The Reincarnated Eldest Witch Sister Embraces Self-Sacrifice

A week after my outing with Hecate, I planned an excursion with Demeter.

This time, our destination was different from the city but the mountains near Polis Commercial City.

Skilled in plant-related magic, Demeter needed to acquire knowledge of useful plants. Regularly, she ventures into the mountains to gather this information. On this occasion, I accompanied her, more of a tag-along.

Given the nature of our trip, we didn’t dress up. In practical, pants-style clothing, Demeter and I left home.

Exiting the city and walking through the grasslands, we soon reached an unnamed, wild forest. Untouched by human hands, the dense and natural forest had no proper trails.

“It’s a bit scary, as usual.”

“Scary? There are various plants and insects, and we can gather edible things.”

It’s less daunting with familiarity.

To me, a person who lived in a modern, artificial world, this natural, dim forest felt slightly eerie. Besides ordinary plants, there were strange ones I’d never seen before, making navigation challenging. Getting lost would be easy without Demeter.

Thanks to her familiarity with the area and her habit of growing a “Torch Plant” plant along the paths she traversed, we wouldn’t lose our way. With their torch-like glowing flowers, the plants served as excellent markers in the dim forest.

“Ah, this plant looks unfamiliar.”

“It does look strange. I wonder what it is.”

While exploring, Demeter discovered a peculiar plant. It was knee-high with a yellow sphere at the top of its stem, about the size of a baseball, and a hole in the center.

As Demeter reached out to examine it, the sphere suddenly moved, attempting to bite her hand. The hole was a mouth. Fortunately, she withdrew her hand in time.

“Close call. Maybe it’s a carnivorous plant?”

“It seems to react to any movement.”

I waved a stick in front of the plant, and it bit at it. Likely, it’s a carnivorous plant targeting insects.

Then, Demeter found another unusual item, a mushroom with a cluster of white petals.

“This looks like a Hanabiratake. It’s edible, so I’ll collect it.”

“You always remember mushrooms and their features well.”

“Yeah, since I often come to the mountains, I remember them.”

While talking, Demeter expertly harvested the Hanabiratake, storing it in her basket. It was evident she was comfortable in the mountains.

“You too, Onee-chan, know a lot about cooking and spices. Where did you learn?”

“Just from watching others cook. Nothing special.”

I had explained before most of my cooking knowledge was from my previous life, so my response was nearly a lie.

Occasionally, Demeter would say things that made me nervous, as if she sensed something about my past life. I hoped my secret was safe.

Our exploration continued – observing rare plants and collecting edible mushrooms and berries. Time flew by. Just as we were about to head back, Demeter, walking ahead, gestured for me to stop.

“Stop, Onee-chan. Something seems off.”

Indeed, the forest, previously alive with bird and insect sounds, was eerily quiet. We noticed black shadows moving among the trees.

“We’re surrounded. Looks like wolf-like monsters.”

“Do you need help?”

“No need. I’m used to handling them.”

Soon, the shadows revealed themselves as wolf-like monsters, about 150 centimeters long with red eyes and gray fur, roughly ten in number.

As they lunged at us from both sides, Demeter activated her magic, growing massive vine plants that entangled and choked the wolves.

“Nature makes it easier to grow plants for battle. This should finish them.”

With a final effort, she broke their necks, and the wolves perished.

“Normally, I’d bury the corpses, but do you want to use them, Onee-chan?”

“Let’s see… I’ve never tried, but I can attempt to extract the fur with magic.”

After channeling magic into a wolf corpse, I transformed and dried the fur, successfully removing it from one wolf.