Chapter 298

“I see, that’s how it is. This is the Silver Dragon Magic Kingdom….”

Sen Hostanio looked around.

It was certainly the Silver Dragon Magic Kingdom already. It wasn’t the land of the Cordis Empire.

“But what does that matter, Zionis, Your Highness? Does an invisible border protect you or something?”

There was a sword in his hand.

It was the Two-Flame Grand General’s sword.

It could easily cut down on me, who had lost his Septem Arcana.

“Did you expect proper treatment as an exile?”

The law is far, and the sword is near.

No, even the law wasn’t on my side.

The Cordis Empire wanted to stand against me legally, socially, and violently.

“It doesn’t matter whether this is the Empire or the Silver Dragon Magic Kingdom, Zionis, Your Highness!”

“Who says it doesn’t matter.”

“……!”

At the intervening voice, Sen Hostanio gripped his sword tightly.

In fact, he tried to swing it.

But he couldn’t.

Vines sprouting from the ground held his sword fast.

He burned all the vines with flames, but new vines shot up.

Hum, huum, huuuum, a low humming sound.

The trees began to sway to that rhythm.

Sen Hostanio realized that the dancing trees had grabbed his sword.

That is a Magical Beast.

Not just any Magical Beast, but the king of Magical Beasts.

He could even tell its name.

“…Hulohelle, the King of dancing trees….”

The trees dance. Hum, huum, huuuum, holding the Two-Flame Grand General.

Sen Hostanio could have cut down Hulohelle anytime. But he couldn’t bring himself to do it.

Because if Hulohelle appeared, it meant his master had also arrived.

“My disciple has entered my land,”

There was a Dragon cloud in the sky.

Silver light descended from there.

“Why wouldn’t it matter?”

Her hair is silver.

More mysterious and deeply brilliant than Leniar de Volmark’s hair, a silver that holds very ancient secrets.

Sen Hostanio couldn’t help but grimace.

“…Great Witch, Beluchian Pollinglight!”

“Yes. It’s me.”

“You shouldn’t be able to come down below the clouds…!”

“That’s right.”

The Great Witch giggled.

“That’s why I dug a huge hole under my land and trapped the clouds. All the territory of the Silver Dragon Magic Kingdom is above the clouds. Of course, here too.”

“……Preposterous!”

The Great Witch waved her hand.

Hulohelle transformed into the shape of a staff and was held in her hand.

Simultaneously, she summoned her five retainers, changed them into the form of tools, and draped them over her body.

The King of scaled birds, the King of dancing trees, the King of toothed jewels, the King of living shadows, the King of flaming flowers.

These five transformed in order as follows: Scaled Cloak, Dancing Staff, Toothed Jewel Orb, Living Armor, Flaming Wreath.

The five divine instruments symbolizing Beluchian Pollinglight.

“Do you think you can be my opponent?”

“…….”

“Go back, Two-Flame Grand General.”

Sen Hostanio is the second greatest general in the entire Cordis Empire.

Considering that the first greatest general Deballo Debius is actually the ‘Last General’, it wasn’t an exaggeration to say he was the best among the humans of the Empire.

However, the opponent was the Great Witch Beluchian.

A vastly transcendental being once called Sen Sorti, once called the ‘Last Mage’.

He, having lost one arm, was not an existence that could oppose her.

“You have already trespassed on my land. Even if I crush you, Continua can’t say anything.”

“…….”

“But I remember the mercy you have shown to the people of my land until now. You are too gentle a blazing flame to be a soldier, child. Go back now.”

“…What mercy do you remember?”

“I told you.”

The Great Witch smiled brightly.

“All the mercy you showed.”

“…I have no memory of living so kindly.”

“Don’t pretend to be humble for no reason. How many people did you let escape in the battle at the Frost-Axe Archipelago? You even gave military provisions to the slash-and-burn farmers of the Chem Mountains, didn’t you? Even 53 years ago….”

“…Ah, I said I don’t know!”

Sen Hostanio blushed.

It wasn’t something to be praised for.

There were a few times he had shown a little sympathy in the lands he ravaged.

But how could that be considered a good deed? He invaded, he hurt, and he killed.

“What does it matter if my hypocrisy saved a few lives! I killed a thousand, ten thousand times that number! I will kill Zionis, Your Highness, so you kill me too!”

“Evil and good don’t mutually annihilate each other.”

The Great Witch declared.

“Just as you arbitrarily showed mercy to the people of my land, I will arbitrarily show mercy to you.”

“…….”

“I understand the desire to find a place to die, but this is not it. Go back, weary old soul. This is an invitation from the ‘Last Mage’.”

“…You end up bringing up that name.”

Sen Hostanio eventually sheathed his sword.

The flames that hadn’t completely disappeared turned into embers and were absorbed into his hair.

“Fine. I will go back….”

The Two-Flame Grand General’s steps were heavy. He glanced sideways at me.

There was no hatred.

It was only natural.

He had only tried to kill me following orders.

“Damn it, I envy you, Yosef….”

The general over seventy limped away.

His torn-off shoulder hurt severely.

But the fact that he had to live another tomorrow, that weariness touched him as an even greater agony.

“…I failed to die again….”

***

“Shion.”

“…Master.”

“You’ve become a wretched sight.”

The Great Witch embraced me.

Her touch resembled a mother’s.

Also, she knew of me before the regression.

Because she had looked into my mind and become one with herself from before the regression.

“My disciple. My child, who struggled, screamed, and strove, but failed in the end… I wonder how you resemble my younger days so exactly.”

“…….”

“Let’s go back, Shion.”

I tried to stand but couldn’t.

A hole in my heart, lost secrets, a bankrupt soul.

The Great Witch stroked me as if soothing me.

As if it was okay to stay still, as if the time for rest had come.

She was strangely benevolent.

Her eyes looking at me were closer to looking at a son than a disciple.

The gaze of a mother toward a wounded son who reached the end of a fight, compassion and awe, Pieta.

“You go back too, Velgil.”

The Great Witch called Velgil’s name.

Since she had long ceased to be human, it was not difficult for her to find out names others hadn’t told her.

“No. I should reward your efforts.”

She looked down at the man resembling a reindeer.

He was still holding me in his arms.

“I will give you a reward. What do you desire?”

“…….”

Velgil fell silent for a moment.

He strode over, picked up Yosef Haider’s severed head, and spoke carefully yet firmly.

“…Please let me watch him.”

“Whom. Shion?”

“Yes.”

The Great Witch tilted her head.

“Your part is done, Velgil. It’s a story unrelated to you now. There is another story prepared for you.”

“I have become curious. I want to follow him by his side.”

“You don’t know what you are asking for.”

Beluchian Pollinglight laughed cheerfully.

She had lived for a thousand years but occasionally encountered unexpected things like this.

“But I will do as you asked.”

The cloud descended.

It was silvery.

She stepped lightly onto it while holding me.

She extended a hand to Velgil as well.

“Get on.”

***

She flew through the sky.

It wasn’t difficult at all. She is the only seven-star mage in the world.

If she just thought she wanted to fly, she could poof create the most appropriate magic for it.

Today, for some reason, she wanted to stroll through the sky floating while emitting a soft light like an ascending saint, and the most appropriate magic was created to let them fly.

They floated above high mountain ranges, various cities, flowing rivers, everything.

Soon, a castle came into view in the distance.

Shining and beautiful as if carved from ice, yet sharp at the same time.

She flew into the castle.

No one stopped her.

It was natural since this was her castle.

The castle recognized its owner and threw its gates wide open.

It even floated rocks from the garden to create stepping stones in the air.

“You stop here, Velgil.”

At the Great Witch’s words upon entering the castle, Velgil nodded.

He was granted the role of an observer.

However, he shouldn’t become too bothersome.

“Jeberk. Give the guest a place to wait.”

“Yee-ei.”

The Scaled Cloak slipped off the Great Witch’s shoulders.

Leaving her body, the Scaled Cloak shuddered and transformed into the shape of a raw chicken wearing a bow tie.

Despite the ridiculous appearance, he was the King of scaled birds.

The raw chicken waddled ahead. Velgil followed behind.

“You guys go too.”

At her words, the other retainers also regained their forms and disappeared.

Soon, there were only two in the long corridor.

The Great Witch Beluchian and me.

The only two Pollinglights in the whole world.

She asked me.

“Can you walk?”

“…Somehow.”

“Follow me.”

I walked.

Crookedly, limpingly, I somehow walked. It wasn’t something to be praised for.

I was a regressor, and had already aged close to forty.

I was long past the age to be praised for walking, and my gait wasn’t splendid enough to be praised either.

The Great Witch strode ahead.

There was no sign of consideration for my short and crooked stride.

Because she knew that trivial consideration would rather be an insult. I followed her, sweating profusely.

They headed down.

Below the castle, further down.

“Can you guess where we are going?”

“…This is my first time in this castle.”

“No, it isn’t. It’s only the first time in this life.”

“…….”

I nodded. Come to think of it, there was no reason to hide the regression from her.

“Right. Where could we be going?”

“…The hole….”

I moved my lips.

“…Leading to the deepest place….”

“Correct.”

She nodded in affirmation.

“That hole came from the deep. Deeper than anything like Kosavagarobira could compare, deep, and deeper….”

“…….”

“You entered there before, didn’t you?”

I also nodded to express affirmation.

I was still sweating buckets but walking on my own legs.

“…You guided me.”

“I have the memory. But it’s not something I experienced directly.”

The current Beluchian is a different being from the Beluchian of the previous life.

She had merely received memories from my mind.

“Do you remember what happened then?”

“…In that hole, I….”

I groaned.

“…In there….”

It was the deepest memory.

In the deep, deep place, Shion began.

It also meant the end of Zionis.

“…I obtained the Septem Arcana.”

The Great Witch walks.

Several seals blocked the way, but they were all created by her.

With a single nod, the path opened.

Before they knew it, they had arrived at the lowest place.

There was a hole.

To the low place, to the lower place, a gloomy crying sound resonated.

It was barely large enough for one person to enter.

Yet the inside wasn’t dark.

It didn’t emit light either.

But strangely, the inside was visible in white.

“Right. It all started in this hole.”

She looked down at the hole.

Now it was my turn.

“The beginning and the end are all here.”

Even up to us eight.

“Go and come back, Shion. The end of your story calls you.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep