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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Mod7
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Johan threw the tracker on the ground and yelled at Lynne.
“Then how are we supposed to find Master!?”
“I… I can’t…”
“What!? Try harder!”
“B-but I can’t do what I can’t do… and why are you so angry…?”
Lynne looked at Johan, confused. But Johan, his hands trembling slightly, stared back at her.
She wouldn’t understand. What it meant for Evangeline, his Master, to be crying.
“Listen, Master is a witch. Do you understand? A human weapon.”
“…Yes, I know.”
“In the kingdom, witches are hunted. Do you know why? Because they’re dangerous! They’re a threat to humanity!”
Witches, despite their powers, weren’t that different from humans. They cried when sad, they got annoyed when inconvenienced, they got angry when wronged, and they felt fear.
A crying witch meant a distressed witch. An unstable witch.
And a being capable of crushing humans like ants was now wandering the Empire, emotionally unstable.
‘There are already three witches in the Empire… if they find out about Master, there will be a fight…’
He wasn’t afraid of monsters. They were just beasts, and stronger beasts always preyed on weaker ones. A stronger witch would always defeat a weaker monster.
But humans were different. Like ants swarming an elephant, they would find a way to kill her, given enough time and resources.
‘And if Master, in her unstable state, encounters another witch? Either Master will be injured, or the Empire will be destroyed.’
He cared for Evangeline, but he didn’t want her to become a mass murderer, responsible for countless deaths.
He didn’t want her to become a pariah, hunted and hated by everyone.
“Let’s go.”
“Huh? Go where…?”
“Where else? To find Master.”
Fortunately, he had a plan. He remembered Lynne mentioning that they had scattered across the Empire to search for him.
They had done it to find him quickly, but now Johan suspected it was Marguerite’s way of ensuring she would be the first to find him.
Though Lynne couldn’t remember where she had been dropped off, she remembered the general locations the others had visited.
He would retrace their steps, in reverse order.
“Hold on tight. Don’t let go.”
“O-okay…”
Lynne cautiously took Johan’s hand. She remembered Marguerite’s words.
‘She said she would kill me if I did anything weird with Johan…’
Holding hands wasn’t weird, was it? Thinking this, she tightened her grip, and Johan, feeling her trembling hand, activated the teleportation.
Marguerite, returning to the restaurant, realized she was too late.
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“Sniffle—! Johan, Johaaan…”
A white-haired witch walked through the streets.
She was beautiful, and men, drawn to her beauty, approached her.
Those men were now in the hospital.
The news of a woman sending men to the hospital with a single touch quickly reached the police.
“What’s wrong with that crazy woman?”
The police officer, watching Evangeline weeping, scratched his head. She looked like a harmless lunatic, yet anyone who touched her ended up with twisted, broken limbs.
As if her body itself repelled human contact.
They decided to use a non-contact method to apprehend her. An officer threw a net, but the net, as if possessing a will of its own, twisted and flew away.
“…Did I just… imagine that? No, right?”
“I… I saw it too, sir.”
The officers realized she was a witch and called for backup. The Empire’s Special Forces.
A unit created by Machina, on the Emperor’s orders, specifically to deal with witches. Armed with specialized weapons, they quickly surrounded Evangeline.
Evangeline, who had been ignoring them, finally turned, annoyed by their persistent presence.
“Fire—!”
A stream of specialized incendiary fluid, designed to burn continuously, engulfed Evangeline.
A modern recreation of the ancient Roman flamethrower.
Evangeline frowned and waved her hand. Her magical barrier expanded, deflecting the flames.
“…What… are you doing?”
“It didn’t work? Fine. Throw them!”
The special forces agents then bombarded her with tear gas, smoke grenades, and flashbangs.
Evangeline, realizing these insects were attacking her, preventing her from finding Johan, decided to eliminate them.
“Get… out of my way.”
She waved her hand, and the agents were flung away like ragdolls. A complex spell, manipulating multiple variables, but effortless for Evangeline.
Having cleared a path, she resumed her search for Johan.
“Ahaha—running away after making such a mess!?”
“…Are you… trying to stop me?”
“Stop you? Don’t you know the meaning of responsibility?”
Evangeline glared at the witch who had blocked her path.
Another one. Another witch. This was getting annoying.
‘Ah, right.’
She hadn’t found Johan yet.
This witch.
She would kill her.
Evangeline raised her hand.
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“Master—!!”
Johan teleported to the location Lynne had provided. Normally, teleporting to an unfamiliar location was impossible, but his encounter with Marguerite had unlocked that ability.
He instructed Lynne to create a mana-tracking device, and she quickly complied.
Following the device’s signal, he found one of the witches searching for him.
“…Johan, Johan!”
Beatrice, spotting him, hopped around excitedly, like a baby bird who had found its mother.
Though not the one he was looking for, he hugged her and spun her around.
“Beatrice, where’s Master?”
“Evangeline? She was dropped off west of here.”
“West?”
Fortunately, it wasn’t far. He took Beatrice and headed towards the location.
As they arrived in the western city, a bustling Imperial city, Johan was greeted by the sweet aroma of pastries.
‘…Smells good.’
The scent was so enticing he almost forgot why he was there, but he quickly shook his head and resumed his search for Evangeline.
Finding her wasn’t difficult.
“There!”
“Hurry!”
Police officers were running towards something, their expressions urgent. Police officers converging on a single location in a city with a witch…
It couldn’t be good. Johan, praying it wasn’t anything serious, ran after them.
“—You can’t go through here!”
“…I have business inside.”
“I’m sorry, sir. There’s a dangerous individual causing a disturbance. You can’t go through.”
The police officers, true to their profession, were blocking the street, controlling the crowd.
He could easily overpower them, but that would only make him a target as well.
As he was considering his options, Beatrice tugged on his sleeve.
“…Beatrice?”
“Leave this to me.”
Beatrice, a confident grin on her face, pulled a teddy bear from her pocket and threw it.
The teddy bear transformed into a massive grizzly bear. The newly animated creature followed its creator’s instructions.
Cause a distraction. Don’t kill anyone, just break things.
—Raaaaawr—!
“Wh-what is that!?”
The police officers, facing a giant, rampaging bear, could no longer maintain their cordon. Johan, giving Beatrice a quick thumbs-up, ran past them.
The closer he got, the louder the commotion became. He saw Evangeline fighting someone.
“Master—!”
As he called out to her, the witch fighting Evangeline threw something. Evangeline, as always, instinctively deflected it with her magic.
And the deflected object pierced through Johan’s abdomen.
“…Huh?”
“…Johan?”
The two witches stared at him, their cries of shock echoing, as Johan, clutching his stomach, collapsed.
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