Translator: TransN Editor: TransN
Suddenly the snow forest became silent. Only the occasional wind brushing against the treetops could be heard.
Phyllis was silent for a long time. "I thought you would stand by Taquila," she said reluctantly, "you were willing to represent the Taquila Witches in the competition and willing to help..."
Her voice quickly lowered. "That's right. I shouldn't impose too much. This is just a game. Compared with the Taquila Quest Society who had ostracized her, Neverwinter that saved her life was certainly more trustworthy. And in Agatha's eyes, they might still not be legitimate successors of Taquila... After all, they have lost the possibility of exerting magic after converting to the God's Punishment Army."
However, Agatha's next sentence rekindled her hope.
"I'm a Taquila Witch and this won't change."
Agatha's voice was smooth and honest as if she were recounting a most simple statement.
"Then why do you think we should accept the leadership of a common person?" Phyllis felt sincerely puzzled.
"Taquila... Starfall City, Arrieta, or the dozens of cities on the Fertile Plains all unanimously decided to accept the leadership of the Union, simply because the Union was established by witches?" Agatha sighed softly. "Did you forget the original purpose as to why the Union was set up?"
The Union's original... purpose, whether it was the roundtable parliament at the very beginning or the Three Chiefs system that was set up later on, was just for one thing. "Overcome the demons," Phyllis said softly.
"Yes, it was to defeat the demons and it had nothing to do with whether one was a common person or not. After the first Battle of Divine Will, the witches diminished the authority of the common people and unified the Fertile Plains, only because they were too weak and their cooperation couldn't help to resist the demon in any way. Now the common people have shown their power, so if we serve the Union and Roland Wimbledon, what difference would that make? Only he can unite the secular regime and at the same time accept the witches of this era."
Agatha's words flashed like a bolt of lightning across her mind—
Phyllis realized that she had apparently misunderstood something, and the newly emerging idea astonished her.
"Do you mean... Neverwinter would be the new Union?"
"It'd be a part of the Union," Agatha corrected and said, "of course, His Majesty may not like the name. But no matter what it's called in the future, its essence is still the same—in order to win over the Gods, Taquila, Starfall City, the Witch Cooperation Association, the Sleeping Island... and the secular kingdoms will unite to fight a bloody battle against the demons. It's not a question of where my loyalty lies, but a question of being able to continue. The only reason I was able to survive the Frozen Coffin was to see the day the demons would be defeated."
That was why she replied that she was faithful to her own belief.
Phyllis finally understood Agatha's ideas.
Agatha hoped to win the competition on behalf of Taquila, yet this was not a conflict with her serving Roland Wimbledon. Just as 400 years ago, all the cities of Fertile Plains were loyal to the Union. The only difference was that the leader of the New Alliance had changed from the Three Chiefs to one common person.
"Your assessment of him is really high," she said in a rather complex mood. "If the goal was only to defeat the demons, we're also constantly working on it, and the situation will be reversed once we find the chosen one."
"But we haven't found it yet, right? Or in other words, we have found an unexpected 'chosen one'." Agatha started to chuckle. "Rest assured, if there's such a witch, His Majesty will certainly not stop you from ending the Battle of Divine Will. In fact, he'll only help you to find her. This is why I hope you'll move to the Western Region of Graycastle—the witches who choose to settle here will surely increase, and you'll have more chances to find the chosen one, won't you?"
Phyllis found herself being convinced. Even if she didn't want to admit it, Agatha did make sense. "The truth is he's really able to stop the demons... do you really have faith in the common people?"
"I think I can expect it from a common person who connects the witches and all the common people together." Agatha raised the corner of her mouth and said, "Isn't His Majesty preparing a gunfire exercise for you? After it's finished, maybe you'll be able to understand where my belief comes from."
The so-called artillery exercises should showcase the key to what she calls "art." Although it was unclear whether the two had anything to do with combatting the demons, but since the genius Senior Witch already said so, she decided to look forward to it as well.
Just then, a string of loud roars came through the forest, causing the branches to tremble—"Ow—Ow—"
Phyllis's expression changed suddenly.
She was familiar with this sound. It was obviously the hissing of the flying Devilbeast. "Why are there demons here?"
"It's Maggie," said Agatha, curling her lips. "Her evolved ability is becoming anything that can fly, and the demon is no exception."
Phyllis let out a sigh of relief when she realized it was caused by magic ability. But soon she frowned again. "In this case, it's too easy for her to seize the demonic beasts, isn't it?"
Lower breed demonic beasts were senseless, so it was easy for them to surrender to more powerful creatures. In the face of the flying Devilbeast, they would only be scared motionless on the spot and be easy prey. Not to mention that transporting prey from the air was much faster than dragging it from the snow. So how could Phyllis and Agatha win?
"Don't worry." Agatha seemed to have looked through her thoughts. "We're not without a chance. Maggie's ability is really convenient. But neither she nor Lightning, nor all the witches here, have ever withstood the rigors of combat training. In other words, they can't use their magic power to its fullest ability."
Whilst Agatha was talking, a black shadow flew over her head, grabbing a wild demonic toward the direction of the city wall—we can see that her stature was staggering, even the adult Devilbeast would be much smaller than her.
"Are you saying... Maggie won't be able to last until sunset?"
"The Devilbeast's breath is too strong, and will expel in advance all the prey in the area of activity. In that case, she will most likely change into the pigeon and join Lightning together to search for targets, and then suddenly evolve into Devilbeast to capture the demonic beasts. Change is a very exhausting process of magic and once her magic power is depleted, it's difficult to rely on Lightning alone to maintain the efficiency of capturing." Agatha smiled and said, "So the next demonic beast will be attacked by you and I'll only be responsible for holding it down."
Phyllis's eyes brightened. For them, learning how to squeeze their potential was a required strategy of combat. At this point, the newly promoted Senior Witches were indeed no different from the fledgling newcomers.
"Yes, leave it to me!"
...