Chapter 831 (1/2)

Chapter 831: A Decision with No Regrets

Translator: TransN Editor: TransN

Two days later, a strange-looking concrete boat slowly departed the dock of Neverwinter.

There was a huge swell, which looked like a moving hill, on the deck of the boat. It was completely covered with burlap cloth and guarded by fully-armed soldiers standing erect on either side of the boat, and a dozen God’s Punishment Witches.

The boat was the “Victory”. It was en route to transfer the soul device to the Great Snow Mountain where the Taquila witches would complete their incarnation ceremony and be integrated into the worm carriers.

Out of the confidentiality reason, the witches did not bid farewell. No whistle was blown as the boat took off, and even the loading job had been completed the night before without being noticed by anyone.

Roland stood at the sodden dock built with bricks and slabs, watching the shadow of the boat gradually fade away. He knew once the conversion was completed, there would be three worm carriers in Neverwinter, which would provide great help for both municipal construction and the defensive line project. However, Roland somehow did not rejoice over the progress as much as he had anticipated.

The two volunteering witches were called Jasmine and Lyra. From their original appearances in the Dream World, the pair looked just a little over 20 years old, almost the same age as Tilly. They both have outgoing personalities.

In order to let them have a good time, Roland had taken the two girls, Phyllis and the other witches to the amusement park in the suburb, where they had hopped on a Ferris wheel, ridden a roller coaster, experienced the haunted house (during which Jasmine had accidentally broken a ghost’s head dropping down suddenly) and taken a spinning pendulum ride. He had also allowed them to eat as much as they had wanted. Had Roland not earned some money by killing a few Fallen Evils a few days past, he probably would not have been able to afford such a revelry.

Jasmine and Lyra, in the past two days, had been in a total shock, but they had followed Roland submissively without raising a single question. They had screamed as everybody had when the roller coaster had inverted and had laughed like any girls next door when they had had strawberry sundaes. All in all, they looked no different than ordinary people.

If he had not known it beforehand, he would have never believed that these two girls had made a decision to sacrifice their human bodies and devote themselves to the battle against demons, just like the decision they had made 400 years ago at the bottom of the ruin in front of the magic core.

When the dream had ended, they had looked more serene than Roland had expected.

Roland had wanted to console the two girls, but words had caught in his throat. There was no point to dissuade them from converting to devouring worms, for it was an action neither in his interests nor in the interests of the united front. Words, in this case, had all become frivolous and more sounded like feigned kindness.

In the end, Roland had become the one who had been offered solace.

He still clearly remembered their words and the expressions on their faces back then.

“Thank you,” Jasmine had said with a smile, “and…”

“We don’t regret it.” Lyra had finished the latter half of the sentence.

At that moment, Roland could hear the throbs of their hearts.

They liked everything here.

But they did not regret making that decision.

“Your Majesty?” Phyllis, who came to send off her companions as well, looked at Roland. “Aren’t you… going back to the castle?”

The words pulled Roland back to the reality. By the time he realized it, the “Victory” had disappeared from his sight, leaving a haze of fogs behind it.

Roland put the thoughts out of his head. He took a deep breath and asked, “They really can’t disconnect themselves after being integrated into the carriers?”

As if to know what he wanted to convey, Phyllis lowered her voice. “A God’s Punishment Witch is different from a carrier. The former retain some basic consciousness even without a soul transfer. Our conversion to a God’s Punishment Witch was more like giving commands than a fusion. But carriers are different. They’re specific vessels that seal the soul permanently once the integration is completed, although those vessels will become dormant if not used for a long time. Nobody has ever managed to get out of one up to this date, at least none of the witches, not even Pasha, is able to do that.”

“But there’re beams of light above the carriers, right?”

“That’s right.” Phyllis nodded. “Without magic power, those cumbersome bodies can’t move independently.”

“Perhaps one day, we can also find a way to have their souls return to the Dream World,” Roland looked up at the distant, azure sky and said slowly.

After a moment of silence, Phyllis turned her eyes in the same direction. “Well… perhaps one day.”