came into view.

That place was known as the Rose Pavilion.

- Oh my, he really came.

- The man known as the Dragon's Consort has entered the witches' domain.

Frivolous voices echoed throughout the Witch's Garden.

Soon, the dignified voice guided Ferda once again.

- Come closer, child.

Ferda took a step forward.

He moved forward, displaying the courtesy of an invited guest while maintaining his authority as the Consort of the Red Dragon.

As he climbed up to the pavilion and entered through the entrance, what greeted him were women sitting closely together in the gazebo.

Their clothes varied, but all of them were wearing black veils to hide their faces.

That was the etiquette of the witches belonging to the Witch's Garden.

The same went for the one person among them sitting in the highest seat in the center.

The only thing he could guess from her silhouette was that her physique was close to that of Luri or Mori.

Sitting on a long wooden bench with a pipe in her mouth, her demeanor reflected that of someone quite advanced in age.

The master of the Rose Pavilion.

The Mother of All Witches.

Big Sister.

She was none other than Lucy Philiaz.

Although her face was covered by a black cloth, he could feel her gaze sweeping over his entire body.

"You look far too delicate for such brave actions."

It was a weightiness on a completely different level from when he looked at Luri, who had a similar build.

"Welcome to my garden, child."

Ferda replied to her.

"Thank you for the invitation, Big Sister."

"Oh my, he isn't using honorifics in front of our Big Sister?"

"He must be dying to get cursed."

"Shall I cast one on you right now, little boy?"

The witches' tone was sharp with hostility.

"Silence."

At Lucy's brief command, the witches silenced even their breathing.

"I shall apologize in their stead. My children harbor a lot of resentment toward men."

"I don't mind. Rather, if I was rude, I apologize. Should I use honorifics?"

"There is no need for that."

Pure white tobacco smoke puffed out from beneath her veil.

"Because it makes me uncomfortable to hear honorifics from a monster like you."

"Monster?"

"Did that offend you? Yes, to say such a thing to a child who is only nineteen years old, you must be quite upset."

She let out a clicking chuckle and puffed out more tobacco smoke.

"But these two eyes looking at you can see far more than you'd think."

He could understand why the gaze he felt was so unsettling.

Those eyes were literally seeing right through Ferda.

"It is an insight gained from living a long life. Among other things, I can see just how many people one has killed."

Lucy's head tilted to the left.

"A truly massive number of people have died within your eyes."

"..."

Was she only talking about the time since he had returned?

Even so, while he had killed many people, the word 'monster' she used did not quite fit him right now.

'A monster...'

Yes, he was a monster.

He had hated people in order to keep his hatred rolling.

He was hated by just as many people, and he killed even more than that.

Even those who didn't necessarily need to be sacrificed, he left no one alive unless they were guaranteed not to become a future threat.

The Ferda of that time truly was a monster.

'Is that karma something not even time can reverse?'

Was it because his heart had not changed even after turning back time?

Was that why that voice still lingered inside Ferda's body?

Amidst those arising questions, something he wanted to ask suddenly came to mind.

"Do you also know who I've killed?"

Meaning that among those countless victims was Lucy Philiaz herself.