Chapter 95 – 95. Winter

The moment I quickly got out of the adventurer’s guild with the two of them, Hecaterina shook my hand roughly and screamed.

“What, why are you doing this all of a sudden!?”
“…… There was a witch.”
“What? Witch?”

At those words, Hecaterina took a sneak peek inside the Adventurer’s Guild. Then, as if it were strange, she tilted her head and looked back at me.

“Doesn’t anyone look like a witch?”
“Don’t make unnecessary eye contact. It’s hard to get caught.”
“Ha, hey. No matter what kind of witch my opponent is- Do you think I will be defeated easily? There are two witches here too—”
“There were two of them too.”

At the fact that there were two witches, Hecate Lina shut her mouth and hesitated for a moment. However, ashamed that she had stopped so much, she immediately frowned and started glaring at me fiercely.

“Therefore? Because there are two of us, should we run away? Are you kidding? Do you not know who I am?”

“Know. You know very well that you won’t lose anything. But, that’s not the case.”

“Then what is the problem?”

“The witch shows interest in me, and she happens to have them come into our cabin again…… I mean seven people. The witch I have to deal with.”

“…… She was crazy.”

Hecate Lina laughed out loud after hearing my serious concerns, and she muttered the same things as saying that that would never happen, that she is still too much, and that Evangeline wouldn’t try to increase it any further.

While saying that, she tried to dismiss even my discovery of a witch as a mistake in the first place.

“In the first place, why are there witches in a place like this—how did you find a witch that I couldn’t find the first time?”

“Oh, that? It was pretty. Then it must be a witch, what?”

“…… What?”

“Why not? This fits surprisingly well. If you have a pretty face, there is a high probability that you are a witch.”

Even before, the two of them were twins. The probability that a beauty with the personality of a twin was not a witch was even lower.

However, Hecaterina began to fret that she could find her witch in such an outrageous way.

She felt resentful, but getting out of this position was more important now than resolving her resentment.

* * *

The two witches who met John’s eyes. Rinna and Rinne met each other’s eyes and smiled.

“Right?”
“…… Yes.”
“A man who drags two witches around… I’m interested.”

The two had met a lot of people so far, but it was rare to see one man dragging two women at the same time as if they were lovers.

In a yard like this, not an ordinary woman, but dragging two witches around means that John has something special that is different from the others.

A special ability that prevents even witches from escaping from him.

“Montage? Did you make it?”
“…….”
“Answer me.”
“Yes.”

Rinna frowned at Rinne, who didn’t even answer her. If only she hadn’t been this damn witch, her twin sister – and if she hadn’t needed her magic to get rid of her own curse, she’d have left her sooner…….

“Well, seeing that you’ve come to the adventurer’s guild, you’ll be back soon. Let’s go talk then.”
“…… Yes.”

Saying so, the two witches moved on to solve the quest given by the adventurer’s guild. This kind of job was necessary in order to live among ordinary people.

For witches who couldn’t find their identity or anyone to prove their identity, being an adventurer was a truly wonderful job.

* * *

Two months have passed since I met the witch at the adventurer’s guild in a certain city. Now was the time to prepare for winter.

The frosty morning air was so thick that it cut through the skin, and even monsters fell into hibernation and disappeared one by one.

Winter has come.

“Master, what do witches usually do in winter?”
“I just shut myself up in a cabin… Doing research or reading a book. It’s all the same.”
“I thought witches were a little different.”
“Is there anything different about witches?”

Master closed the book he was reading and smiled at me.

“Then, shall we do something special this year?”
“What?”
“Okay. With so many witches gathered, shall we hold a festival like Witches’ Night? Otherwise, we could make this winter last forever— oh, it wouldn’t hurt to burn down a city for those who lack firewood!”
“…… Master, can’t we just do nothing?”

At my words, Master smiled bitterly, as if regretting it, and then turned her gaze to the book again. I passed the time by stroking the sleeping Beatrice on top of me, like petting a cat.

On Earth, spending time meaninglessly like this was considered a sin. The world has progressed so amazingly fast that you’re left behind just by standing still.

But this world was not like that. The world doesn’t change that much. Yesterday and tomorrow are the same, last year and next year are the same.

A very silent world.
I am beginning to understand, at least roughly, why the Middle Ages on Earth were called the Dark Ages.

“Come to think of it, what about Fenrir-san?”
“Why Fenrir-?”
“It’s winter, won’t it be cold?”
“It will be fine. Because I cast a spell on her territory. Of course, even if that’s not the case, a spirit creature like Fenrir is a creature that doesn’t tolerate the cold—”

After saying that, Master looked at me in amazement. A look as if he knew. When I put on an expression that seemed incomprehensible, Master tilted her head and asked again.

“Did you know?”
“Yes? What do you mean…”
“You don’t know. Okay, that’s all right.”

She closed her eyes and fell asleep for a moment, then sighed heavily and began to pack her robe. Seeing her about to go out, I got up to follow her, and Master started waving her hands as if it was okay.

“I will go alone. Stay here.”
“But…”
“Are you okay? If I’m really sorry, could you prepare something like hot tea?”

Seeing Master leave immediately after those words, I had a question. I wonder what the hell is going on in such a hurry.

However, that doubt was quickly dispelled. It was because of the groundless belief that whatever happened, it would be resolved soon since the Master was gone.

‘Master, going alone can’t be dangerous…….’

I set down Beatrice in my arms and started boiling water for Master, who would soon return.

* * *

A blizzard mixed with frost blew, and Evangeline gently hugged her body and warmed herself up.

“Cold… I want to go in quickly and have some tea. Are you too?”

Saying that, the Witch of Love looked up at me. An unidentified creature with grotesquely bent limbs was looking down at Evangeline and snapping her head.

They said it looked like a gibbon just by looking at its appearance.

Evangeline passed the monkey in front of her eyes and looked at her familiar her lying in the distance.

“Fenrir.”
[Lord, Master… I’m sorry.]
“How can you be like this… Is he that strong?”
[No, what happened to me—]
─Kizccccc!!

At that time, the monkey monster that defeated Fenrir rushed at her with a scream that was not of this world.

It was a scream that made me want to cover my ears, so Evangeline covered her ears with both hands and closed her eyes tightly.

Her massive mass moved her, and her blades struck her in the eye.

“Ah, my eyes hurt.”
—Cik, Zukueee…… ?

The giggling monkey monster realized something was strange and looked down at Evangeline. I obviously swung my arm with all my might, but for some reason this little human was fine.

Only then did the monster realize that its arm his had been bent in bizarre ways—even though it had been bent bizarrely, it had been noticeably broken.

─G, Kuuuuueeeee!!
“Noisy.”

Evangeline swung her hand at the screaming monster, and the monster that was attacked by her lost its life her.

She brushed off the blood and dust from her body, and Evangeline fell to the floor as it was and approached Fenrir, who was bleeding from her.

“So, what?”
[… ] … I was taken by surprise. It’s not just that guy. An enemy hiding somewhere-]
“Aha- are these guys talking?”

She turned her head somewhere. Then he looked at the two women on the other side and smiled.

Evangeline floated up and flew straight towards it.

* * *

Rinna and Rinne. The twin witches waited for John for two months. Where he started working as an adventurer, when he started working, what his name was——I could find out everything.

Where do you live, and when do you come to the Adventurer’s Guild? I didn’t know these two things.

Then, the two accidentally found John in another city, realized that John had a witch who could move freely in space, and immediately started chasing after John.

“What do you think? Where are you now?”
“…… Around.”
“It’s close.”

I bought the corpse of the monster that Yohan had sold and left, and collected the traces left there. With the collected traces, he created a magic tool to find John’s location his.

Following the magic tool to the midwinter forest, they felt a bit of wiser time. They didn’t know why they were behaving like this.

I just wanted to. It was the wisdom of living for a long time. Do what you want to do, when you want to do it.

The two witches who followed John found a monster in the forest.

“Wow, what is that? Why are you so tall?”
“…… Danger.”
“Know. Rinne, make a monster.”
“Yes…”

Soon after, Rinne created a monster modeled after a gibbon and charged at Fenrir.

While the two monsters were fighting an equal fight, Rinna shot Fenrir with the rifle she brought.

The magic bullet containing the witch’s magic penetrates Fenrir’s vital points, and the monkey monster finishes the gap created.

“No, why does he live in a place like this?”
“Yes….”

As Rinna looked at her fallen Fenrir, she put on a bewildered expression. Why was he wandering in a forest where such large monsters roam casually?

Once the dangerous monster was dealt with, the two immediately identified John’s location and started heading there.

Exactly, that’s what I was trying to do.

“…… What is that?”
“…… Uh.”

The witches who appeared belatedly took care of the monsters they created in an instant, and immediately began to fly towards us.

At the frightened sight, Rinna slammed her gun at her, then screamed.

“Run away! Lynne!”
“Yes…!”

In the middle of winter, the chase began.