Chapter 0 – The Witch and Her Apprentice (1)

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I had reincarnated into the world of the [Aria Chronicle] series, a game that had enjoyed steady popularity since the 20th century.

It was a long-running JRPG that maintained its popularity through sequels, spin-offs, and side stories. Despite being beloved by many gamers in Japan, it flopped spectacularly every time it tried to launch globally.

Yet, it was a game that had made its name known to gamers worldwide at least once.

With its JRPG characteristics and the masochistic difficulty of its battles, it built a solid fanbase. It also attracted the attention of non-JRPG players by showcasing its decade-long narrative and romance options in its promotional videos.

The slow-burning love story between a man and a woman.
Some users even said it would’ve been better off as a dating sim.

The romance options of the supporting characters were scattered throughout the story, immersing players in the narrative.
However, the difference between the main and supporting characters was whether they could avoid their death flags…

“I’ll propose to her once this war is over.”

“If I die, can you deliver this letter for me?”

“Once this battle ends, let’s all go see the ocean together.”

Even though these lines were clichés, many users criticized them because it became too clear who would live and who wouldn’t.

To counter the negative reactions from the community, the director flipped the clichés, creating bizarre situations where the roles of main and supporting characters were reversed.

Characters that players cared about would suddenly die or turn evil, making it hard to deeply invest in them.

After enough time has gone by, no one cared about the fantasy setting, heroes, or demons anymore.

By the time the story reached a timeline where the demon king became the hero’s mother, players were voting on which heroine had the most “mom energy”, who had the highest “main wife potential”, and how many women the protagonist would seduce this time.

Or whether the childhood friend’s mom or even her aunt would be a suitable candidate for the heroine.

Honestly, as long as the heroine was appealing, it didn’t matter who it was.

When I encountered a female character who, after being saved just once, demanded that a man with no connection to her take responsibility for her “fallen womb”, I lost my temper and smashed my monitor.

[Aria Chronicle is finally going downhill lol]

Author: Pure Love Lovers Club
‘Where is the pure love that Floria and Agnes showed by defying the world?
Where is the pure love that Zeke Fricks showed by breaking the laws of the world and saving the Witch of the End?!
And now the main heroine is making womb jokes…?
If the world ends tomorrow, know that it’s because of Aria Chronicle.’

After posting this on the community board, I immediately lay down on my bed. I had rushed home after hearing about the new release, enduring my manager’s disapproving looks to leave work early.

I don’t want to go to work tomorrow….

I shouldn’t have smashed my monitor.

Burying my face in the pillow, I tried to shake off the regret that came way too late.

I realized it was time to let go of Aria Chronicle.

You were the one who seduced me first. You were the one who lured me in with pure love….

Even if you remake the previous games, just give me pure love. Give me sweet romance.

No, don’t even bother remaking them.

“What’s left to live for now?”

Tomorrow, I’ll start my day refreshed by my manager’s nagging.
There’s no use worrying about what’s already happened.
I should just sleep.

“Goo goo ga ga…”

Would you believe me if I said I woke up as a baby who could only say “goo goo ga ga”?

 

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By the time I turned 10, I had come to understand my reality and found myself stroking my chin, lost in deep thought.

I was grateful that this world was the world of [Aria Chronicle].

Having experienced a reincarnation straight out of a web novel, I imagined a second life filled with happiness and plans for the future.

But what’s the point of knowing the path to a happy future if there’s no way to get there right now?

First, I was an orphan abandoned by my parents. I was picked up by a passing lumberjack and grew up healthy for a while, but the fact that I had no connections was frustrating.

Why couldn’t I have been chosen by a god, picked up by a dragon, or adopted by a great wizard? Isn’t that common?

Second, I, who was a man in my past life, had been reborn as a woman. At first, I was confused by the absence of my “precious thing”, but since I had already lived as a man, I thought living as a woman wouldn’t be so bad and decided not to make a big deal out of it.

However, being born as a woman in Aria Chronicle with no proper lineage, connections, or talent meant my future was limited to becoming a farmer’s or lumberjack’s wife, living a life of endless childbirth with no breaks.

Except for one in ten thousand.

And that one had to be me.

After coming this far, am I supposed to live an ordinary life? I’d rather die.

Third, [Aria Chronicle] was a dangerous world that, despite its popularity for pure love, was a place where main and supporting characters alike could be killed off if you let your guard down.

There were no special powers for reincarnators, no status windows or stats to call up in the air.

At the very least, they could’ve told me what talents I had.

Finally, the most important problem of all was that this was 300 years before the first series of Aria Chronicle began.

When the lumberjack uncle told me about the founding of the Holy Kingdom, I fell backward, my mind going blank.

The Holy Kingdom was founded 300 years before the original story.

In other words, if I lived as an ordinary human, I wouldn’t even get to see the pure love of the original story. Instead, I’d have to endure an uncomfortable fantasy agrarian life with my modern mindset, living in unsanitary conditions until my death.

I’m screwed.

Think. Recall the knowledge I had gained from the original story. Among the legends, quests, and tales that form the worldbuilding of Aria Chronicle, is there a way for me to live long and gain power…?

“Estelle, if you’re not busy, could you help me move some firewood?”

Just then, the lumberjack uncle came into the house, shaking off his old, rain-soaked robe.

A robe? That must mean he’s a staff-wielding wizard. I imagined him waving his robe, raising his staff high, and casting area-of-effect magic. But could I even get close to the Magic Tower without connections or confirmed talent?

Even if I had become proficient in magic, I’d have to live to be 300 years old, cackling “keke hoho” like an old hag, which I absolutely refused!

I wanted to become immortal. To wield magic that’s only possible in a fantasy world!

“I’ve decided. I’m going to become a witch!”

“So, you were driven out.”

“That’s right. By my own will.”

“It doesn’t seem like it was your will, Lady Estelle.”

Kids these days are so perceptive.

While chatting with my cute assistant, Josie, the cauldron emitted pink smoke.
This is it. I’ve finished brewing all the potions I thought were necessary, inspired by the original story.

Just one sip of this radiant pink liquid should be enough to work its magic.
Behold, the Elixir of Love!

A hundred years have passed since I was driven out.

Now, as a full-fledged witch with an assistant, I’ve become so renowned in this area that I’ve attracted the attention of inquisitors.

But so what?

The ordinary country girl from 100 years ago is no more.

To tell you a bit more about the old days, I eventually sought out the Witch of the West and became her apprentice, growing into a proper witch.

I still vividly remember crawling on the ground, too weak to walk, when I finally reached the Witch of the West’s house.

‘I want to become a witch.’

After that, I became her apprentice and endured all kinds of hardships.

But compared to what I gained, it was a small price to pay.

Using the witch’s teachings and ideas from the original story, I spent my time brewing poison apples, elixirs, and potions straight out of fairy tales.

With this apple, I’ll eliminate all the impurities hindering pure love! Hehehe.

When I achieved immortality through the Witch of the West’s final teachings, preserving my 19-year-old appearance forever, tears blurred my vision.

‘I taught you the secrets to immortality, but that’s a curse, you brat.’

I missed the witch, who had scolded me with a mix of irritation and anger when I became immortal.

She’s immortal too, yet she lectures me.

I wonder what that woman is up to now.

I stood up, my body drenched in sweat from the heat of the cauldron.

I wanted to take a shower. An indoor hot water shower, something rare in a fantasy world!

Using magic, I recreated most of the comforts of modern life, so as long as I had mana, I could enjoy a life similar to the modern era.

Taking off my clothes and infusing mana, warm water sprayed from the showerhead.
My pink hair, which reached my thighs, and my impressive chest.

In my past life, I fully resented the term “flat-chested,” so I drank a potion from my master’s treasure vault that made breasts grow.

Thanks to that, I almost passed out in shock when my master grabbed my now more abundant chest.

Ding ding!

That incident gave me an idea.

If breasts could grow, wouldn’t that be the perfect love potion?

After all, there’s no man in the world who dislikes a woman with large breasts!

Well, except for some beasts, but I didn’t think they deserved to even be mentioned.

“Josie, you didn’t secretly drink that potion, did you?”

As I finished my shower and changed into fresh clothes, I warned Josie, who was eyeing the pink potion in the cauldron.

A loli with huge breasts? Unforgivable.

“I’m not a reckless kid who’d mess with an unknown potion.”

Josie replied with a pout, neatly arranging the potions in a box.

“Hmm~ Acting all mature.”

“Since Lady Estelle acts like a child, I have to act like an adult.”

Her refusal to back down was adorable.

I found Josie three years ago in a ruined village while gathering herbs that grow on human corpses.

I usually had a contract with a village to supply them regularly, but for some reason, the supply had been cut off.

Josie was standing guard over her parents’ graves, holding a charred wooden stick. Tears and snot streamed down her face, and her hands and feet trembled with fear, but she gripped the stick tightly as a last act of defiance.

The herbs growing on the graves were valuable, but herbs were also growing from the wounds on her body. The wounds had festered and begun to rot.

‘Will you give me that flower?’

I carefully removed the herbs covering the burns on Josie’s face, half of which was covered in burn scars, and gently stroked her head.

I could’ve just trampled over the girl and taken the herbs, but I needed an assistant, and after living alone for so long, I must’ve been lonely.

Making up all sorts of excuses in my head, I took the girl’s cold hand.

As I reminisced about my first meeting with Josie, she finished organizing the potions and was reading a fairy tale from the bookshelf.

Snow White.

During my seclusion, I had written books imitating fairy tales from my past life to pass the time, and this was one of them.

“Do you like handsome princes too, Josie?”

“It’s not necessarily the prince that’s good.”

“Then what is it?”

“Just… the way they risk danger for a princess they don’t even know. Even if the princess is asleep and doesn’t know, I admire that.”

I was stunned by her mature response for a 10-year-old, but I felt proud of Josie’s broad perspective and stroked her silver hair.

Her bangs, grown long to cover her burn scars, quickly slipped out of my hand.

“Then what about me, who loves you so much?”

“I don’t like Lady Estelle.”

Hearing it directly was a bit disappointing, but not losing my smile is the charm of an adult.

“This witch is sad~ If my cute assistant would just say one nice word, I’d feel better right away.”

“Even then, no.”

Our banter made for a fairly happy daily life.

Although I was born too early to see the pure love I wanted, bickering with Josie made each day pass without boredom.

Once Josie grows up and becomes independent, and falls in love with someone, I might become a strict mother-in-law!

“Grow up well, Josie.”

“Even if I grow up, I won’t be as delicious as you’d like, Lady Witch.”

She’s already moved on to Hansel and Gretel.

“No way~ You look so delicious~ I could just gobble you up~!”

Translator Note

Josie’s actual name is supposed to be Joshua (조슈아, josyua), but I have taken the creative liberty to change it to its closest feminine equivalent that I could think of. If you have better suggestions, including reverting the name back to its original version just to be faithful to the source material, then be sure to comment your thoughts down below! See ya~