Chapter 60: Chapter 61: The Witch Coven's Membership Criteria

Aurora’s remark reflected her lack of concern about being recognized by the Enderland delegation.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

During the resistance against Enderland's invasion, she had worn a helmet and mask, along with illusionary disguises cast by the witches. However, what troubled her was that Rhine's identity was now publicly known.

Many in the royal palace had already heard that the diviner recruited by the king was, in fact, a magician from the northern Rose Kingdom. As a Sage of the Rose Kingdom and a renowned magician who had fought against Enderland’s invaders, Rhine’s presence might provoke hostility from the delegation of that bandit nation.

“There’s no need to worry. It’s not like we’re afraid of them,” Rhine shrugged.

“I feel the same!” Aurora agreed enthusiastically, raising her fist and making a few vigorous punches in the air. “If they mess with us, we’ll fight back!”

With that, the two returned to the luxurious room prepared for them by Prince Eric.

Seated on the soft bed, Rhine reached into his pocket to inspect his recent acquisition.

Inside the wide pocket was a heavy object—the reward for fulfilling the prince’s wish.

It was a small bottle of pink perfume.

As he placed the magical artifact, condensed from the power of wish energy, on the table, Rhine’s thoughts wandered:

“So, the rewards for fulfilling the wishes of the Children of Destiny can sometimes take physical form. What other secrets does my 【Wish Magician】 talent hold?”

According to the knowledge that surfaced in his mind after granting the wish, the perfume had an extraordinary effect:

“Anyone who applies even a drop of this perfume will no longer appear as themselves in the eyes of others. Instead, they will be perceived as the observer’s most beloved person.”

“Whether it’s demeanor, posture, or voice, everything will align with the observer’s mental image of their cherished one.”

“For instance, if I applied this perfume, Prince Eric would see me as Ariel, while the king of the Western Asia Kingdom might see me as his queen. No, wait... the person the king truly loves might not even be the queen, given their political marriage.”

“This means the perfume can also reveal someone’s true beloved!”

“But what about someone who has no one they love? Would the perfume fail to work?”

“This reminds me of a certain containment artifact from that foundation... but it definitely feels like something out of a fantastical fairy tale.”

“In the right scenario, it could be incredibly useful!”

“What should I name it? Naming things is the part I’m worst at.”

Rhine shared the perfume’s abilities with Aurora, seeking her input on a suitable name.

Aurora didn’t question how Rhine had acquired this magical perfume; after all, in her mind, it was perfectly normal for magicians to produce bizarre artifacts.

After hearing Rhine’s explanation, Aurora didn’t immediately suggest a name. Instead, she marveled at its effects:

“What an amazing magical artifact! It’s like the embodiment of the twisted love and fate between Prince Eric, the mermaid princess Ariel, and the human girl who awakened the prince on land.”

Rhine’s heart skipped a beat.

Indeed, the reward for granting the wish seemed to have condensed that tangled destiny into a tangible form!

“Fuzzy memories, misplaced love, mistaken faces, the mockery of fate, and a substitute for genuine affection.” Rhine stared at the small pink bottle, barely larger than a thumb, and murmured to himself.

He reflected on their convoluted love story.

Prince Eric had mistakenly believed the human girl who awakened him—whom Rhine knew was, in fact, the princess of Enderland—to be the one who saved him, forgetting about Ariel. Yet he treated Ariel as a substitute for the human girl.

“This perfume shall be called 【False Love】,” Rhine declared.

And with that, its name was decided.

Leaning back on the sofa, the young magician’s thoughts drifted:

“It seems my 【Wish Magician】 talent has much more to explore!”

“The only certainty is that the rewards seem tied either to the nature of the wish or to the wisher themselves.”

“So far, I’ve only granted the wishes of five or six Children of Destiny. The sample size is still too small! What a shame that Ariel’s family doesn’t seem to count as Children of Destiny.”

As Rhine mused, he pulled out a memory bubble given to them by the Sea Hag. This bubble contained a wealth of the sea witch’s memories about Maleficent.

On the day they obtained the memory bubble, Rhine and Aurora had already examined it thoroughly.

“Technically, the memories only involve Maleficent herself and don’t contain information about the witch coven. However, from snippets of conversation between the Sea Hag and Maleficent, we can infer some details about the coven,” Rhine thought.

Based on the fragments, it was clear that the Sea Hag was a marginal member of the witch coven, barely acknowledged by her peers.

One particularly significant piece of information was something Maleficent had once said to the Sea Hag:

“Remember this, Sea Witch—you will always be an unworthy member. We can kick you out anytime we want!”

“According to our rules, to join us, you must first destroy or take control of a kingdom! Just like the dozens of kingdoms I’ve destroyed in the past.”

“You’ve never completed this initiation task. You’re only here because your useful potion recipes have earned you a tenuous place.”

To join the witch coven, one must destroy or dominate a kingdom first!

Rhine grasped the gravity of this rule—every member of the coven, apart from the Sea Hag, must be extraordinary.

“Unfortunately, there are too many kingdoms in the Western Continent. Some members of the coven may have joined centuries, or even millennia, ago. This clue alone isn’t enough to pinpoint any specific member.”

At that moment, Aurora gazed out at the starry night sky and worried about her mermaid friend.

“Teacher, can you use magic to check on the banquet with Prince Eric and Ariel?” Aurora asked. “The thought of them hosting those Enderland bandits just feels... strange.”

“Of course.”

Rhine smiled, placing a crystal ball on the table and setting one of Ariel’s scales before it to begin the divination.

Before long, the crystal ball shimmered with starlight, resembling a vast cosmos.

The starlight coalesced into vivid, colorful scenes, revealing the grand hall of the Western Asia Kingdom’s palace.

One by one, the figures of the king, Prince Eric, the little mermaid Ariel, Enderland’s emissaries, and various nobles and ministers appeared within the crystal ball’s vision.