I Only Baked Bread, but I Was Mistaken for the Best - Chapter 90

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 90. The Extreme Frozen Wasteland (3)
Though I said she had “sunk,” Soo-min hadn’t actually lost consciousness.
She had simply been overwhelmed by a flood of intense shame and fallen into a brief panic.
Fortunately, since Soo-min was also a Hunter accustomed to controlling her emotions, we were able to continue our conversation quickly, and I could prove I wasn’t a dangerous presence through the empty elixir bottle she’d already used.
“So what brings you to a place like this, Soo-min?”
“Question regarding personal name information. Where was it confirmed?”
“I simply heard you say it yourself. ‘As expected, my invisibility, Park Su-min’s invisibility is the best!'”
“Ahhhhhhhhhhh!”
Only after another brief panic passed could our conversation continue.
First, her completely different manner of speech apparently stemmed from her naturally shy personality.
I also heard that through training, she’d managed to at least manage to speak words.
“Then your previous actions were your true self, Soo-min?”
“Requesting to forget….”
“That’s not something one can simply will away, is it?”
“Ugh….”
In any case.
Her presence here was apparently due to a guild-level operation.
Since I was an outsider and hadn’t yet proven to be a completely trustworthy target, they must have made that judgment.
I hadn’t expected anything more than that.
“I belong to the Reaper Guild, Vice Guild Master.”
“The Reaper Guild, you say….”
“The very Reaper Guild you’ve likely heard of.”
The Reaper Guild.
While the Cheongryong Guild made its name known through military might across South Korea, the Reaper Guild became famous due to its unique nature.
In short, it was a magic guild where every single guild member possessed magical skills.
Even the tanks protecting the front lines performed their roles through magic, and every hunter—whether melee dealers, ranged dealers, or even support classes—used magical skills in the Reaper Guild.
Despite this unusual composition, their results were remarkable, placing them within the top five guilds in South Korea currently.
“The initial entry showed no abnormalities.”
One could call it the depth of a major guild’s power.
For a gate with a notorious A-rank danger rating, there were no problems whatsoever.
In fact, they were able to progress through the conquest smoothly.
The monsters that appeared were all based on ice, frost, and cold, so those among the conquest team who used flame magic easily cleared the path, Soo-min reported.
“After encountering that, the conquest team was annihilated.”
“That?”
“The entity cannot be identified….”
Soo-min shook her head in response to my question.
When they were about halfway through the conquest, what they encountered was none other than a single enormous wolf.
At first, none of them felt any particular vigilance, she said.
The only wolf-shaped monster that appeared here was a B-rank monster that breathed frost wind from its mouth—the White Fang.
It was when a flame skill user, thinking it was at most a variant of that creature, stepped forward.
It was when these people noticed the anomaly.
“The raid party member is reporting a loss of language.”
“A loss of language, you say…?”
“It means they’ve reached a state where communication is impossible.”
The B-rank Hunter who had stepped forward eagerly lost the ability to speak after being struck by the wind that blew through.
It was literal.
He had forgotten how to speak, and he had also forgotten how to listen.
His eyes had even gone blind, so he couldn’t write or read characters, and his facial muscles had contorted so severely that he couldn’t even form the shape of words with his mouth.
“Subsequently, multiple raid party members lost their language ability due to the same wind. They fell into a state where communication was impossible.”
“Since communication was impossible, proper countermeasures would have been out of the question.”
“Of course. The entire raid party was annihilated by a single aberrant entity.”
After rendering numerical superiority meaningless, the massive wolf ravaged the Grim Reaper Guild’s raid party.
Each time its claws swept through the air, two or three lives were lost, and a single bite brought down dozens.
Yet they did not give up and unleashed magic indiscriminately.
But magic unleashed without mutual agreement could never hunt down a quick and powerful monster.
“However, isn’t Park Su-min still able to speak?”
“After sustaining a penetrating wound to the right thigh, she fell into a crevasse while fleeing.”
“Ah.”
An unexpected mistake had ironically saved her life.
Was this too the work of fate?
After the massive wolf monster retreated, she sent out a distress signal and, while searching the area, made her way here.
“The aberrant entity has been confirmed to be covered in a black substance.”
“Black… substance, you say?”
“Affirmative. A white wolf-shaped monster covered in a tar-like energy aggregate.”
I understood immediately upon hearing it.
It was a fragment of the Witch.
A sticky black substance with the texture of tar.
And the fact that whatever possessed that substance wielded inexplicable power—all of it was characteristic of a Witch’s fragment.
“Hunting the entity is essential. Estimated danger level: High A-rank.”
The Witch’s fragment, which had first appeared suddenly before my eyes and now revealed itself before me for the fourth time after the Princess Research Center and Dayeon’s incident.
I couldn’t know what it was after.
I couldn’t know why or how it kept appearing.
But there was one thing I was certain of.
It had to be recovered.
No, it had to be destroyed.
“I have something to attend to for a moment. Would you mind waiting? Please have some tea while you wait.”
After asking for their understanding, I went to the Kitchen and grabbed Noir by the collar.
“That’s a fragment of the Witch, isn’t it?”
“Didn’t you already know, Owner?”
“I was hoping it wouldn’t be.”
“That can’t be right. The Witch’s Cottage determined that this woman was necessary to her Owner. If that’s the case, then its identity must be connected to a fragment of the Witch, mustn’t it? Meow.”
“True enough… there is that blue thread….”
There was no point in trying to look away.
The blue thread extending from Soo-min’s chest and connecting to this place was proof enough of that.
Which meant I had to fulfill what she wanted—that much was certain now.
And right on cue.
Ding!
[For the Sake of Extremity]
▷ Unlike the Witch, the Mage’s purpose is to advance toward the end of magic. Why not offer guidance to one who rushes forward looking only ahead, allowing them to see their surroundings? Of course, that guidance will determine your opponent’s fate.
▷ Deliver ‘???’ or ‘???’ to ‘Park Su-min’ 0/1
▷ Reward: 15,000 BP
The absurd reward of 15,000 BP appearing again made it clear—a fragment of the Witch was definitely involved.
It had always been that way.
“I can’t let something like what happened to Dayeon occur again. Sigh….”
I exhaled, my heart trembling.
How could it not tremble?
Just recently, I nearly died at the hands of a child I once taught.
But that didn’t mean I could stand by and let a fragment of the Witch run rampant.
“But Owner, until now you seemed to avoid dangerous tasks. May I ask why you’re stepping in now? The Witch’s Cottage merely suggests directions that would help the Witch—you don’t need to follow all of them.”
“I don’t like danger either.”
“Meow? Then?”
“If I leave that thing alone, a Gate Break is bound to happen.”
Thinking back to what the fragment of the Witch that possessed Dayeon’s body had said, they were after my power.
And at the same time, they were planning to use that power to satisfy their twisted desires.
A Gate Break would inevitably occur in that process.
“What about my bakery then?”
“Meow?”
“If they target me and cause a Gate Break, the problem will erupt at my bakery where I am.”
My bakery.
My precious bakery.
If a Gate Break happens, my fragile bakery will become nothing but a heap of concrete ruins!
“Do you know how much money I put into it! That can’t happen!”
“Meow… I would have understood if you’d said it was for the sake of the regular customers who come….”
“That goes without saying.”
Noir was right.
But could there be anything sadder than watching a bakery that had only recently been expanded crumble to dust?
I steeled my resolve, left the kitchen, and approached Soo-min to ask.
“You wish to hunt that creature?”
“Affirmative. The entity in question is predicted to cause numerous casualties in the event of a Gate Break.”
“Didn’t you say rescue teams were coming?”
“Success rate 0.01%—an extremely low figure.”
Soo-min spoke with a solemn expression.
She was genuinely prepared to face the Witch’s fragment alone, even if it meant her own death.
“I will assist you.”
“Query. Why?”
“Well… I’ll only say that I have my own reasons for needing to deal with that creature.”
There was no need to elaborate on the details about the Witch.
Soo-min had nodded in understanding at my words, after all.
So now, let me create it.
A bread capable of resolving the Witch’s fragment.
The Witch’s Fondant au Chocolat.
* * *
“What on earth is wrong?”
And now, I found myself despising my past self who had charged forward so eagerly.
“What’s the problem?!”
“Kyuuuu….”
“Gora gora….”
“No, it’s not your fault. Sigh.”
I stroked the two creatures who had cautiously approached and rubbed their heads against me in response to my irritated outburst, lost in thought.
Did I fail at making the Fondant au Chocolat?
Not at all.
Perhaps the experience from having made it once before had accumulated.
I had crafted it far more perfectly than the last time.
My frustration stemmed from something else entirely.
“I thought I already knew everything, so I overlooked reading the Quest window carefully.”
The target was fixed as Park Su-min.
And since the Witch’s fragment was involved, I had assumed the bread must be ‘Fondant au Chocolat.’
Of course, I wasn’t wrong.
I was simply incomplete.
[For the Ultimate]
▷ Unlike the Witch, the Mage’s purpose is to advance toward the end of magic. Why not offer guidance to one who runs forward with tunnel vision, allowing them to observe their surroundings? Of course, that guidance will determine the opponent’s fate.
▷ Deliver ‘Witch’s Fondant au Chocolat’ or ‘???’ to ‘Park Su-min’ 0/1
▷ Reward: 15,000 BP
[Quest completion is possible in your current state. But it might feel a bit incomplete?]
“A bit incomplete, huh….”
Look at what the status window is saying.
It’s not mocking anyone.
But it wasn’t wrong either.
Unlike before, this Quest was a choice-type.
Park Su-min being the target was correct.
But the problem was the bread.
Since the word “or” had appeared, it meant the outcome would differ depending on which bread it was.
“So that’s why the contents were said to determine the opponent’s fate.”
“From now on, you must grow accustomed to it. Owner.”
Noir approached my side with dignified steps on four legs and settled down beside me.
“Handling fate always requires understanding its weight. It’s only because you’ve wielded this power for the happiness of others thus far that you’ve been spared harsher lessons—otherwise, you would have learned this truth far more swiftly and bitterly.”
“For instance?”
“Losing an eye as the price for changing fate is getting off easy. Meow.”
Why was she suddenly saying something so frightening?
Noir, that’s not it.
Before I could even suppress the chill running down my spine, Noir continued without pause.
“Since you lack any real experience thus far, the Witch’s Cottage is trying to teach you directly while the opportunity presents itself—so feel free to proceed without burden. Owner.”
“You just said losing an eye is getting off easy?”
“It truly is getting off easy, but… isn’t this about recovering the Witch’s fragments? That won’t happen. So it would be better to first consider what the remaining bread might be.”
It’s unsettling, but she has a point.
You only know the result once you see it.
At least if there are no problems in the process leading to the result, wouldn’t a good outcome follow?
“What could it possibly be?”
My gaze turned once more to the Quest window.
The Pinnacle of Magic.
When I spoke with Soo-min, the term “Pinnacle of Magic” had never once come up.
Perhaps this could serve as a hint.
But I don’t know the first thing about magic.
I’m a Witch, but I’m not a being who wields magic.
“There’s no helping it.”
“Meow? Did you come up with some method?”
“I’ll try something, at least.”
It was time to use the Room of Prophecy on the second floor of the Witch’s Cottage once more.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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