Chapter 113
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The Last Dance Before Midnight
A masked dragon asks the lanternwright for one slow dance
A sudden murder.
The silence lasted only a moment before everyone fell into a panic.
“H-Huh?!”
“T-The regent just committed murder…!!”
He had killed someone without hesitation, right in front of everyone.
The only person unaffected by that chaos was Ferda.
He merely looked down at the woman he had killed.
“What a waste of time.”
The woman did not move.
Naturally.
How could she move with her forehead pierced through?
While everyone hesitated at Ferda's sudden action,
only Ferda remained calm and decisive.
“Enough with the pointless act, witch. It must be tiring to lie there like that, too.”
At that moment, the body everyone had believed to be dead began to twitch.
“Huh?!”
“T-The corpse is moving!”
It stood there, jerking unnaturally like a marionette whose strings had not been properly connected.
With her forehead still pierced, it opened its mouth.
“…How did he know?”
An awkward smile spread across the frightened woman's face.
Crack—.
A moment later, her form began to split apart.
Her skin slid away as though she were shedding a layer, revealing the body beneath.
Hair made of white scales, vertically slit pupils, and a staff entwined by two snakes.
A snake's tongue flickered out from between her lips.
Her identity was instantly recognizable.
“Yorda, the Snake Witch!”
“A witch has entered our castle!”
The people who had been kneeling staggered back in terror.
In an instant, a circular space formed around the witch and Ferda.
‘Yor Filiaz.’
Ferda knew that name as well.
She was one of the most infamous witches of them all.
And as befitted a witch of considerable skill, her magical power was dense.
The more potent her magic was, the more ruthlessly it pressed down on everything around her.
The witch lifted the hem of her skirt and gave him a playful bow.
“It's a pleasure to meet you, Regent Waldrova.”
Her voice was not hoarse, but clear and high-pitched.
Yet it was thick with malice.
“You're the first person to pierce my forehead the moment we met. As the Grand Duke's consort, shouldn't you treat me with a little more refinement?”
“Don't be so melodramatic. If I had wanted to kill you, I would have used another method.”
“Oh my, how courageous. I happen to enjoy ripping out the hearts of courageous humans like that……”
She licked her blade-like fingernails.
“Are you planning to indulge that hobby with me?”
Before he had even finished speaking, Yor's figure vanished.
No—something had flown at her too quickly for the eye to follow and struck her.
It was Ruri.
She had subdued Yor by pressing her foot down on the witch's neck.
“Your heart will be ripped out first, witch.”
Ruri growled.
But the witch did not panic.
Instead, she merely looked up at her as though she were adorable.
“You cute little barnacle. Try being less prickly and living a more easygoing life. That's how you become an adult, you know?”
Then she glanced beneath Ruri's skirt and smiled with satisfaction.
“You're pretty cute.”
“You crazy bitch—.”
“Enough.”
Just as Ruri's fist was about to smash her mouth, Ferda stopped her.
“I don't have time to play with you, Yor Filiaz.”
Ferda crooked a finger.
“Stop trying to pry information out of me with pointless provocations. Just deliver Big Sister's message and get out of here.”
Yor narrowed her eyes at his words.
Her exaggerated manner vanished, and she looked genuinely surprised.
“Fine, I can understand how you knew I was fishing for information, but how did you know that?”
“Because Echidna was harmed, yet everything ended far too cleanly.”
Witches and demons.
Those who became entangled with either of them usually suffered horribly.
“It's your job to pursue and curse forever any human who kills a witch, isn't it?”
“Hmm…… What a foolish thing to say. You do know that Echidna was an excommunicated child, don't you?”
“If a witch has an excuse, what wouldn't you people do?”
“Hehe, that is true.”
At that moment, the form of Yor that Ruri had subdued scattered into dozens of snakes.
Yor walked out from within the crowd as though nothing had happened.
“Our regent knows far too much about witches for no good reason.”
She made a sour face, as though she had lost interest.
“Anyway, I'll deliver Big Sister's message.”
One of the snakes on Yor's staff writhed and spat out something long.
It was a sealed scroll.
Yor cleared her throat and recited its contents.
“Ferda Waldrova, you have been invited by Lucy Filiaz, the pillar of the Filiaz lineage, the mother of witches, and Big Sister. I hereby declare that you are obligated to accept this invitation.”
She playfully imitated a king's envoy as she angled the invitation toward Ferda.
“Open this invitation, and you'll arrive at the Witch's Garden immediately.”
Then, as though she had just remembered something, she smiled and added one more thing.
“There is no trap.”
Ferda quietly looked down at the invitation.
“You mustn't accept it.”
Ruri held him back from beside him.
“Little barnacle, sorry, but this is an adult conversation. Could you step aside?”
“Shut up, witch.”
Ruri's expression grew even fiercer.
The anger and hatred in her eyes were on an entirely different level from before.
“Know that the only reason your mouth hasn't been torn apart yet is because I am exercising patience.”
“Oh my, how frightening. But this big sister's mouth is already torn open. Want to see?”
The skin around her mouth split open with a crack, revealing an interior large enough to engulf a human head.
“Eeeek!”
The people recoiled in horror at the witch's grotesque appearance, while Yor cackled in satisfaction.
Ferda did not share their reaction. He merely continued looking down at the invitation.
“Why should I go?”
Ferda asked her.
Yor answered with a smile in her eyes.
“Because Echidna died while touching the runes you created.”
It was a simple answer, and one he already knew.
“That's sufficient.”
“Are you serious?”
Ruri turned her head at Ferda's answer.
She had been so startled that her searing killing intent vanished completely.
“Your opponent is a witch. The leader of all of them, at that. They hate men and use them as playthings, yet you believe what she says?”
“Oh my, that's a hurtful way to put it. Dear, don't we have feelings too?”
After making exaggerated gestures at Ruri's words, Yor glanced at Ferda.
Her eyes glittered with curiosity.
“But I am curious, too. What are you basing that on?”
Ferda said nothing as he accepted the invitation.
Yor shrugged.
“Well, it doesn't matter. Come alone. You probably won't be able to bring anyone else anyway, but I'm telling you so you don't make a pointless effort. Then……”
Her eyes turned toward someone.
It was Jed.
When she saw him, she smiled brightly.
“Handsome little swallow, how have you been?”
“Oh, I'm doing just fine. How have you been, sis?”
“Hoho, when did we become close enough for you to call me sis? Still, it feels nice coming from such a handsome boy.”
Despite the smile in her eyes, what he felt from her was killing intent.
“You know, right? There are countless women who hold grudges against you.”
“Haha, I know, but I don't really want to worry about it.”
“Good, good. Don't worry about it. That way, when you let your guard down, I can kill you very painfully. Please live like that for the rest of your life.”
She smiled at Jed and crooked a finger.
“Then, adieu~.”
Her figure sank into the floor and vanished completely.
The people looked at one another and breathed sighs of relief in the silence the witch left behind.
Everyone returned to their work, but the two of them remained where they were.
Ferda stood there, quietly looking down at the invitation.
“You mustn't go.”
Ruri stopped Ferda again.
“Do you know where you are going right now?”
“The Witch's Garden, I assume.”
The Witch's Garden.
It was a space for all witches, where they were born and given the name Filiaz.
Having been summoned by Lucy Filiaz, Ferda would certainly be going there.
“Do you know where that Witch's Garden is, and you still intend to do this?”
Limbo.
The space between dimensions.
It was a place where the passage through that minute gap lasted only an instant, making it impossible for ordinary humans to perceive.
Lucy Filiaz, the first witch, had established the witches' home there.
“If you enter, Lord Ferda, you may not be able to return.”
“That won't happen.”
“Why are you so certain?”
“Because she formally invited me into her domain.”
Ferda knew witches well.
They had their own rules, and the Witch's Garden was a sacred domain.
They could not use that sacred domain as a trap filled with hatred and contempt.
Even if the person they hated was a man.
“And I have to get Echidna back.”
“That witch isn't important enough.”
Ruri could not understand.
The way Ferda had spoken about living for Waldrova made it seem as though he was risking his life for a single witch.
“If you fall into a trap and die, Lady Waldrova will be alone.”
Ferda wavered slightly at those words.
He could picture her left all alone.
“Please don't forget your position.”
But as her words continued, Ferda realized something.
My position.
‘My position is…….’
He was still unworthy of standing at her side.
Ferda opened the invitation.
* * *
The sensation of being sucked in.
His body was being disassembled.
From a body into chunks,
from chunks into molecules,
from molecules into atoms.
He could even feel those atoms being split apart.
It was a sensation difficult for ordinary humans, and even mages, to endure while remaining sane.
Ferda was no exception.
Even to a four-star mage recognized as a true mage, his instincts kept screaming that it was fatal.
Yet despite the warning, Ferda's body was transported safely.
‘Incredible.’
Limbo was a minute space between spaces.
A place that did not exist and could not be perceived, an infinite space precisely because it did not exist.
To pinpoint its location and transport someone there intact was something Ferda could never have done.
It was proof that the witches had lived in Limbo for a very long time, understood it, and made use of it.
At the same time, it was proof that witches could not be eradicated from the continent of Serdes, no matter how harmful they were portrayed as being.
Ferda opened his eyes.
A sky roiling chaotically in a riot of colors.
Beneath it lay damp, dark grass and a narrow path.
At the end of the path stood a wall of thorny brambles and black roses.
Ferda followed the path that had formed before him.
An unusual wooden gate stood before him, welcoming him.
It was a piece of Eastern architecture that existed only in records.
-Oh?
A voice that resounded throughout the garden.
Ferda knew that voice.
It belonged to Lucy Filiaz.
-The invitation arrived less than an hour ago—no, less than ten minutes ago—and you already opened it? How hasty. Or are you that confident in your abilities?
She let out a laugh.
Creak—.
The gate leading into the garden opened.
-Either way, I would like to see your face, dear. Come in quickly.
A building in an unusual style, hidden from view by the gate, came into sight.
It was called the Rose Pavilion.
-Oh my, he really came.
-The man known as the Dragon's consort has entered the witches' domain.
A flippant voice echoed throughout the Witch's Garden.
Soon, a second, weighty voice guided Ferda onward.
-Come closer, dear.
Ferda took a step forward.
As an invited guest, he advanced with due courtesy, while preserving his dignity as the Red Dragon's consort.
When he climbed the pavilion and entered through the doorway, the people waiting to greet him were women sitting together in the pavilion.
Their clothes were all different, but every one of them wore a black veil concealing her face.
That was the etiquette of the witches belonging to the Witch's Garden.
Only one woman was seated in the center, in the highest place, and she was veiled as well.