Miss Corinne's Wit

The screams faded away.

Shana stood in the center, surrounded by a pale green breeze, as everyone's condition rapidly recovered.

Seeing that there were no more issues here, Colin began to take stock of the spoils from this battle.

Opening his backpack, his gaze first fell upon several special items, most of which had belonged to that mage.

In particular, the more than six hundred Twisted Flesh Mushrooms were quite eye-catching.

[You realize that this mushroom might be synthesized with the Sunlight Mushroom you have seen; after synthesis, its negative effects will be greatly reduced.]

[At the same time, if handed over to a pharmacist of stage three or higher, they could synthesize a special drug that connects to the nervous system.]

"So that's how this stuff is used. It's a pity I don't have either of those things right now."

Colin muttered to himself before turning his attention to the other items.

A mage robe, a staff, a few dozen Mist Points left over after just spending them, a treasure map fragment, and a Twisted Soul.

"The Twisted Soul looks quite fresh; it must have been obtained today and sent to me immediately. Although that mage wasn't a good person, his dedication is worth acknowledging."

Colin toyed with the Shattered Staff in his hand, his gaze lingering on the mage robe, as he could vaguely sense the power contained within both items.

["Tattered Witch's Robe": When worn, your sanity will decrease to a certain extent, but you will gain mental protection three times the degree of that decrease.]

[Note 1: As long as I am stupid enough, I will not go insane.]

["Broken Frost Staff": When used, it can trigger the remaining frost power within. When released against enemies with a stamina below 4, hitting them three times or more will freeze them for one minute.]

[Remaining uses: 5]

[Note: Severely damaged, cannot be repaired.]

"Equipment with crowd control, not bad. Uh."

Colin subconsciously used his hint ability. A few seconds later, his body suddenly stiffened, and his expression became rather strange.

[You realize that these two items come from the same person. After the erosion of long years, if not for the superb craftsmanship, they would have long since decayed and become unwearable.]

[You know too little about it to trace its origin, but you have discovered a negative effect on it.]

[If the lifeform using this item is male, they will gradually become extreme with the frequency and duration of use, their male characteristics will be weakened, and there is a very small probability of them turning into a female.]

This is a set of items that should be sealed!

Colin threw the two items into his backpack with lightning speed and silently decided that he would never use this stuff even once.

Even if he had to jump off a building, he would absolutely never put on this outfit, let alone use the staff!

He did not want to turn from "Mr. Colin" into "Miss Coline."

Even having his male characteristics weakened was out of the question!

If he hadn't realized that this stuff might become an important quest item like Kadish's Wooden Wheel, he would have wanted to put it up for auction right now to trade for something else.

As for the Twisted Soul, Colin knew without thinking that it came from that witch.

After completing the quest, the hints for the two items might change.

"Regardless of whether I do the quest or not, since there's no problem with the item, I'll just crush it first. Let me see exactly what kind of place produces such things."

The twisted blue humanoid flame burned quietly in Colin's hand, emitting a pale blue light without any heat.

Colin looked at it repeatedly, confirming from every angle that the requirement to obtain the quest was 100% based on having an inspiration value greater than 9, and that it wouldn't require his own little brother, nor would it give Shana another sister, before he crushed it.

A familiar sense of trance quickly washed over him.

"Where am I? Cough, cough. Where are my sisters?"

"...I am a witch, I come from..."

"...What happened here? Why are there monsters everywhere? Where is the treasure? My sisters are still waiting for me."

"...Don't be afraid, I will stay and help you all."

"...I did not spread the calamity."

"I want to go home."

In a dreamlike scene that was hard to describe, Colin seemed to see a beautiful woman in a witch's outfit suddenly appear on this land.

She encountered problems upon her arrival and forgot many things, but eventually, she remembered them.

Her purpose in coming here seemed to be to search for some treasure, but perhaps out of pity, she chose to stay in this place to help the local villagers resist the calamity.

But someone leaked the news, letting the church know of her existence, and they believed she was the one who spread the disaster.

In the end, she was executed by the Order of Knights dispatched by the Church of Suffering.

"The church really doesn't do a single decent thing."

Colin muttered. So far, apart from Father Kadish, he hadn't seen them do anything good.

On the scroll, a new quest appeared.

[Triggered Quest: Homesick Witch.]

[Task Requirement 1: Defeat the "Aberration - Suffering Citizen - Suffering Knight" wandering on Silver Moon Bay and seize the Witch's Head from the shipwreck.]

[Task Requirement 2: Defeat the "Aberration - Witch's Head" inside the shipwreck.]

[Task Requirement 3: Return the "Witch's Head" to the temple in the Witch's Forest.]

[Task Duration: Unlimited.]

[Task Description: After learning that the villagers refused to reveal the whereabouts of this witch, the knight order from the Church of Suffering began a massacre under the pretext of mining.]

[In the end, her trail was discovered. Before she died, she seemed to harbor no resentment, only thinking of her hometown. Therefore, fulfill her dying wish to return home.]

[Task Rewards: Black Bread *999, 1000 Mist Points, Special Character Summoning Card, Title Gift Box *1, Level 1 Temple Construction Blueprint *1, 1000ml Water of Life, Ancient Tree of Life Seed *1.]

[Hint: The difficulty of this task is extremely high. You believe you lack the means to reach the "Witch's Forest," you believe you lack the means to seal the "Witch's Head," and you believe the threat level of the "Witch's Head" is above that of the Bigfoot Lord Aberration.]

After reading this, Colin gasped, feeling a deep sense of lingering fear.

This task overlapped with the "Revenge" mission he had accepted not long ago; if he had gone to do that task back then, the grass on his grave would probably be growing by now.

Because he would have very likely encountered this "Witch's Head," which was at least at the Lord-level.

It's a good thing I was clever and didn't act recklessly.

Colin breathed a sigh of relief.

At this moment, he took another look at the witch's outfit and only then noticed that the many tears were indeed caused by slashes.

Especially at the collar, there were faint, dark brown stains that looked like dried, discolored blood.

Clearly, this was caused by the blood that flowed out when this beautiful witch was beheaded.

Phew, these triggered tasks really shouldn't be taken lightly. They look simple in the description, as if you just need to kill a few monsters to solve them, but once you go, you find that they almost certainly involve Lord-level Aberrations.

If you don't have enough information, you'll end up in a desperate situation just like I did last time.