The Slothful Witch's Errands
The girl with the violet hair lay still, staring blankly up at the sky. At a glance, the sky might seem motionless, but if one watched closely, it moved with surprising speed. The sun and moon rose and set in turn, and the clouds drifted endlessly on the wind. To a girl who had spent hundreds of years staring only at a ceiling that never changed, the pace of the sky felt dizzyingly fast.
The girl watched the sky and thought: How impressive, to keep moving without a moment's rest. She couldn't understand why the sky moved so frantically, but she didn't dislike it. Watching something that never stopped moving made her feel the stillness of her own existence all the more vividly. That was why, lately, her only hobby had been lying here like this, staring vacantly at the heavens.
Then, black rain clouds filled the sky she had been watching, and raindrops began to fall, one by one.
“......It’s raining.”
The rain soon began to pour down like madness. The girl, who had been looking up, muttered those words into the falling deluge. Even as the downpour intensified, that was the extent of her reaction. She remained in the same position, staring blankly at the sky through the rain. Even when the droplets landed on her half-closed eyes, she didn't blink. No matter how much the rain lashed against her body, she remained dry, unchanged, just as she had been moments before. As if she were the only thing detached from this world, the girl remained frozen in place while the world around her rushed forward.
That was when a pitch-black hole suddenly tore through the air, filling the girl's vision where only the rainy sky had been. A woman wearing a hood poked her head out from the hole, which seemed to be sucking in the falling rainwater. With a grunt of effort, the hooded woman pulled herself out and stood at the girl's bedside.
The girl frowned slightly, sensing that something troublesome was about to happen the moment the woman appeared. The hooded woman laughed, gesturing as if she were deeply wounded.
“Aha, it seems I’m not a very welcome guest. To wear such a look the moment you see my face... even I might be a little hurt by that, you know?”
“What did you come here for......”
“What else would I come to see you for? Obviously, I’m here to ask for another favor~.”
At the mention of a favor, the girl’s already furrowed brow deepened.
“......You said last time that you wouldn’t have any reason to come looking for me for a while, didn’t you......”
As the girl voiced her complaint, the woman replied in a tone of feigned regret.
“Oh, well, you see... things didn’t go quite according to plan. So, I had no choice but to come back to you this quickly for a second favor. It’s such a waste to use up my remaining requests like this. I’m the type who prefers to save these things until the very end, you know.”
“......If you want to save them, then just don’t use them......”
“But if I don’t use them, they’ll just go to waste, so it’s better to use them when I think of it~. I went through all the trouble of finding you buried deep underground and digging you out, so you have to give me my money's worth, right? That was the contract. You agreed to it, so don’t be so dissatisfied~.”
At the woman's words, the girl recalled the day she had signed the contract. She had spent hundreds of years beneath the earth. Honestly, she could have escaped whenever she wanted, but it seemed like a waste of time and effort, so she had just stayed put. Then, one day, this woman had appeared and said:
‘Aren’t you bored being here? If you want to get out, why don’t you sign a contract with me? I’ll get you out of here, and in exchange, you’ll grant me three favors later. Of course, I won’t ask for anything too difficult. How about it?’
Thinking she could get out without using her own power, she had accepted the contract without much thought. Now, she felt it had been a mistake. She hadn't known then that while doing things herself was a bother, doing what others told her to do was even more tiresome.
But a contract was a contract; it had to be kept. The girl muttered quietly.
“......So, what do I have to do this time......”
When the girl asked, the woman grinned and pulled a black, glowing orb from the hole in the air.
“It’s not much different from the last favor. In fact, this one is even simpler. This time, you just need to enter the barrier and release the thing inside where it won’t be easily noticed. That’s all~.”
The girl took the black orb the woman held out. It was an object created by the woman’s ability—a peculiar orb capable of containing monsters. Last time, she had put the girl's own monsters inside, but since the woman hadn't said anything this time, she asked inadvertently.
“......What’s inside this one?”
“Oh! Great question! To tell you that, I’d have to explain my whole plan, so where should I start?”
The woman’s eyes sparkled as she spoke. The girl realized immediately that she shouldn't have asked, but it was already too late. The woman began to chatter with excitement.
“Remember the last favor? The plan then was to send a swarm of low-level monsters to lure the heroes out, and since you can pass through the barrier without any ill effects, you would use them to slaughter people and throw the city into chaos.”
The woman grinned and continued.
“But to make things even more chaotic, I had some groundwork laid out in advance! Actually, I have one more collaborator besides you. Among the monsters that child controls, there’s a tiny one that parasitizes other creatures. I had them planted in the low-level monsters we sent. They jump to any creature they touch or get close to. Well, they can’t parasitize the strong ones, but humans are mostly weak.”
The girl looked at the woman, who was rambling on with such enthusiasm, and wore an expression of utter weariness. The woman didn't care and kept talking.
“If it gets into a human, it settles in the brain and makes their emotions erratic. It also makes their throat feel incredibly itchy, but well, that’s not really important, so let’s skip it. Anyway, since I spread that throughout the city, people who lost their families to the monsters would go mad and start riots, and I thought if I could shake them up little by little like that, I could bring down the human city. But it seems the monsters you released didn't cause enough damage, so unfortunately, that plan failed~.”
The woman shook her head as if it were a pity, then a smile bloomed on her lips.
“But I heard that with my collaborator's ability, we can control the creatures the monsters parasitize. I realized that if we control people and have them stir up trouble everywhere, it’s enough to throw the city into chaos, so the plan hasn't changed much. However, for that ability to reach beyond that unpleasant wall, we need a kind of transmitter. And that’s what’s inside the orb you’re holding right now.”
The woman finally fell silent. The girl looked at her with tired eyes and asked the question that had been weighing on her.
“Are you... aiming to destroy the cities of humans?”
The woman laughed and replied.
“Hmm, if I had to state my purpose, I suppose you could call the final goal world domination. Destroying the human cities is just a means to that end.”
The girl asked as if it were nothing.
“If that’s the case, wouldn’t it be faster to just ask me to wipe out the city......”
The girl said it plainly. She wouldn't do it because it was a bother, but she certainly had the power to do so. Even a dwarven hero clad in mithril armor, crafted by the greatest artisan in history, had been no threat to her. Even the attempt to commit suicide along with an underground city, staking the fate of their race on it, had only buried her beneath the earth; it hadn't left a single scratch on her. It was clear that humans possessed no ability that could harm her.
A being who had driven countless others to despair in the distant past. The Witch of Sloth. To her words, the woman replied with a smile.
“I have no intention of doing that. If you get something easily, it loses its value.”
The woman’s eyes glinted quietly beneath her hood.
“I want to watch things unfold according to my plan, little by little. When and how will they die? To see all of that, I can’t take the easy path. You might not understand why I’d go through all this trouble, though.”
At the woman's words, the girl muttered.
“......I don’t think I’m entirely unable to understand.”
She thought of the being who had once brought excitement to her boring daily life. Recalling the emotions she had felt then, she couldn't say she didn't understand the woman at all.
The woman smiled brightly at the girl’s words.
“Oh, really? Is that so? I’m glad to hear it! Anyway, I’m counting on you! You’re the only one who can go in and out of there without any restrictions. Don’t spend too much time on it just because you’re lazy.”
The girl, who had indeed intended to take her time because it was a bother, clicked her tongue inwardly and opened her mouth.
“......Take me near the city then......”
At those words, the woman smiled, and the hole above her head, which had been blocking the rain, descended and swallowed them both. As if to see the two of them off, the cry of the mountain-sized monster that had been carrying the girl echoed through the rain.