CH 46

This situation is the number one reason why Lulurun can’t look Rhynes in the eye properly.

Nia Sakurai, the Witch of the North, smiles and explains the evidence to Rhynes.

“I am, as you can see, a poor woman who has been brought to heel by Keisuke, so I’m harmless, right, Keisuke?” Nia said.

“That’s right,” Lulurun said.

Cra-crunch….!

The table Rhynes was clutching exploded with a terrible noise.

“Wawawawawa!” Syll blubbered as she watched from a distance, tears in her eyes.

From Rhynes’ face, you could read, “I’m not convinced.” though her expression has not changed.

“Can you tell me specifically how you were brought to heel?” Rhynes asked.

“About that…” Lulurun said.

“Me and Keisuke got engaged,” Nia said.

“Wha!?” Rhynes sputtered.

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“Huh!?” Lulurun cried.

“Whaaaattttt!?” Syll screamed.

As you’d expect, Rhynes’ expression changed as she rocketed to her feet, and even Syll couldn’t hide her surprise as she eavesdropped.

Above all else, Lulurun was the most surprised.

“You never said anything about introducing your fiancee,” Rhynes said.

“Wha-Wha-Wha, what do you me-me-mean, engagement?!” Syll blubbered.

Where was the coldness up until that point? Rhynes was the most upset.

“It’s exactly what I said, should I show off more?” Nia asked.

“Hey, Nia, that’s enough,” Lulurun said.

“Because Keisuke said, ‘Come with me!’” Nia said.

“Well, I did say that…” Lulurun started.

“Did you say that!?” Rhynes yelled.

“Did you really say that!?” Syll shouted.

The two of them put the squeeze on Lulurun simultaneously!!

Sure, she said it, but she tried to apologize, with an embarrassed face she tried to explain it wasn’t an engagement… but the interpretation would certainly be up in the air… she knew this would end in a misunderstanding, somehow.

Lulurun will take Nia with her and find her a good partner! However, Nia seems to take Lulurun’s words as a proposal, Nia recalls the words with giggles and a grin.

“It wasn’t an engagement!” Lulurun yelled.

“I love it when you get embarrassed and lie like that,” Nia said, rubbing her soft skin against Lulurun and giving a carefree smile.

Lulurun knows how desperate Nia is thanks to the Witch’s curse, but Rhynes can only think this looks like Lulurun is enjoying herself.

“At this point, I’m going to ignore your relationship with Keisuke, and turn a blind eye to it,” Rhynes said, calming down.

“Don’t look away, Lady Rhynes!” Syll adds.

“That’s not the question we should be asking now,” Rhynes continues.

“Then what is it, then?” Nia asked. “You are the Holy Emperor’s little doggy.”

“Don’t open your mouth, Witch!” Rhynes yelled.

The two who are probably the strongest people in the world clash with murderous eyes.

Syll falls on her butt and flees to the edge of the store, then the owner comes out from the back with an expression that says, “Now, you’ve done it.”

“Boss, you should stop them!” Syll said.

“Relax, relax, even if the store gets damaged, I can just charge the Knights for the damage and get it remodeled, if anything, this would be a help, gahahaha,” Balkan said.

And with that, he went back into the kitchen.

“Boss…!” Syll wailed.

Lulurun intervenes in their murderous clash. “You promised you wouldn’t fight,” she said.

Yes, they promised, back in the Witch of the North’s territory, the two people clashed before the dying Lulurun after a massive misunderstanding.

During their evenly matched fight, the recovery spell’s effects stopped for lack of magical power, and Lulurun nearly died of heavy bleeding. Nia saved Lulurun and reattached her arm with recovery magic.

After Rhynes asked what was going on, the misunderstandings between them were resolved… but after that, Lulurun made the two promise,

“No fighting.”

It may be difficult due to the relations between the Witches and the Knights, but it is a temporary truce since both believed in Lulurun’s words.

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This meeting held at the Magilia Dining Hall was to debrief everyone and cross-examine their accounts with all involved (or at least it was supposed to be).

“I, Lulurun, will protect and monitor the Witch of the North, Sakurai Nia, and if she harms anyone, I will take responsibility, and so I ask Rhynes as the representative of the Order of the Holy Empire to approve and grant her her freedom.

There were three things that Lulurun wanted from Rhynes:

1: The protection of the Witch of the North, Nia Sakurai.

2: Lulurun would be responsible for monitoring her, and if the Witch was found to be malicious, Lulurun will take immediate action, and if not, take appropriate responsibility.

3: The Order of the Holy Empire acknowledges this and will not interfere.

She understood that the terms were too convenient, and the attached responsibilities are very ambiguous, but Lulurun decided this was the way to go, so she won’t hide anything more from Rhynes.

“Do you think that would convince me?” Rhynes asked.

“I do think so,” Lulurun said, “but I believe in you, Rhynes.”

Lulurun speaks seriously, she always looks at the other person’s eyes when she does, and the truth in them would be her strongest persuasive asset.

If she told Rhynes who can’t resist a straightforward look and the truth in those eyes, she can’t put up a strong protest.

“For fuck’s sake, you people are…” Rhynes muttered.

“It can only be good for the world if I’m incapacitated,” Nia said.

“That’s right, but you’re not,” Rhynes said.

“Oh, but don’t get me wrong,” Nia added, “I’m only on Keisuke’s side, not humanity’s.”

“You bitch…” Rhynes growled.

Rhynes reacts to each of Nia’s provocations, one by one, even though they’re cheap taunts that normally wouldn’t affect her.

“Rhynes, it’s the same thing with me, I could become an enemy of the world, too,” Lulurun said.

“That can’t be true,” Rhynes said.

“People change depending on the situation, no one knows when it’s going to happen, I’m pretty sure after talking to Nia, that not all of the Witches are conspiring toward the same goal, some of them just want happiness, some of them just want to watch the world burn.”

“Some are like me, helpless Witches just looking for someone to marry,” Nia said, laughing self-deprecatingly.

“I……” Rhynes started.

She couldn’t give an immediate straight answer. Her beliefs about the Witches, her obsession, and whether she was still the same person, whether she should kill the Witch in front of her.

But now, it’s different.

Meeting Lulurun had deepened her understanding of magic.

She’s learned that the people who can use magic, Witches =/= Evil.

Her thoughts about the magic and the Witch that had robbed her of her family have changed,

They have changed, but–

She still hates Witches.

That the Witch she hated had treated dying Lulurun while Rhynes could only cry.

The Witch, the enemy of mankind, has helped someone she loved, she knows, maybe this Witch is not evil.

However, she cannot forgive this Witch.

Her belief can’t be shaken that deeply.

It should be unforgivable.

She knows that she can forgive Lulurun, far from it, she can even respect her, but Lulurun is special and contradictory to everything Rhynes knew, she knew that.

The hatred and trust that were both inside Rhynes collide.

“What are you wondering about, it doesn’t matter, hurry up and make a decision, Doggy,” Nia said.

“I….” Rhynes started.

What should she do? Rhynes looks to Lulurun to ask for help, but Lulurun looks back at her with a gentle expression, perhaps because she saw how lost Rhynes was.

“I believe in you, Rhynes.”

Rhynes remembers those words, believing in someone, and what it means.

It means that Lulurun trusts in what she’ll do.

Oh, yes, that’s right. She suddenly noticed it.

Ironically, the answer… was in Nia’s words.

“It doesn’t matter…” Rhynes suddenly noticed them and the words leak out of her mouth.

“It doesn’t matter…”

The words were blunt and spontaneous, very unlike Rhynes.

“Yes, it doesn’t matter, I don’t care about you, I don’t give a shit about you,” Rhynes said.

She laughed as if she were out of her mind.

“It’s alright, Witch of the North, I don’t believe in you, I will never believe in you at all, no matter how virtuous you become in the future, I will never believe in you!!” Rhynes declared as she pointed at Nia.

“Oh, well, that’s not good, is it?” Nia asked, crossing her arms and looking amused.

After saying all that to Nia, Rhynes turns to Lulurun once more and gives another straight-faced declaration:

“But I believe in Keisuke, Yokoi Keisuke, that trust is worth more than anything else, I trust those who believe in me, those who believe me trust in me, so I’ll believe in Keisuke’s proposal even though I’m not convinced at all. ”

“Lady Rhynes!” Syll cried, her eyes shining.

To anyone other than herself and Lulurun, the words could be taken as a confession, but it all reminds Nia that Rhynes is her enemy.

“Thank you, Rhynes,” Lulurun said.

“There’s nothing to thank me for. I did say ‘I’m not convinced at all,” Rhynes said, smiling a bit and turning away from Lulurun. “However, it’s also true that I can’t decide on my own, the Church may not allow it, I will report this to a handful of people and take the appropriate measures.”

“Understood, I’ll take responsibility then,” Lulurun said.

“Do you mean we’ll get married?” Nia asked.

“That’s not it at all!!” Rhyne and Lulurun shouted simultaneously.

“However…” Rhynes said.

“However?” Lulurun asked. said.

“If they disagree with me, I’ll convince you, since you believe in me,” Rhynes said.

“Thank you, Rhynes,” Lulurun said.

“What’s with this chummy attitude, Doggy?” Nia asked.

“Shut up, Witch!” Rhynes yelled.

As Lulurun soothed the two who started fighting as soon as they were distracted, it seems that the curtains have cleanly fallen over the saga of the Witch of the East…

Then, a few days later……

“Is Lulurun here?!”

A breathless Cain rushes into the store.

Nia, Syll, and Lulurun, all working hard in the store, attend to the odd-looking Cain.

“What’s got you in such a hurry, Big Bro Cain?” Lulurun asked.

“Here, water,” Syll said.

“Appreciated!” Cain said. After he chugged it down in one go, he tells Lulurun, “Lulurun, the Holy Emperor wants to speak with you, come to the Grand Church right now!!!”

“Huh?”

“I said now!!” Cain yelled.

The situation suddenly sprung up, Lulurun’s brain couldn’t keep up with it at all.

“What do you mean?”