NOVEL WEB Chapter 5 Part 5
We made our way to a bakery located beside the plaza.
This place had a café space where customers could eat the bread they purchased inside the shop.
Sitting across from me, Sophie was nibbling on a sandwich, her small mouth moving busily.
She looked just like a hamster.
Watching her like this, she seemed even younger than me.
It was hard to believe this was the same genius witch causing an uproar across the world.
“Mhhfuwhff mmfuhff.”
“Yeah, I have no idea what you just said.”
With a gulp, she swallowed the food in her mouth.
“It’s delicious.”
“Right? This place is run by Onette’s parents, actually—the guy we met earlier.”
Sophie took a sip of her tea, her eyes curiously scanning the interior of the bakery.
It was still morning on a weekday, so we were the only customers inside.
At this hour, hardly anyone used the café space.
Soft jazz played in the background, and from here, we had a clear view of the town’s main street.
Busy office workers rushing past, a woman pushing a baby stroller, an elderly man walking with a cane.
All of it—the everyday life of this town.
“It’s a nice town. Peaceful, and the people are friendly.”
“That’s pretty much the only thing going for this countryside city.”
It was just casual conversation.
Yet Sophie’s expression carried a quiet emptiness, tinged with loneliness.
If the winter season had a face, it might look just like hers in this moment.
“Hey, Zuberry.”
“It’s Raspberry.”
“Why do you study magic?”
“Huh?”
The sudden question caught me off guard.
Why was she asking something like that?
“You’re learning magic under Faust, right? Why?”
“Why, you ask… Well, because I had no other choice.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m an orphan. My parents died in an accident when I was little. I was about to be placed in a facility when my master took me in. Since then, he’s been like a parent to me.”
“An orphan…”
“Magic has always been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. Sophie, didn’t you also start studying magic from a young age?”
“I had to.”
“Had to?”
What did she mean by that?
There were a lot of mysteries surrounding Sophie’s origins.
She had appeared like a comet in the magical world as a child prodigy.
With her genius mind and unparalleled magical skills, she had quickly risen to fame.
But her past remained a mystery.
No matter how much you searched online, there wasn’t a single article that truly delved into it.
That mystery was part of what made her so popular.
“Is there anything you want to do with magic?”
“Make money.” I answered immediately. “Oh, but—”
“But?”
“First and foremost, I want to survive.”
“Survive?”
“Yeah. Living a long life is my top priority. There are people I don’t want to forget.”
If things stayed the way they were, I had about ten months left to live.
But I had made up my mind—I wouldn’t let that happen.
There were things I wanted to accomplish, people who were important to me, knowledge I wanted to gain.
I had so many reasons to keep living.
“That’s a modest dream, Zuberry.”
“It’s Raspberry.”
“But… for someone handling magic, you carry too much.”
“What do you mean?”
Sophie looked straight at me.
There was a shadow in her gaze that hadn’t been there before.
“My dream is to erase magic from this world.”
“Erase… magic?”
“I want to erase the magic that took everything from me. That’s why I’ve been studying it.”
Her voice was filled with an unsettling sincerity.
She wasn’t joking.
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.
The world’s most celebrated witch—someone whose magic inspired countless people—wanted to erase magic?
“Zuberry, since we share similar circumstances, I’ll tell you this… If you want to truly master magic, you have to give up everything.”
“Oh, come on. Stop joking around.”
“A joke… A joke, huh?”
“What’s with that reaction?”
“I am joking. A joke.”
“That’s not what I meant!”
Just then, I sensed someone approaching and turned to look.
Standing there, trembling violently, was Onette.
“…Oh, hey, Onette. What’s up?”
“M-Meg-nee… That brown-haired person, is she… Is she really Sophie Heiter?”
His shaking hand pointed straight at Sophie.
Didn’t anyone ever teach this guy that pointing at people is rude?
“Uh, yeah? You literally met her earlier.”
“B-But her hair color is totally different! No way… The Sophie Heiter is eating at my family’s bakery? Even with brown hair, she’s insanely cute…!”
“Wow, you are seriously gross.”
I sighed, exasperated.
Thanks to Onette, our conversation had been completely derailed.
Sophie, too, had lost interest in talking and sipped her tea as if nothing had happened.
But—
That expression Sophie showed for just a moment…
Somehow, I felt like that was the real her.