Chapter 384: “Not the Next Carver” (3k)
Honestly…
Will himself found it strange that he was using information from a gacha pool he casually set up in his past life to infer the monster appearance order in this world. But when a hypothesis is repeatedly confirmed by different answers, it becomes “reality.”
For him, he would eventually need to understand why everything related to that “game” appeared here.
However, it wasn’t now —
He finished speaking and looked at Lis.
He was waiting for Lis to ask “why,” but Lis had already given up asking.
“Let’s continue.”
“Step three, find… the dungeons within the strip formed by these several extinct dungeons.”
He pointed to a line drawn on the map, which had already excluded quite a few dungeons.
This was a selection he made with a degree of “stubbornness.”
Even so, many dungeons remained, requiring another step of selection to pinpoint one.
Until he discovered…
These dungeons, now confirmed to be the locations of characters from the original “Apex of the Galaxy,” formed a very standard rectangle with the four on the edges—the top and bottom sides were parallel and equal.
It was as if it formed a strip on the entire map, perhaps also hinting at a “galaxy.”
Therefore, he guessed that Ya’er’s dungeon must be among them.
Finally, Will pointed to the dungeon named “The End Ash,” stopping his teaching rod there.
“It’s the only one left.”
The dungeon named The End Ash—its name was similar to The End of Ice Abyss, as if hinting at the end of everything.
Within this dungeon was “Ya’er,” whom the witches had lost contact with and were constantly trying to find.
Lis had not yet responded to Will’s deduction, but Liya spoke first—
“How is it! Mom, isn’t the student I taught exceptionally brilliant!”
“Yes…” Lis forced a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “So brilliant… that I’m speechless.”
“He’s like this at school too. Let me tell you, his graduation thesis once left those few old professors I can’t stand in the audience dumbfounded, unable to ask a single question.”
“Liya, I mean… is it possible that you are older than those old professors you can’t stand?”
“Uh… Th-that’s… um…”
Then, Lis looked at Will, who was “reporting his achievements” on stage, once again—
“For me and for the witches, how we find Ya’er isn’t really important. Because we only need her to sacrifice herself and give the witches the ‘possibility’ of deciphering ancient magic, that is, the loot she drops.”
“I also know that I just need to hand in the results.”
“That’s right,” Lis spread her hands. “However, this time… are you going to take Liya with you?”
Will was taken aback by the question because Lis’s tone sounded more like a mother than a witch.
“Of course. I will go to that dungeon with Will. Although it sounds like a fire attribute dungeon, I might not be of much use in terms of offense.”
Lis nodded thoughtfully upon hearing this, seemingly contemplating something, but remained silent.
“…Then I wish you a smooth journey and that you can bring back the information that the witches’ most revered, original, and most important person traded for with their life.”
“Absolutely no problem!”
Liya’s reply was very decisive.
“…”
Will looked at Lis’s expression, which seemed to have something to say but hesitated, and fell into thought.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Night.
Without the lights on, and having removed the witch hat that was almost a symbol of her identity, Lis stood before the blackboard and removed the things from the map—for her height, this step was a bit difficult.
She hadn’t let Liya and Will take the map and blackboard back, claiming she would tidy up herself.
But in reality…
She wanted to keep the map, which Liya had also transcribed with the time of appearance and relevant locations, as a memento.
*Bang.*
As she thought this, she heard a faint sound of fire igniting from behind her, accompanied by the room’s lights being turned on.
“Who is it—”
The sharp-witted Lis raised her staff the moment she turned around, had already prepared an instant spell from her ring, and pointed it directly at the source of the sound.
But…
“Don’t be in such a hurry to fire, it’s me.”
The next voice came from behind her.
Will stood behind her almost too quickly for her to react and removed a corner of the map from behind her that she couldn’t reach even by standing on her tiptoes.
“Why are you here, and appearing like this? Where is Liya?”
“Because I sensed that my future mother-in-law seemed to want to say something to me. But she didn’t say it while Liya was present.”
Will displayed a friendly smile, a smile that even seemed to dispel the impoliteness of him sneaking into the room so silently.
“As for Liya, don’t worry about her. After having a great time playing with witches’ blood, she always gets exceptionally tired and sleeps very soundly.”
He stood in front of Lis, his demeanor completely different from his previous stance as Liya’s student, yet acting as a peer collaborator.
Lis felt that he was indeed speaking to her as a junior.
She looked at the love bite on his neck, which was completely exposed as he wore casual nightwear, and chose to believe his statement that Liya wouldn’t be around.
“…Liya didn’t misjudge you, and neither did I. You are indeed excellent at reading other people’s thoughts and negotiating with them with high emotional intelligence.”
Putting down her staff, Lis pulled out a chair at the table, sat down, and invited Will to sit with her, also pouring him a cup of hot water.
To Will, Lis, who was seated first, appeared more like an “elder” than she ever had before.
“I can understand that you… are worried about Liya leaving with me to go on this adventure, right? Just like any mother would worry about her child traveling far away.”
“Mmm…” Lis looked out the window, lost in thought. Her blond hair, the same color as Liya’s, fell by her ear. She impatiently tucked it behind her ear. “Actually, for us with long lifespans, our daughters gradually become less like juniors and daughters… and more like ordinary friends.”
As she explained, she placed her hand on the hot water cup, as if warming it.
“My mental state, having fully matured, will be fixed at a certain level for nearly eternity. As time passes, her mental state and experience will gradually catch up to me, and in many aspects, she will think more than me and do better than me…”
Lis gazed at the water cup.
“I will gradually forget the effort I put in when she was born, the hardships of raising her when she was young, and I will forget her state when she knew nothing, only remembering how she looks now, having caught up to me.”
In the reflection of the water cup, Lis saw her own expression soften into a smile as she thought of Liya’s childhood.
“Therefore, I don’t have big emotional reactions to her choices and departures—especially regarding love. If you were truly an elder, you would probably be very concerned or even control the partner she chooses, but if you were just her ‘friend,’ you might simply inquire about her current partner, that’s all.”
“…Although I haven’t experienced such a long lifespan, I can understand.”
“There was a time when I felt I had nothing much to teach her. I should let her go and understand the world that I myself don’t fully comprehend—like the human world.”
“Is that why you tricked her into Entak First Academy?”
“Pretty much. But…”
Lis paused and looked at Will. Her red eyes seemed to be scrutinizing him.
“I saw the important side of you to her.”
“I am deeply humbled.”
“After you ‘died,’ she returned here, but completely changed—she even started relying on my advice again, just as she used to rely on me as her mother. But after meeting you again, she reached a state where she could handle everything, make all her own choices, and understand everything.”
“I didn’t do anything, it was just a push.”
“So, at least when I see her smile, I believe you—I believe you are not the next Carver.”
“…”
Will understood that Lis sensed something was wrong with him.
He had originally intended to remain on the sidelines with the stance of a “junior,” but at this moment, he had no choice but to pull out a chair and sit down.
“I’ve always wanted to ask, did Carver do something to the witches? It seems like the witches have harbored intense hostility towards him from the very beginning.”
Carver himself, all his information, came from the “Adventurer’s Guild,” and the Adventurer’s Guild’s information… was completely controlled by him.
For Will, he was an opponent he couldn’t understand at all.
This was an opportunity he couldn’t miss.
Upon hearing this, Lis seemed to hesitate.
“You don’t need to worry about our father-daughter relationship—just as you implied I don’t need to worry about your mother-daughter relationship.”
“…Carver ‘deceived’ one of our witches, who was almost of the same generation as Liya.”
As soon as she finished speaking, Lis provided this answer.
“Could it be…”
Will’s heart immediately had a target.
In The End of Ice Abyss, there was once a witch in an S Rank Adventuring Team. She left a mark in the Adventurer’s Guild’s dungeon clear records, but no matter how one looked at it, her clear records were extremely misleading.
It was rare for witches to work for humans, and if the hint led this far…
“Sylph,” Lis said immediately. “—However, you wouldn’t know who she is by saying that.”
“Indeed, I haven’t heard that name. The Hysterm Family… among my older brothers and sisters, there shouldn’t be any children of witches.”
“She defected from the witches twenty years ago. The reason given was… she fell in love with the captain of the adventuring team she was part of at the time.”
“Was that captain… Carver?”
“Not the Carver who is now the President of the Adventurer’s Guild.”
Will originally wanted to ask what she saw in Carver.
But he suddenly realized that even from the lewd books he picked up on the street, he could tell that his scumbag father was exceptionally gifted at deceiving women.
Lis spread her hands.
“I’m not sure if she ended up well or poorly… but, the current Carver—your father, whom you know best, has no women around him at all. He acts like a cold, heartless, interest-driven merchant who can discard all past emotions at will.”
She sighed deeply.
“For him, perhaps all the women he deceived with love, and even everyone he’s known in his life, were just tools to be used and discarded in achieving his ‘grand ambitions’.”
Will presented this conclusion, which even he didn’t feel accurately described that person.
If even the witches, who had a witch deceived and taken away, couldn’t fully understand what Carver was trying to do, perhaps the person closest to knowing was Will himself.
“Although Carver himself has many disgusting things he’s done regarding dungeons…”
“But at least, regarding Liya…”
“I hope you will not become the next Carver.”
