—————————————————————–
Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Mod7
—————————————————————–
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
“Johan—do this for me~”
“Yes, just a moment.”
“Disciple—could you bring me this?”
“…Can’t you do that yourself?”
“…Johan, I want pancakes.”
“Just a moment, please.”
“Hey, bug. Make fried chicken for dinner.”
“Am I your personal chef?”
“Um… are we… not doing anything today…?”
“Don’t. Don’t do anything.”
Johan, having attended to the needs of seven witches, sighed, wondering how his life had come to this.
He wasn’t Snow White, and these weren’t seven dwarves. Taking care of seven witches was exhausting.
While preparing the pancake batter, he simultaneously started marinating the chicken for dinner. Then he realized he didn’t have to do this.
He abandoned his tasks and went to find Evangeline.
“Master!”
“Oh, Johan—what is it?”
“I’d like a vacation.”
“…A vacation…?”
Johan boldly demanded time off.
The world’s first witch’s apprentice union was born.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Evangeline lacked social experience. As a witch, ostracized by society, she hadn’t had many opportunities to interact with the outside world.
In 21st-century Earth, someone ostracized by society would become a keyboard warrior, venting their frustrations online. A medieval fantasy witch, however, would simply build a cabin in the woods and become a recluse.
So it was understandable that she didn’t immediately grasp the concept of a “vacation.”
“S-sure! Take as much time as you need!”
Her immediate agreement stemmed from her desire to give Johan anything he wanted, be it a mountain of gold or the rarest jewel.
She certainly didn’t want him to leave.
“Thank you. I’ll be back soon. Please don’t look for me.”
“W-what?”
Johan said this and pulled a teleportation scroll from his pocket. One he had borrowed from Marguerite and hadn’t returned.
He activated the scroll and vanished. Evangeline stared at the empty space, confused.
“J-Johan? Is this a joke? Where… where did you go…?”
She reached out, touching the air where he had been standing. Only his scent and the faintest traces of his mana remained.
Evangeline rushed out of the room and found Marguerite relaxing in the living room.
“Ritz—! It’s an emergency! Ritz—!”
“What, what!? What happened!?”
Marguerite, lounging on the sofa in a negligee, sat up, startled, and looked around.
She saw Evangeline trembling, tears in her eyes, and rushed over to her.
“What’s wrong?”
“Johan… Johan…”
“Your disciple? What about him?”
“He’s… gone… he… left me…”
Marguerite, initially confused, then remembered the teleportation scrolls she had given him and rushed to Evangeline’s room.
The room, Evangeline’s personal space, was filled with her scent and mana, but there was another, unfamiliar trace of magic, recently used.
Marguerite, following the trail, frowned.
“…I can’t follow it.”
Normally, she could track such a blatant use of magic. As the Witch of Space, she could even teleport directly to the destination.
But Johan’s magic, or rather, the magic he had used, was untraceable. She searched for other traces of his mana, but aside from Evangeline’s, there was nothing.
Evangeline, hearing that Johan was untraceable, collapsed at Marguerite’s feet.
“Wh-what do you mean?”
“I think he erased it.”
“Erased it?”
Marguerite, looking at Evangeline’s trembling form, explained her theory.
“His magic is nullification, so he probably used it to mask the destination. To make it untraceable.”
“Then what do we do!?”
“What can we do? We can’t find him.”
Marguerite remained calm. Teenage boys were like that. He’d get bored and come back eventually.
Her opinion changed that evening, when a single vial of semen appeared in the cabin via teleportation.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
“That will be one thousand eryl.”
“That’s expensive.”
“It just means it’s a high-quality garment.”
The shopkeeper smiled, waiting for him to pay. Johan, wincing slightly, handed her the bills. Imperial currency, eryl.
Leftover from his encounter with Machina. He hadn’t expected to use it like this.
He now realized just how much money Machina had given him.
‘A custom-made suit for a thousand won… how much did she give me?’
He remembered the stack of bills. One hundred bills of one thousand eryl each, a denomination higher than silver coins.
Considering ten silver coins equaled one gold coin, it was equivalent to one hundred gold coins.
And considering one gold coin could support a family of four for a month, it was enough to last him half a lifetime if he was frugal.
‘I’d be devastated if I lost this.’
He tucked the bills into his inner pocket, vowing to keep them safe, then wandered through the city streets, looking for something to do.
There wasn’t much entertainment in this 19th-century-esque city. No computers, no arcades. There were newspapers, but no manga.
The lack of entertainment depressed him. But he didn’t despair. He found a solution.
Humans had built colosseums for entertainment even in ancient times. Culture was the sustenance of the soul, and it couldn’t be absent, not even in this world.
And there was one form of entertainment unique to this world.
“Looking for something fun? Hunting is the best!”
“…Hunting?”
“Yes! Hunting with guns! It used to be a sport only for nobles, but not anymore! Anyone with money can enjoy it! …Speaking of which, do you… have any money, sir?”
Johan showed him the stack of bills. The man’s eyes widened. That was more than enough, enough to hire people to be hunted, not just hunt.
The man was a smooth talker, and before Johan knew it, he was in a carriage, being led away. It felt like a scam, perhaps even a prelude to human trafficking… but Johan wasn’t concerned.
‘It’ll be fine…’
He could dodge bullets if he had to. He thought this as he relaxed and enjoyed the scenery.
As it turned out, it was a rip-off, but not a scam. And it wasn’t his money anyway. He felt like a wealthy nobleman, hunting animals released by the staff.
It was, honestly, incredibly fun.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
The witches gathered, staring at a vial of semen.
“What… is this?”
“…It just appeared.”
“Spatial magic. Sending objects to a specific location.”
And spatial magic was Marguerite’s specialty. Only two people in this world could use it: Marguerite, and Johan, who possessed her scrolls.
The witches realized that Johan had sent this, that the semen was fresh, and that he had no intention of returning anytime soon. They began brainstorming ways to find him.
“Can’t we just… wait? He’ll come back eventually, right?”
“Shut up, Hecaterina.”
“Maybe he ran away because of your attitude. I’d run too if—”
“I told you to shut up, you bitch!”
Evangeline grabbed Hecaterina and shoved her against the wall. Hecaterina, though struggling to breathe, glared back.
“Try it, I—”
“If you say another word, I’ll rip your throat ou—”
“Rip.”
“…You little—”
As Evangeline’s grip tightened, the other five witches intervened.
Even the most powerful witch couldn’t defeat six others at once—Evangeline relented and sat down, defeated.
“Johan… sob… Master was wrong… I was wrong… so please come back…”
The other witches, ignoring Evangeline’s dramatic weeping, looked at the vial.
“Can’t you trace this back to him?”
“No, it’s blocked.”
“Hmm… where could he be…?”
“Um…”
Lynne, who had been sitting quietly, raised her hand timidly. All eyes turned to her, and she flinched, then touched her chest.
“Can… find…”
“What? Speak clearly.”
“She says she can find Johan.”
“—What!? You can find him!?”
Linna clarified Lynne’s statement, and the witches, hearing this, all stood up and looked at Lynne.
Even Evangeline stopped crying and rushed over. Lynne spoke hesitantly.
“When… I came here…”
“When we came here, Johan made a device… to track him. We can use that.”
“Then hurry up and make it—!”
Evangeline’s outburst was met with a shrug from Linna. Evangeline, realizing their magic was still sealed, rushed to her room and returned with the antidote.
Lynne, having regained her magic, created the tracking device.
Beep—beep—
“…What is this?”
“A tracker. It only shows the direction, so it’s not very precise, but…”
“How are we supposed to find him with this—!”
“That’s why it took us months.”
“M-months!? I can’t wait that long!”
They despaired, having found a solution that was practically useless, when Beatrice, who had been playing with the vial, called out to them.
“…I can find him.”
“Hm? What?”
“This.”
Beatrice held out the vial. Glass vials themselves were rare, but this one was particularly smooth and well-made.
And there was only one place in this world that could produce such high-quality glass.
“An Imperial product…”
The Empire.
Johan was there.
The witches immediately set off for the Empire.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
