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The Witch shrugs.
[Therefore… Well, I don’t want to use something like that as much as I can. I’m so tired after using that ability that I end up sleeping for a few days, you know?]
…Then, Pigimaru can’t be categorized as my familiar huh.
[I didn’t make that magical contract with him. It’s not that he’s my familiar though, it’s just that he’s my very important partner and my precious comrade.]
From inside my robe…
[Pinyyuuu~♪]
—He happily purred.
[Fuuunnn… Then, what about the horse over there with the Intermediary Crystal on it?]
Intermediary Crystal?
Does she mean that thing on the back of her neck…?
[Do you know anything about Slei? We found her egg back in the Mills Ruins, and she hatched out of this egg after we entered the Demon Zone…]
Yes, I was originally planning to ask her about Slei as well.
Since an opportunity to ask appeared, let’s ask her now.
[I don’t know if it’s a Divine Beast or a Magical Beast, but that child is a monster that even this mistress doesn’t know… Say, do you mind if I examine her a bit later?]
[…As long as Slei doesn’t mind and she isn’t in danger.]
With that, the Witch’s mood got a little better.
She crossed her legs again.
[Thank you.]
…She seems to be in a good mood, but she’s still not smiling.
[Ara?]
The Witch’s gaze turned to the side.
Her gaze shifted towards Liz.
[Ah… My bad.]
It was the Witch who apologized.
[Even though you came from the south, all of you still went through the Demon Zone. You must have been tired, both physically and mentally.]
Liz nervously shrank down her body.
There were some tears blotting out from the corner of her eyes.
I see.
The Witch noticed that Liz is trying to stifle a yawn huh.
[Ah—– U- Umm…]
[You don’t have to apologize, Liz.]
I interrupted Liz’s words.
[You’re just trying to stifle a yawn after all. You’re not being rude. Also, well… I guess you’ll have to work on that apologizing hobby of yours too.]
With her legs completely stretched out, the Witch nodded.
[That’s right. How pitiful… That child has become so sensitive that she has become more likely to listen to other people.]
With both of her hands, the Witch lifted her body from the sofa.
[Her self-esteem and self-affirmations are pretty much brought really down… It’s disgusting to imagine how she must have been treated.]
[For this reason, I wanted her to take some time in this place and heal herself.]
With her body still half-rising, the Witch stared at me with her half-closed eyes.
[Somehow, the way you speak makes me feel like you are leading my thoughts without me realizing it…]
[You just feel so, right? Then, it may have been that it’s simply your imagination.]
The Witch pouted her lips.
[…Do you mind if I ask something? How old are you now?]
As I honestly answered her question, the Witch frowned in response.
Incidentally, she’s still in her half-rising posture until now.
[…Are you kidding me?]
[In that case, how old are you?]
[This mistress has lived multiple times as long as you do.]
[Then, should I respect you since you’re many times my senior? In that case, if you want me to speak with you with honorifics—–]
[Don’t make me laugh, there’s no need for that at all. Listen here, Touka. Even if someone has lived for a long time, those amount of years you’ve been piling up weren’t that great at all if you had wasted it on pointless things, right?]
That’s what she thinks huh.
“Fuunnn…” I snorted.
[I’m glad to know one of your thoughts. Now then… From what you said earlier, is it alright for us to assume that you’ve arranged for a place we could sleep in for the time being?]
[It’s as you say… Alright then. All of you should get some rest too.]
The Witch finally shifts her half-rising posture and sat upright on the sofa.
Then, she called a golem and gave it some instructions.
[Ah, just so you know, this mistress can’t provide a single room for each of the four of you, okay? I only have one guest room. One pair could clean up another room Erika used to rest in and use that room for yourselves.]
[That’s already enough for us.]
[After that—-]
The Witch raises her index finger.
[Both of those rooms only have one bed. Therefore, you can decide among yourselves whether you’re sleeping together or one of you wants to sleep on the floor.]
As expected, it would be better if Eve and Liz were to sleep together.
In that case…
[…………]
I glanced towards Seras.
Nod, nod
Seras nodded twice towards me.
…I guess I could consider that as an acknowledgement.
[Then, Seras and I will be sharing your old room.]
Chapter 163
Erika Anarveil
Putting down my luggage, I leaned my back against the wall of the room.
[Somehow, I think we finally get to catch our breaths.]
[Yes, you’re right. However…]
The room we were staying in was quite narrow.
No… Accurately speaking, it’s just that there’s not much space for us to step on.
There’s a lot of furnishings lying about on the floor.
Therefore, it can be said that the room itself was originally quite spacious.
Among the things that were taking up space, I could see some large furniture among them.
However, the most common among these items were the dust-covered medium-sized furnishings and some other stuff smaller than them.
An unused room must have become a storage room…
Well, this happens quite a lot.
The space near the bed from the door was barely crowded.
Therefore, there was plenty of room for us to place our stuff in.
It seems that it wouldn’t matter that much if we don’t clean up and just sleep on the bed.
[…………]
However, I just need a little more space for me to sleep on the floor.
[There’s no point in complaining about this… The only requirement given to us to use this room is that we need to clean this up. I’ll check with the Witch about how we were going to clean this room later, so let’s clean up as much as we can before the day ends. Is that alright with you, Seras?]
Seras is staring at the bed for some time.
Before long though, she replied.
[Yes.]
I’m already used to sharing a room with Seras.
This isn’t the only night we spent together.
We’ve already slept together in the same room over and over again.
That’s why we’re not particularly repulsing each other.
…Well, Seras herself may be conscious of it though.
It’s probably because of that thing that happened earlier.
Then, Slei laid down on that empty space near the bed.
Her first form is more space-saving, so it seems like she managed to secure some space to sleep on.
[Pakkyuurrriii~…]
As expected, she’s really worn out.
However, Slei could finally take a break now.
I gently brushed her back.
[Sleep tight.]
[Pakkyyuuunnn… ♪]
On the other hand though…
[Pigggiii~♪ Poyyooonn~!]
Pigimaru jumped onto the be
d.
He looks really happy as he’s bouncing up and down on the bed.
[Pinyyuuuiii~♪]
It seems like he had completely recovered his energy.
Pigimaru and Slei are going to be in the same room with me for the time being.
As for the Witch…
“…Don’t cause any ruckus at night, okay?”
I don’t know what to think about when she said that.
It seems that she thought that Seras and I were in “that kind of relationship”.
Well, it isn’t surprising that she saw it that way.
[Touka-dono…]
[Hmm? What’s wrong, you’re suddenly acting strange.]
[Ummm, I want to discuss with you about our bedtime…]
I made a stop gesture with my hand and walked over towards Seras.
I approached very close towards her, that others wouldn’t know whether our bodies were touching each other or not.
I then brought my mouth close to her ear.
[Eh? U- Ummm—–]
[For the time being, when you’re speaking at a normal volume, please assume that we’re being eavesdropped on. The Witch may seem trustworthy, but we still don’t know her that well yet. It’s just that if it’s something that could be heard by others, it’s fine for you to speak in your normal volume.]
[Hahhh—–]
Hiding her voice, Seras let out a sigh next to my ear.
[Understood.]
It’s still too early for us to let down our guard.
[So, what’s that thing you want to talk about?]
[Eh? Ah… You’re probably right about that.]
[Then, let’s talk about it later. Is that alright?]
[Ah— Yes.]
Seras’ ears turned red.
…I got too close to her huh.
Taking a step back, I return back to talking normally.
[…But well, I’m glad that the Witch of Taboos is a softhearted person.]
Elegantly aligning her legs, Seras sat down on the edge of the bed.
[Y- You’re right. I had imagined that she would be more like a person exuding a majestic atmosphere that made her hard to approach.]
[Well, I’m sorry that I don’t exude that majestic atmosphere that makes it hard for the other to approach.]
[Hyaahh—]
Both of Seras’ shoulders jolted in surprise.
The Witch was leaning against the doorframe of the room.
Apparently, Seras didn’t notice her because the door was behind her back.
Incidentally, I was just about to call out to the Witch when she appeared.
Whether she’s going to try to make excuses or she’s going to apologize to her…
Seras flusteredly opened her mouth.
[U- Umm—-]
[In short, what Seras means is that you’re quite friendly.]
[Fuuunnnn… Is that a compliment?]
[I think so.]
Seeking towards her agreement, Seras nodded.
[Yes, I don’t have any reason for me to speak ill about Witch-dono after all. However…]
Seras stands up and turns towards the Witch.
She then kneels down and bows her head.
[I sincerely apologize if my words offended you.]
[Seras, you…]
The Witch relaxedly crosses her arms.
[Have people been telling you that you’re “boring because you’re too sincere”? Or perhaps, while you’re being told behind your back, you yourself vaguely know about it and have been holding unto this problem within yourself…?]
[…………]
She understood her personality huh.
Seras turns her head towards me.
[Touka-dono.]
Her eyes looked sad as she said that.
“As I thought, that must have been the case?”
And…
For instance…
“I had so much fun talking alone with Seras.”
If I could just say that without triggering her ability to detect lies…
It’s possible that this Princess Knight is surprisingly easy to capture.
[Didn’t I tell you that your sincerity is also your strong point? I’m well aware about your strong points. You just have to be patient with it yourself.]
[Ah, ummm——- Yes.]
Seras looked a bit happy as she nodded her head.
I looked towards the Witch.
[Although, you also came just in time. I also wanted to talk to you a bit more.]
She herself came here, so I didn’t have to go out.
[That’s also what I thought, and that’s why I came to visit you now.]
The Witch looks towards the opposing hallway.
That should have been where Eve and Liz’s room should be.
[There are some things that are hard to talk about when those two are around, aren’t they?]
Therefore, she decided to cut off our conversation for the time being and split our rooms.
It’s to separate our group from Eve and Liz.
[Well, there are still some things that we haven’t talked about yet. Moreover… It has been a long time since I’ve talked with someone from the outside, so Erika may have been more exhilarating than I thought. I may have been holed up in this place, but that doesn’t mean I dislike other people’s company.]
[Do you mind if I call you Erika?]
[I don’t particularly mind. Incidentally, Erika isn’t actually my real name but… Well, call me as you want.]
Then, Seras looks a little puzzled.
It’s probably because she didn’t manage to judge that as a lie when she named herself as Erika.
[This mistress is also the same as Lizbeth, I originally only had Anarveil as my name. However, look… It’s quite long, isn’t it? I also couldn’t find any good names to abbreviate my name into. Therefore, I just turned Anarveil into my surname, and took up the name Erika as it was shorter. Well… I just took it from the records of the names of Heroes from Another World back then… I decided on this name because I just like the sound of it. You got a problem with that?]
The Witch recognizes “Erika” as her “real name”.
I see.
So, cases like these weren’t judged as a lie huh.
[Ah… By the way, I sometimes call myself “this mistress” as a remnant to how I call myself before I have taken upon the name “Erika”. I always try to call myself Erika now, but I sometimes inadvertently call myself “this mistress”. But, I mean…”this mistress” sounds kind of old-fashioned, doesn’t it?]
[By any chance… Even the idea of tying up your hair into a twintail with those ribbons, you also went along with that after you got your new name?]
When I asked so, the Witch—- Erika touched her twintails.
For the first time, I could feel insecurity oozing out from her face.
[I thought that I looked young wearing it… As expected, does it not suit me…?]
[It doesn’t suit you.]
[Uugghhh… You’re quite blunt, aren’t you…?]
She glared at me with her half-closed eyes.
However, I can’t feel any hatred or anger in those eyes.
Her shoulders drooping down, Erika held out her hand towards her ribbon.
And then…
Fwwiiisshhh
She started taking off her ribbon.
[But well, I’m glad that I could hear the honest opinions of others.]
Her eyebrows lowering, Erika lets out a sigh.
[Taking care of these were starting to get kind of annoying anyway…]
The ribbons on each of her twintails were untied.
Erika’s long black hair drooped down on her waist.
Her hair has quite the volume.
Erika then tied the unfurled ribbons to a string on her waist.
[As my age began rising, I feel like I need to do something that makes
me feel like I was younger… I guess it just didn’t work.]
That is to say…
Whether it’s calling yourself “Erika” or tying your hair into twintails…
It’s all just to make you look younger?
[From my point of view though, your hair looks better the way it is now.]
When she took off her ribbon, I feel like her impression changed quite a bit.
I feel like she has that majestic atmosphere that Seras has mentioned.
[What do you think, Seras? Do you think it’s better this way?]
[Eh? I just, umm… I just feel like both of those hairstyles looked quite great though.]
[You know, Erika hates those evasive answers that won’t make you take any risks.]
Seras turned despondent in response.
[My apologies…]
[For every risky things I say and do, Seras balances it out with her reliable deeds and words,]
[You’re a little too protective with your lover, aren’t you? Are you trying to show off?]
[I guess.]
Seras said “To- Touka-do—-” or something like that.
“Good Grief…” Erika said as she shrugged her shoulders.
[Well, how passionate of you.]
Even so, Erika seems to be a very talkative person.
Just as she said, she may have been starving for conversation but…
However, this is more convenient for me.
[However, it looks like your partner is quite troubled with that…]
Erika’s eyes were fixated on Seras.
[Speaking of spirits that could see through the sound of falsehoods, that’s most probably—- Sylphixia.]
The name of the wind spirit that was used by Seras.
[However, I remembered that it’s not a spirit that has been formally contracted by the Ashrain family for generations, isn’t it?]
Seras looked quite serious when she heard her.
[…So you knew huh?]
Fuunnn…
So, there’s a spirit that was formally contracted with their families huh.
[I don’t know what the circumstances were… But Seras Ashrain made a contract with a stray spirit. The reason why you were in the Holy Kingdom of Neia… is probably because you were exiled from your country for making a contract with a stray spirit huh?]
Seras stayed silent.
Erika just shook her head in response.
It looks like she’s somehow blaming herself.
[…It seems like I stepped in too far. Sorry, just forget about it. Anyway… You have the spirit that could see through lies, Sylphixia, don’t you?]
