The Struggle of Returning to The Other World

"You were awake."

With an emotionless voice, Mr. Sotini shrugged.

Back to back with words, there seems to be no particular surprise that I was awake.

"Quinn next door won't wake up."

It must be Mr. Sotini's magic.

Then perhaps Mr. Quinn is not the only one being put to sleep. The ladies resting in the next room were also convinced that they would not come to notice our anomalies.

"I need you to hang out with me a little bit."

……

I gently slipped my right hand into the bracelet that was fitted to my left wrist.

... Though this bracelet contains the magic of Mr. Ordis. As long as we are in this inn in the midst of a witch pilgrimage, even if something happens, his magic will not be able to interfere.

Mr. Sotini is silently awaiting my answer.

I took my right hand off the bracelet and nodded.

"Come here."

After glancing at me like that, Mr. Sotini turns back on his heels.

When I got out of bed with cautious footsteps, I hung the stall that was on my side on my shoulder and followed her silently.

In the hallway, the light of the moon shooting through the window plugged unreliably.

Mr. Sotini puts up a lantern and goes on and on with a foothold that never gets lost.

I have to say something.

I think so, but I don't have words.

Various things run blindly through my head, taking words away from me.

Eventually we plugged into a crossing from the lodging to the church.

Beyond this, it goes without saying, is the heart of the Church.

What is in the heart of this church?

("Sanctuary" -)

Is this real, or is it just a dream?

It no longer obscures even that.

But we must not let our eyes slip away here.

I wanted to know. When the time comes, he wants to be sure of the truth with his own eyes.

Exactly, now is the time.

The sound of Mr. Sotini's shoes echoes into small pieces inside a church with high ceilings.

I, unconsciously, paced with its footsteps.

Sotini, who never once tried to look back, felt like someone he didn't know.

From now on, what is she trying to do to me?

"Here we are."

Mr. Sotini, who had not broken his silence in a long time, finally turned to me when he stopped in front of a large door.

I know what's beyond this door.

Once upon a time, it was a place I had visited.

It's a special place, so you can't forget it.

"Mr. Sotini"

"You can't say anything from me. Please, go."

"Huh?"

Mr. Sotini had a nervous face and gently pushed the door open.

I hear a wooden door squeak, and then it opens slightly in front of me.

Beyond the door. Deepest part of the church.

It was a fantastic landscape.

A ball of pale light floats innumerably inside the church as if it had fallen zero out of a jewelry box, blurring and floating its scenery.

If you look up at the high ceiling, the ball of light will be as brilliant as a starry sky.

(Beautiful......)

I forgot the situation and was heartbroken by the sight in front of me.

At its deepest point, there is something that emits a strong light.

That was the very heart of the 'Sanctuary'.

And the shadow of someone nestled right on the side of that 'sanctuary'.

(That one)

Unexpectedly I was squealing.

"No way......"

On my back as I took a step, the door shut quietly.

Looking back, there is no sign of Mr. Sotini. She didn't go into this' sanctuary ', she just led me to this place.

The beat is bouncing loudly.

It wasn't Mr. Sotini who summoned me.

You're really trying to talk to me about

"Dear Ardina,"

The whining voice shivered secretly.

Late at night 'sanctuary', it's just me and Lady Ardina standing alone.

I can't believe what that means.

"Mr. Halka, I apologize for staying up late. Thank you for coming."

From afar, Master Ardina spoke to me.

Clear her voice echoes beautifully within the church.

"Please, come here"

I couldn't go back.

Squeeze your fists all the way. The slight pain of nails eating into my skin taught me that this is an indisputable reality.

I walked straight to the heart of the 'Sanctuary'.

The expression of Master Ardina, who was not well seen in the dark, gradually becomes dew.

She looked very calm.

Against me, no anger, no joy, no smile full of usual mercy is now falling out.

However, was it because I wanted to think so that I felt just a little sad?

A holy temple representing the hand of God rests on a delicately sculpted pedestal.

At last, I confronted Master Ardina.

"Dear Ardina, this is"

"... Yep. You already know that."

The word hit me hard in the chest.

"I'm the one who summoned you. - Of the former witch, Master Halutia."

I see.

Yes, it was.

Master Ardina brought me back to this world.

You're no longer supposed to understand with your head, but you can't keep up with your emotions.

Naturally, nothing comes out of words, and the only thing that leaks out of my mouth is a bumpy exhale.

"I apologize first. that you have been involved in such disturbances."

"Ma......, wait, wait"

I accidentally blocked Master Ardina's words, but instead I don't have the words to spin.

"What is this..."

"There's no need to get confused either. But this is the truth. I will never lie to you again."

On this occasion, I swear to God, Lord Ardina ran out of words.

"I, for my own sake, have summoned Master Halutia"

……

My head hurts.

And I wonder what it feels like to swirl in this chest.

Anger or sadness? Weakness?

All of them seem to apply, and I also feel that they are all different.

I wasn't convinced.

For all irrationality, the urge to absurd the voice "why" swells.

On the other hand, I was beginning to understand this situation little by little.

Master Ardina is the killer...

Why didn't I think about that possibility at all? That could have been enough.

Summoning witches from different worlds is a tough technique in the first place, and even those who make daily summoning a business say it's hard to handle. Those who rarely possess that power are treated as "first-class summoners" like Mr. Luno.

Someone with the same kind of magic as Mr. Luno.

What's more, someone who could have known the art of interracial summoning, which is a ban.

If any of the conditions were to be met, the first candidate should have been Ardina, the country's best witch.

"... are you sheltering someone?

I should have understood, but almost unconsciously, that's what I was asking.

"Is that, for example?

Quietly, Master Ardina returns the question.

"For example..."

What floated behind my brain was the figure of Mr. Sotini, who led me to this point.

Oh. I, in my heart, doubted her. I don't want to realize that, just that I've been trying not to think about the killer for a long time. Master Ardina must have correctly spotted my thoughts like that. Is that why, in a voice with an international core, Master Ardina declared.

"I'm not sheltering anyone else. I called you on my own initiative."

"But how the hell?"

Lady Ardina slightly dropped the glance that was straight at me.

Her gaze is directed at the 'sanctuary' pedestal.

"Don't you see? What I did and why I called you"

……

"While I am a witch, I was unable to perform the duties I was asked to do as a witch. Even though they pointed to the disturbance of the 'temperatures', they were unable to discern in which 'sanctuary' the hell there was a problem. In the first place, I would have had to detect this situation before anyone could point it out to me."

……

"I'm disqualified as a witch. What the hell am I supposed to do...... keep trying to keep me on my way and only the upper side would be witchy. But the real me is just a woman in a witch's skin."

As she groaned, Lady Ardina said (one thing).

In her eyes, tears crept up.

"You couldn't have been a witch just because you were just a little more magical than a man and a cleric who had served God from an early age. I was unknowingly proud that I might be able to be the chosen person. But now I know. He said he shouldn't have taken it upon himself to be such a half-baker. Many people have already lost their lives as a result of natural disasters caused by my lack of power"

"Dear Ardina..."

"I wanted to escape. So I asked for my replacement, and it drifted away. A real witch who corrects' chi 'disturbances and leads people on my behalf - summon you. Believe me, a real witch is you, not a dispute like me."

Finally, a tear fell from Master Ardina's eyes.

"I used the authority of a witch to hold a book of summonses that was kept strictly in the Royal Palace library. And with the help of the first-degree summoner, Luno, he secretly caught the eye and exercised the summons. - I thought the surgery failed at first. Because you didn't show up to me. Disappointed that there was still a lack of power here, despairing."

Then Lady Ardina said she was living her days like a shell out.

The thought that no one can ever speak to her anymore, that she can't escape, causes her to suffer badly. Still, Master Ardina continued to fight despair alone, unable to consult anyone.

But in time, a slight change in her feelings began to occur.

Dear Ardina, that from the beginning of her election as a witch, she continued to compare herself to her former witch somewhere in her heart. Wouldn't the previous witch have done better, or behaved more as she deserved, - that way, she said, there was no day to not get lost.

That was the unsuccessful re-summons of the witches of the other worlds, which made only a few stomps.

You can no longer rely on a former witch again.

On my own, no, if I don't do something about it.

Because witches are all alone in this world.

"It was such a fold. The summoner, Master Luno, gave me an earful."

- Apparently, the summons could have been successful.

"Either way, it's my lack of strength, but he said only your summons had been made. Except they seem to have been flown far away, and I don't know exactly where they're going. Hearing that, I no longer know what I want to do. Do I still want to rely on you? Or do you want to try harder on your own"

While I was lost, the situation kept showing more and more developments.

Yes, I started going to the Royal Palace as a lunch vendor and reunited with Mr. Ordis and the Chancellor, Lady Frahamti, as well as Noel. On top of that, I also became acquainted with Mr. Sotini, a cleric attached to Master Ardina.

By then, even under Master Ardina, the information had begun to come in that I was the harutia of the former witch. So she took a chance to meet me over the lunch box.

And finally, I jumped into this witch pilgrimage.

Mr. Luno said he exercised his metastasis that night after telling Master Ardina about me too.

"During this pilgrimage I spent time lost. At the same time, I was surprised at how you were doing. There is no fine dust on the surface that you were once a venerable witch, and you do not waver its glory into oblivion. You just shut up and fit into my position as a caretaker. Seeing you being honest as one woman who wasn't a witch, I was inspired to look back at myself again."

Lady Ardina gently wiped her tears with her fingers.

"Master Halutia, whom I had taken the liberty of worshipping, is also one woman, as you are now in front of me, isn't she? Neither you nor myself will be the same person. I was finally able to realize that you accomplished your role as a witch not because you were a perfect superman. You must have survived all sorts of difficulties because of your integrity."

No, you're not.

"I'm not such a great person."

I groaned.

Indeed, in the witch age, I was far from perfect, just a child.

And - I'm not much different now than I was back then.

I don't spend every day feeling like a saint, like I'm humble or honest.

Now I was just the best I could do to live my days. Because I've lost everything, both the privilege of being able to shake it and the ability to be proud of it. How could I now boast of my "witch's glory" when I have nothing?

Yes, I was just, as an equal-sized self, like there was.

"Dear Halutia, Don't be honest about the way your heart is, what else can I say? It's too dazzling for me to be able to accept you as you are."

Master Ardina smiled softly.

"So I, in a true sense, was finally able to make up my mind. I still want to be a witch. I'm not a witch of all shapes, I'm like me, trying to acknowledge what I'm missing and encourage you to bury it. - Now I know it's too much of a worm story."

Then Lady Ardina, trying to break her hips a little, lowered her head against me.

"Really, I know you've done something unacceptable. That I called you in for selfish reasons, and left you alone. That I am still offering myself that I want to be a witch, etc. while trying to push you to take on the role of a witch. To you, I do not believe you will be forgiven. I guess it's just self-satisfaction that you're bowing your head like this. But I'm really, really sorry."

"Keep your head up, Master Ardina"

Though I was no longer at the extreme of confusion, I managed to speak only of it.

"Um, uh, what can I say"

I can no longer say anything if, in this way, they tell me everything and sincerely apologize and speak of determination. I don't feel more angry about how I did this on my own, nor do I feel so clean that I want to laugh and tap her shoulder that I'm glad my presence helped.

But my heart and that of Master Ardina were so close.

troubled, agonized, we who remained witches.

Still, Master Ardina was finally able to find the answer...

That's when.

Within the 'sanctuary' of the two of us, the low sound of the door opening echoed.

As a matter of fact, me and Lady Ardina looked up.

It was not Mr Sotini who slowly showed up from beyond the open door.

That's an unexpected person.

The expression completely disappeared, it was Mr. Rayburn.