Chapter 76
Chapter 76
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 76
Chapter Title: The Witch's Potion
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“Never mix with humans, dear.”
Witch Morone remembered the dying words her mother had left her.
Keep your distance from humans.
It was advice she'd felt in her bones ever since her earliest memories, so distant they barely surfaced anymore.
“Humans hate us, after all.”
She didn't know the exact reason why.
Even though witches had never really harmed them, humans had despised them for thousands of years.
Because of that, witches had been driven into the forests, scraping by in unremarkable lives.
Until the Great War broke out.
- What do we do now?
- The beasts are pushing into the forest.
- Potions are running low... we can't hold them off much longer...
The Alliance lost the Great War, and the magical beasts flooded into the forest.
Witches managed to hold out for a while with potions and curses, but they couldn't win against sheer numbers.
In the end, witches had no choice but to blend into human society and live pretending to be human.
“No other options...”
Morone was one of them.
Surprisingly, life wasn't so bad.
With her vast knowledge of herbs and her magic, she could make a decent amount of money.
But trouble came out of nowhere.
“It's a witch! I saw it with my own eyes!”
It started when the village priest pointed her out as a witch.
Morone felt her heart drop.
‘How? How did he know?’
She hadn't done anything remotely witch-like.
She hadn't made potions or cast curses—she didn't even like curses.
She'd been helping people and building a good reputation.
But the priest hadn't seen through to her true nature as a witch.
“A grave suspect for witchcraft. Send this woman to trial!”
If she was acquitted in the witch trial, her property would naturally go to the accuser.
It was a scheme cooked up by the priest and the cardinal, both eyeing her wealth.
Whether she was guilty or not didn't matter.
“My arm turned black!”
Victims could always be fabricated.
And so, branded a witch, she was dragged to the stake alongside two other women accused for similar reasons.
Even though she was the only real witch there.
“I don't want to die...”
“Why... I didn't do anything wrong. I'm the victim...”
Morone stared blankly at the two women sobbing in terror, then slowly looked up at the sky and realized something.
‘Whether I'm a real witch or not doesn't matter.’
They just needed someone to hate, and she'd been chosen.
She was fated to be unwelcome wherever she went.
When a lofty cardinal said die, she had to die like a fly.
She had given up on everything and was about to close her eyes.
Judak*: (Frog with an angry face flipping the bird con)
Sorry, I pulled aggro just to show you this...
Medieval humans' awareness level for real?
This is a trial by the world's biggest idiots...
But beyond the sky lies the universe.
A being far higher than the cardinal.
Into Morone's life of nothing but pain, Judak crashed down.
*
In broad daylight, the cardinal's corpse was discovered.
It was grotesque, with multiple arms attached, burned to bones on the pyre.
Pure malice in the murder.
- Whoa; who'd dare go outside now...
- (Scared con)
- Lehu got spicy
- (Become fire punch con)
But perhaps because the cardinal's deeds weren't exactly saintly, no one mourned him.
Still, murder is murder.
No one knew when the fallout might hit innocents.
As someone who knew the culprit with high certainty, I couldn't just look away.
I quickly found the gallery in question and checked the gallog first.
[Potion Master's Post List]
Private, ?? years ago / This gallery thing popped up out of nowhere. But how do you use it?
Private, 8 years ago / Humans hate witches. But why? We haven't done anything...
Private, 4 years ago / The Great War broke out. Beasts invaded the forest. Can't hold out much longer. What now...?
Private, 3 years ago / Successfully hid in a human city. If I stay quiet, maybe I can survive?
Private, one week ago / Got accused as a witch. No evidence at all.
A victim even showed up. Said their arm turned black—someone I'd never seen.
Are they after my money?
...I don't want to die.
“Hmm...”
Doesn't seem like the type to commit brutal murder from these posts.
More importantly, I'd never seen a witch post publicly in the gallery.
Witches didn't write public posts, and no one had ever outed themselves as one.
That was obviously because of the humans' witch phobia—the dominant race's hatred—but I didn't know why.
SoonToDieVampire: It's the magic color.
Everyone except the ancient SoonDieVamp.
Judak*: ?
SoonToDieVampire: Witches' magic is all dark or deep shades.
The color that comes to mind for mage is blue.
But witch magic is dark purple.
Judak*: So what?
Does that color have something harmful to the body?
SoonToDieVampire: Nah, not at all.
Nothing like that.
It was literally just the color.
SoonToDieVampire: Thousands of years ago, humans thought it looked unclean.
Judak*: What
Make a big deal out of nothing, and it becomes a problem.
Mages were mainstream, witches fringe.
That mere color difference was why witches faced such discrimination.
“That's... no, it could happen.”
Thinking about it, even modern times had similar issues.
Of course, everyone knows now that magic color doesn't matter...
SoonToDieVampire: Doesn't matter. They just need someone to hate.
SoonDieVamp said it flatly.
As if he'd known it forever.
“This makes them hard to catch, huh?”
Witches had been playing Revenge Hold-Back Lv99 for ages.
But cornered with no way out, revenge was inevitable.
- Ah fml another similar body found;
While I pondered, another murder happened.
This time in a village outside the city.
- ㄷㄷ Who this time?
- The priest from the last witch trial?
- Nah, this has to be a real witch's doing.
The very priest who'd accused her for her wealth, found dead.
Second one already.
Before things escalated, I messaged the galler.
['Gonna Become a Potion Master!' has entered.]
Judak*: Hey
GonnaBecomePotionMaster!: Lord Judak! What's up?
Judak*: You the killer in these murders?
No beating around the bush.
She'd outright said she'd get revenge last time.
GonnaBecomePotionMaster!: Yep, that's me.
PotionMaster didn't hide it.
This would make trials unavoidable now?
The issue was she didn't want to live anymore.
GonnaBecomePotionMaster!: Given up.
Can't blend into human society, die to beasts outside.
Might as well get revenge and go out big.
Judak*: Wait, you have potions.
Forest witches had evaded beasts with perception-lowering potions all this time.
Couldn't she just live outside that way?
But the world wasn't kind to witches.
GonnaBecomePotionMaster!: Ingredients are crazy expensive lol;
Potion ingredient costs.
Judak*: What's in it?
GonnaBecomePotionMaster!: 1kg sugar, 500ml oil, 10 frog legs, 1,000 insects, beast liver/intestines/lungs etc. total 3kg organs.
How are we supposed to get that?
Witches were already poor.
Post-Great War, beasts were scarce—hard to scrape 3kg.
1,000 insects and sugar? Impossible.
Witch potions were top-tier, but ingredient costs were insane relative to performance.
“High difficulty even in the forest.”
Same in cities.
Where to get 1kg sugar?
Oil too?
“Being a witch ain't easy...”
Magic was for the talented elite.
Needed talent and money.
“But witches are worse?”
Yet witch potion costs rivaled or exceeded mage magic.
Made me curious.
Judak*: What other potions can you make? Assume ingredients plentiful.
Perception-lowering potions even mages can't make.
So with enough materials, what could she do?
GonnaBecomePotionMaster!: Healing potions too.
“What?”
Healing potion...?
Isn't that exactly what this isekai needs?
Judak*: Ingredients?
GonnaBecomePotionMaster!: Guessing 10kg pepper, 10kg salt.
“?”
Pepper and salt?
GonnaBecomePotionMaster!: Lol, ridiculous right?
GonnaBecomePotionMaster!: Anyway... you turning me in for trial now?
PotionMaster misunderstood, not knowing my thoughts.
Thought I was interrogating her.
Seeing her half-resigned chat, I replied.
Judak*: Hey, I'll give you all those ingredients.
GonnaBecomePotionMaster!: Of course I'll always be grateful to you, Lord Judak... Huh?
Brief silence.
Chat paused minutes, then resumed.
GonnaBecomePotionMaster!: F-for real?
Self-resigned or not, everyone wants to live if there's a way.
“There must be more witches than just PotionMaster.”
Even if few, they'd add up.
No need to think more.
Judak*: In return, do one job with me?
“Must secure her.”
Witch stocks—guaranteed moonshot.
*
In a dark, dingy forest clearing.
Morone stood before her crumbling cabin.
“Never thought I'd return here...”
Her old hometown, where she'd lived since her mother's time.
Abandoned after the Great War, no reason to come back.
She wiped dust from the entrance with her finger, recalling Judak's words.
“He said he'd give them all...”
Expensive, unimaginable ingredients.
Judak had agreed readily.
After countless human betrayals nearly killing her, she half-doubted.
Not distrusting Judak, but really?
Even nobles couldn't handle that quantity...
“Well, no other choice for me.”
Morone gave a wry smile.
She'd planned revenge then death.
But one word from Judak, and she wanted to cling to life pathetically again.
Maybe it was the first warmth from another person.
Morone felt a tickle in her chest just then.
[Item delivered!]
“!”
A system alert rang in the quiet.
Startled, Morone slowly opened the box that had dropped nearby.
“Oh my god.”
And inside, there they were.
[Pepper 100kg]
[Salt 100kg]
.
.
“R-real pepper?”
A luxury beyond commoners' dreams, even nobles' fantasies.
Heaped like a mountain.