Chapter 4: Girl, Coaxes

 

 

 

Chapter 4: Girl, Coaxes

 

AFTER undergoing a traumatizing shock, the Spirit Priestess returned to her room accompanied by Lambert and Wolfie, leaving the other three to continue their discussion in the headmaster’s office. Headmaster Grindieda addressed the last topic that needed attending to.

“Now then, the reason why the Witch’s Council has been tenaciously seeking you out is—”

“To secure a talented new recruit,” Oswald finished in a harder voice than usual.

What he discovered after risking capture by sneaking into the Five Eldra Steorra’s mansion was that they were secretly going along with a plan concocted by the Witch’s Council. Grasping the gist of their plans during his short infiltration, he simply summarized their intentions from the list he had found among the documents in the professor’s desk.

“Their current agenda consists of collecting rare materials and securing talented witches by luring them into their folds. It’s anyone’s guess what they’re trying to make.”

Flipping his shining golden threads of hair over his shoulder, Ini snorted and turned his derisive gaze on Oswald. “Probably the same kind of junk you’re always making, cretin. Sheesh. Intelligent humans never use their knowledge for good, and they only make things worse when they put their heads together. Grindieda, you are a member of the Witch’s Council. Don’t you know what they are plotting?”

“The only information that comes to an honorary advisor is paltry scraps without a lick of real intel.” The headmaster cast down her rose-brown eyes and exhaled. “Wizmac, the current chairman, seems to find this old lady who doesn’t play to his tune to be a rather large nuisance. I presume he’s plotting to have me overthrown sooner or later so that he can insert one of the Five Eldra Steorra in the headmaster’s seat.”

Of course, she would never allow that to come to be. Grindieda held to a strict set of rules, but the one loose thread threatening her plans was her very own apprentice.

“Oswald, I hope I am wrong, but you haven’t already…”

Immediately guessing his master’s misgivings, Oswald lifted his shoulders in a slight shrug and honestly denied her false assumption. “You think I joined that cult, Master?”

“I’m worried because it is within the realm of something you would do.”

Knowing how dangerous her apprentice really was brought a scowl to Grindieda’s face. She wouldn’t put it past him to leap at any job opportunity if someone wagged enough cash and rare resources before him.

Sensing her utter lack of faith in him, Oswald narrowed his unfathomable blue eyes and clearly voiced his convictions. “I only create what I want. I couldn’t care less how others use my creations, but I don’t create things that don’t interest me.”

Put another way, he was essentially declaring he would happily join forces with the Witch’s Council if their request piqued his interest. That part of him had never changed no matter how hard she pounded rules and ethics into him during his school years.

Sighing, his master blamed her past self for creating this monster as she muttered, “…I knew I should have kept you on a tight leash.”

Oswald’s abilities as a witch had already surpassed his much older master. I should have never banished him from Elminage on that day.

Enacting the same tone she had when she exiled him, Grindieda ordered, “I hereby order you as your master, headmaster, and one who wishes for peace: remain here, Oswald.”

“……”

“You may set your mind at ease, for as long as you are here, I will protect you from the Witch’s Council.”

In the back of the silent young man’s mind, he saw one girl’s sunny smile, but erased it from thought with a somber nod.

***

NICHIKA had returned to their room where she remained in a stupor with the lights off. Too much had happened for her brain to keep up, and she absently stroked Wolfie on the edge of the bed. His fur was a little rough in patches, but her heart was partly soothed by petting him. The wolf nudged her arm with the tip of his wet nose and whined.

“Nichika, cheer up,” he sniffled encouragingly.

“What are you going to do now, Wolfie?”

“Master told me I can do whatever I want. He said he’d free me of my familiar contract if I wanna go with you instead.”

“I see…”

Nichika was set to depart in two days since Headmaster Grindieda was preparing something for her. She even offered to lend her a student from Elminage as an escort if she wanted one. But what good would that do her? Would this student have even a quarter of the knowledge Oswald did? Would they nag her when she became discouraged and lazy? Would they roughly grab her arm and lead the way when she couldn’t take another step?

Nichika stopped petting Wolfie and hugged her knees to her chest. Her faltering voice spilled through the space between her arms and knees. “He’s such a jerk, though.”

Since when did she start trusting him this much? Maybe he was right and she was acting like a newborn duckling. Maybe she had become attached to him because she didn’t have anyone else and didn’t know better. And yet some corner of her heart wouldn’t stop screaming. The rational side of her put a lid over that piece that continued crying: “I don’t want to be apart from him.”

“That jerk said he’d keep his promises even unto death…” she grumbled under her breath despite having just stuffed those feelings in the corner.

How many times have I cried since coming to this world? I’m supposed to be getting stronger, not weaker. I’ll make this the last time I cry. I have to stop crying.

The sound of rapping on glass echoed through Nichika’s room, interrupting her thoughts. Startled, she looked toward the window where someone floated with one hand on their broom. One look at that flashy green hair and lanky figure told her who it was.

“Lambert?!” she cried.

“O-P-E-N U-P!” he mouthed beyond the glass.

After a moment’s hesitation, Nichika undid the lock and pulled the window open. He rode in on the cool breeze. Coolly sticking his landing, he flashed his trademark overly friendly grin.

“Hiya there. Fine evening, ain’t it?”

“G-Good evening?”

Lambert drew back his right leg and bowed with his right hand pressed against his abdomen, and he held out a flower he made appear from thin air in his left hand. The lovely pink flower had a delicate, slightly folded petal that resembled a butterfly’s wings. Yellow eyes twinkling, he teased, “To bid adieu to the fair lady before her journey.”

“What kind of flower is it?”

“Sweet pea.”

Nichika was unfamiliar with flower language, so she didn’t know the hidden meaning behind his choice. She accepted it anyway and clenched the flower stem in front of her chest.

“You must’ve cried a lot to end up with a face looking like that,” he commented on her red eyes swollen from crying her heart out.

“Buzz off…” She rubbed her eyes with her fists.

Lambert shrugged. “Good ol’ Oswald is a helpless fool, making a girl cry. Then again, he’s made countless women cry.”

Nichika wanted to cover her ears. A part of her felt like she was special to Oswald because she was his apprentice, but she meant nothing to him, as evidenced by the ease with which he ended their contract.

“Why are you crying?” Lambert asked in a sympathetic voice, breaking the dam holding back her tears and pent-up feelings.

Struggling to keep her sobs in check, Nichika started organizing her feelings aloud. “That pighead’s…not my…type…at all…”

“Yeah.”

“He’s arrogant…doesn’t think about others…and a crude, dangerous jerk.”

“Sure is.”

“But…I’d rather not go at all if it’s not with him!” she blurted, then gasped.

She looked up at the sound of Lambert whistling. He smirked at her. “Good girl, you did well speaking your true feelings,” he teased. “But dang, you went right for the ‘I can’t live without that person!’ kinda line. I was gonna wedge myself into the hole he left, but there’s no room for me to butt in.”

“I d-didn’t…it’s not what it sounds like! I’m shy around strangers and would rather travel with someone I’m already used to. That’s all!”

He winked at the girl who frantically tried to explain herself with crimson cheeks. Grabbing her wrist, he led her to the window. He leapt onto the windowsill and straddled the broom he’d been carrying.

“Then let’s go make that dream come true,” he proposed out of the blue.

“How?”

“Look after the house, lil’ wolf!”

“I don’t know what’cha doing, but have fun!”

Nichika was already hanging more than halfway out the window. Screaming, she instinctively clung to his hand.

“Come on. Fly away with me! Or you’ll fall to your death.”

Nichika fumbled for the broom dangling from her waist and commanded it to become full size. Following his soft ascent, she took off into the night sky where two moons shone. Flying after the broom ahead of her, she took out her confusion on him.

“What in the world are you scheming now?!”

“Say, Nichika, are you the sad type who puts up with the harsh reality shoved onto them without uttering a single complaint about it?”

“Huh?”

She had no idea what he was going on about. He looked over his shoulder at her and flashed a winning grin that said it all. “Those who complain the loudest win. Sometimes things surprisingly go the way you want them to if you just say something about it. No joke.”

 

***

SOMEONE rushed through the corridors of the Witch’s Council headquarters, illuminated by flickering candles far away from Elminage Academy for Gifted Witches and Wizards. “By the celestial scourge, why must I deal with this nonsense?!”

The middle-aged man wearing a black witch’s hat and long robe was in an impatient hurry. His sprint through the corridors eventually brought him before the chairman’s office where he puzzlingly knocked on the door belonging to him.

“Enter.”

Despair slammed down on him like a tidal wave at the young voice answering from within. Dear God, please allow me to leave this room in one piece, he prayed, deeply inhaling what may become his last breath.

“…Pardon the intrusion.”

Resolved to his fate, he slowly turned the knob and slunk into the room. Hands held protectively over his head, he braced himself for death—nothing happened. His behavior must’ve been quite amusing to any onlooker because bell-like laughter filled the room.

“Oh my word, why’re you so edgy?”

“Aah, uuh, no, well…I see you aren’t accompanied by That companion today.”

The man remembered being graphically attacked by a fearsome black dragon the second he entered the room just the day before.

Reclining behind the man’s desk, the boy hidden beneath a deep white hood gave his head an endearing tilt.

“Should I call for him?”

“No! You needn’t go through the trouble, please!”

“Haha! That cutie is currently in the middle of a meal anyway.”

The man tried to see what manner of person that voice, which sounded like rolling bells, belonged to under the hood, but shadows fell perfectly to obstruct his view.

Who would believe that the chairman had been overthrown by this young child who now controlled the Witch’s Council? A few months ago, the child emerged from the shadows with unprecedented techniques and overwhelming magic. Naturally, the Witch’s Council paid the child no attention at first, but the chairman shuddered at the mere memory of the consequences they went through for ignoring the boy. Ever since then he’d been used as a mere front for the boy’s antics.

“Malevolent one.”

“What’s up?” the boy responded to that title in a chipper voice.

The chairman gave his report without looking where he assumed his eyes were. “The plan is proceeding smoothly. Freelance witches from all over the world are almost entirely ours now, and the most promising ones are already detained in the council headquarters.”

“Good work.”

Gulping, the chairman restlessly linked and unlinked his fingers. He voiced the unease he couldn’t chase away. “…Is it truly all right for us to continue on this path?” He locked his gaze on the floorboards and rattled off his concerns with nervous sweat soaking his back. “Using black mana to create black magic weapons… If the masses discover what we are doing, they might execute us for making use of heretical powers. Aren’t we dipping our hands into the taboo—”

“Wizmac.”

The chairman jumped at the sound of his name. The boy had teleported right in front of him. A slender, white hand reached up and cupped Chairman Wizmac’s right cheek. Eyes darker than the deepest black depths of night glimmered under the white hood.

“It’s fine. We aren’t doing anything wrong,” the boy cooed in the sweetest voice while his irresistible powers consumed the chairman.

The image of falling into an abyss overtook Wizmac’s brain. Hundreds of hands grabbed at him, covering his mouth and limbs and tearing him into a thousand pieces.

Just when he thought he’d been pulled to the surface, the white-hooded child endearingly cocked his head. Shuddering, Wizmac held his aching head in his hands. Moans ripped from his throat.

“Aah…aaaaaaaaaahhhhh!”

“It’s all right. Before long the Witch’s Council will stand at the top of the world. And then you will be king. Or maybe emperor would be better?”

Honeyed whispers melted into his distorting mind. Rattled with ultimate bliss and excitement, Chairman Wizmac turned dilated eyes to the heavens and swore his loyalty.

“I-I live to serve your every command.”

Trembling like a newborn doe, the chairman exited the room with a deranged smile. Left alone in the office, the chuckling boy flipped through the papers Wizmac left behind.

“That’s right. There’s nothing wrong with destroying this entire rotten world. Make it fall apart until there’s absolutely no point in having some stupid Spirit Priestess…”

His hand landed on a page about a certain young man. He pulled it out with an intrigued smile.

“Now he looks usable. I think I’ll sound him out myself.”

Wind whirled through the room without warning, sending papers flying everywhere. By the time the final page hit the floor, not a single person was left in the room.

***

TWO days after Oswald ended her apprenticeship, Nichika was standing in front of Elminage’s gates at the break of dawn to depart on the next leg of her journey.

“I can’t believe you! You tricked me from the start!”

“Ow! I said I’m sorry. I couldn’t expose myself.”

Melissa, who had woken up at the crack of dawn to see her off, stopped smacking Nichika’s shoulder and puffed out her cheeks. The corners of her eyes softened and she clapped her lightly on the back.

“I never imagined you carried the huge responsibility of Spirit Priestess on your shoulders. You don’t look the part.”

“Yeah…it’s crazy that it’s me,” Nichika said wistfully, drawing a small smile from her friend.

“You are a disappointment for not noticing anything despite being close friends,” scolded an unforgiving voice from behind, erasing Melissa’s smile and causing her shoulders to jump.

“G-Grandmother…”

Nichika looked over to see the headmaster descend the last step from the castle. She didn’t look the least bit tired despite the early hour. Maybe she maintained a prim and proper demeanor twenty-four hours a day, regardless of the time or place.

Cheek twitching, Nichika asked a question to which she had already guessed the answer. “Did you possibly know I wasn’t Angelica from day one?”

“I had already heard of you from Ini, and while I can’t comment on her magic potential, the real Angelica Rubens is notorious for hating anything to do with learning.”

From the sound of it, Nichika still had a long way to go before she perfected her espionage skills. Smiling dryly at that realization, she watched as a man shrouded in gold splendor alighted from the sky in a flurry of flapping wings. It triggered a case of déjà vu that caused her to shudder.

“My sweet honey! Good morning! Isn’t it a truly fine morning? Take the day off and treat yourself to a date with me!”

“NO THANK YOUUUUUUU!” She shoved her hand in his face, stopping him from throwing himself on her in a bear hug. Melissa covered her gaping mouth with her hand.

“Love triangle flag…!”

“It’s not like that! I swear he is so not a possibility for that!” Nichika retorted and prepared herself for another ridiculous remark when Wolfie charged into their circle with impeccable timing.

“Morning! I woke up on time like a good boy today! Praise me! Praise me!”

“You even have an innocent puppy-dog type vying for your attentions?! I’m sensing a love polygon in the making…no, once you hit this number, it’s totally going in the reverse harem direction!”

“Melissa, do you count everything that’s male as a love interest?!” Nichika exasperated.

***

OSWALD watched the group’s lively interaction from atop the staircase. Surliness punctuated his expression as usual, but he sighed and descended into the entrance hall. He stealthily approached Nichika and greeted her with a snide remark.

“Obnoxious energy seems to follow you wherever you go.”

“Oswald! Good morning!”

A sharp pang surged through the man’s heart at her radiant smile. But the sorrow he felt rapidly transformed into annoyance. Where do you get off smiling like that when you’re about to say goodbye to me forever?

“…You seem to be in awfully good spirits,” he unintentionally bit out in an irate voice.

“I do? I feel pretty normal,” she replied as if it didn’t bother her one bit.

Ini put an arm around her shoulder and puffed out his chest in some theatrical show of bravado. “My empress shines brighter than the sun at all times!”

“You’re embarrassing me, so drop it already.”

Nichika grabbed Ini by the nose and thrust him aside with a straight face, yet Oswald’s frustration ballooned as the other man latched onto her hand and pulled her to his chest.

Deciding it’d be best to quickly finish his business and skedaddle out of there, Oswald clumsily held out the long object wrapped in a white cloth he had been holding.

“Here.”

Nichika accepted it with both hands and carefully moved the cloth aside, revealing a three-foot long staff. A round pedestal sat in place of a tip on the golden staff. She tilted her head when saw it. The essential pedestal looked empty and incomplete. Knowing how she’d interpret it, Oswald explained its use to her.

“Staffs amplify magic for witches and wizards. Master and I adjusted this one. You normally insert a magic stone in the pedestal, but the magic orb is a better fit for you.”

“Like this?”

When she removed the magic orb from her belt and brought it near the pedestal a magnetic force pulled it into place.

“When not in use, the staff automatically shrinks.”

“Wow!”

There was a sudden flash of light and the staff shrunk until only the pedestal was left. Now she didn’t have to worry about it getting in her way. She rolled it over in her hands and studied every inch of it, trying to figure out what the trick was.

“Ooh,” Ini uttered with a nostalgic expression, stopping his clinginess to admire the staff. “Now that’s nostalgic. Isn’t that Yuna’s staff?”

“Yuna’s staff?” Nichika looked over at Ini who was confirming his suspicions with Headmaster Grindieda.

“I’m positive that’s it. You kept it preserved at this school?”

“Yes. Several years ago I tracked it down to a pawn market and bought it. It’s a pity that it fell into the hands of a human who didn’t know its value.”

“Hmm. I see. I believe Yuna left that on the surface world after fulfilling her duties… But I see it had been passed around quite a bit in the time since.”

Melissa, who had been listening quietly up until that point, couldn’t keep her thoughts to herself any longer. She cried out in a loud voice as she checked out the item in Nichika’s hands.

“Oh my spirits! Is this for real? Isn’t that the rusted hunk of metal that was dangling in the trophy case?!”

Headmaster Grindieda shot a warning look at her granddaughter’s rude outburst. “My apprentice and I spent two whole days polishing it. Do not call a legendary staff a rusted hunk of metal,” she instructed with a barbed edge to her voice.

“I get where you’re coming from, but you’re asking the impossible expecting anyone to think of that junk as having once been Goddess Yuna’s staff—Ah! Sorry. I’ll keep my mouth shut. I won’t say another word!” Melissa rolled back on her heels and away from her grandmother’s pointed glare.

Nichika smiled at her and spun the surprisingly light staff in her hands. “Looks like all I have to do for now is concentrate the flow of mana into the staff… Mm…yep… I think I can activate it easier than before. Thank you, Headmaster.”

“Your thanks is unnecessary. I merely passed the staff on to its rightful owner,” the headmaster slightly tripped over her words before the girl’s unadorned smile. Though she didn’t show it, she was worried.

Given she had been assigned the grand duty of saving the world, it was only natural for her to seek greater recompense. Yet the child demanded neither status nor honor, but rather gave her thanks. Was it truly all right to entrust Yuna’s staff to such a girl?

I shouldn’t doubt her, because this is the child Ini saw outstanding potential in. He can’t be wrong. I hope. Driven by that thought, Headmaster Grindieda grabbed Nichika by the shoulders and advised her about the journey ahead.

“Heed my warning, child, you mustn’t summon forth the staff more than absolutely necessary. You never know what evildoers are after you both.”

“O-Okay. I’ll be…careful?”

“However, do not hesitate in times of danger. Offense is the greatest defense. Don’t wander around at night if you can help it. Blast suspicious people away with fire. Proper magic comes from proper sleep and eating. Also—”

“Grandmother, you aren’t sending her on a child’s errand. Sheesh,” Melissa interceded on Nichika’s behalf though she understood where her grandmother was coming from.

Something about her school friend who had a good head on her shoulders but a lack of common sense certainly made her someone you couldn’t help worrying about. Tamping down the desire to join her grandmother in mothering her, Melissa turned to Nichika to see her off with a smile.

“Be careful out there, Angeli—that’s not your name is it?”

Oh yeah, I haven’t told her my real name yet. Nichika firmly grabbed hold of Melissa’s right hand.

“My name is Nichika. Thanks for helping me out with a lot of stuff. You’re the first friend I’ve made since coming to this world. I was so happy to meet you. I’ll definitely come back to school once I fulfill my duty. Work hard toward achieving your dreams too.”

“Of course I will…!”

She swore she wouldn’t cry but the tears didn’t listen to reason. At least they weren’t the sole product of sadness, but also the joy of finding companionship in a new friend.

The last person to step up to Nichika was Oswald. He pressed a pouch into her hand and explained the contents in a clerical voice.

“Candy to suppress your condition. I created them in a hurry so there are only twenty. I’ll send Char after you with another batch before you run out.”

“Thanks.” Nichika gladly accepted the pouch and looked straight into his eyes. Neither reluctance nor regret shone there, invoking an odd sense of loneliness within Oswald.

He forced a half smile and spoke to bury those unnecessary feelings. “That’s…right. You no longer need…”

“Hm?”

You no longer need me. He swallowed the rest of that comment as it didn’t fit his character. I knew that. This should be what I always wanted. And yet— Oswald shook his head, stopping himself from thinking further. A sad smile pulled at his lips as he rested his hand on her head.

“Nah, it’s nothing. This is really the end for us. Is there anything else you want? How about a goodbye kiss?” he teased, but before he could make a move, she tugged on his hand.

Nichika’s lips drew an arc. The voice he heard spill from those lips felt very precious for some reason he didn’t understand himself.

“There’s just one more thing.”

“Nichika?”

In the bright morning sunlight, a smile blossomed on her face like a sunflower. The chirping birds and whooshing wind disappeared as if someone had flipped a switch so that she was all he could hear.

“I want you.”

Oswald’s face in that moment was truly a sight to see. Eyes bulging, unsaid words lodged in his throat, he froze with his mouth hanging open. But Nichika’s carefree smile brought him back to earth. Flustered, he tried to pull his hand free of hers and rambled in a voice that betrayed his rare panic.

“Y-You can’t…have me. You heard them, too. I’m not worthy of traveling with the great Spirit Priestess—”

“What they say has nothing to do with us. They can go to hell for all I care. Because regardless of what the world thinks or says, ‘Witch Oswald’ is my dear, irreplaceable friend.”

Nichika captured his hand once more and dragged him from the shady staircase into the bright morning sunlight.

The blinding light dazzled him. Through his squinting he made out Nichika’s reassuring smile.

“If you have the power to destroy the world, then you have the power to save it, too,” she asserted, confidence ringing from her every word. “I want to prove that to the world. No, I will prove it. So please, come with me!”

The rest of what she said reverberated through Oswald, shaking him to his core. It was an absurd pipe dream she spoke of. A man who has become loathed by the world, saving it? Ridiculous nonsense. He shook his head and looked to the group of people behind him to set the girl and her wild fantasies straight.

“……”

He was struck speechless by the reactions he found there. Grindieda was sighing like she had long since given up on trying to dissuade the girl, and her granddaughter was blushing wildly beside her. Wolfie was—sound asleep, but even that obnoxious birdbrain Ini was grinning away so much it completely threw Oswald off.

“…What’s going on here?” Oswald seethed.

Shrugging, Ini walked over, his golden wings sparkling under the sunlight. “Even I am not immune to the sobbing pleas of my sweet empress.” He plucked a feather from his glimmering wings and inserted it into the chest pocket of Oswald’s black coat. “I ordain you as a member of this mission. Do your job well.”

“…Huh?”

Abandoning Oswald to his unanswered questions, Ini enthusiastically announced his plans to the group. “With that said and done, I must spread the word far and wide about the holy party traveling with beautiful, glowing golden feathers in their clothes! Your reputation will bounce back if we spread rumors of a holy maiden who has taken up the mantle of Spirit Priestess traveling with her manservant to save the world! Yes sirree, that sounds like a plan to me! Why, I’ll name your party the ‘Arcanshiel DE Spirit Search Corps ☆!’”

“Increasing their public image is a fine idea, but you would be wise to pick another name,” Grindieda coolly pointed out. She then turned to her apprentice with the same stern mask. “There you have it.”

“There I have what?!”

“I was resolutely against it until the bitter end, but her determination was unshakeable. She laid down the law by threatening not to undertake this journey if you were not with her.”

Her negotiation tactics exposed by the headmaster, Nichika’s cheeks burned redder than her mantle and she dipped her head. “I didn’t go that far… Okay, maybe I did.”

“I was wondering what great disaster had brought the girl flying into my room in the dead of night.”

“Don’t say anymore!”

A rare curve turning up her lips, Headmaster Grindieda turned her clever rose-brown eyes on her wayward apprentice. “Your bad reputation might improve slightly if you assist the Spirit Priestess during her travels,” she advised in a gentle voice lacking her usual harshness. “I have decided to cast my bets on that possibility.”

In a world where no one ever said what they meant and everything had a treacherous double meaning, his master’s unfiltered honesty shook Oswald to the core. Is she saying she’s willing to trust me once more? Me, the man who rewarded her good grace and instruction with betrayal?

Her trust was both freeing and heavily binding. There was nothing left to stop him—except for himself. He couldn’t take that defining step forward.

If he was going to be really honest with himself, he was scared. To this day, he lived in the shadows avoiding the light as best he could. He believed that was a part of the job, and it suited his personality just fine. But officially joining the Spirit Priestess would force him into the limelight.

It’s not that he didn’t want to. But he had committed far too many crimes to thoughtlessly jump at the dream dangling before him. Restore his reputation? Wasn’t it too late for redemption?

Nauseating sweat trickled down the back of his neck. How many of the people here would survive if this ever reached THAT man’s ears? Oswald opened his mouth to make excuses, but the girl beat him to it.

“I won’t regret it.” Confidence burning in her eyes, she gave him a reassuring nod. Her dainty hands wrapped around his and she pulled him away from the abyss of unnecessary, depressing thoughts.

“Let’s do this together, Oswald!”

***

THOSE remaining at Elminage watched the Spirit Priestess party descend the hill into town while waving back at them. Once they were out of sight, they could finally openly talk about them. Headmaster Grindieda folded her arms at her chest and spoke in exasperation about her apprentice.

“Good heavens, I am utterly disappointed in my apprentice’s cowardice.”

“Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaah! My sweet Nichika!” Ini wailed at a deafening volume and sunk to his knees. “We are to be apart for a short duration once more! YOU ARE ALWAAAYSSSSSS in my THOUGHTSSSSSS!”

Watching him aroused Melissa’s curiosity. “Lord Ini, Lord Ini! Are you really okay with what just happened? Those two are definitely going to get chummier as things go on, you know?”

Her word choice made it sound like she was worried, but her tone gave away her hope for things to develop further between her friend and her eccentric master. Yet the man embodying all things gold cut down her hopes without a second thought.

“Nah, that won’t ever happen.”

“Why not?”

Grindieda shot a warning look at her granddaughter who puffed out her cheeks like a pouting child. But, secretly worried about her apprentice and his misconduct, she repeated the question.

“Why not, Ini?”

“The reason lies with the deep darkness within her. Though she doesn’t realize it herself,” Ini chortled as he rose to his feet and elegantly swept his hair aside. “Besides, priestesses must be pure at all times. That man isn’t a match for her.”

Melissa looked completely unconvinced, but then she suddenly took off running in the direction of the school. “We can’t be wasting time talking here! I have to go around telling everyone about the savior priestess traveling with a witch carrying a golden feather!”

“Ooh, good thinking. We should support them the best we can since we can’t go with them.”

“The Witch’s Council shouldn’t be able to get their hands on Oswald as easily now that he’s become a member of the Savior Priestess’s party.”

Thunderstruck by her grandmother’s nonchalant comment, Melissa skidded to a halt before the castle gates.

“Oh my spirits!” she shouted, glancing over her shoulder at the hill.

“What now? You are being improperly loud,” her grandmother sharply scolded.

Excitement getting the better of her, Melissa talked at lightning speed, spitting in the process. “I just remembered! Didn’t you call that man in all black Oswald? That’s right! It’s him!”

The déjà vu she’d been experiencing since she first saw him in the pub finally had an answer. Refreshed, she drew on the answer from her memories.

“I saw his face hung up in the trophy room alongside the other students who have gone down in Elminage history as top student for their year! I memorized his face because he was otherworldly in the good looks department!”

She failed to put the two together because there was such a huge disparity between the gently smiling butler and the young boy who turned his ice-cold eyes toward the camera, but they were too similar for it to be anyone else.

“But in all the years he attended Elminage, only the year of his graduation did someone else unseat him from his top student spot.” Melissa tilted her head at that oddity. “Did something happen that year, Grandmother?”

Whether she liked it or not, memories of that time flooded Grindieda’s mind. Expression stiff, she quietly replied, “…It’s true Oswald surpassed every record in the Witch’s Department since his enrollment, securing excellent marks every step of the way. You can safely call him a prodigy.”

“Then why?”

“He made a grave mistake during his graduation exam.”

The incident led to him dropping out of school right before graduation. After that, he hid within the Forest of Fathomless Deception and had become a heretical Rogue Witch.

For how smart he was, he should have never been so arrogant. No, perhaps his arrogance stemmed from his genius. Had she spoiled him for those exact same reasons? The incident had happened years ago, and still she couldn’t forget the eye-watering stench of rot that hit her when she opened the door to his laboratory. Nor did a day pass where she didn’t hear the first cries of that ghastly lump of meat squirming in the iron pot.

“That child stained his hands with the greatest taboo we are to never even speak of.”

“You don’t mean…”

Every young future witch to enroll in Elminage had three fundamental rules pounded into them from day one:

1. Every deal, once made, must be fulfilled no matter how trivial.

2. One must never forget to respect the spirits.

3. Never try to bring back the dead.

“Oswald attempted to revive the dead.”

***

AFTER leaving Elminage Academy for Gifted Witches and Wizards behind, the group headed for the town gate at the bottom of the hill. Wolfie, who’d been sleeping like a log, happily frolicked ahead of the other two, the golden feather from Ini bouncing on top of his head.

“Lookie look! I got a pretty gold feather too!” he exclaimed, alternating looks between his master and Nichika with a smile that showed his pink gums. “Now everything’s back to normal!”

Nichika stole a peek at Oswald. “Rather than being back where we started, it’s more like Oswald is in my employ now, right?” she confirmed, her voice brimming with hope.

As far as she understood, Ini and Grindieda, the Spirit Priestess Project sponsors, released Oswald to her as an escort. Cheeks twitching at her question, Oswald shoved her head from behind. Nearly falling on her face, she tripped two steps forward and narrowly caught her balance.

“Ooph!”

“Don’t be silly. We’re back to being master and apprentice. The world will stop rotating before I serve under you.”

“What the heck? You’re the loser who one-sidedly ended our contract! Are you implying you’ll never stand on equal footing with me no matter what I do?” she argued vehemently.

Wow, it’s been a long time since we last bickered like this…

“I’ll gladly do so the day you surpass me at something,” he haughtily declared before she could revel in nostalgia.

“Oh my word! Do you ever stop looking down on people?! If you’re going to act like this, I’d prefer you to switch back to butler mode!”

“Your wish is my command, my lady.”

Nichika’s careless remark in the heat of the moment flipped a switch in her master. He caught her right hand in his, stopping her from moving forward, and reverently kissed her knuckles.

“I shall accompany you to the ends of the world as long as you so desire it. As I live and breathe, I shall become your hands and feet. For my greatest joy in life is to offer myself up to you and die for your sake, my lady.”

“—!”

His passionate oath set her body on fire and her cheeks flushing. The gentle brunette butler had his own appeal, but flattering her as the frigid witch in all-black had a destructive power on a whole other level. She came dangerously close to saying, “please do!” and had to convince herself it was all an act.

“S-Stop it! I can’t stand it! Butler mode is too much for me!”

“It is a butler’s job to look after his incompetent mistress.”

“Don’t insult me in that buttered-up tone!”

“My lady could be the model for idiocy.”

“I asked you to quit it already!” she snapped at him for layering his disparaging remarks in flattery.

“Ha!” he snorted and released her hand from his grip, finally returning to his usual demeanor. “Don’t get your panties in a twist. I’d rather die than go through that stifling farce again.”

“Good. I hope you never do…” Nichika concentrated on quieting her rollicking heart.

“Ah,” Wolfie uttered in the middle of watching them with a toothy smile. “I just remembered that someone who knows where the next Great Spirit is will being showing us the way there. That’s what the headmaster said.”

“Really? Are they waiting for us somewhere?”

“Yep. She said they’ll be waiting for us at the town’s gate wearing the same gold feather as me.”

Then they should be able to see the person soon. The trio swept their gaze around the area and stopped when they spotted someone waiting a little ways ahead.

“Oooh! You’re here. You’re here. You’re late!”

Unkempt dark-green hair came into view first. A gold feather glittered in the chest pocket of the young man with snakelike yellow eyes.

***

……

A woman living in the neighborhood reported a fire in the corner of a city apartment early last night.

The fire was extinguished approximately two hours later, but the entire apartment believed to be the source of the fire completely burnt down.

The woman (38) living alone in the studio apartment was out at the time and has been reported safe. The police are investigating the cause of the fire, which is currently believed to be due to a short circuit……

……

Next in the news……