"Are you a witch?"
Myra says, her expression grim. She looks like she's going to kill me if she has to.
No, how did she know?
' Just as I'm thinking, 'No, how did you know?
"That's when I let go of the Celestial Oath.
It was trying to catch me.
I'm Mirabelle, awakened and awake. I'm sure she's exuding a witchy energy I can't sense. Myra, the cleric, can sense it.
I wondered how we'd get by.
I'll just have to fake it for now.
"Haha, our Mirabelle is great, but she's a witch. It's not that bad."
"Really? Your staff looks really nice, can I have a look?"
She's fast as hell.
I wasn't going to get off easy.
"What would you do if Mirabelle was a witch? Would you fight again in that form? It wouldn't be easy, even with the whole Knights' Order at your back~"
I stood stiffly and frowned.
There's no need to be cowardly anymore.
Mirabelle, the most potential of the group, has awakened as a witch, and she's no match for a mere priest.
"Yeah, but she doesn't look like a child at all."
Hmm?
I checked Mirabelle's status, and she's back to being the timid version of herself, not the one who used to beat Myra like a dog.
I wonder if it's the effect of being estranged from Maddow.
This is what happens when....
"Hahahaha, it's Jock. Jock~"
"I'm late."
What to do.
Should I give Mirabelle the Tome again?
And then Dad's going to leave. One more mission?
Myra sighs heavily, her brain working overtime.
"So that's why you were shaking when you saw us, and now I understand why you looked at me like I was a murderer."
Myra mumbles to herself in confusion. It sounded like she was talking to herself, and it was mixed with regret.
A slave trader's instinct.
This is an opportunity.
It must not be missed.
"This is a poor child who lost her parents and was enslaved because she was a witch. Her life has been destroyed in one day, and she's done nothing wrong."
"Are you playing the emotional witch in front of a priest?"
"Because the weak can't survive without doing this, that's the way the world is, that's the way this child's reality is."
"...hah, fuck."
Glaring at me, Myra muttered an expletive and scratched the back of her head. Her face contorted as if she'd been caught in the middle of a nuisance and couldn't straighten.
Then she blew out her frustration in a huff and glared at me again.
"You knew she was a witch, so why are you taking her with you? Don't you know what a witch is?"
"Of course I don't know, it's common knowledge."
"Answer me without spinning."
Myra's eyes, narrowed to a fierce gaze, reminded me of a hawk's. Like a hawk searching for prey in a field. To reveal my hidden intentions.
She doesn't flinch. Rather, she sneers at my question as if it were pathetic.
"Doesn't it make you uncomfortable when you're forced to dress up just because you're a priest? You can swear a bit, spout half-truths, be suspicious of people, throw a few punches. You don't have to be a priest to be a priest."
"What, what?"
"Witches are the same way. There are some witches out there who do human experimentation, and there are some who are just as nice and cute, and it would be a shame to have your life threatened just because you're a witch."
"Stop spinning your wheels and just say what you want to say."
Tongue twisters are the lifeblood of a slave trader.
I pushed Mirabelle forward and used the Mirabelle Shield. Mirabelle came face-to-face with Myra, startled, and hugged me.
Myra looks at Mirabelle with mixed feelings, and I give her a few words of advice.
"It doesn't matter if they're witches or demons, as long as they're my slaves, I'll take care of them responsibly, no matter what they are, so they'll always be good slaves. And once you start eating, there's no end to it?"
"Ha."
Myra giggles in spite of herself. She must have liked my answer somehow, because she giggles.
I've done enough. All that remains is to wait for her response.
I wonder what her choice will be.
If she says she's going to gather her knights and slay the witch, that's the end of the story. She can't even buy items with her points anymore.
You'll have to rely on my tongue-in-cheek cherry-picking and master negotiator skills.
An uncomfortable silence that lasts for a while.
When my mouth is dry despite my relaxed exterior.
"...Go."
"What?"
"Go when I close my eyes. If I catch you, I'll search you. If they find out I let you go, they'll hang me, too."
In the end, Myra decided to let go.
Mirabelle's eyes widen, and she stares at Myra, unable to believe she's letting go.
"Well. You've never met a nice priest before? I think I scared you, so I'm letting you off the hook."
"Do they usually say they're nice?"
"I didn't mean for you to hear that, so please shut up."
Myra can't resist Mirabelle's pressure and eventually looks away.
When they met at the tavern, Myra was the first one to lean in. It was an act of goodwill to help Mirabelle, even if it ended in a misunderstanding.
That didn't change when she realized Mirabelle was a witch, which is something only a person of her own conviction can do.
I thanked her sincerely.
"Haha, thank you for saving my life. But I can't leave right away."
I said, "I'm sorry about that.
We can't leave yet.
"What?"
"There's something I need to get from here, and we can't leave until I find it."
"Can't go to what? Don't you understand the situation?"
"You're not a slave trader if you don't know what you're doing. But what can I do, if I don't get it, I'm screwed. I'll see you again sometime. Now, Miss Mirabelle. Goodbye!"
"Oh, goodbye.... See you again?"
"Uh, yeah. ...huh?"
Before a dazed Myra could recover, she grabbed Mirabelle's hand and scurried away.
She came back up.
"What, what?"
"I forgot my money."
***.
A week after Mirabelle's runaway incident.
Nothing much changed.
We made good our reparations, and the lord who paid us off didn't question our guilt. Of course, with Mirabelle over here, we couldn't touch her easily.
'I don't know how to use the magic of those days.
I asked Mirabelle to use the magic of the time, but she couldn't. I returned the magic book to Myra, but alas, it was too late.
The magicka was too contaminated to be cleaned. I was sent to the incineration line.
Instead, the service detoxified it before burning it, which is said to be a goblin's delusional note about becoming a god and punishing humans.
In modern terms, it's like a cider-pass novel for mushrooms. It's about awakening SSS-level skills and taking a bunch of shots. But now it has a goblin as the main character.
It's ridiculous that Mirabelle awakens with such a thing.
"This is why she awakened in a form I don't recognize.
It's a shame she can't use her magic, but it doesn't matter because she's awakened. I'm one step closer to freeing Mirabelle.
Now that the physical specs are done, the next important thing is Mirabelle's mental state....
Morning sunlight falls on the inn.
I'm making breakfast with a sandwich and watching the world go by with the newspaper when Mirabelle, having finished hers, looks up at me.
"What's wrong?"
"That, that...."
Mirabelle crosses her fingers, speechless. I let out a small sigh.
"You can do it if you want to."
As I say this, Mirabelle's face turns a light shade of color. She slides down from the chair and wiggles into my arms, perching on my thigh.
She was so traumatized by the thought of being left alone that she refused to move away, not even to walk, not even to sleep, not even to wash.
"Of course, I'm doing everything I can to stop it.
The dependency was troubling, but it wasn't the least of my worries.
I'd seen the ending a dozen times before.
This time, it would happen eventually.
So for now, it's my job to be there for Mirabelle when she needs me.
Do you know what happens when you clear a dungeon?
"I need to clear the dungeon.
I haven't gotten the Tome of Souls yet. Until I get it, I can't progress.
So I spent days and days running from dungeon to dungeon with Mirabelle.
I didn't need the dungeon map anymore. Mirabelle, who had begun studying with the mages of Delofin after the incident, had learned detection magic.
Mirabelle led the way through the cave, easily reaching the boss room. The goblins were already dead.
"Excellent, another hit."
As soon as they entered the dungeon, Mirabelle cast a spell, and a bolt of magic flew through the air, hitting the monsters in the boss room.
A circus act.
Mirabelle's magical skills grew exponentially with each passing day. I'm guessing it's because she's had the benefit of being an awakened witch.
"Hehe."
Mirabelle giggles in approval.
I turn away from her and rummage through the goblin shaman's corpse.
How many times have I done this?
I must have done this fifty times already.
The Goblin Shaman's Grimoire wasn't a 100% drop, and even if it was, it wasn't a Soul Grimoire. If it came out right away, I wouldn't still be doing this.
"Crappy double gacha.
That's a shitty double gacha on a required item. It wasn't even this bad in the game.
As I was muttering my complaints, I grabbed the book. Luckily, this time it dropped.
[Goblin Shaman's Tome of Magic].
I handed it to Mirabelle as I always do.
Mirabelle was able to interpret the book by looking at it. Maybe it's because she's a witch, or maybe it's because she's the main character.
Narsha was an ordinary noblewoman, but she was able to learn swordsmanship with ease.
"If only that applied to me, I'd be a fighter by now.
But it doesn't, so she struggles every day.
"Master, this...."
Mirabelle shows me the Book of Mark while I'm thinking about something else.
"Why, is there something wrong with it?"
Mirabelle's expression is puzzled.
Could it be another one?
Another infinite dungeon stone?
"This one, it says how to deal with spirits."
The moment the words left Mirabelle's mouth.
[Goblin Shaman's Tome of Magic]
> >
[Soul Tome]
The item name changes.
It's finally here.
The final piece of my liberation.
I looked up at the cave ceiling and let out a long sigh. A very long sigh.
After releasing the things that had been weighing me down, I relaxed and locked eyes with Mirabelle.
Her indigo eyes sparkled with life, a far cry from the first time I'd met her.
She'd gotten used to the short skirts and wasn't embarrassed by them.
And so many other things had changed.
All that remains of the young witch is a broken heart.
And now, finally.
"Let's go. To avenge my father."