Joshua's Fifteenth Birthday
Joshua’s fifteenth birthday had come and gone. I began with the basics I could actually teach—alchemy, herbalism, black magic—and yet she was already using it to accelerate plant growth or command flora to move on its own without any instruction from me. At times I wondered whether this girl was even human, or perhaps some distant cousin of the druids. She would deny it, of course, but she was taking steady, confident steps toward becoming a full-fledged witch. If she ever used that power in public, she’d be branded a witch on the spot.
Given how witches’ reputations improve after the third series, the smartest choice in this era was for a powerless witch to stay hidden in the shadows and live quietly.
“The tea tastes wonderful today, too.”
I took a sip of the cup Joshua had brewed. Mmm~ That sharp, tingling bite. She’d laced it with poison. Even though I had zero intention of raising her as a witch, her latent talent was already this strong. The way she kept stealing glances at me, checking my complexion, was honestly adorable.
Seeing her now—baby fat gone, feminine curves beginning to show—filled me with a strange new emotion. It felt like only yesterday she was a sobbing little girl with snot running down her face, yet here she was, rarely showing anything cute and almost never revealing her feelings. This must be what every mother feels when her daughter hits puberty.
Girls that age usually love dressing up and adorning themselves. I’d gone out of my way to brew a beauty-enhancing potion to erase her burn scars, but her fierce refusal had stung more than I cared to admit. I’d made it for her sake, but apparently it had been unnecessary concern on my part.
Even inside the cave bathed in soft, glowing light, Joshua’s silver hair refused to dim. Twined with living flower stems, it gave her the ethereal air of a forest sprite. The flower bud blooming over the eye hidden by her bangs opened beautifully, as if the blossom itself were speaking for her. I had considered removing the flower, but the two had already entered a symbiotic relationship, so I left the decision to her.
A flower that grows by feeding on corpses. I hadn’t paid it much mind when it was merely medicinal, but once the bud fully opened it reminded me strongly of a Ulysses butterfly. Add the witch robe I’d gifted her for this birthday, embroidered with black-magic butterflies, and the result was a mysterious, radiant beauty so striking that the burn scars no longer drew the eye.
I couldn’t help wondering how sweet Joshua’s pure love would taste.
“Even if you get hit by dragon breath, the answer is no!”
“Estelle…!”
Hehehe. Just imagining Joshua running away from home to elope despite my opposition, paired with some unknown lucky son-in-law, made my mouth water.
More than a hundred years had passed since I began living in this world, yet I was already half-mad from never getting to experience the lovey-dovey pure-love moments that had been my original goal. With roughly two hundred years still ahead of me, a sigh escaped on its own.
Lately, living with Joshua had kept boredom at bay, but she hadn’t played along with me much recently. I spent a long moment pondering how best to tease my impertinent little assistant.
“Joshua, could you come here for a second?”
“No. I don’t want to. Don’t.”
“I haven’t even done anything yet!”
Joshua closed the book she was reading, let out a small sigh, and sat down in the chair across from me.
“And you told me to save that exact line for when a creepy old pervert offers candy to lure a little girl away.”
“Well, your face a moment ago was exactly that of a creepy old pervert.”
Sinister, she says! Clearly she hasn’t met a real pervert yet. This world is overflowing with sinister, vulgar, and downright perverted things! It’s a game that released an entire 19+ side-story series and still earned rave reviews, for crying out loud.
A girl as lovely and slender as Joshua, with a figure that stimulates every male instinct and awakens protective urges, would find life exhausting. If she were a noble’s daughter, the child of a wealthy merchant, or already a witch, the story might be different. But Joshua, who had no desire to become a witch, looked like delicious prey to others in every possible sense.
“Listen carefully, Joshua. This world is full of things you must be wary of. Especially if you’re a girl.”
Bandits seeking human sacrifices lurk on every road. Villages are plagued by thugs who hide behind power. Pirates run wild across the seas. Even though nations strive to maintain order, it’s a world where an ordinary citizen simply surviving is practically a miracle. From a protagonist’s point of view it all gets wrapped up beautifully as adventure and romance, but living it in the flesh teaches you how raw and brutal it truly is. Especially for a woman.
It was around the time I had become a witch and begun traveling the world. When I encountered bandits they’d leer, “Ehehe! It’s a woman!” When I met orcs they’d bellow, “Kuhaha! A female!” Even when I rescued a noble in danger, the man would say, “Lady, could you possibly promise your future to me?”
Having once been a man myself, I could understand their feelings. During my military days in my previous life, my heart would race at the mere sight of a woman. Still, there’s a thing called moderation.
“Especially when dealing with orcs—if you catch a sweet floral scent coming from them, hold your breath and back away immediately. Orc pheromones arouse females regardless of species.”
Even in my scattered lecture, Joshua seemed to find something worth learning; it was heartwarming to watch her jot down notes whenever she sensed something important.
After a moment of thought, a question seemed to occur to her.
“But how do you know all that, Estelle?”
I was screwed.
***
I cleared up the misunderstanding. After I grabbed Joshua—who had tried to let it slide with a dubious “Ah, I see…”—and explained myself over and over, that was the answer I finally received. I’m still a virgin… please believe me. A silent scream.
My magnificent plan to tease Joshua had collapsed completely.
“Anyway, when facing orcs, there’s always a shaman in the group, so you must target the shaman first.”
The staple mobs in the Aria Chronicle series are slimes, goblins, and orc packs. Slimes pop up everywhere but lack intelligence and feed on corpses, so they aren’t much of a threat. Goblins don’t appear around our cave because the orcs have claimed the territory. That naturally leaves orcs.
Orcs live in tribal groups and maintain their own crude culture, so they usually defend their turf. But exceptions exist.
The first Aria Chronicle game launched in the early 2000s and followed the classic hero-versus-demon-king template. Monster variety was almost nonexistent back then. Regular mobs were recycled endlessly while the Four Heavenly Kings and the Demon King received ridiculous amounts of attention.
I’d skipped the first game and only knew the story through let’s-play videos. The original party of six—warrior, cleric, hero, archer, thief, and mage—was famous for its surprisingly deep romance routes, which was its saving grace. Later entries tangled the descendants of that party together, turning the whole series into something like a history textbook for fans. Most people either forced themselves through it or simply watched summaries.
As for when the witch appears: in Part 1 she’s a hidden shopkeeper, in Part 2 she’s a boss, and in Part 3 she becomes an ally, slowly rooting herself into the world. On a deeper level the witches split into four cardinal representatives and the faction trying to summon the Demon King, but that’s getting ahead of things.
The alarm I had recorded in Joshua’s voice had activated. An intruder had entered the area near the cave.
“Perfect timing, Joshua.”
I stood and pulled Triceratops (Untradeable) from my inventory. The cool, familiar grip. The broom that Joshua had demoted to a cleaning tool was finally returning to its true calling.
This was also an excellent chance to restore my dignity in front of her. At the same time, it was the perfect opportunity to teach Joshua just how dangerous and merciless monsters could be. She needed a healthy sense of caution.
The full-length mirror showed the intruder’s image. Only a handful of creatures could approach our cave—bandits or an orc pack, most likely. Sure enough, it was a group of orcs numbering at least twenty.
There were still roughly two hundred years until the original story began, but that didn’t mean the world was peaceful until then. The Demon King wouldn’t simply pop into existence with a dramatic “Ta-da!” after two centuries; there were always precursors. Like the sea pulling back before a tsunami, or the subtle signs of an impending natural disaster that most people miss in daily life.
A Magic Stone embedded in the forehead of the especially massive orc who appeared to be the leader was one such omen. A cursed item that traded reason for raw desire—in other words, instinct—and promised greater power the more faithfully one surrendered to it. In the end, only instinct remained, turning the creature into a mere puppet.
“Come along, Joshua. Today we’ll have a special outdoor lesson.”