novelraw Chapter 64: "What's the Point?"
Chapter 64: "What's the Point?"
From the initial compromise and forbearance to the current preparation for a direct breakthrough, the Hunter's heart was pounding wildly. A direct confrontation now was certainly no problem, as Beihai held the moral high ground, seeking to punish a wicked Queen.
But before that, information had to be equalized. The wicked Queen's abilities and weaknesses had to be figured out, to avoid suffering a huge, blind loss later.
"Sir Knight, we absolutely must be cautious. That Queen possesses a Magic Mirror. That mirror seems to know almost everything. I suspect she is already using that mirror to learn witchcraft."
The Hunter's guess was correct. It was precisely because the other party knew magic that she could transform into an old woman to trick Snow White into eating the apple.
Although an old woman suddenly appearing selling apples in this desolate wilderness was quite bizarre, one couldn't resist the fact that the old woman seemed like a good person.
It probably also touched upon some underlying rule. The seven dwarves said, "We're going out, you must never open the door," and then the opposite happened.
"Don't worry about some mere magic. I have my own plans. Before that, you should hide for a while."
The reason for telling the Hunter not to follow him was that if the Queen saw the Hunter, she would definitely ask the Magic Mirror who the most beautiful woman in the world was.
If the Hunter didn't come along, it would indicate his operation was still ongoing. The Queen would have some patience, just right to exploit an information gap.
So, after settling the Hunter, Beihai rushed non-stop to the Queen's castle.In this castle, the palace guards were pitifully few. Beihai only needed to reach a hidden corner. There happened to be a window above. Using a rope or simply climbing bare-handed, he scaled the wall, flipped through the window, and entered the building.
Unconsciously, Beihai directly began searching. He opened wardrobes, pulled out drawers, throwing clothes, diamonds, and jewels on the floor.
Then Beihai snapped back to reality. I'm not playing a stealth game here. I have serious business to attend to.
So he proceeded secretly throughout the entire palace, moving along the ceiling. As long as he made no sound, the guards wouldn't see him. Who would randomly look up at the ceiling anyway?
His target was somewhat clear to begin with, so he quickly found the location of the Magic Mirror. The mirror was placed alone in a room.
The room contained nothing else, only a Magic Mirror and the cloth covering it.
Beihai stepped forward and pulled off the entire cloth. The Magic Mirror then booted up like a computer, even glowing.
"Mirror, mirror on the wall, tell me, where is the place where the Queen practices her magic?"
"In the basement of this castle. Go east from here. Where there are no guards watching, there is a hidden compartment."
Having obtained the location where the Queen concocted her magic, the next question was...
The benefit of the Magic Mirror was right here. For other things, you might have to ask, there might be loading times, or usage limits. But the Magic Mirror had none of that, and its search scope was truly vast.
"Mirror, mirror on the wall, tell me, where is Aladdin's Lamp?"
This time, the Magic Mirror did not answer Beihai's question verbally. Instead, it produced a map, marking the lamp's location. That place seemed to be in the deep sea.
He originally thought Aladdin's Lamp would be in the desert like in the story. Being in the seafloor was also possible, after all, there are tales where Aladdin's Lamp was accidentally fished up by a fishing boat.
Then, by some mishap, it ended up with a poor young man, who then treated Aladdin's Lamp like a fool to be played.
Aladdin's Lamp had an impatient temper. The young man hadn't even stated his wish, and the lamp itself had already completed the task. After that, the man still had three wishes left.
Beihai was quite appreciative of the Magic Mirror and then had it enter his money pouch.
Following the Magic Mirror's earlier instructions, he arrived at the palace basement. He packed up all the magical materials, the most important being the books.
But there were also some herbs and such. Beihai didn't dare let his money pouch swallow them randomly, so he decided to burn them.
Coincidentally, there was a dry cauldron in the basement, clearly used for brewing magical potions. He lit the firewood beneath the cauldron and proceeded to burn all those harmful things.
As the fire burned, a pungent smell wafted out. These were magical materials made from who-knows-what. Perhaps bat wings, octopus legs.
Or various eyeballs. Burning these things, no one knew what chemical reactions they would produce. But that fused, concocted smell was certainly impossible to mask.
This magically infused odor drifted and drifted until the Queen smelled it.
Some soldiers just pinched their noses, feeling something had burned.
But for the Queen, who knew some witchcraft, this burnt smell was anything but ordinary. She hastily stood up from her throne, not waiting for the Hunter anymore, and rushed frantically to the basement entrance.
Running down, billowing thick smoke choked her, making it hard to open her eyes and somewhat difficult to breathe. Upon seeing Beihai burning her medicinal materials, she was instantly shocked.
"What are you doing? Stop right now! What are you burning? You didn't burn my herbs!"
Before she could finish asking, Beihai had already begun lecturing: "Your magic came too easily. What's the point?
You, you just don't understand the difficulty of learning magic. Relying on a Magic Mirror doesn't count as real skill.
You can use the mirror this time, but can you use it next time? Can you guarantee you can use the Magic Mirror your whole life?
This isn't sustainable. You still need a stable source, relying on your own ability and wisdom to be self-reliant, a steady, long-term flow. Only magic learned through your own hard work lets you understand its difficulty."
For some reason, even though the Queen was a grown adult, she could feel an indescribable sense of suffocation from these words.
Of course, the real reason for suffocation was her Magic Mirror. Since the other party could get here, he must have seen the mirror. For all she knew, the mirror was already shattered.
That was her everything. Without the Magic Mirror, who would tell her who the most beautiful person in the world was?
"Guards! Guards! Kill him! Kill him! Strip off his armor, seize his Holy Sword, cut him into a thousand pieces!"
There was no time for further thought;
rage had clouded her mind. Still at the top of the basement entrance, the soldiers, hearing the command, rushed about in a panic.
Countless soldiers crowded behind, tumbling down the stairs one after another, people pressing against people. Before even seeing the enemy or engaging in battle, they had already tumbled into a heap, lying on the ground crying out in pain.
Beihai also stood up from before the fire. They seemed to have mistaken one thing: right now, it was him alone surrounding all of them.