[Author’s Note] Thank You! 86th Chapter
29. The Time of Magical Beasts and Witches
085 – The Time of Magical Beasts and Witches #1
━Thank you very much. The Monkeys have better memories than other Beasts. I’ll never forget this grace until my dying moment! Just follow the map I gave you to exit!
Judah waved his hands at me and Leaf as we were trying to leave the Bewitching Forest. Beside him, Mihuwang, who had fully recovered overnight, shouted.
━Think about my proposal carefully!
With a satisfied face, I escaped from the forest, dragging a cart filled with fruits.
Leaf stared curiously at the cart that resembled a wheelbarrow, watching the wheels roll.
━So this is how wheels work. Interesting. If we make tools like this, we can move heavy stuff easily. Just like that bound-up smile Lamia, Ekaidna Kaah.
Leaf poked the struggling Smile Lamia, Kaah, who was wrapped up tightly on the cart, with a stick.
━Shik, shik!
Kaah made hissing sounds like a snake, clearly annoyed, but with a bit gagged and having strong reed vines tying her up, she couldn’t fight back at all.
‘Is this a vine that even Mihuwang’s strength can’t cut? There’s no way she could escape.’
Originally, I was planning to snack on Kaah as soon as my stomach grumbled.
But whenever I opened my mouth to eat her, I hesitated at the thought of tearing into her flesh.
‘Now that I think about it, I felt the same way with Salome. I didn’t really want to eat her at all. Even when I met those Hunters, I was more attracted to Yan-Mite’s tail.’
Although my body might have turned into a jungle Beast, the personality supporting it remains human, so I had quite a resistance and aversion to eating something that resembled a human form.
Marblins, bipedal pigs, and Pao-Ho definitely had limbs, but they still felt distinctly different from humans.
Yet, when it came to creatures with bird wings and snake tails, I felt a strange sense of kinship.
‘Is it because she’s a pretty woman? Why isn’t my appetite spiking? Still, I plucked off a few scales to munch on.’
Kaah’s hard and cold scales felt like biting into a refreshing icy treat.
It was like eating strawberry juice frozen into scale shapes, making it a delightful snack.
━Shik, shht!
Kaah continued to make deflated sounds.
Maybe she was angry because I had taken more than half her scales.
━What are you planning to do with her?
Leaf poked Kaah’s upper body with the stick, enjoying how she reacted with every movement he made.
I casually replied.
━I plan to take her to Eve.
I recalled what Mihuwang had told me last night.
Kaah was a former disciple of Witch Eve, and rumors were spreading in the South that Eve was desperately looking for her.
‘I still have many questions to ask this girl and Eve. Like Laplace and the twelve mythical creatures.’
━Shik, shht!
Upon hearing Eve’s name, Kaah squirmed and thrashed her body.
Although gagged, I could tell she was thrilled at the thought of meeting her former master.
━Hey, don’t squirm too much. The cart feels heavier!
━Shik!
I stopped the cart for a moment and smacked Kaah on the head with my front paw.
The wriggling creature settled down with one hit. It seemed that the strength enhancement from the previous night had worked quite well.
I looked at Leaf, who held the stick. The moment our eyes met, he started trembling.
━Hey, let Yingyi go now. It’s been five minutes already. I’m sweating like crazy pulling this cart.
━Has 300 seconds already passed?
━Yeah, I counted it all.
━Ugh…
Leaf reluctantly pulled out a blue cotton candy from inside his rabbit hide dress.
━Gyuiing.
I grabbed Yingyi with my front paw and placed it on my nape.
━Now I can breathe a bit. You can pull the cart now.
━Heeek.
Leaf made a weird sound, feeling it was unfair.
━Why? Don’t you want to? We agreed to take turns. You pull until we reach the cabin in the Mist Forest.
━But the distance is way too different! No matter how I think about it…
As I lifted my front paw, he flinched and scurried to the front of the cart.
I sprawled out in the empty space of the cart.
━Ah, this is paradise.
As I lay in a self-propelled vehicle enjoying the cool breeze, I picked fruits one by one.
The dazzling sun was a bit bothersome, but I thought it was better than the lingering rainy season and smiled contentedly.
*
Ding-a-ling, as the bells jingled, just like any other day, a basket was lowered from below the wooden house.
“Oh my, it’s the cute Cloudring!”
Eve beamed at the Yingyi dangling from my front paw.
A beautiful woman’s smile has a way of brightening anyone’s mood.
After receiving the Cloudring from me, Eve slightly furrowed her eyebrows and tilted her head.
“I’m not sure how well it’ll go since it’s been so long. Gyuiing, ing. Inging?”
Eve made sounds just like a Wildling.
Of course, considering her identity as a millennium-old Wildling and a Cloudring that could fire lightning from the sky, it made sense for her to make such cute sounds.
“Gyuiing?”
As Eve said something, the Cloudring in her hand also squeaked, “━Gyuiing.”
‘Are they having a conversation?’
Curiously, I watched the scene of the cotton candy cloud and the witch communicating and asked Eve.
━What did she say?
“It didn’t mean anything. Wildlings actually can’t communicate with each other.”
━Ah, I see.
I felt like I’d just been hit on the head with an unexpected answer, thinking they might have exchanged profound thoughts.
━Gyuiing.
Yingyi slipped out of Eve’s hands and hid behind Leaf.
Though I couldn’t see her expression, her body was trembling slightly, probably out of fear.
‘Well, from Yingyi’s perspective, facing the final evolution or a great senior must be intimidating.’
Witch Eve gazed at the Cloudring hiding behind Leaf and let out a small hum. Then she turned to Leaf and asked.
“Leaf, you haven’t changed a bit. Did the medicine I made not work? I thought I made it properly.”
━Well, it broke the bottle.
“Aha.”
Eve nodded as if she understood with Leaf’s whiny voice.
“I should have given you a sturdier bottle; I’m sorry.”
━The Monkeys went wild, so there was nothing I could do.
Leaf pouted like an admonished child. Eve gently patted Leaf’s head and said, “It’s okay. I can always make more medicine.”
‘A mother and daughter, or rather, siblings?’
Seeing Eve pat Leaf’s head from a distance, I couldn’t help but admire the pleasant sight.
“So, this little guy is why the Monkeys went berserk?”
Eve’s expression, which had been gentle just a moment ago, turned sour like a naughty child.
At the end of her gaze lay Kaah, bound and laying on the ground.
Eve reached out and removed the gag from Kaah’s mouth.
“It’s been a while, Kaah. Do you know how trouble you caused by stealing my belongings and running away?”
━I-I’m sorry, Eve! I had no ill intent! You’ve always favored the El-Gasa sisters, and I got jealous…
“Kaah, I know you’re not that childish. There’s plenty of time to talk slowly. I’m glad you’ve returned.”
━Hik! Y-You sent those guys into the forest just to catch me, right!?
“Hmm, I don’t understand what you’re talking about. I’m glad my cute disciple has returned, but that doesn’t mean I won’t punish you for your reckless behavior. Alright, you get the special Wildling Potion treatment.”
Eve swept Kaah’s body up effortlessly.
━No, please! It’s not time for shedding yet! I still have scales left! S-Save me!
Eve tossed the struggling Kaah into a gigantic cauldron.
━Kyaaa! S-Save me… My-s-s-scales…
It seemed like bubbling sounds echoed for a while, and eventually, everything went quiet.
Watching all this, I felt like the temperature inside the cabin had dropped a few degrees.
‘She’s merciless when irritated.’
I was reminded that this beautiful witch had an incomprehensible mental world behind her charming appearance.
She looked like a benevolent figure, but in reality, she was known as a witch throughout this forest, evoking fear in everyone.
I cautiously asked, gazing at the boiling cauldron.
━Are you going to k*ll her?
“No, no. She’s tougher than she looks. She won’t d*e from this. The water of a Lamia has been a valuable material since ancient times. Now that my dear disciple is back, there’s much to experiment with… I mean, to play with.”
━Aah.
I nodded, feeling frightened of understanding.
“So, Alpha, is that all you wanted to ask me? I heard you had some curiosity.”
Eve sat down in a wooden chair.
She smiled at Leaf, who was feeding fruit to the Cloudring Yingyi.
I too leaned against the hard wooden chair at the table.
━I’ve heard the name Laplace from that boiling Serpent Woman, Kaah. And from Mihuwang, I learned about the twelve mythical creatures who’ve become immortals. Eve, you said you didn’t know about Laplace at that time. But I think you must know what your disciple Kaah knows.
“Hmmm. So?”
Witch Eve snapped her fingers on the wooden table.
━Are you deliberately hiding things from me?
“Indeed, there are some things I purposely didn’t inform you about.”
━Why?
At my question, Eve shrugged her shoulders.
“If you taught a fledgling beast how to climb trees, it would be pointless. I thought the stories were too early for you to hear. You could easily get hurt.”
━But can’t I listen and judge for myself? I know you’re trying to protect me, but excess protection isn’t necessary.
“Hmm?”
At my words, Eve smiled as if she found it amusing.
“A bold little creature, isn’t it? It’s hard to believe you’ve only been born for a month. Magical Beasts truly are fascinating beings. Yes, if you coddle a cub too much, it may not learn how to flap its wings or extend its claws.”
Eve stretched and leaned back against the chair. Unbending her curved neck, she casually declared, “Alright.”
“About that Fruit of the World Tree I told you. It’s a very rare and precious fruit that blooms only once every few hundred years on the Mother Tree. Right now, it’s portrayed as the pinnacle of forest guardians, a glorious prize, but actually, the fruit has a rightful owner.”
━Could it be related to the twelve immortals?
“Yeah, it’s very closely tied. But they are not the rightful owners of the fruit either. They’re just fools who mistake themselves for great beings.”
Eve paused and frowned.
A rumbling thunder echoed from her throat. She cleared her throat and continued.
“Who does the produce of the tree belong to? A bird? A mouse? No, the fruit wholly belongs to the tree. The Mother World Tree’s fruit blooms solely for her. My kind, including myself, are merely thieves who have stolen it from her.”
I recalled Ilgast’s last words about the end of the fruit thieves.
“The Mother World Tree does not forgive the beasts that plunder her fruit. She’s always on the lookout for thieves. You’ve seen Ilgast’s last moments, haven’t you? Just like he said, it’s a miserable end for fruit thieves. I’m hiding in this cabin for that reason.”
━Hmm.
I began to understand why powerful Witch Eve was trapped in this tiny cabin.
If she stepped outside, the roots of the World Tree, writhing underground to track down fruit thieves, would attack her.
Eve continued speaking.
“Of course, the Mother World Tree didn’t always seek to capture mythical beings from the start. Our relationship soured due to a beast that crawls through the earth and eats soil, along with one human.”
