Chapter 123

#123 The Witch and the Land of Centaurs (3)

For the girl, life was a continuous series of struggles.

Hunger and cold were as common as breathing, and every time she attempted to establish a home, fierce invaders turned everything to ashes.

Her father, the tribe chief, perished fighting against the ‘Multi-legged Servant’ that invaded their village.

Her mother died trampled while trying to escape with the girl and her siblings.

In the girl’s despair, the only remaining hope was none other than her younger brother.

He was strong like their father and remarkably brave.

Most importantly, her brother possessed a peculiar ability.

When enveloped in a golden aura that radiated from him, he could easily chop down a living tree with a small stone axe.

The tribe cheered.

They believed that if her brother grew up like this, he would become an even stronger warrior than their father and would be able to fight against the Multi-legged Servant.

The girl endured the hard days, dreaming of that moment.

However, fate remained cruelly unchanging for the girl.

One day, she saw a golden light in the sky.

Only after seeing the shimmering fur and wings reflecting the sunlight did she recall the legend her mother had told her.

It was a ‘Winged Servant.’

They appeared to be as free as birds, whispering amongst themselves, then snatched her younger brother away.

He struggled, swinging his stone axe, but what seemed like an intimidating attack barely managed to trim a few feathers from the winged servant.

The others of the tribe tried to help her brother, but before they could even fight back, the winged servant soared into the sky.

With her brother clutched in its grasp.

The girl could only watch in shock as her last hope was kidnapped.

The days that followed were incredibly barren and cold.

She lived day by day, rolling with the winds.

The girl felt like she was just a grain of sand swirling around on the ground.

Maybe that’s why.

Even when she was threatened with death by the Multi-legged Servant, the girl didn’t feel much fear.

She didn’t think surviving any longer would change anything for the better.

If she had any remaining wish, it was to die peacefully without much pain.

Even that felt indulgent when seeing her enemies dragging their feet deliberately, able to kill her easily.

Then, unexpectedly and without warning, salvation came.

She was wrapped in something black.

It was completely different from the leather they wore.

She had skin as pure as snow, and her eyes shone brighter than a sparkling lake.

With powerful teeth, she dispatched the Multi-legged Servant with ease.

She looked like a ‘Descendant of Strong Servants’ just like the girl, but in the details, everything was different.

“Goddess,” someone muttered.

The girl unconsciously accepted it. There didn’t seem to be a more fitting title for the woman before her.

Yet, there was no such being in the legends they knew.

The Golden Goddess Elphaba was their abandoned mistress.

To name the goddess who saved them, a different title was needed.

The girl suddenly noticed a crow flying in the sky.

It was nothing out of the ordinary. They had always seen that bird.

But at this moment, it felt like it held particular significance.

They began to call the goddess the ‘Crow Goddess.’

The goddess’s power was immense.

When they applied the herbs given by her, all kinds of wounds healed rapidly, and the servants the goddess commanded easily toppled gigantic trees.

Light returned to the girl’s dreary eyes.

This time, she hoped that perhaps something might really change.

Yet, as always, disaster swooped in to crush her hope.

The Multi-legged Servants were coming to raid them en masse.

Everyone was terrified.

Fighting back seemed pointless since the Multi-legged Servants bore the strong armor and weapons they had seized.

Their choice was to flee.

Many would perish, but at least some might survive. Or maybe just might.

But the Crow Goddess was different.

She neither fled nor hid; she boldly advanced toward them.

As many turned their backs on the goddess in disbelief, only a few, including the girl, stayed by her side.

The events that transpired next, and the awe they felt because of it, the girl could hardly put into words.

The goddess and the leader of the Multi-legged Servants argued, and the leader lunged at the goddess.

But the Servant’s sword could not touch her, and black smoke escaping from around the goddess engulfed them.

Though they thrashed in agony, none managed to escape and met a terrible death.

The miraculous incident didn’t end there.

When the Crow Goddess struck the ground with her staff, the group of deceased Multi-legged Servants rose up in unison.

The girl and the others were frightened, but the Multi-legged Servants bowed respectfully to the goddess.

Amidst the chaos, the girl realized.

The great Crow Goddess had taken those Servants from the Golden Goddess.

Something welled up inside the girl’s heart. She shared that feeling with her kin.

Her kin also shared the emotions the girl felt, praising the Crow Goddess.

The goddess’s advance didn’t cease.

A different group of Multi-legged Servants tried to obstruct them, but the servants the goddess commanded slashed through them even if their necks were severed or their hearts pierced without a care.

That wasn’t all.

When the Crow Goddess ignited the desiccated purple grass, dark purple rain clouds formed high in the sky, and the raindrops poured down on the enemies.

The Servants hit by the rain collapsed, frothing at the mouth.

The servants loyal to the goddess faced the same rain but seemed to grow stronger instead of weakening, driving the enemies back.

As all the foes fell silent, the goddess again struck the ground with her staff.

Then the hostile Servants rose, bowing their heads to the goddess.

It was truly a shocking and awe-inspiring sight.

The girl’s kin revered the Crow Goddess.

Some even sought to become ‘Goddess’s Warriors,’ attempting to drink the purple raindrops, but the goddess, for some reason, shrieked in fright and chased them away.

As the warriors despaired, the goddess, scratching her head for some reason, handed the weapons and armor of the Multi-legged Servants to them.

The warriors shed tears of joy.

The swords and armor of the Multi-legged Servants were treasures taken from their ancestors.

Though the anatomy of the Multi-legged Servants differed from theirs, making it hard to wear the armor as is, the strong-toothed goddess’s servants trimmed unnecessary parts, making them usable.

As time passed, the goddess’s army grew, and the ‘Strong Servants’ became worthy of their name.

When the Multi-legged Servants met them head-on, they were crushed; when they tried to use the terrain to their advantage, black smoke and rain clouds enveloped them.

When sturdy buildings tried to block the smoke and rain clouds, the goddess summoned translucent eerie beings to infiltrate them.

The Multi-legged Servants fled in terror from the buildings.

One by one, the strongholds of the Multi-legged Servants fell.

No one opposing the goddess survived; only those who swore allegiance gained the right to live.

Of course, the Strong Servants regarded them with disdain.

Voices rose demanding revenge, just as they had suffered till now.

But the goddess did not permit it.

The girl was in awe.

The goddess was indeed merciful and gentle.

However, there were some who failed to grasp that mercy and voiced their discontent in front of the goddess, claiming their ‘just revenge and rights.’

The girl was outraged.

She too had plenty of hatred for the Multi-legged Servants, but the goddess’s grace was more important than that.

The girl grasped one of the swords given by the goddess and split the heads of those spewing nonsense.

Everyone was dumbfounded. Even the girl herself was taken aback.

At that moment, she realized that a swirling mass of black light wrapped around her body.

It bore a striking resemblance to the peculiar strength her younger brother wielded.

If this power had been given to the old her, she might have been terrified.

She might have cried at night, fearing that she could be taken away like her brother.

But now, that seemed irrelevant.

What reason could there be for the black light, which resembled the goddess, being bestowed upon her at the moment of punishing those who defied the goddess?

This was truly the goddess’s blessing, the girl believed.

With blood and brain matter splattered on her, the girl smiled bright and bowed to the goddess.

Although the goddess seemed to flinch and step back slightly, the girl, looking down, didn’t notice.

As the sun began to dip behind the mountains, the Multi-legged Servants fully capitulated to the Crow Goddess.

The girl and her kin thought that the Crow Goddess would become their ruler and govern them, but that expectation was misguided.

The goddess created a boat using the Multi-legged Servants and prepared to leave the island.

Many knelt before her, pleading her not to leave, but the goddess resolutely shook her head.

Yet, like a final gift, she gathered the death warriors she had commanded and the translucent beings she had summoned, leaving behind a colossal tower.

The tower, adorned with a skull identical to the one the goddess carried, was incredibly wise and answered any question asked.

After the goddess departed, the girl wept for quite a while.

However, after crying enough, there was no more despair or frustration on her face.

The girl was no longer just a grain of sand in a barren field.

She had the black light bestowed by the goddess, and her kin were left with the wise skull.

Above all, for a girl who had been living aimlessly, she now had a ‘goal.’

Yes.

She had a debt of gratitude to repay.

And to repay that gratitude, the girl and her kin had to become stronger.

No, there was much more to gain than strength. She witnessed the Multi-legged Servants conversing in the same language as the Crow Goddess.

Just as the goddess had returned their swords and armor, they too needed to reclaim the language and wisdom to communicate with the goddess.

There was no need to ponder ways to regain it.

The girl and her kin had plenty of Multi-legged Servants, no, captured ‘prisoners.’

According to the goddess’s merciful will, they wouldn’t die, but there were many ways to utilize them without killing.

The girl constantly spoke to the wise skull.

Crows, civilization, technology, history, myths, clothing, society, arts, poisons, curses, battles, glory, gratitude, revenge, livestock, beasts, horses, humans, ships, navigation, other islands, conquest, the world.

The great Crow Goddess Dorothea.

With hopes of a future reunion, the girl smiled.

***

The blue sea. On a moderately-sized ship, Dorothea sighed.

“Did I go too far?”

Even though it was a rare chance to use necromancy without caring about others’ eyes, she couldn’t shake off the feeling that she might have overdone it.

It felt as if her nonexistent mentor was laughing at her, saying, “You can’t end up like me every day, huh?”

When she witnessed a native girl suddenly awakening her magical power and slaying her kin, she wondered what was going on, but thankfully it snapped her back to her senses like cold water on her head.

They said the goddess granted her power or something, but to Dorothea, it was utterly nonsensical.

It seemed that the only thing similar was the color of their magical auras.

In the end, she handed out a token gift just to shake off the clingy crowd, but truthfully, from Dorothea’s perspective, it was nothing lost.

After all, she couldn’t cross the sea with an army of civilized horses, and once Dorothea departed, there would only be a pile of corpses left behind, just a heap of surplus resources anyway.

“…Well, whatever.”

As Dorothea pondered how they might fare in the future, she soon realized that it was pointless and stopped her thoughts.

After all, once she defeated the West Witch, she wouldn’t have to deal with them again.

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