The Witch Wants Something Sweet - 2
One hundred puddings. That was how many Serina had devoured. Since Lucas happened to be at the shop, he ended up footing the bill.
"It is an honor to pay for you!" He bowed and scraped as if she were some kind of goddess. If the shop had held any more puddings, she probably would have demolished those too. But they had run out of stock, so the total stopped at exactly one hundred.
Lucas seemed reluctant to leave Sylvia’s side and kept shooting me meaningful glances. The message was clear: get lost. Fine, you bastard. Enjoy your date.
I hurriedly ushered Serina outside. I had been planning to leave anyway.
The moment we stepped out of the shop, Serina held her hand out to me.
"Huh?"
"Here. This one’s yours."
Once again, she was clutching a single pudding. Orange this time. Wait, why didn’t you let me have one earlier? I was bewildered. Was she teasing me?
"Thanks..."
"I saved it for you."
Saving one after scarfing down a hundred felt like crossing a line. I wasn’t sure if I should even feel grateful. Still, I decided to focus on the fact that she had set one aside at all.
"Right. Serina. We’re supposed to have dinner with Sylvia later. Is that okay with you?"
"What? With that bitch from earlier?"
"Bitch…? She’s the kind person who made us fruit jelly."
"That has nothing to do with me. Why are you eating with her?"
"Because I’m grateful… Don’t you want to come?"
"No. I hate that bitch."
"Why…"
"I just hate her. You can eat with her alone."
"Tch… Then do you want to wait at the old man’s place this evening?"
"What about you?"
"I’m eating dinner with Sylvia."
"Just the two of you? You must have a death wish."
"No… You’re the one who told me to eat with her."
"Damn it. I’ll eat too."
Serina was throwing a needless tantrum. If she was going to eat anyway, why play hard to get?
We decided to browse the market in the meantime. Before leaving the village, we wanted to buy supplies in advance.
The first place we stopped was the livestock market.
"Mister, do you have any good goats?"
"Oh, Allen! It’s been a while. Did you hear? The royal guards ran into a zombie horde and were wiped out."
"Ah… Really? I hadn’t heard."
"They say only the lord barely made it back alive. Oh dear, what a horrible tragedy. Though for us, it’s probably a blessing."
"Yeah…"
I didn’t know what to say. After all, Serina was the one who had slaughtered those royal guards.
"Right. You asked about good goats? We only carry the best stock here."
"I came into some money recently. How much per head?"
"Our kid goats go for 120 coins each. You’re looking for kids, right?"
"Yes. I’d like to buy around fifty. Do you have that many available?"
"Fifty? Well, I’m not complaining. I can’t prepare them immediately, but I can deliver them to wherever you’re staying by the day after tomorrow."
"That’s fine. Please do that."
"Then I’ll only take half the payment now. I’ll collect the rest on delivery."
"Sounds good."
I paid three thousand coins upfront and purchased fifty kid goats from the old man.
There was a reason I was buying them. I planned to raise goats properly and sell the offspring at market. The old goat trader had given me tips before—goat herding brought in serious money.
I’ve had a dream for a long time. To create a beautiful garden like the Garden of Eden my mother used to tell me about when I was little. I don’t know exactly what it looked like, but still.
To make that happen, I’d need a lot of money. I didn’t have a concrete plan yet, but I was going to build a wonderful garden anyway. Stock it with over a hundred gardeners and butlers and all those unrealistic fantasies.
Goats taken care of. Next came food supplies. This time I planned to buy baguettes for our staple and a few pigs for the witch.
Pigs were expensive livestock at five hundred coins each. I had considered raising them myself, but they required too much work, so I gave up on the idea early. Three should be enough.
While I was browsing the stalls, I suddenly realized the witch was nowhere in sight. Where had she gone?
I wandered around looking for her. Serina was wearing red, so she was easy to spot even from a distance.
She was sitting on a wooden bench, watching couples walk past.
"Serina, what are you doing here? Why didn’t you follow me?"
"My legs hurt."
"We haven’t walked that far."
"Witches hate walking."
"So if you don’t walk, you fly instead?"
"Are you stupid? Where would a witch get wings?"
If she didn’t fly, she had to walk, right? Or was my thinking the strange part?
"If you don’t fly, you have no choice but to walk, don’t you?"
"I don’t know. Stop arguing with everything I say."
"..."
Better to drop it. Talking with a witch for more than five minutes always made me feel like I was losing my mind. It just left me irritated.
While I was giving up on conversation, she kept sighing beside me.
"Why do you keep sighing?"
"I don’t know. The sighs just come out."
"What’s wrong?"
"I don’t know either. Don’t ask me."
The witch couldn’t tear her eyes away from the passing couples. Was watching a man and woman hold hands really that fascinating? As a human, I couldn’t understand it at all.
We decided to rest on the bench for a while. After sitting in silence, the sign of the shop next to us caught my eye. It was a bookstore.
"Serina, wait here a moment."
"Where are you going?"
"The bookstore next door."
"A book?"
"Yeah. There’s something I need to find."
The book I was looking for was the one Lucas had mentioned about witches. Every time Serina acted strangely, I wanted to know why. I needed help from somewhere.
Inside the bookstore sat an elderly owner. He gave a small nod in greeting.
"Sir, do you happen to have any books about witches?"
"Books about witches, you say..."
"Yes. I heard there was one."
"Just a moment. You must be referring to the book written by Dantalian."
"Uh… I don’t know the author, but if it’s about witches, that’s fine."
The old man disappeared into the back storage. A short while later he returned with a thick volume.
"Books about witches aren’t very popular… People usually ask for books about dragons."
"Really? Is the author quite famous?"
"Very. He’s the writer who claims to be a demon himself."
"A demon?"
"You know—one of the seventy-two demons of the great sorcerer Solomon."
"Ah… That Dantalian!"
"That’s right. He’s an interesting writer. Doesn’t mean the content is unreliable, though."
"Can I trust it?"
"Absolutely. It’s so convincing you start to wonder if he really is a demon."
"Oh! That’s reassuring."
"Right? Which is why the book is expensive."
"How much?"
"Five hundred coins."
"Five hundred?! You didn’t misspeak and mean fifty, did you?"
"It’s five hundred. This book is nearly impossible to obtain. There are only a few copies."
"Five hundred coins… That’s steep."
"If you don’t want it, that’s fine. Plenty of people have asked me to get it for them."
"No, I’ll take it."
It felt like I was being ripped off. A book costing as much as a pig… But my personality wouldn’t let me walk away from something I was curious about. The five hundred coins weren’t the issue. Understanding the traits of that ill-tempered witch took priority.
When I came out with the book, Serina asked immediately.
"What is that?"
"It’s nothing. Let’s go."
"Tell me what it is."
"Uh… It’s a book that will help me understand you better."
"Me?"
"Yeah. So I can make you feel good more easily."
"You want to make me feel good?"
"Of course…"
"Do you mean that?"
"Yes, I do."
"Then will you do that kind of thing for me too?"
She pointed at a passing couple holding hands.
"…Holding hands?"
"Yes. I want to do that too."
"There’s no reason I can’t hold your hand…?"
"Then do it right now."
Had the witch gotten drunk on pudding? I couldn’t understand why she suddenly wanted this.
Ah. Maybe it was longing for her father? That made sense. So that was it! The witch missed her father. That explained what happened at the reservoir yesterday too! Her father must have been someone who showed a lot of physical affection! Eureka!… If only I had said that out loud. My reasoning skills… I was starting to suspect I might be a genius.
"Hand."
At my command, Serina obediently placed her hand in my palm.
"I want you to do the other thing too."
"What other thing?"
"The thing you do to my head like this."
"Ah! Got it."
Suddenly I felt a wave of sympathy for the witch. I also carried longing for my mother, even though I couldn’t remember her face. Her obsession with fruit jelly must stem from missing her father too… Even though we were different races, sharing similar emotions gave me a strange sense of kinship.
How much must she have missed her father?
I took off her fedora for a moment and gently stroked Serina’s hair. Her earlobes flushed as red as her cheeks. The one-piece dress, the fedora, her cheeks, her earlobes—everything was red. The sight was both ridiculous and undeniably cute.
"Cute."
"What did you say?"
Shit. I must have spoken out loud. How could I cover it up?
"What did you just say?"
"…I said you’re c-cute."
"Cute. Cute? Cute…"
"…Did I do something wrong?"
"No. That word sounds nice. Cute… I like it."
"Then… will you do it one more time?"
Serina nodded silently. I stroked her hair again and said softly.
"Serina is cute."
Just like before, the horn-like shapes on both sides of her head popped out. I was still curious whether they were horns or ears.
It’s the same as last time…
Huh? There were a lot of people walking by. I quickly put the fedora back on her head. That had been close…