As expected of the Witch

The Scorched Earth Guard.

On the continent of Alfastia, this was a name that could stop children from crying and cause kings to lose sleep. As the Demon Race's most elite special operations force, they had achieved countless unimaginable feats. The most famous of these was Operation Crimson Dusk. A mere sixty-eight members of the guard, escorting the young Demon Crown Prince, forcefully tore through an ironclad defensive line established by tens of thousands of human allied forces. They even burned down three of the alliance's granaries on their way out before swaggering away.

And the Shadow Division of the Scorched Earth Guard were the absolute madmen among madmen, the elite of the elite. They answered directly to the highest combat power—the World-Destroying Witch—and were reapers walking in the shadows.

If Kuma were to announce this string of titles in front of the villagers of Buena Village, it would probably scare a few elderly folks with weak hearts into fainting on the spot, and might even draw an encirclement campaign by the Imperial Knights.

However, at this moment.

In this sun-dappled farmhouse courtyard planted with jujube trees, scallions, and garlic, Felsy, who appeared as frail as if she could be blown away by the wind and wore a plain cotton nightgown, simply lowered her eyes calmly. With her habitual gaze, as if looking down upon a mere ant from high above, she swept a glance over the beast-eared loli on the ground.

There was no emotional reunion, no embrace of surviving a calamity.

The air was so quiet that only the rustling of leaves blowing in the wind could be heard.

"At ease."

Her cold, clear voice rang out, devoid of any worldly emotion.

"Yes! Lady Xilu..." Kuma looked up excitedly, her eyes sparkling with fanatical worship.

"Do not call me by that name." Felsy frowned slightly, interrupting her. "Here, I am Felsy. That is the alias I am currently using."

"Understood! Lady Felsy!"

Kuma immediately corrected herself, but inwardly she was sighing in wild admiration:

Wow, as expected of the Lady Witch, she is truly flawless and leaves no loopholes!

Even though the entire continent of Alfastia was spreading rumors that the World-Destroying Witch had fallen, Her Ladyship hadn't relaxed in the slightest. To think she actually came up with the name Felsy! Wait, isn't that just taking the syllables from her original name Xilu Philthemis and flipping them around?

This seemingly simple name change actually contained the profound philosophy of the greatest hermit hiding in the city! The closer it was to her original name, the easier it was to create a blind spot right under people's noses! Is this the ultimate realm of mixing truth with falsehood?

Thinking this, Kuma climbed up from the ground and patted the dust off her dark green postman's uniform. She raised her head and once again cast a gaze full of passion and curiosity toward the frail figure standing by the jujube tree.

Huh?

Kuma's ears twitched.

Why had her hair turned silver?

One must know that the reason the world reverently and fearfully called Xilu Philthemis the Crimson Calamity was not only because of her world-destroying fire-element forbidden spells, but even more so because of her iconic, dazzling crimson long curly hair that resembled flowing, burning magma. That was a symbol of her noble bloodline, the physical manifestation of her overflowing magic power.

Now, that flamboyant red hair was gone, replaced by silver-white straight hair as cold and smooth as moonlight.

Even her entire aura... how should one put it, was quite different from her previous overbearing and even somewhat irritable presence. She had become more restrained and deeply unfathomable.

Of course, Kuma never doubted the authenticity of the person in front of her.

That unquestionable, majestic aura carved into her very bones, that oppressive feeling that could drop the temperature of the surrounding air just by her standing there—it was still the familiar flavor.

As one of the Thirteen Pillars personally trained by the Lady Witch, Kuma was incredibly familiar with her aura. The nose of the Beast-Ear Race could sniff out even the scent of a soul.

Then, the reason for the change in hair color was practically screaming to be revealed—

Kuma's brain worked at lightning speed, instantly constructing a perfect explanatory model:

She dyed it! And even got an ionic straightening treatment!

As expected of the Lady Witch! Not only did she use an alias, but she didn't even hesitate to alter her physical features, dyeing her red hair—the symbol of her glory—into an inconspicuous silver (although it was still quite eye-catching), and even straightened her originally aggressive curls to completely sever the karma of the past and achieve rebirth on a psychological level!

This is what they call altering one's hair to show resolve! This extra caution, this absolute determination to sacrifice her image for the greater good, is the true caliber of one who rules the world! Kukuku...

In reality.

Felsy had simply overdrawn all her lifeforce and magic power when she was on the verge of death, causing her hair color to completely fade into silver-white, and her curls had lost their original vitality due to magic depletion, collapsing into straight hair.

That was all there was to it.

Felsy looked at Kuma's ever-changing expressions and curled her lips almost imperceptibly.

Explaining it would be too troublesome, and admitting that she had ended up like this because of weakness would somewhat lose her face as a witch.

Thus, she chose to remain silent, treating it as a sort of tacit agreement.

"What is the current situation of Scorched Earth?" Felsy changed the subject.

At the mention of serious business, Kuma's expression grew a bit more solemn, though her twitching beast ears still betrayed her mood.

"Reporting to Your Ladyship, the situation is stable for the time being. His Majesty the Demon King—your father—is currently taking charge of the overall situation. He has deployed decoy troops along the border, sweeping up the remnants of the human allied forces while taking advantage of the power struggle within the upper echelons of the Three Splendors Church over the 'fall' of their Holy Son, using this window of opportunity to infiltrate more agents into the Central Continent... Naturally, I am one of them."

"Mm, not bad," Felsy nodded slightly.

"His Majesty is already aware of your situation. Although many elders advocated for immediately launching a full-scale war to avenge you, His Majesty suppressed all those voices. He asked me to pass on a message to you: 'Focus on recovering from your injuries and don't worry about matters back home. We will settle this score together, father and daughter, when you return. For the short term, we will shift to strategic defense and will not give the humans any excuses.'"

Although Kuma looked very young and even a bit scatterbrained, her report was highly organized and clear, truly worthy of an elite from the intelligence division.

After Kuma finished her report, Felsy digested the information, and the last heavy stone in her heart finally dropped.

Since her father had stabilized things on his end, she now had plenty of time.

"Very good," Felsy said calmly. "Then from now on, you will remain on standby in your identity as a postman of Buena Village and assist me in covering my tracks."

"Yes! This humble servant will definitely not fail the mission! Even if I have to deliver letters for the rest of my life, I will protect Your Ladyship's peace!" Kuma gave an exaggerated military salute.

After the salute, the courtyard fell into silence once again.

A gentle breeze blew past, and a withered, yellow jujube leaf landed squarely on top of Kuma's head. Not daring to move, she stayed just like that, balancing the leaf on her head as she gazed eagerly at Felsy.

One minute passed.

Two minutes passed.

Kuma finally couldn't hold back anymore and spoke up cautiously, "Umm... Lady Witch, may I ask..."

"What is it?"

"What exactly... should this humble servant do next? Are there any plans to destroy the village? Or a conspiracy to control the local lord? Please give your orders!"

"..."

Felsy fell silent.

Yeah, what should she do next?

This was the very question Felsy had been pondering for the past three months, yet it remained unanswered.

The flames of war had temporarily died down, and the situation had stabilized. Her fated nemesis, the Holy Son of the Eternal Radiant Moon, who had always opposed her and stuck to her like glue, had been personally annihilated by her own hands (even though she had nearly died in the process).

It seemed the only thing left to do was to sit quietly, eat, sleep, take her medicine, and watch Lynch busy himself in the courtyard.

This completely defied the rhythm of Felsy's life over the past eighteen years.

As far back as she could remember, her life had been a jam-packed itinerary. Cultivating magic, studying military tactics, suppressing rebellions, fighting against humanity... She was like a precision-engineered killing machine, operating without end.

These past three months spent in Buena Village were the only blank space she had ever known in her life.

In fact, it was not until this very moment, when a familiar subordinate appeared before her, that Felsy suddenly realized just how long she had been idle.

This sense of leisure felt entirely foreign to her, even inducing... a trace of inexplicable panic.

Should she be doing something? If only to maintain her persona as a Witch?

But she honestly had no clue. In her current state, she struggled to even cast a simple fireball. What kind of sinister plot could she possibly orchestrate?

Since she could not come up with anything, she would simply toss the question back. Such was the privilege of a superior.

"In your opinion, what should be our next move?" Felsy asked expressionlessly, her gaze as deep and unreadable as a dry well.

Eh?

You are asking me?

Kuma froze for a moment, her large, watery eyes instantly going round.

Lady Witch... is testing me!

She definitely is!

With Her Ladyship's wisdom, she must already have an earth-shattering grand blueprint in mind. The only reason she would ask a lowly operative like me is to test my strategic vision and see if I am worthy of participating in her upcoming master plan!

My, my, Lady Witch is just as strict as ever...

As the youngest and least experienced member of the Thirteen Pillars, Kuma had endured her fair share of beatings, scoldings, and brutal special training from Felsy. Once upon a time, relying on her status as a once-in-a-century genius of the Beastkin race, she had swaggered sideways through the Demon Realm under the moniker Crazy Little Kuma. That was, until Felsy pinned her to the ground and mopped the floor with her using only one hand, which finally convinced her to wholeheartedly become her loyal lackey.

This time, I absolutely cannot let Her Ladyship down!

Kuma took a deep breath, her expression shifting into a pie chart of emotions: three parts solemnity, three parts earnestness, and four parts unyielding resolve.

She booted up her not-so-developed brain and began to frantically analyze the situation.

During the recuperation period, safety comes first. So the primary objective should be transforming Buena Village into an impregnable fortress...

No! That is far too shallow!

Kuma suddenly snapped to attention. Someone as mighty as Lady Witch had been lying low here for three months; how could she possibly have zero plans for her own hideout?

Although on her way here, Kuma had not sensed a single defensive magic array, nor had she spotted any demon guards. But that only made it even more terrifying!

What appeared completely undefended on the surface was undoubtedly an airtight fortress in reality!

Kuma felt she had already seen through it all.

After a moment of deliberation, she cleared her throat and spoke in a tone that suggested she had grasped the ultimate truth. "In my humble opinion, our next focal point should not be inside the village, but rather the surveillance network outside Buena Village."

"Why is that?"

"Because you have obviously already conquered the inside of the village!" Kuma confidently pointed beyond the walls. "Although those villagers look like ordinary people, just foolishly farming and chatting out there, in reality... I presume they have long since been dominated by your mind magic and turned into your puppets! They are merely pretending to live like normal residents to serve as a smokescreen, preventing the Church of the Three Radiances from noticing anything amiss!"

"This perfectly explains why Your Ladyship dares to live here so openly! Because this entire village is your very own Undead Paradise!"

The more Kuma spoke, the prouder she became, thoroughly convinced that she was an absolute genius.

However, Felsy did not show a single hint of appreciation.

She looked at Kuma, her gaze shifting slightly, and calmly uttered a simple phrase.

"They are not puppets."

"Eh?" Kuma's smile froze on her face.

"The villagers are all ordinary humans. Living ones."

"Hiss..." Kuma drew a sharp breath as her brain went back into overdrive. "Ah! I understand now! It is a contract! They have all signed demonic contracts, selling their souls to serve you with absolute devotion... Kukuku, they are foolish villagers after all. A little bait is all it takes to easily corrupt their willpower. There is no need to waste massive amounts of mana on puppet spells, this is true resource optimization! Please forgive my narrow-mindedness, Your Ladyship!"

"There are no contracts either."

"Eh?"

"The villagers are perfectly... normal." Felsy thought back to how Lynch normally haggled with the local aunties. "No one knows my identity. And I have not done anything to them."

"..."

Kuma was utterly dumbfounded.

Neither puppets nor devoted followers? Then they were just a bunch of random nobodies?

Was Lady Witch really living entirely unguarded among a group of humans who could report her at any given moment?

"Then... where is your secret stronghold?" Kuma asked, refusing to give up. "There has to be an underground palace, or an alternate spatial rift, or something of the sort, right?"

"It is right here."

Felsy pointed at the dirt ground beneath her feet, and then at the somewhat dilapidated wooden cabin behind her.

"My stronghold is just this ordinary house."