Ch. 110 Munchkin – Chapter 110
by AfuhfuihgsChapter 110
“From a distant kingdom, a princess.
I have recently heard rumors that you chased away bandits and raised the dead.
That was no coincidence.
I know your true identity.
Only I know who you truly are.
So come to my castle.
We can share all the secrets.
-Charlotte Bloodbell.”
“…”
Lucy frowned slightly as she looked at the letter.
The red ink was smudged, and the smell of ink brushed the tip of her nose.
“Why would something like this…”
Godwin spoke.
“It seems to be because of the rumors circulating about the princess lately.”
“Rumors?”
“The stories of you defeating the bandits, and… the rumors that you control skeletons, have spread even to the noble society.”
“Who on earth is spreading such rumors…”
At that moment, Camilla flinched beside her.
Camilla said with a slightly stiff expression.
“U-Um, I… talked about it a little…”
“…Huh?”
“S-Sorry… I wanted to brag about how amazing the princess is… I-I… I said unnecessary things…”
Camilla lowered her gaze.
Like a child who had done something wrong, she clutched the hem of her skirt and sobbed.
Lucy stared at Camilla for a moment, then quietly raised her hand and stroked Camilla’s hair.
“It’s okay. It’s not really a problem.”
“Really…?”
“Yeah. More than that, who sent this…”
Lucy looked at the invitation again.
There was a name scribbled in red at the bottom.
“Charlotte Bloodbell…”
As she murmured the name softly, Godwin spoke.
“Bloodbell is an old family from the frontier. Not long ago, the lord and his wife passed away while passing through the forest due to a monster attack. It happened so quickly… I heard there was no time to defend.”
“Ah…”
“Because of that, Miss Charlotte is now the sole heir to the family…”
Godwin paused for a moment.
Then, he spoke cautiously.
“After being alone… there are many rumors that she has become somewhat strange. There are rumors that she is obsessed with black magic, and some say she collects corpses in her room.”
Lucy quietly folded the invitation.
Collecting corpses in her room.
She suddenly didn’t want to go.
At that time, Camilla said.
“If it’s Charlotte Bloodbell, I’ve seen her before. I ran into her at a banquet. She was incredibly shy and hardly said anything… but her face was quite cute, I think.”
Instantly, Lucy’s eyebrows twitched.
She unfolded the invitation again and looked at it.
‘…Cute?’
◈
Lucy, riding Death Mount, left the city and rode far along a dense forest path.
After a while, a castle began to appear beyond a meadow where a faint mist spread.
Bloodbell Castle.
It looked moderately old and moderately ordinary.
Soon, Lucy arrived in front of the castle gate and handed the invitation to a soldier.
“I came at the invitation of Miss Charlotte Bloodbell.”
The soldier checked the invitation, nodded, and opened the castle gate.
“Please come inside.”
The castle was quiet.
A silence that made footsteps echo.
Then, someone approached from afar.
An elderly man with a plump, kind face.
“Welcome, Princess. I am Ramone, the butler of the Bloodbell family. Miss Charlotte is waiting for you in the dining hall.”
Even in Ramone’s gentle expression, there was a deep shadow of concern on his face.
He whispered softly to Lucy.
“If… Miss says something strange, I would be grateful if you could understand.”
Lucy nodded.
“Um, I understand.”
She followed Ramone to the dining hall.
Passing through a long corridor and opening a heavy wooden door, the smell of spices and warm meat wafted out.
A quiet dining hall with flickering candlelight.
A girl in a black dress sat alone at the end of the table.
Long hair reaching her waist.
A wine glass filled with red liquid in her hand.
When Lucy arrived, the girl seemed to be trying to create an atmosphere, but her face was flushed and cute.
As Lucy looked at the wine glass in the girl’s hand, Ramone leaned in and whispered.
“For your information, what Miss is holding is not alcohol. It’s pomegranate juice sold in the market. Miss likes it because it ‘looks like blood.’”
“Ah…”
At that moment, Charlotte slammed the wine glass down.
Her eyes widened, and she seemed about to jump up from her seat, but quickly hesitated and sat back down.
Her hands were carefully fidgeting on her lap.
Her eyes only briefly touched Lucy’s face across the table before quickly falling downward.
Ramone whispered to Lucy again.
“Miss… is very shy.”
Lucy quietly inhaled.
And she greeted Charlotte, who was sitting at the end of the table, frozen in shyness.
“Hello.”
“…!”
Charlotte flinched greatly and opened her mouth with a flushed face.
“H-Hello…”
Lucy sat down in a chair.
The food laid out on the table was quite fancy.
Meat and vegetables, soup, and freshly baked bread.
Charlotte picked up the wine glass again from across the table.
After taking a sip of pomegranate juice, she looked at Lucy with a strange gaze.
“F-First, eat…”
“Okay.”
Lucy quietly picked up a fork and took a piece of chicken from the stew on the edge.
Just as she was about to put it in her mouth, Charlotte muttered softly.
“That’s the arm of a young soldier…”
“?”
When Lucy raised her gaze, Ramone quickly whispered.
“It’s just chicken.”
Lucy nodded and ate the chicken.
Savory broth spread in her mouth.
This time, just as she was about to pick up bread, Charlotte said again.
“That’s dough made from the lungs of a young girl… I put fear and guilt together… Hehehe…”
Ramone whispered in her ear again.
“It’s normal flour with mashed potatoes. I also spread butter on it.”
Lucy chewed the bread and looked at Charlotte.
Charlotte was just staring at the wine glass with awkward eyes.
‘Cute.’
The meal continued in that way.
“That’s a martyr’s rib that took over six hours to bake…”
When Charlotte muttered like that,
“It’s just lamb ribs.”
Ramone corrected her.
As the meal was coming to an end, Charlotte emptied the last remaining pomegranate juice and slowly got up from her seat.
Her cheeks were still red, and her gaze hovered over the table before carefully reaching Lucy’s face.
“Now…”
Small lips opened.
“L-Let’s go to the real ritual place…”
“Ritual?”
Lucy tilted her head.
Charlotte nodded and reached out her hand.
The tips of her fingers were trembling slightly.
“This meal was just… the prologue. If you’re a real witch… you’ll be ready to open the next door.”
“Door?”
“…It’s a metaphor.”
Charlotte avoided her gaze as if embarrassed, then quickly looked straight at Lucy again.
“Follow me. From now on, our own… witch’s contract ritual will begin.”
Ramone spoke from the side.
“Miss, I’ll escort you to your room…”
At that moment, Charlotte quickly raised her arm and stopped Ramone.
“…No. Ramone, this is as far as you go.”
“But, Miss…”
“This is… the witch’s territory.”
Charlotte’s eyes became serious.
“Ordinary people… can’t handle it. Maybe… their minds will be crushed.”
“From what I see, I don’t think that will happen…”
“Shh.”
Charlotte narrowed her eyes and put her finger to her lips.
It was a careful gesture unique to a girl, but the clumsy determination within it was strangely firm.
In the end, Ramone sighed softly and bowed his head.
Charlotte reached out her hand to Lucy again.
“Then… let’s go… to the corridor of darkness…”
◈
Charlotte walked down the hallway with cautious and solemn steps.
Candlesticks were placed everywhere in the long corridor, and Charlotte went through a small ritual of slightly bowing her head each time she passed by them.
“This is… a place that no one comes to, even in the mansion… The Room of Truth, where only chosen witches can enter.”
“…Pfft.”
Lucy couldn’t help but laugh.
Charlotte frowned.
“Don’t laugh. There really is… something like that aura…”
Lucy nodded.
“Yeah. I think there is.”
After a while, they arrived at Charlotte’s room.
Charlotte grabbed the creaking doorknob and slowly opened the door.
Creak.
The room was very dark.
This was because the curtains were all drawn.
Small candles were lit on each wall, and strange objects were arranged here and there.
Charlotte pointed to the inside of the room with a serious expression.
“Here are… the remnants of souls I’ve collected.”
With those words, Lucy’s gaze landed on…
A paper mannequin covered with cloth but roughly in the shape of a person.
A glass bottle with dried chicken bones stuck in it.
A bear doll painted with dark red paint.
“This is… the arm of a sacrificed priest.”
Charlotte said, holding up the glass bottle.
“Sometimes when I shake it, the bone cries.”
“…That’s a chicken bone.”
“Anyway, it cries. If you listen… you’ll know.”
Lucy bit her lip tightly to hold back her laughter.
“And… there’s this one too.”
When Charlotte quietly gestured, something with black fur wriggled out from under the bed.
“This is… Acneros. A demon that eats souls.”
It was a black cat.
A cat with a large, round face and an impression that it was more interested in food than souls.
“Cute.”
“…No. Acneros is not cute. He is… a traitor of the heavens, a dark covenantor… Now only a part of his seal remains in this form.”
The cat came to Lucy and rubbed its face against her leg.
“Meow.”
Lucy reached out and stroked the cat’s back.
The cat purred, laid its belly on the floor, and rolled around.
Charlotte watched the scene and quietly added a word.
“It’s the first time Acneros has opened his heart so much…”
Lucy looked around the room for a moment and then slid open one side of the curtain.
A ray of sunlight streamed into the room from outside the window.
At that moment,
“Kaaaaaack…!”
Charlotte staggered, covering her face with both hands.
“N-No… The sunlight… the witch’s skin…!”
“Witches have nothing to do with sunlight.”
Lucy said, pulling the curtains wide open.
The room became much brighter.
Charlotte crouched down for a moment…
And then she cautiously looked at the sunlight through her fingers.
“I-It doesn’t matter…?”
“Yeah. It’s not witches who are weak to sunlight, it’s vampires.”
“S-Still, I don’t like sunlight… I’m a successor of darkness…!”
Lucy smiled and looked at Charlotte.
‘She’s really cute.’
Author Note
A/N (Author’s note):
Thank you for reading~!
Translator Note
T/N (Translator’s note):
Well, a child is a child, so it makes sense.New kid regardless.
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