Chapter 7: Girl, Gambles
“MASTER, Nichika! There’s Lisette Village!” Wolfie looked back at them from where he trotted ahead, his tail wagging excitedly. Beyond his wolfish grin, an idyllic village awaited.
A bubbling brook curved its way through the village surrounded by a plain log fence and modest fields unfolding into the distance, creating a truly tranquil sight. However, the ravenous wolf saw the village in a completely different light from his human counterparts, and broke into an eager gallop for it.
“Ahhh! What a delicious village! Just you wait for me to sink my fangs into you, whole roast pheasant!”
“For your information, we’ll be leaving before you’ll get the chance to eat.”
At Oswald’s comment, Wolfie tripped and tumbled several times into a sorry heap. Then, clinging pathetically to Oswald’s leg as he walked by, he whimpered in a voice so pitiful that even Nichika felt guilty.
“Whyyyy?! Whyyyyyy?!”
“Why would we stay? I’m only stopping by this village to drop this girl off. You and I won’t be staying here long.”
His answer took Nichika by surprise. So he was going to leave her alone after all—the realization put a real damper on her mood.
“You could at least feel a little more concerned about—ACK!” Grumbling, she walked right into Oswald’s back because she failed to notice he’d stopped. Rubbing her swelling nose, she complained, “Don’t just stop in front of me! What’s wrong?”
But her two companions stood motionless without responding to her. Confused, she walked around the frozen Oswald and was greeted with an unbelievable sight.
“Holy smokes! That’s a lot of witches…!”
Like a flock of bats, a group of black robe-clad witches zoomed around on brooms above the village they were heading to. The spectacle didn’t end there, either—there was a second group of black-robed people patrolling the ground too. They were interrogating the villagers, clearly in search of someone.
“Let me guess, that’s the Witch’s Council?” Nichika turned around for confirmation, but the man and his wolf were already sprinting away with the wind. Running with perfect form, their figures steadily grew tinier as she dumbly watched them go.
“What a cheap move!” she protested in disbelief.
“Farewell, Nichika! Take care!”
“If you’re dropping me off, do it RIGHT!”
Shouting proved to be a big mistake. Someone in the village had heard her, and it didn’t take long for the commotion to follow. Nichika’s cheek twitched nervously and her toes curled in her boots, but it was too late to undo what she had done.
“…Hey, is that who I think it is?!” one of the witches bellowed.
“There’s no mistaking him! It’s the Heretic Witch Oswald!”
“AFTER HIM!”
The black-robed group charged toward Nichika.
“EEEP!” Frightened, she swerved around and raced after Oswald and Wolfie as well—thus, a game of chase began.
Wanting to alleviate the gnawing sense that she’d just screwed everything up, she hurled her complaints at the culprit. “‘Heretic’?! What did you DO?!”
“NOT MUCH!” he yelled back, then admitted in a slightly quieter voice, “…I just borrowed a bunch of banned ingredients, since they were necessary for my experiments.”
“That just makes you a thief then!” she huffed back, dashing madly after him.
He looked back at her dumbfounded. “Why’re you following me?!”
“You think I can enter that village after they saw me with you?!”
The voices of their pursuers were hot on their heels. Nichika thought she could make out some fairly disturbing shouts of, “AFTER HIM!” and “KILL HIM!” but she hoped from the bottom of her heart that she was just hearing things.
After several minutes of running full-speed while frantically weaving her way through the person-tall grass, Nichika hit the limits of her stamina and collapsed. Wolfie slid to a stop and returned to her, but she’d already lost the energy to even push herself off the ground.
“Nichika! You’ll be caught!” he whined.
“Haah…haaah… I need…a short break…”
She had never been the athletic type to begin with, which meant that sprinting as fast as physically possible for so long had just been too much for her. Unexpectedly, Oswald also turned back for her. Clicking his tongue as he went down on one knee, he pulled something out of the leather pouch attached to his belt.
“This is merchandise, but there’s no avoiding it this time. You’ll be paying me back for this later.”
“HOW?!”
Oswald procured three tiny balls stuck together with what looked like sticky tape. Then, with a light poke, he chanted a spell. “I am a seeker of northern winds. Cleanse our presence and shield us from thine sight. Blow cruel, and sheathe us in the North’s cold. Grant my plea, that none may find us.”
Instantly, smoke spewed out from the balls and wrapped around the three of them. The smoke was peculiar and cold; though transparent, it looked as if it contained every color.
“What—”
Oswald put his hand over Nichika’s mouth to silence her. He quickly covered Wolfie’s mouth with his other hand, earning a wide-eyed look from the wolf.
Does he not want us to talk?
“Did you find him?!”
“I’m certain he went this way!” A man in a black robe with a wand in hand jumped out of the tall grass. He strained his eyes in their direction, vigilantly raking his gaze over the area.
Gripping her chest to keep her heart from jumping out of it, Nichika stayed perfectly still. A few minutes later, another witch called for the man, and he left.
Once the witches flying overhead were long out of sight, Oswald at long last exhaled his bated breath. “Looks like we gave them the slip for now.”
“Hey, what’s this smoke?” Nichika finally asked, shivering in the chilly smoke.
He shook the ball in his hand, and a tiny clip-clop sound rang from inside. “This is one of the Witch’s Items I’ve created called ‘Elusive Ball.’ Activating it releases a special gas that obscures your presence.”
What a sophisticated stealth item! Nichika was genuinely impressed.
Oswald let out a loud sigh beside her. “I didn’t think the Witch’s Council’s minions would show up this fast… Lost my chance to discard excess luggage.”
Nichika wasn’t stupid enough to miss the meaning of his extra remark. “Well, excuse me, for being your excess baggage.” She held him in a pointed glare, until he averted his eyes and turned his back to her, while running his hand through his hair.
“Well, don’t sweat it. There should be other villages out there. I’ll be sure to drop you off somewhere.”
Nichika stared at his back for a while before the question flew out of her mouth. “I can’t come with you?”
A full gust of wind blew between them before Oswald spun around with his eyebrows raised, his lips twisting up. “HUUUUUUUH? You? Come with me?”
“…I’m not that smart, but I asked that after a lot of thought, you know.”
She refrained from telling him to quit making a face so stupid that she wanted to punch it, and, instead, frankly laid out what she had been thinking ever since they’d exited the Forest of Fathomless Deception.
“I don’t know where you’re heading, but you’ll be traveling for a while, right? I’m more likely to find out how to get back to my world if I travel around rather than staying in one spot. And as you know…” Red flushing her cheeks, she lowered her eyes as her voice dropped to a barely audible whisper, “I still have the Fake Lover problem to deal with.”
Nichika wholeheartedly wished she could avoid bringing up her new freak medical condition, but the situation called for a reminder.
Oswald stared down at her. Then, crudely cutting straight to the crux of the matter, he commented, “Well, yeah, becoming a prostitute is about the only way you can regularly consume a man’s bodily fluids.”
She had been vaguely aware of the reality, but had desperately wanted to avoid thinking about it.
“STOP! I absolutely won’t do that!”
I don’t want to stoop so low, even if this is a matter of life or death! When push comes to shove, I might have to do it, but I’m definitely not considering it until I’m really on death’s bed!
Fortunately? At least I think it’s fortunate, this guy hasn’t had any interest in me right from the second we met. So isn’t he the best person to strike a clearly defined deal with?
“I know it’s asking a lot, but I’ll repay you in whatever way I can, so…”
“Oi, don’t go there—”
“If I have even an iota of potential to become a witch, please take me along with you as your apprentice!” Nichika pleaded with absolute seriousness.
Oswald threw his head back as if she’d thrown him for a loop. But then he flattened his lips into a hard line and folded his arms sternly. “No.”
“Whyyyyy?!”
“I don’t want an apprentice.”
That wasn’t going to be enough to make her back down. If Nichika backed down now, prostitution was in her future! I don’t want to be a prostitute! She screamed internally as if the very thought of being a prostitute was a curse.
“PLEASE!”
“No means no.”
“I’ll do my very best to never get in your way!”
“Bug off!”
Her enemy was formidable. They locked glares without giving an inch on either side.
Naturally, it was the wolf who broke the tense mood. Ruining the standoff with the loudest stomach growl known to man, Wolfie splayed out all four legs and collapsed onto the grass.
“Masterrrrr. I’m starvingggg,” he whimpered.
Obstinacy dampened by that pathetic grovel, Oswald unglued his eyes from Nichika and shot Wolfie an exasperated complaint, “You know, you should really learn how to read the mood.”
“Does that taste good?”
Nichika giggled. “Why don’t we have lunch, Wolfie?”
Rather than toeing the line, breaking for a temporary truce could prove more effective in changing Oswald’s mind. Ready to grab any opportunity, Nichika put down her bags with a smile.