Chapter 44 – Witches of the Riverside

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Translated by Heavenly Cat

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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Sorrow consumed a lot of strength.

It was the price for resolving long-held emotions. For someone who had shed tears for a long time, a spoonful of warm soup was better than a hundred words.

Because people were comforted by surprisingly trivial and small things.

“Mmh. Broth should definitely be brewed with pork.”

“I miss plain chicken broth.”

“Chicken? Tsch, you pathetic fellow. Your stomach must be heavily filled to endure this harsh world. Will your stomach be filled by boiling and eating chicken?”

“All that airs while putting in mushrooms.”

“Ehey, then don’t eat it!”

“A-alright. Pork is better than chicken! Dammit…”

Today’s meal was a hodgepodge soup.

It was a simple dish where pork lard mushrooms and all sorts of ingredients were plopped into a dented pot.

The cooks stirred the ladles while exchanging jokes.

Although some would call it slop, to the people here, it was no different from a feast.

It was a giant leap forward compared to the time they called cabbage-infused water “soup.”

Clatter, clatter.

A street where only the sound of spoons scraping the bottom of bowls resonated.

I was looking down at the people from atop the watchtower of the fortress, experiencing the taste.

A sweetness with a soft and fluffy feel like a cupcake.

As expected, people lived on the power of food.

Just by eating well, a small hope arose.

Trying to survive without giving up even in a harsh world.

That was enough for the people to do.

It was after they developed sufficient strength that they would take on more difficult and important roles.

For now, I had to move.

Even while taking a rest, I had to plan for the future.

Ceciel was staying by my side for that purpose.

“Ceciel, I met the majority of the survivors at Santiom.”

“Santiom… were there people there?”

“They were people heading towards Santiom. That’s why it weighs on my mind.”

The refugees gathered at Santiom didn’t come from the same shelter.

Nesaro merely represented them. There were few cases where their opinions matched.

The frustrating indecisiveness must have been because Nesaro was in the position of coordinating opinions.

…And he must have also had some natural inclination for it.

“Nesaro, who came forward representing the refugees, only mentioned the rumor that angels were in Ranium, but didn’t divulge the source. I got the feeling he was deliberately not saying.”

“P-perhaps it’s because we shine so brightly that we can be seen even from other cities?”

Ceciel’s eyes twinkled, looking forward to praise.

Naturally, that could not be the case.

The opponent was the Black Sun. It didn’t easily permit coordination between cities, let alone survivors uniting within a city.

“Then you should have also known that I exist.”

“A-ah, I knew. I knew! But since the place you were at was the eastern side where the Dark Light is thick…”

“Since I was a god from after the pantheon, I did not know how strong the gods of the pantheon are. Am I similar to or weaker than them?”

I actually knew, but I deliberately asked the question.

Sure enough.

Ceciel suddenly turned her head and fidgeted with her fingers.

After hesitating like that, she stole glances this way and let out a sigh.

“…No.”

“Probably the majority of people found out about my existence by seeing the stars in the sky. Light created by just half a dozen angels uniting could not reach other cities.

Though the angel who did not know the ways of the world might have overlooked it, I was different.

In a world that had already completely collapsed, let alone exchange between cities, it was a daily occurrence for communication to be cut off even within a city.

It was difficult for the rumor that angels were in Ranium to spread.

“You said you continued to accept refugees? And you only knew it as them flocking after hearing rumors.”

“Ye-es, but…”

“Exactly who would have spread those rumors?”

My suspicion was already solidified.

The Black Sun and its allies were guiding the survivors as they intended.

What I had to find out was how they were doing it.

“I will interrogate those who came to Ranium first. Ceciel, cooperate.”

*

I chose the roundabout way to preserve Nesaro’s standing.

Nesaro might be weak, but he wasn’t someone who played tricks.

And a trustworthy person was the most precious asset in difficult times.

To ensure that Nesaro would not be lynched by his own group for supposedly divulging information under pressure, I had to obtain information from the people of Ranium.

It was the moment for Ceciel’s boisterous personality to shine.

“Isn’t it strange? That an attack came even though the sun didn’t rise?”

“C-certainly so. It was fine when the stars were out…!”

“That’s why I’m interrogating the suspicious parts. Speak clearly, where did you hear the rumor about Ranium?”

“Huh? I also heard it from a person at the shelter.”

Ceciel lost even all her comrades in this attack.

Whether this background was intended or not, it was instilling a subtle tension in the people.

Ceciel herself must have been moved after the shock subsided, as her eyes grew fierce.

“You decide your own life, will you die just because someone tells you to?!”

“No!”

“Then speak properly about who you heard it from!”

“H-ha-kne. Grandfather Hakne did!”

The interrogation went from one tail to another like this.

Although mostly only answers at the level of ‘Someone said so somewhere’ were returned.

I followed behind Ceciel while hiding my identity.

Although she didn’t know the exact location, Ceciel, who only heard that I was following, felt very aggrieved.

“Lord Star Creation, if my wings get dirty like this, you’ll take responsibility, right?”

“Are you dissatisfied with being tasked with the interrogation?”

“It’s because I have to suspect the people who came here believing in me…”

“Then, will you take the task of striking them down instantly when it is revealed that they are demon worshippers?”

The division of roles was thorough.

If a strange sign appeared while Ceciel was interrogating, I suppressed them immediately.

Naturally, the latter was much more cruel and difficult.

Ceciel stopped pouring out her complaints and became tight-lipped.

After going around and around like that for a long time.

“That big-mouthed Hakne blabbed it everywhere. Tsk.”

We finally met a person who knew the source of the rumors.

A grandmother who identified herself as Malu let out a sigh upon seeing Ceciel.

“I came here knowing where the rumors started. I feel bad, perhaps because all my friends died. I’ll have to clearly point out all the vague things so far.”

Ceciel glared at Malu with slightly bloodshot eyes.

Before I knew it, a resolve to beat the guy who spread the rumors seemed to have formed in Ceciel’s mind.

Grandmother Malu quietly scanned such a Ceciel and nodded.

“The angel’s words also have logic. Those people will also understand…”

“So, exactly who is it? Do you know where they are?”

Chop, chop, chop…

Grandmother Malu licked her parched lips and the inside of her mouth.

“They are people who like to listen to stories and pass them on. They aren’t very desirable people. However… it’s just that their harm is less than one would think.”

“Who are they? Do you know where they are?”

“Of course I know.”

It was the moment Grandmother Malu stood up while leaning on her cane.

“Hup. Lady Angel, this old woman will guide you, so clear up that pretty face. If you aren’t careful thinking wrinkles won’t form because you’re an angel, you’ll age rapidly like me.”

“….”

At the grandmother’s sly words, she again turned her head and looked back this way.

She seemed to have noticed that I was gathering strength, planning to step in if necessary.

Ceciel stared blankly at me and asked with only the shape of her lips, looking shocked.

‘Is it true?’

The angel who easily believed people sometimes showed a foolish side.

I pointed at Malu with my finger and frowned deeply.

Seueueup!

“…it’s important.”

She seemed to be quite concerned about the grumbling.

If senior angels were here, I would have scolded her for how she was trained.

I was glad we got Grandmother Malu’s guidance somehow; if we had failed, I would have given her a flick.

If she’s called the Guardian of Ranium, she must have been quite sturdy… Did her tension suddenly relax because I came?

I came to lessen my worries, but now I had ended up with one.

“Evaluation of angels’ work ability even includes an item for attractive appearance…”

“They are called Witches of the Riverside because they only appear near the riverbank. Even if they are called witches, they don’t cast curses or anything like that. They’re called witches because their gloomy appearance and damp footsteps are unpleasant. Usually, they are driven away, but if you treat them kindly, they’ll tell you this and that.”

Ceciel grumbling, the grandmother continuously talking about them, and me following silently.

I paid more attention to the grandmother’s story than Ceciel’s dissatisfaction.

Witches who only appeared near the damp riverbank.

My divine intuition warned me fiercely.

“In Ranium, we were supposed to meet… near this riverbank… but…”

Before we knew it, we had arrived near a wide riverbank.

It was literally a riverbank. Except for a few dried-up reeds swaying, there was nothing.

It was at this time that the grandmother, who had been leading the way confidently, lost her words.

“What I’m best at…”

“Ceciel, be quiet. Grandmother, why aren’t you speaking?”

I stopped hiding.

Ominousness was sticking to us stickily from all directions.

The moment I hurriedly approached Grandmother Malu, I knew the reason.

“….”

The grandmother was speaking.

She constantly pursed her lips and moved her tongue, squeezing out her breath, but no sound resonated.

That was her final end.

“….!”

Kkooreureureureuk.

The moment the grandmother tried to shout with all her might, what was inside was vomited out instead of sound.

Everything from the soup that was in her stomach to her red internal organs.

Ureureureureureureuk.

Inside and out were reversed.

She vomited so violently that her flesh was being carved out.

And the carved-out flesh crumbled into black dust and began to flow down like sand.

[You failed to keep the promise, Malu. Little child.]

“Ugeooreureureureu…”

[Was the cookie we gave you delicious? The cookie given as the price for keeping the promise.]

There was no way to save Grandmother Malu, who was dying while bloating bizarrely.

Even if Ceciel shouted urgently, there was truly no way to rescue her.

“L-Lord Star Creation. Lord Star Creation!”

“She unknowingly made a contract with a demon. I could not save her right now.”

Chul-puk, chul-puk.

It was the moment three women wearing worn robes soaked in water appeared.

But it wasn’t three.

They only appeared as three because they wore robes to hide their bizarre forms.

What the long robes, dragging on the ground, hid was a slimy slug-like body.

Only a pair of eye-bearing antennae and bait antennae to draw out prey resembled human form.

It was transparent enough for every single texture composing the body to be seen, but not clear enough for the other side to be seen.

What preserved the body composed of milky-white lumps was the large conch shell carried on the back.

[Then again, if a god who makes stars was brought, it shouldn’t end with just that much.]

Sweeping Conch Shell.

A demon under Blood-Soaked Mud, a true swindler who disguised a contract as a trivial favor and strong-armed it.

[…I showed that I am holding hostages. Star Creation, any thoughts of compromising?]

“Evil is immediately struck down.”

Since I saw the demon, what I had to do was also decided.

I immediately orbited the stars inside my flesh.