Trash of the Count's Family Vol 2. Chapter 425: Facing and Protecting (12)
The Witch of the Jungle.
There was something about her that felt different from every Dark Elf Cale had met so far.
Sss—
Branches cradling trembling leaves moved like vines and wrapped around her.
They kept moving without pause, like living snakes.
Leaves.
Her hair was a beautiful black, like the night sky, but unlike the other Dark Elves, leaves were attached to it like ornaments—or rather, growing out of it.
I can’t tell whether she’s a Dark Elf or a plant.
Just as the Ancient Tree had said, the Witch of the Jungle looked unusual.
She said she doesn’t even have a name.
She had said people simply called her the Witch of {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} the Jungle.
“Creator. That’s what you are, isn’t it?”
The moment the Witch of the Jungle asked again, Cale looked straight at her.
“......”
“......”
Eyes black as the dark moon.
She had said she could not see.
And yet she had led a territory and a race in the Demon Realm, a place this harsh.
Cale slowly opened his mouth.
“I’m not.”
“Mm?”
She had asked if he was the creator, so he answered truthfully.
“I’m not the creator.”
His voice carried naked disbelief.
“And I’m human.”
“Hah—”
The Witch of the Jungle failed to suppress her exclamation.
“You’re human? And not the creator?”
She was flustered.
“Then why do I feel absolute power from you?”
“What?”
Cale was so dumbfounded that he asked right back.
At that, the Witch of the Jungle hesitated for a moment before speaking.
Ssssss—
The leaves quivered more violently, as if carrying her emotions.
“There is a secret I have never once spoken aloud. A secret I have kept hidden all my life.”
Hm?
Confusion flickered across Cale’s face.
His goal here had been to join hands with the Demon Realm through the Witch of the Jungle, yes—but more important than that was reaching the Demon World, rescuing Choi Jung Gun, and drawing the attention of the Five Colored Blood family.
So he had intended to leave this place in Alberu’s hands, offer a brief greeting, and move on.
Then he realized things were not going the way he had expected.
That realization came the moment he heard her next words.
“From the time I was very young—from the very beginning of my memories—I began to see essence.”
Sss.
A branch extended in place of her finger and pointed at Alberu.
“That this person is a user.”
Then the branches stretched upward toward the sky.
“That this world is a game.”
Mm.
Cale realized the Witch of the Jungle was a mutant like Count Lupe, the Dark Ghost of the Three Evils.
“And that changes are happening in this world now as well.”
Mm.
He heard Alberu let out a low sound beside him.
“This world was originally a combination of numbers. Made of 0 and 1.”
That statement genuinely shocked Cale.
“After I began to see essence, surviving here was never difficult for me. I could always see the gaps. I could always see the answer. Still, as long as I and my people could live reasonably well, I intended to go on playing the role assigned to me in this game.”
Perhaps, in some ways, the Witch of the Jungle was even more extraordinary than Count Lupe.
Because she was not saying she could see virtual reality.
She was saying she could see the system.
“But now, little by little, the form of this place is beginning to look like a real world to me.”
She reached out her hand.
Sss—
Branches wrapped around her.
“These trees are real now too.”
A gentle smile rose at the corners of the old witch’s mouth.
“It means my life is becoming real.”
A being not born, but made.
A being with duties already assigned.
A being with a mission, not a fate.
That was how she had understood her life.
But now that life was changing.
“I have been given the chance to exist not as something created, but simply as myself.”
She could live a real life.
For a long, long time, the Witch of the Jungle had only imagined such a thing in solitude.
Now it stood before her eyes.
“How could I possibly let that slip away?”
She could never let it slip away.
The Witch of the Jungle wanted this world to become real.
But—
“The God of Chaos, was it?”
She did not want this world to become a wreck.
“On the night that being appeared, I saw this world becoming more real. At the same time, I saw a vast power trying to invade it. That was probably the power of the God of Chaos.”
That was why, when she sent out scouts, she had sent not only her right hand but also warriors of considerable strength.
“And that was when I realized that power belonged to a god.”
That enormous presence.
A force that felt as though it were tearing open the ceiling of the world and forcing its way in.
“For years now, I have been sensing another presence similar to that power.”
The instant she said that, Cale stilled.
Hm?
A presence similar to the power of the God of Chaos?
A strange light entered his eyes.
“That presence kept growing larger. Kept growing more intense. It reminded me of quiet savagery. Of a storm that had not yet arrived.”
And that storm—
“Felt like an approaching calamity.”
The Witch of the Jungle had borne that fear alone.
She had never told anyone around her about the power she possessed.
She had simply behaved as an NPC should.
“I knew I was the only one who could feel this calamitous presence. But I could say nothing.”
The reason was simple.
“Because I was born different. Because I realized that if I were found out, I would be erased.”
Ah.
The moment he heard that, Cale understood how he ought to judge her.
She was not a mutant.
She had not awakened to change at some later point, like Count Lupe had.
The Witch of the Jungle was just a bug.
A bug.
She had been born that way from the very beginning.
“Once I realized that if I were discovered, I might disappear—that something like me, but not me, might replace me—I lived cautiously. Quietly. Always.”
The Witch of the Jungle had hidden herself well.
She had never once spoken the world’s secret to anyone around her.
She had only watched her surroundings and suffered alone, unable to say that their lives might not be real.
But now she knew it was time to speak.
“So while I was always afraid, I was also always waiting. Waiting for the creator to come to me.”
Because if it were the creator, then the creator would know her.
Would know her usefulness.
“Even as that vast power kept growing, the creator was unable to take any measures. That means even the creator either could not find where that power was—or could do nothing about it.”
Her finger pointed to one side.
“The day this child came to me, I realized the creator knew of my existence.”
The direction she pointed was Alberu Crossman.
Alberu had come to find the Witch of the Jungle after receiving the quest to become the first Dark Elf emperor.
And that quest had been given by the system.
As had the Hero Quest.
Ah.
Only now did Cale finally see how all of this had been moving.
This bastard system—
It had definitely been struggling all alone too, desperately trying to avoid the eyes of Transparent Co.’s operators.
The Witch of the Jungle looked at Cale.
“I can feel the creator’s power from you.”
“Ah.”
Now Cale knew the answer.
The creator she meant was the system.
Yes. Compared with words like god or world, maybe creator really was the term that suited the system best.
“You mean the red hand.”
The red hand.
The hammer that could fall on beings that broke the game’s rules.
“The creator shared some of its power with me.”
At Cale’s words, the Witch of the Jungle reacted.
“Then should I understand that you and the creator are on the same side?”
“Yes.”
Cale answered briefly and leaned toward her.
“Witch of the Jungle.”
That immense, savage force she had sensed.
“That force you’ve been feeling. Which direction is it in?”
She had said that only after sensing the power of the God of Chaos had she understood what that other force was.
“That divine power you felt—where is it coming from?”
The Witch of the Jungle had sensed divine power.
And there was only one divine power it could be.
The Absolute God.
That had to be the force she meant.
Until now, Cale had been unable to learn where the Absolute God was.
But now he had obtained a clue that could reveal that location.
The Witch of the Jungle opened her mouth.
“The west.”
The branches pointed west.
She could feel a power there, growing ever larger.
“At some point, the presence stopped growing in size. But it became more savage.”
The size of the presence had stopped increasing, but the energy within it had only grown stronger.
Considering that together with how little time remained before the birth of the Absolute God, it was clear the Witch of the Jungle really was sensing the Absolute God’s aura.
“I can’t even begin to imagine how terrifying that savagery is.”
Tremble.
The leaves, the branches, her hand—all of them shook in fine, helpless motions.
“I waited because I wanted to tell the creator about this power. I thought that if it were the creator, it would realize how useful I was and come find me.”
The system did not know the Absolute God’s location either.
Because Transparent Co.—no, because the Transparent Blood family and the Five Colored Blood family—had hidden the location of the Absolute God with the utmost care.
Naturally.
That being was the most important thing they had.
But a bug knew.
“I’m glad I came to the right place, Witch of the Jungle.”
Cale asked her,
“That force is the Absolute God. And the moment that god is born, this place will no longer be the world you have lived in, or the world you’ll continue to live in.”
“I see.”
The Witch of the Jungle nodded calmly, as if she had expected as much.
“To know the exact location, I would have to go outside. I would have to move in the direction the presence comes from. But I have never once left the Demon Realm in all my life.”
Because she had feared that if she did, everything would be exposed and she would disappear.
She did not say the last part, but it was easy enough to guess.
“So you need a guide.”
“Yes. And I need someone who can hide me.”
Right.
The Witch of the Jungle had to be hidden.
Transparent Blood’s operators.
If they discovered a bug, they would try to erase it.
In a way, it was a miracle that the Witch of the Jungle was still alive at all.
No matter how carefully she had hidden herself, she was still one of the four rulers of the Demon Realm—someone in a position far too high to escape notice forever.
The operators should have been able to find that bug called the Witch of the Jungle any time they wanted.
But they didn’t.
There was only one answer.
Cale looked into empty air.
“You heard all that, didn’t you?”
He was asking the system.
The one who hid the Witch of the Jungle was the system.
The system had deliberately left a bug alone.
And intending to make use of that bug, it had even given Alberu a quest.
“You’d know the answer.”
If it was the system, then it would know exactly what the Witch of the Jungle needed.
Bzzzt—
Cale’s vision began to distort.
[@#%-]
Unintelligible characters rose in the air.
Transparent Co.’s situation had grown increasingly severe.
To avoid being exposed within it, the system had become even more cautious and covert than before.
Of course, compared to before, the system’s level of control had also grown stronger.
[#$%Through a quest, lure the Witch of the Jungle @#%$ outside and #%% the bug can be concealed#%#%]
It could convey its intent to Cale more clearly now than it had before.
“Right. Then give it to us as a quest.”
Bzzzt—
The air warped.
“Mm.”
Cale sensed Alberu stiffen beside him.
[Hero Quest!]
That appeared to Alberu.
[Hero Companion Quest!]
And this appeared to Cale.
But the contents were the same.
[Guide the Witch of the Jungle to the destination.]
[Time Limit: Unlimited]
“Mm?”
“Huh?”
Choi Han and Rosalyn.
The same Hero Companion Quest appeared to both of them as well.
“Hm?”
Raon tilted his round face to one side.
[Hero Companion Quest!]
Naturally, Raon got one too.
Hero Alberu Crossman.
At present, the Hero’s companions were Cale, Choi Han, Rosalyn, and Raon.
*****
“I’ll handle things here with Rosalyn for now.”
“We’ll keep hidden and stay out of the Wanderers’ sight. The Dark Elves said they’ll cooperate too.”
Alberu and Rosalyn, who remained in the Demon Realm, spoke, and Cale nodded before turning away.
“Let’s go.”
Eruhaben, Raon, Choi Han, and the Heavenly Demon stepped to his side.
“We’ll stop by the Seven Evils first, then pass through Apitoyu and head to the Demon World.”
The Demon World.
He needed to go see Choi Jung Gun.
And on the way, he would have to bring Choi Jung Soo along too—and it had been a while since he’d seen Team Leader Sui Khan.
But what have those people even been doing lately?
From the look of it, they didn’t seem to be helping CEO Choi Sun Hee in the Third District.
They had said they were looking for information on the God of Chaos, so what exactly were they doing?
Frowning, Cale first left the Demon Realm and headed for the Seven Evils.
And there—
Flap flap.
A tiny baby dragon, even smaller than Raon, was flapping its wings as it flew.
“Nyaaa!”
Hong looked at it, then proudly told Cale,
“Our youngest can fly really well now!”
Beside Hong, On watched the dragon half-blood Eruhaben Miru with a pleased smile.
“Mm.”
Cale sensed the deep existential crash hanging over Eruhaben Miru’s face, but he pretended not to notice.
Instead, he greeted one human standing there with an uneasy expression.
“So, uh... you’ve been well?”
At that, Clopeh Sekka beamed brightly and spoke.
“I’ve been waiting.”
His eyes flashed.
“You’ve written another legend.”
Raon urgently spoke into Cale’s mind.
—Human! Clopeh Sekka’s eyes have gone crazy again!
Exactly.
Looking at Clopeh Sekka, who clearly had far too much to say, Cale’s heart started pounding.
He was genuinely scared.