"So, Puck's been away, huh..."
"Yes. There have been times before when he disappeared for days."
Emilia was telling me her concerns about Puck, who had stopped communicating with her. To the half-elf's relief, the contract was still valid, but there was still the worry that her 'father' had left without explanation.
"Ha , it's just like ordinary cats... But I doubt this one will come back when it's hungry."
"Maybe he's very busy and doesn't have time for me."
She said this with a shadow in her eyes. It made me want to hug her for comfort, but I felt it would be excessive and might even make things worse if Emilia thought I was pitying her. I shook that urge out of my body.
"Believe me, he just wants to spend time with you. You're his priority. If he doesn't communicate, it's because something's stopping him."
It struck me that, unlike in the original story, Puck never spoke to me privately to explain that he was leaving and leaving Emilia in my hands. He may have known more about me than I had assumed.
I decided to change the subject of the conversation to cheer Emilia up a bit.
"Aren't you excited to know we're going to a demi-human village? I bet you can get along with them."
"I hope so." Her gaze drifted off into the forest. "I'm worried about what Frederica told us, about this Garfiel."
"Don't worry, I've got your back." I said.
"Now that Puck's gone, I don't feel so confident anymore." Emilia realized that sounded too pessimistic and turned to me. "It's not like I can't do anything! I still have the lesser spirits with me! Even though they're young, they can fight."
"It's okay, didn't I just tell you? Even if you were weaker than me, I'd still somehow keep you safe. The good thing is, you're brutally strong, and I don't have to worry about that." I sighed. "When I become your knight, stay back and let me show off a little."
"Huh? You're going to be my knight?" She covered her mouth in surprise. "Wait, is that what your duel with Julius was about?"
I raised my eyebrow. Hadn't I already had this conversation with her?
Oh wait, that was in a lost loop. In the winning loop, I never went for a walk with Emilia or explained why I had a duel with Julius. With the whole Gilbert thing, we forgot to talk about that properly.
"That's right. I told Julius I wanted to be your knight, and he tested my resolve."
"You really... Isn't that going too far?" Emilia had an almost distressed expression, her eyes watering and a slight blush on her face.
"What do you mean?"
"When you approached me, it was all because you knew the cult would come for me. I don't understand why you would want to stay by my side for so long if your goal is revenge."
I was silent for a moment, thinking about what to say without breaking my character.
"I've decided I won't live to kill my enemies, but to protect my friends. Just so you know, that was thanks to you."
I still had to lie too much. It bothered me to have to play a character and not be able to be myself, but this was the best I could do for now.
"And you don't care...? You don't care that I look like the witch those people worship? Are you okay staying by my side?"
Emilia placed her hand on her chest, her voice filled with pain and doubt. I could sense her fear of rejection. How many times had she been hurt by comparisons to Satella? How deep must her loneliness and hopelessness have been to turn her into a broken, emotionally dependent girl?
"Pay attention." I gripped her hands firmly, looking into her eyes. "I don't give a shit if you're a witch, a dragon, or anything else. What matters is that you have a big heart and want to help everyone, even though most people judge you without even knowing you. That's what I like most about you (besides your beautiful voice, your hair, eyes, mouth, nose, ears...). Well, I like everything about you."
I was a little embarrassed saying all that (I tried not to think about the fact that Otto and Rem were probably hearing everything from the front of the carriage), but I managed to do it without stuttering. As soon as she heard my statement, Emilia flinched a little and lowered her head.
"If you say things like that, you leave me no choice but to believe you." She replied timidly.
"That's what I wanted to hear." I smiled, seeing that my statement made her happy.
A light illuminated Emilia's pendant at that very moment. I had a vague memory of Subaru being teleported near Echidna's grave while holding said object, so I took it from Emilia to prevent any unnecessary changes. She fainted immediately, but I caught her and left her lying down.
Finally, the glare became too intense, and I was forced to close my eyes. When it ended, I found myself standing in the middle of the forest.
"It's already started." I muttered.
I slowly looked around, making a 360-degree turn. As I completed the turn, I noticed a little girl with pink hair, pointy ears, and blue eyes silently watching me. Without saying anything, I walked toward her.
The girl turned around and started running with agility comparable to Felt's. I wasn't sure I could catch up with her, but that wasn't my intention. I just had to go in the same direction as her.
As I expected, the trees stopped appearing when I crossed a certain point, revealing an open space in the center of which stood an old stone building.
I swallowed, but I couldn't hesitate any longer. I wasn't even halfway through the story, and there were still plenty of worse challenges ahead than having tea with a witch.
"Fuck it." I took a deep breath and headed towards the ruins.
The interior of the room was dark and felt like entering a cave. The light outside faded until it disappeared completely.
I continued walking anyway, ignoring the absolute darkness around me and the gradual drop in temperature as I walked deeper into the place.
Very soon, I began to lose my sense of reality due to the lack of sensory input. I could hear my own heavy breathing and uneven footsteps. I couldn't see anything, and the growing smell of dampness was saturating my brain.
"Come on, Echidna. Stop playing with me."
I knew this was a simple joke or mind game from the witch.
"I'm probably not making any progress, and if I turn around, I'll be a few feet away from the entrance. What a pain."
Minutes passed, maybe even hours. As I said, I didn't have a very clear idea of what it was. I began to believe that Echidna was just making fun of me.
"Damn, I don't have time for this. If you don't want to talk, goodbye and have a good trip."
I turned around to leave the tomb, but when I did, I found myself in a new place that reminded me of the Windows XP wallpaper.
The blue sky stretched endlessly everywhere, as did the green hills. Everything felt too real to be a dream.
"Finally."
I went to the top of the hill and saw a woman sitting under an umbrella. There was a white table with two steaming cups filled with a suspicious liquid.
"I'm sorry for the wait, Leandro Lagostena. I must admit I wasted too much time looking into your heart. You're a very interesting existence."
I raised my eyebrows, narrowing my eyes at the same time in a gesture of disdain.
"You saw my feelings without asking permission? You're so shameless, woman."
"Oh, it's been a while since someone treated me like just a woman."
The wind ruffled her hair as she studied me with her dark eyes.
"I'm Echidna, the Witch of Greed. Welcome to my tea party." She gestured toward the empty chair.
"Delighted."
I sighed and sat down. I was nervous, but I did my best to act casual.
"Are you really a witch? I thought you looked like evil old women, but you're a real beauty."
Echidna smiled and her eyes lit up with a bright glow, staring at me in a way that made me feel like I was standing naked before her.
"I haven't received that kind of praise in a while either." She confessed, looking at me with excessive attention. "I'm eager to learn more about you."
"You'll be disappointed." I made a wry face. "I'm quite simple and boring."
"I don't think so, you know. I've seen your journey since you arrived in Lugunica, and I think 'simple and boring' don't really fit the bill."
I admit I enjoyed hearing that, but my modesty wasn't entirely unfounded. I could chat about various topics for a while, offer some interesting opinions, or offer sound advice, but beyond that, I was a hermit who enjoyed living locked in my room.
I was lucky to find some good friends, people like me. But without them, all that remained was a monotonous routine. I was empty inside and didn't care much about the real world, so I settled for making up a lot of stories in my head to entertain myself. Most of those stories were never written down.
In this world, everything had changed. I no longer had any friends, but the world was very different, so much so that I was finally living more there than in myself. Of course, Echidna wasn't aware of my past. She only saw my "good" side.
"I think you have the wrong idea. Either that or your standards for people are really strange."
"I prefer to say I'm selective. Besides, I haven't met many people lately."
"You should go out more often." I joked without changing my neutral tone.
I thought I saw Echidna puff out her cheeks for a moment.
"I would if I could, you know?"
"What? Are you grounded or something?"
"... You should know that by now." Echidna sighed. "My soul rests in this place."
Obviously, I already knew that, but I had to feign surprise.
"Wow, I'm sorry to hear that."
"It's okay, I don't mind."
We sat in an awkward silence. I felt a little nervous because Echidna kept staring at me and didn't seem to care how weird it was. I started looking for a distraction and suddenly remembered the teacup in front of me. Steam rose slowly, presenting a strange aroma to my nostrils.
Ah yes, the famous Echidna tea. Only a hopeless depraved person would be interested in trying it.
"..."
Why was my hand holding the cup and bringing it to my mouth? I think my body was moving on its own or something. I definitely didn't do it of my own volition.
GLUP, GLUP, GLUP.
The temperature of the tea was perfect, warm enough but not scorching. As for the taste, I can't describe it, but it was different from what I had imagined. I mean, it's not like I'd ever imagined drinking Echidna's tea before, I just made an assumption...
"Looks like you're taking your time with your tea. Are you enjoying it?" Echidna asked in a mischievous tone.
"It has a strange taste, it's not like anything I've ever tasted before."
"That makes sense, since it's made from my body fluids."
She dropped that information like it was a bomb exploding in my face. Contrary to her expectations, my expression remained unchanged, and I took another sip of tea.
"I see. You should eat more fruit, that would make it sweeter."
"Ah... This is unexpected."
Finally, Echidna showed me a trace of puzzlement on her normally relaxed and impassive face. Her brow furrowed, as if she were trying to concentrate on something.
"If you keep looking at me like that, I'm going to blush." I murmured, feigning modesty.
Echidna snorted listlessly, giving the impression of someone who failed in her goal.
"I still can't understand how you think at all."
"Are you trying to decipher my personality? It's not that complicated: I'm a man like any other."
I wondered what Echidna's goal was in trying to get to know me better. I suspected she was doing it to figure out how to be most accommodating to me and use that to manipulate me. If the plot was canon, then she wanted to convince me to make a pact.
"In that case, I think I should try another approach." She muttered.
"Huh?"
His posture changed and he smiled at me again with that intense look.
"Do you know I'm a great scholar? I've been observing this world for many years. With my knowledge, I can answer almost any question you have." She stated, proud of that reputation. "Use me to satisfy your curiosity."
"Interesting proposal..."
But I, far from thinking like a decent, normal person, began to think about some dark possibilities.
"I understand you don't know everything, but as long as it's something you do know, can you back up your answers with evidence?" I leaned across the table, speaking coldly.
Echidna nodded once and smiled confidently. She took the bait.
"Yeah."
I was currently in a dream world, talking to a beautiful woman several centuries old, who wanted to make a contract with me and probably wouldn't mind doing certain things to get in my good graces. Being in such a setting, my mind was only thinking about one thing.
"What color is your underwear?"
"..."
While she remained silent, I drank the rest of my tea. Now it was her turn to receive the bomb.
"Do you really want to know that?" She asked, her expression unreadable, her hair covering her eyes.
"If you're that embarrassed, I can change the question." I said with feigned indifference, although deep down I was eager to get my way.
After half a minute, Echidna answered in a small voice.
"... Black."
"You say your underwear is black?" I asked for confirmation.
She nodded slowly, her face flushed red.
"Yeah."
"I don't believe you." I immediately refuted, sounding confident in my tone of voice.
"Huh?!" Echidna jumped, her eyes and mouth trembling.
"I said I don't believe you. How can you prove to me that what you said is true?" I challenged her with a triumphant smile, leaning back in my seat as I waited for her response.
"You... You... You're so..."
Sighing, Echidna covered her face with her hands. She seemed to be having trouble dealing with me.
"I can't believe you're so brazen and bold with a witch... Pfft."
Echidna's voice was a timid murmur, but then she started laughing joyfully, as if this was all a fun joke.
"How interesting! You've really captivated me!"
"..."
I didn't understand Echidna's reaction or the meaning of what she said, so I remained silent. The next moment she stood up from her chair and took a few steps back, putting some distance between us.
My brain may be a little messed up from porn, but what I saw next couldn't have been a mirage or a hallucination. Slowly and with suspense, Echidna pulled her dress up over her stomach, revealing the curves of her waist and hips, as well as an exquisite pair of white thighs between which lay a piece of black lace.
The inverted triangle of her crotch seemed to be some kind of black hole whose gravitational pull prevented me from looking away. Unfortunately, the spectacle didn't last long before she finally dropped her dress, eliciting a longing sigh from me.
"Did that satisfy your curiosity?"
"Ah..."
I was speechless, and breathless too. There was a hard bulge in my crotch, but I ignored it for the sake of my sanity.
Echidna had clearly regained the emotional upper hand, letting me know with a smirk.
"Why are you looking at me like I'm a witch? Oh, right." She started laughing at her own joke.
"Look at that, looks like you can do comedy too." I raised my eyebrows sarcastically.
I know I'm a virgin, but correct me if I'm wrong when I say she did things in the wrong order. I mean, aren't you supposed to break the ice before flashing me your panties? Ice-breaking jokes are useless when I'm already so horny that the damn ice melted.
So either she did it that way to confuse me further, or she's just a witch who's incredibly knowledgeable about everything except how to seduce a man (the ordinary way). I don't know what to think anymore.
"Will you say nothing? I'll answer any other questions you have."
"Have you-?"
"But there will be no more lewd displays, at least for this occasion."
She guessed my intentions and anticipated my next question, placing her hands in front of me like a stop sign. I pouted.
"In that case, let me think of another question."
There were many questions in my mind, at least a hundred. However, I filtered out the most important ones and, one by one, discarded the less relevant ones or those whose answers I could figure out on my own. Finally, I chose one of the most disturbing and enigmatic.
"What do you know about a woman with silver hair and blue eyes, named Pandora?"
Echidna's expression changed subtly when I mentioned that name. She clasped her hands together, interlacing her fingers and resting her head on them before she began to speak.
"The Witch of Vainglory... She's also known as the Saint, a user of the Vainglory Witch Factor. She's part of the Witch Cult you've fought, but she hasn't been directly involved in the sect's activities for some time. May I ask how you know her?"
"It's not like I know her... I've never seen her in person, she's a complete mystery. I was hoping you could give me some information about her."
"Oh, I see. So you don't remember, at least not completely."
"What do you mean?"
"Your relationship with Pandora, the bond that unites you two."