Ball of the Witch and the Beast – Part 05
[previous_page]
[next_page]
Translator: Kell
When I remained silent, Zero gave a rare self-mocking smile. “Forget what I said. It sounds like I am trying to make myself look good. Hiding the truth will not make it go away. How foolish of me.”
“Uh, I still don’t like witches. That hasn’t changed.”
Witches were creepy and terrifying, and they used the heads and blood of Beastfallen to make deals with demons.
Zero’s eyes widened in surprise. “You seem to treat me much gently now than before. Or is it just my imagination? You despised me back then, but recently I thought you were becoming fond of me.”
“I don’t know what the hell you’re on about. It’s just that you’re spe—” I shut my mouth. It felt like I was about to say something incredibly embarrassing. “—specially harmless for a witch. Yes.”
I managed to correct my words. But it didn’t seem to make much sense, so Zero took out only the “special” part and repeated them softly with her red lips. “Special… I see. To you, I am a special witch.”
“I said a specially harmless witch!”
“Special. Special,” she repeated, as if she didn’t hear me. “Very well. I do not have to fear your repugnance. Even if you hate and fear witches more and more when you see what lies ahead, you will not fear me. Isn’t that right? I am, after all, a specially harmless witch.”
“Uh, well…”
What is this unsettling feeling?
Was this the kind of conversation you’d have in front of a broken castle wall right after an assassination? What’s more, the place we were heading to seemed to contain something horrifying.
Trying to keep a stern expression on my face, I glanced toward the basement.
“What’s up ahead?” I asked.
“‘A shed.”
“A what?”
I recalled the exchange between the Beastfallen who arrested us.
“Besides, while we wait our turn, we’re going to the shed.”
“Worst case, you’re dead before you even become human.”
“Wait, do you mean like…”
“Yes. If you consider the reason why the lass did not kill the snake and kept it locked up instead of turning it into a human, you will inevitably come to that conclusion.”
Zero walked through the broken wooden door and down a flight of stairs. After hesitating a bit, I followed her.
The place smelled of blood and animal. I could hear claws striking the cobblestones, chains shaking, and all kinds of groans.
We reached the bottom of the stairs. The room was terribly dark. Zero lit a fire in her fingertips to illuminate the surroundings.
“Shit… That fucking idiot…”
Pooch’s subordinates were afraid of being thrown into the shed if they made a mistake. When we arrived at the castle, Lily said it was scary. I knew now what she was afraid of. She must have learned of the situation from the rats that roamed the basement.
Countless Beastfallen were chained together in cages. Locked in rectangular, metal cages, they could not stand up properly; instead they huddled down, scratching the floor.
But that wasn’t even the worst thing.
Some had their eyes gouged out. Others had their nails removed. Some had their tongues cut. Every single one of the Beastfallen in this dungeon was missing some part of their body.
It was no doubt a shed. An animal shed. A prison to dissect Beastfallen and obtain offerings for Magic.
“I knew it,” Zero said. “It seems that the criticisms against the lass are not merely based on unfounded rumors.”
When we returned above ground, Pooch was waiting for us with a grave look on his face. I didn’t know if he came to check on the state of the dungeon, or if he was following us, but it seemed he already knew that we went down to the basement.
“Please don’t scold the young lady,” he said. “There’s a good reason for—”
Before he could finish, I punched him in the face. Pooch didn’t even evade it. He took it head on.
“Yeah, I deserved that,” he said, knees on the ground. “I tried stopping her, but she wouldn’t listen. She says I’m Solena’s servant, not hers, so if I have a problem with it, I should leave.”
“So you just let her do what she wants? What a useless mutt. When she does something stupid, it’s your job to stop her, even if you have to beat her up!”
For once, he didn’t say that he was a wolf, not a dog. He hung his head low.
I was about to yell at him some more, when Zero raised one hand to silence me.
“Where’s the lass?” she asked.
“She returned to her room after seeing off the guests. She’s waiting for you two while healing the priest’s injuries. She saw you go to the shed.”
“Very well. We can settle this matter quickly. Let us hear from her what her “good reason” is for doing this. Then again, whatever that reason is, I do not think I can agree with it.”
Pooch led us to Albus’s room. When we opened the door, Albus stood up and greeted us with a strained smile. Lily and the priest were at the back. Ignoring both of them, Zero strode up to Albus.
“Are you two hurt?” Albus asked. “I healed the priest’s injuri—”
A sharp pop rang out, cutting Albus off mid-sentence.
Zero had slapped Albus on the cheek almost immediately. I was going to hit her once, but I could only leave this matter to Zero now.
Albus held her cheek, mouth agape, then glared at Zero. “Wh-What was that for?! I healed the priest while waiting for you. Then you slap me without even a word of thanks?!”
“You are the reason why he is injured to begin with.”
“Wha—”
“Beast warriors are soldiers created by witches. They are weapons with consciousness. Even the most renowned witches of the past commanded only three beast warriors. Do you know why? Because they would lose control of them otherwise. Why did you keep so many beast warriors alive?! And ones who have lost their minds, at that?! Did you think that chaining and caging them would prevent them from doing harm? Did you think you could contain them with no guards or barriers? Someone as imprudent does not deserve to call themselves a witch.”
Lily trembled and crawled under the bed. The priest looked at me and shrugged in annoyance. To him, it looked like nothing but a dispute between witches.
Albus’s mouth had been gaping open and shut for a while now. Holding back the urge to cry, she managed to answer back in a shaky voice.
“We had no other choice! We need power! Besides, Beastfallen who had gone mad have broken souls and will kill themselves if we turn them back into humans. If they’re going to die anyway, better to let Mages make good use of them. I feel sorry for them, of course. If not for Thirteenth, I wouldn’t be doing this!”
“Thirteenth has nothing to do with this. This was done at your judgement, by your choice, by your decision. Whether the enemy is Thirteenth or not does not matter. Once a threat emerged, you would have made the same choice.”
“I—”
“If you could control them, fine. But the fact is you could not, and the matter was discovered in the worst possible way. What would have happened if we were not here? Would you have been aware of the possibility of an assassination? What would have happened if the governor was not present? You could not even settle a single thing on your own tonight!”
“You can blame Thirteenth for that! He must’ve plotted my assassination too! Even the escaped Beastfallen was his doing. Who else could have let it out of the dungeon?!”
“Everything is Thirteenth’s fault, huh? You have taught yourself an easy excuse. If you blame it all on Thirteenth, you do not need to look into the cause, and you do not need to discipline yourself either.”
Albus was speechless this time. She tried to say something back, but only faint gasps escaped her lips.
“How…” she finally muttered. She slammed her clenched fist at the desk and stared at Zero with golden eyes. “How dare you! How dare you say that?! You don’t know anything! You left me, you barely even replied to my letters. I said I missed you. I wanted you to come back, but you ignored me! How could you say all that?!” Tears streamed down her cheeks and onto the carpet.
I had no idea what she was talking about. Albus had never written “I miss you” or “Please come back” in any of her letters.
“Young lady,” Pooch said. “That’s because you erased it before Bro could read it.”
Albus brushed him aside. “I’m doing my best! Everyone in the castle tries to make me do everything, and if I can’t do it, they make fun of me for being a child! So I work and work and work without sleep! I can read all the books in the world, and I’ll never find an answer. But I have to come up with one!”
“You spared Thirteenth so you could find that answer,” Zero said. “Why did you not ask him for help?”
[previous_page]
[next_page]
Comment (0)