Chapter 33

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‘Wh-what on earth…’

Oswin looked around with a face full of terror.

The surroundings were littered with the corpses of guards.

Each of them had their heads gruesomely torn off.

Even though they were just guards, they were elites tasked with protecting the bishop’s mansion.

For such individuals to be annihilated in an instant…

The one who slaughtered the guards was a demon.

It stood about 2 meters tall.

Its entire body was as black as a shadow.

A sleek, muscular build.

Eyes that glowed red.

Its mouth was large enough to fit a human head in one bite, and the demon used that massive mouth to chew off the guards’ heads, crunching them one by one.

Then, it lowered its body and pressed its head against the witch.

As if asking for praise.

Pat-pat—

The witch gently stroked the demon’s head with her small, delicate hand.

There was something strangely mesmerizing about the gesture, and Oswin momentarily lost himself.

“What are you staring at?!”

Thud!

At that moment, a powerful impact struck Oswin’s abdomen.

The undead who was dragging him had punched him in the stomach.

“Ugh!”

Overwhelmed by the unbearable pain, Oswin dropped to his knees.

His internal organs must have been damaged, as blood surged up his throat.

“Ugh… ugh…”

Oswin clutched his stomach with his one remaining arm, writhing in agony.

The undead spoke to him in a cold voice.

“If you dare look at our master with those filthy eyes one more time, I’ll pluck both of them out. Understood?”

“…Y-yes, I understand.”

Oswin answered with a pale face.

He knew the undead were cursed, evil beings, but he hadn’t expected them to be this extreme.

A moment later, Oswin was forced to kneel before the witch.

The witch asked in a soft voice.

“Where is Ellie?”

Thud. Thud.

Lucy followed Oswin into the mansion.

Oswin’s mansion was incredibly luxurious.

Expensive-looking artworks hung on the walls, and a dazzling chandelier shone from the ceiling.

The floor was polished marble, and everywhere, furniture adorned with gold was arranged.

What was unusual was the group of girls who came out to greet them as soon as they entered the mansion.

They seemed to be around Lucy’s age.

There were six of them, all cute and pretty.

The girls looked shocked when they saw Oswin.

Oswin was missing an arm and was dripping blood from his mouth.

One of the girls cautiously spoke up.

“F-father…”

At that, Lucy tilted her head in confusion.

Father?

Could they be Oswin’s daughters?

But they didn’t look anything like him.

“G-go back to your rooms…”

Oswin said.

The girls glanced at Lucy before disappearing into the mansion.

Oswin resumed walking, and Lucy continued to follow.

Amon and Darcan had been left waiting outside the mansion.

“H-here it is…”

After a while, Oswin stopped in front of a certain room.

A room with a lock on the door.

Click—

Oswin unlocked the door and said.

“Ellie is inside this room…”

Lucy nodded and stepped inside.

The room was entirely white.

The walls, the floor—everything was white.

“Hic… hic…”

Ellie was crouched in a corner, sobbing.

When Lucy approached, she slowly raised her head.

“…?!”

An expression of disbelief spread across Ellie’s face.

“L-Lucy…?”

Lucy smiled faintly.

“Hi.”

“Lucy!!”

Ellie sprang up and hugged Lucy tightly.

“Lucy…! Why are you here? Did you come to save me?”

“Yes.”

Lucy patted Ellie’s back.

Then—

Thud!

The door behind them closed, followed by the sound of a lock clicking.

It seemed Oswin had tried to lock Lucy inside the room.

Of course, it was a pointless effort.

Lucy immediately called Amon and Darcan, who were waiting outside.

A moment later.

Crash—!

The door shattered as Amon appeared.

“I-I’m sorry… I’m sorry…”

Oswin lay sprawled on the floor, utterly defeated.

His face was grotesquely swollen, and his body was covered in purple bruises.

◈

Just moments ago, Oswin had tried to flee to the cathedral after locking Lucy in the room.

He had planned to join forces with the holy knights once he reached the cathedral.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

But he ran into Darcan, who was just entering the mansion.

“You haven’t been beaten enough yet.”

Darcan’s merciless beating continued.

Darcan meticulously targeted the most painful spots, and Oswin wished he could just die from the unbearable agony.

“Stop… please stop…!”

Oswin’s plump body trembled uncontrollably.

The authoritative demeanor he had shown in front of the young girls was nowhere to be seen.

Now, Oswin was curled up like a bug, begging Darcan for mercy.

“Please stop…!”

After a while, Darcan stopped the beating.

By then, Lucy, who had already escaped the white room, looked down at Oswin and asked.

“Why did you lock Ellie in that white room?”

“…”

Oswin clenched his mouth shut.

He couldn’t say it.

If he did, he wouldn’t survive.

Of course, even if he didn’t say it, the outcome would be the same.

Thud!

Darcan kicked Oswin in the side.

“Ugh!”

Oswin vomited blood and writhed in pain.

Darcan spoke in a menacing voice.

“When the master asks you a question, you answer within three seconds. Understood?”

“Y-yes, I understand…”

Oswin answered in a resigned voice.

There was no trace of the bishop’s dignity left in Oswin now.

Lucy asked again.

“Why did you lock Ellie in that white room?”

“It was…”

Oswin answered honestly.

He had intended to break Ellie’s spirit and force her into submission.

He didn’t dare lie.

Not with Darcan glaring at him with glowing eyes.

Lucy asked again.

“What did you plan to do after breaking Ellie?”

“Th-that…”

This time, too, Oswin answered truthfully.

“After breaking her, I planned to make her obedient to me…”

“And the suspicion that Ellie is a witch?”

“Th-that was just a lie… I sent a letter to the Holy See requesting military support… and in that letter, I wrote that Ellie was suspected of being a witch…”

Lucy spent some time talking with Oswin.

Lucy asked questions, and Oswin answered.

If Oswin’s answers were unclear or if it seemed like he was hiding something, Darcan immediately kicked him.

Thanks to that, Oswin revealed everything without holding back.

What they learned was that Oswin’s actions were beyond imagination in their depravity.

He had adopted young, pretty girls and brought them to his mansion, where he broke their spirits through torture.

Then, he made them call him “father” and committed all sorts of vile and disgusting acts.

“What kind of trash…!”

Darcan, unable to hold back his anger, raised his sword to strike.

Lucy quickly cast a skill.

Shadow Bind.

Shadows extended from Lucy’s hand, binding Darcan.

Darcan spoke in a voice filled with rage.

“Master, we should kill this scum right now…”

Lucy shook her head.

“No.”

Lucy released Darcan from the bind and turned back to Oswin.

Oswin was looking up at Lucy with a desperate expression.

“I-I’ve told you everything, so please… spare my life…”

“First, write a letter to the Holy See.”

Lucy instructed.

“Tell them that upon further investigation, Ellie is not a witch, and that she has been returned to the Leyton family.”

“Understood…”

Oswin did as Lucy said.

He wrote in the letter to the Holy See that “upon investigation, Ellie was found not to be a witch.”

He also added that the accusations against the Lord of Leyton for blasphemy were a misunderstanding, and that he was, in fact, a noble and devout individual.

He did this to please Lucy.

Since Lucy had come to find Ellie, he naturally assumed she was connected to the Leyton family.

Lucy nodded in satisfaction as she read the letter Oswin had written.

She carefully folded the letter and tucked it into her pocket, then turned to Darcan.

“Now you can kill him.”

“!!”

Oswin’s eyes widened in shock.

“P-please spare me! I did everything you asked…!!”

Oswin protested as if wronged, but Lucy’s expression remained cold.

“That doesn’t erase what you’ve done.”

“B-but…”

Swish—

Darcan raised his sword beside him.

Seeing this, Oswin’s face filled with terror.

“P-please spare me…!”

Oswin’s legs grew damp.

Unable to withstand the fear of death, he had wet himself.

“…Disgusting till the very end.”

Darcan clicked his tongue and swung his sword.

Slash—!

Oswin’s head fell to the ground.

Lucy began cleaning up.

First, she used the Revive skill to reanimate Oswin’s corpse and the scattered bodies of the guards in the garden, then gathered them in one place and burned them.

Next, she freed the girls Oswin had adopted.

The girls showed no sadness over Oswin’s death.

Instead, they thanked Lucy for saving them.

Lucy told the girls to take as many jewels as they could carry from the mansion and return home.

After the girls left, she set the mansion on fire using matches and oil.

Whoosh—!

Oswin’s luxurious mansion began to burn fiercely.

“Lucy…”

Beside her, Ellie tightly grasped Lucy’s hand.

Earlier, Ellie had been shocked when Amon appeared.

It was only natural to be startled when a monster that didn’t look human at all broke through the door.

But it turned out that the monster was a demon summoned by Lucy.

Summoning a demon meant that Lucy was a witch.

‘Lucy is a witch!’

Of course, even knowing Lucy was a witch, Ellie wasn’t scared.

Lucy was still Lucy.

Besides, she had saved her—there was no reason to be afraid.

“Thank you for saving me.”

Ellie smiled brightly at Lucy.

“When we get back to the castle, I’ll feed you again.”

“…”

For a moment, Lucy’s face darkened slightly, but Ellie didn’t notice.

Translator Note

T/N (Translator’s note):
More food, but at what cost…