Chapter 26: Experiment
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 26: Experiment
Space warped. The warping, accompanied by powerful magic, spat out two figures a moment later.
Appearing in the forest near the cabin, Yohan collapsed to the ground and began to empty the contents of his stomach.
“Uweeegh—!”
Unlike a teleportation performed after long concentration, a sudden jump wasn't so kind. His head swam and his stomach churned.
After retching for a long while, clutching the ground, he finally managed to wipe his mouth and get up. Yohan stepped past his own vomit and approached Margaret, who was trembling beside him.
“Haa, haa—.”
“...Are you okay?”
“Y-Yeah...”
Her usual confident demeanor was gone; Margaret was shivering, her hands trembling uncontrollably. Was it a side effect of the sudden magic use, or was it something else...?
Fortunately, it wasn't long before her trembling stopped. She took a deep breath and looked up at Yohan.
“I'm sorry, Disciple. I wasn't much help...”
“No, we were able to escape thanks to you, Margaret.”
“Ah, ahaha... Is that so?”
She let out a hollow laugh and straightened her clothes. Thinking back on it now, it was pathetic. To be so scared in front of a potentially hostile witch that she just collapsed?
But she couldn't help being so terrified.
“Was it a curse?”
“...That's right.”
The reason she was so frightened was that the other witch's curse made people tremble in fear. Otherwise, why would she, a woman who could smile confidently even before the Pope, be so scared?
“A witch who terrifies her opponents... Do you know who she is?”
“Hmm, first I've heard of it.”
“Maybe Teacher will know.”
Yohan and Margaret returned to the cabin. Evangeline, who had been anxiously waiting for Yohan, smiled happily when he appeared at the door, but her expression quickly soured when she saw his state.
“...Yohan? Are you hurt?”
“Huh? No, what are you talking about...?”
“Your clothes are covered in dust. As if you were kneeling somewhere... And you have some scrapes on your palms. What is this? Why is he like this?”
Evangeline shot a sharp glare toward Margaret, who was standing next to Yohan. Even though she couldn't see Margaret's form clearly, she knew she was there.
Seeing Evangeline staring right at her despite her obscured form, Margaret subtly stepped back and tapped Yohan's shoulder.
“...I'll explain.”
“—Nothing bad happened, right?”
“Not really. It's just...”
Yohan briefly explained what had happened in the capital. He told her they had met a witch, and because she seemed highly suspicious, he had killed her before they fled.
Hearing this, Evangeline trembled and unleashed her magic power from her entire body.
“Ritzzz... I sent you with him so that not a single hair on his head would be harmed...”
“Teacher? I'm not hurt. And if it weren't for Margaret, I might have died there.”
“At the same time, if she hadn't been there, you wouldn't have been in danger in the first place.”
“It's fine. It was an accident. Besides, the witch who attacked me is dead now.”
“...Hmph. Fine. I'll let it go since you said she's dead.”
Evangeline, who was about to unleash her fury on Margaret, sighed and withdrew her magic upon hearing that Yohan and she had killed the witch before coming here.
Right, the one who actually did wrong was dead, so there was no need to cause unnecessary trouble for an innocent person.
“So, you properly confirmed the body, right?”
“I cut off her head. I even saw it fall to the ground.”
“Yes. Then she's dead.”
Evangeline nodded in confirmation. No matter how powerful a witch is, she'll die if her head is cut off. Unless she's some kind of immortal witch, the chances of surviving after being decapitated are nil, and there has only ever been one immortal witch since they were first observed.
Now that even that immortal witch was dead, she thought it was impossible that a witch they'd met by chance would have learned immortality magic.
‘Still, just in case, maybe I should investigate...’
Thinking of her old colleague who loved to investigate, she went into the bathroom with Yohan.
Heads are flying. His own head. Not only that, but Margaret's and Teacher's heads are also flying through the air.
‘Ah, what the hell. It's a nightmare.’
It was a nightmare I'd started having occasionally after witnessing the execution of witch followers in the first city I'd visited. By now, it felt like a boring, third-rate movie that didn't even make me break out in a cold sweat.
‘Who could possibly capture and kill these people?’
I thought, looking at the bodies of Evangeline and Margaret. Who could possibly catch my teacher, who could be called the strongest, or Margaret, the best when it comes to escaping?
Unless there was some item that could nullify all of a witch's magic and incapacitate her just by touching her—but no such magical item existed in this world.
Chirp, chirp—!
The nightmare ends, and I wake to the sound of birds chirping. Even though I'd dreamt of those close to me dying, I didn't feel particularly disturbed.
I get up right away, go to the living room to prepare breakfast, and after a quick wash, head to Teacher's room.
“Teacher? I'm coming in.”
I entered her room without waiting for permission. Before, she would have been sleeping with her hood up, her face covered, but now that she'd realized showing me her face had no effect, she slept completely unguarded.
No matter how loudly I tried to wake her from outside, she wouldn't get up until I went in and woke her myself... I kicked off the blanket and gazed down at my teacher, who was rolling around on the bed.
As usual, she was sleeping in an arousing outfit. In the past, I would have seen this tantalizing sight and just suppressed my lust, but now I know there's no need for that.
“Teacher, it's morning. Please wake up.”
“Ughhh— Just five more minutes...”
“Okay. Five minutes have passed.”
Not even five seconds later, I pulled her up. She squeezed her eyes shut sleepily, covered her mouth, and started yawning widely.
After stretching for a good while, she finally opened her eyes and looked up at me.
“Ah, Yohan... Good morning...”
“Yes, Teacher. It's a good morning.”
“Good morning to Yohan's Yohan, too...”
Having just woken up, my teacher cheerfully greeted my 'thing' hidden behind my pants. As if it had its own personality. After waving at it for a while, she finally got up and went out to the living room.
The food I'd prepared earlier had gone cold and stiff, but it didn't matter much since reheating it wouldn't change the taste. That's just how magic seasoning works.
While reheating the cold food, I woke Margaret and dragged her out to the living room. Once the food was warm again and all three of us were gathered, we picked up our spoons and forks and began to eat.
“Mmm, this morning's breakfast is delicious too, Yohan.”
“It's all thanks to you, Teacher.”
“Huh? Thanks to me?”
“It wouldn't be this delicious without the seasoning you made.”
At my words, Teacher gave a bashful smile. It seemed she wasn't just saying it was delicious, as she emptied her plate in an instant and wiped her mouth with a napkin.
“You're not going anywhere today, are you?”
“No. Probably not.”
“Then—help me out. I have an experiment to run.”
“An experiment...?”
This was a first. My teacher often holed herself up in her room, engrossed in magic experiments, but she had never included me before.
Since it was such a rare occasion, I quickly nodded. If it meant I could spend more time with my teacher like this...
I quickly finished my meal, did the dishes, and even brushed my teeth, then immediately waited for my teacher. A moment later, Evangeline came out of her room, having changed her clothes, and gave me a light smile.
“Shall we go?”
“Yes.”
Tossing aside the hood she usually wore, my teacher, now dressed in a witch-like robe and a pointed hat, left the cabin and headed deep into the forest.
Perhaps sensing the powerful magic emanating from the witch, not a single monster dared to block our path. After walking for a long time, we arrived at a large, empty clearing.
“This place is...?”
“It's a place I sometimes come to experiment with magic. There's nothing around to interfere, and my magic has seeped so deeply into the area that other monsters don't settle here... You could call it a sort of secret base.”
My teacher, who had revealed her secret with the pure innocence of a child, smiled lightly before immediately extending a hand toward me.
At her fingertips, a visible, azure mass of magic began to form. Even to me, a layman when it came to magic, it looked quite dangerous.
“T-Teacher?”
“Now, Yohan. Try to defend against this with your magic.”
“Wait, I don't even know how to use magic—!”
The magic gathered at Evangeline's fingertips exploded.
As my vision was flooded with bright light, I reflexively swung my fist.
Craaack—!
The magic shattered against my fist, its power scattering in all directions. It was like being surrounded by millions of fireflies.
But I had no time to be moved by the sight.
“Good. Next, let's try to distinguish between the magic you can nullify and the magic you can't.”
Behind my teacher, hundreds of magic circles appeared.
I quietly closed my eyes.
“A-Are you okay, Yohan?”
“...No, I think I'm going to die.”
Having taken hundreds, thousands of spells with his body, Yohan lay collapsed on the ground, trembling.
Even if she had controlled the power, just as you can die from being stuck by thousands of needles, being hit by power-adjusted magic hundreds and thousands of times made the Grim Reaper start dancing before his eyes.
‘Get lost...’
Yohan shooed away the Grim Reaper dancing in front of him and slowly pushed himself up. Then he signaled to Evangeline that he was okay.
Evangeline, who had been watching Yohan with a very worried expression, started firing spells at him again upon receiving his signal.
Yohan swung his fist at the spells.
Craaack—! With the sound of shattering glass, the magic was pulverized.
After shattering magic for so long, I began to understand the general principle of how I could break it.
‘If I think of it as magic, I can break it.’
An apple falling from the sky. That's natural.
Being blown away by a typhoon. Perfectly natural.
The laws of physics cannot be defied.
However, water shooting upwards or a dragon straight out of a fantasy story attacking—these were illusions.
KRAK—!
I shattered the incoming spell and struck a cool pose.
“Next.”
Having created what even he thought was a cool scene, Yohan inwardly exclaimed in admiration.
‘Holy shit. At this rate, won't Teacher and everyone else fall for me? I, who became a slave in another world, turned out to have a magic nullification cheat...’
Lost in his own thoughts, Yohan didn't see the next spell coming and took a direct hit to the forehead.
He was knocked out for a moment, and when he came to, he realized he was lying with his head in Evangeline's lap.
“Yohan! Are you okay!?”
“...No, I'm not okay.”
“Wh-What do I do...? A-A doctor! Should I take you to a doctor!?”
“Just let me stay like this...”
Yohan buried his face between her thighs. After acting so cool, he'd been knocked out in an instant. He was too embarrassed to lift his head...
Of course, even if that weren't the case, it wouldn't have been easy to pull his face away from these thighs.