Chapter 2: The Witch
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 2: The Witch
“The witch’s cabin, you say?”
“Yes, the witch’s cabin. It’s not a dangerous job. Just a simple task of delivering this fruit basket and a letter. You’ll do it, won’t you, Yohan?”
The thought that witches don’t exist in the 21st century crossed my mind. Then again, for the people of this village, with a civilization worse than the Middle Ages, it wasn’t surprising they’d believe in superstitions like witches.
But that wasn’t the important part. This job was dangerous. I didn’t even need to think about it. If it were truly that easy, they could have just gone themselves instead of treating me, who was no better than a slave, to such a feast.
‘And fucking hell—they said there were wild beasts in the mountains.’
Unfortunately, I had neither the courage nor the justification to refuse. In this village, the chief was like a god, and what if that god became displeased with me?
My already hellish life in the village would only become more unbearable. The chief might even sell me off to organ traffickers to recoup the cost of the meat and perfumed oil he’d given me.
“...I’ll go.”
“Thank you. It’s late, so go to sleep for now… and wake up early tomorrow morning.”
The village chief returned to his room with the same smile he always wore. I watched his back for a moment before lying down on a bed, something I hadn’t seen in a very long time.
It was hard and felt like it would break my back, but it was better than sleeping on the bare floor with just a single blanket.
The morning sun rose. A rooster, sensitive to the sunlight, began to crow, waking the villagers.
Having grown accustomed to that sound over the past month, I got up as well. I sat there blankly for a moment, rubbing my dry face, before tidying my bedding and leaving the room.
“You’re awake?”
“...Yes. Just now.”
I thought I had woken up earlier than usual, but the village chief was already in the living room, preparing the fruit basket.
Did he think I was going to run away during the night? With a slightly shadowed expression, the chief held the basket out to me.
“Please make sure you deliver this to the witch.”
“Is delivering it all I have to do?”
“Yes. Once you deliver it, she will take care of the rest. Just do as she says.”
It was a line that screamed human trafficking, but I simply nodded and took the basket, which was filled to the brim with fruit.
Still seeming uneasy even after handing it over, the chief followed me all the way to the edge of the village.
“Now, if you follow this path, you’ll find the cabin. Please, make sure you deliver it.”
“Yes, well… I’ll be sure to deliver it.”
After being shown the path to the witch’s cabin, I started walking. How long had it been? Ten minutes? Twenty? My throat was starting to feel dry.
I fumbled at my waist, only then realizing I hadn’t even brought a water bottle. Dammit, I wish I at least had the plastic bottle the villagers took from me.
‘They knew it was valuable, those bastards…’
The villagers had taken everything from me—the clothes I was wearing, my smartphone, my water bottle, all my modern belongings.
And they were just a bunch of country bumpkins who didn’t even know what a smartphone was. Filled with resentment, I looked down at the basket in my hands. The fruit looked so fresh that a single bite would fill my mouth with juice…
The chief had chuckled and told me not to eat any of it, but I immediately pulled a piece of fruit from the basket and took a crunchy bite.
‘…Sweet.’
The sweetness, a taste I hadn’t experienced in a month, spread throughout my mouth. I didn’t care about the juice dripping around my lips as I kept eating.
After tossing the core into the woods, I immediately reached for the next piece of fruit.
It didn’t take long for the full basket to become empty. I took out the letter from the now-empty basket, tossed the basket itself into the forest, and continued up the path.
Was it because my hands were lighter? My steps felt lighter, too. Or maybe the sugar I’d consumed after so long was giving me strength.
After walking for some time, I heard a growl.
“…Huh?”
I cautiously looked back. From the direction where I’d thrown the basket, a wild beast was peeking out, baring its teeth at me.
A stray dog? No, in this place, they’d sooner eat a dog than abandon it. That meant it was a wolf.
The wolf that revealed itself was huge. I’d never seen one even at a zoo, but it was so large it made me wonder if wolves were normally this big.
‘Calm down.’
I swallowed hard and scanned my surroundings. I couldn’t see any other wolves. That was a relief. It would be hard enough to escape from one; if there were several, it would be quicker to just let them kill me.
At the same time, I glanced behind me, trying to gauge the remaining distance to the cabin. I recalled my memory of coming down the mountain and calculated the distance from the village to the cabin.
It wasn’t far now. I slowly backed away, careful not to agitate the wolf.
‘Slowly, slowly…’
They say beasts attack prey that shows its back and runs. I didn’t know if that applied to wolves, being canines, but I had no other choice.
That piece of knowledge, which I’d picked up somewhere, proved useful. As I took small steps backward, the wolf only followed at a similar pace—it didn’t lunge at me ferociously.
‘Just like this, a little more…’
How long had I been backing up? Just as I thought I must be close to the cabin, the wolf suddenly started barking and ran off into the forest.
I had no idea why, but a wave of relief washed over me. I had survived. The tension drained from my body, and my legs gave out at the same time.
Thud. As I fell backward, I bumped into something soft and fluffy.
“Uh…”
A shadow fell over me.
A wolf the size of a house was looking down at me.
Only then did I understand what the other wolf had been barking at, and why it had run away.
“Guh—”
I fainted.
When you wake up in the morning—.
And you feel unusually refreshed—.
In most cases, it means you’re probably fucked.
The moment I opened my eyes, I had a gut feeling that I was, indeed, fucked.
‘Where am I…?’
Waking up in a soft bed, the likes of which I hadn’t felt recently, I smelled something sweet and heard a bubbling sound that made me sit up.
The bed and blanket were as luxurious as something you’d find in a hotel. However, I was certain I hadn’t returned to the city.
The walls, as well as most of the furniture, were made of wood. There was no trace of the glass windows or plastic so common in urban areas.
‘…A cabin?’
The moment the word ‘cabin’ popped into my head, I miraculously realized where I was.
The witch’s cabin. The destination the village chief had sent the letter to, the place I had been heading.
Considering how much the villagers feared it, the interior was quite cute. I cautiously left the room.
“Hm-hm-hmm~♬”
As I stepped out, I saw a woman in the kitchen right in front of me, humming as she cooked.
Her shimmering silver hair was like silk, and the profile I could glimpse was more beautiful than any woman I had ever seen in my life. Feeling as if my heart had stopped, I carefully opened my mouth.
“…Excuse me.”
“Kyaaah!?”
When I spoke cautiously, she shrieked and glared at me, still holding the ladle she’d been stirring with.
“Wh-What!? How did you get out!?”
“Huh? The door was just open…”
“No! Out of the bed!”
“Uh… I just woke up normally.”
Did she forget to tie my arms and legs to the bed or something? I mentally guarded myself against her and scanned my surroundings.
I didn’t see anything that looked obviously dangerous, like a knife. But there was a fire in front of her. And a ladle that had been heating over it for a long time.
A fight would be disadvantageous. I needed something to throw or fight with…
“Get back in the room! Quickly!” she shouted, pulling a hood she’d gotten from somewhere deep over her head. It was pulled down so far I couldn’t even make out the shape of her face. A look of disappointment washed over my face as she covered up her pretty features.
Fortunately, I didn’t sense any intent to harm me from her. I slowly raised my hands and started moving toward the front door.
“Um… thank you for saving me. I’ll be on my way now.”
“What? Wai—!”
While she was off guard, I opened the front door and slipped outside.
And in that instant, a giant paw blocked my path.
[You shouldn’t ignore what people say.]
“Uh, uhh…”
The giant wolf I had seen before I fainted was there.
With a trembling hand, I grabbed the doorknob and slowly closed the door.
Seeing me stumble backward into the house like an idiot, the woman, who I presumed was the witch, let out a small laugh.
“Go wait in the room. I’m not going to eat you.”
“…Yes.”
There was no escape. Realizing this, I cautiously went back into the room.
While the witch, Evangeline, was cooped up in her room doing research as usual, Fenrir came and tapped on her window.
Immediately pulling on her hood, Evangeline went outside the cabin and frowned at the sight of a man lying limp in front of her door.
“What’s this?”
[A human who was on his way here. I saved him from being eaten by wolves, and he fainted.]
“Anyone would, seeing you…”
Evangeline muttered as she turned the unconscious man over to check his face. It was the same man who had asked for directions about a month ago, claiming to be lost in the mountains. She hadn’t recognized him at first because he was wearing different, shabbier clothes.
‘Why is he here…?’
Carefully taking the letter from his hand, Evangeline quickly read its contents.
The letter said that monsters had appeared near the village, and it begged her to solve the problem—offering the man before her as a sacrifice.
So, his story about being lost must have been true. Just by reading the letter, she could easily guess what had happened to him.
“Useless.”
Other witches might have been delighted at gaining new material for human experiments, but Evangeline wasn’t that kind of witch. She was long past the stage where she could improve her skills by experimenting on mere humans.
Still, she couldn’t just ignore a man who had been abandoned like this, so Evangeline carried him inside the cabin.
She laid him down in the guest room and started preparing a meal. It was proper etiquette and manners to feed a guest, after all.
Humming as she prepared the food, Evangeline was startled by a sudden voice.
“Excuse me…”
“Kyaaah!?”
When she turned her head, the man she had just put to bed was standing there. How? She was sure she had locked the door with magic…
Her surprise was short-lived as Evangeline realized she wasn’t wearing her hood. She remembered taking it off because it felt stuffy while she was putting him in the room.
She quickly pulled her hood back on and observed his reaction. He just stared at her silently for a moment before speaking.
“Thank you for saving me. I’ll be on my way now.”
His attitude was perfectly business-like. More importantly, he didn’t show even a hint of disgust. Finding this strange, Evangeline tried to stop him.
“W-Wait—!”
He ignored her and opened the door to leave. Fortunately, she was able to send a telepathic message to Fenrir, who was waiting outside, to stop him.
As she watched the terrified man retreat back into the room, Evangeline’s eyes followed him.
‘…The curse doesn’t work on him?’
The fact that he’d opened the door, and that he hadn’t shown any disgust upon seeing her—
Evangeline sensed something special about him. She read the letter again.
The letter from the village chief below said:
One day, he appeared suddenly, as if he had fallen from the sky.
He acted as if he were not of this world.
‘If that’s the case… there might be a possibility.’
A curse that made her hated by all living things. The thought that he might be the only one immune to this curse wouldn’t leave her mind.
Evangeline knocked on the door, a strange sense of anticipation blooming within her.