Witch Hunt (3)
Witch Hunt (3)
Light erupting from a massive magic circle enveloped the mansion.
Renoa squeezed her eyes shut against the brilliant radiance and hid behind Irion. Irion watched the situation closely, his eyes narrowed.
His hand was on his sword hilt, ready to draw at any moment.
After a short while.
The light subsided.
Renoa slowly opened her eyes.
"What happened...?"
"I am not certain."
Irion walked over to the spot where Sercia had been.
Sercia, who had cast the mysterious magic, was collapsed on the floor.
Her appearance, already like a corpse, was now devoid of even a single breath of life.
"Is she dead?"
"It appears so, but...."
Irion could not give a definitive answer. Even though what lay before him was unmistakably a corpse.
She could have jumped into someone else's body and be hiding somewhere.
"You don't have to worry. She's really dead this time."
At the dissonance that broke the silence once again, the two of them turned their heads simultaneously.
"...A doll?"
What greeted them was a doll. A small doll made of patched-up cloth.
It was alive and moving. It was waddling across the table with its hands behind its back.
"Seriously. I really didn't want to use this."
What flowed out every time the doll moved its mouth was a familiar voice.
Though mixed with noise, it was unmistakably Sercia's voice.
-Shwik!
Irion drew his sword and swung it without hesitation. A thin line of sword Qi sliced through the doll's neck.
The doll fell over as clumps of cotton scattered.
However, Sercia's voice did not stop. Another doll began to come to life and move.
"Don't handle it so roughly. Do you know how much trouble I went through to make this doll?"
"How long have you been practicing puppetry?"
"Well? I've been doing it since I was a child, so it's probably been over a hundred years? But why?"
"You've been doing puppetry for a hundred years and that's the best you can make?"
A moment of silence followed.
"............Eh?"
Even what Sercia uttered after a long pause was not a proper word, but a single-syllable sound of confusion.
"No, I mean, look at it. The proportions are a mess, the buttons are different sizes and colors, and the stitching is all crooked."
"That's...."
"Furthermore, even the lengths of the arms and legs are different, so even its standing posture is unstable. Isn't the level of completion far too crude for something said to have been made for a hundred years?"
"That...."
"I think I could do better even if I started learning now. Isn't that right, Agassi?"
"......."
"Agassi?"
Renoa couldn't answer readily and subtly averted her gaze.
Then, she blurted out.
"......Still, isn't it kind of cute in its own way?"
"Pardon?"
It was a very small mutter, barely audible unless one listened closely.
"Right! It's cute, isn't it!"
But Sercia caught that faint murmur perfectly.
The doll moved its short limbs busily as it expressed its opinion.
"Originally, handmade dolls lose their charm if the proportions are perfectly matched! Rather, it's this irregular flavor that gives them life and brings out their unique charm!"
"Hmm...."
"Perfect symmetry lacks humanity. Art comes from blank spaces and subversion. There's no way a slave like you would understand this sensibility. Renoa. You really are my daughter! You have an eye for things!"
Irion looked at Renoa again. Renoa still couldn't meet his eyes.
"I didn't go that far."
"I didn't ask anything."
He had just been staring silently, but Renoa, feeling guilty, made an excuse first.
Seeing as she didn't even deny it, it seemed she agreed with Sercia's opinion.
Was it that blood truly was thicker than water, no matter how much one denied it?
Watching his master form a bond of sympathy with the final boss made Irion feel utterly dumbfounded.
Renoa, sensing Irion's gaze, changed the subject.
"What do you mean by being dead?"
"Exactly what it sounds like. I died. Heeing."
"Then who is inside that doll?"
"My Residual Consciousness."
"Residual Consciousness?"
Sercia's physical body had long since lost its function as a witch.
From the moment she fled into that body, there was no way out.
However, in preparation for a day like this, Sercia had drawn magic circles throughout the entire mansion.
Magic to transfer her consciousness into the mansion.
"Your consciousness... into the mansion?"
"Yep."
Normally, it would be impossible to perform such a large-scale magic with that old, worn-out body.
But by using the pre-drawn magic circles, it was possible to manage it to some extent.
And with the witch's body as well.
No matter how much function it had lost, it was still a body that had held a Great Witch.
By using it as a medium, she could perform this level of trickery.
"This mansion is a giant puppet theater. I am the puppeteer, and you are the puppets."
The doll let out an unpleasant laugh.
It was at that moment.
"Kyaaaaaaaaak!"
A scream echoed from outside.
"What is that?"
"It seems we should go and see."
Renoa agreed.
The two of them hurried to leave the laboratory.
"You will pay dearly for ruining my plans. You. And those Imperial bastards too."
-Hwik!
Irion cut the doll once more. Sercia's voice was heard no longer.
They left the laboratory.
Screams were pouring out from everywhere.
The mansion was shaking, and loud noises were rampant.
Even at a glance, the atmosphere was unusual.
"Agassi. Stay close behind me."
"Okay."
The two of them slowly advanced down the hallway. What stopped their steps was the pungent scent of blood.
As they turned the corner of the hallway, Renoa gasped at the sight that unfolded.
"W-Why are you doing this? It's me, Silla!"
A maid, slumped against the wall, pleaded.
At the end of her gaze stood a fellow maid holding a kitchen knife dripping with blood.
Despite Silla's cries, the maid raised the knife with an expressionless face. The blade was plunged down without mercy.
-Teok!
However, the knife did not sink into Silla's crown.
Irion, who had closed the distance in an instant, grabbed the wrist of the maid holding the knife.
"What do you think you're doing?"
"......."
The maid turned her head stiffly, like an ungreased machine.
There was no light in the eyes that met his.
It was as if doll's eyes had been glued on.
-Dduk, dduduk.
The maid's arm, held by Irion, twisted at a bizarre angle.
A malformed movement that could never be imitated by human physical structure.
It must have been incredibly painful, yet there was not a single change in her expression.
In that state, the maid lunged at Irion.
Irion lightly dodged to the side and struck the back of the maid's neck with his pommel.
The maid, her eyes rolling back, collapsed onto the floor. It seemed she had lost consciousness, but.
-Huuk!
Once again, the maid's body sprang up bizarrely.
As if someone had pulled her, her slumped body rose like a roly-poly toy.
Even though her neck was snapped back and her gaze was toward the ceiling, the kitchen knife in her hand rushed accurately toward Irion's chest.
"Tsk."
Irion clicked his tongue and planted a kick into the maid's solar plexus.
-Peok!
The maid, sent flying, crashed into the wall on the opposite side of the hallway.
With her limbs completely twisted, she could no longer stand. She just rolled on the floor, struggling with her broken joints.
Looking at the figure that was too eerie to be called human, Irion turned his head to Silla.
"Are you alright?"
"Ye, yes...."
"What happened?"
"I don't know. Suddenly there was a flash of light, and then with a kitchen knife, she just......."
The maid, who had been speaking well despite trembling, suddenly fell silent.
In that instant, Irion captured the light disappearing from her pupils, and it was simultaneous.
Silla lunged at Irion, reaching out both arms for his neck.
-Pak!
Irion, grabbing Silla's arms and twisting them, threw her out the window without hesitation.
Soon after, the sound of a fall was heard.
Irion looked down at the garden below.
She had fallen from the height of the second floor. A height that would cause serious injury, even if not death.
However, Silla, who had been sprawled on the ground, began to twitch before long.
Eventually, Silla, standing precariously on two broken legs, dragged her mangled body and walked somewhere.
The image of her screaming for help just moments ago had vanished without a trace.
"So this is what Sercia meant."
This mansion is a giant puppet theater.
The people inside are reduced to puppets, dancing to Sercia's whims.
Even if their limbs are broken, even if they are knocked unconscious, they do not stay down.
"Let's move for now. It's dangerous to stay in the mansion."
"......I understand."
The two of them moved their steps once again.
The journey to escape the mansion was by no means smooth.
With every step forward, numerous people staying in the grand mansion blocked their path.
"Don't come near me! You're trying to kill me too, aren't you!"
"Don't talk nonsense! Put down your sword right now!"
"I told you not to come near! If you take one more step, I'll kill you!"
People could not distinguish between friend and foe, threatening and attacking each other.
A knight, driven mad by distrust, drove a sword into the heart of someone who had been a comrade until just now.
A young servant, hiding in a corner in terror, was struck down by the blunt weapon of a vassal whose eyes had rolled back.
Blood sprayed, and pleas for life and screams mixed with curses filled the mansion.
A massacre where humans suspected and slaughtered other humans. It disregarded gender, age, and status.
The aftermath of that madness rushed straight toward the two of them.
"Die! Everyone just die!"
A mage of the family cast magic recklessly.
A wide-range attack magic that did not specify a target.
Fireballs that bloomed fiercely from the fingertips covered the surroundings.
-Kwaang!
The mansion shook with a thunderous roar. The fire demon swallowed the hallway, vomiting out fierce heat.
At the moment the flames that seemed ready to burn skin rushed in, Irion swung his sword.
The cool sword Qi that sliced through the air blocked the rushing flames like a curtain, securing the space.
-Chiiiik!
The flames were torn apart, and black smoke billowed up. Even in the chaos where vision was blocked, Irion's response was seamless.
Beyond the smoke, Irion's sword strike flashed sharply.
-Seoeok!
The sword Qi that extended through the air sliced through the neck of the mage who was preparing a second spell in one breath.
The head fell, and blood spurted. The headless body slumped powerlessly.
"Irion. That person just now was......."
"I know. That they were a person, not a puppet being controlled. But it is no longer important."
It is a situation where one can be fine one moment and become the witch's puppet the next.
One might feel relieved that they are a person, only to be ambushed like the maid from before.
"Can't you just subdue them without killing? Like binding them so they can't move."
"To do that, I must approach the opponent. When would I subdue and bind them one by one? I cannot know what might happen to you, Agassi, in the meantime."
One never knows where an enemy might pop out from.
Irion could not leave Renoa's side for even a single moment.
It was clear what should be prioritized.
"Do not think of showing mercy. It will only put us in danger."
"......I understand."
Renoa bit her lip hard. She looked around, checking the surroundings.
Everywhere she looked, there was only carnage.
Every time she inhaled, the scent of blood and the stench of burning flesh entered her nose.
The beautiful mansion was broken here and there, and the gazes of the people who had been tending to the mansion just moments ago were strewn about carelessly.
Above them, the survivors who had lost their reason and the puppets were engaged in an endless massacre.
The petty ambition of trying to kill Sercia and monopolize the credit before the main Imperial force arrived.
It was a scene brought about by the impatience of rushing to solidify one's position within the family.
Guilt rushed in, but Renoa clenched her trembling fists tight.
'It's okay.'
It's still okay.
Because she had Irion.
She just had to settle this situation. Once it was settled, she could rise as much as she wanted.
In fact, her position would become even more solid. She would become the hero who saved the family.
For that, this level of damage was merely the sacrifice of the few for the many.
"Let's go."
Renoa comforted herself and moved her steps once again.