"Who are you, by the way? And what was that monster just now?"
Lancel slowly pushed himself up, using Faust’s support to steady his body before answering.
"Lancel. I was with Miss Fiore when, all of a sudden, that witch attacked us. I believe she’s the one responsible for all of this."
"I can see that. The distortion itself seems to trace back to that... witch."
The green-haired witch paused for a mont, her gaze sharpening.
"But if I may ask, what was that other signature?"
The mont the question left her mouth, the atmosphere shifted. Even Faust turned to him.
"Signature?"
Lancel frowned slightly, repeating the word as if trying to understand it. But he couldn’t understand why the air around them had suddenly changed.
"A powerful signature was felt here for a good minute," the green-haired witch continued. "Sothing that overshadowed even the distortion itself."
"...."
Lancel was certain she was referring to whatever Nyarlathotep had done. Whatever that spell was, it wasn’t sothing he understood, nor sothing he could control.
A spell that had dragged him into that strange fantasy, and when he returned, all that remained was death.
anwhile, the green-haired witch had already moved. She crouched beside the crimson-haired witch’s body and inspected it.
Then, her eyes widened.
"Dua?"
Faust glanced over.
"Do you know this witch, Countess Gretelle?"
"Dua Evangelist..." Countess Gretelle said, her gaze fixed on the corpse. "She was exiled two hundred years ago under false accusations, placed by her own master. A calculated move to remove her."
She paused for a mont before continuing.
"By the ti the truth was uncovered, it was already too late. During her exile, she practiced taboo magic. To think she was the one behind all of this..."
Even in that state, reduced to scattered flesh, blood, and exposed organs, Countess Gretelle continued her inspection. She was dangerously perceptive.
"Fiore shouldn’t have been strong enough to stand against Dua Evangelist. And yet, she was left in an autonomous after-death state."
Her gaze landed on Lancel.
"Were you the one responsible for that?"
Lancel swallowed. The pressure behind her gaze was so sharp, it felt as if she could stare daggers into him.
"...Yes. I nearly lost a limb doing it."
"Impossible. A re human like you, putting up a fight against a practitioner of Death Magic."
Her eyes narrowed slightly, though she didn’t look away.
"But Fiore has been in that state for a while..."
There was too much to consider and too many inconsistencies to ignore. And yet, it seed like Lancel wasn’t lying.
From his battered body alone, it was clear he had fought Dua. He had killed her and forced her into an autonomous after-death state.
"He might not look like it, Countess Gretelle," Faust said. "But Lancel is actually well-versed in dealing with witches."
"Leviathan..."
"Ex-mber," Lancel replied. "I’m not part of the organization anymore."
"...That would explain it. At least, if I try to make sense of it that way."
Countess Gretelle let out a sigh before shifting away.
"But enough of that. There’s sothing else."
She raised her hand and pointed toward the distance.
"There’s sothing sinister over there."
In the direction she indicated, Mount Kratoa lood.
* * *
As they moved forward, Countess Gretelle uncovered a parallax within Mount Kratoa. A spell that created a gate while masking all traces of its existence.
It was clear Dua Evangelist had used it to conceal a hidden lair she had built inside the mountain itself.
The mont they stepped inside, the sll hit them.
If the stench outside had already been unbearable, then the sll within couldn’t be described with simple words. It was worse in every sense. Even Lancel, soone accustod to dealing with corpses, nearly lurched from the intensity of it.
But the sight was worse.
Corpses were scattered everywhere. Not just beasts, not just the critters that road the Wastefield, but others as well. And more than that, wide-brimd hats lay among the remains.
Witches.
Dua’s victims hadn’t been limited to monsters alone.
"Is that... a pentagram?" Countess Gretelle said.
At the center of the space was a large formation, carved out amidst rubble, stalagmites, and stalactites. A crimson pentagram stretched across the ground, clearly traced entirely in blood.
"A ritual..." Faust murmured.
"This is insane..." Gretelle continued, her gaze fixed on the Pentagram. "A witch attempting to call forth an Outer God..."
She paused, as if weighing her own words.
"I’ve heard the stories. That a Death God was sealed within Mount Kratoa. I dismissed it as nothing more than fantasy. But for Dua Evangelist to go this far, to attempt sothing like this... at this rate, it might not be a myth at all..."
"An Outer God sealed within Riviere...?" Faust said, her eyes narrowing as she examined the scene more closely.
Even Lancel could grasp the weight of what they had found.
This wasn’t just the uncovering of so forgotten tale. It was sothing that might have been deliberately covered up as a myth to maintain peace within Riviere.
No one said it out loud.
But it was clear to everyone in that space.
If Dua Evangelist had succeeded, things would have turned for the worse.
That evening, a wide-scale investigation was initiated across the Wastefield. The distortion had been cleared, and even several Eruditions were called in to examine Mount Kratoa.
What they found left little room for doubt.
Dua Evangelist had indeed attempted to summon an Outer God.
A day later, an Erudition gathering was convened. Faced with the findings, Cyrene, the current Grand Witch, had no choice but to speak.
——Oh, right. I forgot about that. It’s true. rlin and I had even assisted the First Grand Witch, Vivienne, in sealing it. Heh.
For a mont, the room fell silent.
Then, reactions followed one after another.
At the re ntion of rlin, jaws dropped. A legendary witch, known as the sole apprentice of the Origin Witch, a being considered far more mythical than even the First Grand Witch herself.
As for Lancel, he had been brought in for questioning.
His involvent hadn’t been made public, but Countess Gretelle still wanted answers.
"So, I take it you were the one who saved my apprentice, Lancel?"
"I guess so..."
"And you were the one who accepted my request to pick up Fangscale Lizards?"
"Yes. That was definitely ."
Gretelle lowered her teacup as she considered everything for a second.
"Then an appropriate reward must be granted."
"...."
"As the one responsible for saving my apprentice, you may na anything you want, Lancel."
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