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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Mod7
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Groaning in front of the broken water container, Evangeline tried using magic but finally realized she couldn’t fix it.
While magic was nearly omnipotent, it wasn’t absolutely so. For fixing a broken oak barrel, a carpenter would be more suitable than a witch.
‘Been a while since I’ve had to go to the village…’
A shadow crossed her face at the thought. Though the villagers showed her utmost respect, it was respect born of fear.
They tried not to show their disgust in front of her, but it wasn’t perfect. The tiniest wrinkle of their noses – after centuries of being hated, she could sense their revulsion from even that slight gesture.
‘I don’t want to go.’
Usually, she would have forced herself to go despite such feelings. Even a witch couldn’t produce everything by herself.
But now she didn’t have to. She had Johan, didn’t she? Her apprentice, assistant, obedient slave.
She approached Johan, who was absent-mindedly sunbathing on the first floor.
“Johan.”
“Yes! Master.”
“Tomorrow, go to the village.”
“…The village?”
“Yes.”
Evangeline held out the boards he’d broken and spoke.
“Get this fixed.”
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How long had it been since I’d left the village? Not quite a month. The memories of working there like a slave were still fresh.
The villagers who’d beat me while finding any excuse – just thinking about it made my hands tremble.
Not from fear though. Rather the opposite – it was trembling mixed with anger and anticipation.
‘Just you wait, you bastards.’
They probably never imagined the man they’d sold off as a sacrifice would return as the witch’s apprentice. They’d be shocked by this turn of events they never could have predicted.
I could already picture their stunned faces clearly. I walked toward the village with light steps.
Soon I arrived. Heart pounding, I entered the village.
“Halt- oh? Charles?”
“Charles? Is that Charles?”
Two guards at the village entrance approached. I knew their role well now. Good-for-nothings who couldn’t do anything right.
Their only job was to guard against monsters entering this village near the forest, and they couldn’t even do that properly.
“It’s Johan, asshole.”
“…Asshole? You little shit, where do you get off speaking informal-”
“Don’t you know where I’ve been?”
Nothing to fear here. Unless they happened to be carrying weapons – but these idiots left their weapons at home to make guard duty easier.
Sure enough, seeing my aggressive attitude, they seemed to realize I must have backing and fell silent, deep in thought.
“We heard you escaped one day…”
“Escaped? Wow- so I’m some hero who escaped into the monster-filled forest and survived for weeks? Does that make any sense?”
“Well then, where have you been all this time…”
“Your precious chief sold me to my Master. The Master who lives in the cabin.”
The two stiffened at the word “cabin.” There was only one cabin in these monster-filled woods.
The witch’s cabin. A place feared for its very existence. And I’d just called her Master. If what sat on their shoulders wasn’t just a hat rack, they’d understand what that meant.
Indeed, seeming to grasp my relationship with the witch, they started trembling and sweating. No surprise – I’d received the most beatings from these good-for-nothings.
I smiled lightly at their trembling forms.
“Bring me that old geezer.”
The two ran into the village simultaneously, neither waiting for the other.
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Shortly after, the chief was dragged away from tending his garden. Having apparently heard the situation from the two men, he approached me with an extremely polite attitude.
“Heh, hehehe- Johan my boy. To think you’d become the witch’s apprentice, how did…”
“Never mind that, give me my things.”
“Th-things…?”
“My clothes and smartphone- you know, that mirror-like rectangle.”
Hearing my words, the chief’s expression hardened uncomfortably as he scratched his cheek.
“Those… those items are gone now.”
“What!? Do you have any idea what those-!”
“S-sold them to traveling merchants. For… two silver coins…”
“When?”
“Quite a while ago…”
Hearing this, I grabbed my forehead and sighed heavily. Though I didn’t know the currency values of this world well, I knew clothes with modern technology and a smartphone weren’t worth just a few silver coins.
An absurdly low price. Unless the chief had been scammed by the merchant or was trying to scam me, it made no sense.
I bet on the latter.
“You bastard!”
BANG-! I struck the village’s wooden fence with a mana-enhanced fist. The tightly woven fence crumbled with a crack, taking down the adjacent trees with it.
The villagers and chief were shocked by this display of clearly inhuman strength.
I was shocked too.
‘Oh shit, why did it break…’
It was disconcerting to see it collapse when I’d only meant to hit it. What if they asked me to fix this?
Before the chief or villagers could bring it up, I cleared my throat a few times and spoke to the chief.
“Ahem, well then, give me those two silver coins and a water container.”
“Y-yes!? But- so suddenly…”
“What? Should I stop caring about whether monsters show up or not?”
“Oh my-! Alright! I’ll bring them right away!”
Shortly after, the chief returned with some village youths. In their hands was a wooden container much larger than the one we’d had at the cabin.
Glancing at it, I saw something sloshing inside. A quick sniff told me it was alcohol.
“This is the only spare container we have. Please forgive us…”
“Hmm. Good.”
“And here are the silver coins you mentioned…”
“Very good.”
After receiving the pouch of coins and the container, I nodded in satisfaction and left the village.
“Take care. Try not to go bankrupt.”
“Yes, how could we?”
Receiving the chief’s polite farewell until the end, I headed back to the cabin in high spirits.
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Watching Johan appear suddenly, throw the village into chaos and leave, one of the village youths burst out in anger.
“That- that-! Chief, should we kill him now?”
“No, don’t do anything foolish.”
“But…”
“Besides- it’s not much of a loss.”
“What? What do you mean…”
“Just… things.”
The chief said this while ordering the village youths to repair the broken fence. Then he returned home, grumbling.
‘What fools- as if I’d only get silver coins for such miraculous items.’
Johan’s possessions – from his underwear to his socks to his smartphone – had all been sold for more than a gold coin’s worth.
Of course, he hadn’t told the villagers, and the money had gone straight into the chief’s pocket.
‘And- unlike the witch who’s hard to even talk to, he can be reasoned with if handled carefully. Rather easier to deal with…’
The chief thought this as he returned to his garden.
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‘He’s probably thinking the same thing.’
I flipped one of the silver coins from the pouch, imagining the chief’s thoughts. Though I’d only known him a month, reading the thoughts of a greedy old man wasn’t difficult.
‘Well, he’s not wrong…’
It couldn’t be helped. The witch’s cabin was fundamentally cut off from society, and that village was its only connection.
I couldn’t arbitrarily cut off the relationship Evangeline had maintained with the village for so many years. I needed to make them think having a witch nearby was beneficial.
‘If there’s a witch, mustn’t there be priests too?’
Religion existed in this world too. Even as slaves, we got one day off per week. Something about religiously mandated rest periods.
And if religion existed, that meant churches existed, and churches had always been natural enemies of witches.
What if the villagers got fed up with the witch’s existence and ran to the church to report Master? Surely hundreds or thousands of holy knights would come running to burn her at the stake.
‘Master, your disciple lives only for you.’
Lost in these thoughts as I walked, I arrived at the cabin. I immediately went inside carrying the oak barrel full of alcohol.
“Master! Your unworthy disciple has returned!”
As if she’d been waiting for me, Evangeline came down from the second floor wearing light clothing. Though her clothes were light, she still wore her hood.
Feeling a slight bitterness at still not being able to see her face, I lifted up the barrel of alcohol I’d brought from the village.
“Guess what I brought? It’s alcohol, alcohol!”
“Oh… alcohol?”
“…Do you not like it?”
“No, I do. Alcohol.”
Though she said she liked it, I didn’t miss her grimace. Does she dislike alcohol? That would make sense. Living for centuries, a witch must have had many opportunities to drink.
And people make mistakes when drunk. Living for centuries, she must have made many mistakes. She probably swore off drinking each time.
“Seems like you don’t like it. I’ll throw it away.”
“Didn’t I say I like it?”
“…Then why that reaction?”
“That alcohol’s from the village, right? The quality there is a bit low…”
“Ah…”
I finally understood why she’d grimaced. I’d probably react the same way if a friend brought some cheap beer when suggesting we drink.
But for someone cut off from civilization for over a month, I didn’t care if it was cheap beer or watered-down liquor. It was alcohol. Sweet, intoxicating alcohol.
“Master, may your disciple pour you a drink?”
“…Well, it has been a while. I suppose one drink wouldn’t hurt.”
Evangeline said this as she approached the table.
I immediately brought out cups and started pouring.
Lifting our cups, we made a light toast.
“To Master.”
“T-to me?”
Clink.
Sweet alcohol flowed down my throat.
It had been so long since I’d had a drink. Almost two months…
Indeed, it wasn’t good enough to contradict her assessment of its quality. The bitter alcohol came with an unpleasant aftertaste.
“Ugh-! Another!”
I was going to regret this tomorrow.
That thought crossed my mind, but it didn’t stop my hand from pouring more.
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“…Johan, Johan?”
Someone kept poking my body.
Forcing my deeply submerged brain to wake up, I raised my body.
“Ugh… who…”
“It’s morning. Wake up.”
“…Master?”
“Yes, good morning.”
Opening my eyes, I saw Master standing there, wrapped tightly from head to toe. Not understanding the situation, I stared blankly at her for a moment before jumping up.
I quickly washed my face and headed to the kitchen ahead of her. Surprisingly, she had already prepared breakfast.
“I prepared breakfast.”
“I-I’m sorry…”
“It’s fine. This happens when you drink.”
I wasn’t usually a lightweight. Back on Earth, I could handle high-proof soju just fine-
The problem was drinking for the first time in two months. I hung my head, unable to hide my embarrassment.
“Did I… make any mistakes last night…”
“—Nothing happened. Yes, nothing at all.”
Evangeline said this while gripping her robe even tighter than before. Through a gap she hadn’t managed to cover, I spotted bright red marks.
“Master, did you get bitten by mosquitoes?”
“Uh, yes?”
“Those red marks on your neck…”
“Ah, um, yes! There were mosquitoes…”
“I see.”
“Let’s eat! Let’s just eat!”
She tried to change the subject as if escaping the situation.
Since it didn’t seem worth worrying about, I followed her lead and picked up my chopsticks.
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Mosquitoes, huh?