Chapter 9
Chapter 9
We brought the prisoners—the orcs’ emergency rations—back home.
I gave them one of the guest rooms I’d prepared for visitors and laid them down to rest.
To think the room I’d never once used would become an infirmary.
Before starting treatment, I called Joshua over and made her promise me a few things.
“You’re the one treating them. The only thing I can give you is these four potions. The rest, you’ll have to make yourself.”
I handed her four bottles filled with orange liquid.
These were health recovery potions known as Super Potions—the best balance of efficiency and cost in the first series.
I’d even finished clinical trials.
Their effects were guaranteed.
After all, I’d tested them by beating nearby orcs half to death and feeding it to them.
They were healthy enough to come back for revenge the next day.
Joshua carefully took the potions, making sure not to break them, and bowed.
Even though I hadn’t finished speaking, she already looked ready to make them drink it.
That made me uneasy.
At this rate, she’d make mistakes she normally wouldn’t.
“Wait. This is the most important part.”
I lowered myself to meet her eyes.
We weren’t that far apart in height anymore.
When I brushed aside her bangs, blue eyes like the sky shyly met mine.
“You’ve already done your best just by rescuing them from the orcs. No matter what happens to them… can you promise you won’t let it destroy you?”
Joshua looked away.
I waited patiently.
It wasn’t an easy question.
The desire to save everyone wasn’t wrong.
In the series, the Saintess’s prayer had once created a miracle, reviving countless people killed in war.
A miracle.
Joshua, even if she denied it, had already stepped into the territory of witches.
She could wish for miracles.
But she could never perform them.
A witch was someone who resisted the world’s laws and defied providence.
A saintess upheld providence and obeyed the world’s laws.
A witch could easily curse and kill four people.
But saving four?
Impossible.
I could only pray to some arrogant god that this child would be hurt a little less.
“I don’t know.”
Joshua spoke quietly.
“I don’t understand why you worry about me this much... or why you would just leave them like this.”
Even if I promise... I don’t know if I can keep it.
Her voice trailed off.
She lowered her head.
It hurt to see.
If only she’d chosen to become a witch.
Then I wouldn’t have to worry like this.
“But... I’ll try! Thank you for listening to my selfishness!”
It seemed she’d made up her mind.
She bowed firmly and walked off.
Right.
Just don’t forget to take care of yourself too.
After Joshua left, I swallowed the rest of my words.
They always said spoiling children too much was bad for their emotional development.
Maybe age had only made me softer.
A week into treatment.
The Super Potions had stabilized the critical condition, but things were still bad.
Joshua piled books on herbal medicine and alchemy like towers, mixing medicines one after another.
I watched from behind.
The whole house reeked of medicinal ingredients.
She’d used monster byproducts too.
The smell was awful.
Even I, after a hundred years of making potions, felt dizzy.
Yet Joshua stood there silently, expressionless.
That worried me.
What worried me more—
Was the ingredient storage.
I’d told her she could use anything needed for medicine.
So all I could do was watch the slow destruction of my stockpile.
My unicorn horn...
The unicorn horn I’d spent thirty years searching for—
She tossed the whole thing into the cauldron.
Unicorn horn was used to make the Elixir of Purity.
It protected a woman’s chastity.
But if used by someone who had already lost it—
It triggered side effects.
Even severed from its body, a unicorn’s obsession with purity remained.
It restored virginity.
At the cost of infertility.
Honestly, that medicine could’ve waited until they regained consciousness and gave consent.
Watching the ingredients she used, I could piece together what she was making.
Starting with the Elixir of Purity.
Then advanced regeneration potions.
Growth elixirs.
Most were medicines meant for frontline warriors and knights.
In other words—
Way too potent.
The purity elixir aside, if an ordinary person drank those, their body would be overwhelmed.
And giving that to patients already in critical condition?
Shock was likely.
I could only hope the patients had strong wills.
It irritated me.
Since becoming a witch, this was the first time I’d ever been forced to sit around, relying on someone else’s willpower.
One morning, Joshua woke me, saying the patients’ condition was strange.
I followed her into the infirmary.
Two women lay pale in bed.
Their chests weren’t moving.
Their skin was deathly white.
They had stopped breathing during the night.
“Joshua. They’re already dead.”
Because of our promise, she didn’t ask for help.
But the hand gripping mine tightened.
Even without the promise—
I couldn’t revive the dead.
Even in the game series, only a Saintess’s miracle could do that.
Even if she leaned on me—
Some things I could not grant.
Let go of hope, Joshua.
I shook my head and pulled my hand away.
“Let us pray for the dead.”
Cause of death—
Most likely shock from excessive medication.
I pulled the blanket over their heads and left the room.
To Joshua, it might look cold.
But that was all there was to it.
Her sobbing came from behind the door.
I almost went back in—
But stopped myself.
“Joshua. If you have time to cry, wouldn’t it be better to think about how to save the other two?”
It was the first time I’d spoken to her so harshly.
As I prepared to leave, I wondered where there might be a sunny patch of land nearby.
Big enough for four graves side by side.
Preferably somewhere out of sight.
Two weeks into treatment.
Another woman died.
Now only the man remained in the large infirmary.
He looked peaceful.
As if sleeping.
At this point, potions and medicine wouldn’t improve his condition.
Even after half the storage of ingredients had vanished, Joshua still kept trying.
And the more she tried—
The more worried I became.
I made sure she ate.
But she kept leaving food untouched.
She hadn’t washed properly.
Her hair had become greasy.
She stared blankly for long stretches.
It was obvious.
She blamed herself.
She thought they died because of her.
Was I ever like that?
For thirty years after becoming a witch, I’d thought I could do anything.
I had pride—
The first and last disciple of the Western Witch.
I had burst into the witch world like a comet.
Everyone acknowledged my talent.
They even gave me titles.
Immortality helped too.
What am I getting sentimental for?
I shook off the old memories and walked toward Joshua.
At this rate, she’d collapse before the patient did.
“Joshua. How about resting for a bit? Take a bath, at least. You need to recover.”
“…Why won’t he wake up... The books clearly said…”
She muttered to herself, not even noticing me until I was right beside her.
I grabbed her shoulders.
“Joshua. You’ve done enough. Stop now—”
Smack.
Joshua slapped my hand away.
Huh?
What... just happened?
My thoughts couldn’t catch up.
“Joshua. Joshua. Joshua...! Stop it!”
“You knew, didn’t you?! You knew taking too much medicine would cause side effects!”
Her emotions burst out.
“You could have done it! So whyyyyy?!”
She threw the books she’d stacked, venting all her grief.
“Why... why won’t you save them the way you saved me? Why...”
Her fists trembled.
Tears ran down her face.
“I’m no different from them! Why do you keep making me believe I can do it?! Why do you make me think I’m special?! If that’s how it was... you should’ve just let me die back then...!”
Why?
Why?
Why?
My mind filled with nothing but questions.
Why are you looking at me like you resent me?
Smack!
My hand moved before I realized it.
By the time I came back to myself—
I had slapped Joshua.
Me?
I hit Joshua?
What have I done?
“No, wait... Joshua?”
Her body lost balance and collapsed.
Was it exhaustion?
Or the shock of the slap?
I couldn’t tell.
I shook her.
No response.
Had hidden camera pranks existed in Aria Chronicle too?
Ridiculous.
Even so, I lifted her bangs, checking if she was peeking through half-open eyes.
Her forehead burned like fire.
“Joshua! Joshua!”