Prologue – The Testimony of Lady Ghillie

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୧‿̩͙ ˖︵ ꕀ⠀ 1⠀ ꕀ ︵˖ ‿̩͙୨

――Witches feel no pain

People claim that to be a fact, and thus the madam had a maid prepare a whip. It was one of those lashes with a short tip, usually used for horse riding.

At present the madam stood in front of Noa, slapping the lash rhythmically against her palm

Well now, what should I do with you――one could almost hear her say that after seeing her evil and malicious smile.

Noa, bound tightly to a chair, thrashed and squirmed. Her muffled groans and growls sounded more beast than human. Was she angry? Scared? It was hard to tell. The gag in her mouth stifled her words, leaving only incoherent noises. Her cheeks burned red, her eyes rolled wildly, and the glares she shot at the madam and at us maids, who were lined up against the wall, were deadly.

The room, usually a dressing area for the maids, was cluttered with the remnants of hurried preparations. A three-sided mirror stood close to the wall. Powder and combs lay scattered across the table since we didn’t have the time to clean them away.

Other than us maids, the head butler, the town’s guards, and a priest were present in the room. Yet, no one spoke. The only sounds were the creaking of the chair and Noa’s muffled struggles.

And so, the madam’s private witch trial began.

“Are you a witch or not? I’ll find out myself,” the madam declared, lifting the whip. “Witches feel no pain――so if you’re innocent, scream and writhe as you should.”

She yanked up the hem of Noa’s waitress outfit, exposing her thighs. The whip cracked against her pale skin, and Noa let out a strangled cry, like a wounded animal.

That girl…Noa…was in pain. It was no acting, but genuine pain. Her face flushed deeper red, tears welling in her eyes as she screamed. Yet, the madam showed no mercy, bringing the whip down again and again.

Unable to watch it any longer, the priest grabbed the madam’s wrist.

“Stop this. The wizards will be here soon. Let them handle the interrogation,” he proposed, but our madam didn’t listen to the words of anyone but her husband.

She shook him off and swung the whip again. This time just harder than before.

Does it hurt? Does it not? We won’t know unless you squeal properly――

I firmly shut my eyes, unable to keep looking at the sobbing Noa. Fear and regret clawed at me. I had betrayed her, revealing her secret to the madam. And I did so despite being most likely the only one that had become her ally.

Noa had arrived at the mansion two weeks prior, a slave girl purchased by the master of this house during one of his trips. Her body was covered by nothing but a thin, flimsy piece of cloth while she was clutching a hand mirror to her chest, the only belonging she had with her.

I thought that slaves would usually be treated cruelly with their bodies being dirty all over. But, that didn’t apply to Noa.

Her body was spotless without a single bruise or stain. Her hair was neatly combed. The red pupils shining in her round and cute, blinking eyes were like rubies. Her white skin reminded one of freshly drawn milk. And she looked no older than ten.

Given her neat appearance and beauty, I guessed that Master must have bought her for a lot of money.

“What do you think? She’s pretty, isn’t she?”

Master said while having Noa stand in front of the madam, presenting her as if she were a rare antique

The madam’s fury was palpable. Her husband had left to buy spices, and yet came back with a slave girl alongside two bags of pepper. It was only natural for her to be infuriated.

However, at Master’s insistence, it was decided for Noa to work as one of the mansion’s maids.

Isn’t that girl his mistress――such a rumor spread like a wildfire in the mansion. People started to wonder whether Master had bought her as his lover and installed her among us maids to keep her close. It was a very vulgar and indecent rumor.

No one inside the mansion thought well of this strange slave girl.

But to me, she didn’t seem to be a mistress or anything like that. She was quiet and unsociable, but she tried to learn manners and the house rules in her own way. And when praised, she’d smile sweetly, her demeanor softening into something befitting her tender age.

One time, I incidentally spotted Noa stashing away the milk and bread provided for lunch in the pocket of her apron. Given that she sneaked out of the mansion while making sure to not be seen by anyone, I got curious and followed her to find out where she was going.

In a corner of the garden, I found her crouched beside a clump of bushes. A mother cat lay there, nursing a litter of kittens. Noah had been sharing her own bread and milk with them.

Noticing me, she quickly stood up, and whispered, “Please keep this a secret,” while awkwardly casting her eyes downwards.

I nodded and answered, “Of course.”

Her smile of relief revealed a small canine tooth, a detail I’d never noticed before. Ever since then, we both started to share half of our milk and bread with the cats.

Noa, though younger than me, carried herself with a refined, mature grace that belied her status as a slave. Her beauty was striking, her long eyelashes framing her face like an antique doll’s. I even fantasized that she might be the daughter of a fallen noble family.

When I shared my fantasy with her, she showed me her hand mirror. It was the same white hand mirror she had been holding to her chest when she arrived at the mansion. On a closer look, I could immediately tell that it was an item of high class. It was an exquisite piece, its surface polished to a shine, with a white snake coiled around the handle. Once she flipped the mirror around, I could see the name “A. Fygi” in small letters at the lower part of the metallic backside. Noa claimed that the Fygi family was supposed to be her true family. She said her family used to be nobility before falling into ruin.

Was she telling the truth or was she simply humoring my delusion? I had no way to figure out which was true, but it didn’t matter anyway. After all, whether fact or fiction, it didn’t diminish her beauty, nor the joy I found in our conversations.

But, I should have been more careful of my surroundings. My thoughtlessness gave the madam an excuse to realize her wish to oust Noa from the mansion.

Back then I was called Piggy.

“Piggy, what are you secretly doing with that girl?”

The madam asked me just when I was tying her blond hair into a top bun in preparation for her visit to the royal court’s salon.

“Aren’t you disappearing every time after the meal? It looks like you’re sneaking outside the mansion with that girl. Why?”

“…That is…umm…”

I hesitated whether I should confess our secret that we’re feeding milk and bread to stray cats in the garden. But the madam likely already knew.

“You girls aren’t possibly feeding stray cats, are you?”

“Huh…?”

The madam had been suspecting Noa to have a relationship with her husband, and thus had been looking for an opportunity all this time. For an excuse to rightfully hurt Noa and chase her out of the mansion.

“Listen, Piggy, I’ve been thinking that girl might be a witch,” the madam said casually, as if discussing the weather, while looking at me through the three-sided mirror and drawing a mole under her eye.

Witches――it didn’t need to be explained, but they were evil women, capable of freely wielding magic without having gone through a baptism. They only sought to satisfy their own desires. And they were generally seen as calamities bringing sorrow and misfortune wherever they went.

The madam recounted a story she’d heard at the salon the other day as I stood there shuddering. It was the tale of a witch with a magenta tongue who had caused a disturbance in a southern country. At the Port City Saul of the Republic of Inatella.

A girl, who had been bought as a slave, massacred the people living in the mansion of her owner and looted all the valuables. According to the testimony of a person who survived that tragedy, she had stood amidst the countless corpses while hugging a silver scythe. It was said her drooping tongue had a toxic shade of magenta color.

Saul, the port city that served as the stage of that incident, was the very same place which Master had visited for buying the spices. According to the madam, Noa had to be that witch.

“There’s no way…,” I appealed to the madam. “I mean, Noa’s tongue isn’t even magenta.”

But, the madam looked at me and laughed, “Oh, Piggy, you’re so silly. If she’s a witch, she could easily hide the color of her tongue, couldn’t she?”

“Then…there is no way to prove she’s a witch.”

“Indeed. We cannot rely on the color of her tongue…but, witches have other traits, don’t they? Things like them not feeling any pain or them not drowning in water…,” said the madam while cocking her head with her index finger pressed against her chin. “If I remember correctly, witches also do things like secretly raising familiars…or some such. That’s why I’m asking you what you’ve been doing with that girl, Piggy.”

I naturally started to tremble, resulting in me dropping the comb.

“You can’t say, Piggy?”

The madam picked up the comb and held it out towards me while whispering into my ear.

“Should I assume that you too are a witch then?”

“No, that’s not true! I’m just…”

“Just what?”

“I’m…just―――”

“Were you told by that witch to share your lunch for her familiar?”

“…―――”

I simply didn’t have the courage to oppose the madam.

Having been beaten by the whip for quite some time, Noa let her head hang deeply. Her face wasn’t visible due to her disheveled hair, but the sight of her drool dripping out of her smooth lips, dropping on her scarlet, swollen thighs burned itself into my memory.

At that point, the door was violently flung open and three wizards entered the room. The one to step in first was a middle-aged wizard whose face was partially covered by a hood. Still, you could see his beard and a part of his chiseled facial contours.

While quickly walking up to Noa, he extended a hand through an opening in his robe. With a flick of his fingers towards the ceiling, Noa gently floated up into the air alongside the chair she was tied to.

Next, the wizard pushed the space in front of him with his palm. The chair with Noa on it obeyed that hand movement, quickly sliding through the air, before automatically landing next to the window.

This was my first time seeing magic. Unlike the heresy of witch hexes, the magic of a wizard, who had received a proper baptism, was a genuine miracle.

Among the two remaining wizards, the female wizard told the madam and us to get further away from the witch and stand as close to the wall as possible. Three birds――one red, one yellow, one blue――perched on her shoulders, making me experience this as a somewhat weird view.

“…Don’t tell me, you restrained and punished her on your own accord?”

The female wizard challenged the madam after seeing the whip in her hands. The madam merely shrugged at that, her expression sour

The last wizard, a tall youth, spat out, “How foolish.”

He lowered the big bag he was shouldering and continued to the bearded wizard, “Sure looks like the reports were incorrect.”

“If this girl was the “Witch with he Magenta Tongue,” she’d have slaughtered all of these people long ago.”

The young wizard walked up next to Noa, who was unconscious, and removed the gag by cutting its string with a knife. He then grabbed her chin and peered into her mouth.

“…Look, just as I thought, her tongue isn’t magenta. What a terrible treatment you gave her.”

“Don’t get careless. It’s your bad habit at work again,” the bearded wizard, his forehead adorned by many wrinkles, glowered at the young wizard with a sharp glint in his eyes. “Don’t forget we’re possibly dealing with a witch here. She might have magically changed the color of her tongue. Make sure with Silence.”

“Yeah, yeah, as you wish.”

The young wizard retrieved a small bottle from his bag. I only learned about this later, but that red liquid was called “Silence Potion.” It apparently nullified mana, the source of magic.

The wizards would use that potion to find out whether Noa’s tongue had been transformed through magic. After shaking the bottle so that it foamed, the young wizard poured the potion inside Noa’s mouth.

If this caused the spell to come undone, revealing Noa’s tongue to be magenta, it’d prove that Noa was a witch. On the other hand, if the tongue remained unchanged, it’d be testimony of Noa being a very unlucky, pitiable maid.

We all watched closely, holding our breaths. The red liquid dripped out of Noa’s mouth, trickling down alongside her chin.

Immediately following that, steam started to rise from Noa’s whole body. At that time, I and everyone else had expected for this to happen when the red liquid dribbled down. We thought that it was normal for the person, who had the potion applied to them, to be fully enveloped by steam.

But, the three wizards immediately put themselves on guard, and the atmosphere in the room became very tense.

Before long, the steam cleared away, followed by a commotion. Before even worrying about the color of the tongue, the problem was that the person tied to the chair wasn’t Noa.

What came into sight after the steam dissipated was elaborate lace that had been applied to the hem of the skirt, a tightly bound corset, and a chest that looked as if it was going to spill out any moment.

And…

Disheveled, blond hair.

Underneath the eyes, which were rolled up, I could see the moles which the madam loved to always draw on her face.

We had our breath taken away in confusion. I mean, that’s only natural, isn’t it? Although Noa should have been tied to the chair, her figure had changed into that of the madam.

Logically, this allowed only one question: Who’s the other madam…?

Naturally, all eyes focused on the madam who was standing in the center of the room while clasping the whip.

In the next instant, the bearded wizard yelled, “You people get away from that wom――”

Faster than he could finish those words, his throat was pierced by a wire and torn apart. That wire was as long as a spear and possessed a silver color.

The wire had extended from the person who was impersonating the madam. Now she was holding a white hand mirror. The very same mirror with the snake handle which Noa had secretly shown to me.

The fake madam had stretched out her arm as if to stab the wizard with the snake head at the top of the mirror. The silver wire looked as though it had extended from that tip.

Once she swung her hand sideways, the wire had ripped the wizard’s throat open, causing a huge amount of blood to gush out. Blood sprays managed to even reach the ceiling. The three-sided mirror, the carpet, and the madam, who was still tied to the chair, were all painted red as the wizard crumbled to the floor amidst the fountain of blood.

Shrieks and screams filled the room. Whilst everyone rushed towards the door, the remaining two wizards stepped forward, facing off against the impostor.

The fake madam swung the hand mirror widely.

In response, the silver wire bent like a whip and returned back into her hands, just to be sucked into the mirror. Next, she held the mirror up above her head.

What came out of the smooth mirror surface next was a cloth, glittering like silk.

Just what is she going to do with that?

A huge, silver curtain had appeared from the mirror, now covering her whole body. As the curtain was flipped over, hair――cut at shoulder length――and a waitress outfit with an apron became visible on the other side. The one standing there was Noa. Her red eyes blinking.

Just when did she switch places with the madam? At the very least, Noa had already been impersonating the madam when the private witch trial began.

“Cursed witch…!”

The young wizard blurted out, full of hatred, while dropping the bag on his shoulder on the ground. Then he raised both arms, and even though he should have been empty-handed, he was holding a big sword when he swung down his hands.

No, that wasn’t all.

One sword after the other manifested in the empty space, stabbing into the floor as if to surround the young wizard. They numbered six, or maybe it was closer to ten?

Moreover, the birds leaped off the other wizard’s, the woman’s, shoulders. No sooner than the birds grew to the size of puppies, the form of their feathers warped and they transformed into eerie birds with sharp horns and fangs. Two of those birds spread their wings above the female wizard. The other one landed on the ground at her feet, using its feathers as forefeet while baring its fangs.

This is magic――I gasped.

But, right now wasn’t the time to admire those miracles in front of me like I had done before. Being pushed aside by the maids who were scrambling towards the door, I fell to the ground. When I looked up, Noa was standing in front of my eyes.

Even though the two wizards were exposing the full extent of their hostility at her, she calmly stood there as if not understanding the danger she was facing.

Noa brandished her mirror, causing a mercury-like liquid to appear from the mirror’s surface next. That liquid flew up into the air, drawing an arc above Noa’s head. A detailed relief of entangling vines and leaves adorned the silver arc. That, which shone after hardening, was a scythe. A big scythe like death gods would carry in both hands.

I suppose that was yet another spell. I have been told that the sorcery of witches was vile and disgusting as it was based on heresy. But, actually seeing it in front of my eyes, the scene of that small girl holding a big scythe was as pretty as a painting…although this description might be imprudent.

Suddenly Noa looked down, meeting eyes with me. I thought I’d be killed. I had betrayed her out of self-interest and tattled about the kittens――her secret――to the madam. Even though I had fed the kittens just like her, I had pretended to not know anything, pushing all the blame on her alone.

My chest tightened as I felt guilty.

“…Forgive me.”

That apology left my mouth very naturally. In response, she shrugged her shoulders, looking rather uncomfortable. Just like she did when I had spotted her feeding bread to the kittens.

She narrowed her red eyes and lightly extended her tongue. Even though her expression and atmosphere belonged to the Noa I knew so well, the color of her tongue was definitely a toxic shade of magenta.

୧‿̩͙ ˖︵ ꕀ⠀ 2⠀ ꕀ ︵˖ ‿̩͙୨

“──Just as the madam suspected, Noa proved to be a witch. That girl──Witch with the magenta tongueMagenta──had come to our mansion to kill us and steal all our valuables.”

Standing at the head of a long table, Mrs. Ghillie put her hands together in front of her plump body. Her eyes were fixated on a candle, standing atop the table.

Men were sitting on both sides of the table, silently listening to her testimony.

“The battle between the wizards and the witch ended in a gruesome tragedy. The room was dyed crimson by all the blood…dismembered limbs were scattered all over the place. I…I couldn’t do anything but watch, as my knees gave way, until the witch left the room──”

The men couldn’t even begin to imagine what scenery was playing back in Mrs. Ghillie’s mind as the flickering flame was reflected in her glazed eyes. But they had no doubt that it had be one of terrible cruelty.

“…Forgive me, but I don’t quite remember what happened afterwards…”

After having given her testimony indifferently up to this point, Mrs. Ghillie suddenly cast her eyes down, faltering to continue.

Silence fell onto the room inside Castle Campusfellow. A gloomy and leaden silence. The testimony had come to an end, yet not a single one of the ten men at the table tried to say anything. Their lips were tightly shut, their expressions stony and full of depression. As if they had been exposed to the witch’s miasma through Mrs. Ghillie’s testimony.

The candles lined up on the table illuminated the men’s faces. They were dignitaries and statesmen shouldering the politics in Campusfellow. The prime minister, who was the head consul, and the ministers of various departments such as foreign and financial affairs. Even the captain of the <Knight Order of Smoldering Iron>, the protectors of Campusfellow, had been allowed to participate in this hearing.

But, because the hearing had been labeled as confidential, no minute takers to record the proceedings were present.

“I will take it from here──”

The one breaking the silence by clearing his throat was an elderly man in a baggy robe called Chimay. He stood up from his seat and positioned himself next to Mrs. Ghillie while dragging the hem of his robe across the ground.

The violet robe marked him as a civil official or scholar. And even though his body was as spindly as a dried branch, plenty of knowledge, experience, and solutions for complicated problems were stuffed into that head of his with its receding white hair. Chimay the Scholar, who was also known as Meister, had also been the one who brought Mrs. Ghillie, a direct witness of a witch disaster, here from another country.

“After the witch killed the three wizards in the room, she fought the two monks who had been on standby outside the mansion. Murdering them, she departed the grounds of the Ghillie estate. Two police officers, a priest, and six of the mansion’s maids were injured in the process of those battles.”

Chimay shifted his eyes from the edge of the long table straight to the other side of the room.

“These are the details of the witch disaster Daydream of Tremolo which took place in Trade City Tremolo seven years ago. What do you think, Milord──”

Sitting at the head of the table was the lord of Campusfellow. The one ruling over the other ten men.

“──do you still believe that the Witch with the magenta tongueMagenta is someone you could reason with?”

Bud Grace, the lord of Campusfellow, was propping up his head with a hand, the elbow resting on the armchair of his seat.

“Hrmm,” he groaned, stroking the stubbles of his five-o’clock shadow.

He was a man in his thirties, possessing tender, golden, long hair, and a sinewy, thick neck. His body build was that of an experienced and skilled knight, rough and unrefined. Even though he was fully aware that he was most at home on the back of a horse, he knew he was the heir of the Grace family, and thus he had resigned himself to that chair as lord of Campusfellow.

Behind Bud hung the crest of the Grace family, depicting a big hedgehog with two swords crossing in the background.

“First off, allow me to thank you for the valuable story you shared with us, Milady,” started Bud while scrutinizing Mrs. Ghillie with a shrewd look, before raising his index finger, “There’s just one thing bothering me about all you’ve said.”

The men around the table immediately shifted their attention to Bud.

“How come you were able to watch the battle from the beginning to the end without suffering a single injury?”

“Ah, yes… Maybe I got lucky or was blessed by the divine protection of the dragon,” Mrs. Ghillie answered nervously.

“I see. Then allow me to ask about one more thing. What about the kittens?”

“Kittens…?”

“The family of kittens which the witch fed with bread and milk. What happened to them?”

“U-…Umm, they were familiars raised by the witch, so the wizards sent by the church──”

“Don’t tell me, they were killed?”

“…No, fearing that might happen, I…let them escape…during the night of the day when the witch disaster happened…”

“Well done!”

“Lord Grace!” Chimay cut into the conversation. “Just what are you concerning yourself with? We are currently talking about the fearsome threat of a witch. Did you properly listen to the tragedy which the madam experienced?”

“Oh yeah, I heard it all. But, to me it sounded more like a satisfying revenge tragedy than a normal tragedy.”

“Satisfying…? What part of the story was satisfying!?”

“The madam is still alive, isn’t she?”

Bud pointed at Mrs. Ghillie with a hand.

“Even though she betrayed the witch, she’s still standing in front of us like this. That’s wonderful, especially given the fact that she had been late in escaping because her knees gave way. On top of that, she didn’t suffer a single injury throughout the whole incident, despite several of the maids getting wounded during the ensuing battles. Rather, it’s even possible that she was protected by the witch. Right?” Bud directed a smile at Mrs. Ghillie, “In other words, the witch forgave her.”

With those words, he faced the madam with her well-rounded silhouette and continued, “Even though you recounted all of this while in tears, it must have been a very satisfying tale for you, who was scorned as Piggy, wouldn’t you say?”

“…That’s not really…”

“In reality, you should have been charmed by the witch, not the wizards. That’s why you let the kittens, the suspected familiars of the witch, get away. And you did that because you believed the witch would understand if you explained things to her deep in the back of your mind, correct?”

“That’s…,” Mrs. Ghillie cast her eyes down, falling silent.

She was a pious Lucy worshiperLucian. Those people believed in dragons. As such you couldn’t rule out the possibility of them getting charmed by a witch, whom the church labeled as evil.

“…I think you’ve told us everything you know,” Chimay prompted Mrs. Ghillie to leave the room.

The madam bowed deeply and headed towards the door. Chimay accompanied her, before entrusting her to a soldier just outside the door.

After the door was closed completely, Bud sank his body deeply into the backrest of his chair.

“A girl called Magenta infiltrated the estate as a slave, killed the family there, and stole all their valuables, huh…? If she was tender twelve years old back then, she would be around nineteen right now.”

“Seven years have passed and nowadays she’s known as Mirror Witch.”

The one answering was Brasserie, the man sitting diagonally in front on the left of Bud. He was wearing a uniform with pointed shoulders, which was bordered by golden and silver threads. It was the black uniform donned by generations of Campusfellow prime ministers. He was a stern man with a pointy mustache.

“It sure is similar to the Wedding of Blood. …The witch in that case sneaked in as a maid and killed all the good people living there. The witch’s way of doing things apparently hasn’t changed since seven years ago.”

The Wedding of Blood, the case referred to by the prime minister, was about a Witch Disaster that occurred in Lowe, a kingdom situated two days by horse from Campusfellow.

It was said the incident started when Lowe’s king, the Lion King, fell in love with a maid who was working at the castle back then. The marriage ceremony between the two was held in the castle’s chapel. But, during the ceremony, the maid was discovered to be a witch. More than fifty people, including the ducal families in attendance, the king’s chief vassals, and several knights, were slaughtered by the witch.

The whole incident took place a mere nine days ago.

“Kukuku…isn’t that just great?” Bud laughed, his face still resting in his palm. “All this time, the witch has been on the loose, targeting the mansions of rich people. And now she’s finally set her eyes on a royal castle.”

It was said the witch stood in the chapel, her dress dyed crimson in blood, as she embraced her scythe while surrounded by heaps of chopped body parts. Basically, this was the current version of Magenta, the witch Mrs. Ghillie talked about earlier.

“What’s so great about it? I don’t see how it’s funny either,” Meister Chimay faulted Bud with a grim look on his face after having returned to his own seat.

Prime Minister Brasserie folded his arms and glanced at Bud, “Lord Bud, have you heard about the state of the chapel? They say corpses, missing their heads and limbs, were lying all over the floor, creating a sea of blood… A site of celebration has been turned into the very definition of Hell.”

“Some of the corpses have also turned black after getting burned…,” added Edelweiss, a middle-aged man with a shaved head, who was sitting opposite Brasserie. “That’s not the deed of humans. Just thinking about it gives me shivers.”

Edelweiss rubbed his upper arms as if hugging himself. His medium build was hidden by a big, gray robe. The feather badge pinned to his chest proved him to be the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

“But, why did the witch target Lowe?”

Bud quietly asked while stroking his beard.

Edelweiss shook his head with a frown, “The Kingdom of Lowe lies outside the sphere of the Lucian Church’s influence, so it has no wizards. Wizards are the natural enemies of witches. Their absence makes it easy for witches to move about, I would suspect. …And the same applies to our Campusfellow as well. We are outside the sphere of the Lucian Church’s influence too, so we don’t have any wizards who could suppress a witch either. I’m against it, Lord Bud.”

Edelweiss corrected his sitting posture to directly face Bud and put strength into his words, “It’s reckless to try to win a witch over as a comrade. They are disasters. Calamities who only bring sorrow and death to people. Even we, who are no Lucians, understand the danger of witches, given the story from before. If we invite such a calamity into our country, Campusfellow could perish in the worst case!”

“Yeah, it’s going to perish,” Bud accepted Edelweiss’s plea, seeing the other man close to tears. “But, either way, at this rate our Campusfellow is doomed since we’ll be destroyed by the Kingdom of Amelia sooner or later.”

“……gh”

Edelweiss was at a loss for words when confronted with this inescapable truth.

Amelia, which was ruled by Queen Amelia, used its massive military force to continue its territorial expansion. And at this point, the fires of war had already arrived right at the doormat of Campusfellow. Just three months ago Amelia’s soldiers started to take effective control of the Bloody RiverBrotherhood River, a cornerstone of Campusfellow’s trade. Up until now, no tariffs had been levied on the river, frequented by ships of various nations.

However, Amelia dispatched many soldiers into the area and used them to build a water gate, just to start demanding unreasonably high tariffs from the countries, which were using the river, as soon as its construction finished. On top of that, they asked for ridiculously high tariffs when it came to the export and import of weapons, armors, and similar goods.

Of course, Campusfellow filed a protest against this, but the answer they received from Amelia was to welcome a ducal family with a higher standing than the Graces into Campusfellow. In other words, they were telling the Grace family to hand over their land. Of course, this was a condition Campusfellow couldn’t swallow.

“What is going to happen to our economic situation? Our finances are deep in the red, right?”

The Minister of Financial Affairs weakly shook his head in response to Bud’s question.

“In a situation, where we have to pay taxes each time a ship sets sail, we’re being further driven into poverty, the more we continue to trade. At this rate, Campusfellow will go bankrupt in around half a year.”

Campusfellow housed many blacksmiths and thus their main source of tax income was the sale of arms and armor to foreign lands. It was clear to anyone that the country would take a blow, if the export of those goods was blocked. Right now, Campusfellow was in a situation you could describe as having a noose around its neck.

“You’re sensing it very acutely as well, aren’t you, Edelweiss? The war has already started.”

“……”

As Minister of Foreign Affairs Edelweiss fully understood that his country was currently being slowly driven into a corner by Amelia. Campusfellow couldn’t be called a prosperous country by any measures. Even Castle Campusfellow, the seat of the lord, was old with cold winds entering through cracks and blowing through the hallways. The leather tunic worn by Bud was frugal for a lord and not that much better than that of a peddler.

Given the wretched state of their lord, the commoners were even poorer. And yet, the people of Campusfellow lived every day to the fullest. They had been tolling away to create their own fortune through farming, smithing, or trading while living in peace.

The oppression by the major power Amelia, which had struck them all of a sudden, was severe for them.

Bud was convinced, “Amelia is going to attack this place without a shred of doubt. The current oppression is the first move towards that end. They likely plan to send in their soldiers, if we dare to raise our voices in protest over their tyrannical behavior. For this reason we joined forces with Northland.”

It wasn’t as though Bud and the other leaders of Campusfellow were silently watching Amelia’s aggression while fiddling their thumbs. They took measures to mount a resistance. Namely, they forged an alliance with the enemies of Amelia.

Northland had been a trade partner of Campusfellow to begin with. Thus they managed to quickly agree to a secret treaty.

“The Varshya are famous for being savage, but that only speaks of how tough the northern men are. You wouldn’t be able to find any other ally as reliable as them. But, even then──,” Bud leaned back, “──Even then, we still cannot win against Amelia.”

Correct, they couldn’t win. Defeat was inevitable. Even if they fielded the best weapons forged by Campusfellow and their best army consisting of the tough Varshyans, Amelia would still win.

“Tell us, why is that so, Brasserie?”

Bud crossed his legs and pointed a hand at his prime minister.

“…It’s because Amelia has wizards, right?”

“Correct. The wizards are the problem. What they use is magic.”

The Kingdom of Amelia was at the same time a religious state. Amelia’s state religion was Lucy. And the occupation of wizardry could only be studied by Lucians. Those wizards numbered something between three and four hundred. It was a small number compared to the total soldiers a nation could wield, but their powers were still a dangerous threat.

They, who used the miracles called Magic, could heal injured soldiers, shoot fireballs without requiring catapults, and some among them apparently could even fly. Amelia held a monopoly on those wizards. And because of that, its nation was also called <Amelia, Land of Dragons and Magic>.

“What is it that we need to stand a chance against them? We have our prized weapons. And we also have the best soldiers one can get at our call. Moreover, we possess the resolve and fury to fight against absurdity. So what else are we lacking──”

This time Bud pointed at Edelweiss.

“You know the answer, don’t you, Edelweiss?”

“…Magic?”

“Indeed. What we require are people other than wizards, who are capable of using magic.”

Bud raised his body as he was approaching the core of the matter.

“Magic seems to use a mysterious power called Mana as its source. Mana exists in nature, and those wizards study in their monasteries how to use it to do their bidding. But, this world knows geniuses who naturally use magic, foregoing all the challenging training and studying──,” said Bud and grinned broadly, “Of course, the Lucians aren’t overly amused since they want to establish magic as miracles taught by them alone. Instructing the people that the girls, who use magic without baptisms, are to be regarded as abominable disasters, they persecute them as witches. And those witches are what we need.”

“…That’s crazy…,” someone muttered

With that as the starting signal, the people around the table began to state their opinions one after the other.

“So you’re telling us to choose whether to be destroyed by wizards or witches?”

“As long as we have no guarantee that we can control the witches, we will only expose our people to danger.”

“Can’t we look for another opportunity to talk with Amelia? Without trying to resolve everything by military means?”

The room started to get heated again. But, not a single person approved of Bud’s plan to befriend the witches.

“What if we become Amelia’s vassal state? It’s not that bad as an option of coexistence.”

“What nonsense. Don’t you know about all the countries that were squeezed dry and destroyed by Amelia? If you bow your head once, you’ll never know what arrogant demands they’ll throw at you.”

“Amelia is a belligerent nation. No matter how many weapons we possess, it won’t be enough. If we become their vassals, they’ll likely tell us to hand over all our swords and shields without leaving a single one for us.”

“But, I never heard anyone using the strategy of allying themselves with the calamities called witches.”

“We should tread carefully here. It’s a crucial decision which will affect the continuation of this country, so we have to consider thin――”

Suddenly a loud, rumbling bang resounded throughout the room, causing all of those present to jolt.

“All of you, be quiet! Lord Bud was in the middle of making his statement.”

The voice of a giant of a man thundered from the foot of the table. A burly, trained chest and a thick neck. The mouth above the square jaw was tightly shut. This man, who wouldn’t allow his beloved spear to leave his side even as he partook in this meeting of dignitaries, was still in his early twenties. He was the youngest among those present, but his intensity was more than enough to make everyone shut up.

Captain of the Knights, Hartland. A wappen of a hedgehog with a burning backFire Hedgehog was sewed on his thick upper arm and back. That, which resembled the Grace family’s crest very closely, was the coat of arms belonging to the <Knight Order of Smoldering Iron>.

“Thanks, Hartland. But you see…,” Bud spoke up once more within the deadly silent room, “I’ve told you to stop banging the floor, didn’t I? The floor has become cracked and dented right next to your seat.”

Bud pointed at Hartland’s feet.

Because Hartland, who sat at the foot of the table every time, swung down the butt end of his spear each time the conversation became too chaotic, the stone tiles at his feet had suffered quite a bit of damage over time.

“Yes, My Liege,” answered Hartland energetically, but this was yet another repetition happening every time.

Bud suspected that he’d do it again next time anyway.

“Now then,” started But to take back the control of the meeting as he stood up from his seat. “Your concerns are very reasonable. Chimay, you probably brought Mrs. Ghillie here to teach me about the dreadfulness of witches, but hearing her story actually convinced me. You can reason with witches.”

Bud left his chair, starting to walk behind the seated men.

“For the sake of protecting this country from Amelia’s invasion, I want the witches on our side. However, the witches are scattered across the continent.”

The eyes of the seated men chased Bud as he walked around the table.

“The Lucians, who want witches to be seen as villains, are probably exaggerating things, making out witches to be extremely terrifying beings. They claim that witches are dangerous and that one must stay away from those walking disasters――”

“Kukukuku――,” Bud happily chuckled as he kept walking.

“Isn’t that just wonderful? I’m pretty fine with calamities. I don’t mind disasters. The crueler the stories surrounding the witches, the better. After all, it’s nothing more than proof of the Lucians――and with them the wizards――fearing the witches, isn’t it? Come on, tell me. ――What stories about witches do you guys know?”

As Bud placed a hand on the shoulder of a civil official with a slap, the man stuttered, “Umm, if I remember correctly…,” while obviously confused. “A hungry witch magically turned people and livestock into candy during a famine in the poor village of Eidlhorn…”

“She ate them. Candy Witch, wasn’t it? Nice.”

Next Bud pointed at another official, sitting on the other side of the table.

“What about you? Please tell us: What sort of ‘witch’ do you know?”

“I――let’s see…I have heard that the Sea Witch, said to be able to make any wish come true, lives at the bottom of the sea off the coast of Inatella. However, in exchange for fulfilling one’s wish, she will demand one’s most valuable thing…”

“If it’s about the land of Oz,” another official meekly raised his hand, “the Witch of the West is famous for having killed her sister, who was a witch just like her…”

“Oh, right,” Bud agreed conversationally while circling around the table.

“If we are talking about famous witches, Northland has the Frozen Castle, where people cannot live, don’t they? Which witch did that piece of work…?”

Having his shoulder tapped by Bud, Meister Chimay sighed, “…The Snow Witch, Milord. If we’re naming witches who have destroyed a castle by themselves, the Witch of Roses also comes to mind. That was a legend being passed down in some forest, wasn’t it…?”

“Just having a single castle destroyed is still harmless when it comes to witches,” interjected Prime Minister Brasserie, “I hear Night City Rondcliff was completely leveled by a flying group which had appeared from the other side of the continent. The empress, who led soldiers in weird outfits, introduced herself as Moon Witch.”

“I see, I see, there’s plenty of stories about them. Right?”

After making a full lap around the table, Bud sat back down on his own chair.

“And Mirror Witch has been apprehended in the Knight Country Lowe,” feeling the gazes of everyone present on him, Bud put on a daring smile, “Let’s start with adding that girl as our friend.”

“But, the Mirror Witch has been arrested as a criminal, no? Would Lowe readily hand over the woman who killed their Lion King?” Chimay asked, lifting an eyebrow.

Bud shook his head, “Don’t worry. I have already made a move. Edelweiss.”

Upon Bud’s signal, Edelweiss placed a sealed letter on the table. The seal with the lion crest, the Wappen of the Lowe family, had already been broken.

“This morning we received a reply to the letter I sent to Lowe the other day. Omra Lowe, the younger brother of the murdered Lion King, agreed to a trade for the captured witch. However, one of the conditions states that I must go to Lowe in person.”

“They didn’t even bother to send a messenger!? So they’re summoning a greater lord like Bud Grace through nothing but a single letter!?” Chimay jumped to his feet, “How rude! Lowe has always been arrogant, but this takes it to a whole new level!”

“Now, now, don’t get so upset, Chimay.”

“Now that the Lion King has passed away, Lowe is in a turmoil over who’s going to take the crown next. Omra, one of the contenders, probably wants to demonstrate his authority and wide connections by summoning the lord of another nation.”

“Can we trust them?” Brasserie asked. “Lowe used to be hostile towards us in the past.”

“That’s a story from more than fifty years ago. But, just in case, I’ll take a considerable number of knights with me,” Bud let his eyes wander to the foot of the table, “Hartland, choose, let’s see…thirty of your skilled knights. The other party possesses many knights. We cannot lose out to them, so let’s be flashy about it.”

“Yes! I shall do so as soon as we finish the direwolf subjugation,” Hartlands voice thundered across the room.

“Ah, right. The direwolves, huh…?”

Direwolves were a wolf species with a size close to that of bears. They hunted in packs. And just yesterday some of them had appeared in the western district of Campusfellow. Many peasants were slaughtered by the three direwolves who scaled the fences, trespassing on the fields. That pack might still be lurking in the forest close to the settlement. The inhabitants were terrified by the direwolves’ threat, and thus the <Knight Order of Smoldering Iron> was right now in the process of setting up a unit to subjugate the beasts.

“When is the subjugation force heading out?”

“Our preparations are done. As soon as the rain from last night lets up, we plan to enter the forest.”

“I see. …The Lowe trip will follow right afterwards. Good grief, we never run out of problems, do we?”

Leaning back on his chair, Bud looked up to the ceiling. But then he quickly raised his body, as if having suddenly remembered something.

“What’s Black Hound doing? Is he going to join the subjugation as well?

Black Hound――hearing that name, Hartland revealed a blatantly disagreeable face.

“Certainly not. That guy isn’t part of the knight order. He doesn’t want to wear armor nor a sword. A man like him is too lacking to be called a knight.”

“Bloody hell…you two really hate each other like water and fire”

“We will have him stand watch in front of the forest. In reality, I don’t even want to entrust him with such a task, though. To be perfectly honest, I do not trust that man. Suspicious occupations such as assassins――”

୧‿̩͙ ˖︵ ꕀ⠀ 3⠀ ꕀ ︵˖ ‿̩͙୨

Cawing could be heard as a flock of crows circled in the skies. Heavy clouds were still hanging low with the rain having just finished not long ago. The carpet of dark gray projected a gloomy, depressing atmosphere onto the ground.

In addition to the crows up in the winds, a countless number more of them were perking on the branches of trees, rasping their grating songs to the lonesome scarecrow standing tall amidst their furious gazes.

It was a simple scarecrow, basically sporting a stake that had been rammed into the ground, before having a big head stuck onto its other end. Yet, its size was big enough to force those standing close to look up.

A single man, holding one knee, was sitting atop its huge head. His black hair gently curled at its ends. His hands and wrists were covered by gloves. He was already in his late teens, yet his features looked childish. Rather, his silhouette looked so slender that you could mistake him for a woman.

His dark green eyes were fixated on the forest, sprawling ahead of him. Maybe out of boredom, he was rolling a curved, wolf claw in his palm.

Other than him, no human presence could be felt in the vicinity. But that was only understandable. His current location was rather close to the field where the direwolves had appeared just yesterday, so the inhabitants were currently hiding, fearing another raid by the beasts.

The man continued to stare at the thick and deep forest all by himself.

This year had seen an awfully big amount of rainfall. As this apparently caused a decline in the autumn’s ripening, hungry, wild beasts had come down from the mountains, according to the travelers visiting Campusfellow.

Usually direwolves lived deep in the forests and wouldn’t leave the territory of their pack, but three of those beasts having invaded the land of Campusfellow might be owed to them looking for food. Eleven farmers, who had been in the middle of reaping the harvest, and eight gatekeepers, who had come running after hearing the commotion, had been killed. And maybe because of the tenderness of their flesh, the beasts had taken five women and children with them.

The scene of the attack was a gruesome pandemonium. The bereaved family members had been crying and screaming over the corpses, maimed and disfigured by the beasts’ fangs. The man recalled yesterday’s scene he had seen amidst the rain.

“……”

Suddenly he heard footsteps. He turned around towards the field.

“Nooooo….! It’s so muddy! My boots are all dirty now thanks to this!”

A small girl showed up while lifting her maid attire’s hem and making mud water splash wherever she stepped. Cappuccino, a maid serving the Grace family, furrowed her eyebrows in obvious displeasure. Her neatly trimmed black hair reached down to her shoulders. Her eyes, with their raised corners, made her look cheeky. Probably because of her small, slender build, she looked childish for a fifteen years old. Freckles sprinkled her cheeks.

“Uwah…what’s that…?”

Cappuccino looked up to the big scarecrow, frowning her face, which was already unsociable at the best times, even further.

“Don’t tell me, yesterday’s direwolves’…?”

The man glanced down at the girl through a gap in his curly hair.

“You can have this.”

The man carelessly tossed the wolf’s claw he had been toying with.

“A-Ahh!” Cappuccino caught it in a hurry. “Eek, there’s no blood sticking to it, is there? So gross!”

“Direwolf claws can be turned into charms. They sell for a lot of money.”

“Eh? Really?”

At once Cappuccino’s eyes sparkled, but she quickly narrowed her eyes into a quizzical look.

“Just now I heard from a knight order person that you might have abandoned your watch duty and gone into the forest by yourself, you know? Did you subjugate the direwolves?”

“It’s not like I have to follow their instructions, do I? I mean, I’m not part of their little gang.”

“Even so, wasn’t it dangerous? If you were to go, it’d have been best if you’d gone together with the knights.”

“Nah, absolutely not. Why do I have to wait for those slowpokes who are just going to get in my way anyway?”

“Whoa, what a foul mouth you have. People hate you because you’re like this.”

“That’s fine. Being hated is part of an assassin’s job.”

“Sounds like quite a rebellious occupation!”

Cappuccino swung the claw while holding it between her fingers, producing whooshing sounds.

“Pulling out its claw… Is it really okay to do something like that? What are you going to do if the boss leads its pack to get revenge?”

“Direwolves are smart. They learn what happens to them if they scale the fence and step onto Campusfellow ground. They realize what retaliation awaits them if they bite our people to death. They comprehend once you teach them their place. At least they aren’t dumb enough to go against the one who killed their boss.”

“……Eh? Are you saying this here is the boss’s…?”

“Cappu, did you come here for a reason?”

“Oh, right. I have a message from Lord Bud for you, Rollo. He’s telling you to come back to the castle urgently.”

“Urgently? Tell me about such things earlier.”

The man――Rollo――jumped off the scarecrow’s head, soundlessly landing on the ground.

“This should stand here for a while. Tell the knights to not touch it.”

The instant Rollo left the scarecrow, the crows all flew off their branches and swarmed towards the scarecrow’s head.

All the while cawing madly.

“I don’t want to. Please tell them yourself…”

Cappuccino looked up to the head as it was pecked apart by a crowd of crows. With a shiver.

Certainly, if you put the pack boss’s head on display like that, even the hearts of ferocious direwolves would likely break――

“Good grief…he sure got bad taste.”

What did the direwolf boss, the supreme ruler of the forest, see right before its death? Its face with the lolling tongue seemed as if it had been distorted by abysmal dread.

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