The Witch's Trial (2)
Roy woke from sleep and immediately activated his Gold Eyes.
He needed to confirm whether any monsters had drawn near while he slept. With no one to stand watch through the night, it was an unavoidable stopgap.
"...!?"
But what was this?
The moment the Gold Eyes flared to life, he felt a powerful surge of mana close by. It was a vast reservoir of energy that made the mana rising from plants look like nothing at all.
Steadying the sudden hammering of his heart, Roy poured every scrap of concentration into the Gold Eyes.
One is clearly human... but what is the other?
It felt strange—different from a monster, yet not the mana that clung to humans or ordinary beasts either.
What in the world? And both of them are absurdly strong. Almost on my level... Could it be a mythical beast?
The source was right nearby. He punched a hole through the earthen wall of the house he had shaped with magic and peered out. Oddly, nothing was visible.
Stealth magic, maybe?
That would make sense. A mythical beast would surely possess some means of protecting itself from humans and the monsters that lived here. Still, the fact that the second presence felt so human-like sat uneasily with him.
Is this another part of the witch’s trial? Or is someone else entirely out there?
He weighed several hypotheses in turn.
They haven’t attacked yet, which means they probably don’t intend to...
Only a short while ago he had been sound asleep. No enemy stupid enough to throw away a chance like that would still be breathing, so this had to be part of the witch’s trial.
Have they been watching from the very beginning? They didn’t notice the Gold Eyes as well, did they?
In truth that was hardly a problem. Even if the Gold Eyes were discovered, no one was going to declare, “You’re no son of mine!” or “I can’t give Dragon’s Breath to a strange child like you!”
That stopped making sense the moment I took down the ogre.
Roy finished the thought and lay back down, pretending to sleep so he could watch how the hidden watchers would move. Nothing happened through the rest of the night, and morning brought no further sign of them either.
Definitely part of the trial.
With that, the situation was clear. Roy was now certain that the presence lurking nearby was almost certainly the witch herself, watching him as he underwent her test.
All right then—shall I give them a little scare?
The conviction settled, and he moved at once. Being secretly observed was irritating enough that he meant to catch them from behind and solve the problem at its root. He left his bedding, ran while preparing multiple layers of stealth magic through Silent Casting, and the instant he stepped into the dungeon he activated them all.
He had chosen the dungeon deliberately because the witch had warned him against it. The moment he entered, she would surely drop her concealment and reveal herself to stop him.
"Shady?"
"What the—how did you even know?"
Instead, a massive black dog shattered Roy’s magic in a single instant.
Roy stared in shock at the huge, pitch-black dog that had seen straight through his stealth. Four years earlier, after the ogre incident, he had refined the spell over and over until it blocked even sound and scent—a high-level stealth magic of his own design. He had even layered it twice, yet this creature had pierced it as if it were nothing. This was clearly no ordinary dog.
Lily, riding on the dog’s back, was every bit as startled. Roy’s voice had canceled his own concealment, and the invisible figure was suddenly standing in plain sight. Lily herself had been revealed the moment she called Shady’s name.
"I thought you were the witch... well, never mind. Hey! You! Why were you following me? And what is this dog?"
"What about you? How did you do that just now?"
"You were hiding with stealth magic and watching me, so I used stealth magic too."
"What? Stealth magic? There’s magic like that?"
"Huh? Then how come I couldn’t see you?"
"That’s Shady’s power."
Lily lifted her chin with pride.
"Shady? That’s the dog’s name?"
"Shady is not a dog! He’s a spirit!"
"A spirit?"
Roy looked the massive dog up and down. The fierce-faced creature gave a gentle wag of its tail. The one who looked truly shocked was Lily, not Roy.
"What? I’ve never seen Shady act like this... Just who are you?"
"What did I do? Identity? I’m the son of the lord of this land. You’re the suspicious one. You’re not human, are you?"
The surprise on Lily’s face twisted into clear offense at the accusation.
"I am human!"
"Is that so? Then why are you covering your hair, forehead, and ears? Hiding horns, maybe?"
"No!"
"Then show me."
"......"
Lily clamped her mouth shut and said nothing. Roy’s pressure did not let up.
"Besides, why were you peeking at me in secret? The witch ordered it, didn’t she?"
"......"
"Be honest. You’re already found out."
"It’s humiliating to be caught by the likes of you."
Seeing the expression that looked ready to spill tears at any moment, Roy felt a private satisfaction. The person in front of him seemed far easier to handle than he had expected.
"No need to beat yourself up. Everyone starts with a decent plan, but situations always change by the second. Your method of hiding was excellent—it simply didn’t work on me."
As he spoke he reached out and stroked the head of the spirit called Shady. The black wolf accepted the touch with open affection, for all the world like a dog greeting its master.
"Shady! I’m your master!"
Lily cried out in protest, threw her arms around the spirit’s neck, and yanked him firmly to her side.
"Your spirit? You contracted him yourself?"
"Yes. Shady is mine! I’m not giving him away!"
"I never said I wanted him... Still, he does look convenient. Super fast, and he even handles stealth for you. You contracted quite a good spirit."
"Shady is a shadow spirit. Hiding is his specialty."
"Is that right? A shadow spirit... that’s certainly unique."
Roy thought of the spirit he himself had once tried to summon. Beyond the four great elemental spirits, the world held many others. The shadow spirit standing before him was one; there were flower and tree spirits as well. Ice magic existed, so spirits of that lineage must too, and he had even heard of swamp spirits as a variant of earth. But what exactly had that Gold Eyes spirit been?
No amount of thinking produced an answer. In the end he would simply have to summon it and ask.
Ah!
A sudden idea struck him. The girl named Lily was a little short on manners, yet from the way she had just boasted about her spirit she clearly enjoyed praise. Put unkindly, she was a spoiled-brat type; put kindly, she was an innocent kid.
"I’m jealous. You summoned an incredible spirit. You’re really something, aren’t you? Did you learn from the Witch?"
"Of course! Well, if you practice hard enough you’ll be able to contract a decent spirit yourself—even if it won’t quite match mine."
The girl flashed a bright, toothy grin. Watching her, Roy wondered if she might be far younger than he had first guessed. Their heights were similar, so he had assumed she was three or four years older, yet her speech and mannerisms were pure Anna before she left for the Knight Academy.
"Sorry, but how old are you?"
"Me? Fifteen."
"Liar. You’re younger than me."
"It’s true! How old are you?"
"Eleven."
"What. You’re the little kid here."
"I’m taller and bigger, though. And you’re not human, right? So what race are you? Elder Wood live a thousand years—fifteen for them would be only one or two in human years."
"I’m not Elder Wood! I’m human, you brat!"
The points Roy had just earned by praising her spirit vanished in an instant.
Roy immediately regretted asking about her age.
"Call me big sister."
"It would be noona. And why should I? You’re one year old in human terms."
"Then call me noona. Lily noona. And I am not one year old!"
"......"
Roy was certain he would rather die than call this brat “noona.” Even with Anna he used the word only on formal occasions—maybe twice a year. Tired of the argument, he offered a compromise.
"Let’s just use each other’s names. I’m taller anyway. Call me Roy."
"Fine. We’re not close enough for anything else. I’m Lily."
"All right, Lily. So why were you following me? The Witch ordered it, didn’t she?"
"...Yes. I wasn’t supposed to get caught, but you suddenly tried to go into the dungeon. There was no choice. The Witch told me that if you tried to enter, I was to drag you out by force."
"This doesn’t really count as entering, does it?"
Roy emphasized that they were standing at the very threshold, the dungeon entrance visible right beside them.
"No. Even this much is too far. I have to go report and recheck the barrier."
"You can’t do it yourself?"
"...I’m not good at difficult work like that yet. But I’ll learn soon."
Roy considered for a moment, then asked again.
"If I’m dragged back now, the trial the Witch gave me fails, right?"
"Yes. Of course. You broke the rules."
"She never actually called them rules. She just said not to go in."
"Same thing."
Roy’s brow furrowed. He could not afford to throw away this perfect chance at Dragon’s Breath.
"Just pretend you didn’t see anything. This only happened because you followed me."
"No. I have a mission to carry out. Tell the Witch yourself. She might overlook it once."
"And if the barrier is fine?"
"That can’t be. The fact that you came this far is already a problem. By the way, how did you even find the dungeon? You ran straight here the moment you woke up, didn’t you?"
"That’s a secret. And I’ll repair the barrier myself, so don’t worry—just overlook it this once. I want to keep taking the trial. I’ll repay you later for sure. Gold, anything—just name it."
For his age, Roy had already amassed a fortune. Four years of selling magic-enchanted weapons had brought in well over ten thousand gold coins. Limited supplies of magic stones and other materials had held the number down; otherwise it could easily have been two or three times higher. Even after materials and labor costs, more than half the gold belonged to him and lay stacked in the mansion basement—despite the fact that he had spent freely the entire time.
Unfortunately the girl in front of him had no sense of money whatsoever.
"Gold? I don’t need anything like that."
"......"
"The Witch said so. The wine she brews herself is so precious that even if you offered every scrap of gold in this territory, it still wouldn’t be enough to trade for it."
"That’s certainly..."
Roy had to concede the point. Even so, he could not simply let slip the chance to taste that precious wine—or to learn how it was made.
"What if I can restore the barrier? Will you keep it secret then?"
"...What? Do you really think that makes any sense right now?"