245. Shaman (3)
Dozens of dishes piled up in the kitchen.
A woman with delicate hands was washing the dishes alone.
Shooaaa―――.
Hair is in pigtails like the 3rd princess of the empire, but the length is short.
A 20-year-old woman in a black dress silently washed her dishes.
“Whoa…” .”
She finally finished washing her dishes and wiped her forehead with the back of her hand.
Then, she roughly pressed it against the dress and wiped away the moisture.
After doing her housework, the place she headed to was a small door.
When we entered there, unlike the beautiful kitchen, the mysterious witch’s workshop unfolded.
――――――.
Even though she can definitely hire a housekeeper, Margot takes on the chores at the orphanage alone.
She took on the dirty work herself because she wanted to take care of her children as much as they were her older sister.
However, Margo was not just busy living for her children.
Because I had a strong desire to forget someone who kept coming to mind.
In order to forget about ‘him’ who made me feel faint just thinking about it, the best thing was to do something consistently.
However, these measures were merely painkillers.
Just as the more she took it, her tolerance grew and her pain became greater, just as her body began to tire, Margo became more and more lonely.
“Ugh…. “My shoulder hurts.”
Margot patted her sore shoulder and bent her knees.
Then, one by one, she picked up the glass bottles that she had put off because she was busy trying to move them during the day.
The glass bottles contained various types of alcohol steeped in herbs.
She held the large bottles in her fern-like hands and tried to carry them out of her cool place.
“Ugh….”
Her ponytail whimpers and flutters every time she moves a glass bottle.
It was so difficult to move it that I was about to put it on the table for a while….
Clink―――!!
“Ah… !!”
Is it because of the moisture that was roughly wiped off the dress?
As she set down the bottle, her finger slipped.
Thanks to this, the glass bottle broke and spilled on the table.
Her fresh scent of herbs and peaches filled the great witch’s studio.
“Why am I like this…. I didn’t make this mistake….”
Margo sighed heavily.
Her pigtails also sank downward, as if she was very downcast.
“I have to clean it up before I smell it.”
When making magic tools, scent is also important.
So the great witch hurriedly tried to pick up her herbs from her table.
However, the moment she stretched out her finger.
“Ah… !”
She pricked her finger on a broken glass bottle that was among her herbs.
Red blood drops forming between soft skin.
Margo looked down blankly at the drop of blood.
“At times like this, he came and took care of me…. They say it’s true….”
A witch with a faint look in her eyes as if she was remembering a memory with someone.
She sighed lightly and gathered her thoughts.
Afterwards, when I tried to roughly lick her finger with my lips….
“You’re the one who got hurt, why are you sucking my finger?”
Her finger, which was much thicker than her own, was stuck in her mouth and she was taken aback.
The moment I grabbed her injured finger to look at it from behind, she grabbed my index finger.
“Surprise… !! Veil… ?”
Margo was so startled that her fine pigtails shook.
When I saw that, I calmly tilted my head.
“What’s wrong? “He usually notices even when I sneak up on him.”
My childhood friend put his hand on his chest in surprise at my question.
Then, he glanced up at me and looked both happy and relieved.
“After you became Grandmaster, I couldn’t feel it at all.”
Margo lightly pressed my shoulder with her fist.
Then, she momentarily flinched at the sharp pain of the cut.
“Give me the finger. “I will take care of it.”
I smiled with thin eyes and gently held her cut finger.
Then, I unwrapped the bandages commonly found in the witch’s studio and slowly tied them up.
“Chilchilmajichi-. “You always cut your fingers often, right?”
As if it was a familiar situation, she left herself to me comfortably.
As if I always looked after my fingers even when I was young.
“Well, it’s night so it’s hard to see…” .”
However, she soon realized that the situation between then and now was very different.
In the past, her hands were as thin as porcelain, but now they are thick and manly, with trembling nerves.
“….”
Unlike before, Margo looked at me differently.
She became very feminine and seemed to feel strange excitement and shame in familiar situations.
She changed the topic for no reason, perhaps wanting to hide herself.
“Anyway, what brought you here?”
I laughed at her question, making her hum.
As if there was no particular reason.
“Is there a special reason why people come to their hometown?”
A delicately wrapped bandage.
Margot continued her words indifferently, flexing her stiff index finger.
“You always come only when you need me.”
My eyes twinkled at her quiet self-talk.
“What?”
“No…. Nothing….”
Her childhood friend shook her head, saying that she was not her usual self and said something pointless.
Then, she untied her hair from her pigtails and let it hang long over her shoulders.
It was as if she wanted to hide her own expression.
“… “
The air becomes awkward for a moment.
Maybe it’s because she arrived late at night, but she feels more awkward around Margot than before.
“The orphanage has improved a lot.”
I clasped my hands behind her neck in an effort to lighten the mood.
And then, looking around Mago’s workshop, he muttered.
“It’s not an orphanage anymore. “The name was changed to Private Academy.”
“Academy?”
When I asked again, Margo took out one of her business cards from her dainty leather pouch.
There was school information written there under the name ‘Hans Mago Private Academy’.
“It’s an independent school with a dormitory within the building.”
“Wow…. Is there anyone who can lecture?”
I took the business card and looked down with curious eyes like a child.
Then, like a curious wild fox, she glanced at Margot and asked.
“There are kids from our mercenary group. “Now the patrol work has been left to the guards from the empire.”
The imperial family invested a lot of manpower as Cornell became a large city.
Thanks to this, Mago’s mercenaries were also able to give up their troublesome work.
“So now we have changed our focus to teaching children who want to become knights.”
“Although the impressions were harsh, most of them were cases of retired people or people who had been drinking and had accidents.”
I looked down with admiration at Margo, who did not abandon her subordinates who had lost work, but helped them find a suitable way to live.
She had always been this precocious and managed her father and the orphanage well.
“As always, I think you’re really smart every time I see you. “I have no idea about this kind of work.”
Her neighbors would often tell her that she was a good bride….
Margot said she didn’t have any good men around her and she always reacted violently like a startled cat.
Every time that happened, my playful neighbor would point at me and tease me, asking if I was right next to him.
In response to this, my childhood friend of 10 years grumbled that he didn’t like that type of bully.
“Now all I have to do is get married well.”
“What… ? “What kind of poetry collection is this!!”
As expected, she is as mean-spirited as she was back then.
Her lips parted, and her cat-sharp fangs popped out.
“Who in the empire would marry a witch…?” .”
She fiddling with her bandaged index finger.
She rubbed so hard that light blood stains appeared on the white cloth.
“No, if anyone knew your warm heart, wouldn’t they love you?”
When Margot heard me, she slowly raised her head.
And then, with a vague smile, I wonder if there really is such a man in this world.
“Is there such a person?”
She stared at me, muttering to herself as if she were talking to herself.
Then, I noticed that my clothes were more slovenly than usual.
“Then you can get married too.”
The bangs were parted with pomade and neatly fixed as if someone had taken care of it.
Wearing a clean dress shirt and well-polished shoes.
“They’re doing really well these days. “I guess I’ve just gained some servants, so I’m a bit confused.”
“Ah, this… ?”
I smiled sheepishly and touched my fixed bangs.
“I have a secretary, Miya-senpai. She always looks like a wild fox, so I take care of her hair myself.”
I then took off my dress shirt.
“The princesses bought me clothes and shoes to commemorate the reinstatement of the Marquis. I said there was no need for this….”
Is it because the military shoes I wore every time were comfortable?
I tapped the floor with the heel of my awkward shoe.
“Okay… ?”
Margot smiled brightly as she looked at me like that.
“It would be nice. “Now you won’t need anyone like me nagging you.”
Her beautiful eyes became thin like a crescent moon.
Inside them, brilliant golden eyes shimmered softly.
“….”
I stared blankly at her smile under the full moon for a moment.
Then, Margot seemed to be aware of my gaze and touched her eyes with her bandaged fingers.
“The story went into a very strange place.”
She absentmindedly turned her head and looked out her window.
Then she asked again in a calmer voice.
“So what can I help you with?”
I silently stared at the delicate back of my childhood friend.
Then, she took a short breath and revealed her purpose.
“Recently, court shamans were smuggled into the empire from the warring Confederation of Southern Nations.”
“Court shaman… ?”
Margot spoke quietly as if she knew about them.
“Yes. From what I heard, he had some kind of conversation with the demoted crown prince, but seeing as he came all the way from the South to Cornell without being detected, he must be up to something.”
Margo is deep in thought with her hand on her chin.
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As a great witch, she immediately focused on the story of the shaman.
“Why, at this time….”
“You didn’t know either? “I thought you would notice right away.”
Margo briefly turned her head and looked at me.
And, she answered, blinking her intense golden eyes in the dark shadows.
“Yes, my mercenaries are usually the ones who can detect witchcraft, but I handed over the patrol authority to the knights.”
Ordinary knights have little resistance to magic.
Of course, there is a group of knights dedicated to responding to shamans, but there is not enough manpower to patrol the entire Cornell.
If you decide to avoid it, you will be able to secretly operate as much as you want.
“Is there any way to find out their location?”
Margot took a deep breath in response to my question.
And then, as if she had made up her mind, she got up from the chair and stretched out his hand.
That moment.
――――――.
An old staff lying in the corner of the workshop suddenly floated away.
And then, it quickly settled into Margo’s palm.
“Do you want to come out for a moment?”
I followed my childhood friend out to the backyard of the orphanage, or rather, the academy.
The grassland has become much wider than before due to the purchase of a new land.
Margo, standing in the middle of the place, glanced at me and said.
“Do you remember when we were kids and decided to find out where the end of the wasteland was?”
Following her words, I gazed at the vast expanse of grassland and horizon.
Then, she nodded as the memory came to her clearly.
“Naji. Maybe when we were 12? “At that time, I left you and ran away, leaving you alone.”
“Yes. “Unfortunately, it was at this time of day because I had been out for too long.”
Margo took a deep breath and looked up at the night sky.
“It was dark, cold, and scary…. “She fell and hurt her knee.”
The great witch slowly met her gaze again.
Because it was dark, her yellow eyes felt as mysterious as the full moon.
“That’s right, so I came back and carried you for a while?”
“Oh, I said we should just go back, but we kept going, saying we would go to the end together.”
I was curious why she was telling this story.
As if to answer this, the Archwitch, Margot Kiffle, reverently grasped the staff with both hands.
“Thanks to you, I was able to complete it.”
A twenty-year-old woman with her long straight black hair closed her neat eyelids.
That moment.
「――――――.」
An unusual energy slowly began to rise from the ground.
The air current gradually materialized and shook the fine weeds lying on the ground here and there.
Eventually, even the archwitch’s black hair flew brilliantly.
“… !!”
A soft light rose up from the ground so much that even I was surprised.
Like a huge magic circle drawn on the floor.
“Light extends like a guide….”
A ray of light crossed the academy’s backyard and headed toward the edge of the horizon we headed together when we were kids.
The landscape of Cornell changed from a wasteland to a metropolis.
“This Yeon Seong-jin.”
Her home called Connell, who took her in with her and her.
She wandered around the city on her own to protect this place.
I finally began to sense something through the completed Yeonseongjin.
My lips parted at the sight of that distant magical power.
“….”
After about 3 minutes had passed.
The light of the magic circle slowly went out, and Mago slowly opened her eyes.
“I found it.”
“Really?”
“Yes, the shaman’s alley in the big city.”
Margot approached me with a calm expression.
“I wanted to find out the exact location, but their magical power was so great that I had no choice.”
Magical power that even she, the Great Witch, would say was amazing.
I also stopped admiring this and focused.
“Even though it was a spell that only sensed all the evil energy in Cornell, it responded quickly.”
“I understand. “That’s enough.”
I nodded repeatedly, thanking my childhood friend.
And then, I quickly tried to head to the shaman’s alley.
But, just for a moment.
“Veil.”
Margot gently grabbed my sleeve.
Different from the usual friendly atmosphere, in a very serious and feminine voice.
“The southern shamans, especially the court shamans, are especially strong.”
A meadow where you can softly hear the sound of crickets.
When I recovered the greenery from the wasteland, my childhood friend of 10 years worried about me.
“As it is the source of sorcery, there may be a lot of sorcery that I don’t know about.”
I swallowed deeply at this somehow familiar situation.
Afterwards, he asked in a bright voice, trying to reassure his old friend.
“Are you worried about me?”
“No…. Still….”
When I thought about it….
Margo was showing the same side as the people I loved.
And, for the first time, I also felt that her emotions were the same as theirs.
“….”
Understanding my feelings, I gently pinched Margot’s soft cheek.
However, he seemed so indifferent, so I whispered quietly to him.
“I’ll be back before dawn.”
With those words left behind, she leisurely headed to the city alone.
“Veil!”
I stopped walking for a moment when I heard a voice urgently calling me.
And, the moment I look back.
――――――.
Margot came up to me and kissed me.
“I’m not a child anymore.”
Under the full moon, the witch’s enchanting golden eyes sparkled.
The eyes soon formed a faint smile.
“So….”
She slowly backed away, holding the staff behind her.
And then, she shouted in an overflowing voice.
“So, I want you to look at it differently too!!”
I remembered the soft touch she left behind.
I looked at Margot walking away, absentmindedly playing with her lips.
“Yes.”
Knowing what she meant, I calmly nodded at her.
And, with a promise to return safely….
We moved forward.