The Caldea Mountains were a place rarely visited by people. Although the terrain wasn’t particularly rough, it was mostly rocky mountains, with poor transportation and little to gain.

That was also why Spinel had settled here.

However, in the mountains that had been peaceful due to the absence of humans, irritating noises began to increase one day.

As expected, humans were the source of the sound.

“What are you doing there?”

At first, she only intended to scare them away.

“W-What? Are you from the Duke’s household?”

“It seems we’ve been caught stealing magic stones. What should we do?”

“…Let’s kill her first. It’s just one woman.”

However, the humans who were whispering among themselves drew knives and pointed them at Spinel.

Ceras always said not to kill humans recklessly, but there was no reason to spare those who pointed swords at her.

Spinel casually flicked her finger to use magic. The head of the human pointing a sword at her flew off.

“Ahhh!”

The rest of the humans who witnessed this screamed, threw away their weapons, and fled.

“W-Witch!”

“It’s the red-haired witch!”

As expected, they were not only unreasonable but also stupid.

“To think I’d be seen as something so trivial…”

Spinel let the fleeing men go. It wasn’t that she felt like forgiving them. She just couldn’t be bothered.

But was letting them go a mistake? Since that day, more and more people kept coming to the mountain.

Unlike the humans she first saw, the recent intruders were carrying weapons instead of pickaxes. As if they had come looking for her.

Not that they could be a match for her.

Today too, Spinel incinerated the humans loitering near her nest without leaving a trace.

So they couldn’t even scream.

After finishing the brief cleanup, Spinel returned to where Ravenne had been and looked around. Ravenne was nowhere to be seen.

Judging by her scent coming from far away, it seemed she had gone quite far in search of ingredients.

“What’s so special about cake that she’s making such a fuss…”

Spinel scratched her head.

She was curious about the food called cake, but that wasn’t why she was keeping her alive.

Mercilessly stabbing her eye, discovering her nest — these were all things she couldn’t just let go.

She was a bit concerned about Ceras, but Ceras had always liked helping humans, so Ravenne was probably just one of those humans she had helped.

But still, it seemed a waste to kill her right away.

Pondering the reason, Spinel finally set out to find Ravenne, despite the hassle.

When she finally found Ravenne, she was trembling in front of a mere wild boar.

Spinel easily subdued the wild boar and looked at Ravenne, who had her eyes tightly shut.

“What were you looking for that brought you all the way out here?”

Hearing her voice, Ravenne blinked her green eyes and looked up. Then, with a tearful face, she grabbed Spinel’s pant leg.

“Waaah… I thought I was going to die.”

“Let go of this.”

She tried to shake her leg to remove her, but Ravenne clung tightly to her pant leg even while dangling.

“I said let go!”

Spinel couldn’t figure out why she was still keeping this annoying human alive, even as she got irritated.

***

Norman Bertel, the leader of the Bertel Church, looked at the believer kneeling before him with a nearly dying appearance.

He had just returned from the Caldea Mountains.

“Red hair, red eyes, and even the scar on one eye — everything matches. It seems to be the witch you’re looking for, Your Holiness.”

Color returned to Bertel’s pale face.

“Brother, you’ve worked hard to find the witch. Where are the others? I must personally express my gratitude.”

“They all… fell victim to the witch.”

“……!”

Bertel looked at the man with a shocked expression.

“I asked for something unnecessary. Because of me, you all…”

“Not at all. This was all for the sake of the church.”

The man shook his head firmly as he spoke.

“Brother…”

“So, Leader, please make sure to eliminate the witch. The brothers and sisters who went ahead would want that too.”

At the man’s words, Bertel tightly gripped his staff with his hand full of burn scars.

“You’re right. We cannot let our brothers’ deaths be in vain. This time, we must eliminate the witch. I will surely offer her at our brothers’ graves.”

Bertel’s face began to fill with anticipation. His long-cherished wish was finally about to be fulfilled.

The witch who turned the Selvas region into a sea of fire, and ultimately forced him, the lord, to leave that land…

Bertel established the church and obtained a holy relic that could seal magical power, all with the sole intention of killing her.

No matter how skilled she was with magic, if her mana was sealed, she would be nothing more than a mere human.

All that remained was to kill her.

“Gather the brothers. On the night of the full moon, we will go to eliminate the witch.”

Bertel commanded the man with a solemn expression.

***

After all that commotion during the day, the talk of cake naturally fizzled out.

Spinel seemed to have lost interest in the cake and said it was bothersome and we should go home, and I, also tired, followed her opinion.

Another night in the cave was so cold that it was hard to fall asleep easily.

“Um, Spinel. Isn’t there something like a blanket here?”

“A blanket?”

“It’s too cold.”

Spinel looked at me whining about the cold with disdain, then flicked her hand.

“Is that better now?”

A warm sensation rose around my body.

“Wow. You can even do this kind of magic?”

“I can do most kinds of magic. I’m especially good with fire-based magic.”

With such skill in magic, she would have been in high demand anywhere. Why was she living in the mountains?

“How long have you lived here, Spinel?”

“…Well. 20, no, 30 years? It’s been so long since I’ve counted the years, I’m not sure.”

If it was 20-30 years, it could be said she had lived almost her entire life in the mountains.

Is that why she hadn’t acquired social norms? If so, her unique behavior and speech made sense.

“So you’ve been living here all this time?”

“Yes.”

“Why do you live alone in a place like this?”

“I ran away from where I used to live.”

“Where did you live originally?”

“At old man Legias’s place.”

“…Ah, so you lived with your grandfather.”

I thought she had lived in a place completely cut off from the world, but it seems she lived with family when she was young.

“Then why did you run away?”

“They said I couldn’t do anything properly, that I was a disgrace to the species, and tore into me every day.”

I thought it might be ‘disgrace to the family’, but I didn’t point it out.

“Then did you learn magic when you were young?”

“Ceras taught me.”

That name appeared again.

“Ah… So is this Ceras person a friend?”

“No. She’s my family.”

Family, I see. So did they flee together to escape her grandfather? It seemed she had circumstances as complicated as mine.

“Then where is she now?”

“She’s dead.”