Chapter 9

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 9

YUKI groped her way along the walls of the dark, stone corridor. All she could hear was the occasional drip of water and her breathing. Thinking the corridor was eerie enough for bats to come at her, and fear of what she should do if she came across someone had Yuki take her bow out of the archery case. She carried the assembled bow in her left hand.

Where am I?

She had walked nonstop through the winding corridors. The semicircular canals were driving her insane. She had no idea where she came from, and started wondering whether she kept taking the same path over and over again.

Is it just me, or is it freezing in here? Her right hand trailing the icy stone wall was chilled to the bone. She continued walking until she hit a dead end.

“No way.”

Would she have to turn around after coming this far?

“Should I have taken the right corridor instead?” She put her hand and forehead against the stone wall without taking a closer look at it. The cold wall felt good against her hot head, dizzied from nervously wandering around.

“Nngh…!”

“Hm?”

She heard someone. The voice was faint, and she couldn’t hear what was said, but she could tell it was male. Yuki put her ear against the stone wall. The voice sounded a little louder.

I guess people are deeper inside…. Does this wall block me from outside? Or is it actually a trap door where pressing the correct stone will lead me to the other side?

Yuki strained her eyes that had gotten used to the darkness, and pressed different sections of the stone wall. Her left hand suddenly hit something.

“Wood?” A wooden nodule was lodged vertically into the stone wall. “It’s a knob.”

Then shouldn’t it open if I push or pull on it? Maybe the other side leads to the prison. It has to. No mistake about it. Yuki yanked on the knob with all her might—it didn’t budge.

“Why? It’s got a knob. Don’t you usually pull on knobs?” She hesitated a moment, before muttering, “Nah. This is a world where princes, magic, and the like run rampant. Nothing wrong with pushing a door with a knob. Let’s do this!”

Determined, Yuki pushed on the knob with all her might. The knob locked into the stone wall and grandly fell.

“Eh? Uwaaaa!” She fell with the stone wall into a lighted room. “Ow, ow, ow…”

People were noisily chattering. Was she finally in the prison? She slowly sat up. Cells were inlayed into the walls on both sides of her, all full of people. She lifted her face and saw Isis standing right beside her, and Luca restrained by soldiers a slight distance away. Luca stared at Yuki in shock.

“Uh…what? Um?” Stunned by what was going on, Yuki did nothing as Isis picked her up. Arrows tumbled out of her opened archery case. “Whoa!”

“Like a moth flying into the flame—as they like to say. Don’t you think, Prince Lucat?” Isis held her by the waist at his side. “How unfortunate for you I quickly figured out she disappeared.” Isis’ voice was full of ecstasy.

Huh? What? Was I just caught? But why is that man captured too?

Isis cackled creepily.

Maybe he was caught attempting to free the prisoners… Isn’t this a total mess? Yuki started to panic.

“…Which means this girl, the prisoners, and Prince Lucat all belong to me. Is that all right with you?”

Huh? What does he mean I belong to him? He can’t mean that? The nasty thing pedophiles do. Is that going to happen to me? Is that what this means? Yuki despaired, imagining herself as Isis’ plaything. No! I absolutely don’t want that! Is there something, anything I can do?

Yuki racked her mind, but everything she came up with seemed pointless. She struggled in his arms, but her long skirt and mantle got in the way, hindering her movement. Aaah, geez, I can’t escape in these clothes!

She suddenly remembered why she got stuck wearing this outfit.

“And apparently that girl was actually a witch…and she viciously turned the tables on him.”

“You might not know about it, but there’s a Witch known as the Legendary Witch. She looks around ten years old and is said to have violet eyes.”

Yuki had the strange feeling everything fell silent around her. I get it. This man must have met the Legendary Witch before. And she took her revenge on him. She knew what she had to do now. Can I do it? No, I have to do it!

She inhaled deeply, and then chortled. “Hehehehe…aaaaHAHAHAHA!”

Of course, Isis and Luca stared at the cackling Yuki.

“Like a moth flying into a flame…. What you got ahold of might not be a bug. Perhaps it’s a Witch.”

Yuki peeled the mantle back from her face with the left hand still clenching her bow. She smiled complacently at Isis; he dropped her on the ground backpedaling as if Yuki had caught fire. She quickly grabbed a fallen arrow, and pulled off the entire mantle.

My introduction went okay. I can do this. I can deceive him! I will deceive him!

Yuki told her pounding heart tearing at her chest it would be okay, then smiled sadistically. “Long time no seeeee. How many years has it been, dear Isisy?”

“Eek!” Isis gasped and jumped back. “W-W-Wh-Who are you!”

“Oh my, how could you? Did you forget about me, dear Isisy? Don’t you remember these violet eyeees of mine?”

“Viol—”

“Did you forget? How cruel of you. I had such a blast playing with you toooo.”

“Play—what you did! Because of what you did! Because of that, my body is stuck this way!”

His body is stuck this way? What does he mean? The guys told me Witches use something similar to magic. Maybe he’s talking about something along those lines.

“What’s wrong with it? You’re soooo adorable this way. I love it, you know?”

I wonder whether that guy knows. Yuki looked over her shoulder at Luca smiling intrepidly. He caught onto her act.

“Hey, Lukey-poo? Don’t you think he’s adorable?”

Luca frowned for a moment, before flashing his usual wolf in sheep’s clothing smile. “Yes, I would absolutely love to see what he looks like underneath that hat.”

“Eeek!” Isis frantically clamped his hat to his head. His frightened reaction reminded Yuki of a child faced with a terrifying bully. She felt kind of bad, and utterly thrilled from the exhilaration of it all.

I’ll know if I get the hat off him?

Isis was significantly taller than Yuki. Furthermore, there was no way for her to take the hat off him when he fled at her mere approach. Vexed, she clenched her fists, her hand clasping around her bow.

I know! I can use this!

Yuki lifted her bow. She pulled back on the string and matched the arrow point to her target. My target is huge, so I can do this.

“Then, why don’t I take it off for you?” she said, firing the arrow. The arrow flew faster than Isis could crouch down, piercing the hat against the wall. Golden fox ears twitched on his head.

“……”

“……”

Luca, Yuki, and even the soldiers restraining Luca, were speechless. Isis cried and screamed as he tried to hide the ears under his hands.

“Pft! Puahahahahahahaha! So cute!”

“A-A-After what you did, everything went horrible! Even after I captured other Witches and forced them to take a look, they said although they could halt the process of transforming into a full fox, only you can cure me completely! I ran around looking for you everywhere, but couldn’t find you!”

I knew it. So this is how the Legendary Witch talks.

“Oooh my, are you dissatisfied with what a cutie patootie I made you? I think this way is far cuter than your pigheaded, disagreeable human male looks though.”

“I-I-I don’t care! Just fix me already!”

Yuki giggled then switched back to a serious expression. Isis froze.

“…Is that the right attitude to ask a favor with, I wonder?” she asked coldly.

“Ugh…” Isis gulped.

“You carried me like luggage. You treated my darling Lukey-poo like trash. And then you beg me, ‘please fix me, great one’. Isn’t that strange? Why don’t you start by making amends and release my Lukey-poo?”

“L-Let him go,” Isis ordered his soldiers. The soldiers reluctantly released Luca.

“S-See, I let him go, so revert me back to normal!”

Even if you ask me to, I can’t. I can’t fix him. So why don’t I take this as far as I can to beat some sense into him? She walked over to Isis, picking an arrow up on the way.

“Worst-case scenario I’ll just set a decoy to distract him, and open the cells myself.”

Yuki recalled what Luca told her earlier. Isn’t this the worst-case scenario? She thought absently. She calmly pulled the arrow back. “Mr. Soldier, over there. Hey, if you don’t want this man to be killed, can you do me a favor and open the prison cells?”

“Y-You LIIIIIIIIIIIIAAAAAAAAAR!” Isis bellowed.

“I haven’t lied. I’m just asking a little favor. You see, this arrow might not have a point, but it’s enough to pierce straight through your thick head, dear Isisy.” Yuki spoke as if her archery practice arrow was special to trick him.

“O-O-O-OPEN THE CELLS! OPEN THEM, I SAID! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!” a trembling Isis shouted. He fled backward to escape the arrow. Yuki approached him, keeping a set distance between them in case he regained his nerve and attacked.

Two of the bewildered soldiers raised their voices and opened the jail cells. The moment the cells opened the people inside poured out, captured the soldiers, and knocked them onto the ground. The prisoners got on top of the soldiers and kept them from moving.

Seeing the situation was now in their favor, Yuki smiled sweetly. “Hey, sweet Isisy, if you want to return to normal—why don’t you surrender?”