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Chapter 14

「Witch-sama, I found a bedroom in the back! I’ll tidy it up right away so you can use it!」

(I don’t sleep in beds, so I’m fine.)

Noel had apparently done a thorough check of the house and was full of enthusiasm, but I shook my head. If I lay down in a bed, my face would be at a low level—right where Noel might accidentally brush against it.

(If I accidentally absorb him or something, that would be a disaster. Since I can’t bury myself in soil, I’ll just rest somewhere else.)

I passed by a puzzled Noel and stepped inside. The front room appeared to be a spacious living area. I touched the wall, and from it I grew climbing plants that quickly spread across the walls and ceiling. To keep it from looking too drab, I made sure to bloom some flowers as well. …Now it’s starting to feel like a proper witch’s house. I’ll grow more plants later to enhance the atmosphere.

(I think I’ll make my bed up on the ceiling… Oh! A hammock would be perfect.)

I continued weaving the vines growing up to the ceiling into an intricate pattern, forming a hammock that hung from above. At that height, there’d be no risk of accidental contact. I didn’t make a ladder—I’ll use my vines to ascend each time. That should be the perfect solution.

「Wow… Sleeping in that looks really nice, Witch-sama.」

(Hm? If you want a hammock too, Noel, I can make you one.)

I headed into the next room—the bedroom. It had nothing but a simple bed by the window. Since there wasn’t anything else, I figured I’d let Noel use the space however he liked.

Just in case, I also made a small hammock for him next to the bed. His eyes sparkled as he looked at it, so I gave him a nod to let him know he was free to use it. …Looks like the bed might end up unused after all.

「Ah… Witch-sama, you really are amazing. The atmosphere of the house has already changed so much… You can make anything with plants. If you can prepare everything you need yourself, I guess you never had any trouble living away from people all this time.」

(Let’s go with that narrative… In reality, I came because I was struggling.)

Fighting off monsters and absorbing them day after day—it had been a brutally harsh existence. Humans didn’t attack me on sight. They even mistook me for a kind witch and weren’t afraid of me at all.

This is exactly the kind of safe place I’d been wishing for. I’d really like to settle down here, continuing to pretend to be human.

「But why would you come to a place like this after being away from the world for five hundred years…」

(…Yikes.)

True, it would be strange for a witch who’d vanished for five hundred years to suddenly reappear. If someone asked why I came now… well, I just ran away from monsters. Not that I could explain that, since I can’t speak.

(That mountain… it turned into a haven for gross zombie-type monsters, and they tasted terrible. Honestly, that was a big reason, too.)

At some point, most of the monsters there started resembling half-rotted zombies. And absorbing them provided hardly any flavor or nutrition—it was like eating dregs. Just thinking about it, my eyes wandered toward the mountain with a far-off look.

Noel and Daon followed my gaze, looking toward the same mountain.

「…Come to think of it, Witch-sama, did you come down from the mountain?」

「Wait, that mountain? Don’t tell me… you used to live in the Demon Realm?」

(Ah—crap! I slipped up—wait, are they going to figure out I’m a monster!?)

As I screamed internally, outwardly I still wore my usual smile. That smile, unfortunately, was interpreted as confirmation, and I found Daon staring at me like he’d just seen something completely insane—wide-eyed and visibly shaken.

「Even for a witch with immense magical power, that’s reckless beyond belief… Did you really spend five centuries watching over the resting place of your fallen kin?」

(Huh? …I think this is heading in a weird direction.)

「They say at the time of the dragon war, only about five hundred of the Demonkind remained… Don’t tell me—you’ve been offering prayers for every last one of them?」

I learned from that statement that the Demonkind had fought dragons and perished on that mountain. Maybe that’s why I had such a plump, round root-body back then—the land was saturated with magical energy. …The soil there was delicious.

Since they clearly misunderstood, I nodded. Better this than being mistaken for a monster.

「Witch-sama is so kind… You’ve been praying for your fallen brethren all this time, haven’t you? But I heard that in such thick miasma, no living thing can survive. That’s why we couldn’t build our village any higher.」

「Exactly. Even the Demonkind would suffer in that environment. The effects of dense magical energy on the body are immeasurable… I doubt you lived in the very heart of the Demon Realm, but just surviving near it is an incredible feat. But isn’t it dangerous now, with so many monsters spawning as the miasma thins?」

「Oh, that reminds me… Witch-sama took down a terrifying beast before coming here. She’s not just kind—she’s also incredibly strong.」

「I see. You must be a truly exceptional witch, to have survived the dragon war and still be able to live in such a toxic place…」

Because I can’t speak, Noel and Daon are building up an elaborate backstory on their own. They’re doing all the mental gymnastics to explain how and why a witch could live in such a place—and why I would emerge now.

(So that’s how they’re rationalizing it… Well, that works. Please, keep expanding my lore.)

Really, if you think about it, the idea that the person before them is actually a mandragora monster mimicking a human is far more absurd than believing in a long-lived, secluded witch.

Unless you knew about my evolution and how I used points to take on human form, you’d never guess. It’s a totally unique situation.

And so, thanks to their combined imagination, I was now the 「Ancient Flower Witch」—a kind soul who spent five hundred years mourning five hundred fallen Demonkind, and who finally, upon realizing the mountains had become overrun with monsters, deemed it too dangerous and descended into the human world to return to society.

…If she really existed, that would be a truly epic character.

「Witch-sama, the garden is overgrown with weeds right now, but there used to be a field next to the house. Since you seem to like flowers, maybe you could plant something there. And please, feel free to adjust the house and surroundings to your liking.」

(Ah, good point. I should think about Noel’s food too… Let’s grow plenty of edible plants.)

「Then please, take your time and rest. We’re thinking of holding a celebration soon, to show our gratitude to you. We hope you’ll attend.」

With that, Daon returned to the village. Noel and I remained. First, we cleared away the weeds around the house and then grew a variety of edible plants nearby to serve as dinner. But—

「…I’m sorry… Witch-sama’s potion cured me, so why…」

(You should rest for a bit. You must be tired today.)

After harvesting the fruits and vegetables and washing them in the river, Noel ate some—but just like the villagers had before, he vomited them all up.

After giving him another full recovery potion, his complexion returned and he regained his energy. Still, I had him rest in his room to be safe.

(…What is causing this illness?)

It’s possible the other villagers are also falling sick again. Even if making recovery potions is easy for me, it still uses up magical power and makes me hungry. Since Noel wasn’t watching, I figured it was fine to eat something questionable—like a poisonous fish—and stepped into the river.

(Ugh, this water tastes awful! It’s got that zombie-monster bitterness!)

Water soaked through the gaps in my clothes, and I grimaced at the nasty flavor. And then it hit me—

(…Wait. Could this be the cause of the illness?)