Vol 1 Chapter 45 – Awakening

“Fwaaaaah…”

That was a good sleep.

I roused myself from drowsiness, sat up, and nodded as I checked my condition. I felt perfect. Completely refreshed.

“…You finally woke up.”

The Witch beside me spoke with a somewhat exasperated tone.

“Huh? You didn’t sleep?”

“I slept. I just… gave up. And I woke up way before you did.”

“Ah, I see.”

Well, it couldn’t be helped that I slept so deeply.

I’d been fighting like crazy, after all.

I half-destroyed the Witch Cult all by myself, you know? Tail caught on to my message partway through and started crushing the Cult’s hideouts too, which lightened my load, but even so, I’d been fighting non-stop the entire time.

Man… that was really rough.

“Alright. I got plenty of sleep, so I think I’ll head home soon.”

“Considering things calmly, I feel like I did something pretty crazy.”

At the time, I’d been focused entirely on figuring out how to take down the Witch Cult, but now that I’m looking back with a clear head, my moves were pretty damn wild.

My corpse must have been witnessed by plenty of people. After all, I’d left an unmistakably me corpse sitting right there in my shop.

Actually, it’d be sadder if they didn’t notice—I left it out so brazenly… Ryshia and them are definitely worried about me. When I think about it calmly, isn’t this kinda bad?

“Well… whatever.”

What’s done is done.

I’ll just go with the flow.

There’s no point panicking now. Worst case scenario, I’ll make a run for it. I can just start a business in another country.

“Hey, Witch.”

“…What?”

“I can’t just leave you be, so from now on, you’re my bodyguard. No more scheming in the shadows, got it?”

“What!? Wh-What gives you the right to decide that on your own!?”

“In exchange, I’ll fuck you once a week.”

“…”

The Witch had opened her mouth in protest, but my follow-up words left her silent. Her face turned bright red as she hung her head.

“I’ll take your silence as agreement.”

“I-I am a witch. I’ve sacrificed tens of thousands to get this far… I’m one of humanity’s greatest criminals. From the day I began walking this path, I knew a day like this would come eventually. J-Just kill me already.”

“Huh? No way. Killing a woman I’ve slept with would leave a bad taste in my mouth. Look, I don’t care at all. I couldn’t care less who you killed or what crimes you committed—not even a little bit. The only thing that matters is me. As long as you say the Witch Cult will leave me alone, I’m done fighting you right then and there.”

“Huh?”

“I broke you once with these hands. That means you’re my property now. This wasn’t a suggestion from the start. I’m giving you an order.”

“Ahhn!?”

I casually reached out and grabbed the Witch’s breast, continuing to speak as I rolled her nipple between my fingers.

“You’re my bodyguard now, got it?”

“…Y-Yesh.”

“Good!”

After confirming the Witch’s nod of agreement, I nodded in satisfaction as well.

Vol 1 Chapter 46 – Light

“…”

“…”

“…”

It had been going smoothly.

The whole time, it had been going smoothly. The journey of Ryshia and the other two had been smooth sailing the entire way.

They’d crushed the Witch Cult’s hideouts one after another, trampling everything beneath their strength. With almost no struggle or injury, they’d been able to systematically destroy the Cult’s bases.

At this rate, maybe they could wipe out every single hideout… On a certain day when they’d begun to think such thoughts:

“…The light disappeared.”

The light vanished.

The red marks on the map Noah had left behind suddenly disappeared, no longer indicating anything.

“What does this mean?”

“…I don’t know.”

Tail shook her head in response to Tiara’s question.

She didn’t know. That was all she could say.

Why had the red lights suddenly vanished from the map? It was completely unclear. Had Noah’s magical power… disappeared?

“…”

While there were various possible explanations, Tail didn’t try to voice them, and no one else tried to dig deeper either.

“…It’s already late.”

In the end, on the day the red marks disappeared from the map, the three of them camped out and spent the night together.

Escapism. That’s what it was.

“…”

“…”

“…”

And then, the next day.

Without a word, the three of them silently, methodically began preparing to return home without any discussion.

Ryshia, Tail, and Tiara—none of them were people with time to spare. They all held clear positions and responsibilities. They couldn’t chase after Noah’s phantom forever.

What they carried on their backs wasn’t light enough to dedicate their lives to dealing with the Witch Cult.

The journey was over.

The three of them had realized it.

“…”

No one spoke.

The efficient trio quickly returned to the capital, and then, as if by unspoken agreement and without a word between them, all three headed straight for Noah’s shop.

“Oh, you three! Welcome back. I only meant to ask Tail for help, but Ryshia came along too… and even Tiara. I had no idea so many of you went together.”

And there, waiting for the three of them, was Noah with a remarkably carefree expression on his face, having restored the shop’s interior back to its original state after the country had cleaned it up once before.

“Huh!?“