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Translator: Lizz
Proofreader: Xemul
The first time they had met had surely been anticlimactic.
There had been no denying that she had been a beauty, but she had truly looked like a little girl. Even when laughing or getting angry, she had been very childlike.
He had thought of it as interesting. He had liked her. There had been the curse, of course, but he had thought that if she had kept him company, it wouldn’t have been boring.
Therefore, he had thought that he would cherish that dainty body and carefreeness of hers.
It hadn’t taken long for him to realize that he had made a mistake.
She had repeatedly let him know that she was a witch, and witches were different.
No matter how close she got or how gentle she smiled, no matter how she treated people with kindness, she would never commit to any humans around her. She had always stood alone, at a very far place.
Only when Oscar had realized it had he truly become interested in her.
Her smile, her angry face, her cruelty, her pride, her kindness, her solitude, and pieces of her essence that existed in each of those.
She would continue to be a witch, and if he could touch her true self… He would treasure it, he had thought.
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“Well, I was truly surprised. Not just at Miss Tinassha, but also at His Highness. Is he really human?”
Art and Meldina were sitting across a table in the castle’s courtyard having their lunch break. He was throwing pieces of bread into his mouth and talking about the mock fight that had happened a few days ago.
“It’s nice that I could watch it, but watching it made me lose self-confidence… I won’t be able to win, I think.”
“Against whom?”
“Any of them.”
Meldina laughed at her childhood friend, who had become unusually timid, and took a sip of tea.
“Please have more self-confidence. If the soldiers hear that, they’ll lose their morale, right?”
“Uhm.”
“But if magic is used in close combat, that’s how it’ll be like. Quite tough. Do you think she went easy?”
“I don’t know, but her maneuvers were skilfull. Well, magicians normally don’t do that kind of thing, so it’s even more remarkable.”
“Is that so?”
Yeah, Arts nodded. He poured some water from the pitcher into his glass. Meldina picked up one of the pastries she had brought.
“I haven’t seen any of our magicians use swords. Normally, magicians leave the front to swordsmans and fire their large scale magic from the back.”
“Ah, right.”
“As a matter of course, the other party also uses magicians for defense. There’s probably no magician who doesn’t set up a barrier for themselves but uses swords for both offensive and defensive like Miss Tinassha, I think.”
“At the magic lake, she did use large scale magic to burn down the whole area though.”
“Of course she’s also able to use ordinary combat methods like that. She’s lived for a long time, so it’s different.”
Hearing the mixed feelings in his sigh, Meldina smiled. It was Arts who had told her once before that she couldn’t compete against a witch; as he now had seen her power, he probably thought the same about himself.
“But when she fought against His Highness, it felt like a test… or maybe a lesson?”
“Is that so?”
“Yeah. Somehow I feel like she was showing His Highness how a magician would fight.”
In the eyes of the witch who had lived for such a long time, sometimes she saw a terribly sad affection. Her eyes said she loathed associating with humans, but desired to leave behind something at the same time. Or maybe what Tinassha desired to leave behind was for Oscar.
Arts seemed not to notice what Meldina had sensed though. He rested his chin in his hand and looked up at the sky.
“She once said that she didn’t want to reveal her hand too much.”
“Maybe she’s changed her mind? She smiled half way through.”
Meldina smiled wryly and finished her tea.
It was also a nice day today; the clouds were leisurely drifting through the piece of sky surrounded by the castle ramparts as if strolling.
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Oscar was summoned by his father the King to a royal reception room next to the audience hall, which was an unusual thing by itself. He, who had been brought here while working due to an emergency, accepted the document the King presented him with a puzzled look.
“What is this?”
“A messenger from a small country in the North called Kuskl has just come. He asks to meet with the Blue Moon Witch.”
Two things in that statement caught Oscar’s attention, but he decided to inquire about the more trivial one first.
“What country is that? I’ve never heard of them.”
“It seems like they gained independence from Tairi a year ago. They’re a small country, specialized in magic.”
“Magic huh…”
A silence fell upon the room.
Tairi was a country in the northernmost of the continent, and they didn’t share a border with Farsas. Since the distance between them was considerable, they only had exchanges two or three times a year. The country followed its own unique belief, and treated magic with contempt. Having one part of it declaring independence and becoming a country specialized in magic did nothing for Tairi’s reputation; that was probably why they intentionally didn’t talk about it widely. Not to mention that Faras was faraway; nothing strange that the news hadn’t reached here.
Satisfied with the first question, Oscar asked about the important issue:
“So, how do they know Tinassha is in Farsas?”
Most witches didn’t make their whereabouts known; Tinassha was the only exception. But only the fact that she lived in that tower was well-known; if she left her tower, there was nothing like a written statement saying where she had gone. Tinassha being a witch had been officially announced in the castle, but it was firmly suppressed outside. How did a newly-established country from faraway know about it?
King Kevin shook his head at his son’s question.
“I don’t know. Anyhow, they asked to meet her.”
Oscar thought about it. Tinassha was probably at the office at this hour.
“I see. I’ll meet them first.”
Kevin lightly nodded at that answer, as if he had expected it.
The messenger from Kuskl was a man of small stature, who somehow gave of a disagreeable vibe.
It wasn’t that he looked ugly, but his eyes were like those of a reptile, and the same aura seemed to ooze out from his whole body. Oscar felt uncomfortable with his eyes and smile, but he concealed it and received him.
The man introduced himself as Cagal.
“Please forgive me for the abruptness of this visit. I would be leaving immediately after being introduced to Madame Witch.”
Oscar boldly replied to his courteous greetings.
“I have no idea who this witch you mentioned might be. Could you please tell me from where did you hear about this?”
“Please stop joking. I don’t want to waste Your Highness’ time.”
Cagal said with an exaggerated gesture and smile apologetically.
“The fools from Druuza tried to revive The Beast a little while ago. Had that happened, many countries would be in big troubles. It was prevented thanks to the efforts of Madame Witch, fortunately. However, if words get out that the one who possesses the power to kill The Beast is allied to one country, it will surely raise questions, won’t it?”
Cagal wasn’t even trying to hide the threat; Oscar narrowed his eyes at him in anger. He had learned about The Beast incident, which was supposed to be known to certain people only, and used Tinassha’s existence as a weakness to threaten Farsas; it was a truly bold move.
Oscar wondered how he should deal with this messenger. Originally, he hadn’t really wanted to let him meet Tinassha; now, he definitely would not.
But Oscar’s resolution suddenly changed after hearing Cagal’s next words.
“Lady Aiti, she’s in this castle, right? Ah, she calls herself Lady Tinassha nowadays, doesn’t she?”
Cagal said and looked at him, full of self-confidence.
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A little while before Oscar had met the messenger, Tinassha, having realized he hadn’t been in the office, had returned to her own chamber.
Once she was back, she resumed her analysis on the curse. The witch placed her hand above the water basin in the center of the chamber and a complicated magic diagram rose up, made from multiple intertwining circles. She carefully added some chanting, and the diagram changed its shape little by little in response. She was concentrating on the endless work, but didn’t seem particularly surprised when her name was called in the room without anybody else; she just waved her hand. Then she started the magic to stop the diagram mid-analysis.
“Act a bit surprised, will you.”
The woman standing by the window pouted in discontent and said. Her curly brown hair shone gold under the light. Unusual as it was, she carried a magical item, or maybe a decorative dagger on her waist.
“Yes yes. What’s your business, Lucresia?”
“I found a book I thought might be helpful, so I brought it to you!”
Tinassha took the book she presented. It seemed to be a book about blessings, written a long time ago. Inside, blessings’ composition and words were noted in detail.
“…Thank you.”
“Don’t mention it.”
She was thankful for this support from her friend, who only acted on her own whims.
Tinassha put the book on her desk and began to make tea for her visitor. Lucresia sat down on a chair and watched her, making a sarcastic face.
“You engaged in a mock fight with that contractor of yours, didn’t you?”
“…How do you know?”
“Some soldiers were talking about it in the courtyard.”
“Did you eavesdrop?”
Lucresia rested her chin on the table and stared at Tinassha, amazement clear on her face.
“What are you thinking? You even revealed your hand. Do you have a suicide wish?”
“I was told the same thing.”
“That guy is strong enough as he is without you doing anything. If you forge him to be even stronger, even I will be troubled.”
“I’m sorry.”
In the face of such a reasonable complaint, Tinassha meekly apologized.
Of course, to a witch like Lucresia, the owner of Akasshia becoming stronger wasn’t a favorable thing. How it would turn out and whether it would become a trouble later or not, no one knew. Those who lived as long as them knew very well how precarious humans’ fates were.
Tinassha also sat down and sighed deeply.
“Somehow I feel so tired these days…”
“You should take some time off.”
“I should, but…”
Seeing her friend’s dark eyes wavering, Lucresia made a ‘it can’t be helped’ face.
“If the uncertainty becomes a burden, you should just give up.”
Tinassha didn’t reply; she just silently stared into her palms.
―――― Why had she wanted to fight against Oscar? She didn’t know herself.
She had thought that in the unlikely event that the need arose, it would be nice if someone who could kill her existed. And if that person was him, it was fine.
Maybe it was just a whim. Or maybe she was a bit tired, from waiting for a news that would not come.
But she didn’t want to give up. If she did that, it felt like all the time she had spent being a witch would become meaningless.
Watching Tinassha, who has sunk into silence, Lucresia suddenly slapped the table.
“In any case, pull yourself together! You’re a symbol of hope for us witches!”
“…Are you joking?”
“Yeah.”
“……”
Tinassha sighed heavily.
Just when both of the witches opened their mouths to speak, a furious knocking came from the door.
“Lady Tinassha, may I come in?”
When she replied with a ‘Please do’, Razar entered in a panic, and startled when he noticed Lucresia. Seeing that, the witch waved her hand as if to tease him.
“Is something wrong?”
He pulled himself together at Tinassha’s words and began to speak: There was a visitor who asked to meet with the Blue Moon Witch. Lucresia whistled softly.
“Uwah, isn’t that suspicious?”
“It is. But well, I’ll go. What about you?”
“I’ve come all the way here, so I’ll go sightseeing around the castle while waiting for you to finish.”
“Please don’t mess around here.”
‘Of course’, the Locked Forest Witch replied with a beautiful smile. It was apparent that she was scheming something.
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