WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Mordor
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Mistaken as the Dungeon Boss Monster ◈
Chapter 52: Ash Witch Selina
──────
Crackle, crackle.
The sound of the embers deepened the night’s peculiar stillness.
Charlotte and I spoke quietly amid the tranquil atmosphere.
As a human, I wasn’t exactly fond of bloodshed either.
If possible, I wanted to settle this peacefully through conversation. I told Charlotte that we should pay a fair price and buy the girl.
If that didn’t work...
“I will obey.”
Charlotte read my intentions from my eyes alone.
Once we had finished making our plans, Charlotte headed over to Gohan, who was sleeping soundly.
My night vision was sharp, and so was my hearing. I could catch their quiet whispers.
“...I’m not on watch tonight.”
“Master wishes to speak with you.”
Gohan let out a long yawn and stretched.
Maybe he was the laid-back sort. Without asking anything else, he came over and sat down.
“What is it?”
“I’ll get straight to the point. I wish to buy your slave.”
“My slave?”
As we talked, Charlotte scattered purple powder among the sleeping people.
Sleep powder infused with mana.
Someone might have only been pretending to sleep, so she was taking precautions.
Gohan was far enough away that he did not notice.
I took out the pouch of money I had prepared beforehand.
“Five gold coins. More than enough, I’d say.”
“Why?”
“As for why...”
“The reason you want to buy my slave.”
“Because I feel sorry for her. That’s all.”
Gohan frowned.
“Sorry for her? She’s not just a slave. She’s a Witch. Are you saying you feel sorry for a Witch?”
“Witches are human too.”
“Ha! So a saint has descended among us. I have no intention of selling that slave.”
With that, Gohan abruptly stood.
Looking at Gohan’s back, I hesitated.
Slave brands existed in this world too.
Considering that slave traders operated legally in a world full of magic, that was only natural.
There were two ways to erase a slave brand.
The owner could willingly give up ownership, or someone could kill the owner.
If this went on any longer, it looked like this would turn into a shouting match.
We had used sleep powder, but the noise could still wake people.
It could not be helped.
“Charlotte.”
“─!”
The instant I spoke, a bolt of mana pierced the back of Gohan’s neck, and I covered his mouth at the same time.
Gohan died instantly, unable to let out even a final scream.
“....”
Looking at the corpse, I felt nothing in particular.
I had already finished rationalizing it in my own way.
Gohan was a piece of human trash who abused a young girl and kept her as a slave.
And, as he said himself, he might soon become a knight who threatened my dungeon.
They were not enough reasons to make it right, but that was why it was called rationalization.
I gave Charlotte a hand signal.
The girl was sleeping where I pointed.
Charlotte immediately understood, woke the girl, and brought her over to me.
The girl stood before me without emotion, like a doll.
“What is your name?”
“....”
“Can’t you speak?”
“....”
No wonder she had not said a word in the carriage.
It probably was not aphasia. Mutism seemed more likely.
Given the abuse she had suffered, I could not think of any explanation other than a psychological cause.
After checking that everyone was still asleep, I removed my helmet.
The girl flinched when she saw my true appearance.
Even her level was instantly stained pitch-black.
I had shown her as a gesture of trust, but maybe I should not have taken it off.
“Don’t be afraid. I have no ill will toward you, child. On the contrary, I’m doing this because I want to help you.”
Grrrrowl-
The sound of her stomach interrupted our conversation.
“Charlotte.”
“Yes.”
She really was quick on the uptake.
Charlotte gently held out some jerky. After hesitating for a while, the girl accepted it.
She must have been terribly hungry if she could lower her guard over food.
“This woman is a Witch too. She’s one of the few people who can empathize with your pain. So relax.”
The girl nibbled on the jerky and nodded.
Hmm. This was going more smoothly than expected.
I had worried that she would get scared and panic, so this was a relief.
“I know a place that can protect you. It’s a hut where Witches live. You should be all right there, surrounded by other Witches.”
After finishing a piece of jerky, the girl nodded again.
She did not look resigned. Yet she was listening calmly to me and agreeing.
Maybe she was a little unusual too.
“We’ll protect you until then. Don’t be wary of us. And Charlotte.”
“Yes.”
Charlotte took out a bundle of jerky and handed it to the girl.
That looked like all the jerky she had brought with her.
“Did you leave some for yourself?”
“I’ll be fine.”
She was surprisingly kind, as long as humans were not involved.
It was not as if jerky was our only food, and it was nice to see her looking after that starving child.
Perhaps the girl had opened her heart a little, because she sat on Charlotte’s lap.
Nestled in her arms, she slowly ate the jerky.
Wait.
I was the one who persuaded her, so why did she go to Charlotte?
‘Ah, well.’
Even to me, a Death Knight’s face was terrifying beyond measure.
Trust or not, it would only look frightening to a child.
I just had not thought it through.
My appearance and the fact that Charlotte was a fellow Witch probably played a part.
Or maybe it was simply because Charlotte had given her the jerky.
While I put my helmet back on, Charlotte used Necromancy to turn Gohan into an undead.
I thought she was replenishing our forces, but apparently that was not it.
Smack!
Charlotte punched Gohan in the face.
That was only the beginning. She kicked him, poked his eyes, and inflicted every kind of violence she could.
Smack! Smack! Smack!
...Every hit felt deeply personal.
Had she been holding in what he said in the carriage?
After finally stopping her stress-relief session with the punching bag, Charlotte looked down at the girl.
“You may hit him as much as you wish. For reference, this is his weak point.”
“....”
Smack!
Without a moment’s hesitation, the girl threw a straight punch at Gohan’s testicles.
Charlotte was teaching a child some great things.
* * *
The next morning arrived.
“Goodness.”
“Sir Gohan died protecting us...”
“Oh, no... To think he was bitten by a zombie of all things.”
Gohan’s body was found in the forest, surrounded by the corpses of zombies and ghouls.
At a glance, it looked as though he had died fighting undead.
Gohan had fought a horde of undead at dawn to protect everyone, dying a heroic death in the process.
The mercenary company observed a moment of silence before his body.
It was troublesome, but they decided to dig a grave and give him a simple funeral.
One of the merchants was a devout believer, so he recited the passages needed for the funeral rites.
After everyone offered prayers and a brief farewell address was given, the ceremony ended.
Gohan’s corpse was buried in the pit alongside Charlotte’s useless undead.
Gohan would be remembered in everyone’s hearts as a noble knight.
The perfect crime was complete.
It was tacitly treated as though the girl had become my slave.
The others all said that since she had originally been a knight’s property, it was only right for another knight to take her.
That was just an excuse, though. They were all watching my reaction.
After gathering the camp supplies, the merchant caravan resumed its journey.
The days afterward passed without incident.
The road was well guarded, so there were no bandits or monster attacks.
There was no suspicion toward me either, which had been my greatest concern.
During that time, Charlotte cared for the girl with utmost devotion.
They looked like close sisters, and it warmed my heart to watch them.
Later, Charlotte tried to give the girl a name. Since Charlotte’s naming sense was terrible, I named her Elin instead.
She sometimes waved at Isabella, who perched in the trees as a bat, and nine uneventful days passed.
Whoooosh-
A bitter wind sharp enough to cut flesh swept past us.
Of course, I could not feel the cold. That was just my impression of it.
According to the others, the cold changed completely once we neared the Margrave’s territory.
Soldiers patrolled atop the towering walls.
If my identity was exposed after I entered those walls, not even my bones would be left.
That was why I had a plan in place.
“You’re getting off here?”
“Yeah.”
Just before the checkpoint at the count’s territory, I suddenly said I would get off.
It was hard for the merchants to understand.
Why not just pass the checkpoint together, enter comfortably, and go our separate ways? That was probably what they were thinking.
“There’s someone I know among the people waiting for inspection back there.”
“Ah... I see.”
They did not try to stop me or ask any more questions, so it was a clean farewell.
The three of us got down from the carriage without looking back.
The moment we stepped down, my view was filled with people.
There were so many travelers waiting for inspection that we could easily get separated.
“At this rate, someone could get lost. Charlotte, hold Elin’s hand and don’t let go.”
Charlotte tightly held Elin’s hand and followed behind me like a baby bird.
We pushed through the crowd, walking in the opposite direction.
To bypass the count’s territory and reach the Land of Extinction, we had to get through this crowd first.
“Boss.”
I only turned my head at Charlotte’s call from behind.
“Couldn’t I get lost too?”
“....”
What, did she want me to hold her hand?
Now that I looked, she was fidgeting with her fingers too.
I stopped for a moment and stared at Charlotte without a word.
Unable to withstand my glare, Charlotte quietly hid herself among the crowd.
Maybe it was because of the cold, but I could see that her face had turned red.
* * *
Right after bypassing the Margrave’s walls and arriving in the Land of Extinction, we were met by cold incomparable to anything before it.
Freezing winds and blizzards raged from every direction. All that could be seen were snowdrifts and birch trees.
At a glance, it resembled the Siberian plains, but monsters of extreme cold lurked beyond them.
Monsters swarmed in an environment where humans could never live. It was beyond unexplored land, a place that could neither be explored nor settled.
There was a reason it was called the Land of Extinction.
“Phew. I should refrain from turning into a bat from now on. I spent almost ten days as one.”
Once we reached the Land of Extinction, Isabella returned to her normal form.
As expected of someone at Level 88, she showed no sign of being affected by the bitter cold.
Charlotte remained calm as well, despite a wool coat being her only protection from the cold.
She could easily regulate her body temperature by heating the mana within her body.
Elin’s shivering had also lessened thanks to Charlotte’s warming magic.
“But, Boss, are you thinking of bringing this little one to Faith’s Tomb too?”
At Isabella’s words, Charlotte looked at me as well.
Maybe she had grown attached to Elin. Her eyes looked earnest.
Well, I had considered recruiting not only Elin, but also the Witches at the hut, including the Ash Witch.
Witches were born with an innate talent for magic.
To live up to the name of the Seven Palaces of the Abyss, I needed to strengthen my forces.
“I’ll think about it.”
That could wait.
For now, finding the Ash Witch’s Hut came first.
Not only because of Elin, but because I needed to find the Ancient Dungeon too.
‘The Ash Witch knows the location of the dungeon’s signpost.’
In other words, the Ash Witch’s Hut was a signpost for finding the signpost.
It would not be easy to find the Ancient Dungeon’s signpost in this empty wilderness.
Still, with Charlotte here, finding the Ash Witch’s Hut would be easy.
The Land of Extinction was struck by a Monster Wave once a year.
Living in the middle of such a place was like making a home on the edge of a cliff.
Naturally, she would have made preparations against monster attacks.
“Like I said, search for mana.”
“Yes.”
To hide her hut completely, the Ash Witch had created a barrier based on perception-hindering magic.
Since it was a barrier, a mage of a higher level could see through it.
Charlotte’s mana search extended far beyond the limits of sight.
The barrier actually made the hut much easier to find.
-Kuooooh!!
[Lv. 35]
[Lv. 41]
[Lv. 45]
The monsters we encountered as we traveled were all insignificant fodder.
Since I might as well do some farming, I killed them with a few clicks of the Holy Sword as we moved forward.
About an hour passed.
“I found it.”
Charlotte changed direction and walked to the right.
We followed behind her, then soon stopped.
“It’s right in front of us.”
At first glance, there was nothing but empty air.
Even Isabella waved her hand around, but she could not grab anything.
It was unintentionally proving that the barrier was well made.
“There’s no need to break it.”
Charlotte tilted her head at my words.
Before she could ask, I continued.
“Let your innate black mana flow into it.”
The black mana innate to Witches.
Once Charlotte’s black mana touched the barrier, the Ash Witch would realize that her guest was a Witch.
The Ash Witch showed unconditional goodwill toward fellow Witches.
If the player was a Witch, she would even become a helper NPC and assist with clearing the Ancient Dragon’s Tomb.
Without any suspicion, Charlotte stretched out her hand toward the empty air and let her black mana flow out.
The response came immediately.
Shhhhk-
A hut first appeared like a heat haze, then gradually revealed its full form.
Charlotte blinked in surprise.
She gave me a sidelong glance, her eyes full of questions. I simply gestured with my chin as I spoke.
“Go ahead first.”
First impressions were important.
It would be better for Charlotte to knock, since two Witches meeting each other would make the Ash Witch less wary.
Knock, knock.
As Charlotte knocked, the door opened with a bang, as though someone had been waiting.
An ash-haired Witch appeared in the doorway.
[Lv. 80]
“You’re a Witch too?”
Ash Witch Selina.
Unlike Charlotte, she was a Witch with a broad smile.
Strangely, though, that smile gradually disappeared after she saw Charlotte.
My gaze naturally shifted to Charlotte.
Even through Charlotte’s expressionless face, I could see her surprise.
“Charlotte? Don’t tell me... Are you Charlotte?”
What the hell.
They knew each other?
Selina suddenly pulled Charlotte into a tight embrace.
My thoughts could not keep up with what had just happened.
I did not know the details, but they clearly had a close relationship.
Otherwise, they would not be hugging each other.
“...You knew all along and led me here.”
Charlotte turned to me as she spoke, and my mind went blank for a moment.
No, what did I do?
Footnotes:
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