The Bread Witch (2)
The will was simple. A list of names who would receive his scant remaining possessions—clothes, ink, and the like. Brief greetings to the playwright friends he had lived alongside. An apology to whoever discovered his body.
And one final line added at the very end.
‘Thank you, Karin.’
The moment I read those words, my vision blurred.
Like this…
I sat on the bed, arms wrapped around my legs, face buried between my knees.
How could you just leave like this…
The first person who had ever moved my heart was gone. Without ever hearing my real name even once.
My shoulders gave a single violent shudder.
The rat. I had to find that rat.
It couldn’t possibly be an ordinary animal. The rat that had carried the note from Iskil’s house—whose location I didn’t even know—and run straight here in place of a will could not be a mere beast.
Was it something Mervin controlled…?
That elf really does have terrible taste. Does that mean he’s been watching me the entire time I’ve been selling my body?
I smiled bitterly and rummaged beneath the bed. If I could catch the rat… I would interrogate it. I needed to find out where it had picked up that note.
I searched on my knees for a long time, but the rat was nowhere—
“Huh…?”
A horrifying sensation crawled up my spine. It wasn’t just a feeling; something was truly scampering up along my vertebrae.
This… it couldn’t be that rat…
The moment the thought formed, a wriggling tail brushed my ear.
“Eek…”
A rat climbing all the way onto my head. There was no way this could feel pleasant. The creature settled on top of my skull and obsessively stroked the rim of my ear with its short, sparsely furred tail.
I reached up to pull it off, grabbing at the rat.
I grabbed…
But it wouldn’t be caught…?
It slipped from my grasp as if melting into water.
This sensation… I know it…
Only then did I realize what the rat’s caressing, wriggling tail truly wanted.
“W-wait… You, you can… speak, can’t you…? Please, don’t… don’t do that…”
The rat’s tail, split into several writhing strands, forced its way into my ear canal before I could finish speaking.
“Maaaaah?! Ah, a… gh…? U-uhk…? Ha? Aha? Eh…? Hae…?”
Still kneeling, I wet myself uncontrollably, body shaking violently. The feeling of my mind melting, of something else ruthlessly invading my sanity—it was familiar. Hatefully, unbearably familiar.
“Ah, haak… Kaha…? Ea… Ah? Ha, hee… Uhehehehehehe… Heehi… So… goood…”
With a pathetic expression completely addicted to the brain-crushing pleasure, I stared vacantly at the ceiling. My body twitched as if electrocuted while thick strands of slick fluid mixed shamelessly with the puddle of urine beneath me.
Ah, ah. Central nervous system connection complete. It’s been a while!
“U… ah… cough, cough… I-I can… speak… again…”
Of course! I only connected for a short conversation. No need to seize control. Have you been well—
Mom?
“Mom… isn’t right…”
Aww, you’re saying that again.
I pulled myself together a little, wiping up the pathetic mess I had spilled with the rag lying beside the drawer, and muttered quietly.
“Rin… you can… shapeshift into a rat now?”
Catching a few rats, eating them, and extracting their genetic information is easy. This one is a split entity. It carries a fragment of my will and can act autonomously.
I see. Given Mervin’s personality, he wouldn’t have done anything so underhanded. And that inscrutable old elf grandfather didn’t seem like the type to still concern himself with the imperial capital.
It’s unfortunate about Lord Iskil. I hoped Mom would meet a good man and find happiness.
“……”
I kept my mouth shut for a moment, expression rigid, then asked Rin.
“Iskil’s house… do you know where it is?”
Yes, I know. Shall I guide you? It’s not far. But—
“Never mind the ‘but.’ Shut up and tell me right now.”
I-I will. But Mom…
“Now.”
Y-yes…
With Rin still lodged in my ear, I pulled out the crumpled boots from the closet and shoved my feet inside. The sandals from the brothel would have been useless for running.
I flipped open the spellbook, located the page recording Mobia’s Haste, and activated it. It had been wise to prepare the incantation circles in advance with charcoal and lantern oil; I never knew when I might need to cast something immediately—especially when I might have to flee or hide.
Still wearing the shawl and servant’s dress, I dashed out of the room.
“Oh, Karin. Good mor—” “I’ll be right back!!”
I shouted at Arto, who was wiping down the bar, and kicked open the first-floor door. I had completely forgotten that a rat-shaped slime still sat on my head.
“Huff… haa…”
Following the directions Rin fed me, I ran all the way to the alley where Iskil had lived. The shabby neighborhood seemed to be a place where landlords rented rooms to penniless young people—something like the one-room districts back on Earth.
…While I ran, Rin proudly boasted that she had eaten every rat in the area and multiplied her split entities accordingly.
“Is this the place, Rin?”
Yes. But…
I ignored the slime’s murmuring voice and carefully opened the first-floor door.
“Excuse me…”
An extremely elderly man wearing square glasses that looked ancient sat near the entrance, scribbling something. He glanced up at me.
“Who are you? No…”
The old man looked me up and down. His gaze lingered especially long on the shawl I wore before he spoke bluntly.
“Here for a house call, miss? Honestly, if you’ve got money to pay for girls, you could pay your rent first… So, who are you looking for?”
“No, it’s not that… May I see the fifth room on the second floor?”
The old man flinched visibly. His shoulders trembled once. He pushed up his glasses and answered gravely.
“Here to look at the room? That one’s still in a bad state. Someone died in there, and it hasn’t been cleaned up yet…”
Despair rose in my throat. Was it only natural? Had Iskil’s body already been found…? But if the funeral hadn’t been held yet, perhaps…
“The person who lived there…?”
“A poor young playwright. Things must not have gone well for him; he suddenly killed himself. Still, he wasn’t a bad lad, so his friends pooled money for the funeral. I chipped in a few coins myself.”
The old man stared at me carefully and asked in a low voice.
“Now that I think about it, that friend of his kept coming back at dawn lately. Miss, by any chance…”
I bit my lower lip lightly and nodded.
“Oh dear… That’s too bad. Truly too bad.”
To the sympathetic old man, I asked quietly.
“Then… Iskil’s funeral…”
“We gave him a proper cremation.”
“What?!”
My legs gave out. I collapsed on the spot.
That’s… what I was trying to tell you. Even if Mom tries to do something, Lord Iskil can no longer be revived…
Rin’s voice echoed inside my dazed mind. I barely clung to a world that was fading away and forced my collapsed body upright.
“Miss, are you all right? Miss?”
“Ah, ah… Yes… I’m sorry for startling you suddenly…”
With staggering steps, I somehow managed to grab the doorknob. There was no strength in my arms. Only by leaning my full weight against it could I twist the handle and leave the house where Iskil had lived.
Behind me came the sound of the old landlord clicking his tongue in pity. Sigh. Tsk tsk.
“Rin. Thank you… for bringing me the will, at least…”
Maintain your balance, Mom—no, Lady Kaira! Analyzing your neural signals, you’re on the verge of fainting!
Rin nagged inside my head, but I couldn’t hear her anymore.
“And I’m sorry. Of course Iskil’s… his body… wouldn’t still be there. Right… of course not…”
I spoke, then stopped walking, hand braced against the narrow alley wall.
It felt as if the world was leaving me behind…
I slid down the wall and crumpled to the ground. The shock I had postponed since first reading the will now flooded in, gnawing at my mind.
Is this… the pain of lost love? I don’t know this feeling… I never knew it in my previous life either…
I couldn’t think of anything.
I’m quitting. This job… I’m quitting. I can’t do it anymore… I just can’t…
My consciousness shook from its very roots; everything grew distant. Inside my head—
Snap out of it! Lady Kaira, Lady Kaira…!! Lady Kaira? Mom! Mom!!
—Rin’s desperate cries no longer reached me.
When I opened my eyes again, I was lying on the bed in my room at the brothel. I still wore the clothes I had changed into for going out; only the boots had been removed.
Lady Kaira. I borrowed control and brought your body back here. A split entity the size of a rat is so small that I had to push the entire thing into your brain to control your movements. It will hurt a little when I leave.
“Ugh, yeah… Thanks…”
Suddenly I grew curious. Why had this slime child eaten so many rats inside the capital and multiplied her split entities?
It’s simple.
Whether she had read my mind or not, Rin answered before I could ask.
You’re anxious staying here, aren’t you? You never know when the guards or witch-hunters might burst in. But you also have a reason you can’t leave. You need to find Grandma—ah, I mean, Lady Pirel.
Pirel…
Yes. That was her name—my mother…
“Yeah. That’s right… While I sold my body, I quietly asked every customer if they had seen a girl who looked like me… But just asking guests wasn’t enough to find her. Now that I’ve saved some money, I was thinking of hiring a few adventurers to search every brothel in the capital before I get caught.”
That’s why I came to help. If I multiply my split entities and search the brothels, we’ll surely find Lady Pirel.
This child… was she really the one I had given birth to? My nose stung.
Right? My personality base comes from you, after all. We haven’t found anything yet, but the number of brothels isn’t infinite, so soon—
At that moment, the door to my room opened.
Startled, Rin relinquished all sensory rights and hid inside my consciousness. I, too, flinched where I lay on the bed. I even forgot to greet the guest with my usual bright smile.
“Hey! It’s been a while, miss!!”
Been a while? So we were acquaintances?
“Ah… Hello…?”
I offered an awkward greeting while scrutinizing the man who had barged into the room as if ready to tear the door off its hinges. A strong jaw, a splendidly groomed mustache, muscles so defined they looked ready to rip through his clothes…
It was somehow… familiar…
“Ueh…?”
A stupid sound escaped me.
“That time… on the street… the strong… uncle…?”
The man grinned widely and nodded vigorously.
He paid no mind at all to the anxiety written across my face.