MMFHRK-Chapter 17

Chapter 17: Wh-Where Did These Vines Come From!? (Bonus Chapter)

“—Have you ever had family, Airiya?”

After the tea party ended, the two girls, Airiya and Luosenni, came to the lakeside on the mansion’s eastern flank, strolling and chatting idly while taking in the scenery.

Suddenly, Luosenni tossed out this question, making Airiya knit her brow.

“Why ask that so abruptly?”

“Because you’ve never told me about it. I want to understand you a bit better.”

“Didn’t Moseditina tell us long ago? ‘From the moment you become a Witch, you have no connection whatsoever to your past.’ You know perfectly well that most of those taken in as Witches’ apprentices are people with nowhere to belong.”

“Of course I know that. But you weren’t taken in by Moseditina as an apprentice until you were fifteen, right? What about before that?”

“I really don’t understand why you’re so concerned with this question, Luosenni. I’ve never asked you about your past.”

The words had barely left her mouth before Airiya regretted them.

Luosenni looked up at the sky and put both hands behind her head.

“There’s nothing worth mentioning about my family’s situation, seeing as I don’t even remember who my father was. My mother was worked to the bone, and besides me, there were three—possibly four—younger brothers and sisters to feed. She couldn’t support that many children, so when the war broke out, she took me into the city once and bought me a portion of pickled cabbage to eat. After I finished eating it, I never saw her again.”

“I’m sorry.”

“There’s nothing to be sorry for.” Luosenni stuck out her tongue. “Just like Moseditina said: I’m a Witch now, and I lost any connection to the past long ago.”

For a while, the two of them kept silent.

On the sand along the lakeshore, a long trail of the girls’ footprints was left behind.

“Do you know why I suddenly asked you that question, Airiya?”

“You may go ahead and say. But I’ll state in advance that I’m not very interested.”

“It’s because of that child—I’m talking about Miss Lilinai.”

Airiya froze slightly.

She looked somewhat puzzled, and somewhat caught off guard.

“…You seem very concerned about her.”

After a long moment, Airiya said with ill intent.

“Don’t tell me you—”

“I-I am not! I have no plans to get any ideas about your person, so don’t use such a frightening tone, all right!”

Luosenni hurriedly waved her hands in protest.

She hesitated a moment, then turned to face the white-haired girl.

“Airiya, do you realize that you don’t like to smile?”

“What nonsense are you talking?” Airiya dismissed it out of hand. “I smile plenty ordinarily, don’t I?”

“True, but I’m not referring to that kind of feigned smile, nor that kind of deliberate smile.”

The pink-haired Witch looked at her and spoke in an earnest tone.

“In my memory, you’ve never smiled as… openly as you did today.”

“You’re overstating things again, Luosenni.”

“It’s true! You know? Just today, I watched you smile—when you were being affectionate with Miss Lilinai.”

Airiya choked and coughed violently twice.

“Me?” she asked in disbelief. “With her?”

“That’s right.” Luosenni looked utterly innocent. “When you kissed her, I saw that your smile was very natural, very pleased. Usually, that’s the kind of smile I’ve only seen between blood sisters. How should I put it? Mm… it gave the impression that the two of you had known each other for a long time, that you’d lived together and kept each other company…”

“Let’s not discuss this topic.” Airiya cut her off in an unyielding tone. “She’s a slave I bought a month ago, nothing more. It’s simply that I’ve never bought a slave before, so I don’t know how to treat her. That’s all it is.”

“Eh? But you—”

“Please, Luosenni.”

Her tone was utterly resolute.

“Haah, fine. We won’t bring it up anymore.”

Luosenni shrugged.

She knew Airiya far too well. Once this girl wanted to end a topic, there was no way to keep talking about it.

Still, she hadn’t really taken it much to heart either; she’d only mentioned it in passing to begin with, so if they weren’t going to talk about it, then so be it.

That was simply how Airiya was—back when they were studying under Moseditina, the impression she gave was that of a solitary walker.

She needed no care from anyone, no intimacy from anyone, and certainly no pity from anyone.

Because of this, someone in the Assembly had even given her the nickname “Witch of Ice.”

But perhaps…

deep down, Airiya still hoped that she could have “family” of her own?

Luosenni thought to herself in silence.

Yet from that cold face of Airiya’s, she could read none of the other’s thoughts.

“Ah, that’s right.”

The pink-haired girl suddenly remembered something and spoke up.

“Where is Miss Lilinai? What is she doing right now?”

“Right now, she…”

Airiya’s expression turned subtle.

She pondered for a moment, then reached out a finger and tapped her own chin.

After pausing a while, she gave a sly smile and spread her hands.

“Who knows? I only hope she’s having a rather good time~”

…

——————————

The sky gradually darkened, and before long the sun sank below the horizon.

The clouds burned red, and then turned a heart-sinking purple. Clumps of cloud drifted past, blocking out the moon, hovering above the forest.

“Damn it, I can’t see a single star…”

The girl making her way through the forest came to a stop.

She raised her head to observe for a moment, then complained.

After escaping the Witch’s mansion, Lilinai had chosen to avoid the main road, using the cover of the surrounding thickets to advance southward—that is, in the direction of the nearest city, Fimu.

She wanted to stop and check her watch, but unfortunately this world had no watches, nor any compass she could use to determine direction.

Lilinai had been walking for nearly two hours, and the only thing she could count on was the position of the constellations, but now she couldn’t see those either.

“By my reckoning, at this hour the poison should have taken effect already.”

She turned her head, looking in the direction of the mansion.

All around her was utterly still, and no sound came from the distance either.

Had Airiya’s poisoning already set in? Had those maids already discovered the Witch’s corpse…?

And what about that Witch called Luosenni? Had she also drunk the tea steeped with poison?

“Boom—“

Thunder came from the distant edge of the sky.

The horizon was lit up from time to time by lightning, revealing the jagged line of the treetops.

“The weather’s turning bad… I need to get out of this forest quickly.”

Never mind, stop thinking about matters back there.

Lilinai wrapped her cloak tighter and set off again.

She felt some regret: earlier she’d thought only of taking a good sword, but in truth, she should have gone to the stable and stolen a horse instead.

“Rumble, rumble—“

The storm’s roar came from far away.

The cloud layer completely covered the moon, shrouding the earth in utter darkness.

Lilinai could hardly make out the path, stumbling as she walked, and was thus forced to slow her pace.

Was she walking in the right direction right now?

A cloud of doubt rose in Lilinai’s heart.

The thick darkness was like a bowl of scorched porridge, filling everything around the girl. She felt somewhat dizzy, and somewhat short of breath as well.

Normal enough. After all, she was on a long forced march, and she had to feel out the path in such difficult conditions…

Thinking this, Lilinai hadn’t the slightest inkling that she had been going in circles the entire time.

Suddenly—

“Uwaah!?”

The girl cried out in alarm and pressed down on her skirt.

Something—she had no idea what—tripped her, sending her pitching violently forward. But before long, another something shot up from beneath her feet, wrapped around her ankle in one motion, and pulled her toward the sky above.

Heaven and earth instantly turned upside down, and while gripping tight to the sword that had nearly come loose, Lilinai looked at the thing coiled around her boot.

“This is… a vine…!?”

Wait a moment, where did this vine even come from?

It could actually turn into a trap and catch her? Who do you think you are, a tentacle monster!?