Chapter 26. The Witch's Bloodline (1)
Chapter 26. The Witch's Bloodline (1)
The day after Berdia and Serika had departed.
As planned, I made my way to the lodgings where Ymir was staying.
Not the rundown inns where novice adventurers like me or Serika normally stayed, but a mansion that was ostentatiously grand at first glance.
"...Wow, would you look at this. Spends money like there's no tomorrow — exactly what you'd expect from a Grand Archmage."
After all, the Magic Tower was humanity's premier research institution, and every mage affiliated with it was treated as a noble's equal.
And among them, one called a Grand Archmage had risen to the very pinnacle of wizardkind.
In some respects, her prestige surpassed even that of high nobles, so securing high-end lodgings with public funds would have been trivial.
Well, they did have to submit periodic reports to the academic community to justify it, which is why most mages had no choice but to live like research-obsessed recluses.
"Miss Ymir, are you in, Miss Ymir...? Hm?"
But before I could even raise my hand to knock, my eyes caught the gap in the door. The door to a lodging that should normally have been locked was already half open.
No — looking through the gap at what was visible inside, it didn't seem like simple neglect.
"......What the hell is this."
From the front hall onward, documents and books lay scattered in every direction without order. The place looked like a typhoon had swept through, and I reflexively held my breath.
Had she been attacked, maybe?
It was certainly plausible. She was someone called a Grand Archmage at a young age. Anyone who knew of her fame and status would have ample reason to target her, and even if not, the possibility that common thieves had broken in for valuables and left her incapacitated was far from negligible.
"Miss Ymir, Miss Ymir, are you in there?"
Damn it all. However foul her temper, this was the last thing I needed right now.
Until I could deal with that worthless bitch, the hero party needed to remain intact.
"Miss Ymir! Miss Ymir!!"
"It's loud, so shut up!!!"
In that instant, a yell erupted from deeper inside the room. My startled body went rigid, and just then, someone who'd been buried under a pile of books clawed her way out, clutching her long hair as she hauled herself upright.
Long, trailing hair and a faltering gait. And a body that boasted a voluptuous scale in multiple respects.......
"......Ah."
Yes, it was Ymir.
And she was facing me wearing absolutely nothing.
"A-ahh!?"
A shriek burst out reflexively the instant that sight burned into my eyes.......
Yes, it was a situation that could only produce that level of shock.
It was a relief she hadn't been attacked, but because of that, my own life was now in far greater danger.
"Hey, you son of a...."
"I-I'm sorry!!"
The time it took from registering her nudity to slamming my head down was a mere 2.5 seconds. No, possibly even shorter than that.
Because I had just seen the Grand Archmage's naked body. She might be a rank below one of the Ten Greats like Berdia, but I had looked upon the shame of a woman with the strength and skill to be selected for the hero party — there was no way I'd be allowed to keep my body intact.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!! It wasn't intentional, but I've committed a sin worthy of death! I-I will offer my life in apology, so please, just my life, please spare my life, Lady Ymir!!!"
So right now, the only thing I could do was smash my head to the ground in apology without even glancing back. I had no idea if this would work, but I still had to do it. For a man like me who was worthless without hypnosis, this pitiful act was the only resistance permitted against someone who could reduce my body to ash in an instant.
"......What are you doing."
Or so I thought.
Yet the low voice that actually reached me from Ymir just sounded annoyed; there wasn't even a trace of fiery rage born from shame.
"H-huh? What am I doing...?"
"I'm saying, you barge into my house as you please, and the second you see my face you slam your head into the floor — did you really think I wouldn't find that strange? You really are a ridiculous man."
Instead, Ymir clicked her tongue as if I were the strange one. Flustered by her reaction, I tentatively lifted my gaze and caught sight of Ymir still standing there, still stark naked and hunched over.
"N-no. That's true, but I called out several times and there was no answer...."
"That's because I was face-down asleep until just now."
"Ah, yes. Asleep.... Ah, no. More to the point, c-could you please put some clothes on first!?"
"......Haah. You honestly crawl into someone else's house acting like you own the place, and now your demands are disgustingly plentiful."
Ymir spoke as if I'd forced her hand, rummaging around the floor. I saw her pick up something cloth-like, and around the same time, Ymir's grumbling voice reached my ears.
"I honestly don't see why I can't be comfortable in my own home and have to get dressed because of some man."
Fortunately, she didn't seem to care much about her naked body being seen, but that reaction brought me an even deeper sense of bewilderment.
Shit, what the hell is this situation.
No matter how much this is her own domain, clothing is a practice common to all intelligent species and not just the human races — but here she was, arguing with me as if asking why she should even wear any.
Even goblins and ogres have the basic decency to cover their crotches when they move about, so the fact that she was voicing complaints about getting dressed — didn't that mean she was worse than them?
"Er, do you perhaps walk around naked at home?"
"Yeah, got a problem with it?"
It's not a problem, I'm saying I'm questioning the mental state of a woman who stands around naked in front of a man without a care, you insane slut.
"Ah, no. That's.... I mean.... No...."
"Enough, so lift your head up. I finished changing ages ago."
Just as I was sweating bullets and remaining tense, Ymir pressed me. I had my doubts about how fast she could have changed, but anyway, since she said it was fine, I decided to raise my head for now.
And then.......
"......Um."
"What?"
Ymir folded her arms, propping up her own chest as she returned the question.
Thankfully, she had a robe on, but at the moment she spoke, the sway of her chest was far from ordinary. Sure, given the sheer size it was possible, but considering women usually wore something underneath to support their fat, wasn't that motion deeply unnatural?
"Er.... Are you wearing anything underneath?"
"I'm not. I don't have any underwear that fits anyway."
"Ah, yeeeah...."
Thinking it over again, she was definitely not normal.
To come right out and describe herself as a slut who doesn't even wear underwear. No matter how badly mages have shafted their social skills and how many eccentrics there are among them, wasn't this a level of brazenness beyond imagination?
"Alright, alright, the nice show's over."
Having brushed aside even that flabbergasting thought as if it were nothing, Ymir clapped her hands and began to wave them toward me.
"Now if you've got nothing else, just get lost, or just find something to do. Since I'm up anyway, I'll get back to my research."
That was all she had to say. After that, Ymir sat at her desk wearing only a single robe, opened a book, and set her pen to paper above it. For someone who had just woken up, it was a terrifyingly swift transition. Of course, it's common for mages to be obsessed with their research, so that attitude alone wasn't particularly unusual.
"......So, does this mean I can stay here?"
Right. What I should have found strange was the attitude of treating the earlier incident like it was nothing.
"To be frank, I'd just kick you out, but because of what that damned woman said, I'm just letting you be."
"Ah, yeah.... I see."
This woman had definitely shown herself to be slightly subordinate to Berdia. Her desire to kick me out was also purely about wanting to focus on her research rather than any personal offense as a human being. She absolutely didn't hold any grudge over the earlier incident.
"So, I don't care if you scarf down food here or do perverted shit, but there's just one thing you'd better keep in mind."
"Keep in mind...?"
"If you interfere with my research, I'll burn you to ashes on the molecular level right then and there."
A blood-chilling threat. But the words that followed were flatly resolute, as if she'd already forgotten she'd said it.
"Just abide by that one rule and let's each do our own thing and coexist. Do you understand what I'm saying?"
"Ah, yes. Y-yeah...."
...Well, this is something.
It seemed this hero party's mage was a single-minded obsessive beyond all expectation.
As a person, that was obnoxious, but in a way, this attitude might be better for what was to come. A clear objective meant her behavior would also be consistent, which in turn meant the things I needed to watch out for were equally clear.
"Alright. Then I'll just tidy up the room a little."
"Tidying up is fine, but don't throw anything away. Everything here is stuff I'm using."
Yeah, as expected, she's allowing me at least this much. Fortunately, it looked like I'd secured enough leeway to attend to her, survey her surroundings, and collect information just as planned.
Someone at the level of a Grand Archmage would hold not only party-related matters but also a lot of critical intelligence from the Magic Tower and humanity's side. If any exploitable gaps appeared in that process, I might even get a chance to attempt seizing mental domination over this woman.
-Scratch, scratch.
Amidst sorting the messy documents and books, the sound of her pen still scribbling from the desk reached my ears. I'd wondered if she was bothered at all about her naked body being exposed, but she really was focusing solely on her own work without a care.
The type who dislikes people in general, rather than men specifically. Since she had absolutely zero interest in me, it wouldn't be easy to hypnotize her, but that thought also came as something of a relief. I'd learned early on that I wouldn't waste my energy clinging to a thread-thin possibility.
"......Hm?"
Just a moment after I'd set my mind at ease and continued cleaning the room. My gaze fixed on a piece of paper I'd suddenly found myself holding.
What is this sigil? It looks familiar, like I've seen it somewhere before.......
......Wait. Why is this here?
"What, why are you just standing there spaced out?"
How much time had passed? As if my continued stillness had gotten on her nerves, Ymir's attention — which had been fully focused on her desk — began to shift toward me.
Well, no matter how little you care, if someone's standing still under the pretense of cleaning, it's bound to break your concentration.
"This."
Yet even so, my attention was still helplessly locked onto the document in my hand.
"This is Walpurgis's sigil, isn't it?"
A star's seal engraved within a crescent moon. It was unmistakably in my memory, something I had seen so often my eyes knew it by heart. And that was why it was also something I could never overlook.
"That's unexpected. That's not something a novice adventurer would normally know."
Ymir let out a note of admiration as she looked at me. But I couldn't even manage to carry the conversation further. After all, the sigil my eyes were now fixed on was the one that had passed its power down to me....... It was a sigil invariably engraved upon witches like my mother.