Somehow or other, the witch and I finally calmed down.
It took some time to calm down. Well, that couldn't be helped.
The witch, who had been sweating profusely, said, "I'm just going to go wash up a bit," and left the living room.
It was understandable—her clothes were so damp with sweat they were practically see-through.
I was sweating too, but not as much as she was.
Still, I needed some cooldown time.
Alone in the living room. In that moment of quiet, this is what I thought.
"…Something's off here."
Like a romantic comedy from my past life's memories… this isn't quite it.
The progression did feel like a romantic comedy, though… but no, something's off.
No, no, it *was* a romantic comedy, wasn't it… but still, something's wrong.
It was exactly like… right. It was like a young men's magazine story.
You know, where a guy and a girl do that sort of thing… but no, that's not it.
"…For starters, all that happened was 'You can be my apprentice.' 'Okay. I will.' That was it."
I just officially became the witch's apprentice.
It was originally the witch's misunderstanding, or leap to conclusions, or jumping the gun.
So, the first thing was to clear up that misunderstanding properly. And then the witch ended up crying.
I panicked. I never thought she'd cry.
But I pushed through and cleared up the misunderstanding, and we established a proper master-apprentice relationship.
That was all. Nothing more, nothing less.
So a proposal going over my head? Absolutely not!
Well, even I have to admit that was pretty proposal-like. I thought it was, but it wasn't!?
"...It wasn't."
I said this to the pair of eyes I was staring at, floating there in the pink of the herbal tea.
What am I even saying? And wait — wasn't the herbal tea red?
Or rather, what even are these eyes. Are they alive?
There's no way you could drink that.
The eyes don't answer. Because they're eyes.
Fair enough.
"...What am I doing?"
I cross my arms involuntarily and look down.
Seriously, what am I even doing? What would pinning down the witch accomplish?
While I'm going back and forth like this, the witch comes back.
She'd changed clothes. Well, obviously. She'd been soaked in sweat.
Still the same black-on-black, still a similar dress, but I can tell the difference.
Because I'm the witch's apprentice.
"Mm, mm, mmm-hmm, ah, um — sorry to keep you waiting~"
"Not at all. I wasn't waiting that long."
What a conversation — like a date meetup or something.
The witch stole glances at me as she scurried to the black sofa across from me.
She looked calm. Good.
Right. Right. Calm down. Finally, finally we could get to the real topic.
"Witch, there's something I've been thinking about."
"Th-th-that's about Kon, isn't it?"
"...If a disciple is keeping secrets from their master, that's not a good thing."
"Mmm, mmm, hmm? Hmm? W-well, I suppose that's true."
"So I'd like to disclose all of my secrets to you, my master the witch."
"Huh? Huh?"
"First, I have five Relics."
"Hah? Hah?"
"But actually, I have seven. Until a little while ago, I had eight."
"What? What?"
"Now then, let me go through the Relics one by—"
"Wait, wait, WAIT! Hold on there, young Wof!!"
The witch shot to her feet and shouted.
Both her large fox ears and three tails were bristling.
"Y-yes?"
I flinched. The eyeball in my cup also closed in surprise, for good measure.
No, you're fine. Actually, you can close? You're alive?
Seriously, who cares about you!?
The witch stood there, slowly took a deep breath, and spoke.
"Well, well, young Wof. It so happens that Con already knew you were keeping all sorts of secrets. And you seemed like the type who'd take those secrets to the grave. So Con just pretended not to notice, and let it be."
"Is that so."
I had no idea she'd caught on to that extent.
As expected of a witch. She let out a long breath and sat back down.
Not that it matters, but aren't three tails uncomfortable to sit on?
Also, every time she takes a deep breath and lets it out, her chest sways.
"Oh my, oh my. It's nothing, really. It doesn't bother me. Everyone has secrets. Con has one or two of her own that she'd take to the grave, you know."
The witch said this with a faint smile. I had no idea why she was smiling.
Fair enough. I gave a small nod.
"Yes. The witch is right. I never intended to tell anyone."
"Mhm, mhm. And what made you suddenly decide to tell everything?"
"For one, I couldn't carry it anymore."
My heart's storage capacity had been overloaded.
The final straw was the Relic Plate.
When I gave it to her and she gave it back, that was when I hit my limit.
And on top of that, the Constraint Relic — Banishment Line.
So that's partly why I snapped. I just couldn't take it anymore.
"Hmm, hmm. I see. Secrets are heavier on the heart compared to other things. And young Wof is just a boy, after all. Under normal circumstances, it wouldn't be strange for you to crumble under the weight."
"Honestly, the secret was just too heavy… I'd been wondering what to do about it for a while, but I couldn't talk to anyone. It's a matter of trust and all that, but I also didn't want to put anyone in danger or cause them trouble by telling them."
"Oh my, oh my. That's very much like young Wof. So I understand the reason now. But is Kon really the right person for this?"
"What do you mean?"
My reflection was vividly mirrored in the witch's beastkin diamond-shaped retinas.
Beautiful emerald eyes.
The witch's warm gaze, so gentle it seemed like it might shatter if you touched it.
"Hey, hey, young Wof. Think about it carefully now. Kon may be your master, but… do you really, truly think she's worthy of your trust and confidence?"
I answered immediately, still blinking in confusion. What was this witch master going on about?
"I really do. If I didn't, I would never have become your disciple."
"…!!"
The witch's large fox ears twitched wildly, and she looked utterly flustered.
She was completely rattled. What was wrong?
"Witch? What's the matter?"
"My, my. That right there. That's so very young Wof."
"…What is?"
I didn't understand at all. The witch looked at me with a faint, wry smile.
"Mm-hmm. I get it, I get it. You see, just now — the way young Wof accepted Kon… this time, Kon will accept everything about young Wof!"
That didn't sound quite right.
But the witch's eyes were sparkling brightly.
"Yes. Thank you."
I was uneasy about that momentum, but I was glad she accepted.
So then, right away... I told her about my past life memories.
The witch listened in silence, and when I finished, she offered her thoughts.
"Mm-hmm. So it's not multiple personalities, then."
"No, it's more vague and thin than that."
"I see, I see. I see indeed."
"Did you figure something out?"
"Not at all, not even a little bit."
The witch smiled wryly. Can't really blame her.
Even I don't really understand it.
"But, but, hey hey. I think it'll be fine even if you just leave it be."
"Is that so?"
"Yep, yep. It's really just that you don't know how to make mayonnaise, right? That's where you're stuck."
"W-well, that's not exactly a huge problem either."
If someone did figure it out, Burns from the Cidrol Inn would probably be overjoyed.
And the Cidrol Inn would become the greatest tavern on the continent.
"Then then, just deal with it if something comes up, and you'll be fine."
"That sounds right. So next, let's go through the Relics one by one — first, how many of my Relics does the witch know about?"
"Right, right. Well, first, I know about [Banish]. And then there was [Danger Discern...]ment, right?"
"Close. It's [Danger Discernment]."
"Hmm hmm. Hmm hmm. That's all I know, dearie."
The witch tilted her fox ears.
"Well then, let's go with [Wheel of Fortune]. This Relic is—"
It'd be faster to just show her. I activated it.
A burst of yellow light dazzled my eyes.
"Whoa, that's blinding!"
"What, what, what happened, dearie!?"
"It's all yellow..."
Blue or not, there was no green.
"Hmm? Hmm? It's yellow, dearie?"
"So, the Relic [Wheel of Fortune] identifies the value of items by the color of their light. Green, yellow, and blue — three colors. Green means rare, er, uncommon. Yellow means very uncommon. And blue means almost never seen, er, ultra-uncommon. That's how it works."
"Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. So that means this room is packed with very uncommon things, dearie?"
"Yes. All of them."
"Oh my. That's some impressive Relic, dearie. This room really does seem to be nothing but OOPArts, high-end Legacies, and Legendaries, dearie."
"…………"
The clothes the witch was wearing were yellow too.
It wasn't the room that was extraordinary — it was the witch.
"Mmm, mmm. Just this alone makes you highly valuable, young Wof."
"That's a creepy way to put it."
"Now, now, so long as that doesn't get out, dearie. That makes three. Two more to go, right?"
"Yes. First up is the [Still One]."
"Huh, huh? You mean the [Saint]!?"
"No, not that legendary one. Do you know about the [Still Person]?"
"Of course, of course. It lets you calm down once you've gotten worked up. Pretty useful Relic, that one."
"Think of the [Still One] as an upgraded version of that — it's [Calm One], and when you use it..."
"Oh, oh — Wof-kun's eyes turned blue."
*(My goodness, what lovely blue eyes. Come to think of it, come to think of it — Wof-kun's usual silver eyes. Those are rare in their own right, you know.)*
The Witch's inner thoughts… don't really differ from what she says out loud.
More like — she's a Witch, yet there doesn't seem to be any difference between her front and back.
Are my eyes really that rare after all?
And as I thought, even someone like the Witch, my own master, can't be told about the inner thoughts thing.
Sorry. I'll try not to let you hear them as much as I can.
*(Even so, even so — Wof-kun. You were so bold before, yet… you never go to touch Kon's tail. It's so fluffy, and there are three of them no less… Could it be he just doesn't like tails? Kon has always let my beloved apprentice touch and fluff to his heart's content… I made sure to keep it well-brushed and groomed, after all.)*
What is she even talking about!? What is this Witch thinking!? Correction — she really is a Witch after all.
No, the wanting-to-touch-it thing does exist. I catch myself sometimes thinking I'd like to try touching it.
But fluffing a woman's tail — that's just indecent.
Isn't that sexual harassment to begin with?
Ah, well — I'm a kid, so maybe I could get away with it under the guise of innocence.
But after everything that happened before, could I actually do it now!?
As expected, a woman's — then, for a moment, I remembered Pakira's tail.
A pair of white tails, one long and one short. They wrapped around me, warm and clinging. Wait, no—
"My, my, your face is bright red."
"I-It's nothing! Anyway, next one, let's move on!"
"Well now, the fact that it's the fifth Relic already means this is anything but normal."
The Witch looked amused. I could tell she was excited.
I stood up from the sofa, making sure I had enough room to work with.
"—The fifth one is [Generous]."
My hair and eyes shifted to purple. I was using [Stillness], so I kept my composure.
Remaining active time: five minutes.
"........."
"Witch. This is the fifth Relic, [Generous]."
"........."
"Witch?"
"........."
"Um, are you alright?"
"Nod... nod... yes indeed..."
"Good. Then from here, [Phantasmagoria] into ["
Arm
of the
Cosmos
"...then I'll bring them out."
He deployed countless transparent Banish orbs into the air, housing a universe within his dominant arm.
"......Well, you can't see them, but there are Banish orbs surrounding me. I can move them freely at will, however I want."
"............"
"Also, this arm contains a universe—the world of stars in the night sky. It absorbs any attack, and I can channel that attack power into my fist to deliver it with a punch."
"............"
"Actually, there was one more—a restriction Relic called the Banishment Line... Witch?"
"............"
"Witch?"
"............"
"Hey. Hello...?"
"............"
No response. No reaction. She seemed to be dead.