Chapter 3: A Disturbing Presence

Translator: Roblag

‘The Witch of Wisdom’. It was the name of the most fearsome witch, leader of the coven known as ‘The Seven Witches’ who faced the hero in the legendary final battle.

The heavens opened as she waved her arms and the earth split open under her feet. That fearsome being, possessed of great magic power and terrifying witchcraft, lived in a mansion deep in the Land of the Mist. It is even said that the witch seduced travellers who entered her territory and used them as test subjects for her fearsome spells.

“The Witch of Wisdom, Shatifal How scary~,” Moffy commented while reading a book that Shatia had lent her, the title of the book was The Seven Dreadful Witches.

Shatia was reading another book quietly near Moffy, but her expression was clouded by that comment.

“Well, the witch is dead so it doesn’t matter anymore,” Shatia said casually.

“Ah~, that’s just like you Shatia. Shatia is always so carefree.” Moffy replied as she stared at the girl.

Talking about this subject was not a simple matter for Shatia, as it was difficult for her to put all the complicated emotions that her memories of her previous life brought up in her mind. Moreover, the tales in those books were told arbitrarily by humans, and Shatia had little interest in meddling in such things.

“We did magic experiments, but we never used humans as guinea pigs,” Shatia muttered so that Moffy wouldn’t hear her, and then commented aloud. “But that’s the truth, isn’t it? The witches were defeated by the brave hero. What is the point of talking about things that no longer exist in this world?”

“I know that, but~…”

Shatia had her eyes fixed on Moffy and seemed to be about to continue the conversation, but in the end, she mumbled and looked down.

It was not as if the chances of the other witches surviving were zero. It was more realistic to analyse the possible countermeasures that the others could have implemented. There was a possibility that some witches might have reincarnated as Shatia had. It was also possible that some would have survived using twisted methods. That is how powerful the beings known as witches were. But while it was a topic that Shatia needed to look at in-depth, the truth was that she couldn’t make much progress by discussing it with Moffy, so she decided not to talk about it anymore.

“And if the others are still alive… I wonder what they’re doing?” Shatia muttered to herself as she walked away from Moffy and looked out the window in her bedroom.

They were all cunning people who would not die so easily. It would not be surprising if some of them held a grudge against the hero and his companions and wanted to punish humanity in retaliation. However, no incident occurred in the last five years… which meant that there was no problem, at least for now.

By the time Shatia reached this conclusion, it was already getting dark and people seemed to be making a fuss in the village. Everyone had left their homes and were heading for the entrance of the village. Shatia frowned at the sight of this.

“Hmm, something is happening out there”.

“Oh, that’s right. Everyone is going to the entrance. What could be happening?” Moffy got up and also looked out the window, immediately noticing that something strange was happening.

As this kind of commotion doesn’t happen very often, Moffy, a rather curious child, as well as Shatia, a witch with an insatiable inquisitive mind, immediately went down the stairs, left the house, and went to the entrance of the town.

The villagers were swarming near the entrance, as expected. Shatia, Moffy, and the rest of the children slipped through the legs of the adults to get closer to the source of the commotion.

There they saw a man dressed as a knight. He was about the same age as Shatia’s father, or a little older, and seemed to have battle experience as he had a huge scar on his face.

Shatia looked at the man’s armor. It was not a crude piece of armor like you get from a village blacksmith, but a beautifully sculpted armor, although it was somewhat damaged. And from the fact that he had an embedded coat of arms, it was clear that this knight came from far away.

“Oh, there’s daddy. Daddy, what’s that?”

“Hmm? Oh, Moffy.”

Moffy jumped into her father’s arms and immediately asked him what was happening.

It was Moffy’s father who discovered this man. As he returned from working in the fields, he saw the knight approaching the village.

“This knight appeared out of nowhere and said something about a mission. He also said that the North Valley was now dangerous, then he suddenly fainted.”

The village chief arrived a little later, so Moffy’s father had to explain his encounter with the knight again. However, that information was not enough to determine where the knight came from, nor was it even enough to determine whether he should be detained.

The village chief looked at the knight in distress and after stroking his long beard, he began to give instructions to the villagers.

“Let’s take this man to my house. He is wounded. We have to treat him.”

“Are you sure, village chief?”

“I don’t mind…besides, for some reason, all this situation gives me a bad feeling.”

The villagers were reluctant to let the knight into the village as they did not know his identity, but eventually, they obeyed the chief’s orders. A little later, Shatia’s tutor and two other villagers took the knight to the house of the village chief.

The rest of the villagers also began to move quickly and followed the knight to the village chief’s house, except for Shatia, who had a determined look.

“Hmm… The North Valley, huh?”

Shatia crossed her arms and began to analyze all the possibilities. She recalled the words that the knight had said before passing out so that she could determine what was happening.

The North Valley was near the village. Unlike the forbidden forest, the valley was not a very dangerous place, some villagers even went fishing there. That place was now in danger. That could mean that some disaster had occurred or a suspicious individual had appeared.

“Should I go and investigate?”

Something unusual might have appeared in the North Valley, Shatia concluded.

Fortunately, the entire village was focused on the knight, so if Shatia disappeared for a while, no one would notice. With that in mind, Shatia decided to head to the North Valley as soon as possible. She cast flight magic on herself and her body began to float freely, then she rose into the air and flew away from the village. To make sure that no one would see her, Shatia climbed up into the clouds. That way she was able to reach the North Valley without any complications.

The lush green land and the rushing river were illuminated by the sunlight that flowed through the gaps in the leafy branches of the trees. It was a beautiful scene of absolute peace. But when Shatia landed, she squinted as if something was disturbing her.

“How odd. The magic elements of the entire valley are too weak. Why?” Shatia muttered as she sat and touched a rock with her hand.

The magic elements are a kind of energy that resides within everything. The magic elements could be converted into rather powerful energy known as magic power, this meant that the magic elements were the origin of all magic. But the magic elements in this place were weak. That meant that everything inside the valley was dying.

At that moment, a terrible roar echoed from behind Shatia. At the same time, the rock below her exploded, and Shatia’s small body was thrown into the air. While inside the smoke generated by the explosion, Shatia twisted her body and landed on the ground. She immediately turned her attention to where she was before and saw a skeleton in a black dressing gown.

“A Skeleton Sorcerer?!”

“Gigigi…”

The Skeleton had a black wooden stick in his hand from which sparks flew in all directions. It was clear that the Skeleton was using that stick as a magic medium. Shatia’s eyes sharpened and she faced the Skeleton Sorcerer.

The Skeleton Sorcerer clicked its jaw as if it were saying inaudible words and lifted its staff in the direction of Shatia. From the staff came a large number of sparks that then turned into lightning. Shatia immediately raised her hand and created a magic barrier to block the attack.

“So you are the reason the knight said the valley was dangerous. Why would an undead like you consume the magic elements of this valley?”

Shatia spoke without any concern in her voice as she stopped the attack with one hand and then returned the lightning with the other. The shoulders of the Skeleton Sorcerer trembled as it watched Shatia, a little girl, parry and return its attack so easily. The Skeleton, however, tightened its grip on its staff and waved it again, unleashing a bolt of lightning more powerful than the previous one. Despite this, Shatia calmly raised her hand, blocked the attack once more, and then returned it directly to the Skeleton.

“Who gives you your orders? All Skeletons like you have a leader. If your job was to gather the magic elements of this valley that could mean that your leader is human…”

“Gigigi!”

Shatia knew perfectly well that a Skeleton would never do something like this on its own, and she concluded that a human being must be behind it all. Shatia had no idea why they were trying to collect the magic elements using Skeletons, but it wasn’t something that could be collected without destroying the ecological balance of the area. For Shatia, who loves nature and animals, this was an unforgivable act. For this reason, the girl advanced and faced her enemy.

The Skeleton Sorcerer was surprised to have been attacked twice by its spell and was even more confused by the presence in front of it. The Skeleton knew instinctively that the situation would become perilous if it didn’t eliminate its enemy immediately, so it immediately put more magic power into its staff.

“Giiiaaah!”

The Skeleton raised its staff and released countless rays. The rays flowed at high speed towards Shatia, destroying everything in their path. Shatia immediately moved away from the site using her flight magic.

“Oh my, you are such a troublemaker. I don’t want to waste my magic power.”

Although she was the reincarnation of a witch, she was still a child. If possible, Shatia wanted to avoid using too much magic to avoid any problems in her future growth. However, to control the enemy in front of her, she had to use a considerable amount of her magic power. After all, her opponent was a Skeleton Sorcerer, a high-level foe. Normally, even the Mages of the Royal Court have quite a few problems when dealing with this monster.

It is appalling to think that a human is controlling the Skeleton, thought Shatia with a bitter smile on her face.

“All right. I will show you what the magic of the Witch of Wisdom can do.

Shatia said as she held out her hands in the air, and seconds later she lunged at the Skeleton Sorcerer with incredible speed. The Skeleton Sorcerer wielded his staff and attempted to strike her down with a lightning bolt, but Shatia dodged it brilliantly even though she was moving at great speed. When Shatia was finally in front of the Skeleton Sorcerer’s eyes, she cast an impact spell. Some bones in the Skeleton’s body flew out and its clothes were torn, but it managed to remain standing, and immediately it raised its staff again and roared.

“Giiiaaah!”

“Oops! Oh my. I guess an instant death spell doesn’t work as well on the undead as it does on the living”.

The Skeleton Sorcerer had thrown a wave of magic power, but Shatia noticed it immediately and eluded it with her flight magic. Then the girl opened and closed her hand to check if there was any abnormality.

Shatia had never been fit for combat, she was not good at adjusting her strength according to the enemies. It is for this same reason that when she came to interact with animals and monsters in her past life, a master-servant bond was always created, even if she wanted to have a relationship of equals.

The magic that Shatia just used would have brought down an ordinary person in one fell swoop. But physical damage doesn’t seem to have much effect on a Skeleton that moves thanks to magic power. Upon reaching this conclusion, she couldn’t help but shake her head.

“Well, how about this?”

Shatia placed her palms down, extended her arms, and began to use her magic power. Then, suddenly, a huge invisible weight fell on top of the Skeleton Sorcerer. The Skeletons were not supposed to feel pain, but in this case, as it felt like a tremendous weight was crushing it, the monster screamed.

The sound of bones cracking could be heard throughout the valley, until ultimately the foolish Skeleton chose to drop its staff. It placed its hands on the ground and struggled desperately to avoid being crushed.

“Giii…Gaaah!”

“Ho ho! So you’ll fight to the end. Good, that’s very good.”

While the Skeleton Sorcerer was on the ground, Shatia landed on a rock with her hands pointing downwards and looked at the troubled skeleton from there. As she lowered her hands a little further, the pressure increased even more. Moments later the Skeleton Sorcerer shrieked in agony as it watched the bones in its arms break into a thousand pieces.

“Well, that’s it.”

Realizing that the Skeleton had reached its limit, Shatia released the magic power she had infused into her arms. Only then did the Skeleton Sorcerer fall to the ground and stop moving, as if it were dead. Technically, the Skeleton did not die as it was not alive in the first place. But because it had suffered catastrophic damage due to gravitational magic, the Skeleton was now unable to move.

Shatia descended from the rock to the ground and slowly approached the Skeleton Sorcerer. She kicked the Skeleton’s arm to check its condition, but it still did not move, as if it had run out of magic power.

“Well, what do I do now? I’m not good at reading minds with magic, so I won’t be able to communicate with this Skeleton”. Shatia said as she crossed her arms and tilted her head as she didn’t know what to do next.

Finding out who controlled the Skeleton was already a difficult task and with the current state of the monster, everything had become even more complicated. She was not good at using magic to read minds and had no other means.

Shatia thought of taking the Skeleton to the knight, but he would surely question her to find out how a little girl had defeated that monster. The situation was becoming increasingly difficult.

“Mmm?” As she was pondering, a strange sound reached Shatia’s ears. The sound of footsteps coming towards her. And apparently, there was more than one individual.

All this gives me a bad feeling, Shatia recalled the words of the village chief.

The instincts of the village chief were often right. Shatia could tell that the village chief had certain abilities because of his personality. And it seems that the man’s instincts were right this time too.

“Oh, so your friends were with you?”

Several Skeleton Sorcerers gathered around Shatia. There were about twenty, perhaps more, which was an unusual number.

But despite the treacherous situation, a sadistic smile appeared on Shatia’s face.

Translator Notes:

This is one of the new novels I have decided to translate, I hope you enjoy it. Thanks for your support!