Miss Witch’s Devotion Has Gone… Twisted

Loren used Abundant Magic to conjure up a large pile of firewood, then lit it with fire magic, starting a campfire right there.

Food ingredients were even less of a problem. To deal with situations like this, Scarlett had stuffed a ton of food into her space. Even if they found a place to hole up right now, these supplies would be enough to last them until the Divine War ended.

After starting the fire, Scarlett pulled out a mountain of food from her space, then immediately lay down to rest.

Her constitution had always been the weakest to begin with, and after running nonstop for so long, she was already on the verge of collapsing.

”You’ve worked hard...”

Loren let out a sigh. The days ahead were probably going to be rough.

The house was destroyed, but Loren’s actual losses weren’t that great. Most of the equipment in the laboratory couldn’t be shown to others anyway, so after using it, Loren would always have Scarlett pack it away.

The same went for the money at home. After making a show of moving it to the house, Loren would directly have Scarlett store it. The only real property loss this time might have been those two cakes.

Even Loren’s house itself had been gifted to him by someone else.

”What a shame, no cake. We’ll make do for now. Once we get back to the city, I’ll make it up to you for your birthday.”Loren patted Anna’s head, comforting her.

The gifts he had prepared were all destroyed too, but they were just ordinary things. If they were gone, they were gone. He could make up for it later.

The only real problem might have been the things Lilith had hidden away—they were all lost. But Lilith didn’t seem too down about it, probably because she had already forgotten what she had hidden.

”It doesn’t matter. As long as everyone is here, that’s what counts.”

Anna seemed very optimistic as she reached out and took Naclis’s hand.

Although Naclis’s expression didn’t change, Anna could still sense her emotions.

Naclis was blaming herself again. If she hadn’t found Loren on that Christmas Eve so many years ago, he would never have gotten involved with the Witches, and none of this would have happened today.

”Letting your mind wander again?”

Loren stopped what he was doing and gently stroked Naclis’s hair.

”You’d be better off spending that time thinking about what to eat tomorrow.”

”Yeah, what to eat.”

Anna nodded, echoing him.

Soon, dinner was ready.

Although Scarlett had brought plenty of pots and pans, it wasn’t very convenient to cook a proper meal here, so Loren ultimately chose to make barbecue.

It was also Anna’s favorite food. Actually, barbecue was a very luxurious thing. A lot of fat was wasted during the grilling process, and for ordinary people, that was a precious resource.

But with Loren’s circumstances, even in his most destitute days, he never had to worry about that kind of thing.

”Oh, right, I actually have some cake here...”

Just as they were about to eat, Scarlett suddenly mentioned it.

As she spoke, she pulled a piece of cake out of her space.

The cake was very uneven, ugly, but still cake.

”I cut this piece off that big cake from before. After I sensed something was wrong, I grabbed a piece...

”Taking the whole thing would’ve been too obvious...”

”You’ve earned your keep, Scarlett.”

Loren smiled and stroked Scarlett’s hair. She giggled foolishly, basking in Loren’s praise.

Given Loren’s expectations for Scarlett, the fact that she remembered to grab a piece of cake on the way out was already a meritorious deed.

Anna took the cake, but this time she didn’t eat it right away. Instead, she first handed it to Loren.

”Master Mentor, let’s share it.”

This piece of cake was only about one bite’s worth for Anna, so she chose to let Loren eat first.

”Alright.”

Loren took a small bite. The flavor was a bit too rich for Loren, but just right for Anna.

After Loren finished, Anna started dividing the cake among the others. Each of them deferred to Anna, only scooping up a tiny bit with their forks.

Mirrorheart was the exception. She cut off the entire section where Loren had bitten, eating it while gazing at Loren with an utterly entranced expression.

Everyone had a wonderful time during dinner tonight. Although their home was gone, and they had become fugitives, as long as they were all together, that was still home, and they were still happy.

At night, Loren used Abundant Magic to build a hidden treehouse. The interior space was large enough for everyone to lie down.

Abundant Magic was very convenient. Even if they were truly living out in the wild, Loren could create a temporary shelter.

In fact, given the quality of this treehouse, it wouldn’t be a problem to live in long-term. It just looked a bit pitiful to be staying here.

”Good night.”

Loren lay down first in the middle. This time, Naclis took the initiative to lie down beside Loren and wrapped her arms around him. Loren casually pulled her closer.

The spot on the other side was taken by Anna, who hugged Loren’s other arm.

Many crows stood atop the treehouse—they were Movila’s doppelgangers, keeping watch at all times.

Listening to Naclis’s steady breathing, Loren began to think about what came next.

What Loren had to do now was provoke a Divine War. Only if the Divine War broke out would the gods stop focusing too much on him and the Witches.

The Witches might be able to overthrow the gods’ rule, but the other gods were definitely capable of overthrowing the gods’ rule.

Loren’s next destination was the Bardo Kingdom. By now, news of his defection should have reached the God of Plague.

So the God of Plague wouldn’t accept Loren, but the King of Bardo could.

Loren had a deep friendship with the King of Bardo, but he was also well aware that this so-called friendship was built on mutual benefit. He wasn’t counting on it to help much.

In times like these, interests were what mattered. If it were just relying on friendship, the moment Loren went to find him, angels would come to capture him the next second.

So what Loren had to do was use him as a springboard, revealing enough secrets of the God of Bountiful Harvest through him. That was a meritorious deed—a greater one than reporting Loren.

Moreover, chaos was coming. It was impossible that the king didn’t have ambitions to dominate. The information Loren provided would be extremely important to him.

And it wasn’t just the God of Plague. Loren would go to other places and do similar things, constantly stirring up conflicts among the gods and awakening Their greed.

Loren knew very well just how much the Orthodox Gods coveted the authority of other gods. If They could gather all the authorities, They might even become true gods, rather than the parasites clinging to authority that They were now.

The next day, Loren woke up very early. First thing in the morning, he planned to hit the road. Time was precious now; it was very likely that all the gods were searching for him.

”Any new developments?”

After waking up, Loren immediately began asking Movila about the latest situation.

They had left, but there were still many of Movila’s doppelgangers in the city, watching the people.

”You’ve been wanted. Overnight, you’ve been wanted by every kingdom...

”The charges are harboring Witches, colluding with Outer Gods, betraying the Church, killing an angel, blaspheming against the gods...”

”The way they pinned it all on me... they weren’t wrong...”

Actually, there was no evidence of Loren colluding with Outer Gods. They were just throwing accusations, piling the biggest crimes onto Loren’s head.

Loren hadn’t expected the Orthodox Gods to give him so much face, directly writing out the charge of killing an angel.