The notification confirmed my suspicions.

[The hidden condition was met!]

[<Remains of emotions left by ancient witch Rose> has been confirmed].

[A new quest has arisen because you met the condition, do you want to check it out?]

‘A new quest has appeared in this situation?’

I cleared the window without checking the notification for now.

What mattered now was the Spirit of the Garden.

‘Why is it doing this?’

I couldn’t understand the spirit’s behavior.

It was acting as if it had been attacked, creating an imaginary space to lure me in.

‘You’ve spread out such a big plan and all you’re going to do is mimic Argention?’

There were so many things I wanted to ask the Spirit of the Garden.

“Why Argention?”

The first question that came out of my mouth was this.

“I don’t know what it is, but let’s just say there’s a compelling reason to make me your benefactor.”

• • Hmm?

“But you’ve picked the wrong person. It’s Argention, not someone else. Your plan was doomed to failure.”

The Spirit of the Garden shook its head.

As if it didn’t understand my words.

• • But it didn’t fail.

“What?”

I was the one who was speechless this time.

• • I just picked the most likely one, Rose.

The Spirit of the Garden whispered softly.

“That’s impossible. Argention is…….”

I opened my mouth to retort, but then shut it.

The blizzard that had been artificially stirred up died down.

The space it had created had begun to dissipate.

And what I saw was—

“Argention?”

It was Argention, lying on the pure white snow with his eyes closed.

‘It’s the same one I saw a moment ago.’

Was this another illusion created by the Spirit of the Garden?

The only difference was their clothes.

Both Argention and I were dressed the same as when we set out from Winfrote Castle.

‘So this is real?’

But I couldn’t say for sure.

I felt increasingly controlled by the Spirit of the Garden.

• • What are you going to do now, Rose?

The spirit was staring at me.

The innocent smile on his face was gone.

“What do you mean…….?”

I blurted out, thinking furiously.

‘The quest is already complete.’

The Spirit of the Silver Garden held in his hand what he wanted.

‘He’s made me a benefactor, so he’s accomplished his goal, but why is he doing this?’

I was even more confused because I couldn’t figure out what it was doing.

That’s when I remembered the notification I had ignored.

[A new quest has arisen because you met the condition, do you want to check it out?]

‘It popped up again even though I didn’t confirm it.’

It was a strong signal from the system that I should take the quest now.

‘Okay, I’ll check the quest.’

[Overcome the ancient witch Rose and awaken!

Up until now, you’ve done everything perfectly.

You are now so strong that there is no one to compete with in this world.

But you’ve only scratched the surface.

For the real enemy is within you.

Is it a coincidence that you’ve been ‘transmigrated’ in this world?

Or is it an inevitability that someone has meticulously prepared for you?

We don’t know yet, and it all depends on the outcome of this quest.

This quest is a simple win-win situation.

The strong survive, the weak are eaten, and that’s it.

Overcome the Ancient Witch Rose and awaken your true power.

• • Requirements: Defeat the Ancient Witch Rose

• • Reward: Awaken a hidden power]

After seeing the quest, my mind was racing.

‘Maybe it’s not a coincidence that I transmigrated here?’

If not a coincidence, then what?

‘Wasn’t it originally Roselina, not me, who had something to do with the ancient witch Rose?’

That’s what I’ve always thought.

But in the context of the quest, that didn’t seem to be the case.

‘Besides, the strong survive and the weak are eaten.’

A chill ran down my spine as I recalled the chilling phrase.

‘That means I could disappear.’

Despair washed over me.

This was the ancient witch like no other.

Rose was said to be the most powerful of them all.

Can I defeat someone like that?

No. But first, how was I supposed to defeat Rose, the Ancient Witch?

How do I find and defeat someone who has long since disappeared?

The only traces of the Ancient Witch Rose left in the world were the magic stones.

‘I can’t just smash them all.’

It was then.

Thud!

A loud bang was heard, just as it had been in the illusion created by the Spirit of the Garden.

Then the roar of a demon shook the earth.

‘It’s coming.’

Thump, thump, thump-!

The ground shook as if it was approaching at breakneck speed.

In the meantime, the Spirit of the Garden had disappeared and was nowhere to be seen.

It was just me and Argention.

‘If this isn’t an illusion, Argention could be in danger.’

I moved toward the fallen man.

He was still, as if he had no idea what was happening.

I stare at him, his eyes still closed.

“Uh……. What?”

Suddenly, my heart was beating fast and my stomach was churning.

Whereas earlier it had been a flood of emotions, now an unknown force was stirring within me.

“Cough!”

I coughed up a handful of blood.

But the rampaging energy inside me didn’t subside.

If anything, it became more frenzied.

My strength drained from my body.

“This is…….”

It was an unfamiliar energy, but I recognized it.

“Rose, the ancient witch…….”

She appeared.

‘What is this?’

At that moment, I remembered a quote from the quest.

‘The true enemy is within me.’

So Rose the Ancient Witch was inside me?

‘That’s impossible.’

It’s impossible…….

The thought cut off right there.

My consciousness blurred as if I were being sucked into something.

* * *

Thump, thump, thump-!

The familiar sound made Argention open his eyes.

“Ugh….”

His head hurt like it was going to crack.

His mind was muddled, as if he had been trapped in a long dream.

He must have had a terrible nightmare, but he couldn’t remember the details.

The only thing that lingered in his mind was a blur.

Kaaaaaah!

The howl of a demon.

‘A demon.’

The fishy odor that characterized the creature’s proximity wafted through the air.

He couldn’t tell what was going on.

All he knew was that if it was a demon, he has to kill it.

But at that moment.

“Cough!”

Roselina coughed up blood.

Argention’s eyes widened.

“Roselina!”

She was strangely close, though he wasn’t sure why he’d only noticed now.

“……Rose.”

Roselina mumbled something, then blacked out.

Luckily, Argention was able to catch her before she fell to the floor.

“Roselina, are you okay?”

The aura coming off of Roselina was strong enough to override the fact that she had just vomited blood.

Then.

Thump, thump, thump-!

The demon that had gotten close to them made a loud noise.

“I’ll deal with the demon first, please wait a moment.”

Argention shielded Roselina with ether and stood up.

A demon the size of a house was running towards him.

Kaaaaaaaah!

It must have smelled the blood Roselina had vomited, because it howled in agitation.

It was a sight that would have frightened even the sturdiest of knights, but Argention remained calm.

The ether he breathed out took the shape of a long spear.

Argention let it fly.

The ether shot straight for the creature’s heart.

Aaah!

The creature fell to the ground with its heart pierced.

However, Argention was not relieved and walked towards it.

In the unlikely event that the creature could be revived, he wanted to make sure it was done to perfection.

He cut off its head and burned it along with its body.

“This is…….”

Moving toward the creature’s head, Argention stopped when he noticed something.

There was a tiny mark on its forehead that would have gone unnoticed otherwise.

The mark was small enough to go unnoticed.

‘A very powerful force.’

The creature looked fine on the outside, but the inside of its head must have been a mess.

‘There’s no way it’s going to recover from this.’

Someone had been one step ahead of him and disposed of the creature perfectly.

A faint tension flashed across Argention’s face.

When he attacked the beast, his senses had been sharpened to the max.

Still, he felt no reaction from the others.

‘There’s someone stronger than I’ve ever faced before.’

His thoughts then turned to Roselina.

‘Roselina is in danger.’

Immediately, Argention gathered all the ether in his body.

However, he was unable to run towards Roselina.

“Argention.”

It was a smooth voice. He wondered when did he lose consciousness.

Roselina was already at his back.

‘When did we get here?’

Argention turned slowly.

The tension in his body was palpable.

“You defeated a demon for me?”

Roselina smiled a maritime smile he’s never seen before.