Chapter 13: 13

Chapter 13

From time to time, Elizabeth would dream.

And after waking up she would always tell her mother about it.

“Mom, I met mister elephant in my dream yesterday!”

“Really? Then should we go to the zoo today?”

“Wow! Really? I’ll get dressed now.”

Her mother had always fulfilled her dreams.

When cotton candy appeared in her dream, her mother would buy her cotton candy, and when dolls appeared, her mother would buy her a doll.

So before going to bed every night she would eagerly wish for a pleasant dream.

“Hehe. It’s like magic! Mom always makes my dreams come true.”

“You didn’t know? Mom is actually a magician~ So my darling, what kind of dream do you want to have today?”

“Hmm…Oh! I hope pork cutlets appear in my dream today!”

“Then we better buy the ingredients in advance, right?”

“Right! Right!”

That very night. In her dream, she saw her mother hospitalized.

“My darling…I’m sorry mom is sick. I was supposed to make you pork cutlets today.”

“N-no! It’s my fault that mom is sick because I keep making you tired…So I’ll make you pork cutlets when you get better.”

“Huhu…What a good daughter.”

But her mother grew weaker and weaker.

A rare disease without a name.

No matter what treatment was used, it was all useless.

Her appearance became like that of a plant whose roots had already dried up.

“My darling…if mom dies…Uncle’s words…You have to listen well, okay?”

“No! Mom won’t die! You can’t say that!”

“Huhu…my lovely…daughter, I’m…sorry I can’t stay with you longer…Keuk!”

“M-mom! No! Y-you can’t die!”

And then…The day she saw her mother die in her dream.

Elizabeth knew that her dream had become a reality.

From then on, she became afraid of the night.

* * *

A certain kind of dream. An irresistible nightmare that repeats every day.

It always begins with a green mist appearing above a city.

The light green powder continues to fall from the sky as it mysteriously wraps around the city as if being blessed by a fairy.

All the while its citizens watch on vacantly at the beautiful scenery.

[No! Quickly run away!]

Elizabeth cried out. But her voice couldn’t reach them.

Meanwhile, the green powder completely blanketed the city.

Children, adults, men, women. Everyone breathed in the green powder.

[Ah, no!]

People collapsed helplessly on the ground as dark green grass began to sprout from their bodies.

“Keuaak!”

“S-save me!”

Screams filled every corner of the city that had fallen into chaos.

[P-please stop! Stop!]

There was nothing she could do as she watched the ongoing horror. It was just an empty scream that no one could hear.

“Waah! Mom!”

A child who had lost his parents was crying by himself.

[It’s dangerous here! Please run away!]

But the child didn’t move. He cried and embraced the pine tree next to him as the screams around him grew.

And soon…The child too, had turned into a pine tree.

[Why…why is this happening!?]

Facing the scene, she closed her eyes tightly.

Meanwhile, plants continued to sprung up endlessly. The world was gradually dyed by the color green.

[Please…Someone please help me!]

Even though she knew no one could hear her, and even though she knew it was a dream that she’ll soon wake up from…

She yelled.

However, like always, her dream was running toward its end. Everywhere was being overtaken by the forest, and the gray city was gradually returning to nature.

The nightmare will soon end. And maybe someday, this landscape in her dream will become a reality.

[I couldn’t stop it this time either…]

A dream that always repeats. An unpreventable fate.

She was helpless in front of it. The only thing she could do was experience the pain ahead of others.

[I can’t even stop it anyway…Why show these scenes to me only…?]

At the moment she became frustrated, in front of her, she noticed a different scene than usual.

There was an unidentified beast. A monster emitting an ominous energy that’s difficult to describe in words.

It was leisurely looking at the growing trees in the middle of the green city.

[There’s never been a scene like this before…]

She carefully approached the beast and spoke.

[By any chance…Can you hear me?]

She looked at the beast and wondered if it could really hear her voice.

It was a small change, but it was the first difference in this world.

So she shouted.

[Please help me!]

[If this continues, everyone will die!]

[We don’t have much time left!]

The beast opened its big mouth and laughed. Before long, it began spewing hot flames from its mouth.

Black smokes covered the sky as the fierce flames burned the forest from all sides.

Then…The unknown beast smiled brightly at the burning forest.

As if I were going to burn everything in the world.

After everything was burned, the beast turned away without care.

[S-save me too!]

She shouted desperately.

[Please take me out of here!]

But the beast disappeared farther and farther away, as if it couldn’t hear her voice.

Soon, Elizabeth slowly woke up.

* * *

“Ha…”

Elizabeth let out a small sigh with a disappointed look.

‘In the end, it didn’t show up today either.’

A strange beast had suddenly appeared in her dream one day. So over several days, she forced herself to sleep with the hope of meeting it again.

However, after that day, only the same nightmare repeated and the beast she had hoped to see hasn’t appeared.

‘What the hell was that…?’

Scenes from that time were still vivid in her mind.

The way the beast was happily laughing alone in the huge flame as if it was going to swallow the world.

She thought maybe it would be the one to release her from this curse, but seeing that nothing has changed in her life since then, she realized that her expectations might have been unwarranted.

“…I want to live freely too.”

She got out of bed and stood in front of a mirror. Reflected in the mirror was an adult woman with full features.

‘My body has grown this much, so why am I…’

It has already been 20 years since her mother passed away and she began living with her uncle.

For an elf, she had reached adulthood last year, but she was still afraid of the coming nights like a child.

‘Why am I the only one suffering like this…?’

Even though she asks herself this every day, she still couldn’t find a reason.

Others might be envious of her who can see the future, but to her, it was a curse that couldn’t be escaped.

Knowing the future but still powerless to change it…Rather, it seems to only be an emotional burden.

“Haa…”

A deep sigh leaked out. And then,

Click–

A man opened the door without knocking and entered the room.

An elf in his mid 50s who gave off a scholarly atmosphere. It was her uncle, Rastus.

“U-uncle?”

“…”

Rastus looked at Elizabeth standing in front of the mirror silently for a while. Soon, he closed the door and approached her.

“You’re becoming more and more like your mother, Elizabeth.”

Saying so, Rastus slowly swept her hair aside.

“I-is that so?”

“Wait a little longer. ‘That day’ isn’t too far away now…”

Thinking of the ‘day’ Rastus was referring to, Elizabeth trembled a little. She felt as if her whole body was crawling with bugs.

Gently pushing away the hand that had been caressing her, she changed the subject nonchalantly.

“W-what brings uncle here this morning…?”

“I’m here to regulate your physical condition.”

“R-regulate?”

In front of the nervous Elizabeth, Rastus took out an ampoule bottle containing a black liquid.

“Oh…”

After seeing it, Elizabeth spat out a small groan.

The bottle Rastus was currently holding in his hand was extracted from a plant called the ‘Flower of Shadow’ that had come from the otherworld, and it was one of her least favorite drugs because of the terrible pain.

“You might not like it, but endure it. This is a necessary procedure.”

“…Yes.”

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For his personal goal, Rastus has been molding his young niece’s body for a long time.

And because of that, Elizabeth has gained numerous mysterious abilities, such as being able to listen to the voices of plants and controlling shadows. However, she had never wanted these abilities.

“Okay, take off your clothes and lie on the bed.”

“N-now?”

“…I have a lot to deal with today. It won’t take too long, so hurry up and lie down.”

As the planned ‘day’ drew near, the frequency of Rastus regulating her body had gradually increased.

Elizabeth hated these times of entrusting herself to her uncle.

“…I understand.”

Elizabeth’s long ears were dyed red as she began to take off her pajamas piece by piece.

The beautiful and immaculate white skin was explicitly revealed under the bright sunlight.

If someone had been watching this secretly, they would never have been able to avert their eyes.

However, like a dry tree, Rastus looked at Elizabeth’s body with an emotionless look.

It was as if he was inspecting a machine for repair.

Lying on the bed with her chest covered, she asked in a trembling voice.

“T-today… How long will it take?”

“Didn’t I just say? It won’t take too long.”

With that said, Rastus opened the lid of the bottle and poured the liquid over Elizabeth’s body.

Sticky, black liquid flowed down the curve of her body little by little.

Shortly after.

“Keuk!”

From the pores all over her body, liquids of the same color as those from the bottle began to flow out.

Elizabeth frowned and bit her lips to endure the pain, but soon after, with the feeling of her body being ripped apart, she screamed.

“Aahh! S-stop!! I-it hurts, uncle!”

Ignoring her cries, Rastus checked the data on his tablet with a calm expression.

“Hmm…the assimilation rate is quite stable, and the output remains unchanged as well. If it’s this much, it’s okay to push the limit for the time being.”

“Agh! U-uncle! P-please…”

For a while, Elizabeth’s cries continued.

By the time the endless screams seemed to have subsided, Rastus put his tablet away and spoke.

“Good job. There’s nothing else on the schedule today, so take a good rest in your room.”

After saying so, he left the room without batting an eye.

And soon, the black liquids that flowed out of Elizabeth’s skin slowly permeated into her body.

“Haak…haak…”

It was only then that Elizabeth could catch her breath. In the lone room, only the sound of her panting resonated.

Her face was covered with sweat and tears.

‘…I don’t want to do this anymore.’

Hellish days that began after her mother died. Like what her mother had said, her uncle definitely cared for her.

But it wasn’t warm love. It was closer to taking care of a cherished tool.

And as a tool, she might one day be used to kill countless people.

‘I’d disappear first before I let that happen…’

If that’s the case, she thought at least she’ll be able to delay her uncle’s plan a little longer…

Without wearing any clothes, she stared blankly at the ceiling for a while.

She wasn’t thinking about anything in particular, but strangely enough, tears began to flow.

As if she was in a deep swamp, she felt as if her whole body was slowly sinking into the bed.

‘I wish someone would take me out.’

After an unknown amount of time. She sensed that outside had become noisy all of a sudden.

‘What is it…?’

She slightly turned her head and looked out the window.

A fire was seen rising from far away. It was a huge flame similar to the one she had seen in her dream.

“W-wah?!”

Surprised, she wiped away her tears and jumped to her feet.

‘Why is there a fire all of a sudden? Over there is the garden, so wasn’t it thoroughly managed by uncle?’

All sorts of thoughts passed her mind, but none made sense.

“F-fire! 119! 119! N-no! First of all, I need to wet a towel…”

The moment she was in a hurry and recalling her evacuation training…

She noticed an unidentified liquid seeping through the ventilation window.

“W-wah?!”

The liquid was moving from place to place and flowing down slowly as if it was alive.

‘What’s that? What did uncle do this time…?’

Wary of the liquid, she slowly stepped back.

Once the liquid finally invaded the room, it gradually fused together as its form began to change.

Then at some point, the liquid had turned into a boy who looked to be 12 years old.

“?!”

The boy looked around the room slowly, then he asked Elizabeth.

“Are you Elizabeth?”

“B-before that…Who are you?”

The boy stared at her for a moment before curling his lips and smiling.

That smile…Elizabeth thought it somehow resembled the beast she had seen in her dream.

* * *

After setting the garden on fire, I took advantage of the confusion to infiltrate the mansion.

Fortunately, there were no traps or traces of magic inside.

I’ll start from the upper floors and make my way down for now.

I climbed up to the third floor’s ventilation window.

However, the mansion was so large and spacious that despite me having searched for a long time, not even half of it had been explored.

This is going to be troublesome…

As soon as I thought to change my strategy,

— Aahh…

I heard a faint scream in the distance. It had come from the west side of the building opposite to where I was. I guess I better start there.

As I slowly moved towards that building, I saw a man leaving the room inside just as I was about to enter.

The scream belonged to a woman, so there are at least two people.

Fortunately, the timing was good. If I had entered a little earlier, it might have been a 1v2 situation.

But just in case, I waited for a moment before sliding into the room.

And then…

There was an elf woman, who looked to be in her early 20s, standing naked.

At that moment, I heard a pleasant notification in my ears.

Ding–!

[Condition for the Challenge – Flower of Shadow (Chain Quest) has been met.]

[Find the ‘Flower of Shadow’ (Completed).]

So it was here.

There seems to be a ‘Flower of Shadow’ somewhere in this room. But unfortunately, the Challenge wasn’t over yet.

[Challenge updated.]

[Challenge – Flower of Shadow (Chain Quest).]

Condition: Save ‘Elizabeth.’

Period: 3 months.

Reward: 1x Random Box (Medium).

Like I thought, there’s no way it would end so easily…

For a Challenge that rewarded a medium-grade box, it would have been strange for it to end here.

Ignoring the woman in front of me, I read the explanation again.

Then…

Elizabeth…? I think I’ve heard of this name somewhere before. But where was it?

It felt like it was on the tip of my tongue. So for now I asked the woman in front of me.

“Nuna, is your name Elizabeth?”

“T-that…Who the hell are you?”

Fortunately, it seems this woman is dense. Anyway, looking at her now, her appearance looks somewhat familiar.

I looked her up and down.

Long black hair that comes down to the waist, a gentle face that’s hard to look away from, and…even the bright red eyes that sparkle like rubies.

Although she was a good-looking woman, there was no one in particular that came to mind as I stared at her.

But, her black hair and red eyes were strangely annoying.

Wait…An elf with black hair?

At that moment, the voice of a deep husky woman passed through my mind.

[Huhu. Baby, to meet you here again?]

The first villain to have the ‘black’ grade before me, and a leech-like woman who once followed me around in a disgusting way.

…The Black Witch, Elizabeth.

Once again, I looked the elf in front of me up and down.

The atmosphere is completely different from then, but slowly looking at her features, my guess seems to be right.

But, what the hell is this woman doing here?

Because of the stark contrast, I stared at her blankly for a while.

She covered her body with her hands and blushed.

“C-can you not stare at me like that?”

“…”

The infamous witch was acting like a little girl.

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To be honest, it was unimaginable even though I’m seeing it with my own eyes. This pathetic woman will grow into an SS villain in the next 15 years…

“As expected…It’s fun.”

My brain started to move as I thought of ways to deal with the fellow in front of me.

== Translator’s Note ==

1. Please report any typos, grammatical/spelling errors, sentences you find weird, and other etc…in the comment section.

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