Chapter 187 – Witch of Colors

Тhis mоnth wаs suppоsеd tо bе fоr rest while alsо gаthering informаtion on thе rеmаining twо Witсhеs, but…

I ended uр using up all mу timе on thе Моmiji Sрirаl cоllab.

It wаs truly useful timе, thоugh.

Тhе video fоr the sеcond pаrt оf the Momiji Spirаl, frоm bread-making to tasting it.

It wаs vеry well-receivеd.

I did а premium рremiеrе аnd еnjoyed it in reаl-time with the Listеnеrs.

Whеn Spicе оr Littlе Momiji сommentеd, everyonе gоt all eхсited.

I’m lоoking forwаrd to part thrеe nоw…

Whоops!

I complеtelу fоrgоt abоut gathering infоrmаtiоn.

“Todаy, I’ll bе surfing thе nеt tо gаther infоrmаtiоn.”

‘Well, уоu could call that a day off! By the way, Master, how is the next generation coming along?’

“Oh, going straight for it, huh, Flota? I’m starting to get the feeling it might be about time.”

‘That’s a Witch’s intuition! So it’s certain then!’

‘Hmm, I wonder if the next one will be a boy or a girl!’

‘Ah, I recently realized somethin’, but havin’ a male kinda adds a buffer in the relationship, makes it easier to act as a Witch, y’know?’

‘Ah, now that you mention it… Historically, the male successors of the Witch of the Sea tended to maintain their sanity better. Since Sea Magic is related to the sea and the moon, females tend to get pulled in too much, you could say.’

“New information!”

So, to get things going, we decided I’d surf the net in my Aqua Spice form.

‘Master, didn’t I tell you I’ve become able to swim in the Net Sea?’

“In terms of nuance, you did say something like that!”

‘Let’s dive directly into the internet to search for information~!’

That’s how it was decided.

As for the room, Ignite is stationed there keeping it warm for me.

He’s definitely a Grimoire you’d want to have one of in winter.

“Alright! A spell called Net Dive? That’s a new spell! I head towards the Net Sea! Now to swim and search for information! Net Dive!”

After chanting a makeshift incantation, it seemed the conditions were sufficiently met.

Just as Spice’s body flashed with light…

He went whoosh and flew right into the PC.

“This is totally different from VR!”

‘Well, you’re diving in directly. So even if you interfere with VR, since you have no physical form there, you’re like a Ghost, invisible from their side.’

“Whoa! So it’s a spell that turns you into information itself!”

‘By the way, if we sent all of Master in as information, the density would be insane, so we’re separating off a part of your consciousness. We’re borrowing Mentaris’s power for that.’

“Ah, it’s a combined spell!!”

Isn’t this a historically precious moment?

Well, in other words, half of Spice’s body and consciousness is in the real world, all cozy with Ignite.

Kinda jealous!

“Now, as for how to search… Marinna, you’re the expert here, right?”

‘Of course. The previous generation met the other Witches. The Witch of Colors is currently in Austria. Um, the Witch of Power is wandering all over the place, though.’

“So the one with a clear location is the Witch of Colors, huh. Alright, let’s gather some info!”

‘Be careful! The Witch of Colors can sense our presence even from net surfing!’

“That’s scary. Wait, can she really do that? Among the Witches so far, isn’t she on a whole different level?”

‘Didn’t Flota mention it? Colors and Power are in a league of their own. The more abstract the concept a Magic Art handles, the more advanced it is.’

“Eeek~”

Let’s search carefully.

Alright, first…

Austria Witch sighting info…

‘Master, so direct~!’

“Being straightforward is good!”

Trying it out, no such information came up!

I have a feeling she’s meticulously erased that kind of info.

Let’s try changing the search method.

“What does the Witch of Colors look like?”

‘Her appearance and voice are completely different every time we meet, you know. Even though she had a fixed form when everyone attacked the generation before the previous master.’

“I see, Witch of Colors~! Then, let’s search for info on people doing strange things.”

This brought up tons of info from Austria.

Within the Net Sea, arriving at the information source.

From there, pulling in many linked pieces of information…

“An old lady gathered birds and turned them into bread? A girl playing violin in the forest, and when adults wandered close, they turned into monsters? A woman floating down a river sitting on a sofa has been sighted. These are all the Witch of Colors. She’s freely active, huh.”

‘Her modus operandi is chaos, after all. It seems she was a little off even before being eroded by the Grimoire of Colors. Communication was apparently difficult.’

“I seeee. So she acts on her whims. Then if we go to Austria, we might be able to meet her fairly easily. Summarizing the sighting locations… she appears frequently around this area. Near Graz, the capital of Styria. So many words I don’t know.”

While narrowing down the information, something approached from far away.

Something’s approaching?

But this is just a VR Space, a visual representation of information…?

It was a humanoid figure, flickering every 0.1 seconds between an old woman, a young woman, a middle-aged woman, a little girl, a young girl.

‘Ah, we’ve been found. She’s attacking~!’

“Bad, bad, bad! This is horror stuff!”

The information turned yellow and stretched rapidly towards Spice.

“Whoa! Tidal Wave of the Information Sea!”

When Spice used a shortened incantation, zeros and ones surged like a wave, washing away the yellow color.

‘Niga sa mu’

“Scary, scary, scary! She’s talking in dissonance!”

Spice was already in Escape mode!

Man, the Witch of Colors is the most incomprehensible opponent I’ve ever faced!

Talking this out seems impossible.

But well, not giving up on trying to talk things through until the very end is what defines a modern human!

Red, blue, green.

Dodging the successive color attacks, Spice popped out and Spawned into the VR Space.

It seemed they had put a VR headset on me in the real world, allowing me to materialize here.

Once like this, it seems the Witch can no longer sense us.

‘She’s not versed in VR environments, after all.’

“How mismatched!”

‘It’s like that Trap she set on the phone line earlier.’

“Whoa, terrifying!”

And so, we gathered information on the Witch of Colors!

We gotta prepare for the trip to Austria!