"The Magic Witch…?"
The bookish little girl frowned, as though she had recalled something unpleasant.
She shook her head, speaking with absolute certainty.
"No chance.
Right now she's been tied down by the whole Faith Witch uproar. Even though we all know the Faith Witch is nothing more than a scheme by the Welcoming God Society…
The Tribunal Church doesn't believe it.
And the Supreme Church will pretend not to believe it either.
The Tribunal Church doesn't want a new Faith Witch to appear on the Supreme Church's side, and they certainly don't want to experience another crisis of faith collapse.
Even if they know perfectly well that the Magic Witch is innocent, they'll still charge forward down the same path, stubborn to the end.
Unless the Supreme Church publicly declares that they have obtained the Faith Witch, the Tribunal side will keep covering their ears and deceiving themselves like this indefinitely."
"You do have a point."
The Shapeshifting Witch folded her hands together, resting her chin atop them, quietly watching the bookish girl stuff small biscuits into her mouth from the tea table beside her.
After a long while, she finally spoke.
"Even so, we can't guarantee the Magic Witch won't leave the Wind Nation.
When I was in the Holy Court, I heard plenty about her overwhelming reputation—the strongest beneath demigods.
You should understand…
She's someone who fought the Pope of the Holy Court and remained undefeated."
"T-The Pope?!"
The literary girl spat out a mouthful of biscuit crumbs in shock.
She immediately realized her rudeness, forcing herself to swallow the crumbs, then hurriedly patting off the mess on her clothes.
Only then did she speak in disbelief.
"You mean that legendary demigod Pope?
What kind of joke is this?
Did he break through into some fake demigod or something?
Since when have demigods become so… unimpressive?"
Seeing her face flushed bright red with shock, the Shapeshifting Witch rolled her eyes and rubbed her little head with gentle annoyance.
"Don't get so worked up.
A demigod is still within the realm of mortals. He isn't a true god.
Even though that Pope can borrow the power of authority, even resonate with heaven and earth…
The premise remains the same—
He is first and foremost a mage.
And since he is a mage, he cannot escape magic itself.
So for the Magic Witch, who governs all magic in this world…
She naturally holds an inherent advantage."
"Y-You can't be serious…"
The literary girl was completely unsettled.
But the Shapeshifting Witch simply turned her gaze out the window, watching white doves flying in the distance, and spoke calmly.
"There are differences even among witches.
Differences in their progress toward divinity.
Differences in bloodline purity.
Differences in how deeply they have grasped their authority.
And that Magic Witch…
Is someone who has pushed all of those things to their absolute limit.
You could say she is only one step away from the status of a demigod.
Just one final threshold.
One missing opportunity.
And that opportunity…
May very well lie with our Hero."
"That's ridiculous. Isn't that just bullying at this point?"
The literary girl's face crumpled into misery as she stared down at her teacup, suddenly finding the milk tea far less appealing.
"Don't worry.
Her path doesn't lead here, so the probability of her personally intervening is low.
And with the agreement she has with the Tribunal Church, she won't leave the Wind Nation unless she has absolute certainty."
The Shapeshifting Witch offered reassurance—
Yet faint worry still lingered in her eyes.
Clearly, the matter was not as simple as she claimed.
But the concern vanished in an instant.
After collecting herself, she looked back toward the literary girl, gently brushing a few biscuit crumbs from her cheek before asking:
"By the way, Codice…
Do you know anything about those two young witches the Magic Witch sent?"
With the topic shifted, the literary girl shook her head, burying the newly learned classified secrets deep inside her mind.
If she dwelled on them any longer, it might disturb her state of mind.
So she took a few deep breaths, sipped her tea again, and closed her eyes in contentment.
"You mean Little Black and Little White?
Those two idiots should count as lucky if they don't ruin the ritual.
Expecting them to steal benefits from us would be a complete joke."
"So you've dealt with them before?"
"Yeah.
They're two fools who can't stand each other and constantly sabotage one another.
But if anyone dares bully either of them…
The other will immediately go berserk.
Their personalities are twisted beyond belief.
Honestly, I don't understand them at all."
"I see…"
The Shapeshifting Witch tapped her chin thoughtfully.
After a long silence, she finally said,
"Alright. It's getting late.
I won't disturb you any longer."
As she spoke, she reached out and rubbed the girl's head once more, then rose gracefully and offered her a courteous bow.
"Until we meet again, my dear friend."
With that, her body began to shift rapidly—
Until she ultimately transformed into a single feather, drifting slowly downward.
Watching this, the literary girl pouted, muttering under her breath.
"Hmph.
A 'dear friend' who won't even show her true name or face?
She really thinks we're idiots she can fool with empty promises all day long."
With a casual wave, she summoned a thread of magic that swept the feather over.
She played with it for a moment, then tucked it into the open book beside her as a bookmark.
...
Skoll Academy, Lower Division
Hel had been rather relaxed these past few days.
At present, she still lacked three authorities:
Harvest, Growth, and Recovery.
The first two had no news whatsoever.
The last one could only be obtained with Pestis's help.
But the most crucial obstacle remained—
The matter of suppressing the plague across the Southern Continent, the very thing blocking Pestis's road to godhood, had shown no progress.
From the information Hel gathered at the alchemical array construction camp outside the city…
This forbidden spell would take at least another three months to complete.
So during these three months, Hel could afford to loosen up.
Of course, she still made preparations of her own—
Monitoring the entire Savant City through countless undead insects…
Sending clones to other cities' construction camps to investigate…
But perhaps because her strength was still insufficient…
Or perhaps because that knowledge was deliberately sealed away…
She still could not truly understand what John was planning.
All she could tell was that his array forcibly gathered life, souls, and spirit power.
But what exact effect it would achieve…
She had no idea.
Hopefully I'm just overthinking it…
Hel shook her head.
Even her pink-quality Life Magic trait contained no record of such a spell.
That meant either—
This was not purely life magic…
Or—
It was something beyond even forbidden spells.
Either possibility was far beyond what she could brute-force her way through.
And just as she was worrying…
From the corner behind her, a small head of pale golden hair suddenly popped out.