Chapter 145 The Witch of the Dark Star 4
I had felt relieved, thinking that there wouldn’t be anything to worry about, but if I had been just a little later, Menelapie might have ripped her neck off.
It was truly a matter of seconds.
When I saw Menelapie’s golden aura spreading through the alley from afar, my heart dropped without me even realizing it, and I just rushed straight ahead, completely ignoring the electric fence, causing my body to feel a bit tingly.
Well, my body can handle a bit of electric shock, so that’s fortunate. However, the problem was that since the most protruding part of my body is my chest, the electricity seemed to have concentrated there.
‘Ugh, my chest feels all tingly…’
Now that I think about it, the high-voltage wire of the electric fence meant to block the monsters is said to carry between 100,000 and 200,000 volts. So, in simple terms, about 200,000 volts of electricity thoroughly grilled my chest and its surrounding area.
It’s fine. It’s fine.
This isn’t even an injury, so it’s no big deal.
A considerable amount of high-voltage current passed through me, so maybe for a while, my chest might… well… leak something, but since it wasn’t a fatal injury, I’ll worry about that later.
“Heh, heh…”
By the way, next to me was Lirisia Alphenheim…
Also known as Black Shia, the parallel world’s dark version of me.
Calling her ‘Black Shia’ makes it sound like her last name is ‘Black.’
Anyway, Black Shia and I were sitting in a decent spot in the alley, as if we were a couple on a date.
Meanwhile, Menelapie had gone to fetch the car.
Of course, it wasn’t my car.
When I contacted Yeonju, the administrative officer of the Yeon family, she said she would send a car.
But since we’re in the outer district, the location didn’t show up properly on the map, so Menelapie decided to go get the car herself.
“……..”
“……..”
This is awkward.
Being alone in this situation feels so awkward.
But… there’s something I need to ask.
Something I need an answer to.
“I have something I want to ask.”
At my words, Lirisia’s dark hair rustled like a curtain as she turned her head.
…Originally, Lirisia had the same silver hair as me, but it seems that after becoming a half-human, her body was tainted with the malevolent energy, turning her hair black.
“What did you do out there? You even broke the seal I placed.”
“…I just wandered around.”
“Wandered around?”
“It’s been so long since I gave up on being human… I started to wonder what human life was like.”
“…..”
To me, the Witch of the Dark Star, the ordinary life of humans had become completely unfamiliar.
“Why did you come to the orphanage? I thought your hunger might resurface when you saw helpless prey. But… I didn’t feel anything.”
“…I see.”
“I wasn’t even hungry. Just like a human… I didn’t feel anything. Ha, it’s funny. You, who still want to be a saint, are still tormented by hunger, while I, the Witch of the Dark Star, have somehow been cursed with this luck… I have no power anymore, and I don’t even feel like eating anything.”
Lirisia’s case… must be a very special one.
Am I asking if I can become a normal human if Menelapie cuts me down too?
Absolutely not.
It’s not that I haven’t tried that in the previous world either.
Lirisia was originally the Witch of the Dark Star, with her body overflowing with malevolent energy.
Menelapie slashed away the malevolent energy overflowing from Lirisia’s body, stripping her of her title as the Witch of the Dark Star. And by some divine luck, although the Witch of the Dark Star died, Lirisia survived.
If I hope for the same outcome, the result could be terrible.
“…So, tell me.”
“….Tell you what?”
“Do you want to live?”
What does she mean by that?
Lirisia tilted her head and looked at me, but I wasn’t asking as a joke.
On any other day, I might have passed this off as a joke, but this question was directly tied to whether Lirisia would live or die.
“Do you want to live?”
“I don’t know what you mean by suddenly asking that, but who would want to die?”
Lirisia shrugged as she spoke, rolling her now pitch-black eyes.
That must have also been tainted by malevolent energy…
“Do you know what all those people who sing about wanting to die have in common? When death actually comes knocking, they all want to live. As all their memories flash before them like a panorama, they start regretting things, thinking, ‘I wish I’d done this better,’ and reflecting on themselves. I’m no different. When death stares you in the face, you end up being no better than a hypocrite who thinks even rolling in the mud is better than dying…”
“You.”
“What?”
“You’re thinking that it wouldn’t matter if you died, aren’t you?”
“………”
At those words, Lirisia’s mouth shut.
Ah, even if it’s my parallel self, when you hit the mark, it seems even she can’t come up with anything to say.
“That’s why when Menelapie tried to kill you, you didn’t make any excuses, right? Am I wrong?”
“…I don’t know.”
At my words, Lirisia rested her chin on her hand.
Even with such a simple action, seeing her chest bounce like that, I realized she really is just like me.
“I didn’t want to die.”
“But… you know, right?”
“A fallen saintess doesn’t have the right to resist the hero’s sword.”
In other words, a fallen saintess deserves to die at the hands of the hero.
“That’s why I didn’t make any excuses… You would’ve done the same if you were me.”
“…That’s…”
I couldn’t deny those words.
Because in the previous world, at the very end with Menelapie…
At the edge of the abyss, I had asked her to kill me too…
“…Yeah, you’re right. I also thought it would be okay if it was Menelapie’s sword.”
“Even though I knew what kind of heart Menelapie would be left with.”
Though Lirisia and I were from different worlds, there seemed to be one thing we both shared.
Our faith in Menelapie.
“Hey, if I had died by Menelapie’s hand today, you’d end up trapped somewhere by Menelapie, full of regret, obsession, mental breakdown, filming some kind of twisted captivity story. You’d be locked up by Menelapie, never seeing the sunlight, and you’d just live your life, crushed under a guilt-driven obsession as her captive…”
“…Shut up, seriously.”
“Hey, do you think I’m joking?”
“………”
Honestly, I don’t think it’s a joke.
If it were Menelapie… even if she acted cold and rational, the fact that she had killed the Shia of a parallel world could drive her to a guilt-driven obsession, locking up Shia in regret and emotional ruin. That wouldn’t be too surprising.
“Please, answer me seriously.”
“Ha… a serious answer, huh?”
Lirisia, who had been giggling, stopped laughing.
“You and I are both too selfish. To put it simply, we’re unfit to be saintesses~ Aha.”
“I know. That’s why I’m still trying.”
“Well, that’s nice to see. I couldn’t manage that, so I gave up a long time ago and just lived as I pleased, ending up in this miserable state.”
Her words were light, but the meaning was heavy.
This miserable state.
She must be referring to how she became the Witch of the Dark Star instead of the Saintess of the Dead.
Although, Lirisia right now wasn’t really a Witch of the Dark Star, nor could she be considered fully human, nor fully a witch or saintess either.
“Let me make this clear. I don’t want to see Menelapie kill you and then bear the guilt all over again. And I don’t want to kill you either.”
“So?”
“And because I know just how dangerously impulsive ‘I’ am, I can’t just leave you alone either.”
“Stop beating around the bush and get to the point.”
…Yeah, I don’t like beating around the bush either.
“Say that you want to live.”
“And if I say that?”
“I’ll let you live.”
“…..”
Lirisia’s black pupils stared at me.
“There’s no freedom in that promise to let me live, is there?”
Yeah, she’s no fool.
“Or is it something like this? ‘I’ll let you live, but I’ll chop off your arms and legs, gouge out your eyes, tear out your eardrums, and turn you into a living doll to be mounted on the wall, living only to replace all those I’ve killed…’”
“What the hell are you saying, you crazy woman?!”
Wait, this woman isn’t a saint anymore and she’s just straight-up hurling some mindless sexual harassment!
“Kyahaha! I’m joking, Shia~”
“In what world is that a joke!”
“What? I’m you. Do I need to tell you how much of a twisted pervert you are? Do you need me to spell it out?”
“…………….”
Th-this crazy woman!!!
“Oh, I see? You’ve been playing the saint, smiling all pure and innocent, so you haven’t had much time to release your desires… Ah, how unfortunate. Meanwhile, I just let myself…”
“Shut up, damn it!”
“Can’t take a joke?”
“For the last time, in what world is that a joke! I’m still a saintess, you crazy woman!”
“Yeah, yeah, if you say so.”
“Ugh, what was I even trying to say… right, anyway, at least for now… I can’t give you complete freedom until I’m sure.”
“Complete freedom? Sure?”
I pointed to the tentacle on Lirisia’s back.
It looked a lot like mine, but… more ominous and menacing, a dead god’s remains.
“Until I’m sure that you’re living as a human, not a witch.”
“…….Yeah.”
Lirisia couldn’t respond to that.
No matter what she said, both of us knew that in this current state, neither she nor I could fully trust each other.
If Lirisia were to respond, “I won’t live as a witch anymore, I’ll live a good life!” who would fully believe that?
Still, Lirisia didn’t seem to have any intention of saying, “Nah, I want to keep living by eating people and causing chaos.”
At least from my perspective… she still had a chance.
In the previous world, she missed that chance and became the Witch of the Dark Star instead of a saintess, but in this world, she might still have an opportunity to start over.
“So, let’s say I do want to start over. What will you do with me now?”
“I’ll keep you somewhere far from the city for a while. Live there.”
“?”
*Screech.*
Just then, Menelapie drove up with the car.
Our great and magnificent hero learned how to drive a car in less than a week after arriving on Earth.
Of course, she’s my hero. Heu-eung…
“You’ll get more details when we get there. Come on. We’re heading to the car.”
○○○○○○
“Oh my. Cars have changed a lot since the ones I knew. But, isn’t a flying car more of a dream?”
“You sound just like I did when I first came to Earth.”
When Shia first returned to Earth, she said something similar to Yeonhwa, going on about how flying cars were a dream or something.
Though, even now, I’ve never actually ridden in one.
“Hmm, is this the place?”
“Yeah! That’s Yeonseo unnie’s villa. It’s your first time here, right, Menelapie?”
“Ho… So, this is the field the hero of the present world spoke of? It’s bigger than I expected.”
It’s not just a field.
The entire vast desert and the plateau in the middle all belong to Yeonseo.
In terms of size, it can’t even be compared to a typical dungeon.
“What, a hero…?”
Lirisia tilted her head in confusion when she heard the word “hero” again, even though Menelapie, a hero, was standing right in front of her.
“Oh, I mean Yeonseo unnie. She’s the hero of Earth.”
“…Ha, there’s a hero on Earth too?”
“Normally, a hero pairs with a saintess, and it’s officially declared by the world itself. But Yeonseo unnie didn’t have a saintess by her side. Still, for over 60 years, she’s saved humanity from countless extinction crises. Even though she declared her retirement, she’s still working. If that’s not a hero, what is?”
“…That’s not a normal hero, that’s just someone being burdened with all the crap and working their butt off…”
“Hey, watch your language with that face of Shia’s! How dare a saintess say such nonsense!”
“I’m not your saintess!”
“Shh!”
Lirisia’s brows furrowed slightly at Menelapie’s attempt to scold her like a parent.
What could she do… she couldn’t go against the hero who held her life in her hands…
“Anyway, Shia, the hero’s field is much bigger than I expected.”
“Right?”
“But to me, you’re always the biggest.”
“What’s big?”
At that moment, Menelapie’s gaze shifted slightly downward from Shia’s face, then returned to Shia’s bright smile.
By the way, Shia’s chest was a little wet, unlike usual.
It seemed to be a result of passing through that electric fence earlier.
Although Shia didn’t notice, Menelapie’s smile grew even deeper than usual when she saw that…
“…Heh, there’s something.”
“Hehe, I see.”
“………..”
Lirisia, watching the subtle exchange between the hero and the saintess, closed her eyes briefly.
‘Did I lose to people this crazy…?’
Was my world’s Menelapie, the hero, like that too…?
Maybe they were, maybe they weren’t… it’s been so long I can’t remember, damn it.
And seriously, what the hell is that woman leaking?
*Ding!*
Meanwhile, Shia was operating the hologram on her smartwatch, apparently having received a text from Yeonseo.
“Yeonseo unnie said she had to stop by the association for a bit, but she’ll be back soon.”
“Are we being neglected after being invited?”
“Well… it’s because of the mess we caused, right? Cleaning up the Invasion Dungeon aftermath is more of a hassle than expected. Plus, before Menelapie arrived, there were some conflicts with guilds from other countries like China…”
“Heh, I know. I was just saying. So, are we waiting here then?”
“No, unnie said she’ll be here soon, so we should head up and sit.”
“Up?”
“Yeah, this is just the entrance. You see that villa up there? We’ll go sit there.”
The dungeon where Yeonseo’s villa was located consisted of a vast desert at the lower levels, but as soon as you reached the plateau, the environment became humid, cool, and perfect for highland agriculture.
As they made their way up, various crops greeted the three of them.
Though it would’ve taken hours for a normal person to reach the plateau, Menelapie, Shia, and even Lirisia reached the top in less than ten minutes.
Unlike the desert area, the plateau was much cooler, which made Menelapie look around in amazement. Meanwhile, Lirisia stretched her shoulders, as if her large chest was feeling a bit stiff.
“Agh, I’ll take a look around.”
“Why?”
“I’m not exactly the type to sit and chat all friendly-like with you two, am I?”
“…Still.”
“It’s fine. Go ahead…”
They still needed a little time for each other.
Lirisia, and also Menelapie and Shia.
Maybe one day, they could sit and chat comfortably, but not yet…
“……….”
“Shia, what crops does the hero grow on this vast field? Are they growing something like Alraune or Blood Mandragora?”
Menelapie skillfully shifted the mood that was sinking and struck up a conversation with Shia.
By the way, in the previous world, Alraune was a living flower spirit. Blood Mandragora was a plant that, when its root was heated, could produce a liquid akin to blood that could be used for transfusions on injured or sick people.
It wasn’t enough to simply heal the wounded or sick; you had to replace the blood they lost. Blood Mandragora was a plant strictly controlled by royal families or national governments.
“Uh, um… we don’t grow anything that scary. It’s a crop called cabbage. In the previous world, do you know the fruit called Veleta? It’s something similar to that.”
“Is that so?”
Cabbage may be unfamiliar to people from Earth, but in the previous world, Veleta fruit was a combination of turnip and cabbage.
Shia had tried to make kimchi from it, and after about three years of attempts, she managed to make something similar, but the sweetness of the fruit was too strong to make it exactly like kimchi.
Before coming to Earth, Shia had at least managed to make something resembling bossam kimchi using Veleta fruit.
“Hmm, it’s a similar crop, but it seems like it has a different name and form in this world called Earth.”
“Yeah, Veleta grows on trees, but cabbage grows on the ground.”
“Seriously, is she still not here?”
“They grow cabbage in a way that lets it soak up plenty of sunlight.”
*Crunch.*
“So, it’s self-watered and regulated too?”
*Gulp.*
“Yeah. Yeonseo unnie’s power helps it grow perfectly, isn’t it amazing?”
*Nom nom.*
“Heh, the hero of this Earth sure has some impressive abilities.”
“And that’s why this cabbage is soooo delicious.”
“Have you tasted it?”
“Yeah! It’s really, really, *really* tasty!”
Though, to be fair… after being tricked by some jerks during a broadcast, I had unintentionally ended up stealing some of Yeonseo’s cabbage fields.
But still, it was delicious.
Honestly, the crops, milk, and butter we got from the elves’ great forest were top-notch in taste. But the cabbage grown in Yeonseo unnie’s highland agriculture dungeon had its own unique flavor.
It had a subtle sweetness and a crisp texture, making it harmonize perfectly with any dish, like the Mozart of cabbages.
“Yeah, tasty… *crunch.* Munch, munch.”
“See? Isn’t it really, really good! If I ask Yeonseo unnie nicely, I’ll get a few cabbages, and Menelapie, we can eat together! But what have you been eating…?”
“…?”
Just as Shia and Menelapie turned their heads toward Lirisia, the two of them froze.
“…………..”
*Crunch, crunch.*
“…………..”
*Gulp.*
“*Chomp, chomp* What? Why’re you looking at me?”
With a completely nonchalant expression, Lirisia munched away, bits of cabbage falling from her mouth, and Shia felt her mind go blank for a moment.
“Hey!! You crazy b****!!!”