I don't want to conquer witches anymore.

In her world, Greta endured a profound sense of isolation and loneliness.

Duke felt that this was wrong; kind people should be treated gently by the world, not spend their years doing useless work in solitude.

“I will come back to you, Gret.”

Amidst the Cake Princess's screams, Duke barely managed to dodge the attacks of the cookie soldiers. After finally managing to create some distance between himself and Gretel, he took out a candy.

The old witch gave him candy.

Without thinking, he put the candy in his mouth.

Chapter Twenty-Seven: How to Become the Commander-in-Chief of the Bone Legion

"It's quite sweet."

Duke mumbled through a piece of hard candy.

He was trapped in the siege of the biscuit soldiers for quite some time, and during this time, Grete was picked up by the remaining biscuit soldiers and sent back towards Candy Castle. It was very close to the castle, and the main force of the Bone Legion hadn't yet reached this area. If all went well, Grete would be safely returned to Candy Castle.

Although Duke tore the hem of her cake dress, such elaborate and extravagant aristocratic gowns usually come with a close-fitting undergarment, so while Greta looked somewhat disheveled, at least she wasn't completely naked.

Duke described the dress as outrageous, a torture to the eyes of others, and a torture to himself as well.

"However, using this method to 'bind' Grete is quite creative."

The cookies, candies, and cakes in the Candy Castle were all under Hansen's control and obeyed his orders. Duke originally thought the only exception would be Gretel.

Various signs reinforced Duke's hypothesis: for example, the illusion that appeared to Hansen when he faced the fear spell was Grete; Grete's appearance when he and Amber were being chased; the existence of the saint; and her help to the witch assessment expert, etc.

However, this conjecture has several fatal problems.

If Hansen knew Grete's special abilities, why hadn't he harmed her? Was it because she was his sister? For a normal person, that reason would be enough, but for a madman obsessed with cannibalism, Duke believed he was capable of the most heinous acts.

On the other hand, if Gretel knew Hansen’s actions, judging from Duke’s brief contact with her, this girl would definitely not sit idly by. With a saint as her backer, why has she only acted in secret until now?

There is only one answer: Grete is also under Hansen's control to some extent and can only choose to act in secret.

Unlike Grete, who wore a cake dress, Hansen, though dressed equally elaborately, did not have any candy, pastry, or cookie elements. The illusion of Grete created by the Fear spell was not wearing a cake dress, but just an ordinary dress.

The answer is obvious: Hansen controlled Greta through her extravagant cake dress.

"The more detailed principles are none of my business; I don't understand magic anyway." Duke shook his head. "I've gone to such lengths; surely you, Saint, can do something about it now?"

He had just had to deliver Gretel to the Candy Castle because the Saint was about to wake up. Duke didn't think a single bite of cake would be enough to choke her into unconsciousness for most of the day, and continuing to act alone with Gretel would be tantamount to suicide.

But deliberately luring the biscuit soldiers is also a dead end. After handing Gretel over to Candy Castle, the biscuit soldiers have no reason to let him go. How can a level 7 thief, unable to use his prized trump card (Lucky Dagger), survive an onslaught of biscuit soldiers?

Duke gave his answer.

"You're so slow." Duke bit into the hard candy that was almost melted in his mouth, swallowed it whole, and then complained irritably, "What if I had died?"

"Huh? So what if he's dead? What's it to me?"

The old witch gave him a strange look, then casually smashed the cookie soldiers surrounding Duke.

She was a true high-level spellcaster; Duke even suspected she was close to legendary status. He couldn't sense any magical fluctuations in her every move. He had only ever seen one such high-level spellcaster before.

Uh, it's that ex-girlfriend who carried him to victory in a massive witch game.

Although wiping out the biscuit soldiers was a piece of cake for the witch, venturing deep into such a place was no easy task. Despite being the sole commander of the Bone Legion, if she were to face the cotton candy dragons and dragon knights under the command of Candy Castle in a one-on-one battle, the witch would not fare well and might even attract Hansen's full-scale encirclement and annihilation.

So she looked at Duke with a hostile expression and questioned him:

"Didn't you say it was a coordinated attack from within and without? Why did Candy Castle send troops out directly? Where are your men? Give me an explanation, or I'll make you suffer a terrible death."

"Stop playing dumb. Don't you know what happened inside the castle? The Bone Legion is fighting with Candy Castle. It's too late to talk about working together from the inside now. Besides, you knew from the beginning that this drastic measure was unreliable, didn't you?"

With the Bone Legion and Candy Castle's fighting power suddenly soaring to such heights, what role could a few outsiders' inside-outside cooperation possibly play in the overall situation? It's understandable that Duke, lacking intelligence, wouldn't know, but how could the witch, who was well aware of the Bone Legion's fighting strength, possibly believe in such a desperate measure? If she were truly a fool, how could she have managed to maintain the balance with Hansen for so many years?

Look at this witch, she's a master at playing dumb!

Duke spread his hands with a beaming smile, his 18-year-old charm making him an absolute heartbreaker. Even the eccentric, old witch from Zaun felt her heart melt before his deep smile.

He said with a smile:

"I'm not pretending anymore, I'm laying my cards on the table, I'm joining the witch faction! Witches, let's fight together for the great cause of witchcraft and strive to destroy Hansen's cannibalistic paper tiger!"

The witch stared at Duke for a long time before finally relaxing her tightly furrowed brows and grinning, making her old, fat, and ugly face even more terrifying: "It's strange, someone as clever as you would actually eat the candy I gave you?"

At the time, the witch and Duke and the others did not trust each other at all. If the witch had given them something else as a token, Duke might have used it, but she gave them candy.

In fact, when the witch gave out the candy, she didn't expect Duke to eat it.

"Indeed, even Amber knows that this candy is inedible. Heaven knows what you put in this candy, or what kind of curse you cast?"

These risks are real, and more than just risks, Duke is almost certain that the witch tampered with the candy. That's why he sent Amber away beforehand; otherwise, given the Space Witch's speed, he would never have been able to eat the candy in front of her.

"But how can I gain your trust if I don't eat it? Tell me, what did you put in it?"

The old witch looked at Duke in surprise, seemingly shocked by his nonchalant attitude, and only answered after a long while:

"A curse of punishment has been inflicted. From now on, you must obey my commands. If you harbor even the slightest thought that is detrimental to me, then..."

"Okay, master."

Duke stretched lazily and shouted shamelessly.

The witch: "..."

His cooperation actually made her feel no sense of accomplishment.

The witch, of course, had no idea that Duke, who had just joined her ranks, was already plotting treasonous acts:

How to become the commander-in-chief of the Bone Legion?

It's very simple, only three steps are needed.

The first step is to join the Bone Legion, the second step is to find a way to kill the witch, and the third step is to successfully rise to power.

"I didn't expect to complete the first step so quickly. Congratulations!"

Chapter Twenty-Eight: The Birth of a Rumor (Minor Adjustments)

"Since that candy was cursed, how did you manage to do what happened afterward?"

During the debriefing after completing Candy Castle, Amber posed this question to Duke. She was truly puzzled: if "having even the slightest thought of harming the witch" would result in a curse, what exactly did Duke do that ultimately led to the witch's death?

Comrade Duke commented on this:

"The witch clearly doesn't understand one principle: if loyalty is not absolute, then it is absolutely disloyal."

"?"

"Oh, what I mean is, everything I did was beneficial to the Bone Legion, so I don't know why it turned out that way."

During the post-mortem analysis, Amber racked her brains trying to figure out how Duke did it, but it was actually quite simple.

The core of this witch game is the balance between the infinitely evolving "Candy Castle" and the "Bone Army," rather than Hansen, the master of Candy Castle, and the witch, the commander of the Bone Army.

From the world's perspective, it doesn't really matter who sits in those two positions; it's fine if Hansen and the witch sit there, but it doesn't matter if the saint and Duke sit there as well.

Therefore, Duke simply accelerated this war that had just begun.

"Lady Witch, I know a passage that can be used to launch a surprise attack on the underground of Candy Castle. What? The underground of the castle is the arsenal of the biscuit soldiers? That's great! Let's go straight for the heart of the enemy!"

……

Leaving aside the question of how Duke, the ultimate traitor, managed to fast-forward his newly recognized "new master" to his demise.

Amber dragged the immobile Austin to the underground of Candy Castle. After a short period of frequent teleportation, Austin, who had finally regained consciousness, fainted again due to the teleportation magic. Finally, she found the other adventurers.

They looked quite battered, having just been through a bloody battle, especially Joseph, whose body was covered in wounds that were constantly bleeding. As the strongest among them, he had clearly taken on the heaviest fighting duties in the skirmish with Hansen and the biscuit soldiers, hence his injuries appeared the most severe.

When the adventurers saw Amber return with Austin, they were all surprised—before this, they all thought Austin was dead.

When they learned that Duke had snatched Austin from the jaws of the final boss (whom they considered the final boss of this witch game), saved his life with a potion, and was now acting alone, everyone was stunned. Those who had previously shown contempt for Duke (the vast majority of adventurers) wore expressions of disbelief.

They couldn't believe that someone despised by the entire city would behave this way, especially given Amber's effusive praise of Duke; they were even less inclined to believe it.

To be fair, Amber's boasting about Duke backfired. If she had recounted the whole story in detail, the adventurers might have believed her. But she was angry and facing these short-sighted fools, so her words became more emotional, and the whole story became somewhat exaggerated.

For example, "Duke fought Hansen for three hundred rounds, and finally threw Hansen over his shoulder with one hand, snatching Austin back." Or, "Duke completely outmaneuvered the witch, who immediately submitted to him and became his dog." Or, "How could Austin be saved by a single potion? It was Duke's miraculous healing skills; he used fifty different treatments to cure Austin's injuries," and so on...

Well, it does seem a bit exaggerated.

The adventurers, who were well-versed in boasting at drinking parties, didn't take Amber's words seriously at all, and even suspected that the witch had drunk fake alcohol. However, there was one person present who took Amber's nonsense seriously.

"Really? I knew Mr. Duke was no ordinary man!" Joseph clapped his hands, full of regret, and said, "Oh dear, we should have kept you two here back then, otherwise we wouldn't be in such a sorry state."

Amber gave him a strange look.

Even she herself knew that the story she was telling was complete nonsense, and she herself wouldn't believe it either. But this super new player who was second on the newcomer leaderboard believed it.

No wonder he's been called a brainless brute. With this kind of behavior, the only way to convince people that he has a brain is to adopt the persona of a wise fool.

The witch shook her head. Whether Joseph was wise but foolish or genuine was irrelevant to her. What she needed to do now was to protect these adventurers as much as possible before Duke returned, and if the opportunity arose, try to complete the game.

If that idiot can do it, there's no reason why I can't.

Amber pouted and began to think hard.

She wasn't her best friend Cecil. That Radiant Witch was known throughout the Floating City for her bluntness; she was involved in at least a tenth of the city's annual scams, falling for every single one. Eventually, the Floating City's scammers all felt bad that the Radiant Witch was doing charity work, specifically helping their struggling scamming industry. So they secretly made a rule: "Miss Cecil cannot be scammed more than twice a week."

If it weren't for Cecil's exceptional strength and popularity among the witches, with her sisters helping and supporting her, this girl would probably have been kidnapped and sold long ago.

However, although slightly better than Lite-On, Amber was clearly not a wise man like Duke. She racked her brains for a long time but couldn't come up with a way to beat the game. Instead, it was at this moment that the reckless Joseph offered his suggestion:

"Should we go out and explore the surrounding area?"

Amber had no reason to refuse the suggestion, so the group set off together.

But soon, Amber will realize that this is not a good idea.

Led by Amber and Joseph, the adventurers left the small dark room where they had been hiding from the pursuers. They had been chased by Hansen and the biscuit soldiers until Gretel took them underground, where they were able to escape.

The cake princess had warned them not to wander off, as the underground was also very dangerous. The adventurers at the time didn't understand why Gretel said it was dangerous, or why Hansen and the biscuit soldiers hadn't found them, but now they did.

Because there is often darkness under the lamp that is not easily noticed, and near where they were hiding, there was an extremely bright lamp—the arsenal of this candy castle.

Amber stared wide-eyed at the magnificent armory before her. Who could imagine that beneath the Candy Castle, an inverted building, no less splendid than the castle itself, stood? Ponyu Biscuit Soldiers, witches, butlers, and many other types of soldiers were all produced here.

During the war, the arsenal never stopped operating, and soldiers were constantly being produced here and then transported out.

Miss Witch swallowed hard, feeling a sense of urgency, but just then, she heard the madman Joseph mutter to himself, "If we destroy this arsenal, can we beat the game?"