A rocky mountain, devoid of any grass, with sharp rock fragments scattered everywhere. On top of such a mountain, a girl with dark purple hair walked barefoot with her eyes closed. Despite the perilous nature of her actions, not a single scratch appeared on the girl's feet. To others, it might have seemed like a strange phenomenon, but to her, it was the most natural thing in the world. It was only natural, given her past. Even when the most exquisite sword, crafted by a race with unparalleled skill, was buried deep underground along with their underground city, her body had not been scratched. How could mere rock fragments harm her? She had always been such an existence. Even if the world were to end tomorrow, she would likely be the only one to survive unscathed. For centuries, the only pain she had felt was the endless boredom of a life without challenges. An existence that could not be stopped or harmed by the will of others. That was why people called her the Witch of Laziness. After completing the task she had been asked to do and leaving the human city, the Witch of Laziness, Beatrice, had been savoring a rare emotion, one that was neither boredom nor annoyance, with her eyes closed. Evangelina, or rather, Scarlett Evandere, as she was now called. It had been centuries since she had found something that piqued her interest. The mere thought of what might happen the next time they met was enough to dispel her intense boredom, and Beatrice was in a rather good mood for the first time in a long while. That was why she was not annoyed by the familiar presence she suddenly felt around her. Beatrice opened her eyes halfway and muttered, looking at the empty space in front of her. "What is it now?" As she spoke, a black hole appeared in front of her. A woman in a hooded cloak jumped out of it, crossed her arms, and shouted at Beatrice in an irritated voice. "What do you mean, 'what is it?' You're trying to weasel out of the task you were asked to do!" Beatrice tilted her head and replied, "What do you mean, 'weasel out'? I did exactly as I was told." "I told you to release it in a place where it wouldn't be noticed. If you had hidden it properly, it wouldn't have been discovered so quickly!" The woman, expressing her frustration with exaggerated movements, shouted. Beatrice looked at her and continued in her usual calm tone, "I did hide it properly. It was a contract, and I always fulfill my contracts." "Ugh, I know that! But why was it discovered so quickly? I can't understand it!" For witches, a contract, no matter how trivial, was something that had to be honored. The woman, knowing this, shouted that she couldn't understand, and Beatrice replied as if it were no big deal. "Well, I told someone where I hid it." "......Huh?" The woman made a strange sound and looked bewildered. Unable to speak from shock, she opened and closed her mouth inside her hood before regaining her composure and pointing at Beatrice, shouting in a shrill voice. "You! Why did you do that? Why did you do something you weren't asked to do?" Seeing the woman, who had given her a troublesome task, get angry, Beatrice felt a strange sense of satisfaction and muttered with a slight smile. "You didn't tell me not to tell anyone where I hid it. You only asked me to release it in a place where it wouldn't be noticed. What I did after that was none of your concern." "......Now that I think about it, you're right! Ah!" With a ridiculous cry, the woman collapsed to the ground, bowed her head, and began to mutter in a nervous voice. "One of them ignored my advice not to give away their hiding spot and ended up being discovered, and the other one turned a valuable opportunity into a complete mess. Ah, my plan. I was going to manipulate them one by one to keep the city in constant chaos, and then watch the humans become filled with distrust and worry, wondering who to trust and whether they were being manipulated. 'Hehe, ignorant humans, they don't even realize they're all part of my plan!' I was going to enjoy it with a great line! Ah, I'm so frustrated. So frustrated, so frustrated, so frustrated!!!" Suddenly, the woman, who had been muttering like a mad person and gradually raising her voice, lifted her head and shouted with a cheerful smile. "I was going to say that!" Her anger vanished, and she sprang up from the ground, laughing. Beatrice, looking at her as if she were a mad person, frowned. The woman, seemingly satisfied with Beatrice's expression, burst out laughing. "Kya-ha-ha! Did you really think I was angry? If you did, I'm sorry! Actually, this plan wasn't that important, so it doesn't matter how it turned out! If it went well, I would have enjoyed it, but I can also enjoy it when things don't go as planned. If everything always went as planned, it would be boring, wouldn't it? Ah-ha-ha!" The woman, still laughing, looked at Beatrice with a meaningful smile and leaned in, saying, "By the way, you surprised me. You told someone where you hid the demon. I didn't think you would ever do that. Does that mean there's something in the human city that interests you enough to move? Ah-ha, I'm suddenly curious. If there really is something, I might want it too." Beatrice's face hardened at the woman's words. The woman in front of her was the type who, if she set her mind to finding something, would find it no matter what. If she lost the interesting existence she had found after so long because of this woman... Thinking this, Beatrice's face contorted, and she swung her hand at the woman. "Kyaa?!" The woman, seeing the hand swing towards her, hastily opened a black hole and dove into it, narrowly avoiding Beatrice's hand. Appearing a short distance away from Beatrice, the woman, sweating, checked the part of her hood that the hand had grazed. Seeing a part of it missing, as if it had always been that way, she turned pale and shouted at Beatrice. "Kyaa! What are you doing? You almost killed me!" Staring at the woman, who seemed genuinely shocked, Beatrice muttered in a low voice. "......If you touch him, I'll kill you." "I... I understand! I won't touch him! I don't know what it is, but I won't touch him!" The woman, holding up her palms in a gesture of surrender, shouted. Seeing this, Beatrice relaxed her expression and slowly lowered her raised hand. The woman, looking at her, swallowed and asked cautiously, "......Why are you so obsessed with it? Can't you tell me what it is?" "......Do you want to die?" "No! I don't want to die! I need to know what it is so I don't touch it by accident! What if I touch it without knowing?" Beatrice narrowed her eyes at the woman's protest. Indeed, if the woman set her mind to finding it, she would find it, and if she touched it by accident, it would be a problem for Beatrice. Beatrice, lowering her hand that she had raised again, answered, "......A red-haired woman." "What? Are there only one or two red-haired women among humans?" "She's not human, so it doesn't matter. You'll recognize her at first sight." Beatrice replied to the woman, who asked in disbelief. After all, the woman was also a witch, and witches could recognize each other, so there was no need for an explanation. The woman, intrigued by Beatrice's answer, replied, "Hmm, a non-human red-haired woman. Got it! I promise I won't touch her if I see her. Since you won't believe me just by saying it, let's make a contract." As the word "contract" left the woman's mouth, Beatrice felt something connecting her and the woman. Witches were bound by contracts, no matter how simple. This gave her some peace of mind, so Beatrice slowly nodded. After making the contract, the woman smiled, opened a black hole in the air, and stuck her head out, saying to Beatrice, "Anyway, I just came to tell you that there's one request left in our contract. I'll be going now!" With that, the woman disappeared through the hole. * In the northern border area of the human city, the woman who had emerged from a black hole in the air quietly pondered the conversation she had just had. A non-human red-haired woman. Who could this be, someone that the witch Beatrice would be interested in? As she thought, a sudden roar came from behind her. [โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ -!!!!!!!!!] The woman turned her head slightly to see a demon that looked like a lizard made of flames. The creature, known as the Demon of Wrath, spewed fierce flames at the woman in front of it. However, the flames did not reach the woman. A black hole in the air absorbed all the flames. "You've been quiet for a while, but you seem to be getting more active lately." As the woman muttered, she waved her hand, and the black hole grew larger, swallowing the demon along with the flames. Watching the demon disappear and the small flames continue to burn, the woman thought. The Demons of Wrath, which had only wandered around