The Villain Carries the Holy Sword – Chapter 113

Chapter 113: Season of the Storm (3)

「White snow falls.

A forest of heavy snow, falling and falling, with no wind to stir it.

Shhk━.

A pure white greatsword cuts through the air.

From the moment one first holds a sword to decades later, all swordsmen follow the same path, but his trajectory was different.

Saaaaaaaah━.

Snowflakes scatter.

The dense forest that had stood as a barrier against enemy invasion is cut down.

There is no dazzling aura.

No deafening roar.

The man simply swung his sword.

Thud-thud-thud-thud━.

The forest was cut down.

The white-haired woman beside him opened her mouth.

“Honey, look over there.”

A field created by the felling of thousands of trees.

As if clay had been neatly cut with a wire, every tree within sight was cut horizontally.

Trembling━.

There was a young elf.

The man’s eyes narrowed.

“It lived because it was small.”

The girl’s height did not reach the height of the man’s attack. If she had been even a little taller, her head would have been cut off.

“This man says cruel things so calmly.”

At the woman’s rebuke, the man tilted his head.

“Are these cruel words?”

“Of course they are, she’s just a child, even if she is an elf.”

“Child or adult, the people of Airian would kill any elf.”

“Sigh…… Honey. We are not islanders. We don’t need to get involved in their grudges.”

The word ‘observer’ suited her best, the woman with white hair.

She approached the young elf, who was trembling under the overwhelming pressure.

The man followed her slowly, his greatsword in hand.

But his eyes were fixed on the young elf.

The intent to plunge his greatsword into her head if she made even the slightest move flowed from him.

“Hey.”

She spoke to the girl, whose pale face and constricted pupils were frozen in fear.

Nod nod nod━.

The elf girl nodded her head hurriedly.

Whipping around━.

The woman turned her head back.

She shook her head slightly at the man who was exuding a terrifying aura.

“This is not the Great Wall.”

“We can’t let our guard down around elves, even for a moment……”

The woman’s eyes turned cold.

The man knew from experience that it would be a big problem if he insisted any further, so he quickly calmed his aura.

“Whew━.”

Only then did the elf girl exhale.

“Breathe. Big and deep breaths.”

The woman breathed in a kind and exaggerated manner, as if she were treating her own daughter, and the young elf imitated her without a thought.

She calmed down quickly.

“What’s your name?”

“G, Glumiêm.”

“That’s a beautiful name.”

“…….”

Glumiêm couldn’t understand the two people in front of her at all. She had seen humans who were said to be strong, but none like these two.

These two were like monsters that had fallen from another world.

“You are━.”

The woman’s white eyes sparkled.

Glumiêm realized only now that her white hair and white eyes were not simply white.

It was like the twinkling starlight of the night sky gathered and scattered. Eyes that seemed to hold all the cycles of creation and destruction.

“A bad elf.”

“……!”

As if she had read Glumiêm’s fate, the woman smiled faintly.

“Are you going to kill me?”

Glumiêm asked, suppressing her rising terror. If she was going to die, she was going to ask them to at least make it painless.

But the woman shook her head.

“No. Since all the living elves on this island are bad elves anyway, it’s fine.”

“I don’t understand what you mean.”

“You don’t need to know because you won’t know until you die. Just remember what I’m going to say from now on.”

Gulp━.

Glumiêm swallowed her saliva.

The first humans she had ever met in her life were too strong, incredibly strong.

Since they were going to spare her life, she was willing to listen to anything they had to say.

“You will meet a human three times in your life. Exactly three times.”

“But I’ve seen them several times already.”

Centered on the World Tree, the elves’ consciousness was shared. Glumiêm had already seen humans through the eyes of other elves.

But the woman shook her head.

Then she pointed to Glumiêm’s clear green eyes.

“I mean with your own two eyes, like right now.”

“Yes…….”

“My name is Karen Ethelred.”

Rumble━.

The moment she spoke her name, the world resonated. Even the heavy snow that painted the northern forest white avoided her, and slowly the ‘miracle’ she possessed flowed out.

“The three you will meet will all bear the name Ethelred.”

“…….”

“And you will die when you meet the third Ethelred.”

Glumiêm’s eyes widened.

It was difficult for her, who had not been born long ago, to easily accept her own demise.

Stroke, stroke━.

Karen stroked Glumiêm’s green hair.

“It’s alright. The you of that time will not be the innocent you of now, but one who has committed a sin worthy of death.”

Glumiêm realized.

Not only was the terrifying man behind her a problem, but the woman named Karen stroking her head was not quite sane.

Since she was crazy, she was also very strong, so she had nothing to say in particular, which was the problem.

“To think that I would have to accept such a you as one of my nine daughters. What a truly cruel fate.”

“Excuse me?”

Drip━.

A single, transparent tear flowed down from Karen’s left eye.

Glumiêm had seen countless elven and human magic in her life, but it was the first time she had seen such a small magic as a tear forming.

Or maybe it wasn’t magic at all.

“My 7th daughter, become the 8th Witch and protect ‘Spring’.”

Karen’s tears.

The seventh tear of the first witch of this world seeped into Glumiêm.」

🔹🔹🔹

《So, the ‘kin of shadow’ doesn’t count as a human.》

Glumiêm smiled, her eyes curving beautifully. She glanced up at the World Tree, which soared massively into the sky, and then lowered her gaze.

“Oh, Everwyn…….”

It was pathetic.

It was pathetic enough that it was the middle-aged Marquis Ross, but to think he was holding the hand of a young Everwyn.

Everwyn Ross, reborn with Sigma as the material, blinked her eyes, not understanding the situation.

“I, It’s me. Heatherward.”

“My little brother……? But why are you so old? And why is your head so shiny?”

“A lot of time has passed.”

“Time?”

It was like a conversation between an adult who had already passed the middle of her life and a girl who was just starting hers.

But Heatherward Ross was happy just to see Everwyn alive and well in front of her.

Abandoning her friends.

Turning her back on her family.

The name of the light he had gained even after betraying humanity was ‘Everwyn’.

Tears began to flow from Heatherward’s slightly swollen eyes.

Glumiêm stared at the transparent tears for a long time. Her eyes were like those of someone looking at something they could never have.

Swipe━.

Everwyn wiped Heatherward’s eyes. Her white fingers were stained with moisture.

“You’re right, my crybaby Ward.”

“……Yes.”

“What happened? What about Father?”

“…….”

Heatherward didn’t open her mouth.

She knew the end of Worrall, but she didn’t know how Everwyn would take it. She had no idea how Everwyn would accept what she had done.

Click━.

Glumiêm snapped her fingers.

With a clear sound, Everwyn stiffened and stopped. Like a clock that had stopped working.

Marquis Ross looked at Glumiêm in surprise, and the Elf Queen smiled once more.

《Do you like it?》

And as expected of someone who was as cunning as McLoud, he understood the meaning of Glumiêm’s actions.

“……Everwyn is in your grasp, Your Majesty.”

She wasn’t fully revived.

Just a near-perfect replica, as Glumiêm had said from the beginning.

《You understand that I wove fate with the ‘miracle’ in the central spiritualization of the elves centered on the World Tree? Like how Elveknights are made.》

“Yes.”

Glumiêm did not lie.

She had told Marquis Ross all the processes and principles from the beginning. They had even conducted enough human experiments in the name of the Elveknights.

However, she had simply not pointed out the parts that Marquis Ross had overlooked because he was blinded by the light that was Everwyn.

Now that everything had been done, she opened her mouth.

《What is my title as the 8th Witch?》

Marquis Ross’s eyes widened.

It was something he should have known, but he had missed it because it was too familiar.

He would have known if he had just thought about it a little. He would have noticed if he had just traced the history of the Northern Expedition that had continued until now!

Glumiêm smiled as she saw Heatherward’s expression stiffen.

It was her pleasure to watch humans fall to the bottom at the moment of their greatest happiness.

《I am the Witch of the ‘Unseen Forest’. That’s why I never leave this forest.》

“Since you’re the Witch of the Forest…….”

《That’s right. My power only works in the forest. If my real body leaves the forest, I’m just an ordinary Elf Queen.》

“Everwyn can’t leave this forest.”

Glumiêm smiled brightly.

As expected of the most beautiful elf among the elves, her smile was beautiful to behold.

Or rather, it was only beautiful to behold.

《Did you think I would let go of this child, your only weakness?》

“…….”

Marquis Ross wanted to argue, but there was nothing to argue about.

She had told him everything, and everything she said was true.

And he knew that if he had asked, she would have answered him directly.

《Ross, oh Ross. The kin of shadow who devours humans.》

The forest approaches.

The Elf Queen, who had stood firm in her place for hundreds of years since the founding of Airian, approaches.

The Witch of the North, who had limited the humans’ northward advance to the center of Airian Island, grabbed Heatherward’s chin.

《From now on, devour humans. Devour me, the forest, us.》

Glumiêm turned her eyes.

There was Everwyn, stiff as a board.

《And for your Everwyn.》

Rustle, rustle, rustle━.

Behind her, the World Tree rattled its leaves in the wind.

It should have been the most refreshing sound of spring, but to Heatherward, it sounded like mockery.

🔹🔹🔹

“We can’t defeat Glumiêm in the ‘Deep Forest’. Just like the Elveknights earlier, the elves will keep recovering.”

The Northern Expeditionary Force and the Ethelred Knights did not mix like oil and water.

Even the establishment of their outposts was strictly divided, as if by an invisible line.

“No, we won’t even be able to see her face. Our location will be completely tracked by her ‘Fate Observation’.”

With Cain’s actions, the situation was roughly sorted out, and the representatives of each side gathered in one place.

Arna spoke to everyone.

Olivia raised her hand.

Red flush was still evident on her cheeks.

“Before that, I heard you were Count Edmund’s mistress. I don’t know why you’re acting so high and mighty.”

Arna didn’t change her expression, only shrugged her shoulders, and Oleciren glared at Olivia with her jet-black eyes.

“Shut up, Olivia.”

“Why don’t you hit me again, Witch Princess?”

“It’s better than being an elf princess.”

“Is that why you’re trying to get invaded by the Holy See? Well, I guess it’s the same whether you die here or at the hands of a Holy See paladin.”

They had already crossed the line.

Ignoring everyone else, they started fighting.

Marquis McLoud, who was sitting next to Olivia, looked at Cain with a sullen face, and Abel, who was next to Cain, asked in a low voice.

“Should I hit them?”

“Everyone’s become too aggressive.”

Only then did Marquis McLoud smile, and the two princesses, who had been engaged in a war of nerves, shut their mouths.

“I’ll mediate.”

Even Oleciren wasn’t like this before.

In the previous timeline, it was strange that she had changed after going through Primundi’s trials, awakening as a witch, and having her personality change.

Now, even though that hadn’t happened, she had become strangely rough.

Abel was the same.

He wondered what had happened to the boy who used to be like a young master of a noble family, now trying to solve everything with his sword.

‘……It’s not because of me, is it?’

Cain felt a pang of guilt for a moment, but this wasn’t important, so he said what he had to say.

“You saw Elder Faye MacGeraghty’s head explode, right?”

“…….”

“You’re free to say whatever you want, but you’d better watch your mouth, because you never know when Lady Arna might blow your head off.”

Silence fell.

The air, which had been hot with the confrontation between the two princesses, cooled down.

Oleciren asked Cain.

“Do you even know what the word ‘mediate’ means?”

Cain nodded as if to say, ‘Why are you asking me that?’

“It means making both sides shut up somehow.”

“You’re good at mediating…….”

Oleciren trailed off, at a loss for words, and Abel looked at Cain with admiration.

And Marquis McLoud worried about the future of Airian.

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