"---!"
"Catch her!"
"Ow! My nose!"
"It's become a hooked nose. Now you look a bit more like a witch."
When we returned to the World Tree, the floor of the Spirit Lords, some commotion had broken out. Groans and screams of witches echoed while broomsticks flew about noisily.
Nebida raised his hand. Right after white moss grew lushly, a witch flew across the air above it. Walpurgis, who had saved herself thanks to the soft moss, said with a scowl.
"Archdruid. The one I was put in charge of was more violent than I thought."
Wow. She tried to escape the moment Nebida left his seat for a bit? Even without both arms? Nebida also admired that.
"I didn't expect you wouldn't give up even after losing your arms. What a pleasant miscalculation."
"You would find it pleasant. I don't like such sudden situations."
Walpurgis, frowning, took bats from her bosom and scattered them into the air. The bats that flew like stones simultaneously opened their eyes and spread their wings. The bats flashing green light from their eyes spewed ultrasonic waves and flew into the tree cave.
Witches are a secret society that has practiced black magic and sorcery passed down from ancient times. They appear naturally wherever humans stay, and sometimes passed down knowledge and magical power through one-to-one transmission.
Witches have various powers, but the most famous is familiars. Controlling small animals like bats, frogs, and field mice and using them as mediums for magic is a witch's power.
Walpurgis connected her mind with the bats. Green light flashed as the bats' senses were transmitted to Walpurgis. Walpurgis interpreted the bats' complex senses, which ordinary humans could never understand, solely with sense and experience.
"Just a moment. Let me assess the situation."
The bats' ultrasonic waves reflected off the tree cave. A corridor made of hatched lines, without color or texture, arose in Walpurgis's mind. Someone running along the deep, winding corridor. The form was unclear, but the figure unable to keep proper balance was, to anyone's eyes, the regressor.
No, how can you run away without arms? You need to regain your strength first. Should I call it regressor-like, or should I call it foolish?
As Walpurgis was chasing the regressor with the bats like that, she suddenly discovered something.
"...Hmm. No problem. It's been resolved."
"You did?"
"No. It's too much for bats."
Witches are certainly useful and can be powerful depending on the person, but basically, familiars are not for combat. How strong can a frog or bat be even if they look strong?
You can make larger beasts into familiars, but if you control that level of higher animal, it will inevitably backflow into your own mind. So when it comes to ordinary familiars, cats or crows are the limit, and even these are avoided because they're dangerous. The story of a senile witch cawing as she roamed the forest isn't just a simple rumor.
However.
"An elephant will resolve it."
The one who overcame that limit is precisely the one called a Grand Witch.
PWOOOOOO—
An elephant's cry was heard from afar. At the same time, the mind connected to the bats was severed. The tree cave winding like an ant nest, something ran fiercely through its interior. A storm of sound coursed through the bends of the cave.
The floor of the Spirit Lords shook greatly. Nebida wordlessly shook the small World Tree. The cave in the tree gradually grew larger to welcome someone.
What appeared through that widened gap was a baby elephant. No matter how young, it was too large and intelligent a beast to appear in a tree cave. The baby elephant slowly came out of the cave with its trunk wrapped around the regressor.
Unfortunately. The regressor, having kicked Walpurgis away with only her legs and trying to escape, had run into the Grand Witch's elephant.
Walpurgis took off her hat toward the witch riding on the baby elephant and bowed her head.
"Greetings, Master. Your unworthy disciple greets the Grand Witch."
"Y-yes. Walpurgis. You've worked hard."
The witch with the gloomy impression riding on the elephant said in a barely audible voice.
"N-Nebida.... W-what's this man?"
Holding all knowledge in her head, keeping all mysteries in her bosom, grasping all wealth in her hands. The deep and dark mystery hidden in the jungle of the World Tree.
An Elder and Grand Witch who, at the end of a dark contract, even obtained the blood of the Progenitor and became immortal.
And, the one who inherits the direct lineage of the Martial Empress who once ruled all nations.
Grand Witch, Hexia Agartha. The teacher of all witches.
The Grand Witch pointed at the regressor subdued by her familiar, the elephant.
"W-where did you find this...?"
"If you mean that one who lost her arms, she entered the jungle on her own feet together with me."
"N-no. Not this one... This."
The Grand Witch slowly approached the regressor. The regressor was struggling with her remaining strength, but without arms, it truly ended at just struggling. The Grand Witch pointed her finger at the regressor's face and asked.
"My mask. Why is this... on this one?"
"Mask?"
Nebida, not understanding what the Grand Witch meant, asked back. I felt the same as Nebida, but after reading the regressor's thoughts, I recalled something.
Hexia Agartha. The direct descendant of Agartha, the Martial Empress of All Nations.
And what the regressor was wearing....
"Heh, heh. You brought it without even knowing.... Right, you, you're insensitive after all..."
The murmuring Grand Witch suddenly sharpened her nails and slashed the regressor's face. A touch as sharp as if tearing flesh crossed the regressor's face. Blood splattered and an ugly mark appeared on the regressor's face...
Or so it seemed. A thin part of the facial skin was torn. The Grand Witch shook the 'mask' she had torn with her nails. On the thin mask covering the chin, cheeks, and below the eye sockets, there was one impressive dot.
"One of Agartha's three masks, Jin (眞). The piece that changes what I appear as, the Martial Empress's greatest fragment..."
The Grand Witch naturally put the mask on. When she tapped the skin, Agartha's mask became one as if it had been part of her from the beginning.
But at that moment, the impression the Grand Witch gave was reversed. To me who has mind-reading, it was the same, but Nebida and Walpurgis immediately noticed the change.
Walpurgis was appalled.
"...! The Grand Witch, as a man...?!"
The Grand Witch is a woman. But to their senses, the Grand Witch's face before their eyes was giving the impression of being a man. The discrepancy between reason and emotion confused their thinking. To the extent that if they didn't know the person called the Grand Witch well, they would have truly been mistaken.
The Grand Witch stroked her face as if very satisfied and murmured.
"Heh.... Disguising as a man. Using such a precious item for such a useless place.... I thought so, there was no foul smell characteristic of males..."
And the impression of the regressor without the mask also changed.
It was originally a fairly noticeable face. But now that the mask is gone, even if one wanted to misunderstand, one couldn't. The dirty hair grown long during the journey now just looked like a bob cut, and the long eyelashes hidden within the fierce eyes finally became visible.
Humans don't look at the components of a face separately. They take it in all at once and remember that impression. Agartha's mask manipulates that impression itself. When it disappeared, the impression toward the regressor also returned to original.
"...Tch, damn!"
When her gender was revealed to the world, the regressor bit her lip as if resentful.
The Grand Witch rejoiced at the unexpected windfall and spoke to the regressor.
"Hehe, thanks.... Why did you wastefully hide being a woman...?"
"She must have wanted to hide the fact that she's a harlot. Indeed, there was a reason the harlot was watching."
Getting caught like this, there's no way to deny it! Of all places, getting caught in front of Nebida, the greatest enemy of the Holy Lady!
I thought I'd reveal everything eventually! But I didn't want it revealed this way! What should I do? Should I say I already knew she was a woman, or should I pretend I'm finding out now?
Whose tune should I follow? Let me first read the regressor's thoughts.
'...Worst, the worst. Both arms torn off, captured in the enemy's stronghold. Being treated like a toy without any power. On top of that, even my mask was taken...'
Normally, if someone had their arms torn off and was captured while bleeding profusely, they would despair. Even more so if it's a situation with no hope of survival.
But for the regressor, even death is not the end. No, rather, in this kind of situation, death becomes an excellent breakthrough.
'Before moving to the next loop, I just wanted to confirm what happens to Hughes... But without both arms, this loop is effectively over. There doesn't seem to be a chance to drag it out, so rather, before my vitality weakens further, I should commit suicide with the Heavenly Wheel Sutra...'
Ironically, the regressor considered suicide very rationally and optimistically. I, who almost understood after reading that mind, urgently steadied my heart.
No! If you die, it's over. The world will turn back!
What to do? Let me play along for now! I asked pretending not to know anything.
"Huh? What do you mean? Agartha's mask? What's that?"
"It is the power that the wicked woman Agartha forcibly stole by daring to tear off the Lord's face. Like a harlot's underling, she seduced and deceived humans with countless faces. That harlot used the Lord's power to hide her identity."
"Uh... Nebida, that's too harsh... She's still my ancestor..."
Ignoring the Grand Witch whose voice was getting smaller, Nebida revealed his sinister murderous intent.
"If I had known she was a harlot, I would have dealt with her one way or another when we met in the military nation.... It's late, but at least now."
"W-wait a minute! To think Shei was actually a woman...! I had no idea!"
I knew. How could I not. She was practically flaunting it. Honestly, even without mind-reading, I would have suspected at some point.
But in this situation, I can't tell the truth! Let me pretend I didn't know for now!
"Somehow you said you liked men! Shei, was that what you meant when you said you liked men all this time?"
The restrained regressor could neither escape nor avoid answering. The regressor trembled with shame and pain, averting her gaze from me.
"...Ugh, what does that matter?"
"Was that also why your gaze toward me seemed unusual?"
"What are you talking about! I never... did that!"
"And sneaking into my bed at night?"
"When did I ever...! Th-that was an accident!"
I know. I read it with mind-reading after all. But even if the regressor told the truth, from the listener's perspective, it's a different story.
I hardened my face and blocked Nebida's way.
"Nebida. Do you remember what you said earlier upstairs?"
"By 'upstairs,' you mean..."
You definitely said it. That if I needed a woman, you would provide as many as I wanted. I didn't know it would come to this, but now there's one more woman. And someone with deep ties to me at that.
"Let Shei go. No, hand her over to me."
"...."
Recalling the conversation from above, Nebida understood the meaning of my words. No, to be precise, he misunderstood. He grasped the intention to save the regressor, but he made a mistake about the reason.
'The Lord seems to have much interest in that one.... Its existence is utterly displeasing, but regardless, I am in the position of serving and attending to the Lord. I should give the Lord what He desires.'
Of course, I have no particular feelings for the regressor. Why would I like a PTSD bundle who throws punches before words?
But if the regressor dies, the world will turn back, so I who live in the present must prevent that as much as possible. At least until I meet the demon god related to time.
"If she has no arms, she would be sufficient as a toy."
"...Hah? What are you saying right now?"
Nebida summoned thorny vines. The thorny vines that grew from the ceiling crawled like snakes and strangled the regressor's neck.
"Ugh, aaah!"
The sharp thorns dug into the regressor's flesh, drinking her blood and growing little by little. The flowing blood bloomed into a single red rose. Nebida looked coldly at the suffering regressor.
"If you want to keep your neck safe, you'd better serve with all your heart. If the Lord closes this rose, those thorns will tighten around your neck."
Nebida, who had spoken coldly, plucked the rose blooming on the vine and handed it to me. I received the rose with a reluctant face.
I didn't mean to need a leash too... So it feels like I'm doing something too harsh. I just wanted to save the regressor.
Well, still, both I and the regressor survived at least. Let's call it a successful operation.
'Just try laying a hand on me! I'll kill you...!'
...Not yet, I guess?