Chapter 95

The Red Rose Dawn Society, which had briefly made a name for itself, crumbled pathetically with Isabel’s death.

It was undeniable that although Isabel was incompetent, her bold actions and obsession with power had held the Dawn Society together.

The Dawn Society, having lost its head, fled seeking self-preservation, but…

“My King. As you commanded, the chiefs of each tribe have brought the witches who fled.”

“The forest warriors have also captured the witches who tried to hide, as you ordered.”

The tribes under Wendigo’s rule hunted the witches thoroughly as soon as his order was conveyed.

Lucky witches surrendered and saved their lives, but those deeply immersed in Isabel’s witch supremacism all had their heads fly.

Wendigo, seated on the throne, checked the faces of the witches whose heads had been brought.

‘… Fortunately, the one I was most wary of is dead too.’

Ellen, the witch who had enchanted and controlled people.

As Wendigo wiggled his claw, the warriors brought Ellen’s head from among the pile of heads and presented it to Wendigo.

Wendigo placed the head on his hand and examined it closely.

Ellen’s face had lost its beauty from life and was full of scars, as if she had resisted quite fiercely.

Honestly, it was a surprising achievement. He hadn’t even expected Ellen to be captured.

For someone who could enchant people, hiding shouldn’t have been that difficult…

“Geron, which tribe beheaded this one?”

“Hmm… It’s the Freyr tribe. According to the letter sent with the prisoners, Sir Syr personally beheaded her.”

“I see.”

When Syr’s name came up, Wendigo could understand why Ellen hadn’t been able to escape.

No matter how good she was, she must have been utterly defeated when facing a woman who was like a great senior in the same field.

“Fortunately, all the most dangerous ones are dead.”

“I’ll have the heads cleared away.”

As Wendigo nodded, Geron instructed the attendants waiting outside to clear away the heads.

While the attendants were clearing the heads, Wendigo briefly looked over the surviving witches.

The witches trembled in fear as they felt that gaze.

The fear that one word from the spirit could make them one of the heads was an almost unbearable terror.

Especially since he had no expression… There couldn’t be a more terrifying situation for the witches.

‘Should I just kill them cleanly?’

As if responding to the witches’ expectations, Wendigo was having quite a brutal thought.

While their attack on the forest played a significant part in his resentment, he couldn’t deny that they were an uncomfortable existence.

Shamans were half scholars, so they could be sufficiently controlled by granting them mystery. For them, more budget directly led to peace.

On the other hand, it was hard to predict what to offer as a carrot to the witches…

Wendigo placed his hand on the option of execution and decided to hear others’ opinions as well.

“Geron, Skadi. Give me your opinions on how to deal with them.”

“The word ‘deal’ itself seems to indicate you’ve already half made up your mind…”

“I just couldn’t think of a more appropriate word, so don’t mind it.”

Geron, who had now reached the level of reading Wendigo’s true intentions even from his casually thrown words, didn’t disobey his lord’s order.

Since his lord had decided on a reason to kill them, he should think of reasons not to kill them…

“First, unlike the evil witch Isabel, there are probably quite a few among them who joined the Dawn Society to escape persecution.”

Geron first spoke considering their circumstances.

As befitting Wendigo’s loyal servant overseeing forest affairs, Geron received news of world events through various routes.

Among them, witches were the hottest topic recently.

While there had been heroes born with mystery before, they had never appeared so indiscriminately as now.

Naturally, from the perspective of nobles who wanted to maintain order, the emergence of witches was not welcome at all.

Just as their ancestors had grasped power through strength, there was no law saying witches couldn’t do the same.

“Not only the nobles of the Empire, but some northern tribes are beheading witches as soon as they appear. Of course, no one wants to die, so they had to run away.”

In a situation where everyone regarded them as omens of disaster, with not a few cases of entire villages being massacred for hiding them.

In such a situation, it was natural for witches to band together if they didn’t want to die, but…

“But that reason alone doesn’t erase their crimes.”

Wendigo shook his head and didn’t accept Geron’s argument.

It was no different from asking to spare the invaders just because they were pitiful.

This time he had fought alone, thinking there might be someone like Ellen who could enchant people, but if he hadn’t anticipated that, this side would have suffered considerable damage too.

He couldn’t show sympathy to those who clearly came as enemies.

As Wendigo showed a firm attitude, the witches looked at Geron with pitiful eyes.

Geron was disgusted by that burdensome gaze.

‘Anyone watching would think I’m the witches’ spokesperson.’

Geron closed his mouth, having nothing more to say. Honestly, he too thought killing the witches would bring peace to the forest.

As one lifeline was cut, the witches now looked at Skadi.

“Skadi. What do you think?”

“I…”

As Skadi trailed off, the witches prayed to the gods.

They prayed for positive words to come out of Skadi’s mouth, no matter which god was listening.

“I think it would be good to keep them alive and use them.”

“!”

The gods didn’t respond to their prayers, but Skadi brought up a positive suggestion as they had hoped.

She too was anticipating what Wendigo really wanted, like Geron.

Only in Skadi’s case, it was for a more practical reason.

“From a shaman’s perspective, witches are quite useful.”

Thanks to their innate mystery, witches had many advantages in creating artifacts and manifesting spells.

Moreover, witches could basically sense mystery, so they had a high potential to become shamans.

If nurtured well, they could obtain capable shamans.

“Hmm…”

“Recently, as Wendigo-nim’s territory has expanded, the shamans have been crying out. If we educate them well, couldn’t we supplement the lacking manpower?”

Certainly, when the dangerous element attached to witches was rephrased as high-quality manpower, it sounded quite plausible.

Recently, due to the increasing number of people hoping to become forest people, even existing shamans were working without time for research…

Taking this opportunity to increase manpower wasn’t a bad choice.

“Recently, when Osa returns to the hut, she falls asleep without even washing. Honestly, I feel a bit sorry for her.”

“That is quite pitiful.”

Wendigo pondered for a moment and reached a conclusion.

“You should thank Skadi and Geron. Their arguments have moved my heart, so I’ll give the witches a chance too.”

As Wendigo sat on the throne and drew his execution sword, no, ice sword, the witches panicked and bowed their heads.

The horrific scene created by that ice sword naturally came to mind, tormenting their minds.

“From now on, I will interrogate you directly. If you’re found to be evil, you’ll die, and if you lie, you’ll die too.”

“Th-Thank you for giving us a chance!”

“Thank you!!!”

The witches trembled and answered as Wendigo’s ominous voice hit their ears. However, in their hearts, they already felt like they had survived.

‘If nothing else, acting pitiful is easy.’

‘The spirit can’t know my past when he doesn’t know it.’

What increased from becoming a witch wasn’t just power; the witches who had actively cooperated with Isabel were no different from masters of acting.

The confidence of having successfully acted kind and pitiful dozens of times to deceive people.

Of course, not everyone would survive, but…

At least I will survive!

---

Wendigo’s judgments were quick and concise.

Most of the witches had their heads fly for being caught in their crimes by Wendigo or for lying.

To embrace those who were once enemies, one must embrace those exceptional from the bud, right?

Thus, after the witches who were acceptable to keep alive by Wendigo’s standards were filtered, a few days later.

Wendigo had a private audience with Skadi in the reception hall.

“Wendigo-nim. As you said, we’ve chosen a suitable place near the hut to prepare lodgings for the witches.”

While they decided to incorporate the witches, they couldn’t just let them roam freely.

It was obvious that if ordinary warriors got into a dispute, in the worst case it would end with one of them dying, but with witches, it wouldn’t end at just that.

Wendigo intended to isolate them until he confirmed that the witches were truly safe and useful.

As Wendigo nodded with satisfaction, Skadi brought up a question she had been saving.

“But… would it be alright for me to manage them?”

“You have the perspective of both a shaman and a witch, so I think you’re the most suitable personnel.”

Skadi felt a bit burdened, but Wendigo didn’t need much deliberation for his choice.

Honestly, if not Skadi, who else could be suitable for this role?

Teaching witches spells, and educating, no, correcting them so they don’t get tainted by strange ideologies…

“Once this is over, you too will be able to focus on exploring spells and mystery comfortably. As a bonus, you’ll be able to supplement manpower to assist you.”

“Hmm… I’m not sure if I can teach them well.”

“Well, if you just do as much as you do for Osa and the other shamans, the witches will be clamoring to serve you as their master.”

Wendigo assured her, recalling Osa, the glutton, no, Skadi’s secretary in all but name.

Osa’s skills had improved by leaps and bounds as she grew under Skadi’s advice, and among the shamans who had joined the forest together, Osa’s growth was unparalleled.

To the point where there was an exaggerated rumor going around as a joke that if you spent a night in Skadi’s hut, you could become a shaman…

If Skadi educated the witches, they would surely grow into quite decent talents.

“I’ll leave the treatment of the witches to you. I always trust you.”

“… When you say that, I have no choice but to work hard.”

Skadi smiled shyly at the show of complete trust.

It’s human nature to want to repay expectations when received.

Skadi left to draw up a curriculum to manage the witches.

Naturally left alone in the reception hall, Wendigo took out the pebble, no, magic compass that Jurturu had given him.

“Now I need to think about how to use this compass…”

Wendigo clicked his tongue while stroking his chin.

It was good that he had gotten something more from Jurturu, but the compass was quite troublesome.

At least it was certain that the direction the compass was pointing was outside the forest.

Since he couldn’t go find it himself, he needed to send someone to find the treasure, but… thinking about it, there were quite a few difficulties.

If he told a tribe to find it, what if it was outside his territory?

What if the person entrusted with the mission took the treasure and ran away?

‘My avatar might be able to go outside… No. Without my control, it’s obvious it would get beaten to death somewhere.’

In a world where beings comparable to spirits were gradually revealing themselves.

It wouldn’t be strange if there were those targeting a spirit(probably) full of mystery in such a world.

Just look at Isabel, didn’t she capture a spirit from somewhere and use it as a slave?

The last one that came to mind was Gulmag.

He had experience traveling the world, and rather than getting beaten to death somewhere, he had the strength to beat others to death.

However, after thinking carefully, Wendigo rejected Gulmag too.

‘It doesn’t feel right to tell someone who came wanting to get married to leave.’

In a situation without suitable candidates.

Wendigo decided to put off finding Jurturu’s treasure for now.

---

The rumor that the Red Rose Dawn Society had been smashed spread quickly through the north.

This was because merchants who had established deals with Wendigo acted shrewdly to score points.

They judged that Wendigo, wanting stability in the forest, would dislike establishing dignity and insignificant beings running rampant in the forest.

Naturally, how dangerous a place the forest was, and how powerful a being the king of the forest was, became known throughout the north…

Like the relationship between Skadi and Wendigo, this time too, it was unavoidable for rumors to be distorted.

It was inevitable for flesh to be added and subtracted as it passed from person to person.

However, this time the nature was a bit different…

“It’s said that rumors have spread that the Spirit Lord is taking in innocent witches. There’s talk that the Red Rose Dawn Society received the punishment of becoming trees for daring to doubt the forest king…”

“Well, if they’re innocent witches, there’s nothing wrong with recruiting them.”

Wendigo, receiving a report from Geron in the conference room, nodded with satisfaction.

Fools who believe rumors would abandon their shallow thoughts when they hear about the punishment, and witches with guilty consciences would find it hard to come.

At this rate, it could be seen as the problem being resolved quite well…

“What’s that?”

Wendigo extended his claw towards an owl that had entered through the palace window.

The owl drew an elegant curve and perched on Wendigo’s claw, then skillfully untied the message tied to its leg with its beak and held it out.

“It’s not easy for me to open with my hands… Oh, you’re quite skilled.”

The owl understood Wendigo’s words and moved its beak to unfold the message. It was an amazing skill, unexpected from an owl.

Wendigo slowly read the contents written crookedly on the message.

[ Hello. This owl was lent by Sir Gulmag. The witch and I killed people to survive, but they were bad thieves. Our witch is kind and capable. Please help our witch. – Gulmag’s disciple (to be), Jermy ]

“… It seems I’m not the only one with many strange things happening.”

Wendigo muttered his impression of the message in a strangely amused voice.

Geron thought it looked a bit petty, but he quickly erased it from his memory.