It Is Getting Dark

21 – Auropea

River Flower.

It is a flower that the witch’s jewel that exists as a nucleus blooms.

For a witch who has a river flower, its role is no different from a witch’s jewel, but it has a different meaning to a hunter.

Although conditional, it revives the dead and grants eternal life to the living.

And Baren really needed that flower.

Click.

When I opened the pocket watch, the phrase written inside caught my eye.

[HAPPY BIRTHDAY!]

With that phrase in his eyes, Baren covered his pocket watch again.

A story that may sound trite to some.

But it is a vague memory for him.

It’s not long.

Thought so, he closed his eyes.

* * *

I bought a ticket to ride the train with Maria.

There was still time before the train departed, so I decided to look around Maria and her town.

At first, Maria only followed me around.

But I didn’t have a place I wanted to go to and it was just annoying, so I asked Maria to tell me if there was a place I wanted to go to.

At first, she looked me in the eye and refrained from doing so, but when I stood still and appealed to her that there was no place she wanted to go, she said “Sure” And moved her steps cautiously.

Maria was delighted with the scenery that was different from the streets of the empire, but I was a little uncomfortable with her honest heart.

The reason was that the air was not good.

Smog.

My eyes and throat hurt and it was difficult to breathe, but no one on the street except me felt uncomfortable.

Is it because I’m unusual or because people don’t know that this is harmful to the body?

Honestly, I wanted to tell Maria that the air was harmful, but I didn’t want to offend her.

I was in the mood for a date, so I didn’t want to break the mood.

Yes. Aren’t you supposed to drink and rest for the rest of your life? Briefly during the trip.

Isn’t it the same as suffering from fine dust and yellow dust in a previous life anyway?

So I followed her around and took a look at her.

It was amazing.

I didn’t mean that the streets were strange.

For me, who lived in modern times, it was nothing new, and the streets were not particularly great.

Of course, it wasn’t like the world I lived in, but it wasn’t particularly tasteful, it was just a dull street.

In addition, considering the background, it was a scene I had already seen several times in Witch Hunt.

What struck me as strange was that I was enjoying the moment I was walking on this street that I kept complaining about.

Is it possible to have this much fun just by not being alone?

Why am I happy to see her laughing at her.

Is laughter contagious?

Then, wouldn’t it be the most beneficial infectious disease on earth?

Before I knew it, I followed Maria as she walked, not realizing that a smile had filled my lips.

After looking around the streets for a while, I bumped into a woman passing by.

“Oh, sorry.”

Her necklace fell out of her woman’s pocket when she bumped into her and I picked it up for her.

“Ah, thank you.”

Handing over her necklace, she touched her and her hand.

Her spark flew from her hand that touched her.

It felt familiar.

And I was able to know it through my instinctive senses.

I felt so painfully from my experiences so far that it would be troublesome if something got involved.

The woman who was handed the necklace was also startled by the sparks that flew from her hand.

I was embarrassed on the inside, but as calmly as I could to keep her outwardly agitated, I handed her the necklace and casually turned behind her.

“Hey, wait.”

But she caught me trying to leave naturally.

She wondered if she should look back for a moment.

While thinking about it for a while.

“Bocchan!”

She looked away for a moment and when she got there, Maria waved her hand at me, especially in a crowded place, stuck among them.

This time too, Maria saved me.

I looked behind her and said to her.

“Thank you for your interest, but I am sorry. I have a group.”

I pointed with her thumb at Maria, who was about to drift away among the crowd.

I dismissed her as if she didn’t know what she was trying to say and left her.

Still, unaware of the woman who was trying to catch him again, he ran towards Maria.

In reality, Maria was drifting away, caught in the crowd.

No, she wondered how this could happen in the blink of an eye, but thinking that she had benefited from it, she intervened and went to find Maria.

* * *

I was caught in the crowd and managed to get to Maria, then I managed to get on the train by going back and forth through the crowd.

If I was a little late, I might have missed the train.

It took a long time to come back because it drifted among people for a long time.

“Maria, what the hell was there that got people so crowded?”

This was not a criticism or complaint. It was pure curiosity.

“Brother. Have you ever heard of cotton candy?”

Yeah, of course I’ve heard of it.

But, is it that great?

“Well, there was a machine where you put sugar in and a cloud-shaped candy came out. It’s amazing!”

So that’s great?

Honestly, I didn’t understand, so I didn’t say anything and just stared at Maria.

Perhaps she thought I was surprised by the lack of response, she continued her speech.

“This is a revolution! If you melt sugar the size of your finger, you get cloud candy this size. If we bring in machines and sell them in the empire, we’ll become rich!”

Maria, you see now that she was a woman with business aspirations.

I thought so, but I couldn’t say anything to her next words.

“If that happens… You don’t have to stay in the mansion while watching, Bocchan.”

That word really touched me.

Maria may seem a bit cheesy, but she has someone who thinks of me anyway.

That was truly a blessing.

At the same time, irritating memories came to my mind, but I quickly erased them.

Come to think of it, you haven’t told Maria yet.

“Maria. My older brother said he would give me a manor. Going on a trip right now is also going to find an agent to take care of the territory. There is no reason for me to stay in that mansion anymore.”

“Is that so? Good for you!”

Maria was delighted as if it were her job.

Then she became awkward for a moment and then she said that Maria had gone to the bathroom.

“Go all the way to the back of here and you’ll come out.”

There were only two toilets on the train.

One at the front and one at the back.

Even the one in the front was for the staff.

So even going to the bathroom once was a long way.

“Are you okay?”

“It’s okay. I’ll be back soon.”

While Maria was away, I raised her forearm.

The tattoo on his arm was shining.

I remembered the woman I had just met.

That response was certainly not the first.

First, obviously.

It was when Baren made contact with the witch he had captured.

Baren said I used his powers by absorbing his mana, but I don’t remember anything like that.

Even though I have such power, I don’t know how to use it.

Hmm… Let’s try it.

I tried to use Baren’s ability once, but now I used his ability and expected what would happen if it was activated.

So it was a really big accident.

Besides, we don’t know when Maria will return.

If it wasn’t for Baren’s ability, I recalled the witch’s memory, thinking that I might have absorbed the power of the witch I first contacted.

Varen called the witch her tampering witch and she remembered her fingernails turning into awls.

I looked around and confirmed that no one was there, so I thought to myself.

Thinking of making my nails long and sharp like an awl.

Seeing that there was no response, she lowered her hand thinking that it was so, but at that moment, her fingernails got longer and pierced the floor.

I hurriedly shouted to go back to normal.

I was worried that someone might not have seen it, but I reassured myself that it would be okay since I just checked.

Just like that, when my nails returned to normal and I checked my surroundings again, someone I hadn’t seen before was standing behind me.

She was the woman I had just met.

The woman was looking at me with a smirk.

Then she sat across from me and spoke to me.

“Did we meet earlier?”

“I’m sorry, but I don’t know what you mean.”

I don’t think I’ll be fooled anyway.

There was such a thing among Baren’s words.

A witch can see her witch circuit.

That’s starting to make sense.

She saw a “Circuit” That looked like the roots of a plant that started in her heart, circled her body, and arrived around her belly button.

“What is your relationship with Baren?”

How did he figure out the connection between Baren and me?

I was momentarily taken aback and my body reacted.

And the woman noticed the reaction too.

I wondered if I should keep pretending I didn’t know, then I asked her back.

“If you introduce yourself from there, I will answer.”

I didn’t think the girl would accept it.

But the woman said with a sneer.

“The Witch of Redemption. Auropea. Varen She is the teacher who taught him how to use her powers.”

She pulled a smoking pipe from her bosom.

She said as she lit the pipe.

“And who do you think you might need right now?”