A crowd of people emerged from the direction of the city.
The rain of arrows they unleashed poured down toward my location.
“Kill the Witch!!!”
A voice echoed among the rushing people, calling to kill the witch.
For a moment, I imagined: perhaps this attack was aimed not at me but at Beatrice, who had just been in front of me.
However, the moment I looked into their eyes, I realized that was just a wishful thought.
Their eyes, filled with hostility, were undoubtedly aimed at me.
How dangerous this place was, to send a whole battalion from the city just to catch me.
Did they want me that badly?
While I was mulling over such thoughts, I heard Beatrice’s voice muttering as if she hadn’t left her spot yet.
“Hmm, my dear was having a conversation with Eva, you know.”
At those words, a chill ran down my spine.
This was not the time to sulk over the fact that they were targeting me.
If they were targeting her, that would be far worse.
No need to think.
If Beatrice felt like it, they would be guaranteed to meet their end right here.
Desperately, I shouted toward Beatrice, who was somewhere nearby.
“Beatrice… don’t harm those people!”
“Is that a warning? Or perhaps a request?”
Beatrice’s voice had a teasing tone as she muttered.
In a hurry, I pleaded, determined to prevent a disaster.
“…Please, Bea.”
Reluctantly, I even used the nickname I wanted her to call me.
Then, hearing something amusing, Beatrice chuckled and replied.
“Hehe. To not want to harm the humans attacking you, you’re quite unique. Well, if Eva says so, I suppose I could hold back.”
Was this the right answer?
Just as I was sighing in relief at averting the impending disaster, Beatrice muttered.
“By the way, aren’t arrows flying toward us?”
“…I know.”
With that, I raised my hand toward the sky and let flames spew out.
The flames, now strengthened by becoming a witch, dyed the air red in an instant, incinerating the arrows.
As the powerful flames rendered the barrage ineffective, I could see the archers growing flustered.
At that moment, someone in their midst shouted:
“There’s no need to be afraid just because the attack was blocked!”
A voice encouraging people not to be afraid.
When I glanced toward the voice that sounded familiar, I saw an elderly man with silver hair and long ears yelling among the crowd.
A face I recognized.
If my memory served correctly, it was the First Elder of Astra, whom I had seen during my stay at Sylvia’s mansion.
It wasn’t pleasant to be attacked by someone whose face I knew.
Furrowing my brow, I saw someone stringing their bow again.
“Once more, fire!”
“Wait, wait!! Please stop! I have no intention of fighting…!!”
In a hurry, I raised my arms to show that I didn’t intend to fight, shouting.
Whether my pleading got through or not, he raised his arm to signal the troops, who were just about to attack, to stop.
It seemed he was willing to talk rather than fight right away.
What a stroke of luck for me.
Then the First Elder stared at me for a moment, and his eyes glinted with interest as he murmured.
“To say you don’t intend to fight… I was worried you’d be like what the literature described, burning everything around you indiscriminately, but it appears you can communicate properly. Ha, that’s a relief.”
Seeing his genuinely relieved smile, I allowed a flicker of hope.
Maybe we could resolve this through conversation after all.
“I see now why Sylvia acted the way she did. She’s still a child, so it makes sense she’d be completely fooled by someone like you.”
But then he said something that shattered my hope completely.
“Fooled completely, huh?”
I stared at the First Elder with wide eyes, stunned after momentarily feeling relieved.
Then our eyes met, and I saw the same hostile glare directed at me, filled with malice.
“What a relief! Now that I know Sylvia didn’t make an inexplicable mistake, I can comfortably fight.”
His idea of relief wasn’t that I could communicate but that he understood Sylvia’s blunder through my appearance.
As he murmured with a face unburdened by worry, the First Elder drew his sword from his waist.
He pointed the blade directly at me.
What I felt was not just hostility but intent to kill.
It became clear just how wrong I had been.
There was never an option for them to resolve this through conversation.
The reason they had come this far was solely to defeat me.
The First Elder, pointing the tip of the sword at me, shouted with a fierce voice.
“Astra! The wicked witch who has deceived our future, Sylvia, is over there!”
“No…!!!”
I shouted in rebuttal, but it seemed my voice didn’t reach him as he continued.
“Astra! The witch of wrath who took away our homeland is over there!”
“It’s different!!! I’m not…!!”
I shouted with all my might, but my voice couldn’t pierce the ears of the people, who were brimming with hostility.
“Just as before, nothing has changed.”
Beatrice’s voice echoed through my thoughts.
“Astra! It’s time to take vengeance against the witch for our grievances!!!”
“Waaaaaaah!!!!”
With that, those wielding swords rushed toward me, arrows raining down.
“Kuh…!”
The rushing crowd.
I created a massive barrier of flames between them and me.
Since there was no sign of stopping them through conversation, I planned to put some distance between us.
A wall of flames that no one would dare cross would give me ample time to escape.
Just as I was preparing to flee.
“Huuaaap!!!”
“Ugh…?!!”
I could only stop in my tracks, startled by an action from the First Elder.
How could I not be alarmed?
He wasn’t a moth drawn to the flame but someone charging headfirst into the wall of fire I had created.
I had never imagined he would do such a thing.
Leaping into those flames would guarantee him at least serious injury—or even death.
So I had to put all my effort into extinguishing the flames, leaving no time for fleeing.
As a result, I failed to escape, allowing him to approach as I dispelled the flames.
“Die, witch!!!”
The First Elder, the first to charge, leapt toward me.
Behind him came a simultaneous barrage of arrows.
Dodging the First Elder’s attack as well as the arrow barrage was easy.
But that wasn’t the real problem.
The issue was that the First Elder was focused solely on attacking me, oblivious to the arrows flying from behind.
If this continued, even if I dodged, he would likely be struck by an arrow and die.
“That crazy old man…!”
Was he intending to die with me, unbothered by his life as he charged in?
Grimacing at his reckless appearance, I gritted my teeth, deflecting his blade with one hand while incinerating the arrows that were flying toward him with the other.
The First Elder seemed to find my actions surprising, staring at me with an expression of confusion.
But his feelings were irrelevant; I was too furious about what he had just done to keep quiet.
“You crazy old man?! Aren’t you supposed to take care of yourself?! Why are you doing this!!”
“…Do you care about an old man’s life, you witch? Your acting is surprisingly good.”
The First Elder muttered under his breath, looking at me.
“Do you still pretend to be close to Sylvia?”
“It’s not pretending! Sylvia is—Sylvia is my precious—”
“Sylvia was in a very difficult situation for letting you escape. If things had gone wrong, she might have faced execution.”
“What…?!”
At that word, a sinking feeling gripped my heart.
Sylvia, execution?
Because she let me escape?
The shocking news left me frozen as the First Elder’s voice continued.
“We’ve come here so that Sylvia wouldn’t face punishment. I’m willing to sacrifice my life if it means taking your place. However, if we fail to defeat you, Sylvia will have to live her life branded as a witch’s accomplice, regardless of her immunity.”
“Ah…”
“Do you understand? Your very existence is poison to Sylvia. If you truly care for her…”
The First Elder’s sword lunged toward me.
“For her sake, die.”
At those words, I grimaced and defended against his sword.
I never expected Sylvia would go through such hardship because she wanted to help me.
And this also meant that my other friends who tried to help me were likely in dire situations as well.
The shock hit me deeply.
Not just because I was a witch.
But because I had heard that merely being alive could put my precious friends in harm’s way.
Was that the source of my shock?
I blocked the First Elder’s blade as best as I could, but I failed to see several arrows flying toward me in the chaos.
“Blood, haah?!”
Pain surged through me.
It was only natural to feel pain after being hit by an arrow, but this was a different kind of pain—not just physical.
The regeneration at the spot where I was hit faltered.
It wasn’t that regeneration ceased completely, but it felt as if something was hindering it.
“Is it Mithril? I’m not sure about myself, but it could be dangerous for Eva, you know? Evangeline also faced the same in the end. A few hits are fine, but if you keep getting hit, you might really die.”
Beatrice’s voice reached me from somewhere, revealing the cause of my pain.
Mithril, a metal possessing power against miasma.
Was this arrowhead lodged inside me made of Mithril?
I instinctively understood that I was truly dying and dodged the incoming attacks as best as I could.
But the damage already sustained and the chaos in my mind made it difficult to move my body as I wished.
Thud, thud.
The attacks continued landing upon me.
The fact that humans were attacking me hurt.
So much.
“Ironic, isn’t it? The ones eager to take revenge against you are the ones you saved.”
Beatrice’s voice echoed in my mind.
Indeed.
All those attacking me now were people who owed their lives to me.
Yet here they were, hurting me.
Just like how Evangeline was burned for protecting the village from the demonic beasts.
Why do people…
Again, why…
Tears fell from my eyes, red like blood.
“Are you not furious? Don’t you want revenge on those ungrateful fools? Just like Evangeline, why not burn them all?”
Revenge, revenge.
Muttering that word in my mouth, I gazed at the people attacking me.
Yes. If I wanted to, it would be a breeze to burn them all right now.
I could return that pain back to those who hurt me.
Burn them, burn them…
Yet, I shook my head at Beatrice’s words.
“Why? This time you aren’t powerless like before. Shouldn’t you retaliate? If worse comes to worst, you could have me do it instead.”
Still, I won’t.
Don’t touch them.
As I shook my head, Beatrice muttered.
“I see? It seems even within the same Eva, everyone is different.”
Her murmurs lingered in my ears like an echo.
Thud, a sound was heard.
What was that? It was the sound of me kneeling on the ground.
Ah, blood.
I might have bled too much.
As I kneeled on the ground, my body in tatters from the arrows and wounds, the First Elder slowly approached me.
Looking up at him blankly, he wore a puzzled look as he asked me.
“…Why aren’t you fighting back even though you’re in such a state?”
At that question, I struggled to part my lips.
“…I didn’t want to make things more painful.”
Yes, they had already suffered because of me.
“…You’re Sylvia’s family, aren’t you?”
I didn’t want to bring any more sorrow to Sylvia because of me.
Then, perhaps, letting it all end like this would be…
The thought prompted me to speak, and the First Elder sighed deeply, his expression bittersweet.
“…Huh. Is it really possible for a witch to be less than bad…?”
Muttering to himself, the First Elder turned to me with a voice full of complex feelings.
“Is that so… If it’s a crime, it’s our fault for bringing you into existence as such a being, causing you pain. Truly, I’m sorry. But for Sylvia’s sake, I can’t let you live.”
As he uttered the words of apology, the First Elder silently lifted his sword.
“When all is finished, I will atone in the afterlife for what I’ve done.”
The sword he raised fell.
“Stop!!”
Star light descended upon the earth.
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