The Three Elders of the Forest (1)

There are no horses in the Witch’s Forest.

No witch raises horses, no witch rides horses, and no witch drives carriages.

The reason was simple yet straightforward. Raising and handling horses requires surprisingly good communication skills.

Horses are intelligent animals, beasts capable of expressing their emotions.

They can show joy through their expressions, lower their heads to display sadness, shed tears to convey pain, spit when displeased, and kick nearby people with their hind legs when angry.

Of course, witches whose blood is half composed of the potions they brew wouldn’t die from a single kick, but the more important point was that horses are more emotionally expressive animals than one might think.

“W-w-why are there h-horses in front of the Elders’ house…?”

A witch who is always timid and wary of others’ reactions doesn’t make an exception for horses. Witches who can’t handle human emotions don’t want to regulate their feelings for livestock either.

That’s why witches are afraid of horses. Lara trembling beside me was living proof.

It’s not that they’re scared of physical harm from horses, but rather that they fear hurting the horses’ feelings. In truth, they’re afraid of all animals with rich emotional expressions-dogs, sheep, goats, pigs, deer, etc.

Among mammals, you could say they dislike everything except cats. If witches keep pets, they’d likely be birds, amphibians, or reptiles.

In other words, the presence of well-groomed horses and a gleaming carriage meant that there was an outside visitor at the Three Elders’ house. Aside from the royal carriage we all rode here in.

‘The royal supply delivery date is still far off.’

Besides, this cycle’s delivery was Seraphine’s responsibility after finishing Lilia’s event in about 2-3 weeks, so there was no reason for the royal supply carriage to arrive now.

‘Huh? This is…’

Hoping I might recognize it, I examined the carriage and spotted a crest that looked oddly familiar.

Not the royal crest. Nor the church’s. Definitely not the Blackwood crest either.

I mentally ran through all the noble crests I knew, but nothing immediately came to mind.

‘Well, even I can’t memorize every noble crest.’

Still, if it’s a crest that left an impression, I’d probably remember who it belonged to upon seeing their face. With that thought, I knocked on the Three Elders’ door without hesitation.

-Knock, knock, knock.

“Anyone home~? Are the Witch Elders here~?”

“W-w-wait, Rosewood…! I-I think there’s a guest inside…! L-let’s come back later…!!”

“Lara’s witch exam is in three days. When exactly is ‘later’? The Elders have rituals to perform before the exam too. This is something we need to discuss as soon as possible.”

“I-I know, but… I-I-I’m not mentally prepared to meet the Elders yet… A-and with another guest here too…”

“…I won’t make you talk to Maychilling, so don’t worry. If we need to speak with the guest, I’ll handle it somehow.”

“…O-okay… I-if that’s the case…”

When I offered to speak for her, Lara nodded timidly while hiding behind me.

She was taller than me with a similar bust size, so hiding behind me didn’t conceal her at all, but I let it slide.

Standing awkwardly like that, we waited for someone to answer the door, but even after knocking, no one came out for quite some time.

“……”

“……”

“M-maybe they’re not home…? S-should we come back later…?”

-Knock, knock, knock.

“Hello? Elders~? Are you not home~?”

“Eeek…?! R-Rosewood…! W-what if the Elders get startled by your knocking…!!”

“You just said they might not be home. If they are, they might not have heard, so I knocked again. If all three are out, no one’s listening anyway, so no one would be startled.”

“B-but what if they’re ignoring us on purpose…!!”

“Huh?”

“W-what if they’re home but just don’t feel like seeing anyone today…!! W-what do we do then…!!”

…Given witches’ communication skills, that was entirely possible. But my knocking hand didn’t stop.

In the original story, this situation never happened. The Elders never pretended not to be home when someone knocked.

“Then we should make them come out faster. Lara’s witch exam is urgent, right?”

“M-my exam is important, yes… B-but the Elders might need time to prepare mentally too…”

-Knock, knock, knock.

“Eeek…!! Hyiiik…!!”

At the third knock, Lara clutched her head as if committing some grave sin and collapsed to the floor.

As I stared at her reaction in disbelief, wondering if there really was no one home, the door slowly opened, and a familiar face peeked out.

A young man with the August family’s signature sky-blue hair.

“The Elders are currently speaking with my sister. Please visit another time…”

“Prince Karaham?”

“…Miss Lilith?”

Ah, right. No wonder the carriage crest looked familiar.

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

The crest I saw on the carriage was the August Margrave family crest, the same one on Lizzie’s uniform. I’d seen it almost daily during student council activities, so it was bound to look familiar.

If another witch had visited, he might have tried to politely send them away, but since he knew me, Karaham reluctantly let us inside.

Not that I would’ve let him stop me-I had a clear purpose here.

“Prince Karaham, what brings you to the Witch’s Forest?”

“A routine trade deal with the August Merchant Group. Our family trades with the witches of this forest.”

“Huh…?”

What kind of nonsense is this? Was this a thing in the original?

As far as I knew, witches were extremely cautious about meeting new people and avoided deals unless they were familiar with the other party.

Witches generally avoided trading with blatantly profit-driven groups-not because they were good judges of character, but because their cautious nature clashed with the problems that arose from such dealings.

Most merchant groups, aiming to maximize profits, would immediately throw out rough estimates when meeting witches. Thinking, “These girls seem naive-if we trap them in a shady contract, we can milk them for profits indefinitely.”

They’d present contracts filled with convoluted language and hidden clauses, mixing in terms like “market price,” “price fluctuations,” and “gift options” that could be manipulated. Then they’d dream of exploiting naive witches for cheap potions forever.

And without fail, every merchant group that tried this left empty-handed. Witches might have communication issues, but they weren’t stupid enough to miss the poison pills in contracts.

Being a witch wasn’t a job for the unintelligent. Even novice witches memorized hundreds of potion recipes, and Elders carried tens of thousands in their heads.

Moreover, while they avoided strangers, their internal networks were tighter than most siblings. If one witch rejected you, every other witch would soon know.

“This person brought a contract like this with hidden clauses! I almost got tricked!” “Really? Then we shouldn’t even talk to that outsider.” That kind of atmosphere spreads fast.

So I was naturally puzzled that a profit-driven group like the August Merchant Group had dealings with witches.

“The August Merchant Group trades with the witches regularly?”

“Yes. Though ‘regular trade’ doesn’t mean fixed transactions. It’s more like a supply route only my sister can operate.”

“…Does Lady Lizzie trade in a similar way to Princess Seraphine?”

“Ah, yes. My sister said she learned a lot from the Princess’s methods.”

There was only one way to trade regularly with witches: bring a merchant carriage but don’t act like a merchant.

Just get to know each witch individually, buy what they need when they need it, and occasionally offer, “I have this item-would you like to buy it?”

It was a time-consuming, effort-heavy, and unstable method, so most merchant groups gave up. Only someone with maxed-out social skills like Seraphine could pull it off.

The kind of popular girl who’s nice to losers was an object of admiration in this world, just like in my past life.

And now, standing before me was another person with social skills rivaling Seraphine’s.

“Can’t I take the witch exam too, Elders~? I wanna be a witch too~.”

The August family’s young lady, persuading the three Elders in a sweet voice. My first reunion with Lizzie since summer break began.

Though it was a meeting I never expected to happen like this.