The Witch Returns to Her Original Face
"Hello?"
"Whoa."
"……."
"Whoa."
"Chris. How long are you going to keep doing that?"
"Whoa."
Chris had turned into a broken record player. I wondered what the cause was. Was it Muran, who was gloomily fiddling with some metal object beside her? Or Noa, who couldn't make eye contact with me? I wasn't sure. When I tilted my head in confusion, Chris let out another gasp of admiration.
"Lady Ruina, did you really burn that face off?"
"I was simply practicing fairness in person."
"Third Circle, acknowledged."
Chris burst into laughter. She seemed to find the situation incredibly amusing. I had no idea what was so funny, though. Chris stared intently at my face for a moment, then moved her lips.
"Lady Ruina."
"Yes?"
"What did Sir Leon say?"
"Sir Leon, well..."
Yesterday, after receiving treatment from the head cardinal and leaving the healing room, I happened to spot Leon. So I secretly followed him and surprised him. The look on his face at that moment was still vivid in my memory.
"It was the face of someone who'd seen a ghost."
"Not the face of someone whose soul had left their body?"
"People lose their souls when they see ghosts, don't they?"
"But Sir Leon is a paladin. Do paladins lose their souls at the sight of a ghost?"
"I suppose not."
I ran my fingers over my cheek. Instead of rough, sagging skin, smooth flesh met my fingertips. This moist, bouncy sensation. Finally, it was time to return to being Ruina the elf...!
"Lady Ruina, it's impressive you weren't sold off to some noble family."
"I ran away before they could sell me."
"Really?"
"Thanks to that, I became a mage. After running away, I met my master."
I fell into reminiscence. My first meeting with Kelton was still crystal clear. I had offered him herbal tea while he sat in his rocking chair, puffing on his pipe. I wondered what would have happened if Kelton hadn't taken me in back then. I was a little curious.
I put the pipe to my lips. Once it was lit, I exhaled the smoke toward the ceiling and rolled my eyes. To Jerry, who flicked his fingers to extinguish the spark, I spoke calmly.
"Sir Jerry and I really do have an interesting connection. I never imagined things would turn out like this when we first met."
"Is that so."
"Speaking of which..."
"Yes?"
Wearing a somewhat wistful smile, I asked Jerry.
"So what exactly is your unique magic, Sir Jerry?"
"I believe I said I wouldn't tell you. And please stop pretending to be serious just to casually fish for information about my magic. I'm not falling for it."
"What is your unique magic?!"
Why did he keep hiding it? Why, why was he always concealing it?
"I'm not going to steal it, okay? I just want to take a look, really?"
"Master."
"Yes."
"No one believes those words."
"How could this be."
When had my credibility dropped this low? Strange. Every magic I had obtained was through fair exchange, and I had never touched the magic of those around me. There was no reason for me to be treated this way. As I felt wronged, Noa muttered quietly.
"Lightning."
"A disciple and master are originally one and the same."
Originally, what belonged to the master belonged to the disciple, and what belonged to the disciple belonged to the master. Including such special cases in the sample could lead to skewed results. I had to be careful.
Jerry shook his head wearily and opened his mouth.
"Now everything's gone to hell. Before, I could just look at your face and avoid you, but now that method is gone."
"It's finally been normalized."
How pitiful it had been that people developed prejudices just by looking at my appearance. They treated me like some dangerous object. As someone who had never harmed another person in my life, it brought tears to my eyes every time. At my words, Jerry sighed.
"When you consider that people will start falling for your face, it's going to be chaos every single day."
"What about you, Sir Jerry? Are you enchanted?"
"Why are you asking that?"
"If you are, I have something to ask."
"Which is why I'm definitely not telling you what my unique magic is, Lady Ruina."
"What is your unique magic?!"
This wouldn't do. No matter what, I was going to uncover what Jerry's unique magic was. Absolutely.
"...Lady Ruina. You're persistent."
"Be quiet, gloomy lady."
I silenced Muran and took a swig of honey wine. Honey wine after everything was wrapped up. Today it tasted especially precious. Maybe it was because I had kept one of my promises to Kelton.
Master. As you wished, I've cleanly healed my face. Now I can live doing whatever I want, right?
The imaginary Kelton answered.
Anyone hearing you would think you haven't been doing whatever you wanted.
I replied as well.
You know better than anyone, Master. How much I've held back.
If someone asked what exactly I had held back in response to this, it would probably be magic. They might wonder, Held back on magic? Really? But it was true. My goal had been to learn every magic that existed in this world, all the magic that had existed in the past and would exist in the future. My objective was a world with no magic I didn't know and couldn't use.
It was an utterly absurd, almost delusional dream. I knew that well. Yet even so, I earnestly desired it. That's why I had planned quite meticulously and thoroughly. Right after learning about this world's magic system. In other words, right after meeting Kelton.
Kelton had known about this plan. Naturally, since I had told him. That's why he had asked me to focus on healing my face first instead of getting distracted elsewhere. He knew that without such conditions, I might go decades without treatment while following my plan.
Of course, my plan had quite a few fluid elements. The conditions I possessed constantly changed, and the situations I faced were always different. Still, that only changed the methodology for achieving the goal. What I needed to obtain from the beginning remained the same.
"Lady Ruina? Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Flora."
"That's my tear button.... Waaah."
What I needed to obtain from the beginning. The miracle Flora had wished for even in her dreams. Eternal life. Yes. My wish could only be fulfilled within eternal time. That much had been clear from the start.
Anyway. So how would I achieve that eternal life? My very first plan had been to become a lich, but after aging and learning more about this world, it changed. I shifted direction toward obtaining miracles related to eternal life. There were quite a few miracles connected to eternal life. The representative example was ambrosia, but that one required periodic consumption, so it wasn't ideal. My primary goal was to obtain a more convenient miracle than that.
What about unique magic? Of course that worked too. Since unique magics were infinite, it wouldn't be strange if one of them granted eternal life. However, it was eternal life we were talking about. To create a miracle of that caliber would require a unique magic of considerably high rank. In terms of difficulty, obtaining an object related to eternal life was easier. Therefore, I planned to put unique magics related to eternal life as second priority and various miracles related to eternal life as first priority, but...
If asked how exactly I would obtain them, that too had already been decided. It was roughly since the time I met the Witch of Prophecy, so not long ago.
Chris wiped her tears and shivered. What was wrong with her? After trembling for a bit, Chris stopped and spoke.
"Lady Ruina. I had the wrong idea."
"What idea?"
"It was a mistake from the beginning to try selling something like this."
Tap. Chris placed something on the table. It was wooden soldier and wooden giant figurines. I blinked.
"Is there a problem with my wooden soldier and wooden giant?"
"There's no way people would buy something this uncute."
"You only realized that now."
I felt sorry for the wooden soldier and wooden giant, but honestly, they didn't have appearances that stimulated a collector's desire. Of course they had done a lot for me and I liked them, but consumer evaluations were cold, weren't they? A few people who heard my anecdotes might buy them out of interest, but fundamentally, it wasn't a design that would steadily gain popularity.
"But look at you, Lady Ruina. This is our future right here."
"Please don't casually include me by saying 'our' like that."
"Lady Ruina. If we make figurines that precisely replicate your appearance, we'll have no choice but to make a fortune. Even these ugly wooden soldier and wooden giant would shine if placed beside you!"
"You finally called them ugly."
Chris extended her hand. She wanted investment money. Unlike the crude wooden soldier or wooden giant, creating figurines identical to a person required several times more advanced techniques. It would cost more money. What to do? I pondered for a moment. More money was always better. Although I no longer needed to earn treatment fees, as long as I continued to breathe, money would always be necessary.
Alright. I slowly opened my lips.
"After seeing a sample."
Chris demonstrated exceptional ability when it came to business, but it was still best to be thorough about money matters. I decided to check the sample first and then decide whether to invest or not. Chris clenched her fist tightly.
"I'll bring something absolutely amazing."
"This is all the empire's fault. Sigh."
If the empire had properly given me the reward for saving the emperor, would I be like this? If they had given it properly, I would have had plenty of money and invested generously. In other words, all of this was the fault of the stingy empire. I tapped out my pipe and massaged my neck. Then Noa asked a question.
"Master."
"Speak."
"So where are we going now?"
"You were curious about that."
I lightly lifted my honey wine and moved my mouth.
"Please wait a moment!"
And at someone's urgent voice, I closed my mouth and shifted my gaze. The man entered the inn panting heavily, looking extremely exhausted. The man scanned the inn hurriedly. After examining everyone staying in the inn, despair colored his expression.
"Again? Again? She's gone again?"
The man, who had been showing a reaction worthy of a loyal subject who had lost his country, suddenly collapsed onto the floor. Soon he began muttering to himself.
"Lady Ruina... Just where, where do you keep wandering off to..."
Poke poke. Chris poked me. When I poked her back meaning 'what?', Chris said,
"Lady Ruina? He's looking for Lady Ruina?"
"Maybe it's someone with the same name. I don't know anyone like that."
"Ruina? Ruina?"
It had clearly been a whisper, but the man caught the murmured words like a ghost and came running over. The man stared piercingly at Chris, Jerry, Muran, and Noa, then finally made eye contact with me.
"Are you Lady Ruina?"
"No, I'm not."
"The Witch of Robbery, Lady Ruina. Are you truly not her?"
"Ruina? It seems like he's definitely looking for Ruina?"
"Oh god!"
The man couldn't contain his joy and let out a cheer. What was with this guy? Sensing my gaze, the man cleared his throat, composed himself, and declared with a firm expression.
Ruina, who saved the empire from crisis. Receive the emperor's command!
With those short words, I realized. The empire hadn't washed their hands of the reward because they didn't want to give it. I was the one who hadn't received it and just left? No wonder. Our empire wouldn't do something like that.