Chapter 922: Act 95 – The Adventure of Three Mischievous Children IV
The first few goblins charged forward, screaming at the top of their lungs. Romaine was startled and quickly fumbled to cast a ‘Slow Curse.’ This second-circle spell found its niche in dealing with the small and weak goblins, causing the leading goblins to visibly slow down, as if their feet were glued to the ground, making even raising their hands a heavy task. They ran awkwardly, comically as if in slow motion.
One of them ‘delightedly’ discovered that her spell ‘actually’ worked and hurriedly pulled out a mirror from her backpack. She chanted, “Visible yet intangible!” The small group of goblins trailing behind collided as if they had run into an invisible wall, one after another bumping into each other. The lead goblin’s face appeared to be squished against a glass surface, its pointy nose bending to one side, completely deformed.
Meanwhile, those goblins who were slowed by the spell managed to escape misfortune due to their reduced speed.
Unlike the mirror technique of the Law Wizard which stemmed from the refraction of light, the witch’s mirror spell transformed the world perceived by the target into a mirrored world. The concept of ‘visible yet intangible’ created an invisible mirror between the goblins and the three ladies, establishing a boundary between truth and falsehood. If this rule wasn’t broken, that boundary couldn’t be crossed.
Witches are an unobtainable class for players, and their magic typically surpasses other types of spells within the same tier, being second only to draconic magic. However, every power comes with a cost; the dark magic inflicts significant harm on the caster’s body, resulting in most witches having eccentric personalities.
The mirror spell is also a one-way spell, meaning it only affects the target side.
The sprite and QiYala saw that Romaine’s spell was effective and forgot about the scuffle. The sprite quickly pulled a heavy crossbow from behind and shot down a goblin with a loud bang. After firing the shot, she immediately discarded the crossbow and switched to a demon-slaying gun; meanwhile, QiYala, seemingly having pulled out a wand from nowhere, cast a charm on the goblins, resulting in a few goblins turning on each other.
“Illusionist!” Xainne exclaimed. Conjurers are quite rare in contemporary magic; artisans and enchanters are much more common, making illusionists a rare breed.
“Just a bit of surface knowledge,” QiYala replied. “Compared to this, I can’t deal with those two big guys!”
The ‘big guys’ she referred to were approximately five to six meters tall, standing like towers of flesh. They had grayish-white skin and long manes or hair, wielding a spiked wooden club, making them the most threatening monsters commonly seen in the wilderness—ogres. The two brutish ogres advanced with heavy steps, effortlessly crushing dense bushes as they approached. One of them punched through Romaine’s mirror spell, creating ripples in the air, and the spell shattered with a sound reminiscent of glass breaking, leaving a crumbling mess behind.
The three ladies shrieked in fear and turned to flee.
But how could they outrun ogres? QiYala was the first to be caught. The first ogre reached for her, but the sprite quickly pushed her out of the way, causing the ogre to miss. Both of them tumbled into a nearby thicket. The ogre roared in anger and lifted its foot to stomp down on that spot. Just as the sprite and QiYala seemed about to be squished into paste, Romaine, stopping under a beech tree, hurriedly raised her hand and cast an ‘Oily Curse’ at the ogre’s foot on the ground. The ogre slipped backward and crashed to the ground with a loud thud.
Perhaps this ogre was just plain unlucky. When it fell, its head struck a moss-covered rock, creating a large dent and causing it to breathe its last.
The remaining ogre, enraged by its companion’s death, bellowed and swung its club towards Romaine. The merchant miss had no choice but to roll away, letting the club shatter the beech tree she hid behind with a loud crack. The fallen beech crashed down, branches and leaves raining down on Romaine. Calmly, she crawled through the gap between the tree and the ground. However, at the last moment, a branch snagged her bag. The merchant miss quickly pulled at it, and with a tearing sound, a large hole ripped open in the pocket, spilling iron barbs and crystal beads all over the ground. Though she felt a pang of grief, she didn’t have the time to pick them up and hurriedly continued crawling forward.
The pursuing ogre was not so fortunate; it stepped squarely on the iron barbs, which were initially meant for war horses, and while a bit small to deal with an ogre, even stepping on toothpicks would hurt. The ogre couldn’t help but shout and jump around in pain, only to slip on the spilled crystal beads and awkwardly fall flat.
QiYala, getting up from the thicket, happened to see this scene and shouted, “Now’s the time!”
She then shoved the sprite, who was tugging at her clothing, forward. The sprite, still dazed, stumbled forward, landing right next to the ogre’s massive head. Not understanding what was happening, she lost her balance and fell awkwardly towards the ogre. Instinctively, she thrust her hand forward, and the silver demon-slaying gun stabbed straight into the ogre’s open mouth, delivering a perfect shot through and through.
“Roar——” The ogre emitted a wretched cry that barely finished before it fell dead.
The forest seemed to fall silent at once.
The goblins trailing the ogre froze at the sight. The so-called fox exploiting the tiger’s might was pointless if the tiger was dead; they found themselves stuck. They couldn’t advance against the three ladies, as proven in previous skirmishes, but retreating was not an option either, as QiYala was waving her wand menacingly at them.
“You, yes, you!” It was now QiYala’s turn to take advantage. She loudly issued an ultimatum, “Hurry and bring that short, chubby one to me, and I’ll spare your lives! If you want to run, humph!”
With that last humph, QiYala waved her wand, and a bolt of lightning struck a nearby sapling, turning it to ashes.
This spell was that of an elementalist, clearly a feature inherent to the wand.
The goblins instantly howled and ran back the way they came.
In no time, they returned, dragging a bundled-up, chubby dwarf into view in front of Romaine, QiYala, and the sprite. They dropped the unfortunate Poli Fireanvil on the ground and nervously lined up.
“It’s you again!”
As soon as Poli Fireanvil saw the sprite, he couldn’t help but puff his beard and struggle.
Poli was feeling incredibly unlucky; even though he had known this job was a bit absurd, he thought the risk was worth it for the payout. He was just a minor character who, despite being picked by that significant figure of the empire to partake in such a grand plan, felt favored by the Earth Goddess. Besides, he was responsible for just a minuscule part, and nothing major should go wrong—he had thought so until the nightmare began the night before.
To be precise, it had started when he saw those two seemingly harmless faces.
First, he got sprayed with his own prized alchemical creation, then inexplicably tossed into a river. Poor old Poli, who had hardly ever been in water, let alone swam, trembled on a piece of driftwood he didn’t know where it came from and floated in the cold water all night. It was only after encountering a group of goblins under the command of Mrs. Sargoss that he was fished out of the icy river, with most of his precious alchemical potions and materials ruined.
Minutes after stepping onto dry, comfortable land, he was inexplicably beaten up by his own people and tied up like a dumpling, his family’s reputation in tatters.
Before he could react, he had seen those two little demons’ faces once again.
“You damned demons, why are you tormenting me!” he shouted furiously.
Before he could finish, QiYala kicked him hard, making him inhale sharply in pain. “Do you know this short and fat guy?” QiYala pointed her wand at the dwarf’s forehead, asking the sprite.
The sprite glared at the dwarf fiercely. “It’s all his fault for getting the sprite discovered! He even tried to use that green powder to knock me out! He must be a slave trader!”
“Despicable! How could you lay hands on such a cute little girl!” QiYala struck him across the face with her wand. “I hate slave traders the most!”
“I’m not!” Poli Fireanvil replied angrily. “I’m a law-abiding citizen!”
“You dare lie!” QiYala struck him again on his big nose, causing him to cry out in pain. “Tell me, does a law-abiding citizen associate with goblins?”
Poli Fireanvil blinked in shock and hurriedly denied, “I was captured by them!”
“Hmph!” QiYala smirked proudly. “Now tell me, were you with him before?”
The goblins faced the small girl’s piercing gaze and nodded desperately.
“So, did they capture you?”
The goblins shook their heads in unison.
“Ouch!” Poor Poli Fireanvil was whipped on the ear, causing tears to flow. “I absolutely detest those who tell lies with their eyes wide open, especially those who lack the skill,” QiYala said fiercely, poking the dwarf in the forehead with her wand.
Now the dwarf was like a deflated balloon, thoroughly defeated.
“This guy is clearly mixed up with the goblins; there must be a scheme at play,” QiYala cheerfully reported to Romaine, who was watching her split bag of iron barbs and crystal beads with pained eyes, distractedly murmuring. However, QiYala was completely unconcerned, continuing, “I think we can interrogate him; maybe we can extract critical information!”
Poli Fireanvil was startled. He knew some secrets, but revealing them would cost him his life. He quickly shouted, “No, I have noble status! You must treat prisoners kindly!”
Before he could finish, he received a harsh whip to the nose, rolling in pain.
“Shut up, I didn’t tell you to speak!” QiYala clearly had no concept of treating prisoners kindly.
Then she stepped on the dwarf and asked, “Tell me, whose subordinate are these goblins?”
Poli Fireanvil kept his mouth tightly closed, glaring at QiYala, refusing to answer a word.
“Hmph, I know even if you don’t tell me,” QiYala said, thinking of something. “Goblins typically wouldn’t mix with ogres unless monsters were flooding in, and there is indeed a military unit involving goblins and ogres among Jotungrund’s forces.”
Poli Fireanvil looked at her in terror.
“Did I get it right?”
“Ouch!” The dwarf received another red mark on his face, unable to hold back his indignation. “Why are you hitting me again?”
“That question was supposed to be answered by you, but since you didn’t, I answered it for you. Naturally, you need to pay the price!” QiYala smiled, revealing her sharp, snow-white teeth. “I’ll give you a discount this time; next time, you’ll have to pay in full.”
Poli Fireanvil went pale and shouted desperately, “Don’t you have any noble demeanor left!”
But he hadn’t finished before he received a solid hit.
“This is a lady’s privilege,” QiYala answered, as if it were a matter of course.
“Then the second question is, what do you do?”
“I already told you, I’m a law-abiding citizen of Cruz! You will pay for treating me this way!” Poli Fireanvil’s face turned red and green, his disheveled beard trembling, nearly driving him mad.
QiYala pretended not to hear: “So you’re a Cruzian, yet you mix with goblins. It seems you are a traitor.”
“Damned, I am not!”
“Then tell me, for whom are you working?”
“I told you, I’m not!”
QiYala let out a slight hum, turning to the sprite and asking, “Little fool, where did you meet this guy?”
The sprite shot her an annoyed glance and replied, “I’m not a little fool.”
“If you want to prove you’re not a fool, you have to clearly tell me the whole story; otherwise, how would I know if you’re really not a fool?” QiYala said.
The sprite pouted and answered angrily, “I met this bad guy at the candy store!”
“Candy store?”
“That place is called Rowse’s Compass, and it’s a bakery!” Xainne added grumpily.
“So it’s there,” QiYala’s eyes lit up. “Then that dragon was also drawn in by you, right?”
“Absolutely not! That dragon was drawn in by that silver dragon, which initially was a woman in white clothing. She picked up the sprite’s glowing ball, and that’s when the dragon came!” The sprite boldly countered.
“What silver dragon, white-clothed woman?” QiYala asked, frowning.
Xainne shook her head helplessly, recounting the events as they had unfolded.
“Damn! That’s my glimmering tree seed!” Upon hearing this, the dwarf couldn’t help but yell angrily, “You thieves!”
“Shut up!” QiYala stepped on his stomach, forcing him to curl up like a shrimp. “So, you were indeed there at that time; who were the people in the house? You won’t tell me you don’t recognize them, right?”
“Even if I do, I wouldn’t tell you!” Poli Fireanvil answered defiantly, though in pain and sweating heavily.
QiYala, however, wagged a finger in front of him. “I know even if you don’t say it. The older guy addressed that woman as ‘Miss Delphine,’ and she called him ‘Uncle Sorens.’ This woman is the daughter of the Chancellor of Cruz, and Sorens is the captain of House Nidwen’s guard. The young man is named Effy, Sorens’ assistant, and you, well, you should also be an alchemist of House Nidwen—Poli Fireanvil, right?”
Poli Fireanvil looked at QiYala, fear now dominating him as he opened his mouth, only to tremble, “Who… who are you? How do you know all this?”
QiYala patted the dwarf’s chubby cheek with her wand. “Don’t put on such a shocked expression; you still haven’t answered my question—how did you get mixed up with the goblins?”
“Strange, strange,” QiYala mused aloud. “Could it be that even the Chancellor has turned to Jotungrund?”
Poli Fireanvil’s face shifted from red to white. He wanted to say something, but QiYala interrupted him, “Damn shorty, if I were you, I would think before speaking. I’m not that little fool over there—”
“I’m not a fool—!”
Ignoring this statement, QiYala continued, “You might trick them, but you can’t trick me. Let me guess: you’re clearly on a different mission, but the others might not know it. Let’s assume this mission was given by the Chancellor of Nidwen; if it targets Sorens or Effy or anyone else, there’s no need to hide it from Miss Delphine, which means your mission’s target can only be the Chancellor’s daughter.”
Poli Fireanvil gasped, eyes wide as he stared at her, his beard quivering as if he had seen something incredible.
QiYala naturally noticed the dwarf’s pale expression and smiled triumphantly, “Looks like I guessed right again.”
With that, she whipped him on the nose twice, causing tears and snot to flow down his face as he groaned in distress.
Having collected ‘payment’ from the dwarf, QiYala satisfiedly put her wand away, tapping her lips thoughtfully. “But this raises an interesting question: would the Chancellor of the Empire really do harm to his own daughter?”
……
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