Witch Troupe and the Undead

"Hmm~" Livia lowered her hands from her chin and tugged at the old horse's mane unhappily, while the latter gave her an innocent look.

Although Roach's version is not only wild enough but also absolutely historically accurate, for those who haven't heard the original story, it just feels like something's not quite right, but they can't quite put their finger on it. This is even more true for someone like Livia, who has only read the crude knight novels and storybooks available locally.

The fields of Fengzhu Village are just outside the woods. At dusk, the wind blows through the wheat fields, making a rustling sound. Farmers return in groups of three or five, carrying their farm tools. The lumberjacks who went into the forest to cut timber also walk towards the tavern, covered in sweat.

"Want to go in and rest for a bit?" Leslie asked expectantly, but Roach replied mercilessly, "No, you have to go into the water to collect pearls first, otherwise we won't have money for a hotel."

"..." Leslie glanced at the old horse, which was already panting and looked like it was about to collapse, then at the witch with a blank expression and a curious look in her eyes. She took a deep breath, put down her bag, and said, "I'll go!"

You're a witch, a horse-headed demon, and an unknown creature—what are you pretending to be exhausted for? That's just too much!

However, faced with this unavoidable workplace bullying, Leslie eventually obediently jumped into the river. This small river was neither wide nor deep, but few people usually went swimming in it. It was simple: if you caught a cold, given the medical technology and costs in this world, you could just wait to die.

There were many clams in the river, but not every one of them had a pearl, and good quality ones were extremely rare. Leslie swam for almost an hour before finding only three or four dull freshwater pearls that were barely worth anything.

“I suddenly remembered that pearls can be cultivated.” Looking at the pearl that Leslie took out, Roach suddenly remembered this, which aroused the mermaid girl’s hatred like flames. Fortunately, she quickly suppressed her emotion to kill this guy—because she couldn’t kill him.

"Can we check into a hotel now?" After walking for several days and swimming for so long, Leslie felt that she had never done this much exercise in her entire life. She felt sore back and legs that they didn't even feel like her own.

"Sorry, we're full." The tavern owner looked apologetically, while also glancing warily at Livia behind Roach. For the people of this village, spellcasters like occultists were things they couldn't understand.

Alchemists are alright, since there are still a few wealthy families here with glass windows, and the farmland occasionally needs to be replenished with alchemical fertilizers. They are among the people we occasionally interact with, so we are not too afraid of them. But mages are truly legendary figures.

Moreover, when Livia entered the village, she inexplicably pulled down her hat and raised her shawl a little to cover the lower half of her face, revealing only a strand of golden hair and a pair of eyes, as if she didn't want others to see her appearance.

"Is it really full, or just an excuse to turn away customers?" Roach looked at the other party with a smile, placing the [Exploding Demon Sword] on the counter. Combined with his scarred face, it was as if he had cast a "human friendliness spell"—well, not to make himself friendly, but to make others friendly.

"We're really full. We don't usually have many customers here," the tavern owner said with a bitter expression, pointing upstairs. "An adventure group from the Empire has booked all the rooms. They're going to explore the Black Forest, saying they're looking for the remains of someone."

Roach immediately thought of the unfortunate fellow he had drowned. Had his companions only come looking for the body after so much time had passed?

“Alright then~” Roach didn’t really want to deal with this group of people. If they were discovered, it would be even bigger trouble. In comparison, camping outside the village or sleeping on the street was not so unacceptable.

"What's going on down there?" The red-haired young man frowned and looked up from the map in front of him.

“Some travelers have arrived and want to stay at the inn, but all the rooms are already booked,” the tall, thin man with his face covered said, twirling a dagger in his hand, his eyes looking somewhat nervous. “There seems to be a cryptic mage inside. I took a look, and his rank is quite high.”

The ranks of ritual masters differ from other professions; they are solely based on research achievements and seniority, similar to teaching titles on Earth. They do not represent the strength of a person, but rather that a lower-ranking ritual master is not necessarily weak, while a higher-ranking ritual master is certainly powerful.

"Where are they going?"

“It seems they’re heading to River Bend Town,” the young man dressed as a scout said after listening to the argument below for a while. “It doesn’t conflict with our purpose; they should just be passing through.”

“River Bend Town…” The red-haired man nodded slightly. It was indeed almost the opposite of theirs, so there wouldn’t be any conflict of purpose. “What rank is that mage?”

"I can't see clearly. It's either brass or bronze, but it's definitely not black iron or star silver." Mystic mages have their own titles, but to outsiders, they are mostly identified by the material of their badges and the gems they are made of.

The ranks are divided into six levels from low to high: "Spirit Wood," "Black Iron," "Bronze," "Brass," "Star Silver," and "Gold." Wooden badges represent apprentices, while Black Iron badges represent graduates. These two are the titles of almost 90% of esoteric mages. Some unlucky ones, who have strict mentors and can't pass their theses, still wear wooden badges even if they can use fourth-level esoteric arts.

This is why the rank of a ritual mage is not entirely linked to strength. Perhaps the apprentice with the wooden insignia you encounter is a mage who has failed his courses so many times that he can't graduate.

The remaining four levels are simply professional titles. Bronze and Brass are members of the Mystic Society; the former do not intend to teach students, while the latter are willing to teach. Silver Star is the level of the head of various classrooms or departments of the society and the main lecturer, roughly corresponding to the level of professor or associate professor in a university.

As for "gold," those are mages with titles, such as "witch" (academic level) or "sage" (teaching level), roughly equivalent to the level of an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

"Is it possible that it's gold?"

Although the crests of an arcane mage do not represent their true combat strength, the Black Forest is not a place where ordinary bronze or brass-level arcane mages would dare to challenge them. The environmental nature of arcane magic means that without enough teammates, it is difficult for them to cast spells successfully in the Black Forest environment.

“Impossible, we’re not that lucky. Besides, the closest esoteric society to Lywood County is the ‘Strategy Academy.’ They mainly study military esoteric arts and ritual arrays, specializing in [spiritual] esoteric arts. Their highest rank is Star Silver, and there are four of them. One of them is even lecturing at the Imperial Academy.” The young man dressed as a scout said with great familiarity.

"They don't have any Gold-rank witches or sages, and besides, those who are granted the Gold rank are named. I don't think we're lucky enough to run into either the [Star Witch] or the [Sacred Number Sage] here."

Because only these two are so short in stature. The former is a forest elf, a humanoid race that is like a human but covered in downy hair and has feathery antennae on its head. Even as an adult, its body is only the size of a human child under the age of 12.

The latter simply suffers from dwarfism, is skilled in mathematics and physics, and is a master of both alchemical creation and geometry. The former's collision signifies death because the Forest Elves and the Kingdom of Rada are allies, and the Empire is quite racist in this regard, especially now that it is at war with them.

The latter is insecure about his physique and rarely goes out. To bump into him here is really lucky. Of course, the title of "Sage" also indicates that the title was awarded based on teaching achievements, not combat power.

"If we're talking about a Gold-rank witch who has been active in Lywoodshire, isn't there another one?"

Niel Riley, a notorious con artist wanted by sixteen countries, with at least thirty high-ranking nobles issuing kill orders and a bounty enough for the empire to build another full-fledged knight order, whose victims are spread across every corner of the continent, and who has been given two witch titles: the "Hundred-Faced Witch" and the "Witch of Immortality and Youth."

The latter is her professional title; she was awarded the title of "Witch" for inventing the potion of immortality and the potion of youth, a title bestowed upon her by the legendary darling of magic. The former is a wanted name given to her because her actions were no different from those of the legendary "Witch" who brought calamity.

"Her? She hasn't shown any signs of activity for over a decade, and besides, she's a half-elf lady..."

"Don't forget that she has the ability to freely change her body shape and appearance." Otherwise, she would have been caught and chopped into pieces long ago. Theoretically, each piece of this guy chopped into pieces would be worth at least 20 gold coins as a bounty.

"Alright, enough nonsense. Even if Neel Riley were here, it wouldn't matter to us. We must obtain the relic this time." The red-haired man interrupted his subordinates' discussion with displeasure. "According to the prophecy of the Prophet's Guild, the relic is located here, between Carrion Bay and Living Forest." The man drew a red circle on the map. "It's roughly this area."

"The previous teams have all gone missing, whether they came by sea or land." It's understandable if they went missing on land, but it's hard to understand if they went missing at sea. The biggest problem with Carrion Bay is that there are tons of reefs underneath, which makes ships very easy to damage. Plus, there are some sea monsters that live there. But if the teams were to row across the open sea in small boats, it wouldn't be so dangerous.

"It was the Red Spear Pirates who did it," the red-haired man shook his head. "The Imperial Navy has already sent a fleet to encircle and annihilate them, but we can't wait until then."

"A sacred relic...is it really useful?" Can a single sacred relic really change the state of the empire?

"This is the only hope, if the eldest prince ascends the throne..." The red-haired man felt a toothache when he thought of that precious thing in the capital.

However, the old emperor is now under a curse. Although he can still move and even handle state affairs, it is only because of the large doses of magic potions and various evolution rituals that he is able to keep going. How long he can last is a question.

He has two sons. The elder son is a precious thing, and it's hard to tell whether the younger son is a precious thing yet. But at least he's much better than the elder son, who has already proven his preciousness.

"Can't we support the princess?" An empress isn't out of the question either; after all, there have been empresses in the history of the empire.

"..." To be fair, this is really a good idea, because although this princess is also a pretty face, at least she is a pretty face with self-awareness. She won't affect the war on the front lines of the empire, nor will she be like the eldest prince...emmmm, it's hard to describe whether he is stupid or evil. A puppet empress is actually a good thing for the empire now.

"I'm watching the empire, it's doomed!" What's the biggest crisis for an empire? It's not external enemies, it's not internal strife, it's that its heirs are all utterly useless!

Chapter Fifteen: The Auspicious Three Treasures

The capital city, Giant Rock Castle. This castle, built of solid granite, is the heart of the empire. Intrigue, betrayal, coups, and bloodshed fill every crevice of this ancient castle, binding this decaying and decadent empire together like mortar.

The lush green vegetation climbing on it is similar to the nobles arguing outside the audience hall; together they adorn the castle and the country, but together they also destroy the foundation upon which it depends for survival, so that they can bloom more beautifully and dazzlingly.

Emperor Storell VI gazed at the portraits of his ancestors in the gallery, a gallery as long as his family's history. The ornately decorated armor on the wings was a worthless treasure left by his ancestors.

The flowers and emblems adorning the breaches and repairs transformed these precious suits of armor into mere decorations devoid of any practical value. Yet, they were also treasures representing the valor of their ancestors. The old emperor stroked these suits of armor as if caressing the history of his family.

"Sigh~" He looked at the bluish-black lines covering the back of his hand and let out a long sigh. He had three children, two boys and a daughter. His eldest son was the elite of the imperial nobility, his youngest son was a model knight of the capital, and his daughter was one of the most beautiful women in the empire. Such a life was truly regrettable.

Hmm? You're saying these are all good kids?

That's impossible. This means that the eldest son is the ultimate treasure, embodying the extravagance, corruption, and arrogance of the imperial nobility, even surpassing the level of nobility of 99% of the nation's nobles; while the younger son is the number one waste among the imperial knights, a group of useless people composed of noble sons and wealthy merchants' sons who crave status.

The daughter is the only one who isn't being sarcastic. She might not be the most beautiful woman in the empire, but she's at least the most beautiful woman in the capital. The problem is, besides a pretty face, she has nothing else.

The three children are: Precious, Useless, and Cute – what a lucky trio!

This made the old emperor, who had single-handedly pulled the empire out of its decline and even had the power to expand eastward to the Luster Plain, feel that he might have shot himself in the wrong way. Why was it that he and the empress, who were not only outstanding individuals but also quite shrewd, had such incompetent descendants?

"His Majesty......"

"Are they still arguing?" The Emperor looked at the "Hand of the King" (Prime Minister) beside him. "What time is it? Haven't they decided who to put forward to be responsible for the fall of the Eastern Hinterlands Fortress?"

"Regarding the fall of the fortress, there are many conflicting accounts, and..."

"Alright, you don't need to defend them. The people who should really be held responsible won't be here." The emperor chuckled and waved his hand. He didn't expect these nobles, or rather, the nobles, to honestly take responsibility. But it didn't matter. He was the emperor, and not a benevolent emperor like his grandfather. So, he didn't need evidence, or even for these nobles to confess.

The fact that he couldn't make an example of someone to set an example and correct the prevailing atmosphere was already a sign that the empire was in turmoil and he himself was deeply cursed, making it unsuitable to "disrupt unity" at this time. This did not mean that he would allow such a valuable object to remain in its original position.

"I have already dispatched the 'Soul Hunters'," the emperor said casually. He couldn't arrest such a precious creature and publicly execute it, but at least he could prevent it from clinging to its position. The specific method was that the dead do not shirk their responsibilities.

"His Majesty......."

"How is that matter?" The emperor waved his hand, indicating that the matter should not be discussed anymore. He was not his grandfather, who had spent so many years finally holding the armies of three knightly orders. He could not suppress all dissent in the country, but at least he no longer had to be subservient to the nobles.

"Although the Prophet Guild did make a prophecy, no one knows what the so-called sacred object actually looks like. Rather, the term 'sacred object' is just... a substitute name."

"Hmm..." The so-called prophecy refers to the prophecy of curing the curse on the emperor. As long as the problem of the curse is solved, the problem of succession is not so urgent.

Even though he is now referred to as the "Old Emperor," he is actually only in his forties and can still father children. If he can live a few more years, he can certainly have several new heirs.

This curse of unknown origin is extremely troublesome. At present, neither the Mystic Society nor the Royal Academy has any good solutions and can only suppress it temporarily. Under these circumstances, if he continues to work at a high intensity, he may not be able to produce an heir. Instead, he may die early and be reborn sooner.

"Actually, Your Majesty, Princess Freya isn't entirely useless..." After all, compared to the other two, this "Three-Egg God" truly has the qualities of a god, because his eldest and youngest sons combined are "more trouble than they're worth."

Yes, the eldest son is more likely to ruin things than to succeed, the younger son is less likely to succeed than to succeed, and the daughter is already quite good as long as "success and failure are all predestined".

"I once considered whether to follow the example of the Rada ruling council and send the three of them out in batches to gain experience, giving them a city to test their abilities." The emperor patted his helmet and put it back. "But then I thought about it and decided against it."

If it's the eldest son, you might give him a city, and he might rebel against you with a whole prefecture; if it's the younger son, you might give him a city, and then you'll lose a city; as for the daughter, it doesn't matter whether you give her a city or not, and it doesn't matter whether she goes or not.

"What sins have I committed?" Every time he thought of these three things, he felt a lump in his throat.

"Forget it, I don't want to think about it anymore." The emperor glanced at the sun outside the window. He was about to go and deal with those precious things. He looked at the capital city under the afternoon sun, the rows of mansions with their roofs, and the distant harbor and river. Finally, he looked at his father's portrait. "Father, if I cannot save this country from your failure, then let it turn to ashes."

He wasn't stupid; of course he knew who or which group had cast the curse. He just didn't have any evidence to find out exactly who it was. But that didn't matter. When he closed his eyes, he would order all the suspected nobles to be killed.

Anyway, whichever of those three comes to power, the empire is doomed. Since it's doomed anyway, there's no need for nobles and bureaucrats. Just summon everyone under the pretext of appointing a crown prince, then have the knights block the gates and kill them all.

Perhaps this approach will have surprising effects. After all, these noble families only have a few capable members. If they were all killed, a group of nobles facing off against another group of nobles might actually be evenly matched. As for the issue of foreign invasion, we'll set that aside for now. After all, the empire is large enough that it's unlikely to be destroyed by foreign enemies in the short term.

Outside Wind Candle Village, Roach set up a temporary camp. Old Ma found a sheltered spot and lay down comfortably. Piles of luggage formed a low wall. Livia sat surrounded by the low wall, staring at the blazing campfire in front of her. The firelight reflected in her eyes, like twinkling stars.

Food was obtained by exchanging a few dull pearls. When approaching the village supply point, it was best to eat fresh food first, and save the dried rations for the road. As a relatively wealthy village, the food in Fengzhu Village was not bad, at least compared to other border villages, it could even be described as luxurious.

Rye bread baked with bran made a metallic sound when tapped on a wooden plate. Large chunks of cured meat were covered with bitter, coarse salt. The vegetable soup was crystal clear, with a few onions and leafy greens floating in the water, without a trace of oil. The only thing that made one slightly appetizing was the freshly roasted capon, its oily chicken meat glistening with a layer of sheen, but the only seasonings were salt and some cheap herbs.

With a blank expression, Roach found a clean and flat large rock, used the [Exploding Demon Sword] to hold the pile of black bread against it, and rubbed the rune across the sword cake. "Boom!" The black bread turned into countless bread crumbs, which, under Livia's control, accurately gathered into the wooden bowl. After being roasted by the fire, they emitted a fluffy rye aroma.

Roach tossed the torn pieces of roasted chicken in, letting the fat coat the breadcrumbs. "Try it..." Leslie took the roasted chicken with some skepticism and took a bite.

The toasted bread crumbs were indeed much easier to eat, and after absorbing the oil, the meat wasn't as greasy. Surprisingly, the excessive coarse salt, after being processed in this way, neutralized the bitterness and sourness of the black bread, making it surprisingly palatable.

However, Roach was not a proper chef after all; his culinary skills were at the level of a culinary disaster. Even after this treatment, apart from Livia who still ate with relish, the other two ate in silence.

Leslie Teng stood up abruptly. "You guys eat first, I'll go get some seasoning." She jumped into the nearby stream without expression and returned a few tens of minutes later with a bag full of river clams.

With the freshness of the river clams balanced by the coarse salt and cured meat, and after simmering the vegetable broth in a small iron pot for a while longer, they finally had a dish to eat.

“Someone’s coming…” Leslie looked at the other end of the road. Roach and Livia seemed a little too unprepared. Wait, Leslie glanced at the old horse that was squinting and pretending to be asleep. Well, they really didn’t need to be vigilant. Anyone who came was just a sitting duck unless it was the Imperial Knights.

"Hey, is that them?" Roach recognized the trio who were happily driving a donkey cart along the main road. The cart was loaded with goods tied with thick ropes. The driver was a brown-haired boy, while a red-haired girl nervously watched the back of the cart, holding a bow. Another blond boy nervously gripped a short sword and a wooden shield.

"Are they robbing someone?" It's hard not to think of them as rookie robbers who just stole a truckload of goods and were chased by the cops.

"Clang clang clang clang!" "Run! A large group of monsters is chasing us!" Roach and Livia exchanged a glance. The old horse slowly stood up. Roach threw Livia and the luggage bag onto the horse's back, then led the horse towards the village gate.

"Huh?" Leslie stood there stunned for a few seconds, holding the bowl. "Holy crap, wait for me!"

After running a few steps, she felt increasingly uneasy. Wait, why would there be a large group of monsters in the civilized world? Even if there were, they should only be ferocious or at most dangerous. Why are you guys, who are living peacefully in dangerous situations, running away?!

"Clang~ Clang~ Clang~" The village watchtower also noticed something was wrong. With the help of several militiamen, the gate slowly closed. The three adventurers and Roach were the last to enter. Of course, they wouldn't stop adventurers and Roach from entering. When monsters attack a city, combat strength is crucial, especially for adventurers who specialize in fighting monsters.

"We almost, we almost died!" The red-haired girl gasped for breath, clutching her knees. Their team could only handle one dangerous-level monster at most, but this time it was a whole group, and these monsters were in very strange condition.

Precious torches were quickly lit on the log walls surrounding the village. In the dim light, Roach saw a large group of creatures that resembled upright-walking lizards, with green skin, holding wooden spears or broken blades, and some even wearing iron helmets that fit their heads quite well.

Rather than wild or dangerous animals, they are more like a group of soldiers. In fact, there has always been controversy about whether lizardmen are monsters or civilized beings. Since the "spirit lizardmen," who are considered civilized beings, insist that these things, which are only chest-high to an average person, are monsters, there is nothing anyone else can do about it.

However, it cannot be denied that these lizardmen have certain abilities to smelt metal and forge weapons, but they do have the characteristics of monsters, such as hostility towards civilized buildings, the ability to live in the Black Forest for a long time, and, like most forest-dwelling monsters, they possess innate magic-like abilities.

"It's a lizardman!!!!" The village militiamen screamed like girls, and then Roach saw the guy tumble and crawl away from the city wall.

Lizardmen, a dangerous-class monster, possess the following innate abilities: tree skin and thorn entanglement; biological ability: spitting poison; intelligence: medium; their strength and physique are equivalent to those of well-trained human soldiers. They live in groups, usually operating in 3-4 small teams, but may occasionally form larger groups.

Omnivorous, they eat everything from humans to various crops. They typically raid the area around the Black Forest but do not settle in normal areas. When their numbers reach a certain level, they will attack towns of humans or other intelligent beings, burning buildings and attempting to turn towns and farmlands back into the Black Forest.

This is information about monsters recorded in the Adventurers' Guild. There are at least a hundred such lizardmen outside right now, which, roughly speaking, is equivalent to a hundred-man squad of a territorial army. For a village with only a few part-time sheriffs, militiamen, and three adventurers, this is no different from a catastrophe.

"A lizardman attack!? At this time!?" The red-haired man looked at his scout master in surprise. Lizardman attacks were common, but usually occurred in the autumn because they hibernate in winter and need to accumulate enough nutrients before raiding nearby human towns and trade routes. The most important thing was that there were no lizardmen habitats in the Black Forest surrounding Windcandle Village.

The lizardmen's habitat is only near the Kingdom of Rada. It's impossible for them to bypass River Bend Town and several other towns and cross the Black Forest to attack Windcandle Village. In other words, these lizardmen attacks are definitely not normal.

"Could it be..." If anyone truly wanted the old emperor to die, it would be the neighboring country. Well, it didn't matter which neighboring country it was. However, as the captain of the Imperial Sky Knights, he couldn't imagine any way to control large-scale monsters. Could it be that the Rada Council had developed some new ritual or alchemical tool?

"Now is not the time to think about these things. Everyone pack your things and get ready to go to the city wall to help..." They didn't know what those Rada people were planning, but whatever the enemy wanted to do, they were prepared to sabotage.

The lizardmen hopped and skipped outside the city walls, as if performing a shamanistic ritual. They didn't launch any attacks, but judging from their harvesting of the still-green wheat and various edible insects and plants, they were clearly not there for a social gathering.

"They're preparing to attack the city."

"Yes, I reckon there's another small team that went logging. These lizardmen are quite intelligent; they're probably the vanguard that's drawing our attention."

"Hmm?" The red-haired man looked to the side and saw a man wearing a rough fiber coat leaning against the wooden wall, also observing the lizardmen outside. He was the one who had just spoken.

Are there still veterans in such villages who have experienced war? Only veterans who have actually fought in the war could say such things.

"How did you know?"

"Put yourself in their shoes. If I were commanding the siege, I would do the same. If possible, I would prepare a partially-strength army to besiege the city, and a fully-strength elite force to provide support nearby. If the enemy comes out of the city to meet us, we would attack from both sides to weaken their defenses before launching the siege. If the enemy sends reinforcements, we would ambush them and repeatedly inflict casualties on their forces."

Roach subconsciously said that this memory seemed to come from a game. He used to play a game where you could arrange troops, something like Total War, and that's how it was done.

"However, they shouldn't have sent such low-level troops to the front. If their morale drops to zero, it will trigger a chain reaction, and the high-ranking elite troops behind them will also be wiped out." Although he didn't quite understand the meaning of some of the words spoken by this scarred man who looked like he had been through many battles, he could still grasp the implications and wholeheartedly agreed with him.