Chapter 25

Chapter 25: The Witch (2)

A Harpy was a species with the upper body of a woman and the lower body of a raptor.

Their most distinctive features were the enormous wing-arms that grew in place of arms, sharp talons, and their extreme appearance.

They mostly inhabited sparsely populated forests, but that didn't mean they avoided contact with humans.

As intelligent and greedy as humans, they raided passing travelers and villages for food and valuables. Among them, the cleverer and greedier ones demanded tribute outright, under the pretext of protecting the village.

"The Witch we're going to meet is one of those cases. She can use magic, and she's greedy on top of it."

When Robe Girl explained, Anagin nodded as if he understood.

"I had it wrong. Not a talking baby bird—a baby bird that ruins your fields."

In Anagin's eyes, the Harpy had been demoted from a fascinating beast to a harmful one.

"Hey, big brother. A Harpy isn't a monster or a beast. I'm not sure about the Witch yet, but regardless, the Harpy as a species is one recognized by the gods—same as nymphs and humans."

Anagin wasn't convinced, but Robe Girl's words were true.

Among the species the gods governed, humans were the most numerous, but they weren't the only ones.

Just as there were nymphs and satyrs who attended the gods, and dwarves who prided themselves on their exceptional craftsmanship, the Harpy was also one of the species acknowledged by the gods.

But Anagin didn't hear any of that. To him, they were nothing more than field-ruining beasts.

Spanichi agreed with Anagin's sentiment.

"I'm not sure about the Harpy as a species, but the Witch here is no different from a monster. From what I heard from people I met before coming here, there's evidence she's eaten humans... A mage lady would know, wouldn't she?"

Spanichi had caught on that Robe Girl was the Witch's disciple.

Not that there was anything to catch on to, really.

Robe Girl had just said with her own mouth that the Witch was her former teacher... Robe Girl, belatedly realizing her slip, made a startled expression.

Spanichi reassured her.

"Don't worry. My target is only the Witch."

"That's a relief. Just in case—I'm a victim too, you know. She tried to eat me."

As Spanichi and Robe Girl cleared up their misunderstanding, Anagin cut in.

"Can I ask a question too?"

"Ah, of course... What is it?"

"Why did you suddenly ask to travel together?"

"Ah..."

Spanichi let out a short exclamation. Even he found it embarrassing.

He'd told them to leave, then immediately asked to join them.

Spanichi explained.

"Honestly, I thought you were an Ascetic aspirant blinded by glory."

"And now?"

"Because I learned you're the Hero of the Fringe."

"?"

Rather than being resolved, Anagin's curiosity only piled up.

The Hero of the Fringe? When he asked about it, Spanichi explained with respect.

About Anagin's reputation, slowly spreading through the region.

After hearing the explanation, Anagin asked to confirm.

"So I defeated the Bander Peddler Band, defeated Diodia, and defeated the Monster Merchant too, and that's why they call me the Hero of the Fringe... Is that it?"

"Yes. I even heard that after defeating them, you didn't demand any reward—instead you bestowed riches upon the common folk. Truly, a model hero."

So he meant handing the Bander Peddler Band's assets over to Market Rio, and selling the monster corpses he'd defeated on credit.

He didn't know how the rumor had spread, but they seemed to have misunderstood thoroughly.

When he said as much, Spanichi merely smiled.

"Haha, your humility is excessive."

"......"

Anagin gave up on clearing up the misunderstanding. Just looking at him, Spanichi was clearly the type who wouldn't believe it no matter what.

He might have been able to set things straight with enough effort, but that was far too much trouble.

"I'm glad to meet someone like you, a fellow Ascetic. How would you like to defeat the Witch together with me?"

Anagin thought it over briefly, then agreed.

There was no particular reason to refuse.

They were headed the same way anyway, so going separately would be ridiculous, and whether alone or together, as long as he beat the Witch, it didn't matter.

With the agreement settled, Spanichi walked alongside Anagin.

"That said, I was surprised. To think you were the Giant who was spiriting away the Witch's disciple—no, keeping her in tow. Quite the amusing coincidence."

"...You met the Red-Feather Helmet Man?"

"Red-Feather Helmet? Ah... you must mean the Village Chief. I met him on the road. When I told him why I'd come, he explained his situation and asked for help. Said we were their only hope."

First clinging this way, then that way.

Anagin thought of the Village Chief and found him pathetic. But at the same time, he understood.

From the Chief's perspective, there probably hadn't been any other choice.

Spanichi also thought of the Village Chief, recalling the conversation they'd had. Soon a question arose.

"But, Anagin. Why did you refuse? Their request to be saved from the Witch? Even though you came all this way?"

If he really wasn't going to help, he could have just left—so why refuse, and then immediately come to defeat the Witch anyway? Spanichi couldn't quite understand.

Wasn't that doing the work while earning the scorn?

Given his recently earned fame, Spanichi wondered if there might be some hidden intention. If there was something to learn, he wanted to learn it.

"I just couldn't be bothered."

Anagin gave a vague, evasive answer. He did intend to defeat the Witch, but explaining that he'd refused because he simply had no intention of helping people was too much trouble... Besides, it wasn't entirely untrue. He'd refused because he figured agreeing to help would only bring him hassle.

But Spanichi, raised in an Ascetic Family, was shocked by Anagin's answer. To someone who always had to appear heroic, it was a statement he couldn't even imagine making.

Shocking in many ways. Just then, Anagin asked a question.

"But how do you know so much about me? It hasn't been that long."

"Aah... Rumors spread quickly by nature, don't they? And this was no ordinary matter."

Anagin, with no way of knowing how the rumor had spread, simply accepted it. Something like, "Oh, I guess that's possible."

He did notice, however, that Spanichi was hiding something. He could hear the gears turning.

Still, it didn't seem like Spanichi was trying to use him, so he decided to let it be.

---

The Witch's dwelling was in a marshy basin surrounded by mountains.

So other than the path itself being rough, there wasn't much of a problem.

Every now and then rotting corpses greeted them with weapons in hand, but they weren't at any threatening level.

"Seems she's out of beasts to command now!"

Spanichi said as he struck down a zombie with his shield. The zombie he hit was smashed to pieces.

Compared to corpse beasts, zombies were definitely easier opponents.

Because of the advanced decay, their movements were sluggish and their strength was weak, so he could subdue them just by swinging his shield.

If anything, the one having trouble was Anagin.

If he struck a zombie with his bag, the decaying bodily fluids could get on it.

So Anagin pulled axes and clubs from his subspace bag and threw them, smashing the zombies to bits.

"Why are there so many corpses here?"

Anagin questioned the sheer number of corpses, far more than he'd imagined.

Spanichi explained.

"When someone dies in a village under Harpy rule, the corpse is offered to the Harpy. I imagine that's why."

"I don't think that's the only reason, though?"

Robe Girl, who had disappeared when the zombies attacked, suddenly reappeared and cut in.

Spanichi looked surprised at her reappearance.

She kept up with the Ascetic's stride on the rough mountain path, yet vanished in an instant whenever a fight broke out, and reappeared in an instant once it ended.

Astonishing agility. Enough to make him wonder if she'd enhanced herself with magic.

"There have always been a lot of corpses around here."

"Is that so?"

"The place where the Witch lives wasn't originally a marsh—it was a city. The city fell and turned into a marsh, and these are probably the people who died back then."

"How do you know that?"

"From the books the Witch collects. Harpies usually collect shiny things, but a Harpy smart enough to learn magic also collects books. Actually, that's why I became her disciple. So I could read the books she'd gathered."

"Hooh, not to learn magic?"

"I already know how to use magic. More than anything, I'm a mage, but closer to a scholar. One who pursues knowledge. That's why I left my mother's bosom and came out into the world."

"Ooh..."

Spanichi let out an admiring exclamation.

Anagin listened without much thought. It wasn't a story he particularly cared to hear.

"From here on, you'd better be careful... You too, big brother."

Pointing at a hill in the distance, Robe Girl warned them.

"Past that hill it's all downhill, and from there on, it's the Witch's front yard."

"Is there a difference?"

"You think the Witch picked that spot for no reason? There'll be all kinds of traps."

Once they crested the mountain hill, they understood what she meant.

From the downward slope onward, fog set in and the path grew hazier and hazier, until the distance was shrouded in white and completely invisible.

Above all, the air turned strangely damp and heavy, making them feel uneasy.

"Just a moment."

Spanichi asked Robe Girl.

"If you were the Witch's disciple, don't you know what traps there are, or what magic the Witch uses?"

Spanichi, faced with the ominous landscape, was belatedly trying to pry information from Robe Girl. He'd been so excited at meeting the famous Anagin that he'd momentarily forgotten.

However, Robe Girl only shook her head.

"Sorry, but I don't know that. She kept it thoroughly hidden from me."

"What? Why...?"

It was common for mages not to teach their disciples magic properly, but they didn't go out of their way to hide it.

They wouldn't teach it, but they'd show off quite a bit of magic for display. That way, the disciples were easier to boss around.

Perhaps reading that from his expression, Robe Girl was about to make some excuse when—

"Well, we'll find out once we go down."

Anagin set off downhill. Before anyone could stop him.

Robe Girl and Spanichi had no choice but to follow.

---

Squelch!

Squelch!

Squelch!

Anagin and his companions descended the mountain path and reached flat ground.

Whether because it was the Witch's front yard or because it was a ruined city, the path was an absolute mess.

The limited visibility from the fog was one thing, but the ground was so soggy that walking was nothing short of torture.

At first it was just mushy, as if water had pooled underground, but the further they went, the more the ground sank like a mudflat, sapping their stamina.

"This is the kind of place mages with nasty tastes love."

Spanichi grumbled, looking at the mud caked on his shoes.

"They say mages enjoy cowardly hiding and wearing you down rather than fighting fair and head-on. Turns out that's true."

Anagin thought it was less cowardly and more clever, but he didn't bother to argue.

He did feel they needed to do something quickly, though.

The fog was gradually numbing his sense of direction—he couldn't tell if he was going forward or backward—and on top of that, his feet kept sinking into the mud. At this rate, they'd collapse from exhaustion on their own.

"You know how to break this?"

Anagin asked Robe Girl for help.

Robe Girl gave him a look that said, don't be ridiculous.

"I'm good at laundry, but I don't know much about this sort of thing. More than anything, I agreed to do your laundry, big brother—I never said I'd help with stuff like— Huh?"

Robe Girl trailed off mid-sentence and looked down.

A human-shaped mass of mud had, at some point, grabbed the hem of her robe, dirtied with mud. The worse news was that it wasn't just Robe Girl—Anagin's and Spanichi's legs were caught in the mud as well.

"What the?"

Anagin swung his fist at the mud gripping his leg.

Squelch!

He smashed the human-shaped mud in one blow, but that was all. The mud recovered to its original form and pulled Anagin downward.

"Do we have to break a totem for this one too?"

"Yeah. But it's probably deep under the swamp. The totem."

"How do you know that?"

"Because that's where I'd put it."

Robe Girl said, shaking off the mud.

She was probably right—if it were under the swamp, it would be hard to destroy.

Anagin kept swinging his fists, smashing the mud while thinking of how to escape this trap.

His first idea was to use Robe Girl and Spanichi beside him as stepping stones and flee. If he stepped on the two of them, he could kick off the mud in an instant and jump far away.

But that would make him too much of a bastard.

The second method was to take oil from his subspace bag and set a fire. If he set a fire, wouldn't that solve everything?

But this had a problem too. It could hurt Robe Girl and Spanichi beside him. It wasn't something he couldn't do, but it seemed a bit much.

That left only the third and final method. Take a deep breath and go under the swamp to find and destroy the totem.

Of course, this method had one fatal problem too. His clothes would get incredibly dirty.

"I guess there's no choice... I was going to save it for later, but! Everyone, wait just a moment!!"

Just as Anagin was deliberating over whether to put the third method into action, Spanichi shouted as if he'd resolved himself to something.

Anagin turned his head to look at him.

Spanichi swung his shield wide to shake off the mud trying to grab him, then drew the spear strapped to his back.

Now that he looked, the spear's shape was quite unusual.

A white spear with the spearhead and shaft integrated as one piece. It was a metal he'd never seen before. No—it looked closer to jade than metal.

"Hnngh...!"

Spanichi channeled Gi into the drawn spear, and the spear responded to the Gi, humming and glowing.

Then he drove the spear straight down into the marsh.

As the Gi dwelling in the spear spread out in ripples, the mud gripping his companions crumbled, and the fog surrounding them scattered.

A Tower standing alone amid the ruins came into view.