I don't want to conquer witches anymore.

amber:"……"

Duke, Joseph... are all of you rookie kings crazy?

Chapter Twenty-Nine: Thank you so much to the top-ranked lady for the generous donation! You're so kind!

Whether Joseph Joseph was crazy or not is another matter, but Duke was certainly not insane.

Having gained the witch's complete trust by eating the candy, Duke unhesitatingly began to implement his pre-ordained plan, embarking on a hymn of loyalty.

He began by giving the witch an exaggerated description of the situation inside the Candy Castle from an extremely pessimistic perspective, highlighting a climate of fear and paranoia—if he saw a cookie soldier, he would inevitably think of ten cookie soldiers hiding in the shadows; if he saw a group of ten cookie knights, then the arriving knightly order would have at least five members…

He suffers from chronic paranoia.

According to his description, the fighting power of Candy Castle, if not equal to that of the Bone Legion, at least completely overwhelms it.

If Amber heard this boasting, which sounded like someone who'd drunk fake alcohol, she would definitely exclaim that he was an expert, then marvel at "Why did Amber exist if Ke exists?" and take two bottles of elfin wine to Duke's house to freeload and boast.

The old witch had her own intelligence network regarding the situation inside Candy Castle, but she clearly lacked confidence in her sources. What Duke, who had personally entered Candy Castle, saw was more credible.

Because of the Candy Punishment Curse, the witch never imagined Duke could deceive her, and immediately believed the information he provided. She then tensed up and made a hasty decision:

"This won't do! Launch a surprise attack immediately! Where is this underground passage you mentioned?"

The witch never expected that Duke would lie to her so openly, and the curse in the candy had no effect whatsoever.

If it has any use at all, it won't be completely useless.

You can't blame the witch. Over the years, the punishment curses she researched have basically never had a chance to be used successfully. These days, everyone understands that you can't just eat things given to you by strangers, especially things given to you by her—it's really too difficult for the old witch to do bad things with such a standard villain's face.

Because she hadn't used it much, the witch didn't know what the limitations of the curse she had developed were. At least, the witch didn't know that anyone could use this method to escape the punishment of the curse.

Duke used self-hypnosis to analyze the situation from the perspective of a paranoid pessimist, thus deceiving the clumsy curse on the candy (after all, he was "genuinely" worried about the Bone Army and the witch).

Upon seeing that this trick had actually worked, Duke immediately applied the same principle to other situations.

If a pessimist's perspective is viable, then an optimist's perspective is equally viable, right?

"There's a teleportation array in the hollow of that tree. The Candy Princess from the castle personally led me to the underground passage, which must be connected to the underground arsenal of Candy Castle. We'll launch a surprise attack and cut off their manpower. We'll have reinforcements while they don't, and the victory in this war will be ours sooner or later. Don't worry, Lady Witch, with me leading the troops for you, what's a mere Hansen?"

Duke patted his chest confidently.

He was as arrogant as a veteran general who had been immersed in war for three or four decades. His tone and confidence made it seem as if, once a battle broke out, he and Hansen were like Bai Qi fighting Zhao Kuo, easily wiping out the entire army of Candy Castle. But in reality, he was more like Zhao Kuo, who only knew how to talk about war on paper. He had clearly never fought a battle, while the veteran general was Hansen, who had commanded Candy Castle for many years.

As a professional extreme athlete, Duke specializes in one form of hypnosis—self-hypnosis. He originally learned it to regulate his own mental state, but unexpectedly, it had a remarkable effect in this situation.

Moved by his confidence, the witch immediately decided to mobilize the Bone Legion, granting this loyal warrior partial command of the army, and prepared to personally accompany him in this surprise attack.

This was exactly what Duke wanted.

For him, the worst-case scenario was that the witch was a stubborn old fox who refused to go to the front lines, giving Duke no chance to persuade her to "sacrifice herself for the Bone Legion."

Fortunately, the witch was cautious enough, but not entirely so.

……

Soon, the witch followed Duke's command and completed the troop movement, changing the main direction of the attack to draw Hansen's attention. At the same time, she secretly mobilized an elite force to launch a surprise attack on the underground arsenal of Candy Castle through underground tunnels.

She herself joined the troops in the surprise attack, determined to destroy the arsenal.

Duke rode atop a skeletal warhorse, toying with a skeletal staff in his hand, silently observing the witch at the very center of the group. She sat atop the spine of a skeletal mammoth, her eyes closed in meditation.

Thanks to that unreliable candy, the witch trusted him immensely and temporarily entrusted him with command of this elite squad, deciding to observe from the sidelines to assess Duke's abilities. This was already an extremely generous reward, considering the squad's ridiculously high strength; in the original world, they could even rival a king's royal guard.

But given Duke's shamelessness, would a mere squad of elite soldiers be enough to satisfy him?

Of course not.

In addition to command, he also received rewards from the witch.

[Quest item discovered: Bone Staff.]

[Item Description: A gift from the witch to you, the weakling. Be filled with gratitude and trepidation.]

[Item Effect: Allows use of necromancy spells of rank 5 and below (including rank 5), with no limit on the number of uses or mana. The spell's effect is related to Intelligence and Perception.]

[Quest item discovered: Bone Warhorse.]

[Item Description: A gift from the witch to you, the weakling. Be filled with gratitude and trepidation.]

[Item Effect: Its unwavering loyalty allows you to ignore the constraints of gravity and soar freely through the air.]

A staff of white bones, a warhorse of white bones, and a squad of elite soldiers.

Thank you so much for the generous donation, sir! Wishing you good health!

Putting aside the elite soldiers for now, this bone staff and this bone warhorse alone are priceless treasures. A staff that allows a peasant (physical class) to cast spells and a winged horse that can fly freely are both incredibly practical and powerful magical items. Back in the floating city, they would cost at least several thousand gold coins, and they would be the kind that are priceless and hard to find.

Especially the Bone Staff; Duke had never seen such an extravagant magical artifact before.

Duke, who knew absolutely no magic, picked up the bone staff and instantly became a veteran-level necromancer, even stronger than the average necromancer—because his spells didn't consume mana and he didn't need to learn the principles of magic.

It just so happens that Duke is an oddball thief whose intelligence and charm outweigh his agility. Now, with the Bone Staff, he got to experience the joy of being a mage, finally finding a job that suits his profession.

"It's a pity that these two gifts are just mission items and can't be taken out of this alternate dimension. Otherwise, even someone as shameless as me would have been a little embarrassed to kill the witch after receiving these two gifts."

Chapter Thirty: This dump truck actually carried poison.

In fact, even the information that "the underground passage connects to Candy Castle" was just Duke's own guess. After all, Gretel only led him to that secret stone cave, not towards Candy Castle.

But Duke was very lucky; the underground passage really did connect to the Candy Castle. After traveling for a while, he led his elite team to the end of the underground passage and saw a door made of candy.

The witch, who had been resting with her eyes closed, immediately perked up. She jumped off the skeletal mammoth, twisted her body a few times, and prepared for battle, also ready to observe Duke's ability to lead troops up close.

She had high expectations for this outsider. If nothing unexpected happened, Duke would soon become her most important general, helping her conquer Candy Castle and crush that bastard Hansen under her feet.

But the witch's hopes would not come true, because at that moment, the door in front of her was suddenly opened, and then Hansen and a large group of elite biscuit soldiers walked out of the door and stood there stunned.

The two groups stared at each other, wide-eyed.

The witch never expected to meet Hansen before even reaching the armory, but the bewildered look on his face told her that Hansen was also unaware of their return.

Who am I? Where am I? What happened?

Why is the witch/Hansen here?

For the witch, this surprise attack was ultimately only with an elite squad. If Hansen dragged her here and surrounded by a large army, she would lose everything. For Hansen, the bone legion's silent infiltration into such a crucial location was absolutely unacceptable, especially since he didn't know how many of the bone legion had actually attacked.

Neither side wanted this to happen, and neither dared to make the first move, fearing that the situation would develop in a way that was unfavorable to them.

The witch and Hansen, who had maintained a balance for many years inside and outside the forest, once again achieved a strange and fragile balance in this narrow underground passage.

But the person who had previously disrupted the balance between the two sides was also present at this moment.

Without hesitation, Duke raised the Bone Staff, his mind filled with only the word "loyalty," rendering the punitive candy useless. He roared, "Bone Legion, protect me!"

Then, in front of everyone, he unleashed a powerful attack on Hansen.

Wilting technique!

This 4th-circle necromancy spell directs necromancy energy at a visible creature within casting range, draining its moisture and vitality. It's one of the few direct-attack spells in the lower circles of necromancy, exceptionally effective against creatures (excluding constructs and undead), and its damage is even higher than Fireball.

However, there is a problem with Wither: compared to Fireball, it is easier for high-level professionals to have its effects exempted.

Hansen was undoubtedly a high-level warrior, and a mere withering spell couldn't do much to him. He was only slightly drained of moisture and energy, his movements slowing for a couple of seconds before returning to normal.

But Hansen, faced with a magical attack, naturally wouldn't surrender without a fight. He instinctively launched a counterattack, drawing his longsword from his waist and thrusting it at Duke.

Duke was prepared, using his skeletal warhorse to dodge, so the sword only caused a minor scratch.

And things proceeded smoothly in the direction he had hoped for.

Seeing their master draw his sword and fight, the biscuit soldiers naturally wouldn't sit idly by. They immediately swarmed forward and launched an attack on the bone legion. Seeing Hansen and the biscuit soldiers attack, the witch couldn't stand idly by either. She raised her staff and cast a spell. To cover her spellcasting, the loyal bone legion drew their swords and engaged the biscuits in battle.

It can be said that this withering spell directly ignited the strategic stalemate between the two sides.

On the contrary, Duke, the one who started all of this, quietly withdrew from the front line.

He mentally explained, "Why should a level 7 thief like me get involved in this battle of gods?"

Cursed Candy: Thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule to brush me off.

Duke hadn't expected things to go so smoothly; they encountered Hansen before even storming the armory. And coincidentally, Hansen's guard was slightly weaker than their elite troops at that moment.

This is very important because this is Candy Castle territory, and reinforcements will arrive soon. If the witch and the bone army fail to gain the upper hand in the initial period, it could become a one-sided situation later on.

However, these unexpected coincidences are actually quite reasonable, because someone inside the Candy Castle was working with him from the inside.

"...Has the sage awakened?"

It seems that the sage and he both want to do the same thing: get rid of the leader of their own faction and then sit on the throne themselves.

Duke clicked his tongue, then slapped the skeletal warhorse on the head and whispered, "Go ram that man."

He didn't just slap me randomly; he came prepared.

Duke can use the highest level of magic with the Bone Staff, which is 5th-level magic, and his slap contained a somewhat useless 5th-level necromancy spell.

Epidemic techniques.

The reason this spell is considered useless is not because it is weak, but because its positioning is awkward.

Necromancers are generally summoners who rely on their minions for power. In such cases, casting spells surrounded by their followers, like the witch in this situation, would be the normal choice. However, the condition for activating the Plague spell is "touch." Whether it's direct contact or close-quarters combat with weapons, this is a decision that most necromancers would almost never choose.

But Duke had heard about the spell's unique uses from one of his ex-girlfriends.

Smash the virus onto an undead creature (which is unaffected by this spell), then let that undead creature run into your enemy.

You despicable scoundrel, your dump truck is carrying poison!

If Hansen were to carelessly lose Jingzhou and be struck by the White Bone Warhorse, he would be afflicted with one of six plagues: blindness, putrefaction, rotting flesh, brain fever, epilepsy, or nausea. If he were to contract any of them, Hansen would be in an extremely difficult situation.

Duke, a loyal Bone Legion warrior, did not stay behind to fight Hansen and the Biscuits after unleashing his final ripple. Instead, he took advantage of the chaos and used stealth to escape.

He slipped straight through the gate leading to the Candy Castle.

Chapter Thirty-One is too awful to listen to.

Duke soon arrived at the underground arsenal of Candy Castle.

Even he hadn't expected that beneath this magnificent castle lay a building no less impressive than the castle itself. The arsenal was also made of candy, but its entire structure was upside down, as if gravity acted in the opposite direction to the normal world.

While remaining stealthy, Duke quickly infiltrated the armory. Soon he saw the enormous production line, where molds were used to carve patterns in the center of sugar candies that were as tall as a person, thus giving these sugar candies "life" and "meaning".