My dear witch, please turn evil according to the script!

Chapter 182 Things That Must Be Remembered, Things That Cannot Be Forgotten

The ship sailed on the still calm sea.

In fact, for the three hours since the ship set sail, everything has been calm and peaceful.

There were no terrifying sea beasts, no horrific storms, no monsters born from the power of evil gods, and no man-eating shadows.

None of the dangers that the Riskan branch often encountered when setting sail occurred this time.

But the more this happened, the more uneasy and nervous Götze became.

The calm before the storm... This phrase almost perfectly describes the scene on the stormy ocean.

After every sunny day comes a near-catastrophic magical storm.

The Great Source's magic condensed into materialized raindrops and storms, while terrifying lightning, capable of destroying everything, bombarded everything within the storm cloud's coverage area like a forbidden spell...

Having had the privilege of observing the formation and end of a magical storm from afar, Götze has always held a deep reverence for this rage emanating from the Great Source.

Its almost random generation characteristics, coupled with the random size and scale of storms after their formation, make observing storms, both in terms of avoiding them and observing the storms themselves, extremely challenging.

Although most magical storms are much smaller in scale than ordinary storms, and some are even smaller than thunderclouds on the mainland.

However... there are occasional exceptions.

Since Götze took office as president of the Riskan branch, he has seen at least three massive storms that have been enough to cast a shadow over the entire sea as far as the eye can see.

Before those three events occurred, there was a common feature—a series of sunny days.

Although today is only the first day of the voyage, the ship may even reach the vicinity of the location marked on the nautical chart by tomorrow night.

But his years of sailing experience still gave him an ominous premonition at this moment.

"Max."

"What is it, boss?" Max, who was at the helm, turned and asked.

"Stop the ship when it is 30 kilometers from the dividing line."

"Okay, but wouldn't it be better if you told the others about this? After all, we're just assisting them this time."

Götze nodded: "I'll go and inform the others right away."

……

In the evening, Nash, exhausted from playing frisbee, sat down in the ship's mess hall, panting.

She remained in human form, clearly having fallen in love with her new form after two hours of playing.

Of course, it could also be simply a matter of novelty.

"Roland, when is dinner served?"

"It's still early... Have you been spending too much time with Leah? You've become like this too." Roland rubbed Nash's head in annoyance.

Hmm... Although it doesn't feel as smooth as when it's in its cat-head form, it still feels surprisingly good to the touch.

Watching the catgirl obediently enjoy being petted on the head, Roland then said, "Let's wait a little longer. I just asked the kitchen, and it should take about half an hour."

"If you're hungry... I have some extra chewy beef jerky left, want to try some?"

As Roland spoke, he handed over a very familiar-looking piece of beef jerky.

Nash's face immediately showed a look of disgust when he saw the beef jerky.

“I’ve seen Leah eat this… This isn’t normal food at all, is it? Do you actually like this kind of flavor?”

"How could that be? This is a magic tool I specially bought to comfort Leah."

Roland said, twirling the beef jerky in his hand: "Lia... well, she's someone whose attention is easily diverted."

"Especially when she has something to eat in her hand."

"But the food you feed her shouldn't be too easy to swallow, otherwise she'll finish it all at once and quickly come to her senses."

“This is different. Based on current observations, it will take her at least two hours to finish eating this beef jerky.”

"Two hours later, she'll have completely forgotten what she was angry about."

Nash's face showed surprise and disgust: "What a nasty guy and his habits... What if Nalia doesn't eat?"

"If she won't eat... then she's probably really unhappy or angry. In that case, feeding her won't work, and we'll have to use other methods."

"Other means?"

Nash became curious and prepared to write it down so he could tell Kalia when he got back!

But Roland simply poked Nash's nose: "It's a secret."

Just as Roland was teasing Nash, Cellina appeared out of nowhere and sat down in front of Roland and Nash.

"Ah, Cellina. You left right after the meeting. Was something urgent?" Roland asked with a smile when he saw Cellina reappear. "Or are you seasick? If you are, go to the ship's medical room and get some seasickness medicine."

"It's nothing to be ashamed of. The city garrison and the judges are all seasick."

"You'll feel better after taking the medicine."

Cellina shook her head: "It's not seasickness... I... I went back to my room to prepare for the next operation."

"Huh?" Roland was a little confused: "Aren't the following operations all group operations?"

“Besides the hatters and all the city guards except for Delan, there are also the members of the Society who remain on the ships except for President Götze. In addition, there are three judges.”

"The remaining personnel are all those who participated in the operation."

"Even the most troublesome cognitive interference, I will use the power of the World Tree to shield against it. Ms. Flam has already led people to draw arrays on the key parts of the ship." "I will then inject the power."

"It seems... there's nothing to prepare, especially for you. Getting some rest is the best preparation."

Cellina gave Roland an annoyed look: "Can't you tell I'm just making up an excuse?"

"I can tell. I just wanted to reiterate some key points because I noticed you weren't paying attention in the meeting." Roland rested his elbow on the table, propped his head up with one hand, leaned forward slightly, and chuckled at Cellina.

Cellina turned her head away from Roland's gaze, crossing her arms: "...There's no need to listen carefully. I'll stay close to you and protect you."

Nash felt somewhat uncomfortable listening to their conversation.

Goosebumps began to appear on her body. She then silently left her seat and went to sit in a seat some distance away, where she stared intently at Cellina and Roland.

Roland noticed Nash's hasty escape but didn't say anything. He just looked at Cherlinina and laughed, "Haha, you really make me feel safe. Well then, protect me well."

Cellina still didn't look directly at Roland, only muttering under her breath, "Stop with that cloying rhetoric..."

Roland didn't pay much attention and instead asked, "Regarding the runestone... do you know its name now?"

Cellina shook her head: "No... but the runestone has changed a bit."

As Cherlinina was about to take out the stone, Roland quickly stopped her, saying, "Hey, according to the Demon King, this thing has quite a history. Don't take it out in public."

"But probably no one here would recognize it, right? When it's not using its power, it just looks like a stone with some scribbles on it."

Cellina was somewhat confused, but she followed Roland's advice and did not take out the stone.

"Draw them for me, these runes shouldn't be too complicated."

"Ah."

Cellina thought for a moment, then used her fingertips to carve the runes from the primordial runestone onto the table.

It looks like a vertical "w".

This was Roland's first reaction.

After Celinina finished drawing, she asked, "Why are you suddenly asking this question again? Didn't you say you didn't recognize this character?"

“I don’t really know it… but ever since I was able to control the World Tree Runestone to a certain extent and use its true power, I’ve had a strange feeling in my heart…”

"How should I put it? It's like I should have remembered how to read and what the runes meant, but for some unknown reason they were blocked."

"It's like having a piece of memory cut out of thin air."

"I thought that seeing some unfamiliar runes or inscriptions would remind me of something."

"A curse?" Cellina said with some concern, "Could it be that the Demon King sensed something wrong that day, and the aura of a curse still lingers on you?"

"Hmph! I'm still sure I can't be wrong about this!" the Demon King, who had been feigning death, finally spoke.

His voice was just soft, barely loud enough for Cellina to hear.

Before Roland could explain himself, the remnant soul of the Demon King spoke up: "This kid's situation is very special."

“The protection from the World Tree made him almost immune to the erosion of the curse and the pollution of his cognition.”

"Therefore, what he experienced was more likely a hallucination."

"Through certain channels... certain memories that shouldn't exist in his mind were forcibly inserted into his brain."

"However, since the World Tree's consciousness has no objections, my opinion is that you don't need to worry, kid."

“You are His chosen representative, He cannot stand by and watch you perish. Perhaps in His eyes, these extra memories are actually beneficial to you.”

Cellina was somewhat surprised: "Your Majesty the Demon King... do you really trust the World Tree's judgment so much?"

"Ha, if I can't even believe in the very foundation upon which this world exists, how can I possibly believe in those gods? They can't even detect the threats right under their noses!"

"A threat right under your nose?" Roland caught the key point in the Demon King's words: "What threat do you mean?"

The remnant soul of the Demon King remained silent for a long time, seemingly caught in self-doubt.

“I should remember… things I absolutely cannot forget… why… should I even remember them in my remnant soul…”

【Ding! 】

Roland; "!!!"

Damn it, what are you doing calling me at this hour?!

A great sense of unease enveloped Roland's heart.

I haven't even finished the first phase of my silent march yet!
Could it be that some weird or strange quest has been triggered again?
Normally, tasks are sent out one at a time, right? How can tasks be sent out continuously like this?
He wasn't actually playing a game; he could take on a bunch of tasks at the same time and complete them slowly.

But the situation that Roland least wanted to see still happened.

[Ding, special series side quest activated—Buzzing sounds, severe interference detected... Troubleshooting...]

[Eliminate failures...eliminate successes...eliminate failures...]

[Ding! The first phase of the Silent March quest series has been completed.]

The second phase of the Silent March mission is temporarily suspended. Whether subsequent missions will proceed as scheduled depends on the completion status of the special series of side quests.

[All remaining rewards from the first phase of the mission are now being distributed...]

(End of this chapter)