The Witch Wants Something Sweet - 3
I walked hand in hand with Serina down the street. The bright sunny weather made me break into a sweat. Was I nervous? Serina followed my lead with slow, hesitant steps. I was deliberately heading toward a deserted alley. There was something I wanted to check.
Curiosity was something I could never resist. The moment we stepped into the narrow lane, I pulled off Serina’s fedora.
“Why?”
“Just a second. There’s something I’m curious about.”
“What is it?”
I gently stroked Serina’s hair. The moment my fingers touched her, the same mysterious things that looked like either horns or ears popped out again, just like before.
I glanced at Serina’s expression once, then grabbed them firmly.
“Haaang…!”
Serina let out a sweet, melting moan and twisted her legs together.
“Y-you… hng… let go.”
“Just a moment…”
I squeezed and kneaded them again, rolling them between my fingers.
“Haaaang…!”
Serina kept making those strange noises nonstop. What the hell is this…? A weakness? Yes! I found it. The perfect spot to torment a witch! So this was her weak point. Got you now, you little witch!
“Hehe. How’s that? You can’t move anymore, can you?! You’re finished. Who told you to mess with me?”
I kept touching the sensitive spot without mercy, a wicked grin plastered on my face.
“Hng…”
Serina’s eyelids trembled violently as she slipped her own hand between her legs.
“How does it feel, you tempting little—!”
I was thoroughly enjoying tormenting the witch when suddenly the things in my hand grew rock-hard. They were starting to resemble horns.
“W-what the… they suddenly got hard…”
“Are you done?”
“Huh?”
“You must really want to die.”
Something had gone terribly wrong. The witch bared her teeth and lifted her head. Her eyes were filled with murderous intent. Her expression was pure rage.
“Ah… Serina… what I meant was—”
“What you meant? You clearly want to die. That’s all.”
“N-no, that’s not it! It’s a misunderstanding! A misunderstanding!”
“Misunderstanding? Then I’ll give you a misunderstanding too.”
“I-I’m sorry! I was wrong. I was just trying to play a prank, but I went too far, didn’t I?”
I was backing away step by step. Thud. My back hit the wall. Serina was approaching with her claws fully extended. So this was the day I walked the road to the afterlife. I had acted out without knowing my place…
“S-Serina…!”
Her long claws flew toward me.
“Guhhhk—!”
I squeezed my eyes shut. Mother… I’m coming to you now…
Thud—!
A loud impact rang out. I carefully opened my eyes. The witch’s claws were embedded in the wall right beside my head. Serina stared straight into my eyes and spoke.
“You… really piss me off.”
She yanked her claws out of the wall and turned around, walking away. That had been an extremely close call. I really almost died.
“S-Serina!”
I ran after her and grabbed her hand.
“Let go.”
Serina shook my hand off. In the process, her claws scratched my wrist. Blood began to well up from the wound.
“Ugh…”
When I clutched my wrist, Serina came back over. She frowned the moment she saw the blood flowing.
“That’s why you shouldn’t grab me without permission.”
“I-I’m sorry.”
“Get up. Let’s go to the old man.”
It seemed the affection that had built up between us over time stopped her from actually killing me. If I thought about her royal guard, my head should have already been rolling on the ground. Phew… I swore to myself I would never do something like this again.
“Lady Witch!”
Nimeli the doctor greeted us warmly.
“Old man. Treat this guy.”
“Oh dear. What happened?”
“Nothing much.”
The village doctor examined the area around my wrist.
“Goodness gracious. How did this happen? It looks like you were clawed by a beast?”
“I wouldn’t know.”
Serina feigned ignorance, looking away with an innocent expression.
“Did you run into a monster? I heard ghouls have been wandering near the village. Is this a ghoul wound?”
“N-no, it’s not.”
I avoided answering directly and subtly pointed at the witch with my head. Nimeli glanced at her once, then smacked me hard on the back.
“Allen! I’m sure you must have done something wrong to Lady Witch. There’s no way our noble witch would do this without reason!”
“That’s right. Exactly. This guy made me angry!”
“Allen! You deserve to be hurt! Lady Witch, why didn’t you just cut his wrist clean off?”
“Hmm… I almost did, but I held back.”
“Oh my… such mercy! It’s only because Lady Witch has such a tender heart that it ended like this!”
“The old man only speaks the truth, huh?! When I establish my great empire one day, I’ll make you a duke!”
“Thank you so much…!”
Nimeli the doctor had been completely brainwashed by Serina. He looked ready to die if she simply ordered it. This guy was hopeless.
“Sigh… I was wrong. I admit it.”
“Allen! Apologize to Lady Witch again, right now!”
“Ugh…”
“Hurry up!”
“I’m sorry.”
“Lady Witch! Since Allen is sincerely apologizing, could you please forgive him with your generous heart?”
The old man smiled as he spoke to Serina. The witch pretended she couldn’t win against his pleading and accepted my apology.
“If you’re begging this much, old man… I’ll specially forgive him just this once.”
“Oh, thank you so much.”
The old man was just as annoying. If he had only remained the lord of the territory, he wouldn’t have treated me like this… Back when he used to call me “young master” and serve me with perfect courtesy, that felt like a lifetime ago. Still, thanks to the old man, Serina’s mood seemed to have improved.
While he wrapped my wrist with bandages, Serina stood beside me with an apologetic look on her face.
“Does it hurt?”
“N-no, I’m fine.”
She hurts me and then gives me medicine… At least it wasn’t a deep cut. It was just a stinging sensation. After receiving simple first aid from Nimeli, we headed to his mansion. Since we still had time, we decided to rest at the mansion before going to meet Sylvia.
Nimeli the doctor’s grand mansion. After being guided by the butler, we arrived on the second floor. Serina took the large room she had used before, and I took the smaller one right next to it. After unpacking my things, I lay down on the bed.
The moment I lay down, I pulled out the book about witches that I had bought at the bookstore. I had been curious about its contents since earlier. Since I couldn’t read it while Serina was around, I needed to read it quickly now.
I opened The Book of Witches – Dantalian.
The cover was made of leather, and it looked like an old, worn hide that was at least ten years old. The fact that it was worn actually made it feel more trustworthy somehow.
When I turned the first page, this was written in the blank space:
All of these facts are written based on what I have seen, heard, and felt myself.
However, there may be information that differs from what is written here, so please read with that in mind.
A book where the author himself declared he was a demon. It felt much more credible now.
I turned past the blank page to the long-awaited first page. It was something like a simple prologue. A short introduction about witches was written there.
I am Dantalian. I have met countless witches.
Every witch I have encountered was noble, elegant, and graceful.
I write this to share the characteristics I observed in them and the environments in which they live.
If you wish to understand witches deeply, I guarantee this book will be of immense value.
After that came a bunch of rambling nonsense that wasn’t particularly important. I immediately skipped ahead to the section about the characteristics of witches. The parts about their appearance were things I already knew, so I read about their personality instead.
The first sentence read:
Huh? The very first sentence was already ominous. If even a demon was writing that you shouldn’t marry a witch, just how terrible must it be?
Huh? That actually sounds pretty good…
Fuck… If I married a witch right now, that would be exactly my situation.
My head was spinning. It felt like someone had copied Serina’s personality word for word.
In other words… it meant I had to live every day prepared to die at any moment. It gave me chills. Sigh… As expected, witches really are dangerous.
I quickly turned the page.
Oh ho… Stronger than dragons, huh… No wonder. That explained why the royal guard had been defeated so easily.
I turned to the next page. The thing I was most curious about still hadn’t appeared. Hurry up and tell me if they’re horns or ears already!
So in the end, it could be either a horn or an ear. Damn it… Then what was that moaning sound earlier? Was she just ticklish? Honestly, when I heard that sound, I had thought something perverted. Could it be… a sensitive spot…? Ugh. What a crazy thought. My brain must be rotting.
“Allen.”
At that moment, the witch burst through the door. I hurriedly closed the book and shoved it under the bed.
“What were you doing? What’s under the bed?”
“N-nothing. It’s nothing…”
Phew… I almost got caught.
“Why is your face so red?”
“Huh? Uh… it’s nothing.”
“You weren’t having weird thoughts, were you?”
“W-weird thoughts? What kind of…”
“Never mind. I’m hungry.”
“Really? Then shall we go eat soon?”
“Yeah.”
To feed the hungry Serina, we decided to head to Sylvia’s shop. Before leaving, I hid the book about witches in a gap between the bed and the floor. I couldn’t let her see it. I planned to finish reading the entire book before we returned home. Please, let there be some useful information in it…!