“Got caught, huh?”
The girl replied nonchalantly to Marin’s question of who she was, with a tone as if she had merely been caught playing a prank. However, those who saw her smile felt a chill run down their spines.
Her words clearly indicated that the girl smiling before them wasn’t the Florene they once knew.
People were stunned by the girl’s behavior as if she were entirely different from earlier, especially those who had personally known Florene.
Marin staggered, her legs seeming to give way, while Dwight stared at the girl with wide, disbelieving eyes.
In response to their reactions, the girl burst into uncontrollable laughter.
“Ahahaha, just look at your faces! Seems it was pretty shocking, huh? Yeah, you gotta react like this. I’ve been working hard not to get caught.”
As she laughed, she looked at the stumbling Marin, still wearing a grin.
“So, how do you feel seeing a different side of someone you thought was a friend?”
Upon hearing that, Marin couldn’t contain her rage and shouted, trembling.
“Y-you… what are you…! Give me my friend, Florene, back! Right now!”
As Marin shouted, water droplets began to gather around her body, freezing into sharp icicle shapes.
The icicles pointed threateningly at the girl, as if to say they’d be launched at any moment if her friend wasn’t returned.
They looked threatening enough, but—
“Are you threatening me right now? Ahahaha, how amusing.”
The girl laughed as if it was a joke, leaning toward the icicles as if daring her to try.
And then, in that moment, the girl’s expression changed.
“M-Marin…”
With a face showing both surprise and hurt.
“…Ah.”
Seeing that expression, Marin realized through the years they had spent together.
“Fl-Florene…?”
It was clear the person before her was indeed her friend, Florene.
And that friend was walking toward her.
She didn’t stop, heading straight for the sharp icicles she had summoned.
“Ugh…!”
Of course, Marin had no choice but to retract the icicles she had hastily created.
At the same time, laughter echoed around.
The girl’s expression transformed again.
“What’s wrong? Wasn’t that a threat? If you want her back, you should keep going. Unless you want your friend to be full of holes, that is.”
Despite the girl’s derision, Marin found herself powerless.
This was a battle she could never win, no matter what she did.
With her friend’s body taken hostage, the only thing Marin was allowed was—
“Ugh… hic…”
To despair.
“Is that it? It was somewhat fun, I guess.”
The girl briefly laughed at Marin and then put on a sadistic expression.
“Still, you have to accept the punishment for daring to threaten me as a human.”
The girl pointed at Marin.
“Kneel before me.”
Marin was taken aback by the sudden command.
“…Kneel?”
“What are you doing? Hurry up and kneel.”
The girl said once more to Marin, gripping her own neck harshly as if she were ready to twist it.
“If you don’t want to see your friend die.”
The girl issued an irresistible order to Marin, almost as if to demonstrate how to threaten someone.
With dead eyes, Marin began to walk towards her.
The others were outraged, but—
“Ah, you all better not get any funny ideas, okay? You know what happens if you get caught doing something stupid?”
Marin desperately shook her head at them, pleading for them to stay quiet, and so they had no choice but to shut their eyes tightly.
Finally, reaching the girl, Marin knelt before her.
“Good, good. Now bow down a bit more and touch the ground with your hands.”
Marin bent forward and did as she was told, touching the ground with her hands.
Then, as if pleased, the girl patted Marin’s head and sat on her back.
“Nice. You’re pretty, so the seating feels good.”
With a crunching sound, blood spilled from Marin’s lips.
The red liquid mixed with a sense of humiliation and despair dripped onto the ground.
The girl closed her eyes, savoring the sound as if it were sweet music.
In a stiff tone, Dwight questioned her.
“…Are you that witch? The one who released demonic beasts in the city and controlled people.”
The girl replied with a sly smile.
“Correct. Ah, that time was so much fun. It’s a shame I couldn’t play more.”
“How could you… The demonic beasts that were in people’s heads should have been cleared away by now…”
“Ahaha, that’s a—”
Just then, a magic circle appeared in thin air, launching magic toward the girl’s head.
The girl stumbled slightly from the effect of the magic that struck her.
It was purification magic, aimed at knocking her off balance, a surprise attack by Dwight, who remembered that such magic could free people from the control of demonic beasts.
Despite being hit directly with purification magic, the girl continued speaking as if nothing had happened, causing Dwight’s expression to stiffen.
She sulked at her interrupted speech.
“Is this a sign you don’t care about her life since you still continued after I warned you?”
With a cold mumbled threat, Dwight quickly bowed his head and shouted.
“Wait…! I’ll do anything, just don’t—!”
“Heh? Anything?”
“Yeah… I’ll do whatever you say…!”
The girl smiled sweetly at Dwight’s plea.
“Then recite after me. ‘Please allow me the honor of becoming your footstool.'”
“…From now on, please allow me the honor of becoming your footstool.”
“Ahahaha, good good. What are you doing? Footstool, hurry and get to work.”
“…Yes.”
Under the girl’s cheerful order, Dwight lay flat on the ground beneath her with a stiff expression.
The girl set her foot on Dwight’s back, playfully tapping his head as she spoke.
“Footstool, you’re lucky I’m forgiving you because you’re handsome. I’ve had my eyes on you and the chair since a long time ago. This kid works very hard to obey me, so I’ve gathered many pretty and handsome kids since I was little. You’re extra special since you’ve made the cut with my strict standards.”
Marin, lying underneath the girl, shuddered at her words.
Memories of how Florene had always followed around good-looking people since she was a child flooded back to her.
Marin swallowed hard.
When did Florene start…
While Marin was lost in thought, the girl picked up her earlier sentence.
“Yeah, our footstool. You were curious about why the demonic beasts that were in people’s heads have all been organized again, huh? Well, honestly, I’m a bit jealous. How can you compare mass-produced imitations to these kids?”
As the girl mumbled, black tears began to flow from her eyes.
“That purification magic you just used on my head? That won’t do anything.”
No, what flowed from the girl’s eyes was not tears.
The people realized the nature of the liquid pooling on her face.
“If you want to take this girl back from me, you’ll have to pour purification magic over her from head to toe, penetrating every nook and cranny of her body.”
That black substance was a swarm of demonic beasts made up of tiny creatures.
The dark mass that had been inside the girl displayed itself to the onlookers.
From her eyes, nose, ears, and mouth.
From the tiny pores on her skin.
The sheer number of demonic beasts flowing out of her small frame made it seem like she was some sort of jar housing them.
People were horrified by the grotesque sight but then sensed the creatures slinking back inside her body as if they were never there.
A few people caught on to something.
That kind of lively and free movement couldn’t be that of demonic beasts that had passed through a barrier.
One among them, Dwight, sighed and mumbled from under the girl’s feet.
“…How is this possible?”
A city surrounded by barriers.
For that many demonic beasts to exist, especially one capable of controlling Dolos, who was strong even among heroes, simply shouldn’t be normal.
So how?
It was a murmured question filled with doubt.
“How, you ask?”
The girl answered with a smirk.
“You seemed to be putting so much faith in that barrier, but—”
She laughed at the people.
“That has, from the very beginning, never existed.”
And what she was about to share was—
“I’ll tell you a special story from long ago.”
Long before the barrier was erected, a tale from a far distant past.
“Have you ever heard of the Witch of Lust?”
A story about how an entire family became the puppets of a witch.
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