Chapter 114: Chapter 114
Chapter 114 - Lucy Phyliaz
"So, you’re asking who was killed?"
Lucy smiled to herself as she placed the pipe between her lips.
"Hmm, it would be wonderful if I could know something that convenient, little one. Then this girl could actually help whenever these youngsters came seeking advice."
Lucy tapped the ash from her pipe into the ashtray.
"However, I do know the name of the person you killed most recently."
Lucy snapped her fingers.
Snap—!
At once, one of the pillars wrapped in countless layers of vines that covered the garden moved toward the pavilion.
When it came close enough to Lucy’s side, the vines slowly unraveled.
Only then did Ferda realize it was not an ordinary pillar.
It was a crystal.
Like a mosquito trapped inside amber, a woman was sealed within the transparent crystal.
"Little one, do you know this child’s name?"
It was an incredibly simple question.
"Echidna Phyliaz."
It was Echidna.
She wore a peaceful expression, as though she were lying inside a coffin prepared before a funeral.
"The rune you created reduced this child to this state."
Lucy said, pointing at the crystal with her finger.
"If you have something to say, then say it."
Her tone implied that he should choose his words carefully.
Looking at her, Ferda asked,
"Did she pass away without suffering?"
His voice was astonishingly indifferent.
"Heh."
Lucy’s laughter echoed throughout the entire pavilion.
"Mahahahaha..."
The witches visibly tensed at that laughter.
A sinister aura spread outward.
It stimulated his entire body to a degree comparable to Dragon Fear.
"Little one... you truly, truly are shameless."
Lucy rose from her seat and walked down the steps.
"You kill a child of the Phyliaz family, and the first thing you ask is whether she died without pain?"
She stopped in front of Ferda.
He hadn’t noticed from a distance, but now it was obvious.
She was shorter than Luri.
"A witch’s grudge is like frost that lingers for a hundred years. It does not simply mean that you alone will die in agony."
Mana infused her voice.
It touched all five of Ferda’s senses.
It did not feel like a mere threat.
It was as though she were showing him the future awaiting him.
"We will slowly destroy everything around you, prevent even your own suicide, and break you down completely—to the very end, until nothing remains."
There had indeed been many who suffered such a fate before dying.
The records even preserved their stories.
Yet Ferda paid them no mind.
He already knew.
She was bluffing.
"You’re no less shameless yourself, Pavilion Master."
"What?"
One of Lucy’s eyebrows shot upward.
Gesturing toward the crystal containing Echidna, Ferda said,
"What else would you call imprisoning a living person inside a crystal while pretending she’s dead?"
The moment Ferda said that, the atmosphere changed.
The sinister aura Lucy had been releasing disappeared.
And just as suddenly, all anger vanished from her voice.
"How did you know?"
"Didn’t you say it yourself? That a witch’s grudge is like a hundred years of frost, and that your curses continue through generations."
Ferda turned his head toward the crystal.
He looked at Echidna’s peaceful face.
"If she had truly died because of me and your purpose was to curse me, I don’t think you’d let me face someone wearing such a peaceful expression."
"Hehe. It seems you know witches quite well."
Looking pleased, Lucy floated into the air.
Her clothes fluttered as she drifted over to the crystal containing Echidna.
"My poor Echidna. I warned you over and over that loving a man would bring nothing but tragedy, yet you stubbornly refused to listen."
"Coming from the one who cast her out, that’s rich."
"It was merely that the name Phyliaz no longer suited her. That does not change how dearly this girl treasures her."
Those were hardly words befitting the leader of witches who despised all men.
Lucy gazed silently at the crystal before speaking again.
"Little one, since she died because of your mistake, this girl shall take her back."
It was a completely one-sided declaration.
Ferda answered without hesitation.
"I refuse."
At that, the witches released waves of sinister aura.
"How ridiculous. Do you really think you’re in any position to refuse?"
"We’ve been too lenient with you. Perhaps it’s time to let you taste a little bitterness."
Shrill laughter echoed chaotically through the pavilion.
Yet beneath it lay unmistakable hatred and fury.
"Silence."
Those two syllables from Lucy alone erased everything.
Watching her suppress those masses of malice so effortlessly, Ferda understood just how absolute Big Sister’s authority over the witches truly was.
"Do not worry. This girl is not foolish enough to confuse personal feelings with business. If something is taken away, then something should also be gained."
"Hmmm..."
She deliberately exhaled smoke as she puffed steadily on her pipe.
Then Lucy spoke again.
"What about this?"
Red sparks crackled upon her tiny index finger.
Reverse Heaven Lightning.
Lucy Phyliaz casually released the pure power that could not be wielded without a Catalyst.
"You are a mage, and you appear to possess talent for lightning as well. With only a little instruction, I believe you would master the basics quickly. What do you think? This girl shall teach you personally."
What did he think?
An enticing offer.
Reverse Heaven Lightning was still a legendary element whose secrets Ferda had yet to grasp.
He had conducted countless studies using a branch of the World Tree that had been struck by the Reverse Heaven Lightning Lucy left behind.
Yet he had not even found a clue.
He had researched it repeatedly through the staff created from that branch, but there had been virtually no progress, even across generations.
If I could wield that power...
He would become stronger.
Just as he had during his days as an Eighth Circle Grand Mage.
And so Ferda answered,
"I refuse."
Lucy’s hand paused.
Even Lucy, who had believed it to be an appropriate price, had never imagined he would reject the offer.
"Oh? Little one... is this child truly that important to you?"
"She is."
"More important than Reverse Heaven Lightning?"
It was the greatest magical element Ferda could possibly obtain.
He had always needed more strength.
"She is."
But becoming stronger was only his second priority now.
"There is someone who deserves to learn what happiness is."
For Ferda, Valdrova had always come first.
"If that person is to become happy, then I need Echidna’s abilities."
"So you merely intend to use her, little one. As Big Sister, and as the Pavilion Master, I am not foolish enough to simply overlook words like that."
"Isn’t that simply what humans do? We all use one another. Just as she uses me, I use her."
Ferda certainly made the innocent Echidna work for him.
But it was not as though she were being completely taken advantage of.
Zed and Mori could testify to that.
"Indeed... that is what society is."
Lucy sighed, exhaling another cloud of smoke.
She snapped her fingers.
Snap—!
At that instant, the transparent crystal dissolved into liquid.
Watching the scene, the witches asked in surprise,
"Oh? You’re going to release her?"
"I thought it was an attractive offer, but since he doesn’t want it, what else can I do?"
It was strangely unlike a witch to let go so easily.
Lucy continued staring only at Ferda.
Beneath the black cloth, the lower half of her face faintly revealed unmistakable curiosity.
At last, the crystal melted away completely, awakening the figure sealed within.
She appeared unconscious, yet somehow remained standing on her own two feet.
Echidna’s peacefully sleeping eyebrows twitched.
"Huh? What in the world happened...?"
She rubbed her head with both hands before looking around.
The first person she saw was Ferda.
Perhaps because she had been subjected to so many hateful and disgusted gazes, even her gloomy smile now seemed angelic.
"Oh my, Regent. You’re handsome as always today. Hehe..."
She slowly turned her head to look around again.
"Huh? This place looks familiar somehow... It feels kind of like the Rose Pavilion..."
Her words stopped the instant she noticed Big Sister, Lucy, standing beside her.
"H-Hiiii!? B-B-B-Big Sister!?"
Echidna jumped in fright.
She was so startled that she nearly bit her own tongue.
It was practically a discourteous reaction, yet Lucy paid it no mind.
"It has been a long time, child. Have you been well?"
"Yes! Y-Yes, of course! I’ve been doing very well!"
"I may have excommunicated you, but I clearly told you to keep in touch regularly. It seems those words went in one ear and out the other."
"W-Well... communication doesn’t really work inside the city..."
"Oh? Then you’re saying it’s the Regent’s fault? Shall we simply beat up that Regent over there?"
"Huh? N-No! Of course not!?"
Echidna quickly turned toward Ferda.
"I absolutely didn’t mean it like that!"
Whether she did or not—
"Of course it may have been inconvenient for me. Even so, we’re practically family, bound by the same blood. Shouldn’t you at least let us hear your voice once in a while?"
"I-Inconvenient? I have never, not even once, thought anything like that!"
She forced a smile as she spoke.
It was completely unconvincing.
The other witches chuckled as they watched before speaking one after another.
"Oh? That’s a lie."
"A lie? Sisters, I never thought that..."
"Come now, just be honest."
"You’ve already been excommunicated. What’s there to worry about? No matter how much she’s Big Sister, she can’t really do anything now."
"Besides, it’s important to hear how outsiders see things, isn’t it?"
The chatter surrounding Echidna continued.
Ferda saw straight through their intentions.
Like predators luring prey into a trap, they were tempting Echidna into saying something dangerous.
"U-Um..."
Shrinking like a frightened turtle, Echidna nervously glanced around before speaking.
"W-Well... I guess... it is a little uncomfortable?"
Lucy’s hand holding the pipe froze.
"T-To be honest... every time someone who’s lived even longer than my own grandmother calls herself ’this girl,’ I do think it’s a little uncomfortable..."
"Pfft..."
"Kikikik..."
The witches who had egged her on desperately suppressed the laughter threatening to burst out.
Lucy’s response was remarkably simple.
Snap—!
The moment she snapped her fingers, the roots that had previously carried the crystal wrapped themselves around Echidna’s entire body, binding her tightly.
"Echidna... our hopeless little Echidna."
A trace of anger colored her voice.
It was completely different from the act she had put on in front of Ferda.
"You haven’t been beaten by your big sister in a while, so you’re spouting things you don’t even mean again. You mustn’t say such frivolous things in front of others."
"Aaaah! My arm’s going to come off! My arm! My arm!"
"Don’t worry. If your arm comes off, I’ll pull off your legs too, so they won’t feel left out, and decorate the place with them."
"I-I’m sorry! Big Sister isn’t short! She’s a very tiny girl! A beautiful little girl!!"
The witches burst into laughter as they watched Echidna being tortured.
Only after tormenting her mercilessly with thorny vines did they finally let her go.
Her hair disheveled and her eyes reddened, Echidna trembled as she crawled over to Ferda.
"Waaah... Regeeent... My arms and legs hurt so much. They hurt... I-I need a hug—Blegh!"
"Get away."
Ferda shoved her head aside.
The witches exploded into even louder laughter.
Having nowhere to go, Echidna whimpered as she lowered her gaze to the floor.
"Do you truly intend to take that defective thing back with you?"
This time, the question carried genuine concern for him.
"If something like that were actually a flaw, I wouldn’t have brought her with me in the first place."
"If that is your intention, then so be it."
Lucy gave up without resistance.
The matter was ending far too easily.
It was suspiciously anticlimactic.
What is she plotting?
Even until the very end, Ferda did not let his guard down.
"Go back, Echidna. At the very least, contact me once every week."
"Yes, I will. Regent, shall we head back?"
As she reached out her hand, Lucy forcibly lowered it.
"The Regent will be staying with me a little longer."
"Huh? Here... by himself?"
To Echidna, that was an alarming statement.
This was the headquarters of witches who treated men as playthings.
Ferda was no different from defenseless prey.
Lucy clicked her tongue in exasperation.
"He has already walked into the very heart of this place. Whether you’re here or not makes no difference."
"I-I suppose that’s true..."
Like a prairie dog nervously watching an approaching storm, Echidna fidgeted before cautiously looking at Ferda.
Reading the expression on her face, Ferda answered,
"You don’t need to worry. Go back and deliver a message to Luri."
"W-What should I tell her?"
"Tell her I’ll be back soon. That’s enough."
"Y-Yes! Of course..."
With a wave of Lucy’s hand, Echidna’s body dissolved into countless particles and disappeared.
She had most likely returned to the library where she had originally been.
Watching her vanish, Lucy turned to Ferda.
"Come. Let us take a walk. I’d like this conversation to remain between the two of us."
Leaving the quietly seated witches behind, she took the lead.
Together they left the Rose Pavilion and walked through the garden.
It was a place where nature itself did not exist.
Everything there had been created solely through Lucy’s will.
That was why its colors and forms were unlike anything found in the natural world.
The leaves were sky-blue.
The sky itself was violet.
"Isn’t it a beautiful garden?"
Lucy asked.
"It’s grotesque."
"Then that is a relief."
She placed the pipe back between her lips.
"That means you haven’t completely gone mad yet."
She spoke with a smile.
That smile immediately put Ferda on guard.
Just as he tried to discern its meaning—
He sensed movement among the rose vines.
Using the Shadow Hand hidden beneath his clothes, Ferda yanked his own head backward.
Something flew through the space where his head had been.
Whoosh!
It was like the lance of a giant cavalryman.
No—
It would not have been an exaggeration to call it that.
It was a colossal rose thorn.
Ferda instantly widened the distance between them.
"...What are you trying to do?"
"There’s no need to overthink it. Exactly what it looks like."
"I attacked you."
"Why?"
"Because rather than wasting time with shallow provocations or conversation, it’s better to get straight to the point by attacking you directly."
In other words—
She was inviting him to fight.
Just as she expected, Ferda refused to be provoked by such taunts.
To be drawn in would be madness.
He had once been a Grand Mage, but now he was merely a Four-Star Mage.
His opponent was the leader of the witches, someone who could leave even Eighth Circle mages helpless.
And this was also her home ground.
Besides, Lucy isn’t the sort of person who’s obsessed with battle enough to provoke someone for no reason.
There had to be a purpose behind her actions.
What is she after?
"Curious about my intentions?"
Lucy was a mage who had lived for countless years.
Reading Ferda’s thoughts was effortless for her.
"Rather than satisfying that curiosity, I’ll simply give you a reason why you’ll have no choice but to move."
She casually pointed at him with her smoking pipe.
The rose vines throughout the garden writhed like giant thorn-covered worms.
"If you refuse to fight me... then I shall erase your existence from that unfortunate lizard’s life."
A faintly sinister smile spread across her lips.
It, too, was an obvious provocation.
A sharp light flashed from Ferda’s eyes.
He could not back down.
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