Volume 3, Chapter 56 – The Witch Sanctuary

In the grand hall filled with dazzling white light, a dozen or so people stood around the Witch’s Heart Core. The transfer ritual for Milu’s soul contract was now underway. In addition to Fia’s group of four, Friede, Lianne, and several witches Fia did not recognize were also present. And, as Fia had expected, the Knowledge-seeking Demon General had also come along.

“It might be a little painful, but this is a necessary part of the transfer process. Also, I’ll ask one last time, are you sure you want to keep the other test subject? Her existence will be a burden to you. In my opinion, it would be better for your consciousness to merge. Fusing consciousness is not a new subject for me; it can be done quickly.”

Facing Milu, who had exposed the back of her neck, Laplace’s Demon asked in a mechanical voice that was neither male nor female. Not only was the normal Milu here, but the short-haired one, who was not good with words and had simpler emotions, was also standing beside her.

No emotion could be seen on her exquisite face. Milu nodded lightly.

“Yes, keep her.”

“How strange. Deliberately keeping a redundant structure. Alas, this is also a common human behavior. Even though you know what is most logical, you take the long way around for various incomprehensible reasons. You have become more human than me.”

“Of course.”

“Tch, you get smug after a little praise. You were made by me. Your excellence is my excellence—enough idle talk. I’m starting now. You just have to stand here and not move. And you over there, Princess, you have to come over too. Otherwise, how can I transfer the contract to you?”

While muttering to itself, Laplace’s Demon beckoned Fia over with its Spatial Hand. Because it had no hands or eyes and could not express its thoughts through body language like a normal human, it was fine for a one-off occasion, but frequent communication was very inefficient. So Fia had suggested that it use a combination of [Telekinesis] and a piece of cloth to display a “hand” to increase communication efficiency.

Annoyed by the first half of Laplace’s statement, Milu’s eyebrows shot up.

“My excellence is my master’s excellence. Nurturing is more important than birth.”

Laplace’s Demon, while drawing a glowing magic circle on the ground with a magic ore, argued with her.

“You’ve known her for less than half a month. How can there be a bond of nurturing?”

“That half a month was more meaningful than the past few years. You wouldn’t understand.”

“Heh, you little thing, you’re looking down on me.” As if it had realized something, Laplace’s Demon’s voice paused. “Oh~ oh~, I get it. I know why you want to keep Test Subject No. 2. You’re afraid that after you die, there will be no one to accompany this one here, so you want No. 2 to replace you. Human thoughts are so strange. How should I describe this emotion? Kinship, love? I’ve never experienced it myself, so I really don’t know what it feels like.”

For some reason, if Laplace’s Demon had a head, it would surely be shaking it and clicking its tongue.

An old fossil in every sense.

Thump.

Abruptly, Milu turned around and punched the Witch’s Heart Core.

Rеаԁ oո ΚatReαdinɡСаfе

“No one will think you’re a mute if you don’t speak.”

“Ouch, you’re angry.”

“Um, Miss Milu… please be a little gentler.”

A witch at the side reminded her with a frightened look. These witches had learned the night before last that a consciousness really did reside in the Heart Core. It was just that because they had no way to separate this consciousness from it (mainly because there was no way to do so without destroying the Heart Core), and because Laplace’s Demon had also begged for mercy loudly, and their interests were aligned, the witches had no choice but to temporarily accept it, intending to find a way to separate the two in the future.

It was worth mentioning that when Lianne had summoned all the official witches and had them see the Heart Core speak with their own eyes, almost all of them had looked as if they had seen a ghost. The synchronized scene had made even Fia smile.

“I was just mentioning it. I won’t stop you if you want to keep her. After all, this future person’s identity is not ordinary.”

“The elf princess?”

“Not entirely. I can feel an aura from her that is much stronger than mine. It’s not just that she has more mana than me; there’s something else I can’t put my finger on. If I had to describe it, it would be ‘higher-level.’

In the past, on Earth, I was a machine—you wouldn’t understand this concept. I feel that this one is a more advanced machine than me, just that she hasn’t realized it herself. Well, after all, it’s a matter of the heat death era. Civilization has developed for 10 to the power of who-knows-how-many years.

It’s not strange for a super-intelligent being to appear who thinks it’s human. The line between humans and machines probably doesn’t even exist anymore; they’ve become the same species.”

While talking nonstop, the movements in Laplace’s Demon’s hands did not stop. It alternately used the various colored magic ores beside it to draw magic circles and runes on the ground. Correspondingly, the magic circles on the back of the two Milu’s necks also began to glow with a faint blue light.

Laplace’s Demon’s statement made Fia raise an eyebrow.

“I’m still standing right here, and you’re already judging me.”

“I’m telling the truth, I’m praising you. I’ve been holding it in for two hundred years with no one to talk to. Now that I can finally speak freely, you won’t even let me say a few words.”

“I don’t object to chatting, but if possible, I hope you will do so after you’ve come out of the crystal. By then, the apprentice witches in the Sanctuary can keep you company until you don’t want to talk anymore.”

The black mist representing Lianne crossed its arms and complained. As Laplace’s Demon had predicted, if the witches knew that their souls were being kept in a thing with self-awareness, they would surely feel uneasy. If not for the fact that it had Fia’s guarantee and they had no way of dealing with its consciousness, they would have definitely tried to drag it out of the Heart Core.

However, they couldn’t, so for now, the two sides were getting along harmoniously. They could only be harmonious.

Laplace’s Demon laughed heartily.

“Haha, those children are indeed very cute. You’d better have a few of them come and accompany me every day. I can teach them knowledge that doesn’t exist in your world.”

Rеаⅾ oո КаtRеadіnɡCαfe

“Can I attend the classes?”

The Knowledge-seeking Demon General, who was over three meters tall, covered in beastly fur, and with muscles so large they strained his tailcoat, quickly asked.

“Of course. You won’t be able to master what I know in your entire lifetime.”

“You underestimate my lifespan. As long as you can let me see that ‘Vega II-type civilian starship’ I saw that day with my own eyes, I’ll have no problem staying here for five hundred years.”

The Knowledge-seeking Demon General repeated the name of the starship in the perfectly fluent language of the Human Alliance.

The reason he was allowed here was, one, Lianne had discovered that, as Laplace’s Demon had said, as long as one could offer valuable knowledge, he was willing to exchange it for something of equal value. Although he couldn’t be called a good person, he wasn’t a complete villain either.

Second, the witches already had dealings with the Darkborn. In the eyes of ordinary people, the Darkborn were incomparably terrifying, but in the eyes of the witches, they were partners who valued the spirit of a contract more than ordinary humans.

In addition, it had to be said that among the people who had harassed Fia yesterday, besides the exiled nobles, there was also the Knowledge-seeking Demon General. After seeing her “forbidden spell” that had instantly annihilated hundreds of thousands of monsters, he had sought her out with a face full of ecstasy, hoping that she could tell him what that magic was and what its principles were.

Of course, Fia couldn’t possibly tell him. So he had cried and pleaded, almost hugging her ankles, looking like a child throwing a tantrum for a toy. It was really hard to imagine that this was one of the Seven Demon Generals, as famous as the Despair Demon General.

In the end, he still hadn’t found out what magic Fia had used. And since the witches also didn’t know, he couldn’t threaten them to tell him the answer.

Coupled with the universe he had seen in [Soul Manifestation], his respect for Fia was now no less than his respect for Laplace’s Demon, especially after Laplace’s Demon had said that Fia knew more than it did. This respect had risen to a new level.

“Alright, everyone be quiet. I must concentrate on the next part. Princess Fia, please hold out your hand. The soul contract will usually be hidden under the skin and will only appear when you are nearing the limit of your distance. But even if you really do go too far, you don’t have to worry. As long as you are not dead, the soul field will always exist. When you get close to Milu again, she will wake up from her coma.”

“Mm.”

Nodding lightly, Fia held out her hand.

With a humming sound of intense magical vibration, everyone’s vision was filled with a white light. The contract transfer had officially begun.

◇

The ritual took much longer than imagined. Laplace’s Demon’s soul power was more than a little weaker than Fia’s. Every word it uttered consumed a huge amount of energy, forcing it to drag out the syllables incredibly long. By the time the ritual was over, it was already two in the afternoon. The group left the conference hall where the Heart Core was stored and went to the surface. Only a few witches in charge of supervising Laplace’s Demon remained.

“Hmph hmph.”

“This is the first time I’ve seen little Milu so happy.”

Rеαⅾ оn КаtReαdіոɡCafе

Looking at Milu, who was hugging Fia’s arm and humming unconsciously with joy, Liti had a look on her face as if she were seeing something rare. As for the matter of Milu hugging Fia’s arm, Liti, for the sake of the fact that Milu had just finished the contract, did not fight with her over it.

The corners of Milu’s mouth turned up, and a smile appeared on her usually emotionless face.

“I have a love connection with master now. We’ll never be separated.”

“You’ll just shut down if you get too far apart.”

“A love connection…”

Compared to Liti’s complaint, Friede’s murmured words, with her head lowered, concerned Fia more. She had a feeling that Friede was thinking of something incredible.

“Are you staying at the Witch Sanctuary, Friede?”

Fia took the initiative to ask. When she had entered the conference hall, she had seen many witches in the Witch Sanctuary moving large items like tables, chairs, and alchemy cauldrons. The entire underground was a hive of activity.

“Eh? I did stay at the Witch Hall yesterday—ah, the Sanctuary. I’m sorry, Lady Fia, I haven’t gotten used to it yet…”

“There’s no need to apologize. A name is just a label. As long as it can let the other person know what you want to express, it’s fine.”

“How can you say that? This name was decided by you. It represents our new life.”

Friede raised her eyebrows and corrected her seriously. “Witch Sanctuary” was the name they had decided on after discussing it with Fia yesterday. Friede believed that the new organization’s name should both reflect their witch identity and be different from the Witch Hall, to let people know that they were a kind organization, different from the traditional witches.

So Friede had solicited names from the official and apprentice witches below, selected a few suitable ones, and then let Fia make the final decision, which was “Witch Sanctuary.”

Although it brought to mind all sorts of associations, that was only for Fia. The witches felt that this name was very good. Now the witches were divided into two factions: the Witch Hall, represented by Lianne, and the Witch Sanctuary, led by Friede. In addition, since that great explosion, Fia had found that Friede no longer called her “Miss Fia,” but “Lady Fia.” The change in honorifics revealed a lot.

“The witches below and I are indeed staying at the Witch Hall, but only temporarily. We will be moving soon.”

“Moving?”

A surprise appeared in Fia’s eyes. Friede had never mentioned to her that they would be leaving Byrne City. In the eyes of the world, witches were still evil beings. Byrne City was almost the only place that could accommodate them and had a certain degree of order.

As if struggling with something, Friede’s right hand unconsciously clenched the black hair on her chest.

“Yes. After you left yesterday, Lianne and I, with the help of the Blind Woman, captured that group of traitors and executed them at dawn today. Although they were witches who had betrayed us by colluding with the Darkborn, they were indeed once a part of us. Seeing their decapitated bodies, I feel a little sad. Staying here always reminds me of the way they struggled before they died, so I want to leave.”

Reαⅾ οո КatRеаԁіոgСαfе

At this, Friede looked up, and the melancholy on her face gradually disappeared.

“But leaving here is not entirely for my own selfish reasons. I have decided to take everyone with me and follow you to Silvar, Lady Fia.”

“Huh?”

A sound of surprise escaped Fia’s lips. Even Anastasia and Liti’s steps slowed by a beat. The Knowledge-seeking Demon General playfully stroked his chin—to be precise, the bottom of his book—only the few witches present, as if they had known beforehand, had no reaction and continued to walk forward.

The first to react was Anastasia. She said hesitantly.

“…This is improper. Although I know that the witches represented by Miss Friede are different from the real ones, for you to openly follow Her Highness will lead to unimaginable consequences.”

Although she said unimaginable consequences, everyone knew what they were. An elf princess mixing with witches would naturally make people think that there was some ulterior deal between them, which would tarnish her reputation.

Friede quickly explained.

“We will hide ourselves and only appear when you need us, Lady Fia. I have thought a lot these past two days and feel that only by following you can we find a way out. The Lady Witch of Hope has shown us the right path. What we need to do is to abide by her teachings.”

“You are placing your burden on Her Highness.”

“Anastasia,” Fia called out softly, signaling her not to continue. Then she looked at Friede’s face. “Your strength can indeed be of great help, but just as you were injured defending the city wall the night before last, I cannot guarantee your safety. More importantly, I have not yet decided how to lead you down the ‘right’ path. Whether it is right or not can only be known in the future—what I want to express is, what I say isn’t necessarily absolutely correct.”

“Your choice is the right path, Lady Fia. We believe in you,” Friede’s black eyes were filled with unwavering conviction. “No matter what choice we make, there will be a price to pay. And your choice the night before last has earned us the trust of the residents of Byrne City. Now there are even rumors in the streets that ‘the witches helped the elf princess defend the city.’ If you had not given us this opportunity, we would surely have, as Lianne said, taken the Heart Core and fled before the city was besieged. Besides, the injured among us at most only suffered minor injuries. With healing magic, they will recover after a period of rest.”

Friede’s statement made Fia want to speak but hesitate.

She had indeed thought that having them help defend the city would bring them prestige, but at that time, it was more that only they had the ability to fight the monster army and minimize casualties among the common people. Friede’s words were too flattering.

“As long as you nod, Lady Fia…”

Friede timidly raised her black eyes, her gentle face filled with apprehension.

Although I knew this day would come, I didn’t expect it to be so soon.

Fia smiled wryly in her heart, then let out a long sigh.

“Do I still have the option to shake my head at this point? Since it has come to this, I will walk with you all to the end.”