I Became a Forest Witch Who Raises Dragons

When I Decided to Die

In the cold prison vibrating with humidity and rotten smell.
In such a place, I was held on Marian’s lap.

“Um… Can’t you let me go…?”
“No. I don’t know where you might run off to again.”
‘I think I understand how Saya feels..’
If there’s one difference, it’s that Saya voluntarily sat on my lap, but I was forcibly sat on Marian’s lap.

Since there’s no way I could win against Marian in strength, I finally gave up and was sitting on Marian’s lap.
It’s seriously embarrassing. People are staring…
People were murmuring at Marian’s appearance. The murmuring grew louder when Marian sat me on her lap.

Look at that. A grown adult sitting on someone’s lap─I almost had the illusion of hearing such words.
…It might not be an illusion, but I decided to dismiss it as one.
She demanded an explanation from me, regardless of the noisy surroundings.

“I have a lot I want to ask… but let’s talk about that slowly later. First, can you explain about this place? Including an explanation about the corpses upstairs.”
“Well…”
I explained everything to Marian about the mysterious disappearance case in Heren Village, how I came to this place, and about Louis’s group.

I omitted the fact that I was called a witch and suspected as the culprit of the kidnapping case.
Given Marian’s personality, if she knew I was caught up in unfair circumstances, she would be furiously angry.
After hearing my story, Marian spoke as if in disbelief.

“…You’ve gotten involved in quite a complicated situation while I haven’t seen you.”
I didn’t expect to get involved in such a situation either.

I just went to protest to the village…
“First, I’ll inform the lord of Lonzville about what happened here, and talk about taking appropriate measures for the victims of this incident. Along with an investigation into the mastermind behind this affair.”
“…Thank you, Marian.”

“No need for thanks. It’s what we should do. Rather, we should be thanking you.”

Pat pat. Marian said while gently stroking my hair.
By the way, I’ve already given up. I know that if I resist, more merciless patting awaits.
Marian has always liked patting my head.
…She can’t resist anything cute.

‘Whether I’m cute or not is another matter.’
The reason Marian wears a helmet is because cute animals and young children are scared of her sharp eyes, which says it all.
After Marian’s patting continued for a while, she demanded an explanation about why I disappeared.

“By the way, Ariel. You need to explain why you disappeared leaving just a single letter in front of us. Do you know how much we’ve been looking for you?”
“Th-that’s…”
‘Here it comes…’
I could feel Marian’s hand holding me tighten. If I don’t tell the truth, she might crush me─no, that can’t be.
‘…It can’t be, right?’

“If it’s difficult to talk about here, let’s move somewhere else. There’s a warp gate I came through nearby. No, that’s too far for the local system. There’s a tea house nearby…”
“Marian, w-wait.”
I interrupted Marian’s words for a moment. It seemed like the conversation was about to get longer.

I couldn’t make Saya, who would be waiting for me, wait any longer.
“There’s a child waiting at home… Could we talk at our house?”
I cautiously suggested to Marian that we talk at our house.
At first, I was planning to hide where I live, but…

“Do you have any idea how much we’ve been looking for you?! What have you been doing to only contact now… No, never mind that. Where are you now. I’m coming right away.”
“By the way, Ariel. You need to explain why you disappeared leaving just a single letter in front of us. Do you know how much we’ve been looking for you?”

…I realized after meeting Marian that I couldn’t avoid meeting my party members forever.
That my too-kind party members wouldn’t give up on me just because I disappeared.
That’s why I decided to invite Marian to my house.
…With the resolve to endure even if I were to be betrayed once again.

“What… did you say? A…child?”
─But Marian, hearing my suggestion, started to stammer as if shocked.
‘Was suggesting to talk at home such a shocking thing to say…?’
It’s an unexpected reaction considering her usual composure.

“Don’t tell me…… the reason you left us was… because you had a child?! Daddy… Who’s the child’s father? Don’t tell me it’s Leon?!”
For reference, Leon is the hero’s name.
‘Could it be…. she misunderstood that I disappeared because I had a child? The child I just mentioned was referring to Saya….’

Momentarily flustered by this unseen side of her, I soon realized that Marian was making a huge misunderstanding.
“That trash!!!!!! I’ll kill him!!!”
“Ma-Marian!! That’s not it!!”
“If that’s not it, what are you saying?! If you’re thinking of covering for Leon, stop it. This isn’t something we can just let slide!!!!!”

The aura flickering around Marian. It was proof that Marian was genuinely angry.

……It took quite a long time to clear up Marian’s misunderstanding after that. Saya must be waiting…

“Then Krime, Max. I’ll leave it to you two for a while. I’ll be back.”
“Yes, Captain.”
“Leave it to us!!”

After handing over the kidnapped victims in the prison to her lieutenants, we headed to Heren Village.
Using transfer magic to move to the village entrance, we were greeted by the familiar fence.
‘I saw it this morning too, but it feels new.’

Near the fence, the villager who was there this morning was still standing guard.
‘Surely he won’t start yelling about a witch appearing again.’
The reason I didn’t teleport directly into the village was because I wanted to show the overall scenery of the village to the elf girl who would now be living with us.

Now that the misunderstanding should be cleared up, there shouldn’t be any need to go down to the village again.
I thought of giving the elf girl a tour of the village in advance for that time.
Before entering the village, a thought occurred to me looking at Marian.

“Is it okay… not to use disguise magic?”
“…Disguise magic, you say? Ah. If you’re worried about other people recognizing me, you don’t need to worry. I usually wear a helmet when I appear in public anyway.”
“That’s true.”

Marian is better known as the warrior of the hero’s party, with her helmeted appearance.
…To the point where some people mistake her for a man. Due to wearing a helmet and armor and being so taciturn.
‘…It seems like she’s changed a bit in half a year…’

Compared to before, she’s become quite talkative. Not that I dislike it, but it feels like there’s a gap..
“….”
The villager guarding the fence noticed us, but instead he slightly bowed his head and greeted me.
‘I was worried he might shout─The witch has appeared!’

Passing by the villager guarding the fence, we slowly headed into the village.
Since it was getting close to evening, smoke from cooking fires was starting to rise from chimneys here and there in the village.
On our way to the village chief’s house to pick up Saya, Marian raised her finger and pointed somewhere.

“There’s a crowd of people over there.”
At the end of Marian’s pointing finger, there were villagers gathered.
‘Hm?’
Soon after, they seemed to have noticed us and slowly started approaching us.
Looking closely, there was a familiar face among them, it was the villager who had grabbed my collar when I first entered the village this morning.

It’s the same villager who shouted at me to give back her child.
‘Surely she won’t shout again?’
As I expected, she didn’t seem to harbor any ill feelings towards me. Rather, she looked apologetic.

She approached me hesitantly and conveyed her thanks and apology.
“Wi-witch… Th-thank you!!! For finding my child….. To think I’ve been misunderstanding such a person all this time.. I have no words even if I had ten mouths.. I’m sorry…”
“Don’t worry about it.”

As I guessed, the misunderstanding about me seems to have been cleared up to some extent.
The village chief must have told the truth to the villagers.
Since I originally came down to the village to clear up the misunderstanding, I could say that the initial goal was achieved.

“What happened? What do you mean by witch?”

After briefly answering her, I turned my head to find Marian asking me curiously.
“…I’ll explain that later too.”
After promising to explain later to her who was curious about what had happened, I headed towards the village chief’s house to find the chief and Saya.

Step step.
After walking for a while, the familiar house of the village chief came into view.
‘There it is. Saya’s there too.’
When I soon spotted the village chief and Saya standing in front of the chief’s house, I had a premonition that something big had happened.

“Wi-witch… No, Magician. Welcome. Thank you so much for finding the children…..! I will certainly repay this debt…”

The village chief said something to me, but I couldn’t hear any of it.
…Because Saya was staring at me with a cold expression.
Glare.
Saya, visibly angry to anyone who looked.

“Ariel. You said you’d be back soon, you lied.”
Saya spoke quietly in a cold voice I had never heard before.
If Saya goes through puberty later, I wonder if she’ll be like this.
No…. If that happens, I might die of heartbreak.

While I was suffering over this desperate future, Marian whispered to me looking at Saya.
“Ariel. Could that child be the one you were talking about? Certainly, she doesn’t seem to be Leon’s child. Such a cute child couldn’t possibly be Leon’s.”

I’m glad the misunderstanding seems to be cleared up, but…
The fact that Saya was angry at me hit me harder.

“Saya….”
Saya turned her head away without answering my desperate voice.
Alright. Let’s die.
I decided to die. The reason for living has disappeared.