Even the howling wind could not drown out the corpse's voice in Claire's ear. The corpse had no breath, so its words produced no warm air against her ear:
"Because of many previous events, the Great Witches of the Witch Council were not doing very well. As for that very powerful friend, I met her here after returning home upon receiving a letter from Grandfather. She was very powerful. If she had been here too, I would not have died in the Snow Mountain, but she temporarily left the island to deal with other matters."
The tone of the corpse, which had been speaking calmly all along, rarely wavered:
"She has probably already heard the news and is rushing back from outside the island. I cannot bear to see how sad she will be when she discovers this corpse. She is a lonely girl. At least I had Stella, Grandfather, my own people, and companions in the Council."
"The Council does not count. But she has nothing left by her side. Although she said she had a cat she was not very close to, I do not believe her."
For a moment, Claire did not know what to say. She wanted to ask who this "lonely friend" of hers was; judging by the pronouns, it was definitely not Shade. She also wanted to know what other powers Mr. Snake possessed, but it sounded as though her own experience had been different.
"Do I really not have even the slightest strength to resist? I am Eleventh Rank, after all."
That was what she finally asked, but the corpse denied it:
"No, I was not Eleventh Rank. I was a Twelfth Rank Great Witch, and I had already seen the edge of the Thirteenth Order."
"You—"
"Without such power, it would have