CH 177

Chapter 177

When Peaceful Times Cease To Exist : To The Swamp, Part 15 — The White Witch's Help

Translated by KaiesV

Edited by KaiesV

＊＊＊

And this was shortly after Alfiris was kidnapped——

「Shit, let go!」

「No! We don’t even know where it went, for the most part, you know?」

「I don’t care! I’m going to beat that snake to death, even if it takes the whole swamp!」

「Please calm down, Miranda. You can’t do that!」

「This is the only way I can stay calm, let go!!」

Lisa and Aerial desperately try to stop Miranda, who is about to leave Fairtuse’s dwelling to go look for Alfiris. Then, Fairtuse came back.

「How noisy, what are you doing here in the middle of the night?」

「Fair! Where the hell have you been!?」

「Don’t ask a lady such a wild question.」

「Don’t kid with me!」

Miranda forcefully shakes off Lisa and Aerial and takes it out into Fairtuse.

「Alfiris has just been kidnapped by a snake, you know?」

「Yeah, that’s what I asked Serpent to do. There’s nothing I can do about it here.」

「What!?」

Miranda grabs Fairtuse by the chest.

「You mean you fed Alfiris to that?」

「I told you it’s not… damn it, listen when someone’s talking!」

The irresistible Fairtuse pinched the pressure point on Miranda’s elbow, and the shock to her arm caused her to involuntarily release her hand.

「Urgh!」

「Oh, dear. I’m an old lady, so you might want to tone it down a bit.」

「This isn’t the time for this!」

「Haah. But when I see you get angry for others like that, you’ve grown up a bit. Compared to the days when you were just befriending that Elrain boy.」

「Why are you bringing that…」

Miranda was also a bit frightened by the sudden mention of her old lover’s name. In Miranda’s mind, it was also a heartbreak.

「Don’t worry, Serpent will take good care of that girl. If that doesn’t work, there’s nothing we can do anywhere in the world. At least we don’t have time to make that kind of move now.」

「What do you mean?」

「Tonight is a big night for that girl. If her evil thoughts doesn’t disappear by the end of the night, she will be taken over by the Cursed Mark. That’s why I took a somewhat aggressive approach.」

「Excuse me?」

This surprised Miranda. She hadn’t expected it to be that serious.

「It’s almost a miracle that she is still sane with that much stuff in her hands. She must have a very strong sense of self-control. And she must have really cared about you folks. Otherwise, she would’ve killed you all long ago, just for fun. However, it’s probably because her original personality is particularly gentle that she only showed that level of personality change when exposed to so much evil.」

「That much extent?」

「Within that extent. Did she kill any of her people?」

「Not that… but she was going to burn the forest.」

「That may be the right decision in a way. As you may have noticed, this forest is not normal. I live here because I don’t want anything to do with the world, but there’s a good reason. This is a place where evil spirits and grudges tend to accumulate. I regularly patrol the area, so it hasn’t had much of an impact, but if it hadn’t, it would be excellent soil for the creation of Archfiends. It seems that even the Church of Arnelia is unaware of the importance of this place. Even if they are aware of it, they may not be able to do anything about it. Well, I don’t think I’d come here if I liked it. So really, it’s one way to burn it down and clear the air. It’s a very aggressive move, though. She must have known it intuitively. Or maybe she’s convinced.」

「Convinced?」

Lisa asked. There is certainly much that is strange about Alfiris. It’s like when she noticed the attack of the Kunoichi, or when they’re attacked by the swamp people. Sometimes she is quicker to notice than Lisa, whose abilities have increased.

「Yeah, maybe that kid is hearing directly from the spirits.」

「From the spirits?」

「Yes. Witches and their peers can hear the voices of the spirits they’ve contracted with, and so can Jou-chan there and Aerial, right?」

「That’s true.」

Aerial nodded. Aerial knew the details of Phalanx’s death by her ability. She realized this when Winthia told her that Aerial is in a state of contract with the Wind Spirits. So the flow of the wind can be read in detail, and through the Wind Spirits, the situation in remote places can be known. However, this isn’t a panacea, and it isn’t always possible to know what you want to know when you want to know it. It depends on the whims of the spirits and the number of spirits present. In fact, in this swamp, she doesn’t hear the Wind Spirits at all.

Still, Fairtuse continues.

「Moreover, that girl probably hears the voices of the five elements, the holy, the dark, and even the tangible spirits. Hasn’t she mentioned this to you?」

「Come to think of it… but how is that possible?」

「You have the real thing in front of you, do you? But there has never been such a precedent, at least not that I know of. So I don’t know what that means, nor do I have any idea. So I’m just guessing.」

Fairtuse pauses for a moment.

「If she could hear all the spirits… it would be an excruciating pain. Spirits talk to her without regard to her situation. Think about hearing those voices at all hours of the day? You’d go crazy for sure.」

「Uh.」

「Unless you have the right guide by your side. But there’s no way there’s such a thing with that kid, who has no precedent, and I don’t think the crazy people at the Magic Association could do such a thing. But it would’ve been a little better if they had been there. What were those idiots doing? Did they leak something about astrology?」

「I don’t know…」

「Good grief, I wonder if I have to go and give him a hard time? The head of the Association, if it hasn’t changed, should be Tetrastin boy, but I’m sure he’ll still listen to me. Anyway, if you’re going to protect that girl, protect her for the long haul. What the hell is going to happen to that child and what effect will it have on those around her? At least until we know for sure.」

「I’ll do it even if you don’t ask me to.」

Miranda quickly replies. Fairtuse, seeing the look in her eyes, nodded back, perhaps a little satisfied.

「Miranda-jou-chan has started to look a little better, too. Time flies, after all. But you need to keep a tight rein on your own people.」

「? What do you mean?」

「Lanna!」

Lanna, who has been called, brings Kaede, who is bound with a rope. It looks like she was simply wrapped with a rope, but since she is bound by a witch, it is probably out of the ordinary. She also has a blindfold over her eyes with some kind of incantation painted on it, perhaps to seal her Magical Eye.

「Kaede! What in the world…」

「Come to think of it, I didn’t see her until the end yesterday…」

「This Kunoichi was going to cut off that girl’s head.」

Fairtuse states the shocking fact in a simple manner.

「In fact, when she blew Miranda away, this girl was just about to draw her little sword and pounce on her. I was the first one to notice this and restrained her. At first I thought she was an enemy, but you guys are too dumb not to notice that. I thought it was probably some kind of Mouthless thing I’d heard about, so I took her into custody and did a little memory reading, just to be sure, and found that there were orders to protect Miranda and to be willing to cut down and discard other people if necessary.」

「Wha–…」

Hearing this, Miranda’s face paled all at once. She knew Kaede was ruthless and without a mouth to hear, but Miranda never expected her to go that far.

Miranda approached Kaede and turned her face to her and asked her a question.

「Answer honestly, Kaede. Who gave that order?」

「…I can’t answer that.」

「I see, from Miliazar, huh?」

Miranda has a complicated look on her face. Miranda had somewhat imagined what Miliazar might do. But to let it go this far. Of course, it was a dangerous situation, but Miranda wondered if she could give more flexible orders.

Shaking off these thoughts, Miranda asks Kaede further.

「Then just answer the ones that don’t violate the order. You don’t have to answer questions you can’t answer.」

「Yes.」

「After me, who has the highest priority for protection?」

「Lisa-dono, Alfiris-dono, and the rest, in that order.」

「Why did you hide it from me without telling me?」

「I decided it was best to do so. I didn’t receive any instructions from Miranda-sama regarding this matter, so I made what I thought was the best decision.」

「Is it true that you tried to kill Alfiris?」

「Yes.」

「Why is that?」

「It is ordered that all those who harm Miranda-sama are to be killed. There is no exception explained there that excludes fellow travelers. Therefore, I have decided to kill Alfiris-dono as well.」

「I see…」

Miranda was shushed. This wasn’t Kaede’s fault. Perhaps Miliazar is also in the unforeseen range of events. Not even they themselves would’ve imagined that Alfiris and Miranda would fight. Kaede just faithfully carried out her orders. And Miranda was acutely aware that she was responsible for not having had sufficient discussions with Kaede. It may have been a miracle that it didn’t turn out to be serious.

This is the kind of group of people who don’t talk. She had heard about them, but she was naive. This was a situation caused by Miranda’s carelessness. Her tedious avoidance of mentoring her juniors and those around her backfired.

「Now I’ll ask you a further question. Are you willing to take my orders here?」

「Yes, I have been instructed to follow the orders of Miranda-sama on site. However, I have orders to give top priority to your safety in the event of a fire emergency, so we may not be able to accept Miranda-sama’s orders on this matter.」

「Okay, I understand. Then I’ll order Kaede to do it.」

Miranda has never been good at giving orders, or events like that. She didn’t like to make people obey her. But that was no longer the case.

「Don’t escort me from the shadows. If you are going to escort, do it fairly. We are traveling companions. Eat and sleep with us, and treat us as equals in general. And when you act as a silent partner, you must ask me first. I will not tolerate arbitrary behavior.」

「Yes, but that would mean…」

「If you want advance instructions on what to do in case of a crisis, discuss all possible situations with me in advance. That’s what we do, and that’s the duty of those who travel with us. I won’t let you do anything without my knowledge. Whatever the others, whatever the Master Bishop do, this is what I do. This is an order.」

「I understand. If that is your order, I will carry it out without fail.」

「You’re really…」

「?」

Miranda looks sad for a moment.

「I really don’t want Kaede to do this. I only want you to act that way when you think I am worthy to be protected. I don’t want anyone else to get hurt to protect me.」

「Miranda-sama…」

Kaede was at a loss for words, not knowing what to say. She had worked with orders several times before, but this was the first time anyone had ever said anything like this to her. They are pawns to be discarded. The person in front of her, however, seems to want to treat the “Mouthless” as human beings, Kaede realized.

「（She is a strange woman. But I think I can see why she is so well-liked, even among the Mouthless.）」

That is a word that Kaede should never say. But inwardly, she was beginning to understand her popularity.

「Well, now that we’ve had our discussion, I think you should head for the swamp exit.」

The silence between the two of them may have determined that the conversation is over, and Fairtuse asks everyone to leave.

「Exit?」

「Yes, that’s right. That’s where we supposed to meet up with Alfiris. If all goes well, that is. But we have to trust her, don’t we?」

「Yeah, I know… ah, but I have one serious concern.」

「What is it?」

Miranda told her about Lifeless. Maybe even that he would come after them. Hearing this story, Fairtuse groaned a little, but eventually raised her head as if she had made up her mind.

「This is… I guess it’s time for me to go out on a limb. All right. I’ll get ready to get the hell out of here.」

「Eh, why?」

「I was going to go to the Magic Association anyway, and if I did, I would need to do a lot of preparation. I can’t live peacefully here forever either, can I?」

Hearing those words, Miranda makes an apologetic face. Fairtuse saw the look on Miranda’s face and gently tapped her on the shoulder.

「Don’t worry about it. Everything is constantly changing, and it’s my turn to change. Even you, immortal as you are, have your mind change.」

「Nhn… It’s a relief to hear you say that.」

「Once we leave the swamp, I’ll activate the magic of transference to the nearest town nearby. That will make it a little harder for them to find us. It’s the least I can do.」

「No, that’s really enough. I appreciate it.」

Miranda shakes Fairtuse’s hand and expresses her gratitude.

「If you’re grateful, I’d appreciate it if you’d do two things for me.」

「?」

Miranda nodded her head, but Fairtuse smiled a little meanly.