Witch Redemption

Li Lan decided to abandon any pretense of being a gentleman and speak frankly from the bottom of her heart.

Chapter 6 Departure

After a night of discussion, many plans for the future were formally finalized, and all the witches reached a consensus.

Li Lan's explanation was quite straightforward: the limit for a witch is at most the god level, and above that level are the absolutely invincible true gods. Since these delighted true gods treat this world as a game, and all intelligent beings as pawns to be destroyed at will, then Li Lan doesn't mind being a pawn for these ancient beings.

As the saying goes, life is like a sprint; since you can't fight it, you have to learn to enjoy it.

Moreover, their plight is not yet at its worst; the joyful creator Shub-Niggurath and Abhoth are both worthy of following.

In addition, the matter of helping the witches increase their levels has also been finalized.

Witch Rosa and Witch Miranda decided to accept Li Lan's "forced growth" ahead of time in order to become stronger as soon as possible. As for the seven witches, including Witch Hera, whose grimoire levels were above 50, they said they needed to consider it for a while and prepare themselves mentally before making a decision after Li Lan's trip to the Empire.

As for Violet and the others, they are currently focused on building up the Dark Kingdom, and have fallen far behind in leveling up, so they will not participate in the future.

The following day, June 29, 10013 in the Gregorian calendar, was the second day after Li Lan returned to the Dark Kingdom.

Under the arrangement of the Dark Order, all the witches who returned with Li Lan became guest retainers of the Dark Kingdom. Even the demigod-level human adventurer Lily Williams, the human demigod Xiumen, the orc demigod Tagore, and the elven demigod Salamander received the same treatment.

They all lived around the Dark Order's temple in Kobe City, enjoying a high degree of freedom. They could freely enter and exit most areas of the Dark Kingdom and selectively accept missions occasionally issued by the Dark Order.

Driven by curiosity about the city and a passion for its cuisine, these witches, unfamiliar with the place, along with the demigods from this world brought back by Li Lan, began to explore Kobe City, experiencing various sights and the unique magic crystal technology of the original empire.

On this day, Li Lan finally met the elfin muscle beauty Rebecca and Susan, and the two sides exchanged pleasantries for a while.

It has to be said that these two powerful individuals who have awakened their true nature are truly unique. Their pursuit of muscle has reached an abnormal level, making them super-strong women.

Although the elf girls Juliet, Fu, and Natalie are all disciples of the great sage Esther Bellman, Rebecca and Susan, who share the same background, often come to the three girls to exchange ideas, such as giving them martial arts guidance, and can be considered as another teacher to the three elf girls.

"The Great Sage Esther Belluman is truly a venerable master; he is currently the instructor of the Dark Order's magic academy..."

Esther Belluman's magical style involves creating fireballs at close range and using physical strength to confront enemies head-on. This style is what the two elven beauties admire most, so they praise him highly, even to the skies.

"However, there is one troublesome thing, that is, the new generation of people learning magic do not have any talent."

Rebecca spoke frankly, saying that this new generation includes people of all races, and since they were originally the lowest-ranking slaves, it's normal for them to lack talent, which is difficult to make up for.

Magical geniuses like Juliet are truly one in a million. The normal situation is that the vast majority of people in this world are mediocre, and their lifelong efforts yield only limited results.

“This problem is indeed somewhat unsolvable,” Li Lan agreed, and quickly thought that he might be able to use something like “faith imprint” to strengthen the Dark Kingdom’s power. However, he didn’t know how many believers the Dark Kingdom had, and he couldn’t possibly handle it all by himself. “We’ll see how things go. Maybe I can help with this.”

At this point, he suddenly thought of two witches: one was Anne, who was also a priest, and the other was Miranda, who was a druid.

If the two witches, who are both support-type "life-saving" witches, could also help transplant faith imprints, then Li Lan could create a massive number of faith imprints in advance, and the three of them could work together to boost the overall combat power of the Dark Kingdom in a short period of time.

What if you lack talent?

It's not like you can't use external forces to force someone to have talent.

Having made up her mind, Li Lan acted immediately, summoning the witch Yin Anni and Miranda that very day. She also brought in a few "guinea pigs" for the experiment, and it was a success!

Rebecca and Susan clearly knew what this meant. After meeting with Li Lan in the morning, they left quickly. Subsequently, the Dark Order began to issue new instructions, leaving a large number of monster magic cores for Li Lan, especially the magic cores of high-level monsters.

In the afternoon, the three true-name followers who had gone out as usual returned on time: Thomas, Cozmo, and Debbie. These three followers had long since reached the level of demigods and had also permanently stopped there.

As one of the few top-tier combat forces in the Dark Kingdom, they are currently the commanders of three legions and are constantly on the move.

Among them, Kozmo, because of his sharp tongue and poor interpersonal relationships, had the smallest number of soldiers in his legion.

Upon encountering their long-lost master, they all displayed indescribable excitement, and even felt guilty for not being able to share Li Lan's worries over the years.

Li Lan chose to comfort them, after all, they were different from other followers who only had code names; they were highly intelligent beings with real names. Li Lan created them initially to protect herself, and they had fulfilled their duties. Now, they only needed to live as they wished.

Li Lan certainly supported sending them to serve as "laborers" for the Dark Kingdom.

Besides these three followers, another unexpected person came to visit Li Lan: the three human adventurers she had saved in the North, Franklin, Nig, and Ruda. These three adventurers had also brought their families to the Dark Kingdom, and all their family members had become followers of the Dark Order, living a very comfortable life.

Besides expressing gratitude and respect, their visits also revealed their concerns about the Dark Kingdom.

There are really not many talented newcomers left, and even if there are, it's hard to say how long it will take to cultivate them.

"I don't think we need to worry too much about this."

Li Lan's trump card, "Faith Imprint Transplantation," is only one of them. She also has the Empire's magic crystal technology. If she can use this technology well, it can enable an ordinary person to exert strength close to that of a legendary adventurer.

According to Violet's vision, he planned to innovate in the Empire's magic crystal technology. In the future, he not only planned to develop weapons such as steam rifles, but also to develop products similar to exoskeletons, arming any intelligent creature to its teeth and unleashing tremendous power.

This technology is somewhat similar to the "battle suit" technology that Li Lan saw in the desolate ancient kingdom in the Northern Territory.

The specifics of how to do it are still under investigation, so Li Lan didn't reveal too much.

Furthermore, these three demigod-level humans are now considered mentors of the desolate ancient kingdom, having trained many students. Although their reputation is not as great as that of the great sage Esther Belman, it is certainly not far behind.

Li Lan also congratulated the three of them.

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

Night had fallen in the blink of an eye, and Li Lan, who should have been happy, was now full of gloom.

"Shit..."

What happened to the promise of a grand banquet to welcome back these returning witches? Instead, Li Lan, who should have been sitting in the guest seats, was now busy in the kitchen, along with Lana, Lolina, and Rosa, three witches who had also traveled from the same country, and perhaps Della from another galactic world.

There were five people in total, all wearing aprons, preparing a large number of dishes for the banquet. During the event, many maids belonging to the Dark Order came and went.

There's no way around it; the natives of this world have absolutely no idea what enjoyment is. If you really ask them to host a feast, they'll at most serve a few steaks or grilled meat, and rely on alcohol to liven up the atmosphere. It's precisely because they know this that Lachesis and the others, including the black-haired Yu Hui, who were drooling with envy, kept urging Li Lan to make a move.

"Seriously, who's the guest here?"

Li Lan muttered to himself a few times, but there was nothing he could do. At this stage, it seemed that his cooking skills were the best among all the witches.

"Was Karen a chef before?"

The witch Rosa was stunned for a moment as she looked at Li Lan's skillful swordsmanship and technique. It seemed that this senior had not used his full strength before.

"No, he's just a salesman."

Li Lan was reminded of her past life by this younger generation, and felt a little sentimental.

"Sales... No way!" Rosa couldn't believe it.

"Seriously, every month I work hard, I'm fighting tooth and nail for money. I earn a few thousand yuan, and after deducting living expenses, the rest of the money is spent on online games."

I miss that time of life. Although it was ordinary and I was quite laid-back, it was fulfilling and carefree.

Upon closer reflection, Li Lan's best dish was definitely instant noodles, since he personally preferred ordering takeout.

He hadn't enjoyed this wonderful life experience in a long time: picking up his phone, opening Meitang or E'si Ma, ordering whatever he wanted, and then waiting for someone to deliver it to his door.

"Um, so your skills and knife work..."

"I learned it slowly after I transmigrated to this world, it seems to be after I fled to Kobe City."

It's not that simple. Many of the plants and vegetables in this world are different from those Li Lan saw in her previous life, and even the spices and seasonings are different.

Therefore, after returning from hunting monsters each day, Li Lan likes to experiment with and register the vegetables in this world every time she cooks, distinguishing their various flavors, and then making various dishes accordingly, finding substitutes for various seasonings.

Other witches wouldn't actually have as many opportunities as Li Lan to experiment slowly.

"Rosa, you used to do..."

"University students, majoring in financial management," they rarely mentioned their past. All that was known was that everyone came from Earth, but no one knew what they did before they transmigrated. "It's a pity that the professional knowledge I learned is useless after coming to this world. If anything is useful, it might only be my minor in interpersonal relationships and psychology."

"I see, not bad."

No wonder Rosa was so difficult to deal with at first. Sometimes I think that if that feigned compliance hadn't changed its mind, Rosa would definitely have become the most deadly traitor by Li Lan's side.

"Thinking about it later, it's not a big deal that I can't use my professional knowledge after transmigrating, since I couldn't use it in my previous life either." For most people majoring in management, graduation means unemployment, and Rosa rarely showed this realistic side.

"I totally agree. Lana is amazing; she must have been a tycoon in her past life..."

"Karen, don't talk nonsense! We're just middle class!" Lana immediately retorted.

Indeed, as society develops, there will be more and more wealthy people, and the wealth pyramid will become increasingly exaggerated.

After refuting her argument, Lana muttered to herself, "No amount of wealth is as important as good health, sigh."

"Hmph, I'm different. I'm just a shut-in fat otaku."

"So, this shut-in is acting all high and mighty now?" Lolina said proudly.

So, the witches from Earth chatted for quite a while, with Della helping out and doing all the pre-meal preparations. It took them a full hour to get everything ready.

This peaceful and joyful banquet officially began, and the whole event was like a carnival.

To add to the festivities, the Dark Order also arranged numerous dances and other entertainment activities. Unfortunately, for Li Lan and the others, modern people accustomed to Earth's "electronic toxins," it all felt like something was missing, and they weren't very interested.

"Ah, I miss my hometown even more now, but unfortunately I can't go back..."

It's normal to miss home whenever things settle down.

Li Lan felt that, let alone ten years, even a hundred years or a thousand years, he would never forget his past life on Earth and would yearn for it for the rest of his life.

During the banquet, the high and mighty Lachesis was no longer the same as before. She wore a gorgeous and sacred religious robe and received everyone as a saint. Sitting on the throne, she appeared extremely noble, like a devout noblewoman.

It wasn't until she met with Li Lan alone...

"Ah, Lord Roman, I'm so tired. Does being a damned king mean I have to keep pretending like this all the time? Thankfully, I can finally enjoy your delicious food today. How wonderful! I've been missing you for so many years!"

He transformed back into the enthusiastic and cheerful Lachesis Wagner he once was, creating a stark contrast.

Li Lan learned from Violet and the black-haired Yu Hui that Lachesis had used a forbidden ritual at the level of the creator and was currently imprisoned in the central area of ​​the Dark Temple, unable to leave at will. This place was like a huge cage for this woman, and in order to maintain her dignity in front of the believers, she had to "pretend" at any time.

Feeling sorry for him, he didn't refuse Lachesis's request tonight as a guest and still chose to "cook" for him, as a reward for this gluttonous guy who used to freeload.

At this moment, Lachesis seems to have never grown up compared to ten years ago.

“Everyone needs to play their own role, including me,” Li Lan comforted her. “If you’re lonely, we can spend more time with you.”

"Really? Then I'll call on Lady Lana! I've been staring at her two pets for ages today, they're so cute!"

Um, it's just a fat lizard and a little yellow chick, and it's so adorable? With Li Lan's straight-male mindset, the word "cute" doesn't exist in his dictionary. Or rather, he's probably more concerned about whether he can fight Orichis's Sky Dragon. If he can't, can he eat it?

“Sure, he’ll probably stay here for a while. I’ll ask him and Della to spend more time with you when they have time.”

"Uh, you knew all along?"

Li Lan nodded. "Last night, Shub had already prepared me mentally. She needs me and Lorina to go to the British Empire to act as temporary peace envoys."

Are they really peacemakers?

Li Lan himself wasn't sure either. He only knew one thing: the Dark Order must never clash with the many major powers in this world, especially the nearby British Empire.

“Since my Lord has explained, let me add something,” Lachesis said, a hint of unease in his expression. “He said that a single letter would be enough to deter the Empire and many other great powers of the world from attacking the Dark Kingdom. However, the messenger must be extremely powerful. I initially planned to send Archbishop Luciara and his entourage, but my Lord said no, a true god-level being must go to intimidate them. I wonder, Lord Roman…”

"I will soon be a god-level being as well. Besides me, Lana, Lolina, Della, and the White Antelope are also god-level beings. If all goes well, Miranda and Rosa will also be god-level or higher soon. Therefore, regarding the envoys, I believe that Lolina and I can indeed take the lead."