Village Witches and the Potion to Become a Boy Again
Cheer up, Wiyu Witchcraft! "By the way, I contacted Aunt Merlen, but the fact that Spotty came alone..."
Let's rewind time a bit and go back to when I was having a private chat with Spotty.
Aunt Merlen was the kind-faced lady who ran the grocery store in our rural village—she was like an aunt to me. She'd been close with Mom since I was little, and I'd often see her. She'd make all sorts of things with the milk, fruits, and cheese I brought her.
"Come to think of it, our aunt hasn't changed in appearance either."
Her white hair tied up in a bun and the wrinkles around her eyes made her feel like a proper aunt with some years on her, but looking back, her looks hadn't changed at all while I was growing up. Back then, living in the countryside, I didn't think much of it, but now that I'm out here... not changing after ten years? That meant she was either some special race or had reached an incredibly profound level of cultivation—one or the other.
"She's a witch, just like us."
" Spotty dropped the shocking truth on me that Aunt Merlen was a witch too. Shocking, sure, but not all that surprising... Mom was a witch, so of course her close friend would be one too... Meanwhile, Grand Duke seemed to have a guess about one of Mom's acquaintances and subtly asked about it before clamping his mouth shut. I asked if he could give me a hint, but he said he still wanted to live a long life, so I let it go.
"Then the aunts and cute little sisters back in the village are all witches in a shocking twist..."
"They're all witches, yes."
"Wha...!"
No wonder there were no men in the village!! I'd been told they all went to the city for work, so I grew up with this sense of mission that I'd do the same when I got big!! But the adults who visited occasionally—what were they? Husbands the witches had captured and kept?!
Spotty tried to comfort me, saying they'd all kept it secret so I might get hurt, but I wasn't hurt—I was embarrassed. How pathetic must I have looked to them, a total witch with no magic?
"So embarrassing...!! They must've all laughed at me, right?!"
"Any witches who laughed at you, miss, are all dead."
"Maybe it'd be better if they'd just laughed—that truth hurts more."
I recoiled in horror. The child of the Witchcraft family born as a boy with no powers—witches who mocked or ridiculed that were all dead? Grand Duke said it so matter-of-factly that my head started spinning. Witches were a rare race—didn't killing them off like that risk extinction...?
"...More importantly, Spotty, you called me 'miss'? Was I actually born a girl...? Like, my power was too strong and might run wild, so they gender-swapped me to a boy to raise me—that kind of twist?"
I stared at him with an expression saying I could handle another secret, but he shook his head.
"If I called you 'young master' in front of your friends, they'd think I'm crazy."
"I go around telling people I'm a guy all the time!"
"Miss... saying things no one believes just ruins your image."
"Why counter with facts..."
So I really was born a boy? Spotty nodded gravely at that. Was there more complicated secrets? He let out a deep sigh, his face full of anguish, then opened his mouth. Soon, he rummaged in his overall pocket and pulled out a vial, handing it to me.
"This is the potion to turn you back into a boy."
Temporarily reverts the user to male form.
"Whoa! Thank you!!"
I immediately went to pop the lid and drink, but I hesitated. If I turned back to male here, wouldn't all my abilities vanish? No mana meant everything else would go too, and then I couldn't fulfill the contract payments, right? Sure, I could dissolve it, but to graduate... wouldn't I need to be a girl?
As I clutched the vial in anguish, Spotty—having anticipated this—spoke up with a dark expression.
"If you don't drink this right away, miss, the master asked me to tell you to come here during break."
Not a letter, but a map he pulled out and handed over. Looked like Mom still wasn't ready to talk to me directly. I'd planned to head home during break, but now it was somewhere else...
"Ughhh."
I glanced at the potion that could turn me male again. Mom sending it through Spotty instead of Grand Duke meant she'd anticipated I'd worry and call me to the academy, right? Spotty had pulled out the entrusted item, so Mom probably wouldn't be home if I went back. He hadn't said a word about her, after all. What had his creator and master told him...? His face was full of worry that our mother-son bond might go astray.
"Don't worry too much. No matter what, I love Mom."
"....."
No matter what anyone said, to me she was the one who'd raised me single-handedly with all her effort. She loved me so much, cherished me, laughed and cried with me... She was the most precious, the best mom in the world to me. The rebellious teen phase where you'd get hurt and drift apart was long gone.
"Mom surely has her reasons."
"No, she doesn't. Absolutely not."
""
"No."
Wasn't it bad if we agreed here? That Mom was a hothead who acted first and thought later!! Then I'd look like a hothead who did the same!!
"Good thing I don't take after Mom."
""
Despite all the commotion, everyday life returned. We'd check on Mom stuff during break, and I kept the Male Reversion Potion for now. I agonized all night, but girl body or not, as a boy I couldn't graduate with noble qualifications. If I were a commoner, I'd chug it laughing, yell "See, I'm a guy!" and go to school—but no dice. Plus, as a boy, could I even draw manga on paper like now? Graduation felt impossibly far, and I got depressed.
"Whatevs~ When you're young, anything goes. Rights, freedom—it's all blessings you can enjoy."
"But for long-lived types like Kiduna-senpai, what's the standard for 'young'...?"
"When One Piece or Detective Conan finally end, you're old..."
"Kinda vague, but I get it..."
Like growing up with them from childhood, hitting adulthood together by accident, so they feel like generational peers. Kiduna-senpai, like Kaoru-senpai, laughed it off, saying dreams could wait. Wondering what dreams she had, she surprised me by saying she'd achieved them all.
"Looks can be deceiving—I wandered the world on grand adventures before enrolling, and I've got a husband too."
"...? Husband?"
"You think age is the only thing that doesn't matter for academy entry? I'm a married woman, you know."
So Kiduna-senpai was basically just attending for fun? She grinned, saying the thrill of spectating was addictive, leaving me speechless. Long-lived folks really live differently...
That's why her advice hit home.
"Ha~ Anyway, get too wild in your youth and what you laugh off becomes chains that follow you forever? Nothing more pathetic than tripping over your past when you could've succeeded with effort."
Kiduna-senpai mentioned Aris Witchcraft—my mom—and how her antics made me suffer. I wasn't suffering exactly, but yeah, Mom being such a problem child made me self-conscious. So she advised caution to avoid issues from Mom, always acting carefully.
"One impulsive, childish word in your reckless youth can ruin your life. No need to look far—manga debuts are the same."
"Why manga debuts?"
"Once stigmatized, it sticks forever—even masterpieces won't get serialized anywhere."
Either no worries, or ironclad convictions. Dismiss it lightly, or clash with doubts and get a scar that lasts a lifetime.
"That's why people are always cautious. Sure, there are harsh types calling nice folks suckers or idiots, but that's human nature."
From her vast experience, unlike Mom, I was doing well treating friends kindly and living nicely—she patted my head. But living that long fills your heart with so much, leading to endless worries and hesitation.
"Your mom might be called a 'natural disaster' by others, but she could be the type trembling in fear of you hating her."
"Uh..."
I'd never mentioned Mom in the club, but senpai pierced my thoughts like she knew.
"Your mom would space out like you when she had worries."
"That obvious...?"
"Nah, you take after her."
She grinned, saying she didn't know much but knew enough to see the resemblance. Couldn't deny it since I liked Mom—was it praise? I grinned back.
"...Yeah, I try in all sorts of ways, but... I wanna be the best child for Mom."
One I could boast about anywhere, a son she'd be proud of. Enrolling in the academy was for that—to make the mom who raised me alone proud.
"Aww~ So cute~ Then work harder, yeah? Lean on your senpais hard!"
Kiduna-senpai couldn't hold back the cuteness, hugging me and rubbing cheeks. Effort for graduation, giving your all if you have to— even if it's all for your parents, it's not bad. Her cheers gave me courage, so I resolved to push harder.
"That's how it is! Help me, Kaoru-senpai!!"
"Hey, kid! Wrong direction to lean on!!"
"You can't draw manga techniques, so you're just grinding fights and studies!!"
"I came to lean on you, and you hit me with mushroom-level depressing talk!!"
"Back in school, we all think acing studies is everything!! Don't underestimate society's cruelty!!"
Kaoru-senpai, top of third-years in studies but hopeless at inking lines. Still, she gave thorough manuscript feedback despite the words.
"Studies are fine, but getting certifications and skills is why we attend the academy."
"Dreams second to skills, huh."
"Don't say it so unromantically! Well, Witchcrafts can coast anyway."
"Why?!"