Miss Witch’s Devotion Has Gone… Twisted

This diary was the longest diary Loren had ever read, but that was not a good sign; it meant this diary was very likely the last one.

The diary recorded how the Dawn Princess was gradually defeated. At that time she had become the strongest human, but even so she could not match a god.

”I failed. Even though I found the Teacher’s angel, it was useless. With the Teacher gone, her power could not be fully expressed.

”Because they followed me in rebellion, my people also lost the chance to survive. Even if they now turn to the Orthodox Gods, it is already too late.

”During this time I also discovered the Orthodox Gods’ weakness: they cannot interfere with the ocean.

”To let my people live, I had no choice but to sink my nation into the sea, and by using a curse I turned my people into Merfolk, so they could never move on land again...”

”By the way, Melody, I’m curious about something.”

Reading this paragraph, Loren thought of a question that had bothered him for a long time:

”How do Merfolk reproduce, and why are there only females? You all came from normal humans, right?”

”We reproduce by parthenogenesis, so we can only give birth to females...”While she spoke, her eyes never left the grill.

The smell of the barbecue was unlike raw meat at all. Loren guessed that when Melody returned home, she probably wouldn’t be able to eat the regular food anymore.

”Melody, let me touch your tail.”

The moment Loren said that, he was locked under several pairs of gazes. Scarlett, who was still eating, did not notice what had happened at first, but when she saw everyone staring at Loren she joined them.

”Don’t you think that request is a bit forward? If you’re feeling awkward you can touch mine first.”

Mirrorheart said calmly, and Naclis was not to be outdone:

”Mine’s fine too, anytime! What’s so special about a fish tail?”

Saying that, Naclis stuck out her leg, rolled up her pant leg, revealing the white stockings beneath.

”What is going on? I just wanted to examine the Merfolk’s anatomy...”

”That sounds even more suggestive...”

”......”

Loren ignored Mirrorheart and waited for Melody’s answer. Let them misunderstand if they wanted.

”Alright.”

Melody truly had no guard against Loren. She adjusted her posture and extended her lower body, the tail, out in front of Loren.

Only then did Loren see many abrasions on Melody’s tail, with scales falling off.

Given Melody’s physical constitution, it shouldn’t be possible for her to get scraped just from wriggling on the shore for a bit.

This was a curse, preventing them from coming ashore.

Loren first sprayed a little Healing Potion on her wounds, then placed his hand on her tail.

”Did you always like this? You’re perverted...”

Anna covered her mouth and sighed.

”Shut up.”

”Oh.”

Loren felt carefully. The bones in Melody’s lower body were not fish bones; they were more like human leg bones.

He even felt her knee joint, which explained why Melody could assume a kneeling-like pose earlier.

”As I thought... the essence of Merfolk is still cursed humans... and over the years there hasn’t been much change.”

Little change might be due to parthenogenesis—without genetic diversity it is hard to evolve.

But that might not be entirely bad for Merfolk; at least they retained the possibility of turning back into humans.

”Scarlett, get a large fish tank out.”

”Okay, okay.”

Scarlett held a skewer in her mouth and produced a large fish tank out of thin air, leaving Melody stunned.

Soon Melody realized something:

”Is she a witch? Of course, the book was right. You’re really here to save the world!”

Loren hadn’t finished reading the book, so he hadn’t seen what Melody was referring to.

After placing Melody into the water-filled tank, he resumed reading the diary.

Only the ending remained in the book, an ending Loren already knew.

”I know I must die. If I don’t die, they will not have peace, and people’s lives will not be stable.

”Before going to my death, I found the diaries I once wrote. These are my treasured memories, but I no longer have the time to reminisce about the life I had with the Teacher.

”After authority was taken from them, the world’s protective wards also vanished, and the Outer Gods returned to corrode this world. So I used the Goddess of Love’s power to prevent these diaries from being destroyed, and I injected some Super-tier Magic into them, allowing these diaries to serve as Magic Scrolls...

”This is my last diary, so I poured my strongest magic into this book. This magic is meant for a do-or-die outcome.

”How laughable. In their eyes, my threat was greater than the Outer Gods’ threat. I chose to die so they could calmly resist the Outer Gods.”

At this point the Dawn Princess’s handwriting, already messy, became even more hurried.

”If people in later ages read my diaries, I hope you can find a way to save this world.

”Although this request is presumptuous, I truly have no alternatives. If things continue like this, this world will sooner or later be destroyed.

”Without my Teacher, the Perpetual Observer, the only ones able to solve them would be the Witches. Only Witches can harm the Orthodox Gods, who are protected by authority...

”For that reason I even found the Teacher’s angel, but without the Teacher present her power was limited. We could only wait for the Teacher to return... if that was possible.”

These were the final sentences of the diary, not counting the struck-through ”I also want to live” at the end.

The time span covered by these diaries was not large. Put plainly, the Dawn Princess was just a pitiable girl forced to face the gods. She was afraid of death and did not want to die, but she had no choice.

If she did not die, more people would have to.

”How tragic...”

After finishing the diary, Loren suddenly felt pity for the Dawn Princess.

If it hadn’t been for the gods, she might have happily lived out an ordinary life and ended the brief span of a mortal’s existence, but fate had other plans.

After that reflection, Loren examined the magic recorded in the diary.

[Apocalyptic Rain]—that was the name of the spell. It could make rain fall across the entire world and never stop.

This rain inflicted no direct physical harm, but it would extinguish people’s hope, drain all their positive emotions... including faith.

If this magic were unleashed, people would gradually lose faith in the Orthodox Gods. Without Anchors, the Orthodox Gods would be eroded by the authority of the Final Singer and ultimately be assimilated by the Singers.

Perhaps afterward the Singers would appear and deal with the Outer Gods’ threat, but they might not care about humans. They are not the Perpetual Observer and would not walk the human world.

Loren guessed even the Observer could only come to the human realm after losing half of its authority, to interact with mortals.

By then, even if the world were saved, it would still move toward an apocalypse... at least the end of humanity.

That was why the Dawn Princess considered this a do-or-die magic, yet, when facing death, she did not use it.