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Vol 02 Chapter 74: The Witch II

He was a strange individual.

Mari pondered the man she had encountered just a few hours ago… Almus.

A human with the body of this world and the soul of another. If one were to consider the Lost Ones ‘transferees’, then he would be a ‘reincarnator’.

It wasn’t impossible for a soul to take over another’s body. Mistakenly consuming or being dosed with Soul Drift Grass could cause one’s soul to detach from their body. The person would die, but the body would remain alive for a while. In such circumstances, if another soul passed by, it could be drawn into and inhabit the deceased body.

It was probably by chance… or perhaps the work of fairies.

That country was surprisingly well-organized. The farmland was vast, and there was an abundant production of rock salt. And then there was that paper…

The foundation for becoming a powerful nation was in place. What remains to be seen is whether the new king will manage to control the patricians.

We should prepare countermeasures while we can…

「Hey, Mom. Mom, are you listening?」

「Yes, sorry. I’m listening, Elly.」

Mari stroked the black creature she was riding. The black creature named Elly, a black flying dragon, made a happy noise.

Mari was currently in the sky. This flying dragon could fly at speeds comparable to a jet, so getting to the mainland of the Rozel Kingdom was a matter of moments.

High-ranking dragon species could freely control wind and fire, so Mari felt no wind at all. The air pressure was adjusted to be the same as on the ground, making for a very comfortable journey through the skies.

High-ranking dragons were prideful creatures and typically did not allow people to ride them, but Elly was an exception. For some reason, even after reaching adulthood, she hadn’t become independent from her mother. Well, for Mari, that was more convenient.

「What’s the matter?」

「It’s nothing urgent. But you’ve been silent for a while, so I was just wondering.」

Elly expressed her concern. It’s worth noting that Elly couldn’t speak human language. The vocal organs of dragons and humans are different.

However, manipulating the wind and vibrating the air to create sound was a simple task for her.

「I’m sorry. It’s nothing important.」

Mari stroked Elly’s head, a smile visible at the corners of her mouth.

◇

「Your Majesty, I would like to request permission for a first-class strategic magic ritual.」

Mari immediately sought an audience with King Rozel upon returning to the palace.

「Do you want to use that against King Rosais’ Country? They don’t seem like such a threat…」

King Rozel showed hesitation. A second-class ritual would be sufficient to bring famine to a single country.

A first-class ritual could induce famine over more than half of the southern part of the Adernian peninsula. It was overkill and too costly to target just King Rosais’ Country alone.

Moreover, a first-class ritual was just performed last year on the three northern countries. The stock of materials for large-scale magic is not abundant.

「No, that country is a threat. They are actively employing Kirisians and aiming to modernize their country. They also succeeded in centralizing power during the recent civil war. Plus, their current king is young. He will undoubtedly start using force on their neighboring countries soon. If that country continues to grow, it will become a troublesome obstacle standing in our kingdom’s way in the future. We should nip it in the bud.」

While a first-class strategic magic ritual is costly, it is not as expensive as an expedition. It is a relatively unexpensive way to weaken an entire country.

「But a second-class ritual would suffice, wouldn’t it? That country isn’t that large.」

「No, the target would be the surrounding countries of King Rosais’ Country.」

Mari smirked.

◇

Click, clack, click.

With every step Mari took down the stairs, her shoes made a resounding, high-pitched sound. Occasionally, the sounds of people yelling, screaming, and uttering their last breaths echoed around her.

The deeper she descended, the more intense the stench became.

This was on the outskirts of Lutia, the capital of the Rozel Kingdom.

She was heading to the depths of a prison known as the ‘Poison Pot,’ where vicious criminals were incarcerated.

Mari, accompanied by ten muscular soldiers, had come to the Poison Pot for one purpose: to harvest materials for her magic ritual.

「Hm… Number six, number eight, number twelve, number fifteen, number twenty-three, and number thirty-one. Extract them one by one, carefully. It’s quite dangerous, so be cautious.」

「Understood.」

The soldiers first headed towards cell number six. This cell was incredibly spacious, capable of holding thirty people with room to spare.

Inside, waste flowed freely, and the cell was littered with human bones and rotting corpses. In the midst of this, a man with bloodshot eyes sat hunched over. Upon seeing Mari, he rushed to the bars, biting and screaming at them.

「Witch!! Go to hell!! I’ll kill you!!!」

「Ahaha, you’re as lively as ever, I see. That’s good. A sacrifice is best when it’s full of life.」

Mari said this and then pulled a plant from her pocket, one with lavender-colored flowers.

However, it was clear from its shape that the plant was not lavender.

「Magic weed. You must be starting to feel the withdrawal, aren’t you?」

Mari teased him, waving the powerful narcotic in front of the man.

「Shut up!! I will not yield to the likes of you!!」

Even as he spoke, the man’s gaze was fixed on the magic weed.

Narcotics could be broadly classified into two types: depressants and stimulants. The magic weed fell into the category of stimulants.

This herb intensely excited the human psyche. It could amplify feelings of hatred and anger.

The driving force behind magic was emotion. The richer the emotion, the more powerful the magic that could be wielded. To create a barrier, one might draw upon desires to protect, love, and kindness. To cast a curse, one would use negative emotions like envy and jealousy.

The practice of ‘Kodoku’ was a classic example. The caster made poisonous insects kill each other, to accumulate their resentment, and then use that as a medium for magic.

Insects were used because they were easy to handle and obtain. However, it wasn’t limited to insects; dogs, monkeys, or humans could also be used. In fact, more intelligent creatures were preferred due to their richer emotions.

Human Kodoku. A technique that crossed the mind of every magician at least once.

However, the practice of human Kodoku came with various problems. First, it took a great deal of patience to make members of the same species consume each other. It was also costly. By the time they started eating each other, most were mad, and their hatred and anger were distorted, often not producing the expected effects.

And, after all, there were few magicians willing to attempt such madness.

‘When you curse someone, prepare two graves.’

Potent magic could bring about one’s own destruction. Many magicians feared the curse rebounding on them and thus refrained from employing such spells.

But Mari completed the spell nevertheless. She even used narcotics to amplify the hatred and anger of the subjects more efficiently.

In a sense, she, too, was broken. Her ethics as a modern Japanese person had collapsed over five hundred years ago.

The reasons for this collapse are associated with four keywords: ‘woman’, ‘Blessing of The Immortal’, ‘horse-riding barbarians’, and ‘sex slave’. It’s not hard to imagine what happened to her.

「Ha-ha, good, good. I’ll let you have plenty before killing you. But you’ll have to endure for three days. It might be so painful you’ll wish for death, but hold on.」

Mari laughed cheerfully.

「Um, what’s the purpose of the magic ritual this time? We want to weaken King Rosais’ Country, right? Shouldn’t we be cursing that country then? And isn’t the number of sacrifices too small? This won’t even scratch their magical barriers, causing no damage at all.」

One of the magicians accompanying her, Annabella, asked Mari. She was young, only fifteen, but had been receiving direct instruction from Mari.

She was expected to become Mari’s future assistant.

「It’s fine. We don’t need to cause damage to them. The aim is to make it seem like the curse on the neighboring countries came from King Rosais’ Country. It’s convenient that there happens to be a competent magician there as well.」

Understanding Mari’s intention, Annabella kept her mouth shut. She now understood the objective and their roles. What remained was to focus on the magic.

「Rraaagh!!!」

Annabella turned her gaze to the screaming sacrifices. They were all gagged and crucified.

Removing the gags would likely unleash a torrent of curses, letting them talk would be a nuisance so they were kept silent.

「…」

「Ahaha, does it trouble your conscience?」

「Well… somewhat. But it’s their own doing.」

Annabella spoke while looking at the convicts who were crucified.

「Those three men over there raped virgins and boys before killing them. That one there committed robbery, murdered a family of eight, then set a fire that destroyed six buildings, killing six more people. That one is a traitor who secretly colluded with a foreign country. And that one there conducted illegal slave hunts within the kingdom, kidnapping over a hundred people and selling them to the Kirisians.」

「Heh heh, that’s right. Thanks to that man, we got dozens of people as material in one fell swoop.」

Acquiring materials and improving public safety at the same time—two birds with one stone.

「They’re destined to die anyway. It’s their just deserts.」

「Well, there’s no point in keeping them alive. War prisoners can be sold or put to work, but these…」

Mari ordered the removal of the gags from the convicts on the crosses. It seemed they no longer had the energy to curse, so she wanted them to breathe more easily to extend their lives.

「As expected, crucifixion is the best way to kill sacrifices, when they are burned at the stake most of them lose consciousness very soon, with crucifixion if they lose consciousness, we only need to flail them awake.」

「When they are burned at the stake, the fear of the fire overwhelms their minds, and most of them forget their hatred, even though burning at the stake is more painful…」

「You know it well. Personal experience?」

When Annabella said that jokingly, Mari responded with a smile, though her eyes were not smiling

「Yes.」

Mary turned her back on Annabella and the sacrifices and said as she walked away.

「Well, I’m off to bed. Let me know when they’re dead. I’ll do the finishing touches. This kind of curse is too much for you, isn’t it?」

Mari walked away, muttering quietly when no one was around.

「Their deaths at least have some meaning, how lucky is that?」