His Breeding Obsession

It was both depressing and unpleasant, and Mirania strode on, trying to control the anger that was slowly beginning to boil over.

 

‘I wonder if the Witch Forest is still intact.’ 

 

As she entered the woods, the man-made fires seemed to have only burned the outer part of the forest, but thankfully it was more intact than it had been on the coast.

 

She was about to enter the realm of the Witch Forest.

 Crunch, rustle— 

At the sound of rustling bushes, Mirania quickly dismounted her broom and braced herself behind a large tree. She began to assimilate.

 

Soon, she heard the sounds of conversation.

 “Ha, I’m sleepy. They’re huddled up inside and not moving, so why did the Lord insist on keeping watch here?” 

Mirania frowned. They were armed wolf warriors.

 

‘T

his area, so close to the Witch Forest, is off-limits to non-clan members, but how?’ 

 

She listened to the conversation curiously.

 “Are you questioning the Lord’s orders?” “Uh, questioning, I’m not trying to behead anyone, I’m just curious.” “Don’t be curious.” 

Wolf beast grumbled in a cold tone of resentment.

 “Can’t you even ask him?” “What right do you have to dare to ask him something?” “…I don’t.” “Neither do I. So just follow orders and don’t let a single ant pass by.  “Tsk, okay, fine.” 

The voice was no longer audible.

 

Instead, a sharp, wary aura reached Mirania from her hiding place in the tree. Mirania clicked her tongue.

 

‘Grecan’s men.’

 

She wondered if they had realized she was fleeing here. But their demeanor suggests they’ve been wary of this place for more than a day.

 

‘I’m not sure, I can get past them with nature assimilation.’

 

Mirania thought for a moment, then shook her head.

 

One of the wolves was a bit on the loose side, so she should be able to slip in unnoticed for as long as she wanted, but the other was troubling.

 

‘Perhaps we should find another entrance.’

 

More scurrying would make it easier to break through.

 

Mirania moved, hoping to find an opening in the siege.

 

A quick sweep of the Witch Forest, centered on the Witch Castle, was unfortunately not promising.

 

Most of the warriors were awake and alert.

 

It was a lost cause.

 

‘We’ll have to try again at night.’

 

At night would be easier to disguise than the day.

 

Determined, Mirania cautiously backed away from where the wolf warriors stood guard, wide-eyed.

 

‘I’m going to my own home and I can’t even get in the gates.’

 

 

How has the world come to this, I lamented.

 

What has the world come to? Muttering like an old man, Mirania felt another fistful of anger well up inside her, anger at Grecan.

 

‘We’ll have to wait a long time for the sun to set… and I think we should visit Malandor’s quarters first.’ 

 

The original plan was to go to see him after making sure the witches were safe, but now that we’re running out of time, I guess it’s time to change course.

 

Mirania rerouted her path.

 

‘I’m sure Malandor knows exactly what’s going on here.’

 

He would be able to explain the situation in more detail than anyone else she had met so far.

 

Mirania’s pace quickened. 

 

Malandor’s mansion on the border of the Witch Forest.

 

Now that she was in Malandor’s territory, Mirania swept her hand across her goose-bumped arm.

 

‘It’s still warm and sunny outside, but it’s only in here that it feels like winter.’

 

This area, which most people would find strangely chilly and creepy, had a different meaning for Mirania.

 

‘This unpleasant sensation of something prickling against my skin.’ 

 

It’s a sensation that wraps around the body with more intensity than the waves that the Water dragon stirs up, making it impossible to get closer.

 

It meant that this was Malandor’s realm, full of corruption.

 “Fortunately, things have not changed here…” 

The world had changed so much, and Mirania was bewildered.

 

She smiled reassuringly, despite her physiological discomfort, and started to look around, but stopped at a strange sensation that passed through her head.

 

‘It’s strange, this energy… it’s not quite the same.’ 

 

Squinting, she took a closer look at her surroundings.

 

I thought it was an illusion, but upon closer inspection, I realized I wasn’t mistaken.

 

‘The concentration of the aura is low. That explains the strange sensation.’

 

Mirania stared at Malandor’s realm from a different perspective.

 

Malandor’s realm was naturally hostile to life. It was no wonder it harbored corruption.

 

Beneath this ground, Malandor’s skeletal slave soldiers slept.

 

A place where living things don’t step out of instinctive rejection.

 

There, worms were burrowing into the ground, albeit in small numbers. That was the problem.

 

‘There is no life.’

 

A phenomenon that might have happened anywhere else, but not here.

 

An uneasy feeling creeping into her chest, Mirania pushed her curiosity aside.

 

‘Do not be impatient. Once I meet Malandor, I’ll understand why this has happened.’

 

Mirania walked forward, but the sign didn’t appear for some time.

 [What an abomination. Why did they make a sign like that?]

 [This? Why? Don’t you think it’s cute? When visitors come, I must show them around. I’m sorry if you think I’m not kind enough, Mirania.]

 

As Milania walked along, scrutinizing the unchanged surroundings, she realized something else was strange.

 

‘Why hasn’t he come out?’

 

She was waiting for Malandor. Her aura should have already caught his.

 

But Malandor hadn’t even turned up his nose at her, even though the time had long since passed.

 

As if he had vanished.

  [Miraniaaahhhh!] 

With memories of the intense welcoming, Mirania felt very strange now that no one had shown up.

 

She ran a hand through her hair, as if to shake off the dreariness of her surroundings, and picked up her pace, which had slowed for a moment.

 

After what felt like an eternity, she still hadn’t seen Malandor.

 

‘Perhaps he has gone away.’ 

 

There was no point in coming all the way here without Malandor, the owner.

 

‘I should probably turn back now.’

 

Turning to leave, Mirania stopped in her tracks at the looming view of the mansion.

 

The strangeness she had felt all along was finally revealed.

  “…” 

Malandor’s realm has its own set of rules.

 

No amount of walking would have brought her to the mansion without his permission.

 

But the mansion appeared before Mirania’s eyes. It was in shambles, as if it had suffered an explosion.

 

The roof was blown off wherever it had gone, and it was easier to find a wall that wasn’t intact than one that was.

 

Black soot clung to the mansion.

 

The wood was charred and scorched, as if the fire that had consumed the forests that once surrounded the continent had passed through here.

 “…What the hell happened?” 

Mirania found her voice. Her voice came out crushed with surprise.

 

Aside from the state the mansion was in, there was no sign of Malandor’s aura anywhere.

 

Though I had thought the covenant had prevented me from feeling it, I realize now that the covenant must have been broken long ago.

 

In her desolate state, Mirania considered the most realistic possibility.

 

‘A war?’ 

 

But then…

 

‘Why is it like this?’ 

 

The rest of the place was fine, but why this place?

 

After recovering from her shock, Mirania searched the mansion and its surroundings to see if she could find out what had happened.

 

After an hour of searching, she found no sign of Malandor anywhere.

 

‘Someone must have taken out their anger on him, and a long time ago.’

 

Mirania’s eyes clouded over as she gazed at the trampled, shattered mansion.

 

An ominous premonition.

 

‘Why does this remind me of Grecan?’

 

Despite the lack of evidence, her intuition told her it was right.

 

As Mirania realized that Grecan was at the center of all the anomalies, she couldn’t help but connect the dots between him and things that didn’t make sense.

 

The more she explored the old world, the more she felt like she was following in the footsteps of what Grecan had been doing for 100 years.

 

‘Now I’m afraid of what else I’ll find.’

 

Sighing, Mirania sat down on a rock, away from the frenzy of Malandor’s domain.

 

She rested her hand on the handle of her broomstick leaning against the side and tapped her temple.

 “Should I go to the Dark Realm?” 

Now I had a reason to see Malandor. I needed to know how I got to this point.

 

It wasn’t anyone else, it was Malandor.

 

A being of such power that she was no match for him. Malandor was a powerful force that she couldn’t control.

 

‘There must be a story behind this.’

 

After all, if he wasn’t here, Malandor would be in the Dark Realm.

 

Unlike Malandor, Mirania didn’t know how to manipulate space, so she had no choice but to use the entrance as usual.

 

Mirania returned to the mansion. She headed for the basement of the mansion.

 [The entrance to the Dark Realm is hidden in the basement of my house. If I hadn’t blocked it, a demon would have jumped out on that fateful day. It’s a dangerous place, one that no mere mortal would venture into.]