So That's How It Happened
Humanity is so frail.
Those without the talent to wield mana struggle to live a full century, and among them, only the exceptional ones might scrape by with a life of one or two hundred years. Humanity is weak.
I was born here, and I pondered every event that unfolded on this land. I explored even the reason I was born, without knowing it at all. I simply explored.
For me, someone had finally come to my door for the very first time.
The child was covered from head to toe in deep blue bruises, their hair a tangled mess as if yanked on by force.
Was this what they called ‘abuse’?
I asked the child.
Why had they come to find me?
The child replied.
They wanted me to teach them how to handle mysterious power and mana.
I explained the methods of wielding mana that I had explored all this time, to a human who asked for the way to control it.
Watching the delighted human, I felt a sense of fulfillment.
—Hey, Teacher… Can I call you Master?!
The young human asked to be my disciple, to learn even more from me.
I wasn’t sure.
But becoming a master, it seemed there might be value in it. For exploring knowledge, though, unnecessary obstacles were present.
I simply allowed the child to follow me.
The child was happy, called me Master, and followed.
My heart was racing so fast.
One day, as the young human followed me, another human came to find me.
—Wise man, I hope you can teach us how to expand our forests.
Sharp-eared humans came to me, calling me a wise man and asking how to expand forests.
—Why do you ask?
When I asked why they wanted to expand forests, the sharp-eared human hesitated briefly, then replied that it was to save their own homeland.
I taught them how to expand forests in response to the human who called themselves elves.
After that, small humans—now, I could recognize them as land fairies—humans with fur on their bodies came to me.
I explained everything they wanted, and they all seemed delighted.
As I traveled the world to explore new knowledge, more and more followed me, calling me savior or wise man.
The more I shared new knowledge with them, the more they praised me.
But… what was this emptiness?
Surely praising me should bring joy, yet it only brought emptiness.
Burning
And then I finally understood why this emptiness.
—A witch!!! This kid is a devil’s subordinate!!!
—Kill them! Kill them! Kill them!!!
—That kid killed my child!!!
—That kid is not a savior!! That witch will destroy the world!!!
—Kill them!
—Kill them!
—Kill them aaaah!!!
Humans are selfish.
Those who had come to me asking for knowledge now misused it and suffered harm themselves, blaming me for it all.
Humans tied me to a tree and piled straw beneath me.
—Kill them! Kill them! Kill them!
Far away, humans, elves, dwarves, and beastmen who had been following me appeared.
Their faces twisted with self-justification, turning away from their own fault and saying it wasn’t their fault.
Humans are ignorant.
Do they really think I’d die just from burning like this?
—Master. I’m sorry, but please die for us. Master is too dangerous.
The young human who had first learned mana from me.
A woman watching, wearing a crown of gems on her head and holding a baby in her arms.
A human running toward the end of foolishness.
A foolish human who had thought me a master but knew nothing about me.
—As I suspected, humans are undependable.
—What?
KABOOM—!!!
A massive explosion rang out, and a colossal creature emerged. In the center stood a woman with silver-white hair and eyes the color of crimson wine, mysterious and enchanting.
This was the first witch hunt, and the first failure of a witch hunt.
The woman at the center of the incident was named Mir.
A woman whose name was that of one who sought knowledge.
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"So, you're angry because I said my injury wasn't serious?"
"..."
At Cheon Seong's question, Mir turned her head with a sharp snap!
As she turned, Mir's silver hair fluttered, and her sharply pointed ears stood out, flushed red.
"Maybe you were worried about me?"
"Who's worried about someone like you! I was just thinking my business partner might die quickly after carelessly damaging their own body!"
"Wouldn't that usually be called worrying?"
"Well, anyway, it's not!"
Cheon Seong's eyes widened at the sight of the unfamiliar Mir, then narrowed into crescents as he gently placed his hand on Mir's head.
"Thanks for worrying. Still, this wound couldn't be helped. Could you just look at it once more?"
"Eh, I told you not to treat me like a kid! I'm way older than you!"
Cheon Seong knew Mir had lived far longer than him, but he couldn't hide the smile that came to his face at her current appearance.
Mir's cheeks, as plump as rice cakes, flushed strawberry-red at Cheon Seong's laughter.
[What a petty drama queen. Truly.]
At that moment, Loki, who had been hit on the head by a report from Mir and fallen to the floor, recovered his senses and looked at Cheon Seong petting Mir's hair and at Mir's face turning red in Cheon Seong's hand. He said.
[This old hag is acting spoiled again—]
KABOOM!!
Then, as if no one had asked, Loki was slammed to the floor again. Mir, with an even redder face, stamped on the fallen Loki while glaring.
"You bastard! I told you not to talk about age!!"
[Ugh, ugh! L-Loki, save me, ugh!!]
"Save me? Just die already!"
Mir's kicks continued until Loki lost consciousness, and then she turned to Cheon Seong, who was watching them with a satisfied expression.
"Why are you looking at me so disgustingly..."
"Just... it just seems like the two of you get along well."
"Did your eyes go bad?"
At Cheon Seong's words, Mir forgot her embarrassment and asked if he was okay, while Cheon Seong shrugged.
"From your perspective, how does it look?"
"Like you lost both your arm and your eyesight."
"Ah, ahaha. Good thing you said it can be healed."
Mir glared at the missing arm and asked why. Cheon Seong avoided her gaze and said it could be healed, but Mir didn't believe him.
She thought it was just an excuse to comfort her.
But Mir's thought was that she couldn't believe Cheon Seong's words because she saw the World Tree's solidified sap ointment.
"You... where did you get this?"
"I knew you'd figure it out. It was compensation for damages from this dungeon immersion incident, received from the academy president's hands."
"What? President? Are you really saying he gave that to you?"
Mir was surprised by the fact that Cheon Seong received it from the academy president and asked if it was true. Cheon Seong was puzzled by Mir's reaction, even more surprised about the president.
"Mir, do you know anything about the academy president?"
"Well... no, not really. You don't need to know."
Mir's words turned around, so Cheon Seong glared at her for a moment, then shrugged and answered.
"If that's how Mir feels, I won't ask."
"...You really don't need to ask?"
Mir, thinking he would keep questioning, was surprised when Cheon Seong gave up so easily and asked herself. Cheon Seong smiled at her and said.
"I'm curious, but when you trust me more later, I'll tell you."
Mir's face, which had been calm, flushed with a blush as she turned and walked forward, saying to Cheon Seong.
"You crazy womanizer."
"Huh?! Why suddenly like that?!"
Cheon Seong was bewildered and asked why. Mir walked behind him and whispered.
"Look at what you've done so far, you womanizer."
"So what exactly?!"
"I don't know, idiot. Think for yourself."
"Hey, tell me already!"
Cheon Seong was stunned by his own words, so Mir felt a little better, humming a tune as she walked forward. Cheon Seong followed her, pleading that he wanted to know.
[...Crazy idiots, if you're going to do that, just date already.]
And Loki, watching from afar, felt goosebumps even without a body and turned away from the backs of Cheon Seong and Mir, disgusted.
***
"So that's how it turned out."
"Haa... crazy guy. How is it that you can't spend even one day normally?"
Mir sighed after hearing why Cheon Seong had lost his arm.
"So hurry up and give it to me."
"Hm? What do you mean?"
A tiny hand reached out to Cheon Seong, who looked bewildered.
At Cheon Seong's reaction, Mir's eyes narrowed as she glared.
"You think I'm stupid? I've known since earlier that something weird is going on with you!"
Pointing exactly at her own pocket, Mir spoke. Cheon Seong's eyes widened in surprise.
"Mir, you can feel this?"
"Yeah? It's been visible since you came, so how wouldn't I know?"
Since Cheon Seong had come to find Mir, a white aura had been clearly visible to her, like a white cloud left behind by a plane.
But to Cheon Seong, nothing was visible at all, and the aura was so faint that he couldn't sense even a trace without concentrating fully.
'Could it be that Mir's eyes are special?'
Mir had always said to me even before regression that her eyes were special.
I didn't know exactly what was special, but I instinctively knew that Mir's eyes pierced the essence of things.
The reason I had come to find Mir was naturally to ask her to investigate the transparent crystal taken from the subordinate of the White Knight I had defeated in the exploration dungeon.
When I arrived, Mir had dark circles and looked overall listless with Loki. I had dismissed it as nothing and planned to ask her to investigate regardless of how long it took.
But I had overlooked something about Mir.
To me, the faint aura of the transparent crystal felt completely natural to her.
"So what is it that makes such a pure aura feel like that? Did you bring some other elixir again?"
But when Mir said it felt pure, I couldn't keep my mouth shut.
'Pure?'
One of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, the White Knight.
And his subordinate wearing white armor to protect him.
A subordinate of the White Knight's, a monstrous creature that had killed even the Celestials, possessing immense power that could wipe out upper and highest ranks with one attack, releasing an aura described as pure from the crystal.
It didn't make sense.
The left quadrant assigned to white was the quadrant of domination.
A monster that, if its heart broke and it surrendered, would immediately become a subordinate of the White Knight.
How could the subordinate guarding right next to such a creature be pure?
"Is it... really?"
"Eh? What are you—"
"Pure aura? Is that really true?"
Cheon Seong's calm voice, but with trembling pupils that betrayed him.
Mir sat on the chair behind her, crossed her legs, and now her hands trembled slightly as she answered Cheon Seong, whose whole body expressed something wrong.
"For now, I don't know why you're acting like this, but first, calm down. You know not everything that's pure is purely good."
Mir's mysterious violet eyes soothed Cheon Seong.
She looked like a young girl on the outside, but to Cheon Seong, who knew Mir well, her appearance was incredibly trustworthy.
A trustworthy friend who always helped him and was reliable enough to entrust work to without hesitation.
The messy feelings inside Cheon Seong settled as he looked at Mir, and her anxious, bewildered face was so funny that he laughed endlessly.
"Haha hahaha hahaha!"
"Eh! Hey! Why are you laughing all of a sudden!"
Mir blushed and shouted why he was laughing at the sight of Cheon Seong clutching his stomach and laughing hard. Cheon Seong wiped his tears and said.
"Well, I thought I knew you well, but now it seems I only just learned about you."
Cheon Seong's bright smile made Mir's flushed face even redder.
"You crazy... what nonsense are you talking about?"
Mir tried to stay calm but couldn't hide the redness of her face as she replied petulantly. Seeing this, Loki, who had passed out from Mir's punch and had just woken up, muttered.
[That old hag is acting spoiled again—]
Whoosh!!
KABOOM!!!
From afar, Sara watched Cheon Seong and Mir with a blank face and swung a heavy iron pipe at Loki, who was sprawled on the floor.
[CLANG!!]
[Loki. Be quiet.]
Loki's vision darkened as the lights dimmed, and he thought.
'That damn research lab will definitely escape one day…'