MMFHRK-Chapter 20

Chapter 20: How About Becoming My Magic Apprentice?

Lilinai’s heart lurched.

What had the Witch just said? She wanted her to… kill her?

“That’s right.” Airiya said. “Exactly as it sounds. I promise I won’t use the collar to control you. You may try to kill me, and so long as you can manage it, you’ll be free—you’ll be able to complete the Kaoenxier family’s revenge. After these days of secret training, your strength should have recovered considerably, no? Now you have a sword in your hand, Miss Lilinai. Make good use of it. Because you won’t get another chance like this any time soon.”

“…”

The Witch spread her arms wide, a smile on her face, staring straight at the slave girl.

Lilinai gripped the Botewei sword in her hand and slowly focused her mind.

Everything that followed happened very quickly.

The girl first feigned a glance to one side and shrugged, then swiftly turned the flat of the blade upward and thrust like lightning.

Airiya dodged aside, and Lilinai followed close behind, taking a second step and thrusting a strike that passed through the ends of the Witch’s hair.

The air trembled.

A low hum came from the atmosphere, and a faint light flashed through the Witch’s violet pupils.

Airiya raised a hand and swung it violently; a formless wind rose from level ground, so powerful that Lilinai’s footing wavered and she was forced to leap backward. She touched down on her toes, spun nimbly in a circle like a dancer, then rode the momentum into another strike; Airiya made a gesture, and a wave of cold surged out from her arm, instantly forming into a wall of ice that blocked Lilinai’s slash.

The blade lodged in the ice wall, letting out a piercing hiss.

“Is this the extent of your ability?” Airiya sneered.

“You’ll find out soon enough,” Lilinai returned.

The blade dragged downward with a sound that set the teeth on edge. Lilinai withdrew the blade, spun in midair to gather force, and slashed down fiercely once more, shattering the ice shield Airiya had created in a single blow. The Witch stepped back and made another gesture, but Lilinai immediately caught the movement, raising her leg in a kick that forced the white-haired girl to withdraw her hand, leaving her unable to complete the sigil for casting.

Witches weren’t skilled at handling close combat.

Lilinai made this judgment and closed in again without hesitation.

She had a rough grasp of it now—like most legends held, Witches also required incantations and gestures to assist in casting magic.

That being the case, so long as she kept disrupting the other’s rhythm and never let her cast, she could stand in an invincible position.

In other words: stick to her!

Feeling she had already grasped the formula for victory, Lilinai couldn’t help growing excited.

“Take this!”

She made a feint, and while deceiving Airiya, swung a strike from an unexpected angle. Just as she’d predicted, Airiya would recite an incantation and form a sigil while dodging. She seized the opportunity at once, unexpectedly withdrawing her force, reversing the blade backward while extending her other hand in a flat-palmed horizontal push that struck Airiya’s hand and interrupted her sigil.

“With this, it’s all over…!”

Victory was decided.

Lilinai executed a high-difficulty midair turn, the reversed blade thrusting at the Witch from behind like a scorpion’s pointed tail.

However, before she turned and delivered that strike, out of the corner of her eye she saw that there was no panic whatsoever on the Witch’s face.

Her features were like cold ice, harboring a stern, frigid killing intent.

“Hummm—“

The air let out an explosive crack.

Intense cold was released from the white-haired girl’s body in an instant.

For Lilinai, her sword was an instant too slow—only an instant.

She could feel her own movements entering slow motion. The air seemed to have congealed, and as her sword cut through it, it actually left a trail of grayish white behind, its speed greatly reduced.

It was precisely this that shifted the blade slightly off course.

A streak of scarlet bloomed across the white-haired girl’s face.

The next moment, the Witch made a gesture, and two blocks of ice were born from thin air, hurtling toward Lilinai.

The ice struck the girl’s waist and abdomen. Lilinai let out a muffled grunt, her footing thrown completely off balance.

She toppled backward, her body colliding with a tree trunk; to maintain her balance, she instinctively let her sword drop.

Had this been a duel to the death between swordsmen, she would already have lost—Lilinai knew that if the other party wished it, in this very instant she could take her life.

Just as she expected, the Witch strode forward and seized the girl’s jaw.

“It’s over—put down the sword.”

She twisted Lilinai’s face, forcing her to meet her gaze.

“I said, put it down. Otherwise, you can forget about keeping those hands of yours.”

“Ugh…”

After a brief hesitation, Lilinai did as told.

The longsword hit the ground with a crisp sound, like a mournful cry.

The Witch revealed a peculiar smile.

“Not bad at all, Miss Lilinai—in terms of how much you surprised me, you’ve done quite excellently.”

“…I’ve lost. What do you intend to do with me?”

Lilinai drew a sharp breath and forced the words out.

She was pinned against the tree trunk by Airiya, her feet slightly off the ground, entirely a lamb at the mercy of the butcher.

“Do with you?”

Airiya shook her head.

She kicked the sword on the ground away and released her grip.

Lilinai dropped to a sitting position and began coughing violently.

She raised her head; the Witch was looking down at her with a mocking smile all over her face.

“I’ll do nothing of the sort.” Airiya bent down, white hair falling before Lilinai’s eyes. “I’ve always kept public and private matters separate. This was merely a chance, Miss Lilinai. Since I chose you to be my plaything, you have to entertain me thoroughly. And your performance didn’t disappoint me, so I’m quite pleased.”

Lilinai pressed a hand to her chest. Airiya straightened up.

“Now you ought to understand that you can’t possibly be my match.” She declared. “It seems our Miss Lilinai was a bit overconfident in her own strength—daring to think of assassinating a Witch? What arrogance and conceit. Still, I don’t dislike this side of Miss Lilinai. After all, my goal is to make you fall and sink into me. If there weren’t a bit of a challenge, where would the fun be~”

“…You really are a demon,” Lilinai said softly.

“Well, who told me to be a Witch?”

Airiya gave a charming smile.

She tapped her heels together and clapped her hands in good spirits.

“Speaking of keeping public and private separate, since Miss Lilinai gave me a thoroughly good time, I can grant you a small reward.”

“A reward again?”

Lilinai couldn’t help shuddering.

She hugged her exposed shoulders and looked at the Witch warily.

“I haven’t forgotten that time in the study… don’t think you can trick me again, you Witch!”

“My my, Miss Lilinai is just like a startled little kitten. How adorable~”

After laughing softly for a while, Airiya let the corners of her mouth settle.

“Miss Lilinai.”

“Wh… what?”

“How about becoming my magic apprentice?”

Airiya asked in a calm tone.

Lilinai blinked.

“Did I hear that correctly? Could you say that once more…”

“How troublesome. I don’t like repeating what I’ve already said to people. Most of the time, I make those who don’t listen to me remember it properly with their bodies~”

The Witch narrowed her eyes slightly, a glint of threat flashing through those violet pupils.

“Miss Lilinai, do you really need me to repeat it?”

“N-not at all.”

Sensing the situation had turned unfavorable, Lilinai hurriedly shook her head like a rattle drum.

But what followed was enormous confusion and unease.

“You… want to take me on as a magic apprentice?”

Lilinai pointed at herself and asked hesitantly.

This Witch—what was she scheming now?