Witch
Witch
“How amusing.”
Illea’s voice sank into the room. It was a voice gone cold. So cold it sent chills down my spine.
I could not open my mouth. It was because of her expression. I could not see it, being blind, but it was easy to imagine. That beautiful face must have been horribly twisted.
“……Witch, you say.”
Repeating it, Illea let her words trail off, pressing down on me. That was how it felt to me.
I felt anxious.
I wanted to change the atmosphere somehow.
With a trembling voice, I spoke.
“S-Sorry. It just slipped out…….”
“No.”
Her voice was the opposite of before.
“I won’t accept your apology. I’m already hurt.”
It was youthful and bright. The biting chill in the air vanished in an instant.
“I-Illea…?”
I could not hide my confusion. The sudden change in atmosphere was too difficult to follow.
“So you knew my name. Since you yelled ‘witch’ at me, I thought you didn’t.”
Her words did not register well in my ears.
I was confused, and at the same time, another thought was occupying my mind.
Illea’s sudden request. To introduce her to a friend? It was too out of the blue. We were not in a position to exchange such conversations, and besides, I had no friends to introduce.
I was the very definition of a loner. Everyone in the castle would have acknowledged it, and Illea would not be unaware.
“What are you thinking so deeply about?”
My thoughts were cut off.
She added in a gentle voice.
“Doesn’t seem like you’re afraid, having a witch in front of you.”
At the word “witch,” I flinched. My lips began to move soundlessly.
“If you have something you’re curious about, you may ask. I’ll answer sincerely.”
I swallowed my hesitation. I corrected my posture as I sat up on the bed where I had been lying.
Taking a deep breath, I opened my mouth.
“Illea, I never meant to insult you.”
“That’s quite a tense start. Speak comfortably.”
“I-I mean it. I’m just asking, just in case…… that……”
Because I let my words trail off, Illea let out a small sigh.
“Yes, that’s right.”
“W-What is……?”
“I am a witch.”
She added calmly.
“And you are a contractor.”
At that moment, footsteps were heard.
Illea turned around. A large man in leather armor was standing at the door.
“It’s been a while, Mercenary.”
It was Gaf.
His gaze as he looked at Illea was wavering.
Illea slowly stood up from her chair.
“Since we have a guest, I’ll take my leave.”
I could not respond at all. I simply froze in shock.
Illea smiled softly at me as I remained that way.
“Let’s continue our unfinished conversation next time. It was a pleasant talk.”
Then she turned her back.
As she was about to pass Gaf, her steps suddenly stopped.
Waaah, the sound of a baby crying was heard.
A flicker of panic crossed Gaf’s expression. This damn demon, has he gone insane? Gaf could not understand what kind of intention there was to draw attention like this.
Waaah.
Illea turned her head. She was staring at Gaf’s cloak.
The mercenary reacted quickly. He turned his body to face Illea, trying to hide the cloak.
Gaf smiled awkwardly.
“Sometimes I go back to my childhood.”
Waaah.
“Sounds like a voice from your heart.”
“I’ve been learning ventriloquism lately.”
“You would need a puppet then.”
“Well, that’s……”
Illea clapped her hands in an exaggerated manner.
“Ah, is that it?”
From between Gaf’s cloak, a baby’s head was peeking out.
Waaah.
“How cute.”
Gaf swallowed a groan.
“May I take a look?”
There was no way to make excuses anymore. He spoke with a troubled expression.
“Illea, no. This child……”
Illea’s smile faded.
“I want to see.”
Her expression hardened like wax. It was such an unfamiliar sight that Gaf momentarily hesitated. In that moment, Illea approached the baby.
Only the small face was barely visible. The baby seemed to be secured to Gaf’s back, tied with straps or cords.
She drew a gentle smile.
“Hello.”
Greeting the baby, she whispered into its ear.
“I am your sister, or perhaps your older sister.”
The baby simply looked at her without any particular reaction.
Illea poked the baby’s cheek with her index finger.
It was neither stiff like a doll nor hard like a demon. It was simply chubby, with a normal feel.
She murmured with a strange expression.
“Such a cute and lovely baby. Truly, so normal.”
Gaf took a step back.
“Isn’t that enough?”
Illea nodded.
“It’s enough.”
Then she bowed her head slightly.
“It was a rude request, but thank you for allowing it.”
Gaf looked down at his daughter with a complicated expression. After a moment, he turned around and spoke.
“I should get going.”
Illea pointed toward my room.
“Isn’t it this way?”
“I took the wrong way. I’m still not familiar with the layout.”
Gaf walked back down the same corridor he had come from. He would not be bringing Johan to my room today. It felt too unsettling for him.
Illea watched Gaf’s back as he grew distant.
‘A blind boy, a baby, and a mercenary. What a curious combination, Father.’
***
“Holy Hero Kazan spoke to Gepetto, the Wraith of the Principality. ‘I know well your thirst for revenge. I too was once consumed by hatred, spilling innocent blood. In the end, only regret remained. Do not walk the same path as I. I beg you.’ Gepetto chuckled.”
The demon’s reading voice echoed through the library.
“He then pointed a dark blade at Kazan……”
Thud.
Johan closed the book he was reading. Sitting at the round table, he looked down at me.
“You can’t seem to focus.”
Startled, I let out a sigh.
“I keep thinking about what happened yesterday.”
“Didn’t I tell you? You don’t need to worry about it.”
“She found out that I’m a contractor, how could I not worry about that?”
“It was bound to happen. You can’t fool the eyes of a witch.”
After a moment of hesitation, I spoke.
“……Is she really a witch?”
“As I’ve told you countless times, she is.”
“I can’t understand it.”
Witches were a vanished race.
It had already been fifty years since ‘Rahel,’ known as the last witch, had disappeared.
They had been strong, but in the face of the Empire’s overwhelming violence, they were crushed like ants.
The last of the minority race fell that way.
In this world, only humans and demons remained. They were the only sentient beings.
Yet a witch, he said. It was hard to believe.
Johan opened his mouth.
“Even if I talked day and night to make you understand, it wouldn’t be enough. Just remember one thing. Illea is the last witch.”
I spoke with a sullen expression.
“I still want to know.”
“I don’t want to tell you. It’s a bother.”
A silent standoff passed between us. I dropped my shoulders as if giving up.
“Yeah, well. A demon who knows everything wouldn’t care about a curiosity like mine.”
Johan let out a small laugh.
“That’s true. Whether you’re curious or not, I don’t care.”
Just as he was about to open the book again, I spoke.
“Then just one thing.”
Johan clicked his tongue.
“Hurry up.”
“Illea can use magic, right?”
“That goes without saying.”
I stammered, startled.
“T-Then she can command demons…….”
Johan felt rather impressed.
“How did you know that?”
“I read it in a book. It said witches command demons and steal their miasma to convert into mana.”
“Seems there are forbidden books mixed in the library as well. If you go spouting things like that, you’ll get dragged off by the Inquisition.”
I gulped down dryly.
Johan added.
“In any case, you’re right.”
Illea would be using a demon as a slave.
I nodded as if I understood.
“Then it makes sense how she noticed the contract.”
“The demon she commands could have told her. Or she might have seen it with her own eyes.”
In truth, it was both.
“Wait a moment. Didn’t you also meet Illea yesterday?”
“At your room’s door, yes.”
“Then she must have found out that you’re a half-demon.”
It was unclear. It was also the reason Johan had deliberately drawn Illea’s gaze in his baby form.
Would she see through to his essence? There was no way to know without testing it. No half-demon appearing in the original could shift freely between human and demon.
In other words, there was no precedent.
Johan murmured.
“She didn’t seem to know. For now.”
“That’s a relief.”
“Why is that?”
“Because witches are the natural enemies of demons.”
“In a way, they’re in a symbiotic relationship.”
I asked with a puzzled face.
“Do you perhaps want to be commanded by Illea?”
Now that I thought about it, Johan had not seemed particularly concerned even after it was revealed that I was a contractor.
He had a let-it-be attitude. Even if it led to a situation where Johan would be exposed by tracing it back through me, the demon remained unperturbed.
That was how it appeared to me.
There was only one reason.
He wanted to be commanded.
Johan let out a hollow laugh.
“By that tiny little girl?”
I spoke cautiously.
“……You’re small and young too, aren’t you?”
“You damn brat. This small body holds the knowledge of the ages. I’m not so shallow as to be swayed by a young girl.”
Johan paused for a moment before continuing.
“Besides, my time as an imp is over.”
He looked down at the library floor.
A massive formula was drawn there. A heretic array built from black blood. It was an altar for corrupting holy relics.
He had drawn it after copying from the grimoire obtained from the Forbidden Archive.
Since it required the use of a demon’s blood, he had fainted from excessive bleeding several times, but the result was satisfactory.
After countless trials and errors, a perfect heretic array had been completed.
Now he would be able to escape the fledgling stage.
The moment he defiled the Ring of Kazan, Johan would evolve.
I swallowed a groan.
“Whatever it is, you’re planning something bad again, aren’t you.”
I, being blind, could not see the heretic array.
“It’s a moderately evil act.”
I was about to retort that there was no such thing as moderate evil, but decided against it.
Debating morality with a demon would be one of the stupidest things I could do.
“In any case, to complete this work, I need the witch. I would have to face her eventually, so there’s no need to hide my identity.”
To activate the heretic array, mana was required.
A mage or witch would be needed.
Both were rare.
Mages were those who worshipped demons, classified as serious criminals in this world. Since they hid themselves deeply, it was impossible to find them now.
Witches were even rarer.
There was only one in the world. By coincidence, she was located close by.
It would have to be used.
My face clouded over.
“I don’t know what you’re planning, that you would need a witch for it.”
“It’s not over yet.”
“What?”
The corruption of a holy relic required three conditions.
The first, the heretic array, and the second, mana, were roughly prepared.
Only the third had yet to be secured.
After a moment of thought, Johan spoke.
“Raguel, let me ask you something.”
His voice was lower than before.
It felt ominous for no reason. It made me a little uneasy, but I nodded.
“……Yes, ask me anything.”
The demon’s red eyes glinted.
“Is there a human you wish to kill, or one who must die?”
The third condition, a human sacrifice, was needed.
“Choose someone within this castle.”