Like I'd Bother Looking After You!

After "Hypnosis" and "psychological suggestion" ended, Cecilia curled her lips into a smile and snapped her fingers.

"All right, wake up~"

Ansu blinked, pretending to come back to his senses.

He looked helplessly at Cecilia, who had gone back to reading.

This Scum Witch's habit of hypnotizing people at the drop of a hat was seriously irritating. He needed to find a way to make her stop.

"Lady Witch..." A rare note of displeasure crept into his voice. "Is it really a good idea to cast magic in public like this?"

"Hmm?" Cecilia peeked out from behind her thick book. She glanced around the empty hall, then said with a smile:

"Don't worry. No one can detect my magical fluctuations. Have you forgotten what they call me?"

"The Ash Witch?" Ansu raised an eyebrow. "You mean you burn anyone who sees you to ashes?"

As long as I kill everyone, there won't be any witnesses, right?

Wasn't that a little... extreme?

Cecilia chuckled. "Do you really think The Church can't catch me because I burn all the evidence with magical flames? Of course not! Concealing your magic power is what matters most. Very few people in this world can detect my magical fluctuations."

Ansu could read an emotion called "pride" on her face.

According to Cecilia, any spell in this world would behave like an obedient little sprite as long as she wanted to learn it. Controlling and concealing magic power came as easily to her as eating and drinking.

The exception was when she cast relatively high-level forbidden dark magic. There was no hiding those powerful surges of magic power, but she proudly declared that no one had ever forced her to reveal her trump cards.

Ansu sighed inwardly. Cecilia truly deserved her reputation as the most gifted mage since the Great Magic Collapse a thousand years ago.

With her being so powerful, he didn't even know how to "cut ties" with her.

Given her personality, if she found out he had been deceiving her all along, she would surely hunt him to the ends of the earth, right up until the end of the world...

Besides, setting aside his eventual escape, Ansu was worried that this moody Scum Witch might suddenly go off the rails and hypnotize him again.

After all, if the effect was interrupted, it would no longer count as "a single magical effect."

Ansu instinctively studied Cecilia's expression.

Bright afternoon sunlight fell across her cheeks. Cecilia read the thick ancient tome intently, her lips sometimes pressing together, sometimes curving slightly upward...

He didn't know why, but she really did seem to be in a good mood today.

And she had found a book she enjoyed, so he should be safe for a little while...

Today, Ansu could sense a subtle change in Cecilia's attitude toward him. Everything seemed to be "looking up"...

But! Ansu still didn't dare trust her.

He would never place his fate under Cecilia's "control." This witch had never developed a normal person's values, let alone any conventional sense of morality.

The Scum Witch surely saw him as nothing more than a "toy." But even a favorite toy... was still a toy, wasn't it?

Hah, what a nasty woman...

Who could ever fall for a Scum Witch like her?

Certainly not me.

The two of them spent the rest of the afternoon in the library.

Ansu and Cecilia occasionally chatted, so he gained a rough idea of what she was looking for. She seemed to be searching for the legendary "treasure of the Demon Army."

Supposedly, at the end of the Demon Calamity War, the allied forces of humans and demi-humans surrounded the remnants of the Demon Army on the fringes of the continent. The Demon Army buried the enormous wealth it had plundered over the years in a hidden location, hoping to make a comeback someday.

For a thousand years, people had tried to find this treasure, but their efforts usually came to nothing. Over time, it had become a legend.

As a player, however, Ansu naturally knew where the treasure was. It was a high-level dungeon, one that featured in Cecilia's later storyline and served as a turning point in her fate.

"Are you short on money, Lady Witch?" Ansu remembered the "great undertaking" she was always talking about.

"I'm not interested in money. What interests me is the magical literature the Demons looted from all those ancient kingdoms." Cecilia gently turned a page.

"They say those magical texts are extremely precious. They might even allow us to recover the lost legacy of ancient magic."

"Oh, I thought you wanted to restore the Demons to their former glory, Lady Witch." Ansu nodded. Although Cecilia had Demon blood, she really wasn't interested in power. Her goal had always been to explore the mysteries of magic and grow stronger.

Unfortunately, fate liked to play cruel jokes. In the story, the harder she tried, the more cruel truths she uncovered, until she gradually sank into despair and became an enemy of the entire world...

Oblivious to the fate that awaited her, Cecilia quietly lifted her head and joked with Ansu with a smile.

"Still, if I really did inherit the Demons' treasure..."

Her lively eyes darted about. "Wouldn't that make me the Demon Queen? What office should I grant you then...?"

"You can be the Demon Queen, and I'll be your Demon Chancellor."

"But you're not a Demon?"

Ansu pursed his lips. You're taking this pretty seriously...

"But..." Cecilia smiled. "Since you're so loyal to me, I could make you king of the humans and have you govern this vast human realm on my behalf."

Ansu gave a couple of dry laughs. Now he was going to become a traitor to humanity...

At dusk, the setting sun outside the windows bathed the quiet campus in its glow.

When closing time came, the librarian walked over to remind them. Cecilia reluctantly put the book back, then left the Royal Academy with Ansu.

"I really had fun today. It's been ages since I last felt this relaxed~"

Cecilia stretched, looking lazily at Ansu beside her. "Oh, right. I should remind you to be careful on your way home from now on."

"You mean..." Ansu frowned slightly.

"Although your quick thinking stopped Mary from getting her way last time, the elders behind her won't let it go," Cecilia said.

Ansu remembered the elder of The Order who could turn into insects. Although Cecilia had brutally killed him in the simulation, he was still alive and well now.

After Ansu left Cecilia's residence that day, she must have met with Mary. Given Cecilia's vindictive nature, Mary was probably done for.

With that gap in their information, Elder Hall might not know what had happened. He could still be thinking about stuffing insects into Ansu's mouth to spy on Cecilia...

"Your neighborhood is so lawless, so you need to stay alert," Cecilia warned him. "I don't want the Council of Elders' infighting to drag you into it."

"In that case..." Ansu suggested with a smile, "why don't you escort me home, Lady Witch?"

Since she was in a good mood, Ansu decided to be direct for once.

He had no choice. He valued his life, and he certainly didn't think he could take on the insect elder with just two zero-circle spells...

"Escort you home?" Cecilia paused, then nodded slightly. "Sure, taking you home would be no..."

But halfway through, her expression changed, and her pretty face suddenly turned cold.

"Of course not!"

Cecilia glared at Ansu irritably. "Don't push your luck! I'm the great Ash Witch, and I have so many great undertakings to attend to. How would I have time to act as your personal bodyguard?"

"Hmph! Like I'd bother looking after you... Anyway, go home on your own!"

Ansu was rather speechless at how abruptly her mood had changed.

The Scum Witch certainly puts on airs!

"Fine, don't protect me, then..."

Ansu silently headed toward the steam bus, muttering to himself as he walked.

"I won't waste your precious time, Lady Witch. My worthless little life could never be worth as much as your time..."

Behind him, Cecilia waved goodbye with a playful laugh. "This is a test of your wits and magical skills. Good luck! Don't disappoint me~"

Ansu boarded the crowded commuter vehicle without looking back.

Belching choking black smoke, the steam bus slowly headed toward the Black Port District in the light of the setting sun.

Cecilia watched the vehicle recede into the distance and pursed her lips.

"Hmph. You really are a troublesome one..."

She quietly followed the steam bus.