MTLNOVEL Chapter 244: Interlude:The Guest Leaves
"Letting him go like that, huh? I wonder if it was okay, huh?"
"It was his decision, his choice. I want to respect that. …Although I do have some thoughts about how he took her hand and left."
In response to Sekhmet's listless voice, Echidna shrugged her shoulders.
They are still in the castle of dreams, the grassland and blue sky remain unchanged, and a cool breeze blows through, gently caressing the witches' hair.
--The cracked world swallowed Subaru and Satella, and as soon as they were released from the dream, the world was repaired once again.
Of course. The space connected to Echidna's indestructible soul would continue to maintain this state as long as Echidna existed. It was merely an over-the-top performance to drive away those who were leaving.
"However, even I can't help but feel tired when you use it so frequently. It would be much appreciated if you could be a little more restrained in your efforts to provide treatment."
"I only heal wounds that come within my sight, following my own style. Whether it be humans, witches, animals, birds, fish, insects, or magical beasts, the wounds of living things are my enemies!"
"Still, unlike when you were alive, the burden of your actions here falls on me. When you were alive, you had the world shoulder your burden for you, so don't you realize how harsh it is to think that such a burden falls on me alone?"
"I don't think things like fatigue and things you can't see matter. I heal wounds. I don't care if it shortens the lifespan of the world or whatever."
Minerva crossed her arms and emphasized her ample breasts, and the witches smirked at her assertion.
At first glance, Minerva, the "Witch of Wrath," is the most approachable of the witches bearing the names of the deadly sins - or, to put it bluntly, she may be thought of as the most harmless witch.
In fact, all of her actions were merely medical treatments, and the number of lives she saved in the world at that time probably wouldn't be counted in five digits.
--However, Minerva also caused just as much indirect damage.
All destructive energy from punches, kicks, and biting is converted into healing energy when emitted from her hands. The magic formula is the power of 『Wrath』, so no one else can imitate it. Even Echidna, while she can understand the structure, is unable to reproduce it.
Minerva's healing blow can ward off threats to the life of any living thing. - It may seem like an all-powerful power, but that's a mistake.
The healing power that her fists generate is the result of a powerful magic formula that bends causality, and consumes an immense amount of mana each time it is activated. It is an amount that no single human could possibly handle, and even the magical knowledge of the witch Minerva makes it impossible.
So where does the mana come from for her attacks? The answer is simple: it comes from the very core of the world.
Normally, when a human uses magic, they absorb mana in the atmosphere through a gate, convert it into magical energy, and release it back out of the gate to cast the magic.
In Minerva's case, this gate wasn't connected to the atmosphere, but directly to the center of the world. It's difficult to describe it as the center of the world, as it was connected to a supernatural mass of mana - or to put it simply, the place where mana is born.
Minerva's strikes extract mana from them and transform it into healing strikes.
If this were to happen repeatedly, it would result in an event where mana did not reach the places where it was supposed to be, and the depletion of mana, a vital element that makes up the world, would pose the extremely dangerous possibility of causing natural disasters and catastrophes in the areas that were not reached.
The number of people she has directly healed through beating exceeds five figures.
--However, the number of lives lost in the natural disasters that she indirectly caused was comparable to that.
Therefore, Minerva, the "Witch of Wrath," was considered the most dangerous of all witches bearing the name of a deadly sin, and was viewed with hostility by all nations.
"Here, the only mana I can draw on is what Echidna has. I'm not happy because I can only heal and heal you to the point where you're on the verge of drying out in the sun."
"In the first place, there shouldn't be any reason for injuries to occur here. Although, it's been so noisy here for a while that it's easy to get confused."
"Yeah... I guess it was quite noisy for a while."
Echidna's words caused all of Minerva's energy to drop. With a clear look of dejection on her lovely face, the blonde witch looked up at the blue sky,
"Do you think she'll make it? I'm so worried."
"I have no doubt that they could have made it work, but they rejected my offer. Whatever the case may be, I'm sure they'll struggle desperately to make it work. It seems they haven't come up with an answer yet, though."
"What's with that way of saying it? You led that girl to shake your hand off yourself, and now you're trying to hide your true feelings from us, whose intentions are obvious? There's no point!"
"It's not like I was trying to be rejected or anything. --It's just that, whether I was rejected or accepted, it didn't matter."
As Minerva shrugged her shoulders, Echidna sat down at the table that had reappeared, then with a snap of her fingers a teacup appeared and she tilted the steaming cup to her lips.
"I affirm choices, and the results of those choices. I don't think the outcome is that important. The fact that you made a choice, or the fact that you didn't make a choice, is what's important. Whether the outcome is good or bad, I pride myself on being the type of person who can enjoy either way."
"But that doesn't mean there's no hope."
Next to Echidna, who was bringing Donna tea to her mouth, a black-painted coffin slowly rose up. Daphne had somehow managed to get back into the coffin and was devouring the tea and sweets lined up on the table like a dog.
"You say you respect the outcome, but Dona Dona won't hesitate to lead you to the outcome you want to see. I'm sure you're honest about the fact that either way would have been fine, but I'm sure you're also honest about the fact that this was the best option."
"You have little interest in other people, yet you always seem to get to the heart of the matter, Daphne."
"Compared to the hunger that constantly bothers you, Daphne, it's nothing to even think about. Ha ha ha, ha ha."
Echidna sighed as Daphne went from tea and snacks to sucking on the plate as well, then she looked over at the other witches who were beginning to take their seats.
They looked listless, didn't hide their indignation, and were fearful - and one of them had an unusually fierce look in his eyes.
"Typhon seems very angry."
"Donna is not honest. If she's not honest, does that mean she's a liar? And a liar is an Akunin, right? Donna, are you an Akunin?"
"I've always acted honestly towards what I wanted. I don't recall ever lying to anyone so far."
Echidna replied without hesitation to the innocent and straightforward Typhon.
Echidna's rhetoric would not work on the young Typhon, and she knew that if she upset her, the lives of everyone there would be in danger.
The condemnation of the guilty and the judgment of sinners are merely part of the power of Typhon's "Pride."
However, seeing Typhon swell with understanding at Echidna's words as she walked that mental tightrope, the next to speak in a low voice was the witch buried in the fur ball.
"Hiding your true intentions, huh? It's not a lie, it's not an excuse, huh."
"Eh, Kidona-chan is really... a really troublesome child, isn't she...?"
"You guys..."
Echidna grimaced as she was hit with a barrage of fire, and the Witches who saw this loosened their jaws.
The only one looking at the situation with the corners of her eyes quirked was Minerva.
"Minerva, how long are you going to keep this cold attitude going, haha. This isn't something we all discussed and decided together, haha. I knew this would happen if the sage candidate showed up... haha."
"Shut up, I know that. We have properly agreed to the discussion. However, unlike you two, I am not in a position to compromise. I want you to understand that as well."
"It's normal for me to be with Tutu, but Metometo doesn't understand that. Aren't everyone wasting too much of their lives on things other than eating to survive?"
Minerva and Sekhmet both snorted in disapproval at Daphne's interruption.
Although the witches' tea party was relatively well-balanced, they were a gathering of people with strong willed natures. There were often times when their opinions did not match, and it was not uncommon for them to get into arguments like this.
Minerva, who was particularly quick to pick a fight with anyone, and Sekhmet, who hated conflict, would often get into skirmishes. Every time this happened, Daphne, who would get to the heart of the matter without reading the atmosphere, would get in the way. And it was common for the argument to end in a vague way.
Minerva was getting angry, Sekhmet was dealing with the situation, Daphne was interrupting, Carmilla was trying to calm Typhon down so he wouldn't explode, Echidna was watching it all with amusement, and Satella was watching over the six of them with a smile, seeing that they were safe.
Those were the days that once existed 400 years ago, and will never come again.
Satella went mad due to the witch factor, Minerva was trapped and died of madness, Carmilla was burned to ashes in a great fire, Daphne withered and died in the sea of sand, Typhon was drowned in a flood, Sekhmet slayed a dragon and fell into a great waterfall, and Echidna collected their souls and was also bound to the present world with only her soul.
It's an imperfect reproduction of those days that will never come back.
"Ekido, Na-chan...maybe, you look sad? You do, right?"
"Why? I have no reason to be sad. You are all here, and I have plenty of opportunities to interact with the outside world. I don't need anything."
"Is that okay? We are... just souls, so that's not the real us, right? We're... well, we're already dead. No one can really be with Echidna-chan, you know...?"
Echidna stammered for a moment as she listened to Carmilla's broken words.
--Having lost their physical bodies and becoming nothing more than souls, it was Echidna's power that gave them temporary bodies in the form of spirits.
A vessel is prepared and the soul resides within it.
However, their souls were frozen at the time of their deaths, and nothing has changed since then. Is the image of Carmilla gazing at Echidna right now really that of the real Carmilla?
She was drawing out the reactions of the soul from when it was alive, and then manipulating the body to make it act out - wasn't this a kind of puppet play brought about by Echidna's own desires?
In fact, they share Echidna's knowledge.
How could she be sure that this was not because their existence was generated from within Echidna? - Though she had already thought this through countless times.
"You're a bundle of self-love, so it's unusual for you to be worried about me, even though we're just friends. Perhaps you, too, have been influenced by his loudness and kindness?"
"I, I, don't, know, Echidna-chan, you idiot."
In response to Echidna's answer, which concealed her true feelings, Carmilla said this with a disappointed look on her face.
Echidna couldn't help but laugh at that response.
Echidna's attitude caused the witches, who had not previously paid any attention to her, to turn their attention in her direction.
Facing all their gazes, Echidna spread her arms wide,
"Well, the tea ceremony will once again be reserved for the witches alone for a while. After all, he – Natsuki Subaru – will probably never set foot here again."
"Are you okay with that? It's not like I want to worry about whether you'll feel lonely or not, but you did say something at the end, didn't you? You're bound to be picky about things like the price."
"Remuneration... Yes, there was that too. A farewell gift for him, as he is expected to face hardships――Would you all laugh at me if I said that?"
Echidna put her hand to her chin and thought deeply, while the other witches exchanged looks.
Then they nodded and spoke in unison,
"--not at all"
"Hmm, I guess I'm more highly regarded than I thought..."
"Because it would be impossible for you to help out without receiving any compensation."
Minerva declared with her arms crossed, and the other witches nodded in agreement.
Echidna closed her eyes at the sight of the girls breathing so in sync, then cleared her throat, and,
"I think there are a lot of issues that we need to discuss with you guys. Seriously, what do you guys think of me?"
"――――"
"Just, well."
In front of the silent witches, Echidna drank the contents of her cup, then seductively licked her lips with her red tongue,
"---You're not wrong at all, are you?"