The Golden Witch's Kindness
The air itself trembled as if every cell in my body were screaming for me to flee this very spot immediately.
But instinct alone would be a grave mistake here.
The woman before me was still as unhinged as moments earlier, carrying a distinctly unpleasant taste for savoring the pain of others.
With a natural disaster-level power at her command, would she flee without a trace the way one should?
She probably would enjoy it, turning me into a donut just like those monsters.
After that she would pluck out my eyeballs before the corpse even started to rot.
“I forgot something.”
Forgot something?
Is she talking about handing over her own eyeballs to me?
For now I stood still without a word, carefully observing the situation.
Stirring up needless trouble by making empty gestures was something I refused to do.
“Um, this dagger… is yours, right?”
At that the witch smiled and handed the dagger to me.
This was the same one Mirzam had passed on—the one she had shown a little extra mercy to because my sister Elena was the same age as me.
“Hero City doesn’t strictly regulate firearms or weapons, but if a villain like you uses someone’s personal item to harm another person, the damage can spread.”
The dagger’s handle was already stained with blood.
Mirzam’s blood.
“… ”
I took a moment to think.
The Golden Witch—her name was Spia.
She was an S-rank awakener, and her ability was the “Philosopher’s Stone.”
As the name suggested, she could manipulate any material in the world with enough mana, using it as a limitless alchemist.
She especially loved to freeze moisture from the air and amplify it with mana.
Turning the monster into an ice skewer earlier was just one example of her power usage.
On the surface it didn’t seem like anything special, but the real issue lay in the scale of the ability…
“You understand, don’t you?”
Creating a blizzard that falls from the sky or an ice spear the size of a giant monster—it far surpassed the scope of any individual ability.
Yet, as the saying goes, even perfect humans have weaknesses. For this witch, the only one was her body.
Unlike awakener with superhuman strength, she was nothing more than an ordinary woman in appearance.
In other words, a dagger was enough to kill her.
And in a street no wider than a meter, I could stab a person’s neck seven times in a single second.
Wasn’t it worth giving it a try?
“The owner of beautiful red eyes.”
“… I’ll be careful.”
I considered charging straight at her with the dagger, but the snow that had already fallen on me from the outside was clean, so I gave up on the idea.
The moment I unleashed my killing intent toward her, those eyes would turn into needles and turn me into a hedgehog.
I had seen it for myself with the mermaids that attacked the passenger liner—parts hit by the falling snow had been gouged out.
“If you knew, that’s enough. You must be exhausted after dealing with a villain. Go rest now.”
The Golden Witch, Spia, lightly gripped my shoulder before heading toward the other passengers.
The truth was, I could not die at will.
If I died, Elena would follow soon enough.
Even with insurance, a twelve-year-old could never afford the enormous treatment costs. Even if somehow she survived, she wouldn’t be able to live a normal life.
That was why I couldn’t keep my promise.
I refused to gamble with my life on the line.
“Th-the Witch! Thank you! I owe my life to you!”
One passenger bowed his head and spoke.
Just five minutes earlier, the people who had been watching the villain’s defeat in silence now greeted Spia with open arms as if they had been waiting.
“Bring the injured. Prioritize those with severe wounds.”
She was an S-rank magic-type awakener, but even without a recovery-type ability she could heal to a certain degree.
It wasn’t enough to regrow severed limbs with a mere gesture, but this was on par with the optional extras on a luxury sedan.
If anything bad came from it, they would be envious.
“Thank you, Witch… ”
Some passengers even shed tears.
Spia comforted them and treated the wounds herself.
It was truly strange to see.
Inside Hero City she was praised as a hero, yet because she plucked out eyes on the spot, the public called her the Demon Witch.
“Don’t move. If bleeding is too severe, I won’t be able to treat you.”
Even in the garden that was Hero City, or among its residents, she was that devoted.
People treated this witch as a savior beyond a hero.
How could people be so contradictory?
When I dealt with Mirzam, I had only enjoyed myself, plucking out his eyes for amusement…
“The awakeners who can still move, help rescue those who fell into the sea. These people were left floating because they were in a hurry.”
Was it because they had killed a villain?
No.
I knew from knowledge and firsthand experience that the owners of the eyes she took were not only villains.
“Ah, this must be your child. How adorable.”
No distinction between child or elderly—she simply collected eyes that were beautiful in her own eyes.
The creepier part was, after taking the eyes, she would heal them with a benevolent smile.
Unfortunately, even restoring lost eyes was difficult.
“… ”
I returned to the room, swallowing my unknown disgust.
My hands and body were covered in too much blood—I needed a wash.
If things had gone normally I would have taken the boat and escaped, but because of this situation I had no choice but to return to Hero City.
If I had slipped away alone and been noticed by that witch, things would have turned out badly.
The fact that I was still alive after meeting her today was only possible because I was a resident of Hero City.
I would not create needless danger.
†††
[Regulus Syndicate Attacks the Titanic on Christmas Day!]
[Using an awakener who controls monsters, they attempted a takeover using mermaids—one of the marine monsters.]
[94 dead, 481 injured, 2 missing]
[S-rank Hero the Golden Witch saves the sinking ship!]
[Police suspect strong links between the bomb incident in Floor B and this event…]
A few days later, the internet and news exploded with coverage of the passenger liner attack.
While people mourned the victims, global outrage against the criminal syndicate Regulus and praise for the Golden Witch who rescued the ship filled every forum.
“It, it was just something I had to do… The camera makes me feel shy…”
(Comments are another self.)
-ak12****
“I’m the accident party. Thanks to the hero who personally treated my injured mother among the mermaids, I survived. I’m truly grateful!”
ㄴtsfd****
“Wow… That’s such great news! I wish my mom a speedy recovery!”
ㄴdfge***
“I heard treatment from recovery-type awakeners is ridiculously expensive… She must be an angel instead of a witch…”
ㄴ1004***
“What kind of voice is the interviewer using… That really is an angel.”
-vfrd****
“Why isn’t someone killing those Regulus bastards soon? *** Because of these worthless pieces of trash, my little sister working on that ship is in a coma. *They have no value as human beings.”
ㄴsexy****
[Comment that has been blinded.]
As always, the comments were mostly praise for the Golden Witch and profanity toward the Regulus syndicate.
Exhausted by it all, I briefly snatched Elena’s phone.
Because the deepest part of the comment section still held unrestrained high-level comments.
“Ah, sis. I’m watching the news…”
“Don’t read internet comments, kid. There are a lot of dirty things even a child should avoid.”
“Ah… But sis, you saw the news too? Even on Christmas the villains keep doing bad things.”
“People still work on Christmas.”
“Really? But it’s a holiday… You said you were going to play with a friend you know. Oh, so did you have fun?”
Was it fun to have fun?
It was fun in its own way, but the friend I was referring to was probably not having fun right now, being dragged somewhere with his body restrained.
“Yeah, I had fun.”
I peeled an apple while recalling what had happened afterward.
When we arrived at the port hours later, police and various heroes were already waiting for the returning passenger ship, and the first priority was rushing the injured to the hospital.
That was why the hospital where Elena was staying was bustling.
This hospital had many renowned high-grade recovery-type awakeners inside Hero City and always kept the facilities state-of-the-art.
Naturally the treatment cost was exorbitant, but…
Since most people who could afford a luxury liner like that were already wealthy, it was no problem.
“Here, eat the apple.”
“Thank you, sis.”
“If you want to have fun on Christmas, get a good job. Don’t go work for a black company like Regulus and suffer even on holidays.”
“… Is Regulus even a company?”
“That’s just a metaphor. A metaphor.”
Strictly speaking, Regulus was indeed a black company.
The difference was that the black in “black company” had a different meaning.
But did working on a holiday really matter that much?
[94 dead, 481 injured, 2 missing]
I bit into the apple after seeing the two missing persons listed in the news.
Incidentally, the news only mentioned that the witch saved the passengers of the ship—it did not say they caught the villain responsible.
People who had seen Mirzam had long erased the memory from their minds, and the CCTV was broken, so there was no trace of him.
But he hadn’t run then, and there hadn’t been any bridge to run across either.
“So then I’ll become like you, sis. I’ll buy you lots of gifts and delicious food. I want to become a wonderful person.”
“… Rather than becoming like me, wouldn’t it be better if you became a villain?”
“Yeah…?”
“That was a joke. But don’t become like me.”
“Right? But why can’t you be like sis?”
I returned Elena’s phone and stabbed the peeled apple with a fork.
Squish!
“There was something like that.”
I wasn’t particularly curious about what had happened to Mirzam, but fairy tales often showed what happened to the child the witch took.
The only difference from Mirzam was…
“My job is wearing me out.”
And that ending would not be a happy one but a bad one.
Surely I would not be able to send her a good Christmas anymore.