Book 17 Chapter 3
Chapter 102
The Broom Grand Prix, the 16-Cylinder Broom, and the Mysterious Shepherd (2)
“Ah, Derif (not a priestess) is overtaking and pulling ahead! The broom is fast, incredibly fast!”
The ‘Broom Grand Prix’ originally started as a small-scale event held here in <Euphoria> to promote healthy skill improvement in broom flying.
“All the witches who were ahead are falling like autumn leaves! Just what *is* that broom?!”
Such competitions invariably led to clandestine gambling, and when the Witch Association condoned this gambling to encourage witch participation and promote commerce, its popularity skyrocketed!
“There are shouts that she's making a show of it because she's a priestess, but that's absolutely not the case!”
From a certain point, it became the biggest festival in the area, a festival where all the talented witches participate!
“Yes, as you can see, Player Derif has a large sign on the back of her broom that says [Not a Priestess]! She just happens to have red hair and happens to be with a sun parakeet, but there's no way she could be Lady Friede, the Priestess of the Fire Dragon!”
As Derif (not a priestess) passed by, the witches deliberately exaggerated their falls, even mixing in spells, plummeting from their brooms to the ground.
“Agh, how dare I, someone like me, try to stop Player Derif!”
“Agh, Player Derif's piloting skills are simply amazing!”
The outcome of the ‘Broom Grand Prix’ was no longer important. It was obvious, even to a passing dog, that if they could just make a good impression on the Priestess of the Fire Dragon here, they would be on the fast track to success!
‘Lady Friede, did you see my move just now? How well did I do?’
‘Lady Friede, what do you think? It was natural, wasn't it? The crowd is cheering!’
As Friede overtook and passed a few of these witches, giving them a fleeting glance, the witches began to shed tears and even sob.
“Kyaaaah! Lady Friede saw me! She looked at me! Friede! Friede! Long live Lady Friede, the Priestess of the Fire Dragon!”
“She saw your insignificant broom! She looked at *me*!”
“No! She lowered her gaze and looked directly into my eyes!”
“Don't be ridiculous! She's going to choose me! She'll choose me as her successor! Long live Grand Priestess Friede—!!!”
It was at that moment that the Lista Party arrived amidst the ‘Broom Grand Prix’.
“This is insane, what on earth is this madness? It's like a world I don't know.”
Since the world was in turmoil, only inexperienced witches who had been wasting their time participated instead of skilled ones, making the quality of the competition abysmal.
And that was already the situation!
The ‘Broom Grand Prix’ had been corrupted into a show sport by Friede, the Priestess of the Fire Dragon! What madness!
“Yes, Player Derif is confidently advancing to the finals! We're looking forward to the 4-person final match!”
As Friede, having passed the finish line, dismounted her 16-cylinder broom, witches, apprentice witches, and mages swarmed around her and knelt.
“Autographs, difficult.”
At Friede's resolute single remark, the witches convulsed and collapsed! Does such a phenomenon occur when an object of adoration appears before one's eyes?
“Friede, what are you doing here?!”
That someone would dare to speak so rudely to Friede ignited flames of fury in the witches' eyes.
“You mustn't do such bad things! Come on, let's go!”
However, it was immediately extinguished (鎭火)!
It couldn't be helped.
The reason could be seen in Friede's reaction.
“Hmm? I smelled a dusty, shabby scent, and it turns out my pauper friends from the Hero Party I used to be with are here.”
“W-what did you say…?!”
“I'm no longer Friede, the priestess of the Hero Party. The moment I received this 16-cylinder broom, my instinct for speed awakened within me. I've been reborn as the ‘Witch of Light Speed, Derif (not a priestess).’”
Lynn spat.
“Hmph, when Nils first gave it to you, you acted like you hated it.”
“What? Nils? ‘Nils’? How dare you wag your disrespectful tongue, you brat! Can't you properly use the honorific ‘Lord Nils, the Chief Tinker’?”
“Friede, there's no time to be playing around here! We need to cross the continent quickly.”
“Continent? Why cross the continent? This Broom Grand Prix is my calling. I'm going to work hard here, earn money, buy a mansion with a 300,000 pyeong cornfield, and live a luxurious life.”
“Corn, corn, corn.”
“Then give back the party funds.”
As Lynn held out her hand, Friede arrogantly blew out cigarette smoke and threw a money pouch at Lynn's face!
What a weighty toss!
At least 100 gold coins!
“Here, take it. With that money, you can go to the Witch Association and charm a decent witch.”
“Here, here, here.”
However, like a liberal arts student, she failed even this simple aim!
The money pouch landed not on Lynn's face, but on Lista's forehead!
As the money pouch fell to Lista's feet due to gravity, a few gold coins gleamed and bounced out.
Seeing Lista's fist trembling, Lynn let out a deep sigh.
Even Lynn, famous as an ‘insensitive idiot,’ might have thought this situation was going too far.
“Madam, isn't that too shabby? According to the script for [The Strongest Mage Pretending to Be Brainwashed], your last line isn't even worth 20 points.”
As if that would be the case!
“What are you talking about, you commoner.”
“If it were me, I would have said, ‘Hmph… I don't follow the orders of those weaker than me. Even if you are my comrades… now that I've realized you're weaker than me, I've lost interest.’”
At that, Lista's eyes widened, and she slammed her trembling fist into her palm.
“Ah! So that's it! Friede has been brainwashed by someone!”
But… the sound was strange.
Surely it was just a fist hitting a palm, so why was there a deafening roar that felt like eardrums were tearing? Terrifying!
“Wait, hold on. Why are you clenching your fist and rushing at me? No, stop. I told you to calm down!”
“It seems Friede has forgotten her memories of us, so I'm going to make her remember! Historically, this has been the cure for that! They say when people face a crisis of death, all their past memories flash through their minds!”
“Agh! Don't come near! Save the priestess! Grand Prix officials, there's a mad hero here!”
Pipi had already defected and perched on Lynn's right shoulder! Is this a sun parakeet or a bat?!
“Kyuu kyukyu (Bat b*stard)…”
At that, Pipi punished Sval with a beak attack! A master!
“Historically, historically, this was a historical cure.”
“Kyuuuuuuutt!!!”
Ignoring the petty skirmish happening on his shoulder, Lynn eagerly anticipated Friede being beaten to a pulp with a truly expectant heart.
However, Friede was already a master, tempered by the world's trials!
Backed into a corner, just as Lista's fist was about to rain down, she suddenly groaned and clutched her head in pain!
“Ugh… Lista? Huh? What is this? Uuugh, my head… What was I doing here? Where is this?”
A mad master! What profound acting skills!
At that, Lista, who had been stealthily cracking her knuckles while approaching Friede, stopped in her tracks.
And shedding large, chicken-dung-like tears, she embraced Friede tightly.
“Your memories have returned! I'm so glad the medicine worked! H-h, what a relief! I thought Friede had forgotten about us… My head was aching trying to calculate how hard I'd have to hit you to put you in mortal danger without breaking any bones, but it's a relief, a real relief!”
Lynn's, Kies', and Friede's eyes trembled with terror!
So, is there no way to normally leave this crazy party other than by dying?
Terrifying! Is this really a Hero Party? Not a Demon Lord's Party?
“Think carefully, Friede. What kind of guys were they?”
The situation had barely calmed down, but Friede was being interrogated by Lista.
“Hmm… I don't really know. I clearly remember excitedly flying on my broom, but that's all.”
Friede said, sweating profusely.
“To dare brainwash my comrade, I'll find them somehow and make mincemeat out of them. Pipi?”
Pipi tilted its head.
Pipi's ultimate secret technique: pretending not to understand human speech when faced with a difficult question!
As Lista smiled faintly and subtly cracked her knuckles, Pipi flapped its wings frantically. Survival instinct!
“Don't know, don't know, Pipi doesn't really know either.”
No memory…?
To have erased all traces perfectly, the opponents must have been formidable mages.
Lista and Kies were dull with magic formulas, but Friede and Lynn were practically experts in such matters, so they decided to ask Lynn's opinion.
“What do you think, Lynn?”
If Lynn thought a conversation would be a bit long, she would always open a magic book.
It was the same then!
Furthermore, Lynn, who had started reading the book, had now become such a master that the [Reading a Magic Book to a Cow's Ear] mode would automatically activate!
“…It's darkest under the lamppost, is it?”
Now, her level had reached a realm beyond perfection, progressing from interjections like “Hmph,” “Heh,” “I see,” “Is that so,” to even quoting proverbs!
However, there was a big problem with this.
As much as she wasn't paying attention to the conversation, there was a high probability that proverbs unsuitable for the context would be used.
“Darkest, under the lamppost…?”
But Lista was a madwoman!
Her absolute trust in Lynn made her overinterpret even that meaningless mumble!
‘Could it be, does that mean… no, it's hard to believe, but Lynn has never been wrong so far!’
At that moment, Lista reached over her shoulder.
The Sword of Extreme Radiance, Surpain, wrapped in bandages, was unleashed, scattering its brilliant sword light across the world.
The light that danced and undulated on the blade slowly took shape, becoming a gigantic blade of light surging upwards from the sword.
“Friede, get the people out of the arena!”
“What? Hey, hey! You're not seriously going to do that crazy thing again, are you? Tell me you're not, please. Stop, stop it! It was actually my fault! These people did nothing wrong! I lied! Because I wanted to live!”
“The power of brainwashing is being exerted again, the mage's power is formidable! Just bear with it a little longer, Friede! Kies, when the ground collapses, hold onto people with the World Tree's branches so they don't fall!”
[b(※ㅁ<)d]
“Nooooooo────!”
Lista leaped high into the air, instantly shattering even the barrier Friede had deployed in a last desperate effort, and plunged the blade deep into the ground!
The sensation was peculiar.
An empty feeling.
Waves of magic spread dazzlingly along the cracks that formed in the ground… and then the surface began to collapse!
‘As expected of Lynn… you knew everything!’
What in the world was happening?!
Beyond the debris of the collapsing surface, could it be that an underground tunnel was visible?!
It was located in a hollow part of the tunnel, and this place was rampant with all sorts of match-fixing, illegal gambling, and black market dealings.
“Wha—?!”
“How did you know the location of this place, the stronghold of the Cheonggeonjeok led by Lord Gambrevit, one of the privateers…?”
“They even completely erased their presence, so even the dragons didn't know about this place for over three years…!”
Friede instinctively knew that this was the place to make her move, right now.
To live or to die!
Her attempt to stop Lista from breaking the ground was to cover up her confessions, and to do that, she had to give her all right now.
“Ugh, ugh… My head… Li-Lista… A few memories have come back… Yes, it's them…! Those guys…! Pipi and I… there… brainwashed… Uuuugh…!”
Mad performance! A truly mad master!
Pipi also clutched its head with its wings, sighing identically!
“Ugh, ugh, uuuugh…”
As Lista gripped the holy sword in a reverse grip, the flow of time circling within her body was severed.
Internal time acceleration.
Time is inherently fair; everyone uses 1 second as 1 second, but Lista, borrowing Surpain's power, could use that 1 second as 12 seconds.
“How dare you harm our good Friede and Pipi!”
“Agh!”
A man wearing a dark blue executive hood was struck on the head with the flat of the sword and fainted! A minimum of 30 weeks of recovery!
“To brainwash them and make them do bad things!”
“Agh!”
A woman wearing a dark blue supreme executive hood collapsed after being struck on the back with the flat of the holy sword! A minimum of 28 weeks of recovery!
“Receive the judgment of law and justice!”
“Agh!”
An old man wearing a dark blue strategist's hood spun 18 somersaults in the air from a flick to the forehead before crashing into a wall and passing out! At this point, even a natural death would be understandable!
Time taken for this, merely 120 seconds!
It took 1 second to subdue 1 person, thus 120 seconds, but this was according to Lista's subjective perception of time; in reality, it didn't even take 10 seconds.
“Phew, the feeling after delivering justice is truly exhilarating.”
Lista, leaning on Surpain stuck in the ground, wiped the sweat from her forehead with a satisfied expression.
“Ah, what the heck! You didn't leave any for me!”
Lynn's sorrowful cry was drowned out by the cheers of the crowd.
“Waaaaah!”
“They removed the mastermind behind this Broom Grand Prix!”
“Hero! Hero! Sir Hero!”
The crowd, who had directly witnessed this feat while dangling from Serwebon's branches, cheered.
“Corn, corn, corn.”
Friede stroked Pipi's head, who was barking gloomily.
“Watch that carefully, Pipi. There's no way for us to regain our freedom and live modestly in that dream house with a 300,000 pyeong cornfield, calling handsome brothers every day, other than to finish this journey or die…”
* * *
“A single woman completely destroyed the <Euphoria> workshop?”
A witch slammed her fist on the table in anger.
The emblem elegantly hanging on her left chest, wearing a pointed hat, was none other than a pentagram!
That was a symbol of honor given only to the 30 Grand Witches, the leaders of the witches.
Grand Witches, along with priestesses, could attend the council as tribunes and represent humanity's opinions.
“It wasn't a single woman, but a single hero…”
The wooden box the Grand Witch irritably threw caused blood to gush from the subordinate witch's head.
“Isn't a hero a woman? Is it a man, then? How dare you talk back like that? Just empathize! Do you even know how much money we were earning from there?!”
This Grand Witch's sobriquet was Chungbin (清貧)!
She had been greedy for wealth since her mage days, and her master gave her that sobriquet to suppress that desire.
The greed for wealth that had been suppressed and festered since childhood had now run wild amidst the chaos caused by the [King's Flesh] incident…!
“Damn it, get out! I don't even want to see your faces!”
This woman, Rajul, was the Grand Witch and the mastermind behind the Cheonggeonjeok, who were disrupting this southern region!
“Damn…”
As her subordinates left, Rajul began to bite her fingernails restlessly.
“Damn, damn, damn! That damn hero… she's looking for me, huh? Fine, come! Come as much as you want. I'll hide without a trace.”
The [King's Flesh] had given everything to her, a 43-year-old woman. Youth, power, wealth, beauty… all of it!
Becoming a priestess required strict screening by the dragon race, so she had to give up on that position, but now she had no desire for such a role anyway.
A priestess, who mediates between humans and dragons, constantly suffers from grueling work, virtually no different from a slave, as she must always approve important national affairs and handle the dragons' menial tasks.
[Hiding? Hmm, it seems women who are inherently ugly lack self-esteem, perhaps because they were exposed to rejection rather than favor from a young age.]
Suddenly, Rajul shivered at a chilling and sinister presence, as if tens of thousands of snakes were coiling around her body.
Her body…?
It didn't feel like she was under any spell, yet she couldn't move at all. The fear that if she moved even a fingertip, she would be bitten by the snakes of that presence and instantly die from extreme poison.
[If you hide here until the hero's party gets tired of looking for you, what happens to your self-esteem? What about the Cheonggeonjeok? Everything you've built will collapse, won't it?]
“You, who are you…?”
[The strongest mage. You just need to know that about my identity. No need to be scared. You haven't forgotten that the King's Flesh provides infinite power, have you?]
“How, how am I supposed to win?! They say even Diamond-rank mercenaries died fighting them, and the strongest dark mage group was defeated!”
Rajul didn't want to confront Friede. Meeting her made her feel needlessly intimidated, making it difficult even to meet her gaze.
Because Friede, unlike herself, was a woman born with everything. As another woman, she was an existence one couldn't help but envy.
She was of <Terbenople>'s blue bloodline, a disciple of the previous priestess, a prodigy who seized the youngest witch, Grand Witch, and priestess positions, and was even blessed with beauty.
[Hahahahaha!]
Then the boy laughed.
Although he was using the body of a seven-year-old pauper boy, Rajul could immediately tell that his consciousness belonged to someone else.
[Those dullards lost because they didn't use their heads. To begin with, battle isn't about the strong winning, but about the one who wins being strong. From now on, I'll tell you how to defeat the hero's party by 'using your head'.]
“What kind…?”
[The souls of dead humans might go to heaven as written in the scriptures, but the vengeful spirits of those who harbored deep grudges remain on earth.]
“I'm a Grand Witch… I know more about spirits than anyone!”
[Then this conversation will be quick.]
As the boy flicked his finger, the sky above his head rippled, and strange jars began to pour down.
Space-time magic…?
The act of opening and closing dimensions without any preliminary gestures made her realize anew how unfathomable this unknown entity's power was.
[The best way to combine these vengeful spirits with bodies, that is, to summon them, is to… use their corpses or remains.]
Moreover, a large quantity of [King's Flesh] was grotesquely wriggling from the stoppers of those jars, and if combined, it would be equal to or even exceed the amount of [King's Flesh] Rajul had collected so far.
Such a large amount…?
Rajul cherished that more than any gold or jewels and never carelessly showed it to others, but this fellow was treating it as if he were just tossing a few coins.
[These are the remains of those who harbored deep grudges in this land, carefully selected by me. If the flesh is used, the success rate of necromancy goes without saying, and they will exert even greater power than in life.]
“Hah… I thought you were going to say something amazing, but they're not the kind of people who can be stopped by something like that, are they?”
[I told you. You have to use your head. Among these ten sets of remains, there's a woman named Aena.]
“Who is that?”
[She's a woman who was framed and beheaded in the Empire. Hmm, before that, she was the Hero Party's archer's master and… lover, so they say? What do you think, doesn't it seem like an interesting situation is about to unfold?]