Omniscient First-Person’s Viewpoint - Chapter 584



583 – The Witch in the Sleeping Forest

A human shadow inside the meat fruit? How strange? This isn’t the layer of the royal decree. Not up there either, and there shouldn’t be a person in a branch that opens for hoofed animals.

So what is it? Let’s open it and see. I took out my card and tore the skin of the fruit. Although the skin was tough like leather, I was once renowned as a master pickpocket in my prime. The card slipped into the gap and easily split the skin. Amniotic-like juice flowed out from inside.

Originally, there should be a cow in this fruit. Yet, I sensed a presence from within the fruit. I reached my hand inside the torn skin. Someone’s ankle was caught.

“Ugh.”

I pulled out the human who had been sleeping inside the fruit instead of a cow.

It was a woman tightly wrapped from head to toe. Under a thick cloak, she fastened her shirt tightly. A few strands of violet hair spilled out from a large witch’s hat that could fit her whole head. The small, delicate-looking witch was asleep, unaware of my presence even in her dreams.

This isn’t a person bound by something, is it? A living person squeezed inside the fruit?

“Mmm, mmm.”

The regressor asked upon discovering the witch mumbling in her sleep.

“Who are you?”

“Uh, that’s…”

Who this person sleeping in an unfamiliar place is.

‘Thanks for lending me your body, Pero. Now, rest easy. So, shall we delve into the ecological survey of the human king? Let’s see… the human king hasn’t come to the room yet? Where could he be, with nowhere to go?’

It’s the great witch.

The great witch, who sees the world and communicates through her servitors, hides her true form while focusing on controlling them. It’s to protect her defenseless body left unattended during that time. It’s hard to imagine her true form being inside a meat fruit, and even if one did, how would they find it among so many?

“It’s a witch. It seems she came to find a place to sleep.”

What a sudden encounter. Since revealing the great witch’s identity would seem suspicious, let’s just call her a witch for now. The regressor gazed at the soundly sleeping witch, then looked around before suddenly speaking.

“Did you come to meet her?”

“Excuse me?”

“You came straight to this fruit among so many, right? You must have some business with that witch?”

“….”

“Why? Are you really going to say it’s a coincidence?”

“No, that can’t be true.”

Hmm, that’s right. I felt something strange on the way down, which is why I came looking. Sharp intuition, regressor.

“Somehow. You suddenly said your arm hurt, so I figured something was up.”

“It really does hurt, you know? You think you’re as light as a feather. Is it the axe disease?”

“That’s not what I mean by being light! You have regeneration!”

While we were bickering, the witch, sensing the noise, furrowed her brow and mumbled.

“I can hear the voice of the human king, right? Is it outside? No, the sound is close. It’s as if it’s right next to me. Huh?”

Feeling an unusual presence, the great witch’s eyes widened. Our gazes met. The great witch, alternating her stare between me and the fruit we had been lying on, seemed to tremble in fear.

“Ah, ahh, ah!”

Upon discovering me, the great witch shrank back dramatically, as if she had seen a stranger. The reincarnator scolded me.

“You’re completely terrified.”

“It’s because of Mr. Shay’s bad impression.”

“Stop talking nonsense! From that position, you can’t see my face!”

“You do admit your impression is bad, though.”

“Better than your bad behavior!”

“What? What’s wrong with my behavior?”

“To put it bluntly, you forcibly dragged someone out of their sleep! Of course, you’d be scared!”

Well? Someone of the great witch’s caliber wouldn’t be afraid of getting hurt. After all, she is an Elder. Even if her body were crushed while sleeping, she would regenerate just fine, commanding numerous familiars and using terrible dark magic without risk. She should be the one instilling fear, not feeling it.

The only reason she was scared was simple. She was just afraid of people.

In other words, the great witch has social anxiety.

“Hello?”

“…D-Don’t come any closer. It’s disgusting. I’ll kill you.”

“Hmm?”

Look. You don’t really feel threatened by me, do you? You’re just afraid of interacting with people.

The great witch, who had stammered out her abusive words, tightened her clothing and gradually backed away.

‘Ah, ah, that startled me. I entered a place no one could find, but how did you know about it? Is it the power of the human king?’

“I felt a presence from far away and came to check. I’m quite sensitive to human presences. I was curious whether the person inside the fruit tree was dead or trapped, so I came.”

“Th, that’s an unnecessary intervention….”

“Is that so? Then I’ll just go back inside.”

“…Forget it.”

‘It’s been proven that hiding from the human king is useless… Oh? But does the human king know who I am?’

Why? Doesn’t he? Even if I’m wrapped up tightly, we’ve met once, haven’t we? It’s not like he has face blindness; there’s no way he wouldn’t recognize me….

‘I’m wearing the mask of Agartha, the treasure of all nations right now. Could it be that the human king can see through a mask that changes appearances?’

Are you the same?!

I subtly glanced at the regressor. The regressor, who had directly encountered the great witch riding an elephant, had no idea of her true identity. He only recognized her as a ‘witch’ based on her hat and attire.

If he realizes the great witch’s identity now, it would mean he’s been aware of her cross-dressing from the start. Should I just expose it? But then….

“By the way, is it okay for a witch to be here alone? The other witches are busy working on the upper floors of the mansion.”

Ugh. Let’s pretend I don’t know. That’s much easier.

‘I don’t know! The mask of Agartha, which has all the virtues, can deceive even the human king! If that’s the case, I could go to the elephant graveyard!’

The great witch perked up a bit when I pretended not to know. Normally, she would have looked away out of embarrassment and shyness, but feeling good, she engaged moderately.

“Uh, um, I, I am the great witch… your loyal disciple…”

“If you’re a disciple, shouldn’t you work harder?”

“…Alright. I… and the Great Witch are more focused on the non-human aspects. We leave anything related to humans to Walpurgis…”

“Walpurgis?”

“She’s a legendary witch known as the Witch of the Night…. She creates indulgence and illusions, trapping people in a state where they can’t distinguish between dreams and reality.”

So that’s the person who serves the Great Witch. I always saw them running errands, but I guess they’re more impressive than I thought? Well, to serve the Great Witch, one would have to be at least that capable.

“If you’re talking about non-humans, you mean beasts, right?”

“Uh, yeah. Beasts, and even plants and trees.”

“Well, that works out nicely. Please guide us.”

“G-give directions?”

“Anywhere, just to a place of some importance. All I see here are these dreary beast fruits.”

“To do that, we need to go to a lower tier… the plant tier, not the animal tier. The village is over there…”

“A village? Is there a village above the World Tree?”

The World Tree is as massive as the garden itself. But that doesn’t mean it’s as hospitable as the garden.

No matter how big it is, the World Tree is essentially a tree. Its branches sway violently in the strong winds, and the falling leaves are far more threatening than raindrops. One must live with the constant risk of falling to their death.

Above all, you can’t farm on a tree. To secure food, you have to gather it from the shaded fields beneath the World Tree, where sunlight reaches well.

Unless you’re a druid in training or building a nest, it’s hard to imagine a village being sustainable here.

“…Yeah. The Tree of Origin, it, um, grows crops…. No, it bears fruit. That is, from the Tree of Origin, um, uh…”

The Great Witch scratched her head in confusion as she struggled to articulate her thoughts. After glancing back and forth between me and the Regressor several times, she began to ponder deeply.

‘When conducting an ecological survey of wolves, I attune myself to wolves, and when surveying parrots, I attune to parrots. If I’m going to conduct an ecological survey of humans, I should attune to humans… Let’s think of myself as a familiar. That way, it’ll be less… disgusting.’

Isn’t that more like a hatred of humans than just social anxiety? It seemed like just being around people was a significant decision for the Great Witch.

“…I’ll show you. Follow me.”

“Yeah. Please lead the way.”

The moment I took a step closer, the great witch covered her mouth and gagged.

“Ugh. Don’t come near me.”

“What do you want me to do? You’re just like Shea.”

“I’m not that bad!”

The great witch moved away from me and snapped off a small branch from the meat fruit. She held the six branches, stripped of leaves, tightly and took out parrot feathers from her robe, inserting them into each branch. Once she completed the catalyst, the great witch began to chant a spell and jabbed the branches into the inner part of the meat fruit.

“Parrot’s leaves. Wings of the World Tree. Fins in the air. From the earth, worthy to swim in the sky.”

As the witch’s incantation trailed off, the great witch pulled on the inserted branches.

“Ugh…!”

After a considerable effort, the twigs had transformed into a massive pair of wings. The branches had turned into a solid bone structure, adorned with parrot feathers instead of leaves. The great witch extended the six pairs of wings toward us.

“Attach this… to your shoulders.”

“Wings? It looks like it would fall off right away if I attach it.”

“If it touches your skin… roots will grow…”

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Though she spoke fluently in her parrot form, facing me directly seemed to trouble her. Stumbling over her words, the great witch brought the roots of the wings to her own shoulder to demonstrate.

The moment the cross-section of the branch touched her shoulder, roots began to sprout from it, wrapping tightly around the great witch’s shoulder. She flapped her wings and glanced at me.

“…See?”

Then, without another word, she jumped down. Holding onto her clothes and hat, the great witch flew toward the branch below. Though it was a gliding flight, the wings flapped and moved on their own, adjusting their direction.

“It doesn’t seem to serve merely as a glider.”

I could feel the vibrant life force emanating from the wings. To transform the branches of the World Tree and the feathers of a parrot into wings—that’s some mysterious magic from the great witch.

The regressor approached me and spoke.

“Let’s follow her. A witch who can talk is rare. We might get a good clue.”

“I don’t think she’s very good at conversation.”

“But you manage to get along with people who are socially awkward, right? Just try it. It’s an opportunity to showcase your talent.”

“Well, I did become friends with Ms. Shay.”

“Am I the very definition of a socially awkward person?!”

‘Still, I guess you thought we were close…. Thank goodness.’

Just pick one: either get offended or be touched. Anyway, I tucked my wings into my shoulders. The roots grew momentarily, wrapping around my shoulders. As I lifted my arms slightly, the wings fluttered. They weren’t completely unruly; it seemed they responded to the movement of my scapula.

“Alright, then let’s attach these wings… um.”

I was about to affix them to the regressor’s shoulders when I frowned at the sight of his arms tightly bound with bandages. With arms like that, if I attached the wings, he would just fall.

Noticing my discomfort, the regressor spoke up.

“Hmm. I wonder if this will work.”

“If your arms were free, it would be fine to attach them there. What a pity.”

“Don’t say such terrible things. You can’t even hold a sword with wings.”

“I don’t think holding a sword is the important part.”

No matter how I tried this way and that, it wouldn’t work. There was no other choice. I affixed the wings to my waist instead. Feeling the sensation of the wings rooting near my waist, I grabbed the regressor from behind.

“Ugh, mmm.”

‘I don’t want to get used to this kind of thing!’

The regressor didn’t seem to react much anymore, as if he was accustomed to it. He made a slightly displeased face, though. With him dangling from me, I spread my wings and jumped.