[Author’s Note] Thanks for the early votes, recommendations, and comments! Chapter 20
7. The Witch’s Request019 – The Witch’s Request #1
“That was a cute little thing. After a few molts and growing up, we got pretty awkward with each other.”
The Witch wiped her tears.
I felt a twinge of guilt, like I had done something terribly wrong in the presence of this busty beauty’s tears.
While I was hesitating whether to apologize or not, the Witch brushed her tears away and said, trying to shake off her emotions.
“Eating and being eaten is the way of nature, so it can’t be helped. How did it taste?”
—Um, it was really delicious. It popped in my mouth like…
“Yeah, thanks to its talent, it was a bit naive, but that little one was the master of the forest. They say the masters of the forest are incredibly delicious because they’ve been hogging all that nutrition for ages while gobbling up every beast around them. It’s like they’ve captured the taste of heaven itself.”
Now, calling it the taste of heaven might be overdoing it, but I had to agree it was tasty.
Still, it felt strange and awkward to be discussing the flavor of what I had just referred to as “my family.”
I decided to change the subject.
—So, does that mean I can’t receive this crystal as payment?
“Yep, it’s a bit too much for me to handle. I can’t exactly spit out precious fragments I’ve already swallowed, so what to do…”
After receiving the blue crystal from the Witch, I carefully tucked it into my vine backpack. That’s when I noticed a hard, firm egg.
—Then what about this? It’s probably the Snake Queen’s egg.
“Is it El-Gasa’s egg?”
Let’s see, the Witch took the egg I was holding. She soon broke into a bright smile, nodding enthusiastically.
“What a magnificent egg! Absolutely splendid.”
Eve tapped the egg with her hands, showering it with compliments.
Seeing the beautiful woman so delighted made me feel like I had received compliments myself; my nose itched with pride.
—Who would have thought that this egg belonged to that giant snake? I thought for sure it was an albatross egg.
The raccoon shivered all over.
It looked like it was shocked to discover that something it thought was trivial was actually something pretty amazing.
“Yeah, there’s no doubt that’s a snake egg. At this size, it’s enough for payment. Sounds delicious, doesn’t it?”
—Are you going to eat the egg?
The Witch, Eve, nodded as if my question was the most obvious thing ever.
“Of course! The Basilisk egg has a great effect on recovering vitality. But breaking this egg seems impossible with the power I currently have. I guess I’ll need a Clucking Stone. Hmm, what to do…”
The Witch crossed her arms and pondered, deep in thought.
The raccoon, Leaf, chimed in brightly.
—The Clucking Stone makes a crowing sound, right? We can get it from the rocky cliff nearby! I’ll go get it.
“Leaf, can you go? But you’ll have a hard time on your own. The forest madman has been camping out at the rocky cliff for the past few days. The nearby kids are in a panic.”
—Then I’ll go with that guy!
—No, why am I suddenly involved?
I grimaced when the raccoon pointed at me, sensing I was about to be dragged into something annoying.
Yet Eve’s face brightened like a flower, unbothered by the trouble.
“Will you really? If you bring back the Clucking Stone together, I’ll make an omelet with this egg.”
—Hmm.
Feeling thoroughly unenthusiastic, I swallowed my bitter taste of hesitation. As I hesitated, the Witch Eve gently grabbed my front paw and said,
“It’s definitely going to be delicious. You can look forward to it. It’s just too dangerous for Leaf to go alone right now. I’d really appreciate it if you went with him.”
—Then can’t you just go yourself? You seem quite strong. You wouldn’t lag behind Kublai or Yan-Mite…
I couldn’t help but glance over the Witch from her feet to her head even though I knew it was rude. Instead of her, Leaf jumped in to answer.
—Lady Eve can’t leave this Misty Forest. That’s how she is.
“Right, embarrassing as it is, Leaf is telling the truth. I can’t take a single step out of this Misty Forest. All I can do is listen to the stories of the friends who occasionally visit and receive my meager rewards.”
—So that’s why.
I started to understand why this Witch, despite possessing great power, was not called the master of the forest.
Why she couldn’t leave this forest, I didn’t know the details, but judging by her being called a Witch, I thought it might be some kind of curse or something. Better to just skip asking and avoid getting tangled in more troublesome issues.
“Would you go to the rocky mountain with Leaf? I’m asking you to. If you come back safely with the stone, I’ll not only reveal your identity but also provide a good reward.”
The mention of a good reward perked my ears up. And her hand, pressing insistently on my front paw, along with the subtle touch of her ample bosom, made my lips twitch in delightful disarray.
Beauty is such an unreasonable existence.
Even in the body of a beast, it seems I can’t escape the trap of charming women.
—May I ask what that reward is?
*
Raccoon Leaf kept humming a tune. It was a complete mess, so much so that I couldn’t even tell what the song was.
—Shut up.
—What would you know about art, you clumsy animal?
Leaf shot back with a snide remark.
Even if I admitted I had no artistic skills, I certainly didn’t want to hear that from a raccoon.
I pursed my lips and whistled.
In my human days, I had never seen anyone who could whistle better than me.
Whistling was one of my few talents, and it hadn’t dulled even after becoming a magical beast; my pitch remained sharp.
—What? What is that? A bird sound?
Leaf stopped humming and tilted its head. Perking up its ears to listen, I split my lips into a grin.
—What would a silly raccoon know about music?
—Don’t call me silly, silly! I can do addition and subtraction. I can even do multiplication!
Leaf puffed out its chest with confidence.
I had been noticing it for a while now, but this raccoon seemed to think it was pretty clever.
I chuckled softly, wondering just how smart a raccoon could be.
Should I tease him a bit?
—Then why don’t you solve this? What’s five plus five?
—It’s ten! Is that all you’ve got? Give me a tougher one.
Leaf shrugged its shoulders, acting smug for a raccoon.
I pondered, trying to think of a number that it absolutely wouldn’t be able to figure out.
—Okay, then what’s seventeen thousand five hundred ninety-six times three thousand seven hundred twenty-five?
That equation rolled off my tongue without even running through my brain first.
27596 times 3725. It was a complicated problem, but surely a human wouldn’t struggle with it. Just doing it in your head might take some time.
—That would be 1 billion 279 million 510 thousand.
—Ha! You don’t even know, do you? What did you just say?
I suddenly flustered, weirdly asking a question as if something was wrong. Leaf raised its eyebrows in surprise.
Could it be that it was just randomly spouting numbers? I mentally scrambled to calculate again.
After some time passed, realizing that it was indeed the right answer left me somewhat aghast.
‘Wow, it seems like it really is clever.’
After all, this was a raccoon that could speak and set traps just like a human. Its mathematical skills being remarkable didn’t seem out of the ordinary.
—Why the silence? No other problems? Give me something tougher. This is fun!
As I stayed quiet for a while, Leaf prodded me again.
This raccoon couldn’t seem to control his mouth, whether chitchatting endlessly or humming.
—Bring on another problem. Hurry.
—Ugh, what a nuisance.
I brushed aside its comments and continued to think of a problem it absolutely wouldn’t be able to solve.
‘A math problem wouldn’t do. It would probably get everything right. More than anything, I don’t even know the answer. Then something like a nonsensical riddle would be better. It doesn’t seem to know much common sense…’
After some deep contemplation, I finally thought of a good riddle and tweaked it so Leaf could understand.
—Okay, let’s see if you can figure this out. There’s a raccoon that only tells lies and a beautiful witch that only tells the truth.
—What kind of question is that? I don’t only lie.
The raccoon stopped and protested. I frowned heavily, dismissing its objections.
—No, just listen. Anyway, there are those two. One day, a good magical beast stands at a fork in the road and asks them, “Which way leads to the rocky cliff?”
One path led to the rocky cliff, while the other led into a misty forest full of terrifying beasts.
The question I posed was a very famous conundrum about an angel and a devil.
An angel who always tells the truth and a devil who always lies.
From their appearance alone, you couldn’t differentiate between them.
The question was how to find the desired path at the fork in the road with just a single question to either of them.
—If you ask which way leads to the rocky cliff, they’ll point in different directions!
Leaf seemed to grasp the question immediately and made a thoughtful humming sound. I couldn’t help but smile in satisfaction as it pondered.
The little raccoon scratched its head for a while.
—I don’t know. Is there a hint that could help? This better have an answer!
—Take your time to think. Don’t call yourself smarter than me when you can’t even solve this.
—Grrr.
While we were bantering away, the fog lifted, revealing a bright sunlit forest ahead.
—It’s still bright. It feels like I’ve spent ages at the Witch’s house.
I thought it should be evening by now, but outside, the sun was still high up.
The raccoon answered casually, as if it were the most obvious thing.
—Time flows differently in the Misty Forest.
—What? How can that be?
The flow of time being irregular—it sounded like some kind of relativity theory. With my brain not up to that, I shrugged it off as just the Witch’s magic.
—So, where is that rocky mountain? Will it take long?
—It should only take half a day to get out with the Clucking Stone. Probably…
Leaf trailed off, unusually uncertain.
—Probably? So you’re not sure?
—According to Lady Eve, the forest madman has taken up residence at the rocky cliff. I guess there are lots of pretty stones there. Those creatures eat stones.
—What is this forest madman?
—You’ll find out soon enough.
Leaf shivered at the thought. After some more time walking in relative silence, we finally came upon a valley-like rocky cliff.
‘Hmm?’
I grimaced at the sight of long objects sticking out from the trees and rocks. Upon closer inspection, they resembled very sharp quills.
‘The forest madman produces quills…’
That’s when it struck me. I belatedly realized what they were. I hadn’t recognized them due to the strange name “forest madman.”
Being called madman with sharp quills probably meant they were porcupines.
A creature larger than a hedgehog; their quills so lethal that even tiger-like beasts had a hard time dealing with them due to their terribly pricky nature.
Then again, they were such fussy creatures that they earned the nickname madman.
—Ugh, those quills are enormous! Getting poked by one would surely turn me into a porcupine!
I pulled one of the long quills off a tree trunk and roughly estimated its size.
Even though I had routinely watched documentaries, I didn’t have the detailed knowledge to draw accurate conclusions.
—What size would you say this thing is? You said you knew animals well.
I held the quill out towards the raccoon. If I could avoid a fight with such a bothersome opponent, I would be lucky, but there’s never anything in the world that goes the way I want.
I braced myself for the possibility of having to fight this forest madman. Of course, it was for the reward the Witch had promised me.
Leaf looked at the quill and tilted its head.
—That quill’s as long as my arm. At that size, it must be a Belger.
—Belger? Is that the name of this creature?
—Yeah, it doesn’t communicate well and is quite stubborn. It’s notorious for hating those who invade its territory.
—I see.
I nodded as I looked at the quills sticking out from the forest and the claw marks around.
All of it was clearly evidence of past battles.
