The Immortal Witch’s Death Wish

 

“You realize you cannot leave this room if you want to? It's a pocket dimensional room. To your left, and right is an ever-expanding walk. The same with up and down, and front and back.”

“. . . .” Patience. All spent.

“I think we both know that if I was a demon capable of leveling this city, I would have done so already. However, if the one capable of exuding as much strength as you say was myself, I think it would be a fair warning not to chastise them.”

She flared a tiny bit of her energy, this time not getting too carried away. It was strong enough to exert wind and blow everyone’s clothing back. Then, just as she did so, she lowered it.

This was a calculated move. In the same way that something that might smell good can be overstimulated with mass amounts, her aura was only released in a tiny fragment. One could not possibly have attached this release of aura to the same incredulous display of power as earlier.

“Now stop pestering me.”

The surrounding mages prepared to cast their attacks, but Valkyrie had put a hand up, motioning them to stand down and stand by.

“I see… you’re right. Unseal the room at once. Though fair warning, Miss Lusha. Should you act uncharacteristic in any way within our city, no, within our country, we will not treat you with any room for error.”

Something deactivated in the room, and the spatial aspect of it disappeared. Leaving behind a simple white room. Lusha promptly walked away, mood ruined. The other three escorted her out, but kept a far distance.

In the room, one of the mages walked over to Valkyrie. The purple haired young man bowed.

“Who was that? She was frighteningly powerful.”

“Huh. I’m not too certain myself. Whatever the case may be… she’s certainly not the demon that was detected earlier. I could easily apprehend her myself. Regardless, I’d like you to keep an eye on her.”

“Sir!”

The group disbanded from the room, leaving only the old man and the purple haired magician. “Roving… tsk. If anything, she may be a spy from one of the surrounding nations. Though she speaks pretty eloquently for her age, I had not expected her to utilize body manipulation arts. And so proficiently at that.” The old man was quite cognizant of the ability she used and knew illusion had nothing to do with it.

When Valkyrie had misspoke the name of her village as Remonscape, she should have been able to tell right away that there’s no such village called Remonscape. In fact, Roving has long ceased to exist after it’s catastrophe with the beastmen of the west.

What could be the link between that strange pressure and the girl. I wonder…

“Do we still have the adventurer Nuon in the city? I need a measure of her abilities. Nuon is on par with myself or better, so we can gauge if she’s truly a spy or not”

“Sir, can we truly trouble Nuon? He’s surely going to refuse.”

“Oh, don’t worry, the amount we’ll be paying to him will be quite the handsome reward.-- Even for an adventurer of his Caliber--”

“-To be honest, this should be an easy job for Nuon. I could have squashed her myself just now.”

“Very well, I’ll relay this message….-”

_________________________

The trio were clearly taken aback by the show of force she had displayed earlier. As they walked not even the bold leader walked in front of her. They all trailed behind her as if they were nervous Hyenas waiting for the leader to give the go ahead.

Lusha picked up on this and turned around abruptly the moment they went outside. Sensing their fear of her, she knew she could demand whatever it was that she needed.

“Direct me to the adventurers guild.”

Not a single one questioned her statement. Finally, feeling her irritation at their lack of response, they tensed up and the leader of the trio, Pakl spoke up. As if he was reporting to a general, he bowed and spoke.

“R-right away, Miss Lusha.”

That was much more like it, they were beginning to treat her like how she should have been treated.

To her surprise, the Guild Hall was apparently just a block down. The city was built like a maze meant to fool the greatest of the clairvoyant. She couldn’t understand how someone was to navigate this kind of place.

As she entered the guild hall, she realized there were quite a number of people within. They ranged from armored adventurers, to what appeared to be ruffians. Many of them ventured in groups of 2’s or 3’s. Some even reached a group amount of four, but she didn’t even spare a looking glance at those groups.

In the adventurer’s guild system, the total payout of a mission was split between each individual participating. If one were to split the total reward of a mission fourway, it would be because they did not have the skill to complete such missions. Only the highest level of adventurers could afford to split a mission and only get 25% of the pay out.

She steadily observed the weird stares she received, but realized, something was very off. Everyone in the room was sweating bullets. They were tense as possibly could be. Lusha couldn’t help but ponder on why that was. There was a tense air of fear ridden expressions on the face of all the adventurers there. She couldn’t help but ponder on why that was.

The only one who held a calm demeanor was a man in the far corner of the room. The man sat cross-legged, nonchalantly as if he was awaiting someone or something.

As the only one who stood out in the room, Lusha analyzed quite a bit about the man. She had lived quite the many centuries- Enough to know, that people like that were not one to be commoners.

In each generation she had lived out, many people like this man had been present in her daily life, enough to cement each one in a compiled category. She could tell this man was someone that either was going to play an important hand, or one that will play a role in her life.

The man was dressed head to toe in a typical knights armor. She believes it's typical due to the fact that she hasn’t been out in this world for long, but it was very much like the times she existed in. The man donned a full set of pure red armor with green trims around it.

He couldn’t tell any details of the man, from his head was a bassinet that stemmed all the way down to his neck. Thus, no details of his face could be discerned, aside from the tiny slits, colored green, that allowed his eyes to peer outwards. She couldn’t think anything aside from how terrible his color scheme was.

His neck was also covered by a green gorget. Due to the coloring the man chose, which was blatantly artificial, it was hard to determine what the materials actually were.

Nonetheless, Lusha ignored the man’s presence and walked straight up to the line that was being formed by several other guild members.

“Hey little girl, Are you looking to submit a contract for your village? If so you can bypass waiting and hand me the forms outright.” The scraggly man seemed much too weak to be trusted with a dog walking mission, much less a village contract.

Yet, even as he asked this, he still seemed afraid.

Lusha paused. She found it odd that the first question was something like this, in her mind she should have been asked about what kind of adventure quests she was going to take, or what her skills and proficiency was.

Suddenly, like a lightning strike, everything donned on her at once. The reason they were scared was because they had sensed the energy output she and Valkyrie had exuded earlier. With a distance of only a block, it was natural for all of them.

The reason they underestimated her was due to her appearance. In the past, there was no one that did not know who she was due solely off of accounts of her experience. However, now that a good 200 years had passed by, there was no one who knew of accounts about her old self.

The influence of her name has dwindled with each era that passed. A long long time ago, she was known as a myth or legend capable of bringing down the three great dragons. 300 years later, she was known as the witch who refused to die. Now, it seems not a single person recalled her existence.

Perhaps it was better this way, all sorts of unnecessary trouble came her way when she was training Merlin. Alas, it was a decent learning experience for him and had allowed him to expedite his skills.

As there was a line leading up to the attendance desk, she playfully tapped her foot, awaiting for the four guys ahead of her to finish up with their business.

She hated waiting in line. So she took some time to observe the room around her. The decorative styles of the ceiling were much different than anything she had seen before. The roof was composed of multiple arcs all intricately designed and adorned in gold.

Every inch of it was etched with the imagery of the mage known as merlin. The world must have quite admired the young man. It gave her joy to see that his student had reached such heights.

She smiled as she recollected events back in the day.

Having been distracted and lost within her past, she failed to notice various things happening in the room.

The first being the arrival of two city officials. They were dressed in the same military attire as the others. Upon arriving, they presented to the man in black, a piece of parchment. Immediately the tone in the room changed.

There were nervous glances sent her way, as the armored giant glared directly at her. Though he wore on a visor so one could not see her eyes, one could surmise the exact intent behind his stare.

The next person had finished everything he was doing and the other two had also moved up. Time progressed relatively quickly. Soon, it was her turn up with the attendant.

This was it.The woman looked her up and down as if to ask what it was she was doing here, which annoyed her to no end.

“Can I… help you?”

“Ughhh… yes. I’d like to join the adventurer’s guild.”

“You realize the adventurer’s guild is not a game right? You risk putting yourself in real life danger whenever you join. Little girls like you are better off playing at home.”

That’s it. Now you’ve done it.

She could easily just decide to kill the impertinent little fool, but she reserved herself to a different matter. Taking her hands up, she casted two elemental style magic techniques.

Normally, neither of these techniques are of importance individually, but the fact that she can perform both of them simultaneously, was what emphasized her proficiency.

On one hand, the red hot embers of flame engulfed her hand. On the other, a giant orb of water. Both of these abilities were bigger than 2 meters.

In the magic world, there are various styles of technique and usage. One is born with an affinity towards one style of magic, but with time and training, can exceed that and learn various others.

The hardest to learn are the techniques on the opposite side of their natural affinity. However, there are subclasses of these same magic techniques that stem from various parts of the elementals. Then there are those rare traits that are within a field of their own, completely outside the normal realm.

Thus, the fact that she could use two polar opposite techniques with such proficiency, outlined that she was clearly no common girl. Many of the adventurers and onlookers had faces filled with shock, and some filled with awe.

For sure, as an adventurer, she was going to go very far.

The lady immediately apologized and lowered her head

“I-i’m sorry. I misjudged you. I’- I’ll get the papers right aw-”

She hurriedly turned to go and receive the papers from the back when she was interrupted.

“--Hold it right there.”

A man as tall as 7 ft. With every step, this giant of a man shook the floors of the building.

Ehh???

It’s just one thing or another here. Lusha turned to see the armored giant she had previously noticed when she entered the establishment. Of course.

“We can’t just start taking anyone who’s proficient in magic to enter the Adventurer’s guild. You’re trusting them with the lives of others when it comes to actual missions.”

Each step felt like it struck the earth’s core. Lusha glared up at the being who dared interrupt.

“In order for her to join the adventurer’s guild, she’ll have to pass my trial.”

The attendant looked frightened by the whole situation. Everyone could hear whispers and the atmosphere in the room was yet again as tense as it was merely 20 minutes ago when she had exerted her energy in the interrogation room.

“Y-yes sir!” She stacked the papers she had already grabbed and turned away from the counter.

“Oi. Hold it, who is this ironclad behemoth? Why is he making choices around here?”

“Nuon Grisly.”

Grisly? A fitting name for this dumb giant.

The attendant promptly left the room. This wasn’t how the adventurer’s guild operated. However, when Nuon Grisly says something will happen in this way, it usually will.

“What do you think you’re doing here Titan?” Lusha asked, clearly lettin her impatience show.

“Come with me. If you pass, you’ll be included within the ranks of the adventurer’s guild. This is how we’ll be doing this. Yeah.”