“Move quickly, quickly.”

“I’m going. Don’t order me around.”

Spinel glared at the believer who had handcuffed her, responding irritably.

Her gaze was so fierce that the believer flinched for a moment and stepped back from Spinel.

“Don’t be scared. She can’t use magic anyway.”

Another believer behind whispered quietly.

Spinel bristled at those words, but she still followed the two quite obediently. She seemed to be exercising tremendous patience.

“Miss, please come out as well.”

“Won’t you remove the handcuffs?”

“Please bear with it until the purification ritual is over.”

The believer who was leading me out of the prison explained.

Outside, the sun was high in the sky, and believers filled the area in front of the temple.

For something I had mocked as a cult, the temple was quite large, and the number of believers gathered in front was more than I expected.

In front of the believers, a wooden platform was prepared, and Spinel was tied to it.

All preparations for the burning ceremony were complete.

“Before the burning ceremony, we will proceed with the purification ritual.”

At the leader’s words, the believers holding both my arms dragged me in front of him. I could hear whispers from those who recognized my face.

The rumor that the Duke’s wife had been bewitched by a witch would spread in an instant.

“Don’t be too afraid. The ritual will be over soon. After that, the brainwashing done by the witch will be undone.”

Bertel said with a smile. In reality, I didn’t think a leader without holy power could actually perform purification. Moreover, I wasn’t even brainwashed.

However, the believers had no doubt that he would show them a miracle right before their eyes. Their chanting of the leader’s name was almost frightening.

The leader said he would perform the purification ritual and sprinkled holy water over my head. But no matter how I looked at it, this was just water. Just slightly lukewarm water.

“Dark and evil forces, begone, begone.”

What kind of farce is this?

Seeing the leader chanting nonsensical spells and the believers calling his name, I felt dizzy.

I took a deep breath as I watched the water droplets falling between my hair.

Right. If he’s a cult leader, he should show a miracle like making a patient who can’t walk, walk.

I raised my head and opened my eyes wide.

“How can this be, what am I doing here right now?”

I put on an expression of bewilderment.

“Are… are you coming to your senses?”

The leader hesitated slightly at my intense reaction.

“Did I really lose my mind, falling for the wicked witch’s deception?”

He still looked a bit flustered. It seemed he didn’t expect me to show such an intense reaction.

But soon he comforted me with a kind expression. It seems he wasn’t the leader for nothing.

He removed the handcuffs restraining me and presented me to the believers.

“Did you see, brothers and sisters? Today, we have saved a poor soul who was brainwashed by the witch.”

Moved by this sight, the believers knelt down, chanting Bertel’s name. I’m not sure who was really brainwashed.

But now I needed to go along with this madness. I acted with the same expression as the believers, stood up from my seat, and approached the leader.

“Oh, Leader. Your lamb receives salvation today. Without you, I would have suffered under the witch in that dark cave forever. Surely, God sent you to this world to look after the lowest and darkest places. You are the light and salvation of my life, Leader.”

Pleased by my fawning, Bertel couldn’t hide his upturned lips.

“No, sister. I’m glad I could save you from the terrible witch.”

“Leader, could I just hold your hand once?”

I approached him and reached out my hand like a young fan meeting her idol. He extended both hands and came towards me.

I thought he wouldn’t easily reject my offer with so many eyes watching, but he seemed more intoxicated with the fact that he was the leader than I expected.

Instead of just holding my hand, he tried to embrace me.

It didn’t matter. In fact, an embrace was even more convenient.

He hugged me, patted my back a few times, and then pulled away.

And then…

“Ugh, aagh!”

He screamed in terror, flailing like a fish just pulled out of water.

“W-What is this? Something’s crawling inside my body… Aagh, ah!”

In truth, the moment we embraced, I slipped a mana sucker into the collar of the leader’s robe.

Perhaps because it had been exposed to an environment without mana for so long, the bug was constantly moving actively in my hand.

Putting that down his collar must be horrifying.

The leader soon threw away the staff he was holding and flailed his arms grotesquely to find the bug, while the assisting believers hurriedly tried to help him.

Meanwhile, I quickly picked up the staff that had fallen to the ground.

The flash of unease in the leader’s eyes when our gazes met for a moment.

Oh my, you’ve noticed already? Then you must know what I’m going to do next.

“Ah, no!”

The leader, sensing my action, reached out to stop me, but it was already too late.

Clang!

With a satisfying impact sound, a tiny crack appeared in the jewel embedded at the top of the staff.

I proceeded to slam the staff on the ground a few more times.

“Stop her immediately! Hurry!”

At the leader’s command, several believers approached me and grabbed both my arms.

“Spinel! Has your mana returned?”

I urgently looked at Spinel. And Spinel…

“Ahahahaha!”

She was laughing.

No, is this really a time to laugh? Laughing in such a desperate situation?

“You, you really are a funny human.”

“……”

Being dragged away, I frowned and shouted at Spinel.

“We’re about to die, so stop laughing!”

“But what can I do when it’s so funny?”

Ah, really. To think my brilliant plan would come to nothing like this!

“Tie her up too and put her on the platform. We’ll burn her at the stake along with the witch.”

The leader, who had retrieved his half-broken staff, shouted in anger.

With my hands and feet bound, I was placed on the platform and watched as someone approached with a torch to light the fire.

“Spinel… Has your mana really not returned?”

I had imagined countless not-so-bright endings for myself, but being burned at the stake wasn’t one of them.

To think I’d die accused of being a witch’s underling by a mere cult leader, not even Klaus!

While I was in such despair, Spinel was still laughing, stomping her feet at whatever she found funny. If her hands were free, she might have been rolling on the floor holding her stomach.

“Light the fire!”

As the leader’s order fell, the believers raised their torches and lit the oil. The flames rose instantly, filling my vision.

“We’re both about to burn to death, you know!”

“Ahaha. Ah, right, right. I forgot you have a body that dies when burned.”

Saying that, Spinel stopped laughing.

“What a truly stupid thing to do. To think of killing with fire, of all things. Don’t you agree?”

With those words to herself, the chains restraining Spinel broke, and large red wings sprouted from her back.

***

Humans were weak and insignificant beings. Spinel never doubted this fact. They were such pitiful creatures that their lives could end with just one breath.

However, Ceras always opposed her opinion.

“Spinel, humans are not that weak. Their lives may be finite, but that’s why they shine like flames.”

And then she would go on about how wonderful humans are.

She would repeat stories that Spinel neither cared about nor wanted to know, until they were etched into her ears.

At such times, Spinel thought Ceras was just a slightly eccentric dragon. But…

“Are you really going to make a blood pact with that human?”

“Yes.”

One day, she made a declaration to me that was like a bomb. An absurd story.

“Have you gone mad?”

“What kind of way is that to talk to your big sister?”

Spinel frowned as she looked at Ceras. This wasn’t just a little eccentric.

A dragon and a human? It was insane.

“What big sister? You’re a dragon.”

“Oh my. To think you’d talk like this after I raised you, going without food and clothes…”

Ceras pretended to wipe away tears and raised her finger to cast magic. Spinel was helplessly caught by her spell.

“Can’t you undo this? How long do you think I’ll let you push me around?”

Spinel, hanging upside down in the air with her wings bound, shouted loud enough to shake the nest.

“Well, until I die.”

“What does that mean?”

Ceras smiled as she looked at Spinel.

“Exactly what I said.”

“What nonsense… Don’t tell me?”

Dragons were beings that lived for an infinite time. That’s why they never spoke of death. There was only one reason they would die.

Only when they shared their life force with others. And that case was…

“Are you pregnant?”

“Yes.”

Ceras said with a bright smile. Spinel knew Ceras was different from ordinary dragons. She was really strange, after all.

It was Ceras who saved Spinel when she was being bullied and ostracized by the Red Dragon group for not being able to control her mana.

Even sacrificing one of her wings.

Among dragons who were self-centered and moved by the logic of survival of the fittest, she was clearly a different being.

“Are you out of your mind?”

“I told you to call me big sister.”

“Big sister my foot. Are you really giving up your life for a mere human?”

“I’m not giving up my life.”

“Then?”

Spinel asked, grinding her teeth.

“I’m sharing the experience of living the same time, growing old together with the ones I love.”

Ceras looked happy as she said this.

She’s finally gone mad from yearning for human life.

“You’ll regret it.”

“Humans give gifts when a child is born. By the way, I’d like an elven lullaby as a gift. As you know, my singing skills aren’t that great.”

Ignoring Spinel’s warning, Ceras just mumbled what she wanted to say.

“A gift? Am I crazy? If that child catches my eye, I’ll kill it!”

Spinel raged even while hanging upside down. Ceras dying? And for a mere human at that.

She couldn’t accept such a foolish decision.

“Spinel, don’t you dare lay a hand on my child.”

“……”

Ceras, who rarely got angry over trivial matters, murmured in a low voice with her eyes glowing.

Even though they were both dragons, there was an insurmountable gap between Ceras and Spinel due to the difference in their lifespans.

That’s why Spinel was helplessly caught like this even now.

At such times, she was always the first to lower her tail, but this time she didn’t want to apologize. Because she hadn’t done anything wrong.

Seeing Spinel’s sulky, tightly closed lips, Ceras let out a sigh.

“Ah, when you were young, you used to call me big sister and follow me so well. How did you grow up like this?”

Her voice had a playful tone, as if she had never made any threats.

“You raised me like this. Always hanging me in the air at the slightest provocation!”

“This big sister is really sad, Spinel.”

“What big sister, I get it, so let me down now!”