Chapter 9. The Witch

“Interesting.”

Ilea’s voice settled over the room. It was cold, utterly devoid of warmth. So frigid that even a chill ran down one’s spine.

Raguel couldn’t bring himself to speak. It was because of her expression. He couldn’t see it since he was blind, but it was easy enough to imagine. Her beautiful face must have been terribly twisted.

“……A witch.”

As Ilea savored the word, her voice trailed off, putting pressure on Raguel. At least, that was how the boy felt.

He was anxious.

He wanted to somehow change the atmosphere.

He spoke in a trembling voice.

“I-I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to…….”

“I don’t like it.”

Her voice was the complete opposite of before.

“I won’t accept your apology. You already hurt my feelings.”

Her voice was youthful and refreshing. The icy air disappeared in an instant.

“I-Ilea……?”

Raguel couldn’t hide his bewilderment. He found it difficult to keep up with the sudden change in atmosphere.

“You knew my name. Since you shouted at me for being a witch, I thought you didn’t know.”

Her words weren’t really reaching his ears.

Raguel was flustered, but he was also preoccupied with an entirely different thought.

Ilea’s sudden request. Had she really asked him to introduce her to a friend? It was completely out of the blue. Not only were the two of them hardly close enough to have such a conversation, but Raguel didn’t even have any friends.

He was the very definition of a loner. Everyone in the castle would agree, and there was no way Ilea didn’t know that.

“What are you thinking so hard about?”

His train of thought was abruptly cut off.

She added in a soft voice,

“You don’t seem afraid, even with a witch standing right in front of you.”

At the word witch, the boy flinched. He began fumbling with his lips.

“If there’s something you’re curious about, you can ask me. I’ll answer as honestly as I can.”

Raguel hesitated before steeling himself. Though he had been lying down, he corrected his posture and sat upright. After taking a deep breath, he opened his mouth.

“Ilea, I absolutely have no intention of insulting you.”

“That’s quite a tense opening. Relax and speak comfortably.”

“I-I really…… I’m only asking just in case, but…… that…….”

Seeing him trail off, Ilea let out a small sigh.

“Yes, that’s right.”

“W-What is……?”

“I’m a witch.”

She added calmly,

“And Young Master is a contractor.”

At that very moment, footsteps could be heard.

Ilea turned around. A large man wearing leather armor was standing in front of the door.

“We meet again, mercenary.”

It was Gaf.

His gaze wavered as he looked at Ilea.

Ilea slowly rose from her chair.

“Since I have a guest, I’ll be leaving now.”

Raguel couldn’t respond in any way. He simply froze stiff with shock.

Ilea smiled gently at the boy.

“We’ll finish our unfinished conversation next time. I enjoyed talking with you.”

Then she turned around.

Just as she was passing Gaf, her footsteps suddenly stopped.

She had heard the cry of a baby.

A look of confusion flashed across Gaf’s face. Has this demon bastard lost his mind? He couldn’t understand what he was trying to accomplish by drawing attention to them.

“Waaah.”

Ilea turned her head. She was staring at Gaf’s cloak.

The mercenary reacted quickly as well. He twisted his body to face Ilea, intending to hide the cloak.

Gaf smiled awkwardly.

“I sometimes return to my childhood.”

“Waaah.”

“Sounds like the voice of your heart.”

“I’ve been learning ventriloquism lately.”

“You must need a puppet, then.”

“Haha, well……”

Ilea clapped her hands exaggeratedly.

“Oh, is that it?”

A baby was poking its head out from between the folds of Gaf’s cloak.

“Waaah.”

“How cute.”

Gaf swallowed a groan.

“Could I take a look for a moment?”

There was no way to make excuses anymore. He spoke with an troubled expression.

“Ilea, no. This child……”

Ilea’s smile vanished.

“I need to see.”

Her expression had hardened like wax. It was such an unfamiliar sight that Gaf hesitated for a moment. In the meantime, Ilea approached the baby.

Only the baby’s small face was visible. Apparently, the baby was secured to Gaf’s back. It must have been tied there with straps or ropes.

She gave the baby a tender smile.

“Hello?”

After greeting the baby, she whispered into its ear.

“I’m your older sister. Or perhaps your big sister.”

The baby merely stared at her without showing any particular reaction.

Ilea poked the baby’s cheek with her index finger.

It wasn’t dry and lifeless like a puppet, nor was it hard like a demon. It was simply soft and plump—the ordinary touch of a normal baby.

With a strange expression, she murmured,

“What a cute and pretty baby. So wonderfully ordinary.”

Gaf took a step backward.

“Isn’t that enough?”

Ilea nodded.

“That’s enough.”

Then she bowed her head slightly.

“I know it was an impolite request, so thank you for indulging me.”

Gaf looked down at his daughter with a complicated expression. After a moment, he turned around and said,

“I should be going.”

Ilea pointed toward Raguel’s room.

“Isn’t this the way?”

“I took a wrong turn. I’m still not familiar with the layout.”

Gaf walked back along the same corridor he had come through. He wouldn’t be able to take Yohan to Raguel’s room today. Something about this situation left him feeling uneasy.

Ilea watched Gaf disappear into the distance.

'A blind man, a baby, and a mercenary. What a peculiar combination, Father.'

***

“Holy Hero Kazan said to the specter of the Duchy, Geppetto, ‘I understand your desire for revenge. I, too, was once consumed by resentment and spilled innocent blood. In the end, all that remained was regret. Do not walk the same path as me. I beg you.’ Geppetto chuckled.”

The demon’s reading echoed through the study.

“He handed Kazan a pitch-black blade……”

Tap.

Yohan closed the book he had been reading. Sitting at the round table, he looked down at Raguel.

“You’re having a hard time concentrating.”

The startled boy sighed.

“I keep thinking about what happened yesterday.”

“I told you, didn’t I? You don’t need to worry about it.”

“She found out I’m a contractor. How am I supposed to act like it’s nothing?”

“It was bound to happen sooner or later. You can’t deceive a witch’s eyes.”

After hesitating for a while, Raguel opened his mouth.

“……She really is a witch?”

“As I’ve told you several times, yes.”

“I don’t understand.”

Witches were a vanished race.

It had already been fifty years since Rachel, who was called the Last Witch, had disappeared.

They had been powerful, but before the overwhelming violence of the Empire, they had been trampled like ants.

And so the last remnants of the race fell.

There were only humans and demons left in this world now. They were the only intelligent beings remaining.

And yet, a witch?

It was impossible to believe.

Yohan spoke.

“If I were to make you understand, I could talk day and night and it still wouldn’t be enough. Just remember one thing. Ilea is the Last Witch.”

Raguel replied with a sullen expression,

“I’d like to hear about it.”

“I don’t want to talk about it. It’s troublesome.”

A silent battle of nerves passed between them. Raguel’s shoulders slumped in resignation.

“Yes, well. Of course, a demon who knows everything in the world wouldn’t care about my curiosity.”

Yohan gave a small chuckle.

“Indeed. I don’t care whether you’re curious or not.”

Just as Yohan was about to open his book again, Raguel spoke.

“Then just one thing.”

Yohan clicked his tongue.

“Make it quick.”

“Ilea uses magic, right?”

“That should be obvious.”

Raguel stammered, apparently surprised.

“T-Then she must be commanding demons…….”

Yohan was genuinely impressed.

“How do you know that?”

“I read it in a book. Witches command demons, and then steal their demonic energy and convert it into magical power.”

“Looks like there are forbidden books mixed in with the books in this study. If you went around saying things like that, you’d be dragged away by the Inquisitors.”

Raguel swallowed nervously.

Yohan added,

“Anyway, you’re right.”

Ilea must be controlling a slave.

Raguel nodded as though he understood.

“Then that explains why she noticed the contract.”

“Either the demon she commands told her, or she saw through it with her own eyes.”

In truth, it was both.

“Wait a moment. Didn’t Yohan meet Ilea yesterday, too?”

“Right in front of your room.”

“She must have discovered that you’re a half-demon.”

It was ambiguous. This was precisely why Yohan, in his baby form, had deliberately drawn Ilea’s attention.

Could she really see through to his true nature? There was no way to know without testing it. None of the half-breeds appearing in the original story had ever been able to cross the boundary between human and demon.

In other words, there was no precedent.

Yohan murmured,

“She didn’t seem to know. For now.”

“That’s a relief.”

“Why?”

“Because witches are the natural enemies of demons.”

“In a way, they’re symbiotic.”

Raguel asked with a puzzled expression,

“Does Yohan perhaps want to be controlled by Ilea?”

Come to think of it, that did seem to be the case. Even though Ilea had discovered that Raguel was a contractor, Yohan didn’t seem particularly concerned.

He acted as though he didn’t care what happened. There was even a chance that, by tracing the contractor back through Raguel, they could discover Yohan as well, yet the demon remained calm.

That was how it appeared to Raguel.

There could only be one reason.

He wants to be controlled.

Yohan let out a derisive laugh.

“By that tiny girl?”

Raguel cautiously replied,

“……But isn’t Yohan also small and young?”

“You damn brat. This tiny body contains the knowledge accumulated over the ages. I’m not shallow enough to be manipulated by some young girl.”

Yohan paused for a moment before continuing.

“Besides, my time as an imp is over now.”

He looked down at the floor of the study.

A gigantic magic circle had been drawn there. It was an Unholy Formation constructed from black blood—a ritual altar meant to corrupt a holy relic.

He had copied it from the grimoire he had obtained from the Restricted Library.

Because it required demon blood, he had fainted several times from excessive blood loss, but the result was satisfactory.

After countless trials and errors, he had finally created a perfect Unholy Formation.

Now he would be able to escape his infant form.

The moment he corrupted Kazan’s Ring, Yohan would evolve.

Raguel swallowed a groan.

“I don’t know what it is, but it seems you’re planning something bad again.”

A blind man couldn’t see the Unholy Formation.

“Just an appropriately evil deed.”

Raguel almost asked what degree of evil could possibly be considered “appropriate,” but stopped himself. There could hardly be anything more foolish than debating morality with a demon.

“Anyway, I need a witch to finish this. I’ll have to meet her eventually, so why bother hiding my identity?”

The Unholy Formation required magical power to activate.

He would need to procure a mage or a witch.

Both were rare.

Mages were people who worshipped demons and were classified as serious criminals in this world. Since they hid themselves deep in the shadows, Yohan couldn’t find one at the moment.

Witches were even rarer.

There was only one in the entire world. And, as luck would have it, she was located nearby.

He would have to make use of her.

Raguel’s expression darkened.

“I don’t know what you’re plotting that you need a witch for.”

“That’s not all.”

“What?”

Three conditions had to be met to corrupt a holy relic.

The first, the Unholy Formation, and the second, magical power, were more or less prepared.

Only the third remained.

After pondering for a moment, Yohan spoke.

“Raguel, let me ask you one thing, too.”

His voice was lower than before.

There was something strangely ominous about it. Though slightly uneasy, Raguel nodded.

“……Yes. Ask me anything.”

The demon’s red eyes gleamed.

“Is there anyone in this castle you want to kill, or someone who needs to die?”

The third condition was a human sacrifice.

“Choose one from among the people in this castle.”