A crowd of people appeared from the direction of the city.
The rain of arrows they fired poured down toward my location.
“Kill the witch!!!”
A cry to kill the witch echoed among the people rushing toward us from beyond.
At that moment, I entertained a fleeting thought.
Perhaps this attack was aimed not at me, but at Beatrice, who had just been in front of me.
However, the moment I saw the looks in their eyes, I couldn’t help but realize that was just wishful thinking.
Their eyes, brimming with hostility, were undoubtedly directed at me.
How dangerous was this place that they sent troops all the way from the city just to catch me?
Had they wanted me that badly?
As I pondered this bitterly, I heard Beatrice’s voice murmuring, perhaps still hidden from view.
[Hmm, it seems my darling was having a conversation with Eva.]
A chill ran down my spine at those words.
This wasn’t the time to be gloomy about the fact that they were targeting me.
If they were coming after her, it would be an even bigger problem.
Needless to say.
If Beatrice decided to act on that desire, the people here would undoubtedly meet their end.
I urgently called out to Beatrice, who was somewhere nearby.
“Beatrice… don’t lay a hand on those people.”
[Hmm, is that a warning? Or a request, perhaps?]
Beatrice muttered in a teasing tone.
I urgently pleaded, convinced that I had to somehow prevent a catastrophe.
“…Please, Bea.”
Though it was against my nature, I even uttered the affectionate nickname she had wanted me to call her.
At that, she let out a giggle, as if finding it amusing.
[Hehe. You’re going so far as to save the humans attacking you, huh? You really are peculiar. Well, if Eva says so, I might just comply.]
Was this the right choice?
As I sighed in relief at having prevented a potential disaster from occurring, Beatrice murmured again.
[By the way, aren’t arrows flying towards us?]
“……I know.”
With that, I raised my hand to the sky and unleashed a burst of flames.
The flames, intensified by my witch powers, dyed the air a brilliant red and incinerated the arrows mid-air.
As the rain of arrows met their end in my powerful flames, I noticed the archers hesitate.
Then, someone among them shouted.
“There’s no reason to be afraid that the attack has been blocked!”
A voice urging others not to fear.
At the familiar sound, I looked toward the source and saw an elderly man with long silver hair and pointed ears shouting among the crowd.
It was a face I recognized.
If my memory served me correctly, he was the Elder of Astra I had seen while staying at Sylvia’s mansion.
Being attacked by someone whose face I knew was quite unsettling.
I frowned, watching as they readied their bows again.
“Prepare for another salvo—”
“Wait, wait! Please stop! I don’t intend to fight…!!”
I hurriedly raised my arms, signaling that I had no intention of engaging in a fight as the Elder prepared to give the order.
Whether my plea was heard, he immediately signaled the troops to halt.
Considering they had attacked me on sight, it seemed he was at least willing to negotiate.
Fortunate for me.
The Elder, having momentarily stopped the assault, stared at me and murmured, a hint of curiosity in his eyes.
“You say you don’t intend to fight… I was worried you might be one of those who burn everything around them indiscriminately, but you seem capable of communication. Hoho, what a relief.”
Seeing him smile with apparent relief gave me a glimmer of hope.
Perhaps we could resolve this through conversation.
“Now I finally understand Sylvia’s actions. Being still a child, it makes sense she could be so easily deceived by someone like you.”
Yet his following words extinguished that hope entirely.
Easily deceived, he said?
I, who had felt some relief moments ago, stared at Elder with wide, shocked eyes at his words.
Then, our eyes met.
His gaze, filled with hostility as unwavering as before.
“Truly fortunate indeed. Now I know that Sylvia didn’t make an irretrievable mistake, so I can fight without concern.”
The reason he considered it fortunate wasn’t that I could communicate with him, but simply that he could understand Sylvia’s mistake by looking at me.
As he muttered with a face devoid of worry about anything else, he drew a sword from his waist.
He aimed the drawn sword directly at me.
What I felt wasn’t just simple hostility but a murderous intent beyond that.
It was then I realized how large my misunderstanding had been.
The option of resolving this through conversation had never existed in the first place.
The reason they had come here was solely to take me down.
The Elder pointed his sword at me, his voice ringing out with conviction.
“Astra! There is a nefarious witch here who has deceived our future, Sylvia, with her vile actions!”
“B-But I’m not!!!”
I shouted in rebuttal, but it seemed my voice didn’t reach him as he continued to cry out.
“Astra! The witch who stole our homeland is right here!”
“It’s different!!! I… don’t have anything like that…!!”
I shouted with all my might, but my voice couldn’t reach the people who had already amassed their hatred.
[As expected, it’s no different from before.]
Beyond Beatrice’s murmurs, I heard another voice.
“Astra! It is time to avenge our grievances against the witch!!!”
“Waaaaah!!!”
With their shouts, the archers who had pulled their swords began to charge at me.
“Kuh…!”
The mob rushing at me.
I created a massive barrier of flames between us to block their charge.
With no way to stop them through conversation, my intention was to buy some time to escape.
The flames were so formidable that they wouldn’t dare to cross, giving me enough time to get away.
I was preparing to flee, but—
“Grahh!!!”
“Ugh…?!”
I couldn’t help but stop in surprise at the Elder’s actions.
How could one not be shocked?
It was one thing to dare charge at the wall of flames that lay before him like a moth to a flame.
I hadn’t considered that he might actually dare to jump into the flames I created.
Such an act would undoubtedly result in severe injury or even death.
I had to extinguish the flames with all my might, leaving no room for escape.
As a result, rather than running away, I inadvertently opened the way for him to rush in.
“Die, witch!!!”
The Elder was the first one to leap at me.
Simultaneously, a barrage of arrows flew toward me.
Dodging the Elder’s attack or the arrows wasn’t difficult.
But the real issue was he was solely focused on attacking me, disregarding the arrows flying behind him.
At this rate, it was only a matter of time before he was struck by an arrow, even if I dodged.
“This crazy old man…!”
Did he intend to share the same fate? Seeing him disregard his life, I gritted my teeth, deflecting his sword with one hand while using the other to burn the arrows flying at him from behind.
Surprised by my actions, the Elder glared at me, unable to find the right words.
Yet his thoughts weren’t my concern; I felt angry enough to shout out loud at his reckless behavior.
“Are you insane?! You need to care about your own life instead of mine! What on earth are you doing!!”
“…You care for an old man like me, despite being a witch. Truly impressive if it is acting.”
The Elder murmured while looking at me.
“Are you still pretending to be close with Sylvia?”
“I’m not pretending…! Sylvia is, Sylvia is my precious—”
“Sylvia was put in a very difficult position because she helped you escape. If it hadn’t been for luck, she could have faced the gallows.”
“What…?!”
At those words, my heart sank.
Sylvia? Facing execution?
Because she helped me escape?
As I froze at this shocking news, the Elder’s voice continued.
“To ensure Sylvia doesn’t face punishment, we came here. I am willing to forfeit my life as long as we can defeat you. However, if we fail to fell you, even if I am exempt from punishment, Sylvia will live the rest of her life as someone who helped a witch.”
“Ah…”
“Do you understand? Your very existence is poison to Sylvia. If you truly care for her…”
The Elder’s sword approached me.
“For her sake, die.”
I grimaced, blocking his blade with mine.
I hadn’t thought about it.
That Sylvia might suffer for trying to help me.
And recognizing that meant that my other friends who helped me might also be in dire straits.
I was overwhelmed with shock.
It wasn’t just because I was labeled a witch.
Simply by existing, the people I cherished were suffering.
It was as if someone had delivered a profound and unsettling revelation.
I managed to deflect the Elder’s swung blade, but I failed to see several arrows flying toward me.
“C-Crap?!”
The pain hit me like a wave.
It was no surprise to feel pain after being shot, but it was a different kind of agony that surged from the wound caused by the arrow.
It wasn’t just pain.
The regeneration at the site of the arrow was sluggish.
It wasn’t that it did not heal at all, but it felt like it was being hindered by something.
[Is it mithril? It might be dangerous for you, Eva, if it comes to that. Evangeline also suffered from it in the end. It might be tolerable for a few times, but if you keep getting hit, you could really die.]
Beatrice’s voice, which echoed from somewhere, explained the source of my pain.
Mithril, a metal known for its resistance to magic.
Could it be that the arrowhead embedded in my body was made of mithril?
I had a sinking feeling that I would really die if this continued, and I barely dodged the incoming attacks.
Yet, the errors and confusion in my mind hindered my body from moving as I wanted.
Bam, bam—
The other attacks began to strike me more frequently.
The fact that people were attacking me.
It hurt.
So much.
[Don’t you feel wronged? All those people attacking you owe their lives to you. Yet now they’re doing this to you.]
She was right.
All the people attacking me now were alive because I had saved them.
Yet those same people were causing me pain.
It was reminiscent of Evangeline, who had been burned at the stake after I defended the village from demons.
Why do people…
Why do they always—
Tears of red streamed down my cheeks.
[Aren’t you angry? Don’t you want revenge against those ungrateful folks? Just like Evangeline, why not set them ablaze?]
Revenge, revenge.
I repeated the words silently in my mind as I gazed at the people attacking me.
Yes. If I wanted, it would be no problem at all to incinerate all of them right now.
I could return the pain they had inflicted upon me.
Burn them, burn them all.
But—
I shook my head at Beatrice’s words.
[Why not? This time you don’t have to stand there helplessly like before. If needed, my darling could step in for you.]
No, I won’t.
Don’t lay a hand on them.
As I shook my head, Beatrice murmured.
[Is that so? It seems that even though we share the same name, we are all different.]
Her whispers lingered ominously in my ears.
Thud— I could hear the sound.
What was that noise? It was the sound of me kneeling on the ground.
Ah, blood.
I might be losing too much.
As I knelt there, battered and bruised from arrows and wounds, the Elder approached me, step by step.
Looking up vacantly at him, I saw a look of puzzlement on his face as he asked me.
“…Why don’t you fight back until you reach that state?”
I struggled to part my lips in response to his question.
“…Because I don’t want to make things sadder.”
Yes, I didn’t want to cause any more pain because I had already inflicted enough suffering.
“…You’re a family member of Sylvia, aren’t you?”
I no longer wanted to bring sorrow to Sylvia.
If that was the case, it would be better to just let it all end here…
As I spoke from that train of thought, the Elder let out a pained sigh.
“…I wonder if there really could exist a witch who isn’t all that bad…”
Muttering softly, the Elder spoke to me in a voice filled with complex emotions.
“Then… if there was a mistake, it was our fault for bringing you into this world and causing you such pain. I am truly sorry. Nonetheless, for Sylvia’s sake, I cannot spare your life.”
As he apologized to me, the Elder quietly raised his sword.
“When it’s all over, may I beg for your forgiveness in the afterlife.”
The raised sword fell toward me.
“Stop, please!!”
Stars fell to the ground.
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