Chapter 156: Do you know? Snow is actually quite delicious

Late at night, in a wooden cabin in the village.

Seemingly sensing something, the eyelashes of the young girl sleeping soundly on the bed trembled slightly, revealing a pair of bright, emerald-like eyes.

She looked out the window with a grave expression. Although she could only see a vast expanse of white snowflakes, her instinct for perception told her that an incomparably massive torrent of magic was erupting several hundred meters away.

Even for her, at the peak of the Crescent Moon Rank, she felt as weak as a child in the face of this surging, river-like magic.

And the owner of this magic was, without a doubt, the Pale Witch who was traveling with her.

"Could it be that someone has angered her?"

Recalling the footsteps and knocking she had heard earlier, a trace of unease flashed across Dorovai's pretty face.

After hesitating for a moment, she picked up her Lionheart Sword, gently pushed open the door, and walked out.

She did not want these villagers, who had finally been saved from the famine, to suffer a catastrophe because they had incurred the wrath of the witch she had brought with her.

No matter what, she had to protect this village from the witch's fury.

The open space at the entrance of the village.

Under the snowy moon, the witch hovered in mid-air, her long hair fluttering.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.

A river-like, surging pale-white magic erupted from her body, each strand as beautiful as a white ribbon.

The torrent of magic she unleashed shot straight into the sky like a pillar of light, as if to tear through the pitch-black, starless night sky.

In front of her, all the villagers of the village were lined up in a long queue, kneeling on the ground.

At the very front of the line was a gaunt young man. The witch extended a slender, jade-like finger and tapped him lightly on the forehead.

The next moment, something incredibly bizarre happened.

Frost began to spread from the man's pupils, like countless tiny silver snakes burrowing into his skin.

His head, torso, and limbs were gradually submerged by frost, and his entire skin was covered in a layer of translucent thin ice, turning him into a lifelike ice sculpture.

However, this terrifying scene did not cause any panic among the villagers behind him; instead, their expressions revealed a hint of envy and anticipation.

It was as if being frozen into an ice sculpture was a blessing for them.

Rustle, rustle, rustle.

The "ice sculpture's" eyes suddenly bloomed with a pale blue, ghostly light. Then, he actually stood up from the ground, feeling his new body with ecstatic joy.

It was not until another "ice sculpture" waiting nearby coughed twice with a dissatisfied expression that he came to his senses. He knelt down piously toward the witch in mid-air once, then respectfully stepped aside.

Judging from their behavior, it would be more appropriate to call them living "Ice Men" rather than ice sculptures.

Immediately following this, the witch pressed her finger onto the forehead of the person at the very front of the line, watching as frost began to bloom bit by bit from their pupils, repeating the ritual of turning living people into ice statues over and over again.

"Th-this is?"

Hiding behind the village gate, Dorovai's expression was one of horror; this bizarre scene made her feel a sense of hair-raising dread.

One by one, the villagers were actually being transformed by the Pale Witch into humanoid monsters covered in frost.

And the most bizarre thing was that the other villagers did not feel fear or flee in panic; instead, they lined up piously like believers receiving a baptism from a priest.

What a blasphemous, what a twisted thing this was!

Dorovai's first reaction was that the Pale Witch was manipulating these innocent villagers to conduct some kind of magic experiment or to create servants.

After all, for a witch at the Radiant Moon Rank, manipulating the will of some villagers at the Mortal Rank was undoubtedly easy.

"What on earth have I done!"

The moment she reached this conclusion, Dorovai clenched her palms into fists, questioning herself in her heart with a pained expression.

It was she who had led the Pale Witch into the village, causing them to be turned into such bizarre monsters and falling into a fate worse than death.

This was all a mistake she had committed!

Even if she had acted out of good intentions, she could not deny this cruel fact.

"Let me make up for the mistake I have committed with my life."

Seeing an infant at the front of the line, just born and not yet having opened its eyes, being held up by its mother to the Pale Witch, about to be transformed into a monster, murderous intent boiled in Dorovai's heart.

She gripped the sword hilt with both hands, desperately draining the magic within her body; the wooden door beside her hummed and trembled under the agitation of her magic.

The moment the young girl raised her long sword high, a torrent of emerald magic erupted from the blade like a roaring lion, piercing straight into the firmament.

The airflow was torn apart, and the blade extended to dozens of meters long in an instant, transforming into a brilliant great magic sword.

Her hair flew like burning ice flames, and the ground beneath her feet cracked repeatedly as if it could not bear the weight of this strike.

Without a doubt, driven by the determination to die and the guilt of washing away her own sins, Dorovai unleashed the strongest strike of her life.

"With this sword—I judge the witch!"

She swung her arm down, the great sword tearing through the air, dragging a comet-like trail of magic light as it crashed down toward the Pale Witch in mid-air.

"What a cute child."

Dorothy examined the infant in the woman's arms below, curled up in swaddling clothes, its skin so delicate it still showed a pink luster. A faint maternal concern flashed across her originally expressionless pretty face.

This infant reminded her of her daughter; when she was just born, she was also this cute—no, my daughter was even cuter than this child.

"Such a small infant, must she really be transformed into an Ice Ghost that can only endure the cold for eternity?"

Even for a witch who had always been hard-hearted, she felt a slight reluctance when facing a newborn infant.

However, watching the expression on the infant's mother's face below, full of prayer and panic because the ritual had been delayed, Dorothy quickly suppressed this unnecessary sympathy.

After all, in this country where famine ruled everything, being transformed by her into an Ice Ghost that did not need food might not be a bad thing for an infant.

Perhaps because she was transformed into an Ice Ghost right after birth, she would not perceive the cold as a form of pain.

Boom!

Just as Dorothy reached out her hand, wanting to tap the infant's forehead lightly, an instinctive sense of danger prompted her to turn her head and look behind her.

A giant emerald sword, dozens of meters long, stood between heaven and earth, and the knight girl holding the hilt was staring at her with eyes full of anger and murderous intent, swinging the great sword down violently.

The emerald greatsword whistled through the air with the force of a vacuum-shattering strike, swearing to cleave the witch ahead in two.

Tsk, quite frightening.

Dorothy curled her lips, guessing the reason in almost an instant.

After all, this was not the first time such a situation had occurred, and she had no intention, nor was she in the mood, to explain.

Because anyone who attacked her, regardless of the reason—whether it was a misunderstanding or a mistake—would have to suffer her all-out retaliation.

This was her principle as a witch.

However, considering she quite liked this upright female knight with a cute face, she would just break one of her arms or gouge out one of her eyes as punishment.

Dorothy thought to herself. She extended a finger, and a massive amount of pale-white magic gathered at her fingertip, compressing and transforming into a white ball of light blooming with brilliant radiance.

This was just a casual strike from her, yet it was a strike that even a powerhouse at the Crescent Moon Rank might not be able to withstand with all their might.

As long as it hit, that cute female knight would inevitably suffer heavy injuries or even death.

"Stop!"

Just as the great sword was about to fall, an Ice Man suddenly opened his arms and blocked the trajectory of the falling great sword, shouting loudly.

Even though the person was already covered in frost, and his eyes had turned into pale blue without pupils, Dorovai still recognized his identity from his weathered face—the village's old headman, Boge Chu!

Even though the old headman had become a monster, Dorovai, who did not want to be stained with the blood of innocent creatures, immediately twisted the sword hilt.

Boom, boom, boom!

Accompanied by a deafening slashing sound, the great sword landed on the snow, instantly carving out a narrow crack dozens of meters long.

At the same time, an arm made of frost was also severed, falling into the crack.

"Headman!"

Seeing the old headman's arm severed, those villagers who had already turned into Ice Men, as well as those who had not yet, all gathered around.

Some even glared with hatred at Dorovai, who had rushed over in a hurry.

Slap!

The old headman, with only one arm left, silently slapped that person.

"How can we look at a kind person who has helped us with eyes of resentment?" Boge Chu reprimanded faintly.

Then he turned around, looked at the knight girl in front of him with a guilty expression, and slowly bent his knees, kneeling on one knee toward her.

"Respected Knight, thank you again for your kindness. Although I am old and my eyes are dim, I can still judge that you swung that sword out of the kindness of wanting to save us," Boge Chu thanked her sincerely.

Even though his arm had just been severed, there was not a trace of anger on the old man's face, only sincerity and gratitude.

Dorovai: "..."

"But please know that we were not bewitched by the Pale Witch; it was out of our own volition that the whole village went to pray for the witch to grant us 'redemption'."

"Redemption!?" The young girl was stunned.

"Are you sure you want to call being turned into this kind of monster 'redemption'?"

"Yes. Perhaps for someone noble like you, this is an unimaginable disaster, but for us lowly people, this is undoubtedly true redemption," the old man said with a bitter smile.

"We, as we are now, although we can no longer feel warmth, although we will be seen as monsters by everyone, although we can only hide and scurry like rats... but!"

Boge Chu's voice had originally been full of sadness, but at the last moment, his tone suddenly changed and became high-pitched.

He suddenly grabbed a handful of snow from the ground and stuffed it into his mouth, chewing it carefully.

"From now on, we can eat snow to survive," he replied while chewing the snow.

On his weathered face, an unprecedentedly brilliant smile bloomed, and two lines of crystal-clear tears, like melting snow, flowed slowly from his eye sockets.

"Do you know? Snow is actually quite delicious."

"And such delicious things, we can eat our fill every day," the old man replied with a face full of happiness.

Under the lead of the headman, those villagers who had turned into Ice Men, as well as those who had not yet been transformed, all scrambled to eat the snow on the ground.

"Delicious."

"It's so delicious, I've never eaten anything so delicious."

"Is this the feeling of being full? Thank you for the witch's grace!"

Dorovai stared blankly at this absurd scene; she even suspected that she was still trapped in a nightmare from last night.

Otherwise, how could such a scene, even more twisted than hell, appear in reality?

They are human!

How can humans eat snow?

How can humans, in order to be full, not hesitate to become monsters!

The knight, who had practiced swordsmanship day and night for ten years against the wind and snow, and had already made the sword a part of her body, now had hands that trembled incessantly like a candle in the wind.

With a bang, her Lionheart Sword, which she viewed as equal to her life, fell into the crack in the ground.

At this moment, the young girl felt as if her heart had been pierced by hundreds and thousands of swords, becoming riddled with holes and shattered.

Because she had already realized that the Northern Region was too big, and there were too many hungry people; she could not provide enough food for everyone to be full, and neither could His Highness, and no one could.

Perhaps, the civilians of the Northern Region being turned into Ice Men who could survive by eating snow was really a kind of redemption...

The young girl's head was dizzy, and she did not even notice the Pale Witch in mid-air slowly drifting in front of her.

The witch pointed casually, and the Lionheart Sword that had fallen into the crack and Boge Chu's ice-crystal arm slowly floated to the ground, wrapped in pale-white magic.

That arm was reconnected to Boge Chu's empty shoulder.

The old headman bowed and thanked her with a face full of gratitude, and under the witch's signal, he led all the villagers to retreat silently, leaving the space only for the two of them.

"You dropped your sword," Dorothy said faintly.

"My former husband once said that for a knight, losing one's sword is a shame equal to being wounded in the back."

"You are an excellent knight; do not tarnish your honor," the witch said meaningfully.

Dorovai received the Lionheart Sword from the air in silence, and then...

"I, Dorovai Mason, the last bloodline of the Mason family, the youngest daughter of the Lion King, an exile, offer you—a kind witch—my most sincere apologies and respect."

She bowed deeply toward the witch in mid-air to apologize.

She had launched an attack on the witch rashly without knowing the reason; this was undoubtedly her fault.

Although it was possible that all of Boge Chu and the villagers' actions earlier were manipulated by the witch, if it could be done so realistically and so shockingly, then even if she were being deceived, she would accept it.

Upon hearing this surname, even the Pale Witch could not help but be stunned.

After all, when she had just left the castle and embarked on the Path of Pain, the Lion King, who was the first to raise the banner of rebellion against the Gluttony King, was renowned far and wide.

And after hearing Dorovai take the initiative to reveal her identity and apologize, the look she cast toward the other party softened significantly.

If only her daughter could also grow up to be such a cute child.

However, with her heterochromia, she was probably still closing off her heart like last year, hiding in the library reading books alone.

Sigh, I'll go secretly see her after I finish this period of time.

Unfortunately, because of the deal with my God, unless it involves life and death, I cannot appear in any part of her life.

Tap, tap.

Dorothy tapped her smooth forehead lightly with her finger, temporarily suppressing her chaotic emotions, and instead looked at the knight in front of her with a gentle gaze.

"Dorovai, I admire your great feat of slaying Lucas for the people of the Ice Plain Territory who were trapped in famine. I hope you can continue to create your great feats," she praised.

The lords who sold the people who provided her with the Power of Pain to the Old Bat's Slave Capital—every single one of them deserved to be cut into a thousand pieces!

It was just that after being beaten by the Mad Wolf and the Old Bat, it was inconvenient for her to take action openly, but the knight in front of her was undoubtedly a very useful blade.

"Although the time traveling with you was short, it was pleasant. This is a gift I bestow upon you."

A crystal-clear snowflake landed gently in Dorovai's palm.

"When you encounter danger, crush it, and I will transform into wind and snow and come to your side to take action for you once."

"Upright knight, I look forward to your upcoming great feats in the Northern Region."

The moment the words fell, the witch smiled slightly and transformed into snowflakes filling the sky, disappearing without a trace, leaving only Dorovai standing silently in place, not knowing what she was thinking.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 157 =====