The Witch

I had some difficulty accepting her words, and the others seemed to feel the same way. “What? What do you mean?” Kai asked.

“Three’s… gone?” asked Saga. “Hah?”

“That can’t be; we saw him just yesterday!” I said, taking a step closer to the bars. The girl actually flinched at my approach.

“Eh…? T-Three couldn’t have possibly returned…” mumbled Mana, her eyes darting all over.

Well, strictly speaking we hadn’t actually seen the man. Might it have been some sort of body double? What was going on?

“Let’s take a step back,” said Kai, raising a hand. “Isn’t the Emperor of Avallux supposed to be Three?”

Hearing his question, Mana giggled for some reason. “Ah, I see… so that’s why you’re confused. Or wait, maybe he’s the one who made them think that?” she said. “No, Three’s left this kingdom to someone else… and t-that’s the current Emperor.” A shudder passed through her body as she said this.

I frowned. Something was not adding up. “So you’re telling me that Three isn’t even here? Haven’t you summoned us to defeat him?”

Mana still looked completely confused. “You mean you don’t know anything?”

“No! We already killed One and Two, so we thought only Three remained. Where’s he supposed to—”

Mana emitted a great gasp and rattled the bars again. “Y-y-you, did you just say you killed One and Two? For real?”

Kai flashed her a smile. “Sure did, yeah. I still don’t like the way you dragged us here without our consent, but we got the job done.”

Meanwhile, I noted that Saga was awfully silent—well, more than the usual, anyway. I somewhat expected her to keep badgering Mana about Three, but she remained speechless for a while now. I decided to take on that role instead.

“Where’s Three?” I asked. “Stop dodging the question with meaningless drivel.”

She flinched again. “Err… he went back to his own world.”

“Wait, what?” asked Kai.

I was also momentarily confused by this revelation—and then it all clicked into place. “Don’t tell me… was he also from another world, just like us?”

A traveler from another world who took over the kingdom… considering the fact we were technically trying to do the same, I could definitely imagine this scenario.

“Yes,” said Mana, lowering her gaze. “He’s gone now, but… all the horrible stuff he did, it’s still…”

“C.” Suddenly someone grabbed my shoulder—it was Saga, of all people. Although her expression was blank, something about her eyes was intense. It was a different kind of blaze than the usual. “Can you blast this cage open?”

“Huh?”

“Right,” said Kai. “I do feel bad for the poor girl… we should at least get her out of there. This is no place for a proper conversation.”

Mana’s eyes lit up at the mention of her freedom, but then dropped again.

“I don’t know if you can do that…” she said, grabbing the bars as if to accentuate their existence. “This jail doesn’t even have a key. They technically could leave me here forever, though at least they’re bringing me meals, haha…”

I smiled at her. “Hey, you have nothing to worry about.” I tapped my own chest. “See, I’m actually a genius mage. I’ll be careful not to hit you, but I’m sure I can whip up something to blow away the cage, and then—”

“No, that won’t work,” Mana interjected sadly. “They already thought about that, too. These bars are made from mogage.”

Ah! I knew they seemed familiar. That explained their strange appearance.

However, that made things more difficult, just like Mana said. Any attempts to free her using magic would get completely nullified. Even though originally it must have been a way to restrict Mana’s own magic.

Wait a minute…

“How did you escape the first time?” I wondered. “Surely they were aware of your powers?”

For some reason this question caused a smile to rise to her lips. Perhaps she was warming up to us after actually talking to people for the first time in a while.

“Ehehe, that’s because I’m amazing,” she said, spreading her hands to the sides as I raised a brow. “It’s true, a prison made of mogage is tricky business… but by carefully adjusting the range and shape of the doorway, I was able to form it just right for me to slip out. I then started hopping from place to place all the way to Crossroads, and just as I was about to faint from exhaustion and surrounded by beasts on all sides, I finally opened the door to call you here…!”

At that point she stopped and coughed a little. Perhaps talking for the first time in a while also got her overexcited and tired, too.

Kai whistled in appreciation. “I don’t really get the explanation, but it sounds like you’ve done something impressive, so great job. …Other than the part of forcibly pulling us into this world, anyway.”

Mana’s self-satisfied smile waned. “Um, now that you mention it…” She lowered her head. “I’m sorry! I was just so desperate, and there was the prophecy, and I wanted someone to save me, and…”

Kai sighed. “Look, I’m not as heartless as to just leave you here, alright? I’m sure we can discuss things properly once we’re out of here.”

“Can’t you escape again?” I asked.

“Unfortunately, they fixed it so the bars are too close… They even made me eat some mogage dust, though that took me a while to notice. I’m sorry…”

I still had a lot of questions for her, but it would probably be best to first get her out of the cage. Somehow.

My sleeve got pulled yet again, cutting off my thoughts. Confused, I saw Saga’s intense look yet again.

“Free her,” she said.

I blinked. “Sure, I also want to do that, but… why?”

“What do you mean why? Look at her!” Kai protested, but I ignored him. That wasn’t what I meant.

“Don’t you want to prioritize beating the Emperor or whatever? We now know he’s not Three, but still,” I said. Saga actually averted her gaze. Not only that, but she bit her lips.

Whoa. Did I strike a nerve there? My glance strayed toward Mana again. Was she sympathizing with the poor girl when she didn’t seem to care about anything or anyone other than our enemies before this?

“Do it already,” she said, practically an order.

I frowned. “Why me? And how? Remember, I can only do magic, and this is a cage made of mogage!”

“She said it before,” said Saga, looking at the girl. “She made magic work despite all that. Hah, aren’t you supposed to be some sort of genius or whatever? Think of something!”

Saga really was being weird, but she was also making sense. The bars were not absolute; they were packed tightly together, but there were still intervals. There might be some subtle way to affect them, or the area around them or something…

No, wait. Weren’t we being kind of stupid all this time? There was a much simpler solution to this problem.

However, yet another noise cut off my thoughts. —It was that of a door being shut.

“Good morning, Mana dearest!” A voice came booming from somewhere above, echoing on its way below. “How are you today? I have some wonderful news for you!”

Glancing toward Mana herself, her face became even paler than it was before and she nearly stumbled and fell, her eyes shaking.

She whispered to us urgently. “What horrible timing, it’s the Emperor!”