Lucia tilted her head towards the serious-faced boy.
Witch, demerits, oath, curse.
She was familiar with all four terms but struggled to follow the flow of the conversation. Demerits she could understand, but the other three were not vocabulary typically used in everyday language.
Shiron had said that the armored woman was a witch. That much she comprehended. Discussing a heart-bound oath was not a topic to casually throw around in the presence of strangers.
However…
The mention of demerits felt out of place.
“What did I do wrong? Why am I getting demerits?”
Lucia asked Shiron in a soft voice.
“Do you remember what I told you before? That if you want to meet an angel, you should live kindly.”
“…I think I remember.”Lucia nodded slightly.
Upon seeing her reaction, Shiron subtly pressed his lips with his finger. The words he was about to utter needed some caution.
Lucia was reluctant to draw out the Holy Sword and had no desire to become a hero. This made it challenging for Shiron to actively promote the existence of Latera. Shiron raised his head, wiping his slightly sweaty forehead.
“The angel mentioned that if you accumulate demerits from misdeeds, you won’t get to meet them.”
“You’re saying I earned a demerit just by speaking with that supposed witch?”
Lucia grumbled.
Typical misdeeds, in her mind, would be hitting a child or stealing someone else’s property.
“Of course, it’s not that you did anything directly wrong. But having a conversation with a witch, no matter how you look at it, can’t be viewed positively.”
There were people in the world who would doubt and judge others even if they did nothing wrong.
Now that the game has become a reality and many restrictions have been lifted, one must consider how interactions with NPCs could lead to unforeseen repercussions.
“That’s correct.”
Having quietly listened to their conversation, Johan nodded.
“If it turns out that the woman you both encountered is indeed a witch and this information spreads, you, Lucia, may one day face the Holy Iron Inquisitor Knights under less-than-favorable circumstances.”
The Holy Iron Inquisitor Knights were an armed force under the Holy Empire, roaming the continent to eliminate the supernatural.
“Are they here?”
“Yes. Those in white plate armor who carry maces instead of swords are easily recognizable from afar.”
“Am I in big trouble?”
Lucia recalled the man at the observatory earlier. The man in the white plate armor was staring intently at her.
“Don’t worry too much. Fortunately, where they’re staying is quite a distance from our tents.”
Seeing Lucia’s unease, Johan gave a reassuring grin.
“And isn’t that why I and the Knights are accompanying you? If there’s any trouble, I will personally ensure they’re driven away.”
“…Thank you.”
Lucia slightly bowed her head to Johan. The scars on his resolute face seemed intimidating in the flickering firelight.
Lucia had met countless witches in her previous life.
She had met them as allies and as enemies, but she felt that calling them witches bundled them into a category that had too few common characteristics.
It was hard to define them under a single category.
Demons refer to sentient beings with magic. But some witches had magic, while others did not.
In the end, there was only one way to distinguish them.
Dark Magic (邪術)
Magic was defined as the power that controlled the laws of the world in exchange for mana. On the contrary, it was said that things referred to as Dark Magic (邪術) didn’t use mana.
It was neither eerie magic nor curses or witchcraft. If someone cursed or killed using only mana, it was clearly classified as magic.
If one needed to sacrifice a person’s life to produce a glimmer of light, it was dark magic. The method of sacrificing someone’s life or body to achieve a wish was dark magic.
For this reason,
For a very long time, society had despised and feared those who used dark magic.
It was the same 500 years ago. Even if the users of dark magic were her allies, they were inevitably looked upon with disdain and contempt.
Wasn’t that obvious?
If someone witnessed a witch using dark magic even once, they would harbor the thought that they, too, could become a victim of dark magic.
“…”
Lucia was no different.
“…”
‘But that woman told me it’s dangerous if we’re together.’
“…”
‘Then who put Shiron to sleep? Didn’t she try to protect us from that person…’
“Lucia.”
‘Was that also a lie?’
“Lucia.”
‘It’s disgusting.’
“Hey!”
“…Huh?”
Awoken from her thoughts, Lucia looked up in surprise. Shiron was looking at her while holding a ladle and a wooden bowl. Shiron’s face, staring at Lucia, was impassive.
“What are you doing? Quickly take the bowl.”
“Th, thank you.”
Lucia hastily took the wooden bowl. It was still early for dinner, but Shiron personally placed a pot over the fire.
Lucia blankly stared at the white stew in the wooden bowl.
Perhaps because the location was different, the contents of the stew were not the same as what they had in the annex. Carrots, potatoes, okra, and onions. Maybe because it only had vegetables, Lucia didn’t feel like eating it today.
“If you’re not feeling well, eat and sleep soon. From tomorrow, we have to wake up early for the festival registration.”
Shiron said as he approached Lucia. He started to shred the jerky with the dagger in his hand.
“You got it?”
“Shiron.”
“…What.”
While not stopping his hands, Shiron replied.
“That woman we saw earlier, Ailee. If she’s a witch, she must have wanted to harm us. But she spoke as if she was concerned for us, who are still children. What’s going on?”
“Have you been thinking about this the whole time?”
Shiron reached for his ladle again.
“If you’re worried about the demerit points I mentioned, just think of her as a strange woman, not a witch. It’s easier that way.”
“It wasn’t just her.”
Lucia spoke without looking away from the stew.
“You might not know because you were asleep, but there was a man with a mustache and a man in white armor watching us. That man must have been from the Holy Knight Order that Sir Johan mentioned.”
In the tent where Lucia and Shiron were staying, Johan was absent.
Saying it was uncomfortable for him, an outsider, to be in a space where only the family was, he left somewhere, leaving the armed guards behind.
“What are you trying to say?”
“… I think we should not participate in the festival and just stay here. No, let’s just quit everything and go home.”
Lucia’s intuition warned that this place was dangerous. Shiron, who had been calm since earlier, was the strange one. Whether it was about witches or the Holy Knight Order, she wished he would just stop thinking about them.
“You’re surprisingly timid.”
“…”
“Are you scared of the witch? Or is it the Holy Knight Order? Stop talking nonsense and eat the stew.”
Shiron was weird.
Back at the lookout, Shiron found it strange when he suddenly fell asleep. Even though he was aware of it himself, Shiron now seemed too calm.
He barely showed any facial expressions, and his tone was consistently tranquil.
It was the first time she’d seen Shiron like this.
Usually, Shiron was expressive – he would laugh or get angry. He was a child filled with vivid emotions.
Even by Lucia’s standards, her current attitude felt a bit stifling, so she could only imagine how the young Shiron must feel.
But the boy Lucia was facing, Shiron, neither laughed nor got angry. Shiron, typically quick to be scared, should’ve had a more distressed expression in this situation.
“…”
Somehow, this felt familiar to her. She had faced such situations several times before. In her previous life, as Kailey, she had often seen her comrades’ emotions dry up.
‘What’s going on…’
Lucia stared intently into Shiron’s eyes.
Shiron’s eyes were not shining at the moment.
The surrounding scenery should be reflected in his eyes with the light, but Shiron’s eyes seemed a bit cloudy now.
“Dark magic…”
“Huh?”
Shiron stared back at Lucia. Those still, unchanging eyes felt somewhat eerie.
Suddenly-
“Damn it.”
The spoon in Lucia’s hand screamed out. Lucia had come to a realization.
“Who are you? Who are you, pretending to be Shiron right now?”
“…What are you talking about?”
“Don’t play dumb.”
Lucia threw away the wooden bowl she hadn’t eaten from yet.
“Right, I thought it was weird. The stew Shiron made always had meat in it, and it was never this white… I was too slow to realize.”
Although she was too embarrassed to say it out loud, in this confined space with just the two of them, she couldn’t feel Shiron’s distinct scent.
The red-haired girl, full of anger, stood up.
And then…
Lucia took big steps towards the thing that wasn’t Shiron.
Her entire body felt hot, and her mana fluctuated.
It had been a very long time since she felt this angry.
From Lucia’s hand, white flames burst forth. A pure, powerful energy erupted from her tightly clenched fist.
“Come out, you bastard.”
Lucia thrust her fist into the face of her opponent.
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