Ch.95Chapter 95

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

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

The headless Dawn Society scattered, each seeking their own survival, but…

“My King. As you commanded, the tribal chiefs have brought the witches who tried to escape.”

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

The tribes under Wendigo’s rule hunted the witches thoroughly as soon as his orders were transmitted.

The lucky witches surrendered and saved their lives, but those deeply immersed in Isabel’s witch supremacist ideology all lost their heads.

Wendigo sat on his throne, examining the faces of the witches whose heads had been returned.

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

The witch Ellen, who had bewitched and manipulated people.

When Wendigo flicked his nail, the warriors brought Ellen’s head from the pile and presented it to him.

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

She must have resisted fiercely, as Ellen’s face had lost its former beauty and was covered in scars.

It was honestly a surprising achievement. He hadn’t even expected them to capture Ellen.

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

“Geron, which tribe beheaded this one?”

“Hmm… the Freyr tribe. According to the letter sent with the prisoners, Shir personally beheaded her.”

“I see.”

When Shir’s name was mentioned, Wendigo understood why Ellen couldn’t escape.

No matter how skilled she was, she had faced a woman who was essentially a senior master in the same field, so she had been defeated without a chance.

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

“I’ll have the heads cleared away.”

When Wendigo nodded, Geron instructed the waiting servants to remove the heads.

While the servants cleared away the heads, Wendigo scanned the surviving witches.

The witches trembled in fear as they felt his gaze.

The fear that a single word from the Djin could turn them into one of those severed heads was an almost unbearable terror.

And with his expressionless face… 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 indeed contemplating something quite brutal.

While he was quite resentful about their attack on the forest, he couldn’t deny that they were also uncomfortable existences.

Summoners were half-scholars, so they could be controlled sufficiently by granting them mysteries. For them, a larger budget directly translated to peace.

In contrast, it was difficult to predict what to offer witches as a carrot…

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

“Geron, Skadi. Share your thoughts on how to deal with them.”

“Your use of the word ‘deal’ suggests you’ve already half made up your mind…”

“I just couldn’t think of a better word, so don’t worry about it.”

Geron had reached the point where he could read Wendigo’s true intentions from his casual remarks, but he didn’t disobey his lord’s command.

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

“First, among them, unlike the evil witch Isabel, there are likely many who joined the Dawn Society to escape persecution.”

Geron began by considering their circumstances.

As befitting Wendigo’s loyal servant who oversaw forest affairs, Geron received news about the outside world through various channels.

Among these, witches were currently the hottest topic.

There had been heroes born with mystical powers before, but never had they appeared so randomly 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 seized power through strength, there was no law preventing witches from doing the same.

“Not only the imperial nobles but also some northern tribes behead witches on sight. Naturally, no one wants to die, so they had to flee.”

In a situation where entire villages could be massacred for harboring them, with everyone viewing them as omens of disaster.

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

“But that doesn’t erase their crimes for such reasons.”

Wendigo shook his head, rejecting Geron’s argument.

It was essentially asking him to spare invaders just because they were pitiful.

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

He couldn’t show compassion to those who had clearly come as enemies.

When Wendigo showed his firm attitude, the witches looked at Geron with pitiful eyes.

Geron was disgusted by those burdensome gazes.

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

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 hesitated, the witches prayed to the gods.

They prayed that whoever was listening would make Skadi say something positive.

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

“!”

The gods didn’t answer their prayers, but Skadi brought up something positive as they had hoped.

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

Only in Skadi’s case, her reason was more practical.

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

Due to their innate mystical powers, witches had many advantages in creating artifacts and manifesting spells.

Moreover, witches could inherently sense mystical powers, so they had high potential to become summoners.

If properly nurtured, they could become capable summoners.

“Hmm…”

“Recently, as your territory has expanded, the summoners have been overwhelmed. If we educate these witches well, couldn’t they help address our staff shortage?”

Indeed, when the dangerous element attached to witches was reframed as skilled personnel, it sounded quite plausible.

Recently, with the increasing number of people wishing to become forest people, even existing summoners had been setting aside research to work, and…

Increasing the workforce in this opportunity wasn’t a bad choice.

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

“That is pitiful.”

Wendigo pondered for a moment before reaching a conclusion.

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

When Wendigo, seated on his throne, drew his execution sword—no, his ice sword—the witches were terrified and bowed their heads.

The horrific scenes created by that ice sword spontaneously came to mind, tormenting their spirits.

“From now on, I will interrogate you personally. If you are found to be evil, you will die, and if you lie, you will also die.”

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

“Thank you!!!”

When Wendigo’s intimidating voice pounded their ears, the witches trembled as they answered. However, in their hearts, they already felt like survivors.

‘I may not know much else, but I can certainly act pitiful.’

‘The Djin can’t know my past when even I don’t remember it all.’

Becoming a witch increased more than just power; the witches who had actively cooperated with Isabel were masters of deception.

They had successfully pretended to be kind and pitiful dozens of times to deceive people.

Of course, not everyone would survive…

But at least I will survive!

* * *

Wendigo’s judgment was swift and concise.

Most of the witches either had their crimes discovered by Wendigo or lied and lost their heads.

If one were to embrace former enemies, one should embrace only those exceptional from the start.

After filtering out the witches who were acceptable by Wendigo’s standards, a few days later.

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

“Lord Wendigo. As you said, I’ve chosen a suitable place near the hut to prepare accommodations for the witches.”

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

If ordinary warriors got into a dispute, in the worst case, one of them might die, but with witches, it was obvious things wouldn’t end there.

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

When 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 summoner and a witch, so I think you’re the most suitable candidate.”

Skadi felt a bit burdened, but for Wendigo, his choice required little deliberation.

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

Teaching witches spellcraft and ensuring they don’t get indoctrinated with strange ideologies, or rather, correcting them…

“Once this is done, you too can focus on exploring spells and mysteries comfortably. As a bonus, you’ll have staff 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 summoners, the witches will be clamoring to make you their master.”

Wendigo assured her, thinking of the glutton—no, Skadi’s secretary-like assistant, Osa.

Osa’s skills had improved remarkably under Skadi’s guidance, and among the summoners who had joined the forest together, Osa’s growth was unparalleled.

There was even an exaggerated rumor that spending one night in Skadi’s hut could turn someone into a summoner…

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

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

“… When you say that, I can’t help but work hard.”

When he showed his complete trust, Skadi smiled shyly.

It’s human nature to want to repay expectations.

Skadi left to draft a curriculum for managing the witches.

Naturally left alone in the reception hall, Wendigo took out the pebble—no, the magical compass—that Jurtur had given him.

“Now I need to figure out how to use this compass…”

Wendigo clicked his tongue while stroking his chin.

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

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

Since he couldn’t go look for it himself, he needed to send someone to find the treasure, but… thinking about it, there were many complications.

What if he asked a tribe to find it, but it was beyond his territory?

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

‘My avatar could probably go outside… No, without my control, it would obviously get beaten to death somewhere.’

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

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

Even Isabel had captured a Djin from somewhere and used it as a slave.

The last person who came to mind was Gulmarg.

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 Gulmarg too.

‘It seems wrong to send away someone who came looking to get married.’

With no suitable candidates.

Wendigo decided to temporarily postpone the search for Jurtur’s treasure.

* * *

The rumor that the Red Dawn Society had been shattered spread quickly throughout the north.

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

They judged that Wendigo, who wanted stability in the forest, would dislike insignificant entities causing trouble in the forest and would want to establish his authority.

Naturally, word spread throughout the north about how dangerous the forest was and how powerful the forest king was…

As with Skadi and Wendigo’s relationship, distortion of rumors was unavoidable this time too.

It was inevitable that details would be added or omitted as they passed from person to person.

However, this time the nature was a bit different…

“There’s a rumor spreading that the Djin lord is taking in innocent witches. It’s said that the Red Dawn Society received the punishment of being turned into trees for daring to doubt the forest king…”

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

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

Fools who believed the rumors would abandon their shallow thoughts when they heard about the punishment, and witches with guilty consciences would find it difficult to approach.

This seemed like a fairly good resolution to the problem…

“What’s that?”

Wendigo extended his nail toward an owl that had entered through the palace window.

The owl gracefully landed on Wendigo’s nail and skillfully untied the message attached to its leg with its beak, offering it to him.

“It’s not easy for me to open it 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 scrawled on the message.

[Hello. This owl was lent by Lord Gulmarg. The witch and I killed people to survive, but they were bad thieves. My witch is kind and capable. Please help my witch. -Gulmarg’s disciple (prospective), Jermy]

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

Wendigo muttered his impression of the message in an oddly amused voice.

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