The Witch and Her Companion: I'm Just a Normal High School Student, but I Became the Familiar of the Highest-Ranked Witch. Also, It Seems I'm the Only Guy in the Witch Organization I Joined - Chapter 58: The Dungeon and Interrogation

Chapter 58: The Dungeon and Interrogation

T/N: WOOHOOOOO, large release of chaps. This is where it finally starts, mc becoming part of the org as the title suggests. So I unlock all chaps leading to here.

[Tatsumori Haruto]

“──Filthy human, don’t think you’ll get an easy death.”

That was the last thing they said before they disappeared.

The dim underground prison was more comfortable than I expected, but if I stayed here, I’d probably end up dead sooner or later.

Just a week or two ago, I was going to school as usual, working my part-time job, going shopping with Fuu and Ryuna—never in my wildest dreams did I think something like this would happen.

No… Maybe I was just fooling myself into thinking things were normal. Maybe everything had been off from the very start.

Every time I closed my eyes, I saw Ryuna and Fuu’s faces.

In the end, who was Fuu? Why did she stab me? Why was Ryuna there? Why was she crying…?

I didn’t know. I never knew anything at all.

“──Ro… kiro… Wake up—!!”

A violent jolt, like my brain had been shaken, and a loud voice yanked me out of deep slumber.

“…Wh-where is this…?”

“Muhaha, finally woke up, huh? Our first guest!”

A girl with gray hair and red eyes stood before me, her face oddly close. It took me a second to realize—she was gripping my hair, forcing my face up to meet hers.

Around me, several other women stood in a loose circle, as if surrounding me.

“Wh-who the hell are you…? Where is this? Where’s Fuu?”

My mind was slowly waking up, but my memories were hazy. Who was this girl? Why was I here? Where was Fuu? I had no idea what was going on.

“Muhaa, don’t play dumb! No way in hell you don’t know who I am.”

“…Wait, you’re—”

A café waitress. That’s right—she was the waitress at the café I visited with Fuu.

“That’s enough. It’s clear that this man is a ‘kenzoku’ and that he knows about Bubblegum… He is undoubtedly an Inquisitor of the Witch Hunt.”

“Muhaa, see? Told you from the start! Snow, you’re such a pain in the ass.”

“Wha— You’re always—!”

“Okay, stop. No bickering. Let’s decide what to do with him before the boss gets back.”

The words “Witch Hunt” and “kenzoku” sparked something in my memory. The fog in my mind started to clear.

I remembered—I had been attacked by two people who called themselves Witch Hunters on my way back from the hot springs with Fuu.

One of them had called me a kenzoku.

And then, after that, Fuu had—

“No need to decide anything. Let’s just kill him. He won’t have any useful information anyway.”

“Muhuu, what a waste! We should at least squeeze some info out of him first!”

“I actually agree with Snow, but since we dragged him all the way to Brush, we might as well interrogate him first.”

“Rather than interrogate, I’d rather do something fun with you~”

“Oi, Brush, hands off. I might get pregnant.”

I still had no idea what was going on, but at least now I fully remembered what had happened before I lost consciousness.

Fuu had stabbed me in the back.

Then Ryuna appeared out of nowhere and taught me how to use healing magic, even as I lay dying.

And after she disappeared, the gray-haired girl had taken me.

“Who the hell are you people?! What do you plan to do with me?!”

“Filthy Witch Hunter scum… you don’t have the right to speak!”

“Gah—!!”

The black-haired girl called Snow kicked me in the face.

I was tied to a chair, so dodging wasn’t an option.

“Muahaha, direct hit!”

“Bubblegum, should you really be laughing?”

“I’m not part of any crazy Witch Hunter group! I don’t even know what the hell’s going on!”

Maybe because I had become a kenzoku, I was still conscious despite the impact. My jaw was fine, though my brain felt like it had been shaken loose.

“Tch, how many times do I have to—”

“No. Let me do it.”

Snow raised her foot to kick me again, but the blue-haired girl from the café stopped her.

“Listen carefully. What’s your name?”

She leaned in close to my ear, speaking softly. But her voice wasn’t just a whisper—it echoed inside my head, sinking into my skull like it was seeping into my very being.

“…That doesn’t matter right now, does it?”

“Again. What’s your name?”

“…I-I’m… Tatsumori Haruto…?”

It was like my body was possessed—my mouth moved on its own, answering against my will.

“What’s your favorite animal?”

“…C-cat.”

“What’s your favorite food?”

“…The fried rice… at Sanryuuken, made by the owner.”

Not only was my body speaking on its own, but I couldn’t even lie. This was definitely some kind of magic.

Which meant that everyone here—every single one of them—was a witch.

And from the way they spoke about Witch Hunters, they were probably enemies of that group.

Not that the name sounded like they’d be friendly.

“Good boy. Now… are you a Witch Hunter?”

“…I’m not a Witch Hunter.”

“Muhwa!? That’s impossible!”

Impossible my ass. I wasn’t part of any crazy organization.

“Well, well, Bubblegum. You brought back someone who isn’t even related to the Witch Hunters?”

“Muhuu, no way! He’s definitely an Inquisitor! The blonde girl he was with—she attacked me at the café, alongside those other Inquisitors!”

A blonde girl… She meant Fuu.

So after Fuu stabbed me and left, she fought this gray-haired girl?

“…Who was the blonde witch you were with?”

The blue-haired girl whispered in my ear again.

“The witch with me… was Fuu. I only met her recently… I don’t know anything about her.”

“Bubblegum, that’s what he says.”

“Muhuu, then why the hell is he her kenzoku?!”

The gray-haired girl was visibly flustered now.

It seemed like the whole “Witch Hunter” thing wasn’t even the issue anymore.

“Why did you become a kenzoku?”

“……When the magical beast attacked me, I was forced to drink her blood… and that saved me.”

“Oh my, oh my. Then why were you collapsed over there? Who did that to you?”

“I was attacked… by the witch hunters. And after that, Fuu… stabbed me.”

“……Why?”

“……I don’t know either.”

That’s what I want to know. Why did Fuu suddenly— It was like she became a completely different person.

If that’s the case, does that mean that was Fuu’s true nature all along? There’s no way. I refuse to believe that.

“Well, I don’t really get it, but since Brush forced the truth out of him, that means it must be real. In other words, Bubblegum just brought a half-dead failure back to the castle for no reason.”

“Muhaa, that’s weird~ Maybe Brush’s magic didn’t actually work…?”

“Tatsumori-kun, out of everyone here, who would you least want as a lover?”

“……!? That woman over there, the one called Snow.”

“Muhaha, looks like the magic’s working just fine.”

“……W-Why me!? This filthy human, who do you think you are!?”

“Hahaha, that’s what you get for kicking him out of nowhere, Snow. Man, my stomach hurts!”

At least they seem to have figured out I’m not part of the witch hunters, but seriously, what kind of question was that? The girl called Snow has bloodshot eyes, and she looks ready to murder me.

“Muhaa, so what do we do with him now? Just dump him back where we found him?”

“No. If he were just a regular human, maybe, but he’s a Familiar, and now he knows about this castle. We can’t let him leave alive. Besides, irregular situations like this need to be reported to Lord Abyss before we make a decision.”

“You heard her. Welcome to Ravens, kid. This Bumblebee Sevenbridge will personally escort you to the dungeon.”

“Oi, wait a second! You guys already know I just got caught up in this mess, right!? Just let me go already!”

My pleas were useless. The one-armed woman who introduced herself as Bumblebee lifted me—chair and all—with a single hand, then kicked open a window with her foot.

I didn’t even have time to wonder why she opened the window. The next thing I knew, she had jumped out. With me, still tied to the chair.

“……Wait, whaa—mmmph!?”

Back in middle school, my mom took me to a big amusement park. There was this roller coaster that was so fun, I kept getting in line over and over again.

But I can say this with absolute certainty.

I never want to go through this again.

＊ ＊ ＊

Bumblebee skillfully carried me down a narrow, stone staircase, making sure I didn’t crash into anything while still being tied to the chair.

It seemed to go really deep underground—we’d already taken four turns down the long staircase. I kept demanding to be freed, but Bumblebee just hummed a tune and ignored me completely.

“Alright, we’re here, Tatsumori-kun! This is your new home from now on, so take good care of it, okay?”

At the bottom of the stairs was a large, circular chamber. She finally freed me from the chair and led me to one of the doors.

“Hey, I’m gonna say this one more time. Just let me go home. I swear I won’t tell anyone about this place or any of you. I’ll never get involved again.”

“──You still don’t get it, do you? Your death has already been decided. Until the execution date is set, just sit back and enjoy what’s left of your life, human.”

Before I realized it, Snow—who ranked number one on my ‘least-wanted-as-a-lover’ list—had appeared. Behind her were the blue-haired and gray-haired ones from the café.

“Oh, yeah? Well, in that case, could you go grab my pillow from home? I can’t sleep well when I don’t have my usual one.”

Realizing that they had absolutely no intention of letting me go, that was the best comeback I could manage.

“……Filthy human, don’t think you’ll get an easy death.”

Bumblebee shoved me into a room and locked the door from the outside.

With Snow’s parting insult, the women left, and the underground chamber fell silent.

Of course, the door was locked tight. I had no way out. So, with nothing else to do, I decided to inspect the room I was trapped in.

Not that it mattered whether I liked it or not—I was stuck here either way.

Still, when I heard “dungeon,” I imagined something straight out of a movie or novel. A cramped space with an iron door, just a single, exposed toilet in the corner… basically, the kind of place you’d expect.

But surprisingly, this room was actually… kind of nice.

For one, it was pretty big—about ten tatami mats in size. There was a large bed, a chest, and even a small table.

And on top of that, there was another door leading to a separate toilet. When I opened it, the toilet lid even lifted automatically.

Hell, this bathroom was more high-tech than the one at my house. I couldn’t even tell if I should be happy or pissed off.

After thoroughly checking it out, I had to admit… this place was more like a hotel room than a dungeon.

Of course, being underground, there were no windows. And obviously, I couldn’t order room service. But calling this a “prison cell” felt like a bit of a stretch.

──Then, suddenly.

“Oi, newbie.”

A voice so chilling it made my spine freeze rang out.

It wasn’t coming from my room. It was from beyond the thickly shut door.

Cautiously, I approached and peered through the small surveillance window.

“Wh-Who’s there? Is someone there!?”

“If I wasn’t here, I wouldn’t be talking, dumbass! Watch your damn mouth, you little shit!!”

The voice was deafening. Whoever it was, they had to be in one of the other rooms past the circular chamber. And yet, my ears were ringing from the sheer volume.

“S-Sorry! Um… who are you?”

“You don’t ask for someone’s name before introducing yourself, dumbass! Manners, ever heard of ‘em!?”

“I-It’s Tatsumori Haruto…”

I wasn’t obeying out of magic this time.

I was just genuinely terrified of this person’s voice. It carried a raw, overwhelming presence that brooked no argument.

But… what the hell did they want with me?

“Alright, newbie. Listen up. I’m gonna bust you outta there.”

“……What did you just say?”