“No.”

The Deceiver said.

“I can’t do that. If I break the rules anyway…”

His words were suddenly cut off. Instead, a terrible scream, a groan that seemed to tear one’s ears, flowed out. It was because Jimius forcefully twisted the dagger he had stabbed into the Deceiver’s neck.

“I’ll give you honor.”

The Deceiver whispered in a sweet and desperate voice.

“I’ll cure your younger sister’s illness. I’ll help you live a whole life. Only I can do it. I… Argh—!”

Jimius gripped the Deceiver tightly, exerting force with her hand. Her hand, touching the demon’s body that was hot like flames, immediately blistered as the moisture under her skin boiled.

The places where the blisters burst, unable to withstand the heat, turned bright red. However, Jimius couldn’t even feel the pain.

“Cut the bullshit.”

Jimius rebuked in a low voice.

“Last chance. Either make a contract with me to get out of this situation, or die here.”

The Deceiver, who had been panting with razor-sharp teeth exposed, screamed again. A thin stream of blood flowed from Jimius’s ear.

The dagger dug deeper into the demon’s nape, burning his flesh and black soul from the inside.

In the terrible, inescapable pain, the Deceiver’s energy gradually waned. The flames in his pupils flickered like a candle about to go out.

“…Fine.”

The Deceiver made a growling sound, grinding his teeth. Jimius smiled, sweating while firmly gripping the dagger that was pushed in almost to the base.

“Will you make a contract?”

“Cunning and gloomy wench. Your soul will never be saved. I’ll make sure you burn in flames for eternity.”

At the Deceiver’s chilling words, Jimius unexpectedly smiled with a refreshed expression.

“It’s not much different from the life I’ve lived so far.”

The vines that shot up from the cracks in the ground dragged Laila, Eustar, and Muge down into the earth.

As her skin scraped against rocks and her elbows hit them, Laila tried to chant a spell somehow, but it was useless. The vines that had crawled up her body like snakes tightly gagged her mouth.

She couldn’t breathe… She frowned at the dry, bitter taste on her lips and then lost consciousness.

How long had she been unconscious? When she woke up, Laila couldn’t help but groan in pain all over her body. Judging by the fact that one arm wasn’t moving properly, it was clear that she had either dislocated her shoulder or broken her arm somewhere.

“Eustar!”

Laila’s cry echoed loudly in the vast, empty space like a large cave. There was no answer.

“Lady Olga! Eustar!”

Her voice returned as an echo, overlapping and colliding. As she barely took a couple of steps while holding her hurt arm, Laila realized that a dim, hazy light was seeping out from somewhere.

“Eustar! Where are you? Lady Olga! Can you hear me?”

Laila limped towards the light. She was anxious that it might be an illusion created by magic, or perhaps a product of her own delusion, but surprisingly, the light grew closer and larger. It was seeping through a crack in a huge rock. The crack was narrow, but just wide enough for one person to barely pass through.

“Ugh…!”

Protecting her injured arm as much as possible, Laila squeezed through the crack in the cave. And for a moment, she lost her sight to a bright light that flashed like lightning.

It was a light brighter than even the flash grenades used in Tentinella. When the light gradually subsided and finally even the afterimage disappeared, Laila couldn’t help but stare blankly at the sight before her.

It was clearly inside a cave. It was undoubtedly underground where not a ray of sunlight entered. There was no doubt when looking at the stalactites hanging from the ceiling, the stalagmites rising from the floor, and the stream of water flowing through a very narrow crevice.

However, there was one sight that simply couldn’t exist right before her eyes. A tree was growing in the middle of the cave.

“What is this…”

Laila stared at the tree with her lips parted blankly. The color of the leaves was strange. Green ones and blue ones were mixed, but as she took a couple more steps closer, she realized that the blue ones were not leaves but the tree’s fruits.

For some reason, only this tree was emitting a faint light even in this dark place, and sitting on the solid roots that had pierced through the rock was a woman dressed in black.

“Who are you?”

Laila asked, not letting her guard down.

“Where is this place?”

The woman’s lips slowly parted. Her eyes and nose were hidden by the deeply pulled hood, but her lips were clearly visible.

— This is the end of the human world.

Laila’s eyes blinked silently. She couldn’t understand the woman’s words.

“Am I dead?”

Laila asked in a tense voice.

“Is that what you mean?”

The woman’s mouth moved again. Come to think of it, she wasn’t making sounds with her throat. Every time her lips moved, her words echoed and overlapped throughout the space like the echo Laila had heard earlier.

— No, young witch. You are not dead yet. This is a place where only humans can come, and only humans do come. If you were dead, you wouldn’t have come here.

“I don’t understand what you’re saying. Who are you?”

— I am the one who sees desires, the one who guards desires, the one who determines the boundaries of humans.

I still don’t get it. Laila thought. The woman’s words were like riddles and sounded absurd if you listened to them in a certain way.

“Are you a magician too?”

— No, I am not a magician. I have never been a magician, not even once.

“Then why are you here? What do you mean by guarding desires and… determining boundaries? What are you doing here?”

The woman’s pulled-down hood seemed to go down a bit deeper, and then she turned her head. When Laila thought she had caught a glimpse of the woman’s eyes through the fluttering cloth, she suddenly felt as if she knew her.

— This tree.

The woman pointed at the tree with blue fruits.

— This tree is called the Tree of Wishes. Long, long ago, humans made wishes to this tree. They broke off branches and took them away, or dug up roots and took them. Some people even tried to cut down the entire tree.

Laila held her breath and listened to the woman’s words. As she continued to listen, even the voice seemed familiar somehow.

— This tree, tired of granting wishes and human greed, sought a place to rest. I heard the tree’s voice and searched for a place where it could rest. The city of magicians, in the deepest part of it. Only when we reached this space where light cannot enter did the tree begin to breathe again. Many fruits have also grown.

“Those.”

Laila swallowed dry saliva.

“You mean those blue things? Are those the tree’s fruits?”

— Yes. They are blue plums.

At that moment, Laila suddenly felt a chill run down her neck and quickly looked around. On the edge of the circular space surrounding the woman and the tree, monsters had appeared.

Their appearances were varied, and some were in forms that Laila had never seen before. The most common were those that looked like crouching humans with arm-like limbs as sharp as blades and bluish glowing stripes.

The monsters panted fiercely and growled, but they didn’t rush at Laila or the woman.

There might be some kind of barrier. Laila thought. But she still couldn’t understand the nature of the tree, nor anything about the woman.

“Do… blue plums exist? In the world?”

— Aren’t they right in front of your eyes?

At the indifferent reply, Laila felt somewhat foolish. Then, as if telling her not to doubt, a sweet plum scent began to waft to her nose. It was the kind of smell that would come from cutting a well-ripened, juicy plum in half.

“Were these plums… originally this color? Or…”

— They were originally this color. Didn’t I tell you this is a ‘wish-granting tree’? Humans damaged the tree for their foolish and petty wishes, but in fact, it is these blue plums growing on this tree that grant wishes.

“Does it grant any wish, anyone’s wish?”

— That’s right, young witch. Do you have a wish you want to fulfill?

For a moment, the image of Eustar flashed through Laila’s mind. And then the peaceful scenery of Sierrow, and the image of living together there without any restrictions or disapproving glances. If I had a wish. Laila thought. If I had a wish, it would be to not be a witch anymore. Of course, it would also mean breaking the contract between Eustar and the Deceiver.

“Is there anyone without a wish?”

Laila said.

“Of course, I have something I want. A wish, that is.”

— Then eat one of these plums.

At the woman’s words, Laila approached the tree as if entranced. The plums were so abundant that they weighed down the tree’s branches. It was clear that even if she picked and ate one, it wouldn’t be noticeable.

Her wish that seemed impossible to fulfill. To live as an ordinary human, not a witch.

She had dreamed of it all her life. How much had she wished that one day she would wake up and find her hair color changed, her eerily clear red eyes different?

But such a thing never happened.

Once, Eustar had said that ‘persecution of witches is a thing of the Dark Ages.’ Laila actually couldn’t agree with that thought. Her life itself was the Dark Ages every day.

The habit of unconsciously lowering her head when she felt someone’s gaze staring at her hadn’t disappeared.

But. Laila thought. What if such a thing were possible?

— Come on. What are you hesitating for?

The woman urged once more. Laila looked at the tree, the woman, and the ghosts surrounding herself, violently growling or scratching the air. The strange thing was that most of the monsters were humanoid.

Perhaps they were the kind of evil spirits that first take over the shell of a human they find and cling to it like parasites.

Laila slowly shook her head.

“No, I don’t need it. I don’t want to follow your words.”

At that moment, the woman’s fingertips carefully curled. She seemed more anxious that things weren’t going in the desired direction rather than Laila’s words of ‘not eating the plum’ itself.

“Instead, I’ll ask a different question.”

After saying that, Laila pointed at the mass of monsters still writhing at the edge.

“What are they? How did they get here, and how are they unable to enter here? Did you create some kind of barrier to protect the tree and yourself?