“All right, I won’t keep you any longer. I’ll be going, then.”

“Mm. Take care.”

When the door opened and shut again, Sherry knew Carlisle had left.

After a little while, once she was sure it was safe, she struggled to her feet. She rubbed her numb calves and limped over to Hera.

Just before she reached her, Sherry suddenly lunged forward and clung to Hera with her whole body.

“Teacher Hera! I love you so much!”

She nuzzled her head against Hera’s chest. The softness and the silky-smooth fabric made her giggle with bliss.

“Go on, then. Did you get yourself into trouble again?”

“Ehehe. I only attacked him to protect my money!”

Sherry wasn’t wrong. After hiring Carlisle, she’d realized he seemed to have designs on her belongings, so in the end, she’d decided to poison him.

Though it was also possible she’d just been too suspicious and imagined Carlisle was plotting against her.

But so what? In a dangerous world like this, kindness only brought death. Only wickedness could keep you alive and well.

At any rate, she absolutely wasn’t mistaken.

Hera didn’t stop her from nuzzling her chest. She stroked Sherry’s hair, feeling the magic flowing through her body, and her expression turned serious once again.

“Your magic…”

Click—

The door swung open again without so much as a knock.

“Wait, I heard that fortune-telling…”

It was Carlisle at the door again.

When he saw the two Witches locked in a tight embrace, he froze for a moment. Then a cold smile spread across his face, and he fell silent. His somewhat handsome features paired with that roguish grin gave him the air of a street thug.

His hand still gripped the doorknob, but the strange power radiating from his body had already filled half the tower.

“…” Sherry stared at him blankly. Her little mouth opened, but no sound came out.

She wasn’t worried about being discovered like she’d been when hiding behind the bookshelves. Her heart was beating normally now. Her mind wasn’t frantically searching for a way out, either. In the cramped room, her body had actually given up resisting and was waiting for Carlisle to obediently arrest her.

This wasn’t right! No matter how dire things got, there was always a chance to survive!

She kept encouraging herself in her mind.

Hera was just as stunned. She hadn’t expected Carlisle to come rushing back so suddenly, either.

“Well, isn’t this awkward? I’ve interrupted your first meeting.” Carlisle drawled sarcastically. Then his leg muscles tensed, and he lunged straight for Sherry’s face.

The best way to stop Witch Sherry from pulling any tricks was to knock her out on the spot!

But Sherry wasn’t the only one he had to deal with. There was also Hera, the Great Library’s head librarian.

As a Witch who’d lived for a very long time, Hera was a formidable enemy Carlisle couldn’t afford to underestimate. Her understanding and use of magic far surpassed Sherry’s. One careless move, and he’d be at Hera’s mercy.

Of course, what Carlisle feared most wasn’t the Witches’ magic, but their endless bag of dirty tricks. He was sure Hera had far more potions on hand than Sherry.

But Sherry was right in front of him. He couldn’t just let her go.

He didn’t care if this angered Hera. Sherry was a wanted criminal in Ayideen, so even if this ended up before Pope Morse, he’d still be in the right.

Even the head librarian of the Great Library would face severe punishment for harboring a wanted criminal.

As Carlisle charged straight at her, Sherry spun around, flung open the window, and leaped from the tower, pulling out the bell and shaking it violently.

She tried to call for a griffin, but the fierce wind from her fall rushed straight into her mouth. All she could manage was a few helpless “ah-ba-ba” sounds.

Luckily, the Spirit-Summoning Bell didn’t need a Witch to call out. When its ringing stopped, a completely black griffin gradually appeared beneath her.

Once the griffin had changed from specks of light into a solid body, Sherry slammed down hard onto its soft back. Her whole body ached as if it had fallen apart. The worst pain was in the two little rabbits on her chest. With tears in her eyes, she rubbed her breasts, then tugged the reins and rode the griffin off into the distance.

Carlisle hadn’t chased after her right away because Hera had secretly used her magic to hold him back.

The room seemed to turn into a muddy quagmire where he could barely move. The moment he took a step, an inexplicable weight pressed down on his legs, making it hard to take another.

Once Sherry had escaped, there was no point in fighting Hera.

“You know Sherry’s a wanted criminal, don’t you?”

“I didn’t.”

“Well, now you do. Can you let me go so I can arrest her?”

“I haven’t seen any Sherry. I only know someone’s trying to use a spell in my tower.”

“In that case, I’m afraid I’ll have to apologize.”

Realizing Hera had no intention of letting him leave, Carlisle steeled himself. A violent spell burst to life beneath his feet, and an unstoppable blast of purple energy slammed into the bookshelves behind him.

The books on those shelves were all extremely valuable. Quite a few were the only copies in existence, and Hera couldn’t bear to see them damaged.

The force holding him back weakened. Carlisle took the chance to break free, crash through the window, and escape the tower.

Purple wings appeared on his back, and a lightning spear began to form in his palm.

This time, Sherry wouldn’t be a decoy.

He fixed his gaze on the griffin soaring through the air and hurled the purple lightning spear. Then, as if that weren’t enough, he began forming another one.

Thinking she’d shaken Carlisle, Sherry was looking for somewhere to land when a sharp whistle rang in her ear, followed by the crackle of electricity. Startled, she glanced back.

In the darkness, scattered lights outlined the buildings. A spear blazing with dazzling lightning tore through the night sky, hurtling toward her, unstoppable.

The hairs on her body stood on end. Her breath nearly stopped!

She had no time to react. In an instant, the lightning spear pierced the griffin’s backside and shot out through its mouth. With its body impaled, the griffin lost the magic sustaining it and dissolved back into specks of light.

Without her mount, Sherry plunged straight down through the air.

“Aahhh!!”

The girl’s shrill scream added a touch of horror to the night at Saint Perode Academy.

Carlisle let out a few cold laughs, beat his wings, and flew toward where Sherry was falling like a victor.

Bracing herself against the gale from her fall, Sherry took the Spirit-Summoning Bell from her ring and rang it again.

The griffin wasn’t the only flying spirit she could summon!

Another winged bird appeared beneath her. She climbed onto its back, tugged the reins, and ordered it to fly beyond Saint Perode Academy.

Crackle, crackle—

Electricity crackled all around her. Sherry had barely settled onto her new mount before that wretched lightning spear pierced its backside and burst out through its front, ending its life.

Luckily, she was flying low enough now. She jumped down to the ground and hid in the woods within Saint Perode Academy.