Shhk—

The blade sliced through the thin fabric and pierced his fragile heart, ending the cloaked man’s life.

He dropped to his knees with a thud. His bloodshot, twisted pupils were filled with terror and disbelief.

Blood stained the bright silver blade. The boy holding it coolly pulled it from the man’s chest. With nothing left to support it, the lifeless body toppled stiffly toward the boy. As it hit the ground, the displaced air stirred a few withered yellow leaves.

“Wow, Big Brother Carlisle, you’re amazing!”

A cute cheer came from behind him. He turned to see the girl lowering her black hood, revealing a face as delicate as a doll’s.

Half of her long pink hair was hidden beneath the black cloak, with a few playful strands falling by her ears. She winked at the boy, her cherry-pink eyes reflecting the faint light in the woods, more brilliant than any gem.

The boy called Carlisle merely smiled faintly at her praise.

As he bowed his head and wiped down the longsword in his hands, he asked in an apparently casual tone, “That makes eight, doesn’t it? What exactly are you hiding on you that makes them so desperate to kill for it, Sherry?”

This was the eighth enemy he’d killed along the way. He’d thought it would be a simple escort job that was conveniently on his route, but the journey had turned out to be full of danger. Those crazed fools were after some treasure the girl carried, and they’d even resorted to forbidden spells with terrifying consequences, causing him no end of trouble.

“Maybe they just think I’m cute?” Sherry tilted her head slightly, innocence practically written all over her face.

Looking into the girl’s clear, wide eyes, Carlisle said nothing. He turned around and gazed through the trees into the distance.

At the edge of his vision, a gigantic black eagle with no eyes stood on one leg among the mountains. Its wings were pressed tightly against its sides, and its feathers gleamed with an unnatural sheen. It didn’t look like a living creature. Beneath it lay a towering city-state.

“Protecting you really isn’t easy. Our destination, Ayideen City, is just ahead. Don’t forget to pay me in full when we get there. After all the killing along the way, I imagine the reward should be pretty generous.”

At the mention of his reward, Carlisle’s usually unruffled expression finally changed a little. He licked his dry lips, anticipation glimmering in his eyes.

“I’m sure you’ll be happy with your reward!” Perhaps it was the wind in the woods, but Sherry’s voice suddenly turned strangely ethereal, seeming to come from near and far at once. It was hard to tell where she was.

“That’s good, then.” Carlisle stretched grandly, seemingly unaware of anything strange about Sherry. He put away his somewhat chipped longsword and rubbed his arm. “We’ve been walking for so long. I’m getting a little tired.”

It was now the third day since he’d been hired to protect the girl. They hadn’t had much time to rest along the way. Aside from sleeping at night, they’d spent nearly all their time traveling. Even the strongest person would be exhausted, body and mind, after that.

“Then why don’t you get some proper rest?”

Sherry’s concerned voice came from behind him. Strangely, as if he’d sensed danger, Carlisle’s lips curled into a faint smile, and he darted several meters away in an instant.

But even with such a quick reaction, the sharp blade still cut through the skin on his arm, leaving a thin streak of blood.

Where he’d been standing, Sherry clutched a dagger, her face full of shock. She hadn’t expected the boy to notice her move in advance.

Carlisle glanced at the drop of blood on the tip of the dagger in her hand and gave a cold laugh.

“Heh. I knew something was off about you! What, did you hire me just to skip out on the bill?”

“What are you talking about, Big Brother Carlisle? Weren’t you tired? I just wanted to help you get some proper rest.” Sherry hid the dagger behind her back, dropped her stunned expression, and smiled sweetly, looking utterly harmless.

Whether you choose to rest or someone makes you rest, it still counts as resting.

“You’ve gone to so much trouble for me. In return, I’m sure you’ll love finding out what it feels like to be on the receiving end of this chipped sword.” His earlier indifference gone, Carlisle drew the longsword at his waist with a twisted grin and pointed its tip at Sherry.

He wasn’t looking at Sherry’s face. His eyes were fixed on the ring on her finger, carved with an eagle’s head.

The Gladis Ring—a ring made for storing items. The most valuable thing the girl owned was probably hidden inside it.

Sherry noticed his gaze, of course. She didn’t move at all, remaining where she was without a hint of fear, her sweet smile unchanged. But as the seconds quietly slipped by, that smile seemed more and more sinister and strange to Carlisle.

He sensed something was wrong and lowered his sword, covering the shallow wound as he did.

“You poisoned me?”

His legs were already starting to give way. The first thing that came to mind was that the dagger had been poisoned.

“Correct!”

“Interesting.”

Carlisle swept his longsword through the air. A violent gale erupted among the trees.

Sherry raised an arm to shield herself from the oncoming wind. Leaves whipped up in the gale and blurred her vision. When everything finally settled, Carlisle was nowhere to be seen.

He’d chosen to run.

Sherry wasn’t worried in the slightest.

Once someone was poisoned by her, their strength would gradually drain away until they fell into a deep sleep.

Carlisle couldn’t get far.

……

After circling through the woods for a while, she finally found Carlisle, utterly drained, beneath an ancient tree covered in vines.

He sat on the ground with his head bowed, his arms hanging limply at his sides. Dark circles had formed beneath his eyes, as if he’d been up for days. His breathing was steady, and he looked ready to fall asleep at any moment.

The sound of footsteps on the leaves caught his attention. As Sherry drew closer, his breathing faltered for a moment.

“Don’t worry. This poison isn’t deadly at all.”

Sherry walked up to him, lowered her hood, and crouched down to look straight into his tired eyes.

“You’re… a Witch?” Maybe he’d figured something out while fleeing. In a low, hoarse voice, Carlisle named the girl’s true identity.

“A little late to figure that out, don’t you think?” Sherry wasn’t surprised he’d worked it out. She gave Carlisle a thorough once-over, from head to toe, then clapped her hands as if she’d just had a brilliant idea.

“Coveting my belongings comes with the death penalty. But I was born kind, so what can I do? Witches always keep their promises. You wanted your pay for the job, didn’t you? Your life must be worth quite a lot.” She smiled, a dangerous glint of slyness in her gem-bright eyes.

“……” Carlisle’s lips visibly twitched. He fell silent, then closed his already half-open eyes, pretending the poison had paralyzed his whole body and left him unable even to speak.

But Sherry had made the poison herself. She knew exactly how it worked.

“What’s wrong? Not happy with that reward?”

“If you don’t like it, you can tell me. I can pay you another way, like with a huge pile of money. Witches are very considerate, you know.”

“……I’m happy with it.” Knowing he couldn’t keep up the act, Carlisle abandoned his silence and spoke in a distinctly ingratiating tone. His weak, low voice just made it less obvious.

A man should know when to bend and when to stand firm. Sherry found herself seeing him in a new light.

Still, that didn’t change what she wanted from him. No—it didn’t change how kind she was being to him. As a Witch, she’d always been happy to help.

“Oh, dear. If you fall asleep here, thieves might come along. So I’ll hold on to your money for now.” Her gleaming eyes stayed fixed on the Gladis Ring on the boy’s finger. Her greed ruined the sweet, lovely image a girl ought to have.

“You’d be fine with that, right?”

Even as the deadly poison numbed his fingers, they still curled inward a little, as if trying to form a fist. Carlisle took a few sharp breaths, trying to calm himself.

“I… am.” There was no anger in his voice. If his lips hadn’t been losing feeling too, he would’ve laid the flattery on thick.

But greedy Sherry wasn’t done yet. She noticed that Carlisle’s clothes shimmered with a luxurious sheen. If she hadn’t known he was a bounty hunter, she’d have thought he was the eldest son of some noble family out sightseeing.

Bounty hunters lived with their lives on the line. No noble would choose that kind of work.

She could probably get a lot of money by selling clothes like those to a shop.

“Your clothes look pretty valuable, too.”

“……Wait, hold on—”

When it came to his clothes, Carlisle seemed reluctant. But Sherry didn’t care how he felt. She cut him off and reached out with her little hand, roughly tugging at his clothes.

“You should… leave some leeway. For next time…”

“Next time? Heh-heh. If you can find me and catch me someday, you can do whatever you want with me. Anything at all~” As she stripped off his clothes, Sherry leaned close to his ear with a wicked grin, whispering words that would make anyone blush.

Unfortunately, Carlisle was poisoned and didn’t react at all.

He put up no resistance as she stripped him completely, leaving only a pair of black briefs to cover him. She also roughly pulled the Gladis Ring off his finger.

Sherry swept everything into her own ring. Then she looked at the bulge on the boy and covered her mouth, letting out a sharp, cackling laugh.

“Of course, you can only do anything to me if you still have the use of… certain parts!”

At those words, he used the last of his strength to throw himself to the ground and grab Sherry’s ankle. A strange, faint fragrance flickered past the girl’s nose.

“What do you mean…? Don’t go… Explain yourself…”

Sherry paid no attention to the fragrance, which quickly faded. She easily lifted her foot free of his grasp, then turned and walked away, laughing at him.

Carlisle’s voice grew weaker and weaker. The world around him gradually fell silent, leaving only the girl’s strange laughter echoing in his mind. In his dimming vision, she walked farther and farther away until she disappeared into darkness, and everything dissolved into chaos.