Witch Redemption

Using ordinary wisteria flower dew and plenty of warm water, Li Lan cleaned herself of all the grime and felt refreshed, which was rare for her.

"Tsk—too much trouble! If I return to my soul form and then reappear, wouldn't I avoid these tedious steps?" Black-haired Yu Hui grumbled, saying no but his body was quite obedient. "Besides, isn't your servant's body a woman's? Why are you being so discreet? I don't understand! Haven't you seen enough of Leviathan's naked body, Yu Hui?"

"Hey! Get out of here!" So what if you saw them once when they were first created? What's the big deal?

Li Lan blushed, and finally couldn't help but mutter a few words, such as "men and women should not touch each other", "a matter of principle", and "a fine young socialist" and other such nonsense. Her words seemed more like self-consolation.

To be fair, witches are not capable of reproduction; they possess female organs but cannot be considered ordinary women. Furthermore, witches do not possess any sexual desires. Aside from some genuine female transmigrators who might be somewhat "promiscuous," male transmigrators are almost certainly not capable of having any sexual desires.

Setting aside these complex emotions, the instinct for survival overwhelmed everything, and Li Lan began to open her natal magic book in this closed room.

"I don't have much time left. I have to cross this border today no matter what."

A few months ago, when the orc army surrounded Li Lan, he had a premonition that his identity or appearance might have been registered by the United Duchy of Ries. For the past few months, a large number of orc troops have been conducting a carpet search on the border almost every day, and there are even demigod-level and god-level beings personally taking action.

What is this concept?

Even god-level beings wanted his dead. If it were back when he had just escaped the British Empire, he would have died countless times.

Fortunately, with the help of two powerful allies, Black-haired Yu Hui and Leviathan, and the powerful "Book of Fate's Judgment," Li Lan was able to overcome one difficulty after another and arrive at this border region in the westernmost part of the Duchy without any real danger.

"I just arrived in Townstark today, and I imagine the orc army will soon have their eyes on this area and will be coming to investigate soon."

Leaving the hotel in a swagger would be a terrible idea, so Li Lan wasn't a fool.

"The biggest problem is whether the city will close down immediately because of my arrival, trapping me in this area. Also, how many demigods or gods are there in this city? Once such experts make a move, I will definitely have no chance of escaping."

It's very dangerous, the situation is really dangerous.

Li Lan was somewhat impressed with herself for remaining so calm, even though she had mustered her courage.

"That's settled then. If we can cross this border, we'll continue westward. If we want to reach Skandar, the border of the Elf Kingdom, we might consider venturing into these smaller countries. It might take longer than I expect, so let's take it one step at a time."

In less than a few minutes, Li Lan had already planned everything.

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

The innkeeper, a Rean orc named "Ako," received four beggars' requests for lodging today. He originally intended to refuse, as letting such filthy beggars into his inn would be an insult to him. Even if he were penniless and had to sell the inn for a pittance, Ako would not allow such scoundrels to tarnish his reputation.

As it turned out, the reward offered by the guy who seemed to be an elf was just too much!

The magic core of a mid-grade high-level monster, and it's the legendary "Wind-Patrolling Flame Gull," which is the hardest to hunt. This is really a huge profit!

On second thought, this guy is able to hunt such powerful monsters, so his strength must be pretty good. He must be a legendary adventurer.

"A legendary adventurer? And an elven adventurer at that, an elf..."

The hotel owner's joyful face suddenly turned somewhat gloomy. "Could it be?"

Four months ago, the United Duchy of Ries issued a top-level arrest warrant to hunt down a foreign witch suspected to be of the elven race throughout the country. In the end, even the rumored god-level beings personally took action, conducting a carpet search of the vast border, but all to no avail.

The foreign witch seemed to have vanished completely, so the massive manhunt gradually subsided.

However, the calm does not mean that the wanted notice is null and void. As long as you can help capture this foreign witch, the participants can receive incredibly generous rewards, including a piece of land in the capital.

"We've struck it rich! We've really struck it rich!"

The gloom on his face gradually disappeared, replaced by a look of fervent joy. He immediately summoned his wife and son, instructing them to keep a close eye on the hotel, especially the four women who had checked in.

Immediately afterward, Ako, the Rean orc, hurriedly headed towards the city defense forces...

Thirty minutes later, Ako and seven informants arrived at the hotel with a large number of Duchy soldiers. As soon as they entered the hotel building, Ako asked in a low voice, "Son, those four women haven't left, have they?"

"No."

"very good!"

A large group of people rushed up, but when they pushed open the door to the room on the third floor, the room was already empty.

Only the puddles in the bathroom and a few tattered black clothes in the trash can revealed that travelers had stayed here not long ago.

In an instant, all the orcs who witnessed this scene changed their expressions, especially the innkeeper, Ako, whose face turned ashen.

"This...this..."

"What the hell? You piece of trash!"

The hot-tempered orc officer suppressed his urge to punch someone, glared at the Rean orc, and said, "Nid, go to the border guards immediately and demand that the city gates be closed! Tuya, go and notify the other units to take action immediately. This intelligence is true; that Roman Hydra has arrived here!"

After many months, I thought this woman would never reappear, but today's events are quite unexpected.

Unfortunately, when this large orc army arrived at the border wall, they once again lost all clues about this foreign witch. Even beings at the demigod level and above could not find out her true whereabouts.

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

In the Townstark Protectorate Forest, a caravan of a hundred people from the Elf Kingdom was slowly making its way forward.

This team, composed entirely of elves, was indeed a sight to behold. Every single one of them was a handsome man and a beautiful woman. However, the muscles they displayed were no joke. They were clearly strong enough to kill a bull at will. Coupled with the greatswords and other weapons they carried, they appeared fierce and imposing, in no way inferior to the orcs.

Little did they know, this team was none other than the "Urielnu Merchant Guild," which belonged to the capital of the Elf Kingdom. They had been traveling between the Elf Kingdom and the United Duchy of Ries for many years, mainly selling a large number of handmade products and special monster materials to the Orc Kingdom in exchange for some rare materials that could only be produced by monsters in the Eastern Continent.

Because the journey is extremely long, often taking nearly a year to make a round trip, the elven warriors who have joined this team are all strong, with their strength ranking at or above diamond level among adventurers, and they should not be underestimated.

Furthermore, the so-called elves are by no means the archers who are rumored to be skilled in archery. Compared to archery, their magic and swordsmanship are far more powerful. Otherwise, how did they develop such well-developed muscles?

"Strange, where did those four extra people at the back of the line come from?"

The caravan's captain, who was also the leader of the "White Night Mercenary Group," was a muscular middle-aged man with a full beard. He glanced back at the end of the caravan, where four adventurers and women with their faces hidden under black hoods were silently following along.

It's strange, really. Not long ago, when he was about to step out of the border of Townsdaq City, how did he come to consider these four guys as his teammates? At that time, he even explained it to the orcs guarding the city, and those orcs actually believed him?

Now that he's calmed down, he realized something was wrong. He didn't know these four guys at all, so how did he manage to get them to follow him?

Feeling increasingly uneasy, the usually cautious and shrewd elf finally spoke up, "Son, keep an eye on Princess Juliet. I have some business to attend to."

"Yes!"

A young man standing next to Gian spoke up. This young man had inherited Gian's good looks and always had a smiling eye.

At this moment, Li Lan, who was traveling with the elven caravan, was also in a dilemma. In fact, not long ago, when he wanted to escape from Townsdaq City, he was missing his personal identification. If he had tried to force his way through, there would have been serious problems. So, in his desperation, he only had one path left to take.

Using the Book of Fate's Judgment, they deceived the other party with false identity information.

However, doing so might leave some hidden dangers, and might be noticed by some of the most powerful figures in the duchy.

So, after pondering for a while, he had a sudden inspiration and disguised himself as a member of an elven caravan about to leave the city. He used the caravan leader to persuade the city guards, and unexpectedly, he succeeded in taking advantage of the chaos and getting away with it.

Now that he has crossed the border, he can do whatever he wants, leave the caravan at will, and go wherever he wants.

Unfortunately, things didn't go as planned. Just as he was having the idea of ​​leaving the caravan, the middle-aged man leading the caravan approached him. "Ladies, I think we need to talk. Who are you? Why are you following us?"

The "Book of Judgment" is not omnipotent; it can deceive fate for a time, but requires extremely meticulous preparation.

For example, Li Lan previously used it to make it seem like a "fact" that Violet and two other witches were killed by Ann Gnath, but in reality, that didn't happen. When Ann Gnath, the person involved, learned of this information, he must have been puzzled and even refuted it. Whether anyone was willing to believe Ann Gnath was another matter entirely.

Today, Li Lan did not have much time to prepare, so the use of the "Book of Fate's Judgment" was extremely hasty, and it is normal for it to have loopholes.

Just like this elf uncle, he initially seemed to believe that Li Lan and the other three were his team members and helped them get away with it. But afterwards, when he realized that he didn't know these four people at all, he knew that something was bound to go wrong.

"Tsk—troublesome, should we kill them all?"

Black-haired Yu Hui instigated Li Lan from within the soundproof zone, saying, "A supreme and powerful figure like you is so frustrated today. This guy is furious right now."

Thinking back to how staying at the hotel was just a cover, and how I changed my clothes there before jumping out of the window to escape to the border, I realized that I could have easily made my way out, but I hesitated for a while and ended up disguising myself as a member of a caravan to sneak out.

Who can stand this kind of frustration, feeling like a rat crossing the street?

"Don't do anything rash. Your identity hasn't been exposed yet. Killing someone rashly won't solve the problem."

However, he didn't have any good identification at the moment, so Li Lan decided to take a gamble. He took out Roman Hydra's adventurer's certificate and handed it to the elf uncle.

"Hmm? Roman Hydra? A dark elf? I feel like I've heard that name somewhere before?"

Unfortunately, Gian and his caravan never bothered to keep track of what was happening in the orcish kingdom when they arrived in the United Duchy of Rhys. Besides, the news of the wanted foreign witch had only been circulating for a few months, and their caravan had only arrived in the orcish kingdom three weeks ago, so it was normal that they were unaware of the wanted notice at that time.

"Forget it, are they all Gold-level adventurers? The journey has been quite dangerous. If we can trick them into being cannon fodder, it would be a good choice. I won't have to put my subordinates in danger."

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

On June 29, 10006 (New Calendar), after spending more than half a year, Violet, Anne, and Sophia, led by Celine Bellman, crossed a long distance and finally arrived at the border of the Viana Theocracy, which is now an independent region, the blessed land of the Goddess of Darkness, the Holy City of Kobe.

"This is... the Kobe City that you mentioned before, senior?"

Three witches, their faces hidden under hoods, gazed curiously at the towering city walls. They could clearly hear not only the noise of people moving about, but also a cacophony of mechanical sounds, a jumbled mix of noises, distinctly different from the United Duchy of Ries they had once lived in.

"Strange, why does it look so much like the British Empire?"

Celine Bellman was equally filled with curiosity. More than a hundred years ago, she had the opportunity to enter the British Empire, so she had a strong impression of that magical country.

"There are rumors that the dark cult in this theocratic country is all-powerful, but I didn't expect it to be this powerful."

With mixed feelings, Celine Bellman led the three witches toward the city gate, only to find that the guards there did not look like soldiers, but rather clergy dressed in robes.

"Let's go, after all, this is the wish of your senior."

Volume 4: The Dream of the Elves

Chapter 1 Caravan

The adventure in the United Duchy of Ries has come to a temporary end. From escaping the perilous situation at the Rune tribe, to venturing deep into the border of the duchy, and finally fleeing into the Four Sacred Ancient Forest in the western continent, it took Li Lan more than half a year.

Fortunately, with the help of two ancient wills and the golden-haired feathered radiance, they managed to get through the journey without any major dangers.

As for the duchy's suspicion that he had fled to the elven kingdom in the western continent, that's a matter for much later.

In any case, for those true god-level beings in the duchy, manifesting in the real world is an extremely difficult thing, and demigod-level beings will not leave their own country's borders casually; they basically stay in their own country.

So the time of fleeing without fear continued, and before they knew it, it was July of the year 10006 in the Gregorian calendar. It was the height of summer again, and the sweltering heat made them question the meaning of life.

It is worth mentioning that after escaping from the border city of Townsdak of the United Duchy of Ries that day, Li Lan did not choose to leave the huge caravan composed only of elves. Instead, she accepted the invitation of the caravan leader, Gian, to become a scout in the caravan.

To put it nicely, it's about helping the team with tasks like scouting; to put it bluntly, it's about recruiting him as cheap cannon fodder.

How could Li Lan not see through the thoughts of these elves? There were many reasons why she chose to accept the invitation and stay in the team.

One reason is that Li Lan received a great gift from the former powerhouse Bangusen: the "Crimson Jade Eye," a magical item that can conceal one's aura. This makes him more convincing in hiding his identity as a witch than before, so his identity will not be exposed in the short term.

The second reason is that he needs intelligence, a lot of intelligence.

If he continues to be a lone wolf, his information network will remain closed, and he'll be completely unaware of the significant events that have occurred in the past six months. If he can temporarily join this caravan and learn through observation and experience, he can at least gather considerable information that will aid his journey ahead.

His target, in particular, was Skandar, a border city of the Elf Kingdom. If he could gather any useful information beforehand, the outcome would naturally be much more efficient.

The third reason is that the members of this caravan are generally at least Diamond-level adventurers, with only the leader, Gian, and his son, Joseph, possessing the strength of lower-Legendary adventurers. In other words, their strength is roughly equivalent to Li Lan's, and they even mistake him for a Gold-level adventurer, unable to gauge his true abilities.

With that in mind, Li Lan felt a little more at ease being in this team. Although it wasn't exactly a case of "playing dumb to fool others," at least she had the confidence to face any potential "betrayal" from these guys.

Thus, through his many journeys, Li Lan learned more or less about the origins of this Elf Kingdom caravan.