Chapter 378: Side Story 7: The Witch's Dream
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 378: Side Story 7: The Witch's Dream
The overflowing chaos gradually subsided.
A new order slowly began to take root in the world.
This also meant that the time had come for the old order to recede into the background.
“—This is incredible. I’d heard the stories, but I never thought you’d actually succeed.”
“Even while cooperating, I was honestly half in doubt. Well, I suppose I should just be glad the hero’s tale didn’t end in tragedy.”
One day, completely out of the blue.
You tilted your head in confusion at the sight of two women who had arrived in Mixolydia without any prior notice.
Orin, the Witch of the North.
Glinda, the Witch of the South.
For over several hundred years, they were known as two of the Four Great Witches, the most powerful mages on the continent.
The last two survivors of that group were now studying you intently, as if observing some strange new animal.
After a moment of wondering how to react, you responded to their attention by striking a bodybuilding pose.
The Four Great Witches blinked, their expressions difficult to describe.
“Stop it, you idiot. You’re making me embarrassed just by watching.”
Thwack!
A staff swung from behind you and rapped you on the head.
It didn’t particularly hurt.
Compared to the terrifying force that had once dented your helmet into a U-shape back when you were a magic doll, this was practically a gentle pat.
Dorothea, dressed in her usual villainess-executive fashion, stepped forward with a sigh.
Her blue eyes turned to the two Great Witches.
“What are you two doing here together?”
Orin shrugged.
“The tower heads have been complaining that my apprentice keeps sneaking off to play here. They asked me to do something about it.”
You briefly pictured the witch in the white suit.
For someone who had become a high-ranking official in the Magic State, she visited this place as if it were a casual outing.
You had wondered if that was really allowed, and it seemed it wasn’t.
Dorothea spoke, a look of disbelief on her face.
“If you have a problem with that, you should take it up with Gale directly. Why come here and cause a scene?”
“It’s not like she’d listen to me anyway. Besides, I need an excuse like this to get out once in a while, don’t I?”
Orin stated her case boldly, without a hint of embarrassment, and a look of bewilderment crossed Dorothea’s face.
Like master, like apprentice, indeed.
Dorothea’s gaze shifted to Glinda.
Her eyes seemed to ask if she, too, had come for such a ridiculous reason. Glinda protested, looking wronged.
“Not me.”
“Then what is it?”
“It’s about the People of the underground. They’ve been strangely quiet lately. Do you know anything about it?”
You glanced at Dorothea’s face, but she showed no sign of flinching and answered confidently.
“Who knows? Maybe they’re just busy with their own affairs.”
“…We’ll leave it at that, for now.”
Glinda sighed. Her attitude suggested that while she suspected something involving Sophia and the underground, she would let it slide without pointing it out.
“So, is that all? If you need a proper welcome as guests, I can speak to Adel.”
“No, that’s fine. There are plenty of things we’d rather not have others overhear.”
Orin declined Dorothea’s offer and then said.
“I plan to go into seclusion soon. My skills have been declining ever since my fight with Mombi, so there’s no reason to cling to my position. The next ‘Witch of the North’ will be that child, Gale.”
“That title is passed down?”
“Now that we have successors perfectly lined up in all four directions, there’s no need to get rid of the titles, is there? The West will go to that girl, Franka, and the East will be you, Dorothea. What, you don’t like it?”
“…Well, it’s not that I dislike it, exactly.”
Dorothea looked a little conflicted but didn’t strongly refuse.
Though she normally disliked such formalities and titles, it seemed she found it difficult to coldly reject the name her master had left behind.
Suddenly, Dorothea’s gaze turned to Glinda.
Glinda shrugged.
“I also plan to step down from my position as the Empire’s Crown Mage. ‘Glinda’ will remain as the Empress’s companion and advisor, while ‘Algind’ will take over the practical duties of leading the Empire’s mages.”
“That’s just playing with words.”
To Dorothea, who knew that Glinda and Algind were the same person, it was nothing more than a staged play. But Glinda spoke firmly.
“But it is necessary. If a long-lived witch continues to occupy a public position in the state, it creates unnecessary noise.”
Especially when the other Great Witches of other nations were all undergoing a generational change, it would be even more conspicuous if only the Witch of the South remained the same, Glinda explained.
It was a matter of politics you had little interest in knowing.
“Well, Glinda was always the youngest among us, so I suppose you can suffer for a few more generations. Still, raise a proper apprentice. It’s a bit sad to be playing multiple roles by yourself for three generations straight, isn’t it?”
Orin said with a chuckle, and Glinda scowled.
Her face seemed to protest that it wasn’t as if she wanted to do so.
Then again, finding an apprentice on par with Dorothea was no easy task.
After that, the two Great Witches chattered on about this and that, but most of it was idle gossip.
Dorothea spoke, looking dumbfounded.
“You two came all this way just to talk about this stuff?”
They replied.
“It’s because things are peaceful that we can have such silly conversations. In urgent times, we can only have tense, serious talks with our nerves on edge.”
“I neither expect nor wish for eternal peace, but after fighting a great war, I hope it lasts for at least a few decades.”
*
You generally tried to limit your activities at night.
Part of it was because your body felt weary after training your body with Adelaide and your mind with Sophia, but it was also true that you purely enjoyed sleep itself.
It was a luxury you couldn’t afford in a doll’s body.
But for some reason, you found your eyes opening on their own in the middle of the night.
As you debated whether to go back to sleep or get a drink of water, you happened to spot someone moving through the window.
Dorothea was heading somewhere, her black cloak and ebony hair fluttering as if melting into the night’s darkness.
You were lost in thought for a moment.
If Dorothea was moving in the middle of the night without a word, there had to be a reason.
Perhaps the considerate thing to do was to pretend you hadn’t seen anything.
But it was also true that you were curious where she was going alone at night.
You picked up the sword beside you, placed a coin on its tip, and flipped it into the air.
[The Tin Knight declares: Heads, I go. Tails, I stay!]
With a declaration addressed to no one in particular, the coin shot upwards.
Before the coin could hit the floor, you brought the tip of your blade to it.
The coin split vertically. The tails side vanished, leaving only the heads side resting on your blade.
You decided to humbly follow the guidance of the god of probability.
You felt the golden sword, which housed the power of a dragon, give you a pathetic look, as if to ask why you’d bothered flipping a coin in the first place. You casually ignored it.
A short while after you began following Dorothea with light, brisk steps…
Dorothea finally came to a halt.
She was in front of a grave.
A grave Dorothea had made for her master, but one where not a single fragment of a body could be laid to rest.
You understood why Dorothea had come here.
Regardless of her actual age, the Four Great Witches, who were treated as her master’s contemporaries, had announced their retirement, and she was to inherit the title of Witch of the East. It was impossible for related thoughts not to surface.
You had considered approaching Dorothea and speaking to her depending on the situation, but this time, you held back.
This time, at least, it felt like the right thing to do.
To call it a visit to a grave, Dorothea’s actions were rather static.
She didn’t offer flowers, nor did she mutter to herself at her master’s grave.
She simply gazed at the tombstone in silence.
Some time passed like that.
Dorothea opened her mouth.
“Spying on people is a nasty habit.”
There was no need to wonder who she was talking to.
You scratched the back of your head and stepped forward.
[The Tin Knight expresses that this was an act of loyalty to ensure his master’s safety!]
“Loyalty, my ass.”
[The Tin Knight protests, asking where else one could find a familiar as loyal as him!]
“I think the ‘loyal’ in your dictionary has a different meaning from the one I know.”
Dorothea grumbled, but there was no anger in her face.
It seemed she wasn’t seriously angry with you.
Just as you were about to suggest they return, as the night wind was cold, it happened.
-Thump!
It wasn’t loud enough to be called a commotion.
But a wave of mana, too distinct to be mistaken for a trick of the senses, registered in your and Dorothea’s perception.
Dorothea’s eyes narrowed.
“That feels like it’s coming from my master’s old warehouse…?”
Dorothea’s gaze met yours.
Accepting her unspoken signal, you swept her into your arms, kicked off the ground, and dashed forward.
The area around the warehouse was in utter chaos.
An unsettling aura of mana was overflowing from inside, and spirits, drawn by the energy, were causing a disturbance in a half-materialized state.
It was a situation where a giant, evil spirit-type monster could be born if handled incorrectly, but you weren’t worried in the slightest.
With the strongest necromancer of the current era right beside you, no number of spirits could ever be an obstacle.
And just as expected, when Dorothea struck the ground with her staff, the spirits fled in a panic without putting up a fight.
All that remained was the creaking door, straining as if to suppress something that was emitting an ominous mana and trying to break out from inside the warehouse.
[The Tin Knight asks if you stored something weird in the warehouse!]
“I’ve checked it several times, but there was nothing that should have caused any problems. …In any case, we’ll know once we see for ourselves.”
Dorothea activated her staff’s barrier, preparing for any unforeseen event.
You, too, readied yourself to respond at a moment’s notice.
The door opened.
And a massive light swallowed you and Dorothea whole.
*
Inside a mysterious white space.
As you looked around, wondering where you were, you turned your head at the sudden sense of a presence.
Clank.
A heavy, metallic sound echoed.
Your eyes widened at the sight of the armor, which was so focused on practicality that it almost looked plain at first glance.
You glanced down at your hands and feet, wondering if you had somehow left your own armor behind, but it was still securely protecting your body.
If that was the case, then what was this before you?
Shing!
Before you could realize its identity, the ‘knight’ drew its sword.
The heavy yet restrained movement was as perfect as a work of art.
Even at the opponent’s sudden action of drawing a weapon, you were not surprised.
The ‘knight’ spoke.
“—I’m not much of a talker. I figured this would be more productive for both of us.”
You felt no hostility, no killing intent, no malice from the knight.
What you felt was goodwill and gratitude. And a slight competitive spirit.
“Will you accept my duel? Junior.”
At that title, your eyes widened, and then the corners of your mouth curled up.
[The Tin Knight rejoices, declaring that the old-timer knows what’s what!]