Chapter 66
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 66
Chapter Title: I Am the Crow That Came to Help You
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【Reforming the Apprentice Witches】
📍 Description: You head to the ruins and encounter two apprentice witches.
Whether they will become witches of the night or witches of the day has not yet been decided, but it was all too obvious what would happen if things continued like this.
Having received the sage's advice, you come up with one strategy.
To reform these two apprentice witches.
⏰ Clear Condition: Reform Kiki and Cherry.
No rewards were listed separately.
Rewards surely exist, but nothing's finalized yet—that's probably what it means.
After encountering these two and hearing the sage's words, this sub-quest popped up.
I don't know the exact conditions yet, but based on past experience, once a quest appears, it's best to see it through unless there's a good reason not to.
The sage had suggested turning them to our side from the start anyway.
The situation couldn't be better.
Night was falling right on cue.
The time was approaching when, for a full minute, all my feathers would transform into twilight feathers.
I listened to their chatter while I waited, then let out a crow's cry the instant my form shifted to draw their attention.
"H-hek…."
And that's the reaction I got.
A three-headed crow staring them down—who wouldn't be terrified?
I could've spun my heads around like usual, but that might've sent them running, so I held back.
Whoosh.
I spread my wings and descended slowly toward them.
"C-c-crow…."
They'd been talking about Skarnas's great crow, and now here I was in the flesh—they had to be shocked.
Was I really that impressive?
I couldn't even overwhelm Emerald's holy knight.
Maybe Dorothy spread those rumors on purpose out of gratitude for the hair I gave her?
Tch, a waste of feathers, but if it's that effective, fine.
Kiki and Cherry trembled violently.
Our goal was to reform these two apprentice witches.
Or better yet, turn them into cards we could play.
Of course, I couldn't do much without speaking human.
But we had the sage.
He could address them in that deep, resonant voice of his.
"Fear not."
No, don't start like that.
"H-huh?!"
Kiki and Cherry flung themselves flat on the ground.
The sage's appearance was comical, but his voice was anything but.
And perched on my shoulder like that, they'd likely perceive it as my voice.
In other words, to them, I was a massive three-headed crow cloaked in twilight feathers, speaking with a grave baritone.
"Raise your heads."
Still shaking, the apprentice witches obeyed.
I examined their faces slowly.
They looked a bit too youthful to be called full witches yet—innocent, almost childish.
Kiki had brown hair and brown eyes.
Cherry had pink hair and green eyes.
Both wore their robes backward, downplaying their figures, but from what was visible….
"Swoosh."
"Caw caw."
Apparently noticing my wandering thoughts, Swoosh poked my neck with his stubby arm.
Focus.
This was the time to let the sage's words guide my actions.
I couldn't go spinning my heads during a solemn, serious exchange.
"P-please spare us! Don't eat us!"
"H-hek! H-huek!"
Huh?
Trembling in terror, begging for their lives.
Why would I eat you?
Sure, I'd gotten bigger, but I was still unmistakably smaller than a human.
My wingspan might exceed three meters fully spread, but calling that "size" felt a bit off.
Besides, I was a bird.
Deceptively lightweight despite appearances.
Birds my size exist in the real world, but none hunt humans.
Maybe an ancient monster like Argentavis, but eagles or crows? No chance.
…Though trying it out might be fun?
Lifting that weight would be trivial anyway.
I glanced at my talons, and Cherry's scream intensified.
"H-hek! I-I'm not worth eating anyway!"
No, I'm not gonna eat you, so relax.
Your beak—er, frame—looks pretty scrawny.
"Rest assured. We have come to aid you."
I am the crow that came to help you.
Something like that.
Even I had to admit it sounded scammy.
"G-gasp… R-really?"
Yeah, you two should never become witches.
"Indeed. First, might you tell us your names?"
"I'm Kiki… and this is my little sister, Cherry…."
Our words were true, but was believing us this easily okay?
"Kiki and Cherry. Fine names."
I shot the sage a glance at that.
He could say normal names just fine, huh?
Always calls me Little Wind, though.
"Like charging into the enemy camp with a single sword, I'll get straight to the point. Are you witches?"
Cherry and Kiki's eyes went wide at the sage's words.
"Whoooaa?!"
….
No, are you really witches?
Did we misread this?
Apprentices or not, this level of naivety was off the charts.
"H-how did you…?!"
And apparently, they weren't even trying to hide it.
Robes, black conical hats—what else screamed witch?
Brooms in hand, too.
Couldn't even ride them properly, from what I saw earlier.
Just carrying them because they looked witchy?
"As I said before, we are beings who have come to aid you."
"Y-yes… right…. P-please help us?"
"I sense witch aura clearly, but it's… unrefined."
"Gasp…."
"That's hardly your fault."
The sage gripped the apprentice witches' souls with his deep voice.
"No one to guide you, so it can't be helped. Ah, have you perchance met someone claiming to be a witch of the night?"
"Gasp! Yes, just recently…."
Kiki and Cherry spilled the beans about meeting the night witch without hesitation.
The sage listened gravely, then continued in a low voice with half-lidded eyes.
"Hm…. Still apprentices, then. Did the witch you met give you a contract of some sort?"
"Yes, exactly! As expected…! Great Crow of Skarnas!"
"We haven't signed yet. We were supposed to do something first—gasp."
Skarnas's great crow is me, and this guy's a kiwi bird.
A sage kiwi, granted.
"Hm, come closer."
Kiki and Cherry shuffled forward hesitantly.
"Let me take a look."
The sage scanned the contract they handed over with a serious gaze.
"She said it was the best deal in the industry…!"
Kiki spoke with oddly smug confidence.
She'd clutched it like a sacred relic, so she must've been attached.
Thrilled to be recognized by a night witch?
I knew little about witches, so I couldn't judge.
"Best in the industry? Hm…. Hardly."
The sage pressed on in a solemn tone.
Had he spotted a flaw?
"Look here: 100 years of service for a black crystal pension? Fine print says one tiny crystal per year. Hardly a pension."
"What? No way…! Gasp, i-it's true?!"
"And two-to-a-room cottage quarters. But fine print: sharing with another witch's familiar permitted. Like sleeping in a stable with the horses."
"Wh-what?!"
"No way…."
The sage coolly exposed every loophole in the contract.
"Best in the industry? Laughable. You'd be better off as a janitor in any mage tower."
"Th-that bad?"
"Yes."
Cherry and Kiki slumped to the ground.
"At least you didn't sign. You'd have lived worse than a lab frog under that night witch."
Relief at spotting the contract's traps mingled with betrayal toward the night witch.
Both emotions played plainly across their faces.
Things were going swimmingly.
As the sage said, Hexennacht—the gathering of night witches—was no normal group.
Hence the scammy contract to exploit apprentices.
Now that these two knew the truth, they'd never ally with night witches again.
Like their midnight rendezvous, they'd probably been acting on orders.
No reason to follow those now.
Why obey a con artist?
If it were me, I'd tell those scammers to shove it and wreck shop.
"Hic… sob…."
"We believed her… Thought we'd be cool witches…."
But these two seemed softer-hearted than I'd figured.
No vengeance—just mutual mourning.
Time for the next step.
"Caw, caw!"
Truth revealed; now, persuasion.
"Night witches are not the glamorous sort you imagine. They commit all manner of evils for the world's darkness. What they did to apprentices like you proves it."
"You're right…. To trust scum like that. Waaah! What do we do now?"
The sage cleared his throat and continued gravely.
"If night has forsaken you, go to the day."
Become witches of the day, not night.
That was our aim.
Bonus: snag their intel.
"But… becoming day witches is so hard…."
"I know a witch. If you're willing, I could introduce you."
"Y-yes…? What? Introduce a day witch? For real?"
Kiki bolted upright in shock.
"Huh? Huh? Huh?!"
Cherry, a beat behind.
The day witch the sage meant was probably Gretel.
Gretel could be trusted with them.
And it wasn't too far.
No clue if Kiki and Cherry liked ginseng, though.
"C-can we… really?"
"Thank you! Thank you!"
Tears streaming, overjoyed.
Gretel was even more impressive than I'd thought?
Just the promise of a day witch intro had them this thrilled—must be incredibly hard to connect with one.
Makes sense; Gretel rarely left her candy cottage.
"Ahem."
The sage cleared his throat.
Obviously, nothing in this world was free.
He was about to spell that out.
Intro to Gretel in exchange for their info.
"Ah, the witch who contacted us had black hair, and…."
"Her familiar was a cat…."
One cough, and info poured out of Cherry and Kiki.
Not super valuable, but the attitude was commendable.
"Oh, and there's a really dangerous human around here—does the crow lord know?"
"Caw?"
"Gasp. You don't? Huge intel! I barely overheard it…."
Dangerous human.
The more intel like this, the better.
Evicting humans would spark clashes; best to know strong foes ahead of time.
"Especially the crow lord should be careful. That one would chain-sickle you on sight, no questions asked."
"Caw?"
Chain-sickle me immediately upon seeing me?
What, bird phobia?
Whatever it was, caution advised.
Wait….
Chain-sickle?
Sounds familiar.
Red Cloak warned about chains.
"Executioner Jenny is here…!"
Chain-sickle Jenny…!
The name alone screamed overwhelming power.