CHAPTER 18

[Pelica, Terror of the Night Sky, Witch]

[Demon Territory, De Gracia—Guest Mansion]

“So you’re saying that runes are circuits?”

The young lord asked.

“Circuits? What’s that?”

“Like the heart pumping blood to the veins, carrying blood coursing throughout the body. Around that logic.”

“Oh. Yep, yep. That’s basically the gist of it, young lord. When a rune is carved into the skin, it sticks to a tiny part of the soul. Then, like a separate heart for the soul, it would also spread its effects using that same circulation pattern of the veins, since the blood is where the essence of the soul is found, the Materialistic Soul, to be exact. When spread throughout, it creates a situation where the soul would adapt to the rune’s effect and either be enhanced or be constrained by it.”

“What if the soul wouldn't adapt to the rune?”

“Then the rune is a failure.”

“Materialistic Soul is mana, yes?”

“Yes. That is correct. It is the same thing you would need to use magic.”

“If a rune were to be carved into my hand, would that be the place the effects would originate from?”

“Mhhmm.”

“What if I were to cut my hand?”

“The effect would also be cut.”

“I see.”

As we had discussed 2 days ago, in this very room, the young lord and his maid did dancing lessons from morning to noon and magic with me in the afternoon. We would mostly discuss runes while also taking a hefty amount of time messing around. The maid would subtly tell her thoughts, implying that we were wasting our time whenever we did so. She’s like a strict, motherly figure overseeing her two mischievous children. But I digress—having breaks from work is as important as the work itself. If not, more important!

To work tirelessly is a death sentence for both the work and the worker. To work harder is to be in an optimal body condition, and to be that way, you should rest as vigorously as you work. Rest is as important. Thus, rest is a top priority.

I’m a wise person. Yes, yes. To say the least.

“Scylla.”

The young lord spoke.

“How about we show Pelica what we’ve been practicing on? She’s late every time, after all.”

Despite my initial impression of the young lord Deilos being a pervert, he is far from that description. Though he does tend to take his shirt off haphazardly, even in the presence of women, it isn’t as bad when comparing him to those nobles who force themselves on others. It is only a minor inconvenience at the end of the day.

All I see is a young man with a weird habit, and an interesting one at that.

It is quite a lively lifestyle, if I have to say.

“Ehem! Please don’t say that. Even if I sleep too much, I’m trying my best to wake up early!”

“Well, that doesn’t seem to be working now. Isn’t it, Pelica?”

“Hmmp......”

I pouted.

I take it back. This young man doesn’t only have a weird habit but also a bad habit of scrutinizing me. While his comments are truthful, they are also something to be avoided. White lies exist for people like me who can’t handle such hurtful truths.

“The young lord is as mean as ever.”

“I’m only telling my thoughts.”

“Then keep them!”

He laughed.

“Will do.”

As we were having banter, the young lord’s maid, Scylla, fixed her outfit and stood in the middle of the room. The young lord stood up from the desk we were studying at, and he held out his hand towards the maid.

“Fair lady, may I take this dance with you?”

The maid, in return, bowed and spread her skirt with poise and held the hand of the young lord.

“Please, treat me kindly.”

With that, they started dancing.

They held their bodies together. The young lord’s left arm extended while his right was on the maid’s waist. The maid’s right hand held his left and surrendered her body to him.

Step.

The first steps were clumsy. The maid seemed uncomfortable in my presence watching them, but ultimately found the courage to fix herself. Her unease diminished as the young lord smiled her off.

Step.

From those few steps of uncertainty, they danced harmoniously. They were completely in sync, a trance in which one would see a leaf being carried by the wind effortlessly, as if the leaf were part of the wind itself.

Step.

I couldn’t remove my eyes from them. It was as if I was seeing something new despite the simple dance—seeing normal yet unknown—a witness to something I shouldn’t be seeing, but I’m witnessing it, nonetheless.

My mind was wandering on its own. Upon witnessing such a dance, I couldn’t help but be mesmerized by it. A good comparison to this would be the butterflies in your stomach. I cannot fathom how and why such an insect is in the gullet, but now I understand. It is a fluffy feeling that one would feel if you were to touch a soft feeling.

Ahh...... I want to dance that freely too......

“How was it?”

The young lord asked. His voice pitched me back from my subconscious.

“A—ah! It was good! It was very good!”

“Thank you.”

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He seemed pleased by my reply.

“To think that the young lord had such a talent. You could be a brilliant dancer in a ball where you can swoon everyone there, including men! If the young lord would want, we can hire a minstrel and wander the streets showing off your dance while also garnering money!”

“Aha...... I don’t think I’ll be wanting that. In all honesty, I’m better off as a jester than a dancer.”

“Young lord, please don’t downplay yourself. I honestly think you have talent.”

“I don’t.”

Hmm. Hmm.

He’s truthful with me, yet untruthful with himself. Demons really are weird creatures.

“Well,” he fixed his clothes. “Maybe we should take a break and see the festival outside, no? Having breaks from time to time can improve productivity, after all.”

“I think the young lord and Madame Pelica do that too often. I worry about the young lord’s actual growth over the few days of unproductivity.”

The young lord looked at the maid intensely.

“Unproductivity, you say.”

“Yes, young lord, unproductivity.”

She replied impassively.

“That is a false accusation, and if not, a wrongful one at that. Why must one be so inclined to work their arses off all day in repetition? That is the mindset of insanity, where that said repetition can drive one’s mind to madness by the sheer repetitiveness of it. And, by that logic, is that why the leaders above are so overwhelmed with work to the point of adding tax to the commoners just because of the sheer volume of paper piling up on them? That is to say, I’d like it. Do I? Nay.”

The young lord brought up one finger.

“Do I want to be shackled by such responsibilities? Nay.”

He held up a second.

“Is that why I study magic? Nay.”

A third.

“To study dance? Nay.”

Fourth.

“Is that why I’m invested in holding Scylla’s hand every hour? Nay.”

And his thumb, fifth.

“I’m merely doing this of my volition, by my way of living, and not to be engaged at a level of such intensity that would blur the joy of learning magic casually and learning it in academia with professors that spout boring unnecessary theories, to dance so strictly that you lose your own unique motion to be rigid. Living life is different from just existing. To exist is to continue living, but living itself is to enjoy it.”

“......”

“That is why I’d like to rest.”

The young lord put down his hand and grinned victoriously while the maid only stared at the young lord with a blank expression and sighed in defeat.

I nodded at the young lord’s respectable argument. No, not just respectable, but noble. He is, perhaps, the noblest noble I’ve ever seen in a long while. Maybe I’ll stick around him some more.

“I’ve heard they had great food there. Would Pelica want to eat?”

“Hehe~ of course!”

The young lord looked at the maid.

“Should we go, Scylla?”

“If the young lord wanted to.”

“Then we shall.”

As we were walking through the busy streets of the city, the smell of both dust made by the running carriages and smoke of the food from the vendors was in the air. I hadn’t eaten yet, so, with my best effort, I tried to hide my drool and stop my stomach from announcing it while looking at the food stalls with a stoic face.

My pockets are currently empty, not that I impulsively bought interesting things from the market yesterday, not that I’ve eaten two days’ worth of food in one sitting, but most definitely not because I was scammed by an innkeeper. It’s because the young lord’s payment hadn’t been handed to me yet. Well, he did say he’d give it to me today, so I’ll wait for a while before feasting again.

The young lord noticed me fidgeting while looking at the food and asked if I was hungry, buying me some meat skewers.

The meat, in particular, was boar meat. My hands couldn’t stop trembling. I couldn't help myself and ate it immediately. Each bite I took felt like a haven, dripping in savory juices.

“How did the young lord find this!? It’s delicious, deliciously so!”

“Think of it as my compensation for delaying your pay. Currently, I don’t have any personal money with me, so I asked my knight for a while. Though, I suppose I owe him too.”

“K—fuh—knight? The young lord has a knight?” I asked as I blew on the steaming meat.

“Yes, and he’s the one who recommended that I seek out witches if I wanted to learn about magic. Though, as of now, I've asked him to do some errands for me.”

A knight recommending a witch? Hmm. While it is not necessarily unheard of, it is still quite rare for a demon knight to rely on a witch.

There are two types of knights in service: a normal knight that serves nobles and high-ranking knights reserved for serving Demon Lords. To put it into perspective, if a normal knight were to learn magic, then they would learn it in an academy. On the other hand, a high-ranking knight might learn from the Demon Lord they serve.

Although this might depend on the knight in question, this is the general consensus.

A witch, for them, are like nobles. Distant, unreachable, and unworthy of their attention.

For a normal or even a high-ranking knight to recommend a witch, whose relationships are usually transactional, is rare and far from the usual. Well, I did teach one back in the day, so it isn’t so far-fetched.

“I expected witches to be much larger than you. Or older? Like a back-broken hag?”

“Uhk!” I choked on the meat as the young lord spoke out random nonsense. “Geeeezzzzz...... the young lord really is quite inconsiderate to a lady’s feelings.”

I wiped my mouth clean.

“Young lord, if you want to be popular with women, then you don’t go asking those kinds of things. Look, look. Even though your pretty maid might be close to you now, if you keep that inconsiderateness for too long, she’ll leave you, you know? Then you’ll be sadder than a goblin who can’t do mischievous deeds!”

“I was asking politely.”

“That wasn’t polite.”

I turned my head away from him.

“Ahaha...... my apologies.”

“Eh? Ah! The young lord shouldn’t apologize. This little witch was only teasing him, after all.”

He made a cute smile.

Ahhh...... why am I addressed with looking after a sly young man? Well, I’m here now. Better give him at least an answer to his question.

“Hmm, hmm! Given that the young lord isn’t adept at even knowing the basic things around him. This little witch, the leader of the Terror of the Night Sky, Pelica, will give him such answers! Hmm. Hmm. How’s that?”

He clapped slowly.

“I’d much appreciate it.”

Witches are creatures made of pure mana. Meaning that witches are essentially walking blobs of souls. In comparison, other creatures have physical properties like blood, organs, and other nasty stuff. Magical creatures don’t have such things. Instead, they’re bound to the world as a walking embodiment of a soul, much like a ghost to some extent. These creatures don’t need to eat, but they can; these creatures don’t need to breathe, but they can. Everything in a magical creature’s body is artificial—their eyes, hands, and all of their features can only be influenced by their souls.

The young lord listened as I rambled for some time, losing myself explaining the differences between several magical creatures like sprites, golems, and lesser demons.

“If magical creatures don’t have physical properties, then how come I can touch you right now?”

He pinched my cheeks.

“Wah! That hurts! Even magical creatures can feel pain, you know!”

As I lightly swatted away the young lord’s hand, I kneaded my cheeks away from the pain.

“Properties, that’s the keyword. That means we have a physical body, but just a body without any insides—whoa!”

The young lord picked me up.

“You’re lighter than a baby.”

“Please let me down! Such rudeness! Let me down, young lord!”

The young lord put me on his shoulders.

“Please let me down! This is such! This is such! A witch like me shouldn’t be touching such nobility!”

Despite my protests, the young lord didn't let me down and only continued walking. I was on top of the young lord as we went on. My mind wanted to go down, but to be carried like this isn't something I've experienced before, so I'm torn between wanting to relax my already very tired feet or to keep my dignity as a refined witch. I chose the latter.

Noticing that we weren't stopping at any of the shops, I was curious to where the young lord wanted to go. A boutique? No. An artisan? No. We passed all the shops and still kept walking.

We've been walking for some time now, so I was wondering where we were going.

“Young lord, where are we going?”

I curled my body forward to look at him.

“To the slums.”

. . .

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