"This is SLAVERY!" I swung the heavy greatsword hard in front of me, stopping it just before it hit the ground, "SLAVERY I TELL YOU!" I yelled so loud that the birds of the forest took it as another sign of a fight and promptly fled.
For the past three hours, that damned witch had put me to work swinging this greatsword, all the while she sat on the grass nearby, notebook in hand. Her eyes were fixed on each micromovement of the sword, "Yes, yes. You will be compensated well for your service here," She continued writing down her notes.
She explained that the sword was made from Venian Steel, and laced with magic that she wanted to analyze. She said that it was the weapon of the man that she stripped bare and threw down the grounds of that restaurant.
Lilus, who was lounging lazily on a branch above us began to laugh, "See? With an attitude like that, who wouldn't want to kill you." He mocked Hana, but she didn't even budge, as though he was muted in her ears.
If I could, I would swing this greatsword on that damned tree and bring that catboy down here where I can beat him up, "Aren't you supposed to be the one swinging this thing!?"
"Hm? No? Do you see my arms?" He put his arms up, they were incredibly thin as if there were no muscles nor bones that held them up. I've only seen limbs that thin from the most hungry of our villagers, of which there were none anymore, "Besides, if I mess it up that woman will kill me."
"I would never do something like that!" Said Hana with a certain high pitched, and playful lilt in her voice, "Now, swing that sword in a horizontal arc in front of you."
"Ugh!" My muscles were burning. I literally just recovered from a rest that lasted for who knows how long, and she wanted me to exhaust myself to death again, does she want me to actually die? Or was I just an expendable guinea pig to her?
I pivoted my forward foot to turn to her, then gritting my teeth, I swung the greatsword towards her, "CAN YOU!" I used my entire weight in the swing, all the power that my exhausted muscles could muster, "LET ME REST!" And swung it with all my might.
The low hum of reality being momentarily cut through followed the wake of the greatsword's swing as waves of fire erupted towards where I swung. Everything exploded, and caught on fire behind where the witch was.
The witch, however, wasn't there.
"Good swing~ That's what I was looking for," The witch reappeared beside me and gave off a light giggle.
I couldn't even turn to her, I collapsed on the spot as she used her magic to extinguish the flames that slowly ate away at the forest. The sun through the forest canopy above me, casting leafy shadows across the entire clearing.
Actually. What the hell did I just do?
I struggled to stand up from the ground. I couldn't even hold the sword properly anymore, all that energy was exhausted with the swing. The swing. The forest in front of me was singed, some leaves crumbled to ash already.
The witch, meanwhile, pointed her wand towards the last remaining embers as it let out water like that of a flowing stream, "Congratulations! Was that your first experience casting magic?"
"What the hell?" Magic? Is it that easy? All I did was swing that greatsword and reality seemed to fold around it, then that fire came out. I never really understood how magic worked, everytime Alisa tried to explain I would run away.
It's not as though I have a hatred for magic, it's just that I never quite enjoyed the entire process of it. It was a bit too much for my feebleminded self. All those chants, incantations, all those wand movements and sigils. Never sat right with me. Now, this witch was telling me I can just do that easily.
She sat down on the grass again, her purple lacy dress fanning out all around her. It was like she was half submerged in a lake of darkness. In her dress were white dots that looked like stars in the nightsky, indeed, upon closer inspection. The darkness of her dress seemed to look like that of a galaxy.
A faint purple smoky hue on the backdrop of darkness. The milk-white drops on top of it. Stars, galaxies, constellations. She was a walking universe.
She put the notebook in her hands above the dress gently, then it began to transform. It shrank to the size of those individual dots on her skirt, becoming one of the many stars that clung unto it. Then perhaps with that same logic, she reached towards one star and pulled out another notebook.
Her dress was her storage, "How do you even clean that, you vile woman?" Lilus asked, he was now seated on that branch, tail swinging rhythmically.
"With a spell, of course," She giggled and turned to me as she stood up, "Shall I give you a crash course in magic?"
"Explain to me first why you decided to choose me for this little experiment."
A small, playful smirk twisted her face, "You're so keen on understanding everything!" She said, obviously sarcastically as she began flipping on the pages of her notebook.
"We'll start with the basics then," She cleared her throat. I want to destroy her right here, right now, and if any God permitted it, I would gladly give them my body for that opportunity. Of course, it was just a temporary anger, "I think you're a great candidate to be my bodyguard."
"Bodyguard!?" Lilus yelped as he gently descended down the branch. He approacheed the witch with reckless abandon, jabbing his finger at her chest with every word, "Who the hell said she can be one!? You're just doing this to me again!? Abandoning me again!?"
Hana's hands were raised defensively but it was clear she had no intention of countering, even amidst the playful jabbings, "Ow, ow, hey! You literally want to kill me and you think I'm giving you that job?"
"She also wants to kill you!"
"No she doesn't!"
I sat up, and with a bit of a struggle, planted the sword to the ground and sat on it. It was solid enough to feel like a stone wall to lean on, "Yes, I do?" I said as they both stopped their little cat and mouse chase.
"See?" Said Lilus, "If you're not going to make me your bodyguard, then she shouldn't be either."
"Now that's just mean, Soren. What did I ever do to you to get your ire?" She practically ignored Lilus and focused solely on me. She slid the notebook on her hand down her skirt as it became part of its many constellations once more.
"For one thing, you hypnotized the villagers, even sweet Alisa fell for your charms! And now you're bringing me here, the only sane person in this damned place, and asking me to be your bodyguard after practically exhausting me? What's wrong with you!?" I yelled out with the last of my energy.
"Hypnotized? Charmed?" She tilted her head and closed her eyes as though deep in thought. Lilus, next to her, was grinning ear to ear as he looked between me and her.
"Right? Right? Like, why the hell would she do that to the poor sweet villagers of Soleil?" He sheepishly said. I should kill him too, this damned cat.
Finally, after a long second of contemplation, she finally spoke out, "I did no such thing! All those villagers volunteered of their own accord even if I had offered to rebuild everything so long as I was in charge."
That's what I was confused about. Why would they just let her be in charge? Why give our sovereignty to the witch? Then, she continued, "It's not like this village is well off under Valerian rule, right?"
Oh, right. We weren't sovereign in the slightest. We were just a village under the whims of warring kingdoms and petty squabbles, doomed to face the same fate we always have. Perhaps in the next harvest season there would be less merchants to come by.
Could it be true then? That everyone followed after her on their own accord?
I looked down the ground and wondered why I even tried to fight that beast in the first place. If I were to simply have died there, what would have changed? I would simply be another corpse inside its stomach, and the witch would simply defeat it and clear the nest again.
After that, life would go on. She would take charge of the village, build it according to her whims, and I wouldn't be there. Did I truly want a genuine change for my village, or did I simply want that change to come from me, my own actions?
"It isn't. Not at all." I admitted.
"Right, so obviously. What better way to revive the glory of such a village than to have the greatest witch to ever exist be the one to help?" She chuckled, then as if to demonstrate her abilities, she pointed her wand towards small twigs and branches as it began to build itself into a house. "Ta-da!~"
I can't help but smile a bit at her presentation. I was still reluctant, for sure. My heart can never truly accept a person like this, who had treated me and my entire village like a simple experiment. Still, if that experiment, or perhaps its result, would lead into an abundance that would take care of everyone I had ever loved—then who am I to argue?
Even still, "I don't want to be your bodyguard." I stared down the ground like there was a pot of gold down there. I didn't want to leave this village, not even if I was beckoned by such a beautiful witch on an adventure.
She was even more confused, but that confusion gradually shifted into a subtle understanding, "Fine. I'll still be training you. You have potential, after all. I simply can't let that go to waste. So, for the time being. You're mine."
"Ugh!" Lilus groaned, "Can I—"
"You can join her."
There was a mix of joy and fear in Lilus' face as Hana announced that. He would be joining mee, in training. The person that wanted her dead was the one she would personally train in the art of war. I couldn't believe it. Was she a fool?
No, perhaps she had something else going on with Lilus. Something I had to know, but couldn't right now. Not when I'm far too weak to run away anyway, "Fine," I said, "Only if you don't kill me."
"Sounds like a difficult bar to cross," She teased, "Well then! Off we go back to the village? I reckon that old man's looking for us."