“Aaagh! Stop following me!”

I woke up screaming, jumping to my feet.

I had a nightmare. A nightmare where a huge red orb was rolling towards me. I think I had a similar dream recently…

It must have been a terrible dream, as my whole body was covered in cold sweat.

More importantly…

“Where am I?”

I was sure I had been in a cave, but when I opened my eyes, this wasn’t a cave.

Judging by the familiar iron bars… Could this be a prison?

I’m not sure how long I had been lying down, but just sitting up made me dizzy.

“Where’s Spinel?”

As I looked around, I saw a red figure in the opposite cell.

“Spinel! Are you alright?”

“Oh my, it seems you’ve woken up.”

However, the one who answered wasn’t Spinel, but someone else.

It was an elderly man I had never seen before.

“Hello. I am Norman Bertel, the leader of the Bertel Church.”

“Ber…tel?”

As I repeated his name, I suddenly remembered the original story. That familiar name belonged to the cult leader who had kidnapped the saintess for the revival of his order.

Why would the mastermind behind that incident imprison me and Spinel?

“You look quite curious about how you ended up here.”

The old man, who looked much kinder than the Bertel I had imagined, smiled at me.

“I am currently the leader of the order, but in the past, I was the lord of Selvas.”

“……!”

Selvas… I recalled what Lily had told me recently.

The village where people couldn’t live anymore due to the fire caused by a witch, and even the lord had abandoned his territory and left…

“Don’t tell me, Spinel…”

“Yes, she was the witch who appeared in the village at that time.”

That couldn’t be. Spinel didn’t even know where Selvas was.

“I think there’s some misunderstanding. Spinel isn’t a witch… she’s just someone who’s good at handling magic.”

“Oh my, it seems you’ve already been bewitched.”

“I’m not bewitched…”

“Brother, please prepare the holy water as well.”

“Yes, Leader.”

Unlike his kind face, he dismissed my words as nonsense.

The man called ‘Brother’ bowed his head and quickly disappeared outside.

“How can you be sure she’s a witch?”

“Well, because I saw her myself. Red eyes, red hair, and even the scar on one eye. It’s been 7 years, but I could never forget.”

He showed a wistful expression as if reminiscing about a long-ago event, then contorted his face.

“Not only did she turn my territory into a wasteland, but she also made it uninhabitable. How could I forget?”

Judging by the leader’s expression, it didn’t seem like he was lying. Moreover, given Spinel’s abilities that I had seen so far, it was entirely possible.

But I wanted to believe that she wasn’t someone who would do such a thing without reason.

“Then, what do you plan to do?”

I asked the leader while looking at Spinel, who still hadn’t regained consciousness.

“The witch must be punished accordingly.”

“Punished how?”

“We will kill her. By burning.”

Does he mean he’s going to execute her by fire?

“Don’t worry. Once the purification ritual is over, we will safely return you, Miss.”

“…You’re going to let me go?”

“Yes. You are Miss Rischefeld, correct? I heard that the Duke has been desperately searching for you. It might not be a bad idea to create a debt with the Celestine family on this occasion.”

The leader smiled as he said this.

“Then I’ll see you again at the burning ceremony shortly. We’ll perform the purification ritual at that time as well.”

With those words, the leader left the prison.

Once again, the original story had gone off track.

Come to think of it, I was the cause this time too.

If the mine hadn’t been developed, they wouldn’t have known Spinel was living there, and the leader would have targeted the saintess as in the original story.

Again, because of me…

No, let’s not think unnecessary thoughts. Perhaps it’s for the best. This way, the saintess will be safe.

The problem was Spinel.

“Spinel, wake up.”

I called out to herr in the opposite cell, keeping my voice low.

However, she seemed to be in such a deep sleep, even snoring, that my voice couldn’t reach her.

Just as I was about to throw a small pebble to wake her up, I felt something wriggling on my finger.

It was the mana sucker I had been holding before I collapsed.

Thinking this was perfect timing, I threw the mana sucker towards Spinel. I heard a dull thud.

“……”

The pebble slightly missed its mark and rolled beside Spinel.

Even in the past, I had more talent as a batter than a pitcher in baseball, and that skill remained unchanged.

I looked around to see if there were any other pebbles, but couldn’t find anything suitable.

Then.

“Aaagh!”

Spinel woke up screaming.

“W-What is this? Aah!”

Spinel let out a shriek while brushing off her entire body, then peeled something off from inside her clothes.

“Why is this…”

With a drowsy face, still not fully awake, she stared at the bug I had thrown earlier.

“Did you… sleep well?”

When I greeted her, Spinel tilted her head.

“Where is this place?”

“…It’s a prison.”

“Prison? What’s that?”

“It’s a place where people are confined.”

Spinel looked around.

“So, you’re saying I’m trapped in a cage made by humans?”

“That’s correct.”

“Damn those bastards!”

Spinel seemed to be getting heated up at the fact that she was imprisoned.

“I need to see the face of the one who locked me up.”

Saying that, she put her hand on the iron bars. Instantly, sparks flew and her fingers turned black.

“Spinel, are you okay?”

“It’s nothing. This much is…”

I approached her in surprise, but Spinel answered nonchalantly.

“Are you really okay? Your skin is burned.”

“Yeah. This much will heal quickly.”

Spinel answered while tapping the iron bars with her fingers. Small sparks occasionally flew up.

“Actually, the person who imprisoned us came by earlier. He said he was the lord of the village you destroyed long ago…”

“Me?”

Spinel asked back as if it was news to her.

“Selvas… He said everyone abandoned the village because of an unquenchable fire…”

“Ah…”

Only then did Spinel nod as if remembering something.

“I do remember that.”

“…Did you really kill all the villagers?”

“How could I remember killing one or two bugs? Some probably died by my hand, and some probably escaped alive.”

“……”

Spinel replied irritably. Perhaps because I had only seen her quirky and somewhat careless side until now, seeing her speak like this felt unfamiliar.

Of course, she wasn’t particularly friendly to others when we first met either.

“So they’ve imprisoned me for revenge. How dare they, not knowing their place…”

Spinel reached out to the iron bars again. She applied force as if to break them, but the bars didn’t budge, and Spinel’s hand turned black up to her elbow.

“S-Spinel. Stop it. It doesn’t seem like force will work. Maybe try magic instead…”

“It’s not coming out.”

“What?”

“I haven’t been able to use magic since earlier.”

Spinel frowned as things weren’t going her way.

Then she showed me the mana sucker wriggling at her feet.

“Look. This thing is moving now, isn’t it?”

It was certainly much more active than before.

“It means there’s no mana around.”

“…What?”

“These things don’t move when they’re full. But when there’s no mana around, they move to find food.”

Come to think of it, she had given me a similar explanation before I fainted…

“It means I don’t have any mana right now.”

“……!”

“That human must have done something to me.”

Spinel tapped the iron bars a few more times before giving up and sitting down.

“What should we do now?”

“Well…”

Unlike me, who was feeling anxious, Spinel was too calm. Feeling a bit frustrated, I raised my voice.

“Why are you so calm? The leader said he’s going to burn you at the stake!”

“Really? Are you going to be burned at the stake too?”

“Well… No. He said he’d let me live…”

“Then what’s the problem?”

Spinel retorted. What’s the problem, well…

“You might die, and you’re asking what the problem is?”

“I might die? You’re saying funny things. Do you think I’d die to such vermin?”

It was just like her to be so confident even in this situation. But…

“We have no way to escape.”

“……”

At those words, Spinel pouted and then fell silent.

It seemed she didn’t have any clear solution either.

As I was pondering what to do with my chin resting on my hand, I noticed the bug wriggling in Spinel’s grasp.

When I first saw it, it looked like a transparent jewel and didn’t bother me much, but seeing it wriggle and move now gave me goosebumps.

“That bug, it turns into a magic stone when it dies, right? Couldn’t we extract mana from the bug to use magic?”

At my words, Spinel tried, but it didn’t seem to work well.

“It feels like my ability to absorb magical power itself is blocked. Even if I use up all my mana, it should recover over time… but now it’s not recovering at all.”

Not even being able to recover mana… I think I read a similar passage in the original story…

The leader, despite his outward appearance of being polite, was actually just a talkative and cowardly old man when you got to know him.

He wasn’t particularly capable, nor did he possess holy power. The only reason he was the leader was purely because of his eloquence.

It didn’t seem like such a leader would have the ability to seal Spinel’s magic.

“Come to think of it…”

There was one thing the leader particularly cherished. He even boasted about it to the saintess, calling it a holy relic.

Didn’t he say it was a holy relic that could seal mana?

There might be a way to escape from here.

“Spinel.”

“What?”

“I have an idea…”

I lowered my voice even more so that the guard at the entrance wouldn’t hear.

And after hearing my plan, she nodded with an interested expression.