Familiar Faces – Part 01
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Translator: Kell
We returned to Latette through the witch path that Thirteenth opened.
There was still some light, but the sun was already setting, and the sky was turning indigo.
It would take two whole days to get to the castle from here.
“We barely had time to rest.” I let my tail drop.
“Indeed,” Zero said. She looked a little tired too. “We will not have time to rest as well.”
Thirteenth and Sept said that they would try to stop the war from happening from a different front.
What we needed to do now was hit Albus as soon as possible and get her to retract the decree she issued.
We could stop things from escalating too far while it was still only a decree. If, however, she actually took action, the Church would do everything in its power to destroy the kingdom of Wenias.
The war at the center of the continent would evolve into a war between the progressives who accepted witches and the conservatives who rejected them.
“Priest. Can you ride a horse?” I asked.
The priest nodded firmly, as though he knew exactly what I meant. “If it’s nighttime and through roads with not much light.”
“That’s perfect. If we run as fast as we can now, we’ll make it in time before Fomicaum closes its gates. You and the witch should buy horses there and head for the castle. It’s much faster than going on foot or in a carriage.”
“What about you?” Zero asked.
“I’ll take the squirt and follow you guys later. Anyway, our first priority is to get horses.”
I picked up Lily and Zero. But the moment we exited the church, I froze from the strange feeling that wrapped around my whole body.
My instinct told me to not take another step, so I took a huge leap back. A second later, a lance pierced the ground.
“What the hell?! An ambush?!”
Laughter rang out.
“You missed! Too bad you didn’t hit him, Raul. I would have rewarded you if you did. You’re such a useless servant.”
The shrill laughter that seemed to echo throughout the town made every hair on my body stand on end. Zero also stiffened, and the priest clicked his tongue. Lily pointed to the roof of a building where two figures stood.
Her voice, her tone. I didn’t need to see her to know exactly who it was.
“What are you doing here?!”
An armored horse Beastfallen and a woman with flaxen hair wearing a monocle riding on his back. Raul and Princess Amnil of Black Dragon Island, and the witch Sanare who took over the princess’s body.
“Long time no see, Zero, Mercenary, Father, and, oh? Who’s the little thing? Have I met her before?”
“I, um…”
“You don’t have to answer! She’s an enemy.”
I let Lily and Zero down and urged them to stay behind me.
“Fuck. We’re kinda in a hurry here.”
I wanted to murder Sanare. Meeting her face-to-face was exactly what I wanted. But right now, we needed to get to Albus as fast as possible. The best thing to do would be to make a run for it, but she had Raul. We wouldn’t be able to shake him off.
“I guess we have to fight,” the priest said.
“Looks like it,” I replied. “And we can’t kill the princess. We can cut off a limb or two, I guess. We can just use Magic to fix her.” I drew my sword.
“Having a medic is crucial, I suppose.” The priest readied his scythe. “We can go a little wild.”
“I have said this many times before, but the human body is extremely fragile,” Zero said. “Closing a fatal wound might not be enough to save someone.”
Sanare dismounted from Raul’s back. “My, you really want to kill me, huh? You’re so hot-blooded, it’s terrifying. I just came here to chat.”
“‘You mean you are here to delay us,” Zero spat. “You framed Thirteenth and tricked the lass into waging a war with the Church. Did you think I would not notice? Back at the ball, the lass said, ‘If they’re going to die anyway, better to let Mages make good use of them.’ That is exactly how you think.”
“Brilliant! Yes, I’m delaying you. I don’t want you getting in the way when my plan’s moving along well. It doesn’t matter if you know, though. You will all be stuck here. Just like the time Corruption went wild in Lutra.”
Lily’s ears perked up, and she looked at Sanare. Lily herself was deeply involved in the incident in Lutra. Her parents were taken away and tortured.
“What do you think that incident was? What was it for? No one actually thought it would lead directly to war! It was simply to buy time, to stall. I just needed a little more time for Albus to open up to me. Thanks to you, she’s now my slave. She does everything I tell her to do. You know what’s funny? She calls me grandma!” Sanare guffawed like she was having so much fun.
I couldn’t see Raul’s expression. But I was sure that he was keeping his guard up, watching us warily.
“It was surprisingly easy. It’s so easy to manipulate a child who’s lonely, who wants someone to recognize her, to comfort her, to be nice to her. How long do you think I’ve had my eyes on her? How long do you think I’ve been planning this? Hmm, I wonder. Oh, right. When I picked up that interesting letter on Black Dragon Island. That Witch Letter was too exciting, I ended up messing around with it.”
Black Dragon Island… Witch Letter? What’s she talking about?
I did lose the Witch Letter once back on the island. Our ship was destroyed, and we were thrown out into the sea. When I was imprisoned, all my equipment was confiscated.
Mistakenly thought to be useless scraps, the letter was thrown away, then it came back in one piece later.
She picked it up?
“You didn’t know? Oh, that’s right. Because I gave it back, but only after I replied with, ‘Important matters only, please’! I mean, I took a glance at the letter and it was too long and full of trivial stuff. I was able to join the Coven of Zero for my transcription skills. I’m good at copying others’ handwriting. She probably thought you wrote the reply.”
Albus’s words rang in my mind.
“You can blame yourself for that!”
That’s what she said when I asked her why her letters became plain and short. The last time she wrote a long letter was right after Black Dragon Island. What did she write?
After Sanare, pretending to be me, dismissed her as annoying, she wrote her usual litany of complaints and excuses. And I, as usual, kept my replies short.
Eventually her letters became shorter and shorter. I knew something was off. But I didn’t question it because I was too lazy.
To be honest, I found it a hassle. I wondered if sending regular reports was really necessary. When Albus stopped giving me status updates, I even felt relieved.
“From start to finish, her letter was filled with the desire to be comforted. I wonder how she felt when you treated her like a doormat. She must’ve been sad. What do you think would happen if I babied her in that state? I possessed a doll lying around and found out that it was a doll from her grandmother! How could I not take advantage of that?”
“What do you think, squirt? She’s nasty, right?” I could feel the anger emanating from Lily’s small body.
“Yup… I hate her!”
It was then that I realized rats were swarming the town, gathering from all directions. One by one they were sucked into one house.
“Everyone is hurting because of her…”
Sensing something wrong, Raul surveyed his surroundings. If he noticed, they could escape. It was now or never.
“Do it, squirt!”
The priest and I charged simultaneously. At my signal, Lily sicked countless rats towards Raul and Sanare.
“What are these rats?! Princess!”
Rats gnawed at Raul’s legs, and he collapsed to his knees. Sanare screamed and cowered as rats swarmed her.
Meanwhile, the priest and I ran up the wall and leapt onto the roof. I, being the stronger of us two, pinned Raul down, while the priest tied up Sanare with his strings.
“Sorry, Raul. Take a nap for now.” I tightened my hold on Raul’s neck, knocking him unconscious.
Unable to move, Sanare shrieked as she was buried in a swarm of rats. “No! What is this?! Do you like tying up women?! Raul, you’re so useless! Do something about these rats!”
“If you want the rats gone, you’d better get out of the princess’s body,” I said. “I’ll definitely kill you eventually, but right now you’re just an eyesore. Now get lost!”
Sanare’s face twisted in anger. The next instant, however, the corner of her mouth lifted into a smirk. “Ah, what a shame,” she said. “As long as you can’t kill me, you’ll never win.”
“Wha—”
Sanare snapped her finger. My vision instantly went black, and all five of my senses vanished.
“What the hell’s going on?!”
I could hear Sanare’s laughter from beyond the darkness. Her voice gradually became more distant until it was gone, as if melting into the dark abyss.
Right before I lost all senses, I heard a chant.
“Chapter of Death, Page Two: ‘Morkdem’. I cast my new spell without chanting. It’s so fun and easy to use Magic in the princess’s body. Sweet dreams, darling.”
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