Volume 3, Chapter 32 – The Labyrinthine Underground

Despite being a discriminated-against organization, the entrance to the Witch Hall was located in a bustling downtown area. Led by Friede, Fia stood before the entrance of a large, pale-yellow cathedral with a strong religious feel.

The cathedral faced a three-to-four-meter-wide river that ran through the city. Many people could be seen gathered by the river, kneeling on both knees as if performing some kind of ritual, holding what looked like dry rations in their hands. After a well-dressed priest said something, the people all threw the rations into the river, their faces full of gratitude, and they constantly muttered to themselves.

“What are they doing?”

Fia, holding Milu’s hand, tilted her head slightly. The grand cathedral with its spire and stained-glass windows looked like an orthodox church in every way, yet the people at its entrance seemed to be performing a cult-like ritual.

Friede, who was walking in front, frowned with a troubled look on her face.

“This… I’m not sure. The church is a hobby of one of the witches in the Witch Hall. That witch lost her evil thoughts in the ritual, and she was a kind person to begin with, hence the church. It’s called a church, but it’s more like a school and a clinic. Because it charges very little for education and treatment, it’s very popular with the nearby residents. As far as I know, that witch shouldn’t be doing something so strange…”

“They’re thanking the hero Thanatos.”

The tall witch beside Friede sighed.

“This river used to be only ankle-deep, and it would dry up for several months during the dry season. But a few days ago, Thanatos eliminated the Flame King, and the river became deep enough to drown someone.

Yesterday, some fool jumped in to take a bath and almost went to see the goddess. That being said, I have to say that Thanatos did a good thing. At least those poor people no longer have to fight for muddy water from the well. Every time I see them fighting over a little water, it reminds me of the days before I became a witch, when I had to fight with monsters for water in a mud puddle.

If I ever meet Thanatos, I must thank him. To be able to defeat the Flame King for the poor, he must be a saint like the Lady Witch of Hope.”

By the end, a wry smile had appeared on the tall witch’s face. The thing this witch named Latania had lost was her “feminine voice,” which was why her voice sounded rough and masculine.

If Thanatos heard that, his conscience would surely be troubled.

Fia secretly stuck out her tongue. The death of the Flame King was unintentional; the people’s gratitude was truly embarrassing.

“Lord Thanatos will surely hear our gratitude! Let us sing the praises of Lord Thanatos’s kindness!”

While Fia was blushing, the ritual had reached its climax. The man dressed as a priest spread his arms, his tone passionate as he extolled the virtues of Thanatos. At the same time, the people kneeling on both knees repeated the priest’s words.

“Are you not feeling well, Miss Fia? Your expression is very stiff.”

“No… it’s nothing. Let’s hurry inside.”

“Alright.”

Urging Friede in a low voice, Fia ducked into the grand cathedral as if she were fleeing.

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It should be said that this ten-meter-high cathedral did not belong to the Witch Hall, but was the private property of a certain witch. The leading Friede did not stop in the main hall but turned right and walked into the courtyard behind the church. After another series of turns, she finally stopped in front of a very ordinary door. Through her [Mana Vision], Fia could see that the magic restrictions behind this door were so numerous they were about to become a tangled mess.

There must be a secret door leading to the Witch Hall in the room, Fia guessed. On the way here, Friede had said that the Witch Hall was located underground in Byrne City.

To protect themselves, the witches had used earth magic to create a complex network of tunnels a kilometer beneath the city. Not only that, but they had also added a strengthening [Reinforce] and an [Illusion Barrier] to the tunnels to block detection magic. Unless it was a magic with a strong focus on penetration, even a Ninth Rank explosion on the surface could not destroy their stronghold.

In addition, the witches had chosen Byrne City as their stronghold two hundred years ago. When the Witch Hall was not led by a Miracle Witch, it was at its most vulnerable. To protect the Witch’s Heart Core, which stored the souls of the witches, they would work together to move their stronghold when faced with an irresistible force.

As for what constituted an irresistible force, Friede gave examples from history, such as a war between the Darkborn and a certain power on the World Tree Continent that had the potential to involve the Witch Hall, or the rise of a powerful and unified regime on the surface that tried to make an example of them. These would all cause the Witch Hall to relocate.

As if waiting for the door to confirm her identity, Friede held the doorknob but did not turn it. It wasn’t until Fia felt a breeze brush past her face that Friede turned the handle and pushed the door open.

A very obvious fluctuation of mana.

If the person holding the door had not been Friede, but an unauthorized person, an attack spell of at least the Fourth Rank would have been triggered.

Fia evaluated inwardly.

Although she didn’t think she would encounter any danger, Fia couldn’t help but feel glad that she hadn’t brought Liti and Anastasia. Because of the risk of conflict with the conservatives, after she had come to an agreement with Friede, she had let Liti and Anastasia wander around the city on their own when she returned to the Mage Association hall, while she brought Milu to the Witch Hall.

According to Friede, the huge crystal Milu had described was very similar to the Witch’s Heart Core. The difference was that the Heart Core Friede knew did not have self-awareness, while Milu could feel a consciousness emanating from the huge crystal. Therefore, the two might only look similar but were actually different things.

That being said, Fia still planned to let Milu take a look at the Witch’s Heart Core. Of course, that was on the premise that she got the permission of the witch Lianne. If Lianne didn’t allow her to see it, it wouldn’t be too late to sneak into the Witch Hall as Thanatos.

Entering the almost bare room, Friede went to a bookshelf. After infusing mana into a book on the shelf, with the sound of multiple gears meshing behind the wall and the friction of a heavy stone door being dragged, the bookshelf slowly moved to the side, revealing a deep, person-high entrance behind it.

A mechanism driven by mana?

Seeing this, Fia fell into thought. This was indeed a wonderful combination. If mana was treated as a form of energy, then it was an extremely excellent one. It was clean, did not take up a huge amount of space, could provide ample power, and more importantly, it could be created out of thin air and might even be able to reverse entropy. If it were in the Human Alliance, it would definitely be considered the most important, top-priority resource.

Perhaps she could also try to create machines powered by mana, such as automata. Just thinking about it was exciting. Of course, automata were still too advanced for her. First, she had to thoroughly understand the properties of the common metals in this world, and then she had to study how to make mana exist outside the body—it was too troublesome. It was better to start with magic firearms.

Seeing Fia staring at the entrance without moving, Friede thought she was afraid to go in. She had no choice but to explain.

“This is one of the entrances and exits connecting the Witch Hall to the outside world. This one is the cleanest, so I chose to bring you in from here, Miss Fia.”

Nodding to Friede, Fia looked at Milu beside her. The passage was not wide enough for her to continue holding Milu’s hand.

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“Stay close to me.”

“Mm.”

Milu nodded obediently. However, there was one more thing Fia wanted to say. Her gaze fell on Milu’s shoulder. The two-handed sword with the long name, which was taller than Fia herself, was being carried by Milu. Although Fia had bought her a storage item, Milu was unwilling to put the weapon inside, and had been carrying the heavy and slender two-handed sword on her shoulder all this time. Coupled with Milu’s petite figure, the strong visual impact made people on the road frequently turn back to look at her.

It was fine when walking in the spacious city, as passersby knew to move aside. But in a narrow passage, it would probably poke the apprentice witches following behind Milu. Fia didn’t think that the First Rank apprentice witches could take a hit from this sword.

“Milu, put away the sword.”

“Ngh.”

Milu, who had just been nodding obediently, immediately pouted, a stubborn look in her bewitching crimson vertical pupils.

Fia sighed helplessly.

“You’ll easily hurt someone like this. And isn’t putting the weapon in your hand the same as putting it in your own storage item?”

The storage item Fia had bought for Milu was not a spatial backpack, but a bracelet like Liti’s. As long as Milu didn’t cooperate, no one could take it away.

However, Milu still had an unwilling look on her face. As if to protect the two-handed sword, she hugged the cloth-wrapped weapon and looked up stubbornly.

“It’s not the same.”

How is it not the same?

Fia couldn’t help but find it amusing. She first gave an apologetic look to the waiting Friede and apprentice witches, then bent down slightly to comfort Milu.

“If you’re worried about it being stolen, you can leave it with me.”

“Ngh, alright then.”

Milu handed the two-handed sword to Fia with great readiness. Fia couldn’t help but feel a strange sense of unease. She was unwilling to put the weapon in her own storage item, but when she asked for it, she handed it over so readily. She couldn’t understand what Milu was thinking.

What a strange child.

After having Milu put away her weapon, the rest of the journey was an unchanging scene.

The tunnel sloped down into the ground. The unchanging environment made one lose track of time. The entire underground was winding and complex, with not only downward sections but even uphill ones, making one lose their sense of direction.

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It should be said that along the way, Fia encountered some young witches in white magic robes. Compared to the apprentice witches behind Friede, this group seemed to lack vitality and were extremely submissive. Upon seeing Fia and Friede, they would immediately stop and bow their heads, only resuming their tasks after the group had left. They were more like servants than apprentice witches.

According to Latania, these were the apprentice witches who followed the conservative faction. Because an apprentice witch needed the recommendation of two to three official witches to become one, and they also had to learn magic knowledge from the official witches, under this mechanism, an official witch could do almost anything they wanted to an apprentice.

The apprentice had no way to resist, so they were ordered around like servants. Over time, the apprentice witches developed a slavish nature and became no different from slaves, not knowing what self was.

It was worth mentioning that when such apprentice witches became official witches, they often became like their predecessors, with withdrawn personalities, and would casually order around their own apprentices. Friede was extremely disgusted by this.

“Is this where you and the others brew magic potions, Friede?”

Fia pointed to a room on the right side of the passage. Because the door was not closed, Fia could see the entire basketball-court-sized room. A dozen or so witches were busy inside, and in the middle of the room was a large cauldron with steam rising from it. A faint medicinal smell was drifting out.

In the past, Fia would not have paid much attention, but since she had recently learned alchemy, she couldn’t help but take notice.

Friede shook her head gently and said with a wry smile.

“No. Our residence is in another part of Byrne City. We are members of the reformist faction, after all. We’ve only been back from the outside for less than a month. To live directly in the Witch Hall would inevitably cause disputes. These witches are from the conservative faction.”

“I see.”

Agreeing casually, Fia looked at an apprentice witch who was inserting a mithril rod into a container. Having had experience, Fia knew that this was to prepare the mana liquid. She couldn’t help but think of her “failure” last night.

Because ‘An Introduction to Alchemy That Even Slimes Say Is Good’ had only written “insert a metal rod into the vessel to feel the change in mana,” and had not explained why doing so would allow one to feel it, she had not been able to feel the mana in the solution, and had ended up having to use [Wind of Exploration] to visually observe the ratio of mana to water in the container.

Since a senior is here, I might as well ask.

“Do you know why you have to insert a mithril rod into the container, Friede?”

“Uh, are you talking about the process of preparing the mana liquid, Miss Fia? If so, it’s because the mana conductivity of a mithril rod is higher than that of ordinary metal.”

Although Friede showed a moment of surprise, she still answered honestly.

However, this was not at all satisfactory to Fia.

She wanted to ask why one could feel the change in mana just by inserting a metal rod into the container, not why a mithril rod was used instead of another metal one.

Fia chose her words carefully and asked again.

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“I mean, why can you know the ratio of mana to water in the container through a mithril rod? I actually tried alchemy recently, but this step in the book confused me.”

“Eh?”

The surprise in Friede’s eyes grew, but she did not have the look of someone looking at a fool that Fia had imagined. Instead, she seemed to be trying hard to find something in Fia’s eyes, her own filled with disbelief.

“If you weren’t looking so serious, I would have thought you were teasing me… As long as you let your mana flow into the mithril rod, just like using a magic item, you can feel the mana content in the mana liquid… Beginner mages, in order to feel the mana in the air, start by holding a mithril rod. This is a process that every beginner mage has to go through. Have you not learned this?”

I really haven’t.

Fia really wanted to answer honestly, but the environment did not allow it.

She had no choice but to avert her gaze, awkwardly but gracefully.

“I forgot.”

“…I suppose that can’t be helped. Elves have long lifespans. Although you look to be only fourteen or fifteen, you should have actually lived for seventy or eighty years. It’s normal to forget after so long. I was being thoughtless.”

She’s making up excuses for me on her own.

For some reason, Fia felt that Friede was the type of person who was very easy to deceive. In addition, she always had a mature air about her. Fia couldn’t help but feel that if this were a manga, Friede would definitely play the role of a married woman in an adult manga.

Wait, that thought is too rude.

Fia scolded herself inwardly.

After that, Fia successively saw a workshop for forging weapons and a place for training combat skills. She even saw a few witches who had just finished bathing, wearing only a bath towel, which meant that there was a bathhouse in the Witch Hall.

When these witches saw Fia, they would always be slightly stunned and were about to come over to question her, but when they saw Friede and the Laevateinn at Fia’s waist, they would have a thoughtful look on their faces. Some of them would give Fia a friendly look, while more would be dismissive, not welcoming Friede and Fia. To this, Friede responded by ignoring them, while the hot-tempered Latania returned a cold snort.

As the group went deeper into the Witch Hall, the passages became wider and the air fresher. There were more magic lamps and decorations on the walls, and they encountered witches more frequently. Along the way, Fia met a total of nine official witches, whose strength was basically at the Fourth Rank, with the stronger ones at the Fifth. And there were as many as twenty-four apprentice witches, whose strength ranged from the First to the Second Rank.

According to Friede, they were only a part of the witches, not all the registered members of the Witch Hall. Currently, there were about twenty to thirty official witches active in the hall, and the number of apprentice witches should be in the triple digits.

Continuing forward, when they arrived at a spacious hall, Friede, who had been silent and serious all the way, finally stopped.

“The main hall is just ahead. The witch’s ritual is about to be held soon, so Lianne and the conservative witches should be inside making preparations. Please be on your guard, Miss Fia. If possible, I still hope that Lianne can join us and work under you.”