Miss Witch’s Devotion Has Gone… Twisted

“You’ve traveled far on this journey. There’s an island ahead—care to rest a while?”

A day had passed since Loren and the others set out riding the Rock Whale, and the whale had finally spotted an island.

“Alright, let’s go up and rest for a bit...”

Loren used his Abundant Magic to build a small house. It was reasonably comfortable overall, but certainly not as good as solid ground.

“Let’s go.”

Loren stuffed Melody back into her bottle, then led Veronica down from the Rock Whale’s body. The ghost ship was left directly on the whale’s back; it would wait for Loren at a distance.

Throughout this process, Loren kept thinking.

After acquiring the Everything Has a Spirit talent, he hadn’t actually talked to many animals, but logically speaking, the principle behind Everything Has a Spirit should be telepathic communication. So why did the Rock Whale speak in classical Chinese? Every other creature used normal language?

“Could it be...”

Loren considered a possibility—Everything Has a Spirit didn’t actually communicate with sentient beings directly. Instead, it translated their language into human speech. The Rock Whale’s words came out as classical Chinese simply because that was all it knew...This world did indeed have an ancient language, but that era existed long before the gods descended. The Dawn Princess’s diary was written in modern language.

“Forget it, thinking about this is useless. As long as I can understand, it’s fine.”

Loren figured the Observer had probably jumped in at some point to improve the language, but this information was useless to him.

...

Like most islands in the Endless Ocean, this one wasn’t big, but its facilities were fairly complete.

A few pirate ships were docked at the harbor. They were small and somewhat battered, suggesting the pirates who came here weren’t major players. The ships were a bit old, but the repair marks on them were fresh, meaning this pirate crew had only just arrived.

Loren blatantly flew over to the island. At this point, he didn’t bother hiding even from the Church, let alone on a tiny island like this. However, there weren’t many people here, and they were all gathered in the village, so no one saw Loren land.

“Let’s go. Grab some food in there and rest for a bit.”

Loren hung the bottle containing Melody in front of his chest, allowing her to see the scenery on land.

“Wow, it’s so beautiful here...”

Melody pressed herself against the bottle, staring excitedly at the outside view. It was just an ordinary village with no special scenery. Melody thought it was beautiful purely because she had never seen what land looked like. But in a sense, it really was prettier than the bottom of the sea, since there were buildings and plants here, while most places underwater were nothing but endless seawater.

“Travelers are here!”

The moment Loren stepped into the village’s bounds, a few children spotted him and the others and cheered. With the children’s shouts, the adults in the village also came rushing out to welcome Loren:

“Traveler, how did you get here? You must be tired from the journey, right?”

Finally, a steady man stepped forward. The moment he appeared, the restless crowd fell silent.

“Oh, I rode a whale here.”

Hearing Loren’s answer, the man gave an awkward smile:

“You have a wonderful sense of humor...”

“I’m serious.”

Loren stared into his eyes and said seriously:

“And why are you all so enthusiastic? Don’t tell me you’re in urgent need of a sacrifice and can’t find an offering?”

Facing these bizarre villagers, Loren didn’t give them an ounce of face, speaking bluntly.

“You jest... It’s just that our village hasn’t had travelers visit for so long. We’re merely excited by the novelty.”

“Weren’t pirates just here?”

“They only just arrived and are eating now. We didn’t expect two groups of travelers to show up so quickly.

“Please, follow me. We’re just about to serve a meal.”

There were two ships outside. Counting Loren, that should make three groups. But those two ships might belong to the same crew, so Loren didn’t dwell on it too much. They were nothing but ants anyway; Loren could crush them with a flick of his finger. Overthinking was just a habit of his.

“You welcome pirates too? Aren’t you afraid they’ll massacre the village?”

As they walked toward the restaurant, Loren asked casually.

“We enjoy the Sea God’s favor, so our strength isn’t weak. Ordinary pirates can’t run wild here.

“Not to brag, but I’m a Sixth-tier Mage myself. I could take on an entire pirate crew alone.”

The man introduced himself proudly, but Loren sensed an underlying threat. Loren couldn’t help but feel nostalgic—so much time had passed, and power levels still hadn’t inflated. A Sixth-tier Mage was enough to throw their weight around in certain places.

Loren didn’t reply further. He followed the man to the restaurant, where a pirate crew was already gorging themselves. They were utterly brazen, carelessly propping their feet up on tables and barking orders at the waitstaff. Even so, the restaurant staff served them with utmost deference.

“Yo, still alive, boys? Didn’t get sacrificed?”

Loren walked up and greeted the pirates while observing their situation. From the looks of it, they were all one crew, but their numbers were surprisingly small. This few people didn’t warrant two ships. Most likely, one group had already met with an accident.

“Who are you?”

Loren’s words abruptly silenced the pirates. The captain, shedding his earlier arrogance, asked cautiously, his tone even carrying a hint of respect. They were bottom-tier pirates; survival depended entirely on reading the room—knowing who to provoke and who to avoid.

“Oh, I’m Loren. You’ve probably heard of me.”

“Hahaha... Loren? Loren died four years ago. You think you can impersonate him now—”

“Shut up!”

The captain directly slapped the crew member who tried to mock Loren, then solemnly apologized:

“My apologies, Master Mentor. My crewman doesn’t know his place. Please don’t take offense...”

His humility caught Loren off guard. This made it awkward for Loren to pick a fight. He had originally come looking for trouble, planning to beat them up and interrogate them for information. Now, he couldn’t very well start swinging.

“Guest, here’s a clean table. We’ll serve you right away...”

An attendant came to Loren’s side and guided him to a nearby table. As he walked over, Loren overheard the pirates’ conversation:

“Captain, do you really think that guy is Loren?”

“I’m not sure, but I know very well how wary the Church is of Loren. Since he dares to use Loren’s name, he must have some backing.

“Besides, there are only two of them. Out here on this sea, the fewer people, the more cautious you have to be. Normal people simply can’t survive...”

Loren hadn’t expected this captain to be so perceptive. No wonder they had made it this far. For the same reason, Loren was certain they must have also noticed something was off about this place.

Loren decided to watch the situation a little longer before deciding whether to flip the table outright. This place was definitely abnormal, and Loren wanted to see which god was behind it. He had also started thinking about how to squeeze some profit out of whichever evil god or Outer God was lurking in the shadows.