Chapter 2: Girl left in ruins (2)

Serena sat down next to the girl and carefully examined her condition. When she lifted the ragged clothes, the girl reacted.

“Kyaa?! W-what are you doing!?”

“Treating your wounds.”

“What d-do you mean?”

“Ugh, hey. Can you stay still? It’s hard to see the wounds if you move.”

Suppressing the girl’s resistance, Serena’s blue eyes scanned the dusty body.

There was no way a girl left abandoned in the middle of ruins would be in normal condition.

Her fair skin was a mess of scratches and traces of blood.

Wounds with a high risk of secondary infection were visible here and there.

“You managed to avoid fatal injuries in the midst of all this?”

Serena muttered to herself and let go of the girl.

Still, considering she was a girl abandoned in a raided village, she was in pretty good shape.

There were no major injuries that threatened her life, and it didn’t seem like she had been subjected to anything terrible.

That was a relief. Saving dying people or fixing broken minds was beyond Serena’s capabilities.

“W-wait a minute! I’m telling you the bandits are coming back! Aren’t you scared of the bandits who turned this village into this state?”

“Nope.”

“…Huh?”

The girl’s expression went blank for a moment.

A gaze that seemed to be looking at something beyond her comprehension turned to Serena.

Serena continued to speak as if she didn’t care about such a gaze.

Witches and wizards were originally half-crazy people anyway.

“Doesn’t matter. Anyway, you said the bandits are coming back. Why did you stay? Why didn’t you run away?”

“…Because even if I run away, nothing will change.”

“Your legs look fine.”

“It’s not that kind of problem, there aren’t any villages within ten miles of here. Moreover, it’s late at night. I know there’s no hope.”

“Hmm…”

Lifeless eyes. A pessimistic tone that thought nothing would change even if she tried.

Behavior mature for her age. The more she looked, the more familiar her personality became.

Before meeting her master. Serena in her childhood, who had tasted the despair of what medieval fantasy really was, was exactly like that.

Maybe that’s why. She felt a strange sense of kinship from the girl.

She saw a reflection of her childhood self in the pessimistic girl’s appearance.

A bitter smile formed on Serena’s lips.

“Do you really think so?”

“Unless a miracle happens, that’s probably the case. The world isn’t a fairy tale, and I’m not the main character.”

She didn’t like the expression on the face of a child who looked no more than thirteen, as if she had lived through the entire world.

It kept reminding her of her childhood self.

Serena in her childhood was afraid of the hopeless world.

Having lived in the safe Republic of Korea in the 21st century, her life in the back alleys was like hell every day.

The girl, too mature for her age and having forgotten her innocence, had given up hope. Because she had learned that hope brought greater despair.

For the thirty-year-old girl including her previous life, a rosy future was a pipe dream.

When she gave up everything and abandoned hope, her mind became a little more at ease. But was a life without hope really enjoyable?
Like that, Serena also lost her smile.

It was a quagmire of despair from which she couldn’t escape. Serena herself knew best how painful that quagmire was. So, she raised her staff.

“Do you believe in miracles?”

“…No. I don’t want to have vain hopes. I’ve already experienced enough despair.”

“I see.”

A halo of starlight gathered at the end of Serena’s oak staff.

What she was thinking of was the 13th constellation of the zodiac. Ophiuchus.

A legendary doctor of ancient Greece. Asclepius is said to have had excellent medical skills that could revive the dead.

Of course, that was just an unreliable myth, but as long as there were people who believed in such myths, it had power.

Because the essence of magic is belief.

Although the world was different, the traces of that belief were recorded in the shining stars of the night sky.

All that was allowed to Serena, a novice witch, was a fragment of belief.

But that was enough. With a light thud, she lightly tapped the ground, and a snake coiled around Serena’s staff and climbed up.

Magical characters floated in the air.

[Recovery Magic – Staff of Asclepius]

When she brought the staff to the girl, starlight particles scattered a brilliant light and enveloped the girl.

The lifeless amber eyes flickered with starlight.

The anomaly happened at that time.

The girl’s wounded skin healed in an instant. As the warm starlight enveloped her tired body, her body, which had only been heavy, regained its vitality.

[Staff of Asclepius] was an intermediate recovery magic.

But the girl’s recovery speed that unfolded before her eyes was surprisingly fast.

“What…is this…?”

“As I thought, she’s an interesting kid.”

That meant one thing. The girl’s mana sensitivity was much higher than Serena’s, who had been recognized by the witch of the Great Forest.

Suddenly, she became greedy. A girl with talent that could surpass her, a girl with a similar past to her.

What kind of result would come out if she took such a girl as her disciple and raised her?

Usually, disciples were selected through several years of strict screening, but Serena herself was a girl picked up from the street by her master. Rather, she was more used to picking up disciples.

She should try to coax her. Thinking that, Serena asked with a confident voice.

“You said you don’t believe in miracles, right?”

She could hear signs of people.

Before she knew it, the sun had set, and she could feel the remnants of soldiers who had failed to pillage another village trudging back towards the ruins.

The bandit group’s armament that could be seen in the distance was quite systematic.

That was a matter of course.

Bandits were just another word for mercenary groups that couldn’t find work.

It was common for unemployed mercenaries in the Middle Ages to become bandits.

Whether it was because they were some guys who had managed to get a good haul during the peak season, they showed signs of caring about their equipment management.

It wasn’t a bad choice.

Good armor saved lives.

If the opponent wasn’t a witch, that is.

“Consider yourself lucky. You.”

Serena muttered to herself and stood up.

What she was thinking of was the emperor of the August night sky.

The 5th constellation of the zodiac, Leo. Serena, who had charged magic into her staff, took a step forward.

“Because I’m going to show you a miracle.”

The bandit group, who had encountered a witch they didn’t know, paused for a moment.

Several gazes that seemed to be evaluating her worth scanned Serena’s body, and the bandit group drew their swords and approached.

The number was about thirty.

From behind, she could hear the girl’s voice mixed with embarrassment.

“W-wait a minute. What are you thinking of doing!? They’re the bandits who swept through this village! You’re going to die!”

“Don’t worry. I’m not that weak.”

The terrain of the Great Forest, full of various diseases, bugs, and poisonous insects, was an environment that only people like her master, who dealt with the forest, would like.

So there were few wizards in the south.

Therefore, bandits operating in the south tended to ignore wizards.

Because they had hardly ever seen wizards.

“Hey, you there, young lady—!”

That was also the case with the Marcus bandit group, one of the common bandit groups in the south.

The girl who was traveling alone in a harsh world had momentarily forgotten the fact that she was always a target of vigilance.

The guys approached with a greasy smile.

It was a situation she had experienced several times.

Fireflies who had forgotten that witches were beings who could face many people alone and were lured by her appearance ran towards her.

Serena threw out a routine greeting.

“Nice to meet you, everyone. I’m in a good mood today, so I was wondering if I should give you a choice, what do you think?”

“A choice? Shouldn’t we be giving a choice to the witch lady? Looking at you, it doesn’t seem like you’ve even been touched by a man’s hand before?”

Behind them, the bandit group’s unpleasant laughter echoed. Unpleasant gazes scanned Serena’s flimsy clothes.

Serena shook her head and raised her staff. Starlight gathered at the end of the oak staff.

“Hmph…it doesn’t seem like you guys are thinking of talking? What a shame.”

“Hehe, I’m thinking of having a conversation with our bodies, though?”

“…Ah, is that so.”

A coldly hardened gaze turned to the bandit group.

When Serena lightly swung her staff, three stars floated in the air. Alpha star Regulus, beta star Denebola, and gamma star Algieba from Leo.

[Summon Magic – Nemean Lion]

The appearance of the stars floating in the air changed this way and that, and then took on a single shape.

A sacred animal from Greek-Roman mythology that was said to have a hide like steel. The Nemean Lion.

“All of you, bite them.”

Three lions rushed towards the bandit group’s boss. Starlight scattered behind the lions who leaped like lightning.

Clang—

The panicked boss quickly swung his greatsword at the first lion, but all that returned was a sharp collision sound.

The greasy smile disappeared from the boss’s mouth.

“Ugh, what is this…?”

Clang clang clang—!

The successive series of blows couldn’t penetrate the lion’s hide. Eerie golden eyes scanned the bandit group.

“Crazy, what are you spacing out for! Help—”

The second lion leaped at the boss, who was screaming in panic. Along with the ensuing scream, the boss’s head literally disappeared.

The rookie bandit, who was covered in blood, couldn’t properly react to the massacre that was unfolding before his eyes.

Lifeless eyes followed the lion rushing towards him. The terrible scream that followed.

“Huh? Ah? Uh…? Uwaaaah!!!”

“Kkeuak, get this guy off me…Aak!?”

“Why, why doesn’t the sword work…Kkeuaaak!!!”

Terrible screams swept through the bandit group along with the starlight.

There was no way for a bandit group that didn’t even have proper knights, let alone knight apprentices, to stop the lions.

It was too anticlimactic of an end for a bandit group that had swept through a village.

“…”

And, there was a girl watching that scene.

The bandits who had brutally massacred the villagers were swept away by Serena’s single gesture.

It didn’t take long for the situation to be sorted out.

Half of the bandit group had died on the spot, and the rest had scattered.

Serena, who had released the summoning magic, looked at the girl again.

The girl’s eyes were filled with surprise.

“How is it? Do you believe what I said now?”

“Just who are you?”

“Me?”

Serena Hmm hmm.

After clearing her throat and stalling for time, she slowly opened her mouth.

The silver hair swayed in the cool night breeze.

“Let me formally introduce myself. I’m the Witch of the Night Sky, Serena.”