Witch Redemption

Whether it was his initial attempt to take his life without explanation, or his subsequent swift killing of the pig-headed orc before leaving, it was enough to demonstrate this guy's ruthlessness.

Li Lan believed that he would never have resorted to such a deadly act unless his interests were truly infringed upon or his life was threatened.

As a normal person who transmigrated from Earth, the constraints of morality cannot be changed overnight. These constraints make "indiscriminate killing of innocent people" an insurmountable bottom line for him.

"This guy is unusual. Could he be some kind of murderer who transmigrated from another world?"

The more Li Lan thought about it, the more likely it seemed. In any case, ever since what happened with Ann Gnath, Li Lan had realized that not every transmigrator was a good person; that was for sure.

The transmigrators were incredibly diverse, ranging from ordinary people to noble individuals and even the most despicable, such as the extremely selfish Ann Gnath.

Li Lan is carrying on the will of his witch predecessors, but that doesn't mean he will blindly save all the witches; he will have to make choices.

Someone like Ann Grenas is such a scumbag that Li Lan would rather kill her herself than save her, let alone save her.

"Judging from all the intelligence, this guy is very likely a bad person, so we need to be careful from now on."

Li Lan never expected that, more than a year after leaving the empire, the witch she encountered again would be such an incomprehensible person, and she felt quite uncomfortable.

"I haven't met the other witches, but judging from the information, their reputations are better than the one I met yesterday. I don't know if I should find an opportunity to make contact with them. It would be even better if I could win them over to some extent, but I'm afraid I'll be betrayed."

I've known for a long time that the way the world treats witches has changed. Now, almost all the witches of the past are dead and there's no way to verify their identities. If the new batch of witches are all bewitched, what methods will Li Lan use to gain their trust?

This is a problem, a huge problem.

Preconceived notions are deeply ingrained and cannot be changed easily.

After carefully investigating the relevant intelligence without attracting attention, Li Lan returned to her residence, where a pig-headed beastman who had been waiting for her took the initiative to approach her.

The orc was dressed in loose clothing, with a hideous scar on his right cheek, and short black and white hair from the top of his head to the back of his head, indicating that he was not young.

“Miss Roman Hydra, I am the chief of this tribe. May I speak with you in private?”

...... ...... ......

Inside the treehouse where Li Lan belonged, a magical barrier temporarily set up by the pig-headed orcs isolated all sounds, and then began to speak in detail.

It turns out that the chieftain was organizing a large number of people to enter the Rune Desert. Because the tribe did not have enough warriors, he was looking for these strong adventurers to act as helpers.

"Is it mainly for hunting death worms?" Li Lan said with some surprise.

"Yes, the Death Worms are monsters that devour each other and evolve. They are extremely powerful. It is suspected that some Death Worms that have evolved to the level of Abyss Monsters may have appeared in the Rune Desert. This time, we sent people in to investigate in order to capture any signs of their existence."

The orc chieftain acted with extreme sincerity, but Li Lan always felt that this guy had ulterior motives.

He thought about it and finally decided to decline tactfully, saying, "I'm worried that I'm not qualified enough to do it."

Whether the pig-headed chieftain genuinely couldn't understand or was pretending not to, he added several more times, "There will be many people going this time, and the exploration area will not be too deep. It will basically be on the edge of the Rune Desert, and will not be affected by sandstorms."

Li Lan fell silent. To be honest, the reason he was stationed on the border was to get through the winter peacefully and then head to the western continent when the weather improved next year.

As for the witches he's encountered now, he doesn't dare get too close for the time being. On the one hand, he doesn't have a good reason, and on the other hand, he knew from his time in the Empire how strictly these countries controlled witches, and there must be many ways to monitor them at any time.

Approaching these witches rashly would not only put Li Lan's own identity at risk, but the difficulty of turning them to their side would probably be hundreds or even thousands of times greater than imagined.

Since things have come to this, we might as well continue to stay calm and slowly look for opportunities. It would be better if we could find a way to win them over, but it doesn't matter if we can't.

This is a world where strength matters, and Li Lan is not yet powerful enough to act arrogantly, otherwise she wouldn't have suffered such a setback yesterday.

"I think I might need to reconsider. As you know, adventurers like us who have reached a certain level of strength are not lacking in material benefits."

Instead of directly refusing, he gave the other party a way out, suggesting that if the chief truly had conditions that could entice him, then he wouldn't mind accepting them.

In his opinion, since he was going to enter the Great Desert of Rune next March and cross that territory to the Western Continent, it wouldn't hurt to scout out the desert beforehand.

Most importantly, the danger level is indeed much lower in the edge of the desert.

"Your reward will definitely satisfy you. As long as you assist the warriors of the Rune tribe in escorting the Rean soldiers and a group of witches to their destination, you will have completed the mission. At that time, I can tell you a secret about an ancient temple, a temple that contains the treasure of the ancient Moon Goddess. I have a detailed map of the temple's interior..."

Li Lan didn't hear the rest of the conversation clearly; his main focus was on the first half: "escorting Rean's soldiers and a group of witches." This was very important, and it was precisely this that piqued his interest.

"Regarding payment, I don't..."

Before Li Lan could finish speaking, the tribal chief silently took out an old map from his waist pouch and placed it directly on the table beside him.

"I can pay half the fee in advance for three days. If you agree to this commission after three days, come to my residence to meet and depart. If you do not agree, come and return this detailed map. How about that?"

This guy seemed completely unconcerned that Li Lan would reveal the secret, and showed sincerity from the very beginning. But it was precisely because of this sincerity that he wondered if the temple's secret was worthless at all.

“I am a practical person. What I need are more tangible benefits. As you know, exploring some ancient temples is extremely dangerous.”

Li Lan's answer left the pig-headed orc stunned for a moment. Generally speaking, all adventurers who reach a certain level of strength will be interested in "ancient treasures." Perhaps those treasures contain the secret to achieving the demigod realm. If one can obtain them, one will be truly above all others.

This guy in front of me is really something else.

Peter didn't take back the map. His gentle smile looked somewhat ugly on his orcish face. "How about this? I can offer another bargaining chip: additional material support. Think about it. There are still three days left, no rush."

"Okay, I'll think about it and give you an answer later."

Having said all that, it would be disrespectful for Li Lan to continue making excuses.

Peter nodded, removed the soundproof magic barrier, and turned to leave.

Little did he know that before leaving, his gaze intentionally or unintentionally swept over the black-haired figure sitting listlessly on the bed not far away, seemingly playing with something.

"Thanks to that witch from yesterday, otherwise we wouldn't have been able to find this being who is suspected to be an ancient creator so quickly. Well, we still need to observe and test him for a while."

...... ....... .......

As noon approached, Li Lan had gathered all the necessary information, and since it was an unusually cloudy day with no snow, she decided to head to the monster area as usual.

This has been the case for some time now. Whenever the weather gets better, he goes into Lanogulin to hunt monsters and continuously upgrade his magic book level.

In any case, he has now reached level 24 of the magic book, and the experience required to level up is astronomical, which is a pain for him as a "priest".

Therefore, he can only do his best to make up for his shortcomings through diligence.

Shouldering a new adventurer's longsword and tightening his clothes, he began to lead the two little ones northward.

The buffer zone where the Loen Desert meets the Lanno Ancient Forest is truly magical. Ancient trees of unknown age stand with diameters reaching twenty meters, their hardness is astonishing, yet their height is only about ten meters. Moreover, these ancient trees are not as dense as one might imagine. Their spiraling, spire-like tops do not resemble canopies. The brown bark on their surfaces, gathered together like veins and muscles, is crisscrossed with grooves, occasionally giving one a stimulating visual experience.

In addition, the countless withered yellow tendrils extending from the tree trunk seem to be responsible for photosynthesis, and are one of the important materials used by the local orcs to weave various kinds of clothing.

In fact, from the first day she arrived at this place, Li Lan noticed that the ancient trees here were a bit counterintuitive, as if they had been deliberately planted, with almost identical spacing between each tree.

After traversing nearly a kilometer, we arrived at the northern end of the tribe, where the scenery suddenly changed. The vast forest that came into view began to appear normal, with bare trees scattered haphazardly among them, their towering branches densely blocking out much of the sunlight.

From here on, the real monster zone begins, a place where the creeping darkness will devour you at night.

Occasionally, groups of boar-headed orcs dressed in various armors or leather armor would pass by, exchange a brief glance with Li Lan, and then quickly disappear into the depths of the dense forest without lingering.

The main reason is that although this area has begun to be called the monster zone, strangely, this area seems to have a strange aura that drives away all monsters that try to approach. If Li Lan wants to go out hunting, he will have to follow the direction of these pig-headed orcs and continue to go deeper into the monster zone.

It's probably more than a kilometer away.

"We have already created quite a few low-level servants. As for intelligent servants, I should still have two slots left. Perhaps I can consider trying them out."

The Creator of Life is known to be able to create two types of servants: one type is servants with only low-level intelligence, which can be understood as cannon fodder; the other type is creations with high-level intelligence, which are stronger than low-level servants.

Of course, the power of a creation largely depends on the materials it is made of.

The reason Li Lan hasn't used this secondary profession to create intelligent servants yet is that he plans to wait until he obtains the magic cores and materials of high-level monsters before considering it. At that time, the success rate of the creation will be higher, and the talent will be stronger.

"The closest creature to this area is a mid-level monster called the Sun-Chasing Demon Pigeon. It is said that this growth-type monster may evolve into a high-level form, which will be particularly strong. Unfortunately, I haven't seen it recently. I really need to consider using this kind of monster for my next intelligent servant."

The success rate of using mid-level monster corpses as materials is ridiculously low. After leaving the Viana Divine Kingdom, Li Lan, who had been wandering and traveling, didn't have enough monster materials to experiment with.

Since we need to stay in this area for a while, we naturally need to consider many aspects.

Suddenly, Yu Hui, with his black hair, stopped in his tracks. "Luo Men."

"Hmm?" While keeping a watchful eye on her surroundings and deep in thought, Li Lan turned her head slightly to the side.

"There's a suspicious guy following you for a long time. What are you going to do?"

Chapter 7 My low profile is not a license for you to show off.

On the morning of the new day, the witch Savasi did not take the duchy's mission as usual, but instead left her residence alone in silence.

He felt as if he had returned to the time before he traveled back in time. If he took a fancy to a woman or had murderous intent towards someone, he would not mind spending several days or even more than ten days probing and guarding the location from multiple angles.

He enjoys the feeling of meticulous planning, knowing every move of his prey, and then, in the most opportune and romantic moment, striking them down in one fell swoop.

That's exactly what he's doing now. He found out the residence of the dark elf woman "Romon Hydra" in advance, and then arrived near the residence ahead of time to secretly track her.

After all, reality is not like in novels or movies, where a great detective with the surname Ke can effortlessly follow a criminal suspect all the way to headquarters; that's completely impossible.

Even in this world, it is extremely difficult to track down a person alone without their knowledge. In other words, even though Savasi had done an excellent job of concealing his tracks, he still lost track of Roman Hydra three times.

It wasn't until Roman Hydra's last return to his residence, where he spoke with a pig-headed orc about something, that he was able to catch a glimpse of the woman's actions again.

"If only I could steal the divination techniques of this world."

That's why he felt a little regretful.

In this world, there is indeed a shortcut to tracking someone. This shortcut is the kind of ethereal "divination," a skill that only certain powerful magicians can learn, using immense magical power to capture the trajectory of fate.

It sounds incredibly powerful, but very few people have actually witnessed it. It is said that those who know this method are basically at the demigod level or above, and the conditions are extremely demanding.

Witches have no magic power. Although Savasi longed for the many magics of this world, he couldn't learn any of them. Otherwise, he wouldn't mind enriching his killing methods.

By this time, a whole morning had passed, but the tireless Savasi still stood like a leopard waiting for its prey to take the bait, on the street corner.

He had already used the "Aura Concealment" unique to the "Swordsman" class of the spellbook, which could last for a long time, so that none of the passing orcs noticed his location.

He is more of an assassin than a swordsman right now.

Despite possessing such a powerful method, Savasi had a strong intuition that he could not easily approach within fifty meters of Roman Hydra.

No, to be precise, it was that he couldn't get close to that little black-haired girl. That girl gave him a strange and inexplicable sense of fear, as if he were facing a superior being.

He still vividly remembers how yesterday, when he activated "Flowing Heart" and tried to kill Roman Hydra at his strongest speed, he was saved by that guy in time.

If that guy saved him at an even faster speed, what does that mean? It means that this dark-haired guy is far stronger than Savasi imagined! He's definitely a hidden dark horse!

"Do I have to get past this woman to take down Roman Hydra? No, maybe I'm overthinking it. Actually, the black-haired woman didn't rush to the rescue at that moment. Instead, she started moving just before I was carrying Onikiri, and the blond guy was also there to provide support."

"Futurism? Could it be futurism?"

I immediately thought of the blond guy who had such distinctive eyes, and the other one was a twin, so they were kindred spirits.

It's true that Savasi was a serial killer in his past life, a twisted and evil man, but no matter what, he was a man from Area 11, so it's impossible that he had no understanding of anime and manga.

Currently, only the ability to see into the future, such as "futurism," can explain the situation at that time.

But this doesn't explain the trembling feeling that filled his heart at that time.

As he pondered, the pig-headed orc, who seemed to be the chieftain of the Rune tribe, had already left Roman Hydra's residence.