WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

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Chapter 579: The Witch of the Sleeping Forest

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A human silhouette inside a meat fruit? That was strange. This wasn't the Domain of the Lords, nor was it any of the layers above. There was no reason for a person to be on a branch that bore hoofed animals.

Then what was it? I decided to open it first. Pulling out a card, I tore through the fruit's skin. As a meat fruit, its skin was as tough as leather, but I had once been renowned as a master pickpocket in my prime. The card slipped through a gap and easily split the skin apart. Juice resembling amniotic fluid flowed out.

There should have been a cow inside this fruit, yet I could sense someone's presence within. I reached through the torn skin and grabbed someone's ankle.

"Up we go."

Instead of a cow, I pulled out the human sleeping inside the fruit.

She was a woman bundled up from head to toe. Her shirt was tightly fastened beneath a thick cloak. A little violet hair spilled from beneath a large witch's hat that could have covered her entire head. The small, frail-looking witch slept soundly, utterly unaware of my presence.

This wasn't a person that had grown in the fruit, was it? A living person had squeezed inside.

"Mmm, mmm."

The regressor noticed the sleep-talking witch and asked, "Who is that?"

"Well, you see."

As for who this sleeping person in such a strange place was...

'Thanks for lending me your body, Pero. Rest easy now. All right, shall I begin a field study of the King of Humanity? Let's see... The King of Humanity hasn't returned to the room yet? Where did he go when there's nowhere to go?'

It was the Great Witch.

The Great Witch saw the world and communicated through her familiars. She hid her true body and devoted herself to controlling them, all to protect the defenseless body left behind while she did so. No one would imagine that body was hidden inside a meat fruit, and even if they did, how could they find it among all these countless meat fruits?

"She's a witch. I think she came here looking for somewhere to sleep."

What a random encounter. It would be suspicious if I saw through the Great Witch's identity right away, so for now, I would just call her a witch. The regressor stared at the sleeping witch, glanced around, then suddenly said, "Did you come here to see her?"

"Pardon?"

"You found this fruit right away among all these fruits, didn't you? Don't you have business with that witch?"

"..."

"What? Don't tell me you're going to say it was a coincidence."

"No, of course not."

Well, that was right. I had come here because I sensed strange thoughts on the way down. The regressor had good instincts.

"No wonder. I was wondering why you suddenly said your arms hurt."

"They do hurt, you know? You think you're as light as a feather. Do you think everyone has a crush on you?"

"I didn't mean I was light! You have regenerative abilities!"

As we bickered, the witch sensed the noise, mumbled, and frowned in her sleep.

'I can hear the King of Humanity's voice. Is he outside? No. It's close. As if he's right beside me. Huh?'

Sensing something unusual, the Great Witch's eyes flew open. Her gaze met mine. Looking back and forth between me and the fruit she had been lying in, the Great Witch moved her lips in terror.

"Ah, ahh, ah!"

The Great Witch curled up the moment she saw me, as though she had spotted an intruder. The regressor scolded me.

"You scared her completely."

"That's because Shei has such a scary face."

"Don't talk nonsense! She couldn't even see my face from there!"

"So you admit you have a scary face."

"At least I'm better than someone who behaves terribly!"

"Pardon? What's wrong with the way I behave?"

"When you get down to it, you dragged a sleeping person out by force! Of course she'd be scared!"

Was that really it? Someone like the Great Witch would never fear getting hurt. She was an Elder, after all. Even if her body were crushed while she slept, she would regenerate without issue. She commanded countless familiars and used dreadful dark magic without risk. She was the kind of being people should fear, not one who should feel fear.

There was only one reason she was scared.

She was simply afraid of people.

In other words, the Great Witch had a phobia of people.

"Hello?"

"...D-don't come closer. Disgusting. I'll kill you."

"Pardon?"

See? It wasn't that she considered me a threat. She was simply afraid of dealing with people.

Even as she hesitated, the Great Witch hurled insults and slowly backed away while clutching her collar.

'Aah, ahh. You scared me. I went somewhere nobody could find me, so how did he know I was here? Is this the King of Humanity's ability?'

"I sensed someone's presence from far away and came to check. I'm rather sensitive to the presence of people. There was a person in a fruit that grows cows, so I wanted to know whether you were dead or trapped."

"T-that's... pointless meddling..."

"Is that so? Then go back in."

"...Never mind."

'It's been proven that hiding is useless against the King of Humanity... Huh? But does the King of Humanity know who I am?'

Why? Didn't I know? You were wrapped up from head to toe, but we had met before. It wasn't as though I had face blindness, so why wouldn't I recognize you...

'I'm wearing the Mask of Agartha, a treasure of the Kingdom of Ten Thousand. Could the King of Humanity really see through a mask that changes how others perceive you?'

You too?!

I quietly checked the regressor's reaction. She had met the Great Witch face-to-face when the witch arrived riding an elephant, yet she had not noticed the Great Witch's identity at all. She only recognized her as a witch because of her hat and clothes.

If I realized the Great Witch's identity here, it would be the same as confessing that I had noticed the regressor's disguise as a man from the beginning. Should I just reveal everything? But then...

"By the way, is it all right for a witch to be here alone? The other witches seemed busy working in the Domain of the Lords."

Damn it. Pretending not to know was much easier.

'He doesn't know! Even the King of Humanity can be fooled by the Mask of Agartha, perfect in truth, goodness, and beauty! At this rate, I might be able to visit the elephant graveyard too!'

The Great Witch brightened a little when I asked as though I did not know. Normally, she would have ignored me out of embarrassment and shyness, but now that she was in a better mood, she decided to humor me.

"U-um, ah, mmm. I-I'm the Great Witch's favorite disciple..."

"If you're her favorite disciple, shouldn't you be working even harder?"

"...No. The Great Witch and I specialize in nonhumans rather than humans. Walpurgis handles the parts related to humans..."

"Walpurgis?"

"She's a legendary witch called the Night Witch... Walpurgis creates pleasure and illusions, trapping people so they can't tell dreams from reality."

That was the person who attended to the Great Witch. She was always running errands, but apparently she was more impressive than I thought. Then again, anyone attending to the Great Witch would have to be that capable.

"By nonhumans, you mean beasts?"

"Y-yes. Beasts, and plants and trees too."

"That works out well. Please guide us somewhere."

"G-guide you?"

"Anywhere important. All I can see here are eerie animal fruits."

"For that, you need to go lower than the Animal Layer... to the Plant Layer. The village is there..."

"A village? There's a village on the World Tree?"

The World Tree was as enormous as a hill. That did not mean it was as pleasant to live on as a hill.

No matter how large it was, the World Tree was still a tree by nature. Its branches swayed in fierce winds, and falling leaves were far more dangerous than raindrops. Anyone living here had to face the risk of falling to their death at every moment.

More than anything, you could not farm on a tree. To obtain food, people would have to bring it from the fields beneath the World Tree's shade, where the sunlight reached.

It might work for druids undergoing training or people building nests, but it did not seem large enough to support a village.

"...Yes. The Tree of Origin, um, grows crops... No, it bears them. The Tree of Origin, um..."

The Great Witch tried to explain, then struggled with how difficult it was to put into words. Scratching her head through her hat, she looked back and forth between the regressor and me several times before falling into deep thought.

'When I conduct a field study of wolves, I synchronize with wolves. When I study parrots, I synchronize with parrots. If I'm going to study the King of Humanity, I should synchronize with humans... I'll think of this body as a familiar too. Then it won't be as... disgusting.'

This was closer to hatred of humans than a phobia of people. The Great Witch seemed to consider traveling with people a major decision.

"...I'll show you. Follow me."

"Yes. Please lead the way."

The instant I stepped after her, the Great Witch covered her mouth and retched.

"Blegh. Don't come close."

"What am I supposed to do about that? You're just like Shei."

"I'm not that bad!"

After moving away from me, the Great Witch broke off small branches from the meat fruit. She took six bare twigs, stripped of all leaves, held them tightly, then pulled parrot feathers from her clothes and inserted one into each twig. After completing the catalyst, the Great Witch chanted and thrust the twigs into the meat fruit.

"Leaves of the parrot. Wing bones of the World Tree. Fins in the air. With that of the earth, grant the right to swim through the sky."

Once the Great Witch finished murmuring her spell, she pulled on the twigs she had inserted.

"Ghhh...!"

After straining for a while, the twigs transformed into huge wings. The branches became sturdy frames, and thick parrot feathers hung from them in place of leaves. The Great Witch held the six wings out to us.

"Attach these... to your shoulders."

"Wings? They look like they'd fall off right away."

"When they touch flesh... roots grow out..."

She had spoken perfectly well through a parrot's body, but now that she was face-to-face with us, she seemed to have come down with an illness. Trailing off awkwardly, the Great Witch pressed the base of a wing against her shoulder to demonstrate.

The moment the cut end of the branch touched her shoulder, roots sprouted from it and tightly wrapped around her shoulder. The Great Witch flapped the wing herself and glanced at me.

"...You saw that?"

Then, without another word, she jumped off. Holding onto her clothes and hat, the Great Witch flew toward the branches far below. It was closer to gliding, but the wings flapped and moved by themselves to steer her.

"Looks like they do more than act as gliders."

I could feel lively vitality from the wings. She had turned World Tree branches and parrot feathers into wings. The Great Witch's witchcraft had a mysterious side to it as well.

The regressor approached me and said, "Let's follow her. A witch willing to talk is rare. We might get a useful clue."

"She doesn't seem very good at talking."

"You get along with people who have poor social skills just fine, don't you? Try it. It's a chance to make use of your talent."

"Well, I did become friends with Shei."

"Am I the poster child for people with poor social skills?!"

'Still, he did think we were friends... That's a relief.'

Pick one. Either get angry or be touched.

Anyway, I pressed the wings into my shoulders. Roots instantly sprouted and wrapped around them. When I raised my arm slightly, the wings fluttered. They did not move completely on their own. They seemed to respond to the movement of my shoulder blades.

"All right, then these wings... Oh."

I had been about to attach wings to the regressor's shoulders, but I frowned when I saw both of her arms firmly bound in bandages. If I gave her wings while she could not use her arms, she would fall straight down.

The regressor noticed my hesitation and said, "Hmm. Would this work?"

"If your arms had actually come off, I could've attached them there. That's unfortunate."

"Don't say something so horrible. You can't even hold a sword with wings."

"I don't think holding a sword is the important part here."

No matter where I tried to place them, it would not work. There was nothing else for it. I attached the wings meant for the regressor to my waist. Feeling the wings take root near my waist, I held the regressor from behind.

"Ugh, ngh."

'I don't want to get used to this!'

Perhaps she was used to it now, because the regressor did not react much. She did wear an uncomfortable expression, though. Holding the regressor dangling from me, I spread my wings and jumped down.

Footnotes:

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