Japan Sinking, Is That For Real?

"You haven't investigated this for all these years?"

Fujino gave Koizumi Akako a skeptical look. "With your abilities, it should be quite simple to track these things down, right? And they hunt you—don't you witches even fight back?"

"It's not that we didn't want to, but that we were powerless."

Koizumi Akako sighed, a trace of helplessness flashing in her eyes. "Centuries ago in Europe, besides our Red Magic lineage, there were many other magical traditions... Some of our prominent figures befriended them, using magic to help them and the local people. For a time, that kept wizards, witches, and warlocks from being slaughtered as heretics. We each supported and held our own spheres of influence, so naturally, our opinions were not unified."

"At the same time, however, Europe erupted in unprecedented natural disasters, the Black Death, and all sorts of wars and plagues, while witches and wizards were blamed as the source of these calamities... For its own interests, the Holy See used this to incite the populace and the authorities into slaughtering us. Neither ordinary people nor witches escaped unscathed."

"When the Holy See's purge arrived, we were still arguing among ourselves. In the end, most of the witches and warlocks were thoroughly slaughtered, and the survivors fled Europe for various countries. That is how our Red Magic lineage came to Japan..."

At this, Koizumi Akako straightened her expression, putting on her witch's airs once more, and said earnestly, "Compared to seeking revenge on the Holy See, ensuring that the Red Magic lineage continues to be passed down is what a true orthodox successor of Red Magic ought to do."

"Oh... I get it."

Fujino understood immediately.

Basically, the witches had been slaughtered to the point of developing psychological trauma.

As a proud (tsundere) witch, she certainly wouldn't