"To be honest, Miss Aurora, I thought you would be the sort of person who wanted nothing more than to kill me."
Shade held out his hand. The witch hesitated before taking it, then said softly with a sigh:
"Why would I kill you? What would that gain me? Still, this is the first time I've shaken hands with a man since coming of age."
The witch's hand was quite soft, so Shade asked:
"How does my hand feel?"
"Your hand is very rough. Though it's recovering, I can tell you probably used to do heavy labor."
She withdrew her hand and beckoned toward the top of Shade's head. The little black spider jumped from his hair into her palm, then crawled onto her face and became an inconspicuous beauty mark beneath the corner of her eye.
"That spider was yours? Just now, did you really smell the scent of the ocean on me?"
"Of course. But it wasn't only because you had been to the seaside. It was also because you smelled like Fishmen. I originally thought that before coming here to Princess Leisha, you had fought Fishmen as well."
The witch said.
"The scent of merfolk? But I haven't encountered any Fishmen. Oh, I understand."
Shade thought for a moment before realizing it was because he still carried the Scales of the Drowned Mermaid. That meant the scales' original owner truly had been a follower of the Lord of the Scarlet Spiral, the evil god of the previous epoch.
The witch nodded.
"It's good that you understand. Remember to return the ring to me once this is over. Also, the strongest cultist underground is only at the sixth ring. I think that as long as you don't provoke it, you'll certainly be able to escape alive."
Thus ended