Cucurouge, the village of the witches, was quite different from my imagination.
I had been thinking that it would be a cold and dreadful village, where Sonia"s dictatorship would be strongly visible.
To word it in simpler terms, I"ve been imaging a h.e.l.lish scenery where witches would open up the way for Sonia and kneel before her, pots with dubious magical drugs stuffed into it would be left at every corner and screams and groans of men would be leaking out from all over the place.
But what"s the actual reality?
A circle of smiles surrounds Sonia, the wind carries a fresh smell and the sleepiness inducing sunlight is pouring in.
The only one who worships Sonia as a G.o.ddess is a suspicious person called phantom. Children and elders make up half of the residents and the topics they talk about are things which normal women would be interested in, like “how glamorous was the wedding ceremony” or “if the Prince Rain was as beautiful as the rumors said”.
Even during the welcome banquet, time pa.s.sed disappointingly peacefully.
But still, this village doesn"t seem to be as peaceful at it looks at the first glance.
The meat of the grey Sky Dragon appeared as one of the dishes at the banquet.
In other words, Cucurouge was really attacked by the group of Sky Dragons led by Sednyl, but they were easily repelled.
Just what kind of steel nerves must they have to leisurely hold a feast after such dangerous thing happened?
“It"s because we are used to things like this~ it"s a piece of cake~”
Perhaps seeing through my inner thoughts, the witch called Coral whispered quietly.
There doesn"t seem to be any other exceptional witch like Sonia, but the witches of this village give the impression of having many skills. They seem to be used to fighting. Especially from that man, Phantom, I felt bottomless power. I"m not even sure that I could win if we fought 1v1.
There was another thing that made me concerned at the banquet. The village elder seemed to know my father.
Just when I thought of listening closely, the topic turned to the enemies of elder"s close relatives. It didn"t seem like she hated my father, but I still hesitated to ask more.
There are so many things I don"t know that it"s making me feel restless.
At the present time, I can make as many guesses as I want, but no matter how much I alone think, I won"t be able to arrive at the conclusion.
As I was thinking of inquiring Sonia for answers, next I was taken to the mansion of the Lord of Azurite.
Actually, it wasn"t my first time meeting the Lord Sanigue.
We met a few years ago, at the ceremony in the castle while I was guarding the Prince. I remembered Lord Sanigue because he possessed an overwhelming aura that didn"t lose even to the Prince. Sharp and able, a great man, charismatic – he"s the kind of man that those words suit well. Even from the perspective of the same s.e.x, I think that he"s cool.
And such Lord Sanigue not only knows everything about the despicable deeds of the King, but he also serves him, on top of everything. It might be selfish of me to turn my eyes away from my own shortcomings, but frankly speaking, I was disappointed.
……It can"t be helped, I guess. There"s no way a feudal lord could visibly rebel against the Royal family.
Sonia seems to idolize Lord Sanigue.
How to say it, those two seem to have a similar atmosphere around them. They have absolute confidence in themselves and while hiding their wicked schemes, they never break their composure. They"re the same to the extent of it being disheartening.
Depending on the objectives of the royal family from now on, those two might end up as enemies, but the fact that despite knowing this, they can still conversate peacefully is frightening.
When we changed rooms for taking measurements for the ceremonial clothes ―― which I tried to refuse with all my vocabulary but couldn"t reject in the end ―― Lord Sanigue began to ask questions.
“How is it? Sonia is cute, right? I"m glad that you were picked up by her, Will-kun. Be sure to wholeheartedly devote yourself to her.”
“Yes…”
“What"s with that feelingless reply?”
His orange eyes were reminiscent of the Sun and I was about to be burnt by that vigorous energy. If anything, I think that a person with minus energy is more suitable for me, so I ended up thinking that even talking with Phantom was still better.
“Uh…what do you think, Lord Sanigue? Do you really think of her as your little sister?”
“Yeah. It"s because I"ve known Sonia from a young age. I can"t help finding her cute, You might find this surprising, but the past Sonia was an extremally shy and a quiet child. There was even a time when she couldn"t talk to me because she was too nervous.”
“Oh?…”
It was certainly surprising. I had imagined her conducting herself shrewdly since childhood.
“It was about 4 years ago when she suddenly became cheerful beyond recognition. Apparently, she had seen a fun dream or something.”
“A dream, you say?”
“Yeah. It was a dream about living as a different person in a different world.”
Apparently, Sonia in the dream had become a dull woman both in abilities and the appearance who lived an ordinary life of spending time with friends with common interests, traveling with her family and crying because of unrequited love.
“You see, that girl has been special in every way since she was born. Unconsciously she might have been longing for a mediocre life.”
Daughter of the Witch of Salvation and the future Queen of Mistria. Peerless beauty that every woman would be envious of and the overflowing talent of magic.
To possess all those things since her birth and still long for mediocrity, what a nasty woman. Obviously, there would still be hardships due to the heavy expectations from surroundings and her own extraordinariness, but…
“She told me that even within the dream she couldn"t keep a pet due to the circ.u.mstances at home so I gave her a small horse magical beast as a surprise. Did you know that?”
“Oh, that must be Unika, right?”
So that horse was gifted by Lord Sanigue. He took a nasty att.i.tude towards me, but he was extremely attached to Sonia.
“She"s doting on him very much now but in the beginning, she was pretty disappointed. Apparently, Sonia wanted to sleep with her pet in the same bed. I should"ve chosen pets more suitable for affection, like a cat or a dog instead of a practical horse.”
A cat or a dog for affection…
“The Queen whose hobby is riding horses…don"t you think that it would be perfect? However, as a result of forcing my preferences on her, I made Sonia look dejected. Though that was cute too in its own way! Sonia is kind, you know? Without blaming me,『When I grow up and become able to take of pets other than Unika, I"ll keep the little one I"ll like』she said…”
A chill ran down my spine.
It"s different, right? That"s only an innocent dream from childhood, right?
She isn"t trying to fulfill that dream through me, right?
…..but, I see.
Sonia also seemed to have a childish, or rather, a human-like side.
Now that I think about it, I feel like her smile has become more refreshing since coming back to Cucurouge. No, Sonia is always smiling calmly, full of composure, but she also looks more relaxed than on the way from the royal capital.
The sense of security after coming back to her hometown, or perhaps after being released from the tension of meeting the messenger of the King, she might be feeling at ease.
When the measurements ended and the tailor made a goodbye greeting and was getting ready to head back, Lord Sanigue said in a low voice so only I could hear.
“Will-kun, I won"t tell you to protect that girl with your life, but I want you to at the very least stay by her side as an ally. I"m counting on you.”
I couldn"t say anything.
I was about to tell him that saying such things to me was troubling, but Lord Sanigue"s eyes were so serious that I couldn"t utter a word.
I can"t move for somebody"s sake anymore.
Even though I can"t do anything for Emerald, who I hold the most precious in the world, there is nothing I could offer to the enemy"s daughter. I might not have a grudge against Sonia, but I don"t hold affection for her either. If anything, I don"t find things going the way that woman wants very amusing.
I feel bad for Lord Sanigue, but I won"t become Sonia"s comrade.
It would be okay anyway.
That woman is strong, smart and loved by everybody.
Actually, I was very surprised that her father was the former prost.i.tute Ambert, but the person herself talked about it nonchalantly so it seemed like she didn"t care much about it.
Life must be fun if you can live so boldly.
It"s something that I can never imitate.
Sonia"s house stands on the top of a slope, slightly away from the village. It"s the most splendid house in Cucurouge, but as expected, compared to the mansion of the n.o.bles, it"s smaller. Well, it"s still more than enough size considering that it"s for a mother and a child living in the forest.
I stood languidly in the kitchen.
“Honestly, why isn"t a single servant here…”
The next day after coming back from the mansion of the feudal lord, I was complaining while preparing breakfast.
It"s not my place to say anything, but Sonia was supposed to become the Queen of Mistria until just recently and she"s also the daughter of Alonia, the Witch of Salvation.
I was sure that she would be immersed in luxury, having a crowd of servants wait upon her. It"s simply sad that there aren"t any servants in such a great house.
I don"t particularly mind doing ch.o.r.es such as preparing meals. Doing something distracts me and I can"t afford to become a pet.
But for a male and female close in age to be living alone under one roof is…
I feel that there is a problem even if the house is wide and we"re in a master-servant relationship. I don"t have any intentions, but the reputation outside can be exceedingly bad. In fact, it seems like we"re already thought of to have that kind of relationship.
It"s involuntary.
“There used to be some in the past. My mother"s disciples…or more like, the witches that were being treated as slaves used to do the housework, but various things happened and they all disappeared within the last two years. What a pity.”
What did she do to them? how frightening.
“I didn"t feel like hiring again, so I"m glad that Will came. ”
I placed freshly made breakfast before the grinning Sonia. It was baked rice with rolled omelette and fried meat.
The glint in Sonia"s eyes somewhat became sharper.
“……Thank you for the meal.”
She froze for a second after taking one bite, but Sonia continued to silently work her spoon. I felt a sense of relief.
I"m pretty confident in my cooking skills. It"s because in the training academy for Knights I used to help out in the cafeteria.
I also cooked often while we were on a journey to investigate mystery incidents and had a favorable reputation with my friends. I felt like I was on cloud nine whenever I could bring a smile to Emerald"s face with my cooking.
On the other hand, Emerald"s cooking tasted like burnt charcoal, but when I was hungry after using the Witch Killer, I would greedily devour it without caring about the taste. Emerald was always very happy because while others refused, I would be the only one eating with a fierce momentum.
While I was remembering such things and my heart started to hurt, Sonia put her spoon down and wiped her mouth. Then, nonchalantly she dropped a bomb.
“Thank you for the meal. It was delicious, but you fail. I will be preparing meals from now on.”
“Huh!? Is that something you say after eating everything on the plane?…”
Sonia looked at me with frosty eyes.
“Your sense of flavoring isn"t bad, but everything else isn"t good. Nutrition is unbalanced, taste is too thick, you used too much oil and more than anything else, there is a lack of concern towards the master. To eat something so thick even though my stomach is feeling heavy after eating feasts for two consecutive days…I can"t eat lunch or snacks today anymore. I"m over the calories.
“Kuh, as if I care about such a thing! You could"ve just left it if you didn"t like it.”
“It would be a waste to leave it after you want to great lengths to prepare it, right? It might be okay once in a while, but eating your handmade food every day would be poisonous for the body. My health and beauty will be harmed. That is to say, I will only ask you to peel the vegetables and wash the dishes. Cooking is prohibited.”
I got irritated. For my cooking to be treated as a poison…
“I got it. Then make your own food yourself. I will do the same too.”
“That"s not a good suggestion. It"s not economical. Rest a.s.sured, I"m good at cooking.”
“Rest a.s.sured? that"s impossible. I don"t want to eat anything that you make. I don"t know what kind of medicine you would mix in, after all. I refuse to become a test subject for the witch.”
I haven"t forgotten that she used sleeping incense during the journey towards Cucurouge. Nor the fact that she made Sednyl drink a strong poison.
I was shown around yesterday, but there is Sonia"s laboratory in this house. Seeing dubious chemicals lined up, chills ran down my spine. I was told that those were cold medicines and nutritional supplements, but only the person herself who has made them would know whether it"s true or not.
In addition, there"s also a bas.e.m.e.nt that"s off limits to enter. I only have bad feelings about this.
I thought that she would retort but Sonia only laughed slightly.
“Looks like you have escaped the state of despair if you have time to be wary of my cooking. I"m glad. Yup. Then let"s eat separately for a while.”
I"ll leave washing dishes to you.
Sonia left after leaving those words. That was pretty easy.
Later on, I reflected a little bit. I wasn"t being mature.
It"s not like I really thought that she"d put poison in the food.
I wonder what"s this? this feeling that unconsciously makes me want to act rebellious…p.u.b.erty?
I"m such a fool.
No, there"s no need to worry about it. Sonia doesn"t seem to mind it so it doesn"t matter. I immediately decided to forget about it.
Throughout the morning, in accordance with the village witches, I was supposed to help out with the field and the orchard. Physical labor isn"t difficult, but it was my first time doing farm work so I felt nervous, and the fact that there were swarms of the witches around me didn"t help either.
From the afternoon I started cleaning the archives.
Inside of the archives was hollow and the books were casually stacked on the floor or the desk.
Apparently, they tried to clean it up when the house was supposed to become vacant, but the collection of books was so vast that they became discouraged in the middle of it. Since they wanted to sort and rearrange everything, I was ordered to only empty all the bookshelves and clean them.
There are also magical books from the general collection, along with the history books about the country that was destroyed by the witches overnight. Sonia told me with a bitter smile that whenever she had Coral and other witches help out, they would start reading compet.i.tions and things would go out of the hand.
Even though I have received higher education as the knight, I don"t really like studying that much so I didn"t even think of checking the contents of the books and indifferently continued to work. By the way, Sonia seemed to have many other things to do so she wasn"t at the archives.
When I suddenly became alone, I start worrying about various things.
What should I do from now on?
I"ve told the Prince and the others that I"d contact them once things would calm down. If they don"t hear anything from me, Charot and the crew might come to visit me again. That would be troubling.
I don"t have the confidence to keep quiet about the truth if I meet my friends now.
I understand that neither the Rose Gem nor the deeds of this kingdom"s King, distrust towards the Prince and Emerald"s lifespan are things that I should talk about. It will only create unnecessary conflicts and make everybody unhappy.
But, this is too heavy to carry alone.
Silencing the truth makes me feel dishonest and I can"t stand it.
There is no other way but to write「nothing unusual」in the first letter to buy even a little time.
“What am I gonna do after buying time….”
Running away from Cucurouge is easy.
No, running away secretly from Sonia seems like a ha.s.sle, but judging from the current state, I feel like she won"t chase after me persistently. If he ran away, then it can"t be helped. That would be the extent of it. In the first place, it seems like she only took me out from the capital due to the sympathy and a whim.
Once they learn that I"ve become free, a.s.sa.s.sins from the capital will probably aim for my life. There"s no way they would let me, who knows the truth about the matter 20 years ago, live.
I can"t enter the domestic parts of Mistria. Another country…If I run to Shuranmue kingdom, Catalatta Empire, or…
That"s where my thoughts stopped.
What would I do after running away?
Change my name, change my appearance and earn a living by working as a mercenary or adventurer?
With my skills, I won"t have problems getting food and if I fight earnestly, I might be able to forget the despondency and disappointment.
But the current me doesn"t have the energy to do something so I could survive.
That being said, continuing to live in Cucurouge like this…is unthinkable.
I don"t want to get involved with the witches or the conspiracies of the nation anymore. I don"t want to find out any more sickening truths.
***
Without being able to arrive at an answer, I sluggishly pa.s.sed the day.
“That menu again? nutrition is way too unbalanced.”
During the night after 1 week of coming to this village, I was amazed by Sonia.
There were dried meat, an apple, and bread in front of me. Although it"s a sufficient meal at the battlefield, as expected you would get sick of it if you ate it every day. But I couldn"t be bothered to make something proper.
“Do you want a vegetable soup? I made too much.”
Since a while ago I"ve been thinking that there was a really good smell. Tomato-based soup and onions and bacon fried in b.u.t.ter…I ended up imaging the harmony of sweetness and sourness in the soup and hastily shook my head.
“Leave me alone.”
I won"t be domesticated anymore. As if I"d let her domesticate me!
Those words about being good at cooking wasn"t a lie and Sonia"s dining table was gorgeous. No, the menu itself was normal but it was made elaborate like the dishes at the restaurant. Both the appearance and the smell were enticing the appet.i.te. The taste must also be quite…
“I"ll go get fresh air outside.”
To break free from the temptation, I ran away from home. I had just finished eating but my stomach was still crying in loneliness.
……I"ll get another apple from the orchard. It"s not like I"m stealing. While I was helping, I was told to help myself to as many as I wanted.
The orchard was a bit further away from the village. I advanced in the forest by relying on the light of the magical lamps installed on the path.
“Muh!…what are you doing…”
Meeting face to face with Phantom in the darkness, I slightly screamed. It"s a bit troubling how much he lacks the presence despite his impactful looks. It"s bad for my heart.
Phantom was holding a basket with the apples in it. Coral was behind him too, holding a baby. They seem to have harvested apples while taking a stroll with the whole family.
“Did you also come to pick apples…? for Sonisama?”
“It"s for me. I"m a bit hungry.”
Rumble, my stomach made a sound at the worst timing.
“Oh my?~ so it was a hungry Will-chan. You still haven"t eaten even though Sonichan always has evening meal early?~”
“No, we"re eating separately.”
Both Phantom and Coral seemed surprised.
“Will-chan, did you do something to make Sonichan angry?~ are you being punished?~”
“No, there"s no way that――”
“Kii! Even though you"re in a position where you can eat Sonisama"s cooking every day! What did you do?!”
Phantom wouldn"t stop shouting so I reluctantly retold the conversation from the other day. I thought that he"d become even noisier but unexpectedly, Phantom suddenly became quiet.
“………..ll”
“Huh?”
However, that was merely the calm before the storm.
“Uuuuu….I"ll kill you, I"ll kill you, I"ll kill youuu!”
Swinging the chains that he had on his body, Phantom came charging at me.
—
Notes:
Will says 棚に上げて which literally means putting up on the shelf but according to my research, it seems like it might mean being blind to one"s shortcomings. Still not sure how accurate it is.
Sonia says カロリーオーバ with is basically Calorie over
she"s saying that she"s exceeded the daily necessary calorie intake
the names for the countries that will mentions are シュランムー and カタラタ, feel free to provide your interpretation.
Anyway, this chapter is called Will"s failure and his POV continues for at least 2 chapters iirc. We"re going in a small past arc here.
P.S notify me about any mistranslations, typos and wrong grammar pls
vague subject sentences are the bane of my existence