Shepherding Humanity

After that day, Queen Lilith suddenly started reclaiming all resources necessary for magic cultivation for her own use.

Previously, in the Kingdom of Babylon, after Lilith had stopped making progress with her magic cultivation, she chose to stop consuming valuable resources and focus on raising new talents to take her place. But that kind of genius was extremely difficult to find.

The orthodox witch with the quickest progress has only recently broken through to the Fifth Level, and could not even be compared to Lilith, who was a veteran Level Five Witch.

"The queen is reclaiming all those resources now, does this mean that she’s about to make a breakthrough and become a Level Six Legendary Witch?"

"This is a great blessing for our Kingdom of Babylon!"

An old man burst into tears.

"We orthodox witches have hope again. As long as we have a Sixth Level Witch, it might not be impossible for us to oppose the Empress of Death, Medusa. After all, she hasn't reached the Seventh Level either."

"The Epic Seventh Level only exists in theory! You think making such a breakthrough is easy? Back then, even the Three Witches could not reach this level before they died. The Empress of Death is not the only genius in this world. How can it be that easy for her?"

….

Future Skywhale’s existence had been perfectly concealed.

Everyone thought that it was Lilith who was going to make a breakthrough, and she was ruthlessly decisive in her actions. She exhausted the resources of the entire nation for Future Skywhale’s sake, and allowed him to peruse the texts left behind by the Three Witches as he pleased. Whatever demand he had, she met them without fail.

No one knew that everything she did was for the sake of this weakest of all monsters— a Slime.

The Kingdom of Babylon, year 341.

Even after exhausting the nation's resources, Lilith remained a Fifth Level Witch. The people of Babylon were all disappointed.

The Kingdom of Babylon, year 362.

Lilith once again consumed a huge amount of resources, but made no progress. The people's expectations for her sank to its lowest point.

"Queen Lilith, why force yourself if you cannot break through? If we keep nurturing newcomers, a second genius could still appear in our Kingdom of Babylon."

"That’s right, even if we brute-force it, with all those resources, we could have forcefully raised several Fifth Level mages!"

That year, the Babylonian people were completely disappointed with their great queen, Lilith.

The Kingdom of Babylon, year 381.

CRACK! !

A thunderbolt suddenly flashed across the sky of the Kingdom of Babylon.

The people in the streets all looked up dazedly. Wind clouds were swiftly gathering in the originally clear sky, forming a whirling vortex.

"What is that!?"

Someone shouted out in a shocked voice.

Everyone was stunned. The people still inside all ran out; among them were even men holding children.

More and more clouds gathered in the originally cloudless sky.

"Are these dark clouds? Is it going to rain?"

At this moment, Lilith was standing on the roof of the Royal Palace of Babylon, wooden staff in hand. Enduring the oppressive pressure, she gazed up into the sky with much difficulty.

"No! Those are not wind clouds!" Lilith suddenly shivered. Leaning on her staff, she muttered:

"That is!!!…. That’s actually!!!"

The mass of white clouds in the sky churned, turning inky black. A delicate black rose of immense size suddenly appeared, floating in the sky. Before this enormous rose that was formed from a vortex of converging wind clouds, a peerlessly beautiful woman in crimson witch robes stood. She looked positively tiny next to the giant rose and held in her hand a wooden mage staff decorated with rose motifs as she looked down upon the Royal Palace of Babylon from the sky.

"The Flower of Death."

The Empress of Death Medusa raised her staff of roses high, then pointed it down at the Kingdom of Babylon. The sky turned dark. Endlessly vast amounts of mana gathered, shaking the blue sky. The massive black rose was poised to fall on the capital city.

Time stood still.

Violent winds howled, and a great force suddenly pressed down upon Lilith.

She shuddered, death had suddenly come without warning.

But the pressure suddenly disappeared in the next second.

With her crimson staff of roses in hand, Medusa was leisurely taking a stroll in the sky. After glancing at Lilith one last time, she finally left; her retreating back was full of loneliness.

"What a pity. To think that my former rival has fallen so low. I heard that you were gathering all the resources in your nation, and thought that you were going to reach the next level…"

Her voice sounded from further and further away, until it was finally gone.

"In the era of the Three Witches, the three of them validated one another, but I, the Reigning Empress Medusa, am alone in this age. I’ve dominated this world for over two hundred years, wishing in vain for a rival. There’s no peer I could turn to, and because of that, I’ve been unable to reach the Epic Seventh Level. It is my great tragedy to be born into such a mediocre age."

The terrifying level of power she had just displayed was beyond that of even the Three Witches.

After the Three Witches had blazed a trail to the Sixth Level, they were nearing the end of their lifespan and couldn't reach the peak of the Sixth Level. Medusa’s oppressive pressure just now was simply too frightening.

"She has completely surpassed the Three Witches! Although she has not yet reached the Epic Seventh Level of legend, her power is unfathomable." Lilith was shaking, blood flowing from her tense lips. "Can we really defeat this monster!?"

"I…I don't know."

In a secret alchemy lab in the palace, a chubby and cute slime wiggled the “ahoge” on top of his head and looked up hesitantly. "I used to think that I was almost there. I’m already a Fifth Level Wizard. If I put on ‘Grantham' and am sitting in my flying fortress of alchemy, I believe that I can give the Three Witches a good fight, but against her… Give me another ten years!"

"Ten years?"

Lilith was silent, but the light of hope blazed bright in her eyes. "Then I will continue to bear the infamy, and fight to give you everything you need."

Ten years later, the world will change!

Lilith's eyes burned with fiery passion.

If the Kingdom of Babylon’s Dark Age, which has lasted nearly two hundred years, could not be brought to an end, then only utter destruction awaited them!

The Kingdom of Babylon has bet everything on this Slime!

"This is the end of today's research." Future Skywhale started hopping away. "I'm going back to the coven. Those girls will definitely be worried if they can’t find their little magic pet."

Lilith’s body suddenly wobbled. Looking at his back, she mumbled: "Even though you’ve become this strong, why do you still accept those little witches taking you into their bosom, and let them knead you and rough you up as they please? Where’s your dignity as one of the mightiest beings in this world? Why are you still earnestly spending your days together with a bunch of Level Three Witches as their pet?"

"Because, that place is my home." Future Skywhale innocently hopped his way out of the palace. "In both my previous life and this life, my relatives died early. They are my only family."

Lilith was silent.

She didn't doubt his mention of "relatives", because it was true that the Slime family was being abused in the Rose Kingdom. This King of the Slimes had a common enemy with her.

"Home is it? I really envy those little girls, and I also envy you, King of Alchemy Grantham, for having precious people to worry about…"

Setting aside her melancholy, Lilith smiled softly as she watched the cute little slime bounce away.

"Garfield, all these years, you've had a hard time too, right?"

She suddenly fell into a daze, and stared out the window blankly, looking up at the sky.

In her mind, Lilith tried to recall the knight who had always faithfully stood guard at her side, her former lover who was now the Royal Consort of the Rose Kingdom, Garfield.

"When, when everything is over…" Crystal clear tear drops started flowing down her cheeks, and her face gradually became wet with tears. "Then I will step down from the throne of Babylon, and quietly retreat into the mountains and forests with Garfield to live a secluded life."

At this moment, a witch minister appeared behind her.

"Do you still want the next batch of resources to be sent to the palace?"

"Send them."

Lilith suddenly turned her head, revealing an expression that was as cold as ice.

—The Ruler of Babylon was not allowed to weep.

….

Meanwhile, in Elizabeth’s Coven.

It was still the shabby little room from back then, and Elizabeth and the others were looking outside anxiously.

Suddenly, a cutely bouncing creature appeared in the streets outside.

"You are finally back!"

"Why must you wander around outside all day? It's too dangerous."

"Yeah, yeah, you're only a Level Three Wizard, and there are too many strong people outside. Why, just now, the Great Empress of Death Medusa showed up at Babylon’s Royal Palace. Her terrifying magic blotted out the sky, and she could have destroyed the entire royal capital in an instant. We were all so scared we almost burst into tears. We were so worried that you've run into some sort of trouble outside."

The cute little witches worriedly hugged the adorable Slime, taking him into their bosom and kneading him as they started to loudly argue .

"I'm fine, it was just a stroll."

Future Skywhale smiled brightly, full of adorable charm. The “ahoge” on his head swayed cutely.

No one, not even the little witches of this coven, knew how terrifyingly powerful their pet actually was. This cute little slime was the Kingdom of Babylon’s last hope!