The Cornflower Witch

Chapter 77: Multiple Histories

Shadow World, surface layer, nameless hill.

Sylutia awoke from her resting sleep, feeling her exhausted body had recovered quite a bit, and her spirit had also regained some strength. Although not at 100% charge, she was probably around 80% now.

Returning once more before the Weathered Iron Sword, Sylutia recalled the scene she had witnessed in her dream.

At the end of that battle, the knight holding the longsword slowly fell, but the blade he had thrust into the stone became a beacon for this Shadow World, briefly parting the heavy Sinking Fog in the sky.

In that brief opening, another figure crossed the boundary of the reflection, coming from the continent above the sea of clouds down to the Shadow World beneath it.

The other party was a practitioner of the moon Aspect, and possessed a graceful figure. Such people were called 'Witches' in many stories.

A Witch wearing a wide-brimmed pointed hat descended upon this Shadow World and confronted that Hag.

"You despicable traitors, you actually mix with those stone lapdogs!" Upon seeing the Witch descend into this world, the Hag's face showed hatred and anger.

"Betrayal? Not really. We were only barely holding together in the first place." The Witch's voice was ethereal. She pressed down on her hat brim with one hand, revealing those silver eyes.

"The 'Moon Parliament' has long existed in name only. The 'Golden Honey Dynasty' that supported the organization's establishment has long since collapsed. Where is there any alliance agreement left?""For this continent, we fought the Silver Radiance Church for hundreds of years. In the end, no one won. Instead, that black rabbit got the legacy of 'Luminous Moon' and became a newly ascended Hour. Now, if we want to borrow the moon's power, we have to look at 'Its' face. It's long past the era of our former strength."

"You old-timers, hiding in the forest all day, should come out and see the world."

"No need for you to mock me!" The Hag gnashed her teeth and extended a finger, pointing directly at the Witch floating in mid-air.

The giant black snake circling around the Hag lunged out again, speeding towards the Witch in the sky. Its gaping, enormous maw was large enough to swallow three Witches whole.

"Ah, 'Teria's Black Serpent,' a trick from a thousand years ago. You're still playing with that." The Witch waved her hand dismissively, responding with disdain.

She raised the wooden moon staff in her hand, giving it a simple wave. An intangible silver moonlight manifested behind her, illuminating the attacking black serpent.

The previously ferocious black serpent instantly froze, changing color as if petrified, before finally dispersing into countless crystalline powder that fell from the sky.

Having lost her important means of attack, the Hag was furious. She tore the bone necklace from her neck, then began chanting incantations, her other hand constantly beating a small drum hanging at her waist.

Soon, this bone necklace exploded in the air, transforming into numerous bone-like, malevolent birds that soared towards the Witch in the sky.

"'Soul-Devouring Malefic Birds.' These things are troublesome, but only troublesome." The Witch shook her head again.

She lightly tapped her lips with a finger, spat out a blood-red pearl, then held the pearl in her palm. An intangible ripple instantly vibrated and spread, shattering the incoming bone malefic birds into fragments.

"What other tricks do you have, old-timer." The Witch placed the blood-red pearl back into her mouth, then looked down at the Hag below.

"Dragon Blood Treasure Pearl, you actually managed to obtain such a thing..." The Hag was both jealous and furious.

Afterwards, the Hag employed several more bizarre and secret arts, but all were easily resolved by the Witch. As the two had said earlier, they came from the same faction a thousand years ago and were very familiar with each other's methods.

"No time to drag this out with you, old-timer." The Witch waved her wooden moon staff again, scattering intangible powder that fell onto the grassland below.

At that moment, the sea of grass covering the hillsides began to grow wildly. The tips of the grass stretched out, writhing like serpents and earthworms, swaying across the earth as they raced towards the Hag at the end of the hillside.

During this, the Hag exhausted various methods—burning, poisoning, resisting—but was all submerged by this twisting sea of grass. Then, these grass tips drilled into her body, devouring her flesh as if sucking blood.

"You traitors, you actually touch taboos, driving the power of 'Distortion'..." the Hag screamed and shouted.

"I curse you! I curse your descendants to also die in this sea of despairing distortion!"

Finally, this Hag was completely devoured by the countless sea of grass, leaving no residue or remains behind.

"Whew, that takes care of this one." The Witch descended and began strolling leisurely across the clearing, picking through the Hag's treasured hoard.

"Nothing really valuable or useful here either." She kicked a skull on the ground with her toe, pinched an old, hole-ridden piece of leather with her fingers, searching for what lay beneath.

"Forget it, that's enough."

After giving up the search, she came to the side of the dead knight, her gaze also falling upon the longsword he still tightly gripped in death.

"Such firm will." She sighed softly.

"No wonder only you foolish types can expand territories and found nations, while us clever ones can only play supporting roles."

"Knight Horlin, I'll remember your name. Don't worry, I'll tell Regard Bouverie of your deeds. Presumably, to glorify achievements and console hearts, he'll grant a title to your descendants."

"As for you, rest in peace here." She placed a hand on the dead knight's armor, allowing the knight's body to slowly turn to drifting sand and vanish, leaving only that sword, thrust into the rocky ground.

After handling matters here, this Witch waved her moon staff once more. Intangible moonlight spread, transforming into veil-like ripples in the sky, resembling a tranquil lake surface.

The Witch leaped lightly upwards, positioning herself beneath this rippling lake surface, bathed in moonlight all around, like the moon in water.

Soon, her figure grew faint. Then, far above in the distant sky, within that real continent, the Witch's form reappeared.

The moon in water, the moon in the sky

Flawless fantasy, transformed in an instant

————

After recalling the scene from her dream, Sylutia gazed once more at the sword hilt. Now she could make out the emblem and inscription on it.

'Fir Knight Corps · Horlin'

If her guess was correct, the ancestor of Lindenwood Village's lord, Baron Horlin, was this sacrificed knight.

Time truly is long and evocative.

If so, back when the 'Knight King' Regard was fighting the tribal Hags among the mountains, he must have relied on the power of the Witches. And according to what Talier had said earlier, the Witches probably had an agreement with the scholars of Candlekeep not to record their deeds in books.

But the author of the book 'The Tree Rings of Firs ~ Tales of the Mountain Nation' clearly knew the true history. He took a clever approach, alluding to this point obliquely in the book.

Why did Regard make the other scholars leave the tent that night, facing the birdcage covered with black cloth alone? It was probably a hint that this monarch, using that strange bird, conveyed some kind of message, summoning the final ally.

The truths of the past are concealed layer upon layer by black cloth. What she sees and knows now is history filtered who knows how many times. And the inner workings of this world run deeper than she imagined.