The Witch and the Bandits
“My lady, did you know how to wield magic?”
Sebastian stared at Aria with eyes full of disbelief. After a moment of hesitation, her answer came back, tinged with uncertainty.
“…Yes. To some extent.”
This was news to me. The young lady of the Count Grace family could use magic? If that had been the case, there was no way I wouldn’t have known about it.
Regardless of my thoughts, the situation took a turn for the better. The other bandits, having witnessed their massive leader get blasted ten meters through the air, froze in place and halted their charge. It made sense. They had assumed the noble’s child would be nothing more than a delicate flower raised in a greenhouse, only for her to suddenly unleash attack magic. Of course they were shocked. I was utterly stunned myself.
“W-what the hell? She’s a mage? That’s not what we were told…! They said we could just overwhelm them with numbers!”
“Boss, is he dead? Someone go check!”
It seemed the bandits had fallen into a panic from the magic just now. And that was understandable. Magic was a power only a tiny fraction of chosen people could wield. Most ordinary folk lived their entire lives without ever activating even the simplest spell before dying.
Merely being able to use it was enough to inspire both awe and terror.
“Vice boss, what should we do?”
“…Tsk. We’re pulling back for now. Everyone, retreat!”
“……”
At the vice boss’s command, the other bandits hesitated before turning tail and fleeing into the forest. A few of them hoisted the fallen leader onto their shoulders and lumbered away with grunts of effort.
Left standing there all of a sudden, we stared at each other with slightly dazed expressions.
“……”
“……”
Only a heavy silence remained in that place.
After standing motionless for a while, I was the first to break the quiet.
“…Shall we return to the mansion for now?”
Given what had just happened, a proper inspection of the fief was out of the question. That was the judgment I had reached.
Aria nodded silently in agreement, offering no objection.
“……”
“My lady.”
“Yes?”
“Are you all right?”
Inside the carriage on the way back. When I asked with worried eyes, Aria, who had been staring blankly into space, flinched and responded.
“I’m sorry. Did you say something just now?”
“I asked if you were all right.”
“Ah… Yes. I’m fine.”
“That’s a relief.”
I had asked because I wondered if she might be mentally shaken after experiencing something so frightening, but she didn’t seem particularly traumatized. I supposed that was fortunate. For a fleeting moment, the thought crossed my mind that the villainess’s heart might be made of steel. Well, that would explain all the villainous things she had done. Thinking that way made it somewhat understandable.
“Are you all right, Young Master Leo?”
“Pardon?”
I reflexively echoed her question. Then, without warning, Aria reached out and gently took my hand. Before I could say anything in my confusion, she looked at me with a worried face and said,
“Your hand has been trembling slightly since earlier. You must have been very startled.”
“……”
I couldn’t deny it. Of course not. After all, I hadn’t lived very long, and how many terrifying experiences could a sheltered noble youth have gone through? I had tried to at least look somewhat impressive as a man before dying, but even that role had been stolen by my fiancée. How pathetic.
I felt utterly miserable at my own helplessness. On another note, Aria’s hand holding mine was incredibly soft. A warm sensation spread from where our skin touched. Being comforted by such a fragile woman left me with complicated feelings.
When you thought about it, Aria was the one who had driven off the bandits earlier. If she hadn’t stepped forward and I had fought alone, I would almost certainly have been killed or kidnapped on the spot. Even if I managed to fend off one or two, there was no chance of victory against those numbers.
The swordsmanship I had learned from Sebastian was meant for one-on-one combat; once the opponents exceeded ten, it became meaningless. Yet Aria had instilled fear in them with a single spell and made them all run away. The most effective and simplest method—one I could never have managed even if I died trying.
“…I’m fine.”
With those words, I subtly withdrew my hand from hers. In truth, embarrassment was the biggest factor. The fact that I was holding hands with this woman felt unbearably shameful.
When my hand slipped away, Aria let out a small “Ah…” and then clasped both hands together, awkwardly placing them on her lap. Had she realized the meaning of what she had just done?
“……”
“……”
An awkward silence stretched between us for a moment. Finally, unable to bear it any longer, I asked her first.
“My lady. Um, about the magic… how did you…”
“Ah, that… I happened to learn it by myself when I was young.”
“By yourself?”
Was magic something one could just pick up by accident? Her answer defied common sense, and a question flashed through my mind.
“Yes. I’m sorry, but… please keep it a secret from others. No one knows yet—that I can use magic.”
“…Understood. That’s not really a problem, but… it’s unexpected. I had no idea you could use magic, my lady.”
“…Do you… dislike women who use magic…?”
“……”
Dislike it? Obviously. The woman who was originally a villainess could even use magic? It was adding insult to injury. In my head, the danger level of the woman named Aria shot up another notch.
…Wait a second. Then, instead of a villainess, didn’t this make her a witch?
At that moment, goosebumps erupted across my entire body. If I got on her bad side here, wouldn’t I end up suffering terribly from her magic? The thought made my mind go blank. The image of the bandit leader flying through the air like a rag doll after taking Aria’s spell flashed in my mind.
Damn it all…
“Young Master?”
“…Yes?”
“Are you all right? Your face suddenly went pale…”
“…It’s nothing. Really.”
It’s all because of you, you villainess. No, witch now, I suppose. In any case, this woman was clearly the root of all evil. If things continued like this, something terrible would surely happen soon.
For now, I should abandon any open attempt to break the engagement. From her recent behavior, it seemed she had developed a slight fondness for me for some reason. If I clumsily provoked her, I would end up just like that bandit leader. Within the promised year, I needed to make her lose interest in me as naturally as possible so she would drift away.
If, after a year, she still refused to let me go and spouted such nonsense… then what? My already complicated thoughts grew even more tangled.
#18. [POV : Aria]
“……”
After returning to the mansion with Leo, I was taking a shower alone in the bathroom, washing off the dust I had gotten covered in during the bandit commotion.
The warm water pouring from the showerhead soaked my dry hair and flowed down to the floor. As the hot water enveloped me, my chilled body and heart seemed to thaw a little.
“Haa…”
Today’s events had been a failure on my part. Who would have thought the Black Hood Bandits were lying in wait in Carlin Forest? Thanks to that, my intimate date with Leo had been ruined.
The thought made sudden anger surge up inside me. Today was supposed to be a cozy time where we toured the Stuart Fief together, ate delicious things, admired the scenery, and spent a lovely afternoon. Why did something like that have to happen today of all days…?
Yet at the same time, one thing had become clear from today’s incident. This world was reenacting the major events that had occurred in my previous life. I couldn’t remember the exact date, but in my past life, a similar event had definitely happened around this time. It was the incident where our carriage date was ambushed by bandits.
Back then, Leo had defeated all the bandits in my place because I was terrified. This time, I had defeated them in his place. The one who resolved the situation was different, but aside from that, everything else was almost identical to what had happened in my previous life.
Five years. Had it been too short a time? Should I have kept more distance? I didn’t know. The dark, cloud-like emotions rising in my chest were even blurring my vision.
“…Haa…”
If I couldn’t even change something as minor as this, could I truly change fate? If my master had been mistaken and fate refused to change even after five years… then what should I do?
“……”
I stared at the bathroom wall and thought. That’s right. No matter how much I repeated it, nothing would change. The water had already been spilled. It was impossible to gather it back up. Since I had already appeared before Leo again, there was no turning back now.
I had no choice but to do it. I must do it. I will save Leo with my own hands. Because this might be my last chance.
With that thought, I shook my head from side to side to shake off the distracting thoughts.
“……”
Slowly, I reached out and turned off the shower.
…Still, was it really right to do that earlier?
Feeling the water droplets dripping from my hair, I asked myself once more. Was it truly the right thing to show him my magic in front of him like that? Wouldn’t this change the future? What if Leo became afraid of me? If that happened, it would be truly heartbreaking.
The reason I had learned magic was because of the memories from my previous life. I had an innate talent—a latent ability to activate magic. In my past life, I had discovered it a bit late, but if I knew about the talent in advance, developing it wasn’t that difficult. By devoting one hour every day to magic research, I had managed to raise my skills to a level usable in real combat.
It was all power I had honed to protect Leo.
But even if I had stayed still in that situation earlier, Leo would probably have handled it easily. The Black Hood Bandits were a pathetic group that would have self-destructed from internal conflict before long even if we hadn’t gotten involved.
In truth, I had tried to avoid stepping forward as much as possible, but I still needed to eliminate variables. And above all, the biggest reason I had stopped Leo from acting was because I didn’t want him to take lives.
In his previous life, he had been stained with far too much blood he never wanted. In the small-scale wars that broke out several times, he had cut down countless enemies to protect me and the other precious people around him. Given his status, it would be impossible for him to live without ever getting blood on his hands, but if possible, I wanted to delay that moment as long as I could.
It might be a selfish thought… but I couldn’t help it. Whenever he took a life, his eyes became terrifying, as if he had turned into a completely different person.
And those bandits earlier. Something about them had felt suspicious. They had called out Leo’s name without even seeing his face. It was as if they had known about his outing plans in advance and ambushed us. If so, then perhaps… there might be someone inside the mansion working with the enemy.
“……”
Who is it? Which bastard is it? Who would dare touch my Leo?
Whoever it was, anyone who tried to harm Leo would be dealt with by my own hands. I clenched my fist tightly and made the vow.
As long as I was here, I would never let Leo fall into danger.
With that thought, I turned off the shower and walked toward the changing room.