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Chapter 56: Wintering (7)

Two weeks had passed since Arzen started practicing abdominal chant technique.

It was difficult.

It was like being asked to look left and right at the same time.

‘Chanting the first few verses of the scripture seems simple, but perfectly embedding every verse is truly the delusion of a madman…!’

To think she had been doing this subconsciously—was this woman, Frieda, a monster?

Is that the kind of monster it takes to join a hero\'s party?

‘Hmph, who knows? If I had been born 400 years earlier, that spot would’ve been mine, Arzen’s.’

The members of the hero\'s party back then were just lucky enough to be born in a time without Arzen!

Entertaining such ridiculous delusions, Arzen continued to train in the abdominal chant technique.

Without such fantasies, he felt like he might go mad.

‘At least the advantages of the abdominal chant technique are clear.’

As the primary theory witches use when skipping chants, if mastered, its power increases while reducing energy consumption.

But if it fails?

It would drain concentration and mental strength twice as fast, while the power drops, leading to overwhelming frustration.

“Hah... Hah…”

Arzen collapsed to the ground.

Despite the cold nearing the end of early winter, he was sweating profusely. Rather than feeling cold, he was only hot.

‘Should I just quit the abdominal chant technique?’

He was already strong enough without relying on such outdated tricks.

Did he really need to go through all this suffering?

But he had no choice.

For some strange reason, whenever he neglected the abdominal chant technique, the witch would suddenly appear and smack him on the head.

“Lazy fool! You can\'t reach the summit by taking shortcuts!”

“Oww! That hurts!”

“If you’re content being just an ordinary witch, I won\'t say anything more, but didn’t you say you wanted to become a priestess?”

Only two priestesses existed in any given era—one in the Northern Republic, one in the Southern Republic—wielding supreme political power.

They ruled over the council, their influence spanning across the entire republic.

Compared to the adventurers\' guild, they held a status akin to a Diamond-ranked adventurer.

“Ow, ow! I’ll do it! I’ll do it right! Just stop hitting me!”

And so, Arzen’s training in the abdominal chant technique continued.

Whenever he got too exhausted or irritated and wanted to quit, he would oddly have moments where its effectiveness became clear.

For instance, when he used it to cast Barolus, the usual dizziness didn’t hit him.

‘Am I improving?’

But that success happened only once. Every other time ended in failure, plunging him back into despair.

“Witch, how long must I practice this abdominal chant technique to master it?”

“Huh? What?”

“Gah! That hurts!”

“A lifetime! You must train for a lifetime! It will take over a decade to control it properly, and decades to do it unconsciously!”

Over a decade and decades? His motivation drained instantly.

But looking at it differently, it also meant he didn’t need to rush.

If he honed it slowly over a lifetime, wouldn’t the time come when he’d finally master it?

‘If that’s the case, there’s hope!’

Arzen, now in his mid-teens, had an abundance of time ahead of him.

The dimension of all oblivion and disjunction.

“Rol!”

Thus, the void is akin to the night, a time of forgetfulness and separation.

“Ru!”

To confront an adversary, one must know the face of the enemy. So, too, does this apply to the time-space known as night.

“Ss!”

Issue your command to the void-born entity that emerged from your exploration of the Night Face.

‘Alright, the omitted parts are condensed properly! Feels great!’

A demon, an embodiment of emerald terror, had appeared.

What the demon’s hand touched was a log of wood.

With its transcendental strength, it effortlessly lifted the log.

Just enough for Arzen to wrap a rope around it.

As soon as Arzen finished his task, the demon\'s hand vanished.

Arzen shook his hips in delight.

“Kyahaha! Dual-chanting Barolus, successful! Dual-chanting is just a simple trick if the great Arzen invests a month into it!”

Mastering dual-chanting made controlling the power of Barolus absurdly easy.

‘It’s awe-inspiring to think that this is the same demon who once tore a bed apart trying to move a single book…!’

Of course, there were times when he failed and had to shatter a few logs, but that didn’t matter.

‘One success like this is a beacon of light in the endless dark days of training!’

He had time!

More than enough time!

Wiping away his satisfied sweat, he suddenly heard an unfamiliar voice.

“So, it’s you? The adventurer who arrived while I was gone.”

Arzen flinched.

Before him stood a stunning witch, who seemed to have monopolized all the youth and beauty of this dying village.

“They said there was an adventurer causing a ruckus, so I wondered how beautiful an adventurer could be, but you’re prettier than most women.”

The witch smiled brightly.

Even her smile was beautiful—enough to make any ordinary man fall head over heels.

But for Arzen, a master of distrusting humans, his wariness only intensified.

‘It’s easier to trust someone who shows their true colors as garbage... This witch is suspiciously perfect—too pretty, too eloquent, no flaws. That’s why I can’t trust her!’

Her robes bore neither blue, red, nor yellow.

Only gray.

A sign that she was unaligned with any faction.

“My name is Merry, a wandering witch. Nice to meet you.”

A wandering witch.

One who roams without a home, spreading the teachings of the Dragon.

“Now that I’m back, you’ll have more free time. Why don’t you come visit me if you have the chance?”

Though Merry’s smile was flawless, there was something sinister about it.

It was the kind of smile often seen at the <Divine Guillotine>.

* * *

Ever since Merry returned, something changed in the daily routine.

The children stopped coming.

When Arzen asked Eren, he was told they were all learning to read from Merry.

“What the— a wandering witch stealing the job of the Blue Witch? This is outright insubordination.”

“I actually prefer it this way.”

"Are you serious?"

"As you know, the witch\'s health isn\'t great, and honestly, I\'m not qualified to teach anyone either. But now that I have more time to study, it’s hard not to be thankful. She\'s really a kind person."

"Kind? Don’t you think you\'re trusting people too easily?"

"Don\'t worry. Arzen doesn\'t trust her one bit."

"You\'re joking, right?"

"I\'m joking."

"Right."

Still, this situation turned out to be a good opportunity for Arzen.

By following Eren to gather herbs, he learned the basics of distinguishing between poisonous and medicinal plants—a skill that’s hard to acquire even with money.

"That\'s a poisonous plant called Lapita. It looks similar to Tapira, but it has no medicinal effect and is highly toxic. Beginners often confuse the two and cause accidents."

"Did you?"

"Of course, I’ve made mistakes."

"I knew it. So, you\'re actually a bit clumsy, huh?"

"I\'m joking."

"..."

And so, another week passed.

Arzen’s void bugs had now reached a total of 100.

One reason he hadn’t been able to produce more was that he’d been focusing on training dual-chanting.

But even when he hit 100, it took longer than a day or two to produce just one more.

\'It takes almost three days to increase by just one!\'

Maintaining 100 for long periods also made him feel queasy, a sign that his energy was insufficient.

When it came to gathering basic herbs, Arzen went out alone instead of with Eren.

He wanted to experiment with using void bugs for herb collection.

He showed the worker bees samples of both poisonous and medicinal plants and ordered them to distinguish and collect them properly.

"Don\'t just rip them up. Gently scrape out the roots and bring them back, understood?"

Soon, the void bees scattered in all directions and gathered herbs into a massive pile. The results were more than satisfactory.

\'Still, I’m already feeling nauseous... Maybe when I reach a capacity of 120, I’ll be able to handle 100 without any problem?\'

Feeling tired, Arzen decided to go check on things.

‘The wandering witch Merry… Her house is right in the center of the village. No wonder the children don’t come this far!’

She was so beautiful that every man must have pitched in to build her house in no time. Surely, they got scolded by their wives for it.

As he approached the fence, the women he encountered started fussing.

"Arzen! Have something to eat before you go!"

At that point, any notion of spying was gone.

Children who had been reciting lessons inside the house came running out, calling his name.

"Big brother Arzen!"

"Long time no see, brother!"

"Did you break another tree today?"

Even the wandering witch Merry stepped out with a bright smile.

"Oh my, has our Arzen come to take care of the kids? Well then, how about having brother Arzen read this lesson?"

"Yes!"

"Hey, I didn\'t agree to that. Who do you brats think you are, answering for me?"

But some things in this world are just impossible to resist.

Arzen eventually found himself inside, reading a passage from the Dragon Lord\'s Scripture.

"Love without action is not love, but merely hypocrisy. A tree that bears no fruit of love shall soon be cut down by its master."

Isn\'t this passage too difficult?

They\'re teaching kids with something like this?

The children were clapping enthusiastically, but Merry’s reaction seemed oddly different.

"Hmm~ Something’s still strange. I don’t know where our Arzen came from, but he can read such complex texts, is registered as a healer at the adventurers’ guild, and even uses summoning magic?"

Her eyes, narrowed and sharp like blades, stared coldly at Arzen.

But soon, that gaze softened into a smile.

"Well, I suppose being a handsome boy means being talented in everything, huh? The world really is unfair."

There’s something off...

\'The Divine Guillotine… My instincts, sharpened from being surrounded by those bastards, are definitely reacting... There\'s something dangerous about this wandering witch Merry!\'