Chapter 30 – 30. Cheats

It didn’t take long before it all turned out to be a misunderstanding. It was because when Master saw me wringing out tears while being comforted by Margaret in the living room, she freaked out and came running.

“Yo, John!? What’s the matter!?”
“S, Master?”

Watching Master rush at me in her usual manner, I asked if she hadn’t come to hate me, and if that’s why she kept away from me that way.

Upon hearing this, Master began to shake her head at a violent pace, saying that it could never happen.

“It can’t be! Uh, that’s just…….”
“That?”
“…… He said that way is better for flirting with men.”

She said that and explained why she acted that way. That he bought a book to look better for himself and acted as written in the book.

After hearing her words, I realized that both she and I were swayed by just one book. It was fortunate that I wasn’t hated by her, but it was very depressing that my actions in the meantime had been pushed back by a few lines that I didn’t know who wrote them.

Being so depressed, Master, who realized his mistake, was restless, and then brought an option like he saw in the book.

“Gwa, are you okay? John? Do you want to touch my chest?”
“…… I want to touch you.”

As I touched the chest that was sticking out in front of my nose, Master let out a sweet nasal sound.

Also, since I was touching her soft breasts, I felt depressed, and all the bad thoughts I had just heard disappeared.

At this point, I realized one thing.

‘Book…… Not too bad…… ?’

Wasn’t it a situation where I was swayed by the contents of the book and even confessed my love to the teacher? After that, I was slightly depressed, so I was able to touch my heart.

As a result, this book was not such a bad book for me or for Master.

“It’s nice, it’s nice… Our John. Master was wrong. I’ll throw away such an ugly book right away—”

“…… Master.”

“Yes? Why?”

“I thought about it for a second, but such a book…… I don’t think it would be too bad.”

“…… Really?”

Master immediately sympathized with my words, as if it was too much of a waste to throw away the subject he said he would throw away.

Overjoyed, Master said that today should be designated as a very special day, and sent herself to run an errand.

“Then let’s have a party today! I’ll prepare the dishes, so Yohanie, would you like to go to the city with Ritsu and buy some drinks?”

“A drink?”

“Yes! There’s a good brewery in a town near here. Go there…….”

* * *

The moment I moved to the surrounding city with Margaret after hearing Master’s request, I started to feel out of breath as if I had entered a steam room sauna.

As if I wasn’t the only one feeling stuffy in the air around me, Margaret covered her mouth and frowned.

“What is it, here? Why is it so hot…….”

It didn’t take long to find out why. All the buildings in the city were reduced to ashes.

Not only the wooden buildings that could only burn easily, but also the stone walls and the lord’s castle—all of them were in a state of being burned.

I covered my mouth and looked around.

“…… What the hell is this?”
“It doesn’t look like a simple fire.”
“Yes. There’s no way I’d burn out like this if I did.”

This city, like a medieval city, has a river that flows around the castle and even a moat made using the river.

However, with even the river running dry, it was impossible to think that the city’s devastation was just an accidental fire.

Rustling—I frowned upon confirming that something unknown was being trampled upon whenever I walked forward.

“…… Could this be a corpse?”
“I guess. Uh- look at that sticky. It was completely stuck.”
“…… Whoa, Margaret. For once- let’s go back.”
“Okay, let’s go back.”

Margaret immediately prepared the magic, and while she prepared the magic, I looked around to see if there were any survivors.

There was no way there would be any survivors in this burning city…… All the buildings were melted down anyway, and with just a quick glance, you could see all the way to the plains at a glance.

While I was looking around, I found something, and I grabbed Margaret’s arm for a moment and stopped her from using magic.

“What? Suddenly-.”
“Mr. Margaret, over there.”
“There?”

Looking at my fingertips, Margaret noticed a girl standing in the distance and stopped using her magic. Margaret stared at the woman for a while, then let out a blank laugh as if she knew something about it, and immediately grabbed my hand.

“Let’s bounce.”
“Yes? No, there are survivors……”
“You fool, is there anyone who survived this chaos? That’s not a survivor—”

Fire-!

The moment Margaret was about to say something, a sudden burst of fire hit us. A heat wave that reached thousands of degrees and made your lungs burn just by breathing next to it.

The sparks that flew in were blocked by the force field that Margaret had spread, and they just circled around us. Margaret looked at the flames and opened her mouth.

“—It’s a witch.”
“…… No, why are witches so common?”
“Well— anyway, run away? I can’t come here any more.”

After saying that, she left the city using the magic she had prepared earlier.

* * *

“…… Sarah, did you lose?”

The fire witch, who had been touring the city and burning everything in sight, realized that the man she had just met had disappeared before her eyes.

It wasn’t just burned to death, it was said that the existence itself disappeared from this place. Like magic.

“Not human…… Was it a witch?”

I felt very sorry for the fact that I attacked the same witch, but the next moment- the fact that I hadn’t saved her so far even though I was the same witch soared with anger.

If it was a witch who could suddenly disappear like that, it wouldn’t be very difficult to save at least one of her, so why hadn’t he saved her all along?

The reason is simple. Humans would believe that persecuted witches would help each other and survive, but in reality this is not the case.

Even witches who are no different from humans persecute and hate each other.

The reason why she couldn’t be saved would be the same.

“Yes, not just this city…… Everything.”

Everything must be burned.
City, country, humanity, and world.
And all that has melted will mix with one another.

“Everything.”

Witches are no exception.

* * *

Returning to the cabin, I immediately informed Master of this fact. The city Master said was completely burned down by the witch.

After hearing the story, Master pondered something with a serious expression on her face. After thinking about something for a while, Master looked at me with a puzzled expression, then smiled as if telling me not to worry.

“It’s okay! That city is a bit far from here, and above all, this forest is guarded by Master! Yohan doesn’t have to worry about anything!”

“…… Can I be of some help?”

“Help? Don’t do anything stupid Because Yohan is helping by just being still.”

“But, I know how to use magic too. A fraudulent cheat magic that removes all magic.”

“Cheat magic…… ? I don’t know what it is, but John, your ability isn’t that fraudulent. Rather, it is a common ability if it is common.”

“…… Yes?”

My ability is a common ability…… ? I was taken aback by the incredibly shocking remark and asked her back.

Master didn’t seem to want to say much, but he revealed a secret he had been trying to hide from me, probably because he thought that if he hid the fact, he would not be able to stop me from helping him.

“The ability used by paladins, that is your ability, John.”
“…… Paladins negate magic?”
“Yeah, what. To differentiate in detail, John is a little different from you- but as a result, it is true that paladins can nullify the magic used by us witches.”

He added that Paladins have more strength than humans through special training methods, and that their blades contain the power of God, so they can cut through magic witch.

Anyway, I thought I could one day save the world with my dispelling cheat ability, but I was very frustrated that other people were also able to dispel magic.

When I was so frustrated, Master put a wedge in me.

“So, the paladins also failed to stop the witch, so there is no need for you to go and take the risk. Got it?”

“…… Yes.”

“Yeah, I hope you understand. And what! Just because our Yohanie can’t fight doesn’t mean we don’t need it! Can’t you just rub Master’s shoulder here?”

Master was comforting and suggested that to me, but to be honest—it wasn’t very comforting.

Disappointment in the fact that what I thought was my own cheat magic was not so rare, it was a common ability.

* * *

“Then I’ll go do some chores…….”
“John, I’ve done everything while you’re gone, so you can go rest.”
“Ah, that’s right- I did, indeed.”

Yohan said that he would go to rest for a while and shut himself in his room. I was quite frustrated when I realized that my ability was not so rare.

Seeing Johann trudging toward her room, Margaret scribbled something on the paper she brought and handed it over to Evangeline.

[Why is that?]
“What?”
[The disciple’s abilities are completely different from those of the Holy Knights.]
“Then Ritsu, can’t you just say yes and let John go to fight the witch?”
[Even though that guy’s ability is the anti-witch special attack?]

Saying that, Margaret recalled John’s magic. Her unique magic that destroys everything she thinks is magic.

It is qualitatively different from the ability used by paladins. Paladins sincerely believed that this world was equal under the name of God, and everything destroyed that was not in the power of God.

Unlike his inflexible ability to reject everything in the name of God, John’s magic allows him to subjectively choose which magic to get rid of…… It was literally the upper compatible magic of the Paladins.

“So it is.”

[Is that so?]

“The ability to win unconditionally against a witch…… That, in other words, means that Yohan can crush any witch he meets, right?”

[Yes…… Ji?]

“Even you are annoyed, so you want more witches here? I can not. No way.”

Evangeline thought of John’s defeat of the witch. Basically, witches who have been persecuted, shunned, and unloved were creatures that had no choice but to love John, who had defeated them and was immune to curses.

It was a natural instinct as a witch and as a female.

“John is mine. Don’t give it to anyone.”

She couldn’t accept that fact.
I can’t hand him over to anyone.
He to no one.