〈 Episode 49 〉Wild West 13

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"Elisa...please stop..."

My hands were full of cloth shopping bags now. The kind you don't pack unless you're buying something, the kind you don't pack unless you're buying something, the kind Elisha's picks around the big tops.

"Let's look around a little more. This handkerchief is good, isn't it? It's close to the color of your eyes, Tyr."

She stares at the light blue handkerchief, hesitates, checks the material carefully, shakes her head again, and sets it down.

"Nope. It's too rough. I'd prefer something softer."

"Lady, how about this hanger chiffon? I think it would look really nice on a gentleman."

The vendor next to you rubs his hands together and quickly brings a new handkerchief to recommend.

"This would be nice. How much?"

"Only 10 silver, since you've found a worthy owner. It's spun from the threads of a Daemon Ent, and the material is the softest in the Empire."

"Please."

The merchant picks up another cloth shopping bag. In my hands, more small cloth bags are added to the pile.

"Am I buying a product or a shopping bag?" I wonder.

I follow her around, fumbling with my hands full of shopping bags.

"I...I'm using all my fingers, can we stop buying?"

I say slowly to Elisa.

"Oh, you bought a lot, I'm sorry, it's been a while, I'm just excited."

She was spending so much money that I wondered how much money she had. A couple gold coins, if you counted her purchases so far.

"With that much...I could buy a house.

Maybe not a nice house, but a decent family home.

"Hmm, I think I've calmed down a bit by now, so shall we go?"

"Huh?"

I looked up, shifting uncomfortably.

"You have a courier service here, don't you?"

"Uh, yes, sir. You're already a VIP customer of our branch, so of course."

The merchant rubbed his hands together.

"Uh...then?

Why have I been carrying the shopping bags in my hands all this time?

"Is it...possible...to deliver from the other top?"

"Is this possible for most purchases?"

"...Then why have I been carrying them until now?"

Elisa smiles wryly and turns to the vendor who takes the shopping bag from me.

"Aren't there many ladies who have the romance of having a man carry their shopping bags on a date like this?"

"Oh, yes, there are a few nice gentlemen, and you seem to have very good manners."

Fidgeting slightly with my barely untangled arm, I look at Elisa.

"Are you angry?"

"No."

"Shall we go get something to eat?"

"I feel like I've been lied to, so I don't really feel like it."

Elisa laughs and pats me on the shoulder.

"I just wanted to pull a prank like this."

"Elisa, I wonder if it's because I'm a bit of a sucker for pranks."

"No, it's just cute."

"It doesn't make it any cuter when you say it that way."

"The look on your face is the cutest thing I've ever seen on anyone's face. It's like an adult who wants to pick on a child."

It's hard to say what to say to Elisa, who looks so fresh-faced.

"What do you want to eat?"

"...Raspberry juice."

I tried to act like a grown-up and say I wanted coffee, but I was tired from carrying so many shopping bags. The vendors around me are gingerly accepting bags, talking to delivery people, and Elisa, who is sitting next to me on the bench amidst the hustle and bustle, squeezes my hand.

"Okay."

There was no reason to change my tastes. There is no reason for my tastes to change, no reason to deny them, just because of my past. Tart, tangy raspberry juice is cheap and easy to come by. But my mouth has never had such comfort when I'm tired.

"Elisa, what are you drinking?"

I asked as I accepted the raspberry juice Elisa had bought, curious about the glass she held.

"Nothing much. Raspberry tea."

I feel like I'm losing out on some sort of grown-up victory, but I'd rather have raspberry juice than something like that.

"Well, shall we go now?"

"Where?"

"I told you, we're going to the witches' coven."

Elisa tugged on my hand. They weren't far from the top, and as they entered the winding side streets, the change was enough for the merchants around them to sense that something had changed.

"This is..."

There were vendors with hats pressed down over their eyes, or no vendors at all. The items on sale began to look increasingly suspicious, and I felt that feeling I had before...

"those weird things.

They were everywhere, and as we went from fork to fork, there were more and more of them.

"Isn't that Elisha?"

An old woman says, selling strange brooches.

"Ah, Isabla. How are you?"

Elisa greets her cheerfully.

"So, it's been three years since you joined the Coven, huh?"

"Yes. Did you really think it would take so long?"

"Have you made any progress on the chapter?"

"That's what I came to report."

"Of course."

The old woman, a shy Isabella, looks at me.

"Are you the man who was delivered?"

"Yes."

"Give me your hand for a moment."

Isabella takes the hand I offer, fumbles for a moment, and then begins to draw a picture on her wrist with her fingers.

"What is it.

"Don't think it's dangerous. It's just, like, a temporary pass. Whatever happens, it's the least we can do."

"...That..."

"Don't expect it to protect you completely. It's just a pass to be treated as a human being, and you'd better not think about incurring the witch's wrath."

"Yes."

"Then I grant you entry."

Smiling, Isabella steps back and turns the doorknob of the ramshackle back door backwards.

"Turn it backwards...

With a creak, it slid open, not to the door, but to a massive cabinet with a brooch on it.

"Welcome."

A golden gate plaque read Libra of Condemnation.

"Interesting?"

"...Is it always this way in here?"

"We have to keep it secure, but...well, this is one of the paths to the Coven, and the outcome would have been the same if someone other than me, Isabla, had spoken to you."

"You mean they rotate the gatekeepers periodically for security?"

"Oh, that's right, the one who speaks to you as you pass through the alleyway of the Coven is the gatekeeper for the day, though I don't know the order in which they change."

They pass through a den barely big enough for two people...

"This is... a cave?"

"The Paradise of the Libra of Condemnation, to be exact, carved out of the inside of a massive stone mountain."

"You mean... you dug out the entire mountain behind Sirtus?"

You give her a look that says, "All of it?

"Now you see how big the Coven is, and this is just one branch. Haven't you ever heard the saying that the world runs on witches?"

In terms of hidden size, it rivals the size of the Sirtus estate. This...

"Two sides of the same coin.

The revealed Sirtus estate was the front side of the coin, and the hidden branch of the witches was the back.

"Come, let's go."

You watch the crowd of witches and merchants come and go.

"...Are all these people going through that witch alley?"

"No, that's one of the back roads. It's not the main one, but it's the closest one to the top."

"How did you not get caught until now?"

The passerby speaks up, taking in the colors of the witches and the more freewheeling xenomorphs he's never seen before.

"The temporary passes on their hands tell the tale. The gatekeepers are appointed only by the highest ranking witches, and if they divulge the symbols on their hands in any way, they will lose all memory and be turned into idiots. And the numbers here are not as large as those of the Sirtus estate. It's a small branch, no more than two thousand."

Two thousand would be about the population of a decent castle. It's not a huge estate, but it's about the size of a small city.

"So how big is the real upper part?"

Elisha grins.

"You know what they say about underground cities?"

"Huh!"

The legend of a castle the size of a giant, built underground.

"Was that...true?"

"The bard who told the tale has been dealt with, but the legend has caused quite a stir among the grave robbers and treasure hunters."

You take Elisha's hand and lead the way. It was a huge circular building at the center of the Witches' Society.

"I..."

"Everyone is waiting for you, Tyr."

"Me?"

"Yes."

Her mischievous expression of expectation meets my eyes.

"I've never seen anyone with two overlapping emotion spells stay so sane. So, all of the witches of the emotion magic realm are gathering in Sirtus as soon as they can."

"...Ugh."

Emotion witches are the curse witches we all know. They are the most dangerous of all the witches of legend.

'Such people are waiting for me...'

Showing them would give Elisha quite a bit of ground to stand on.

'Only if it helps Elisha...'

She could go... but she could only hope that nothing bad would happen.

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