The young knight, who had thought he had died on the battlefield, returned.

It is said that he also brought back a beautiful and cute witch.

In this land, witches who are proficient in all kinds of magic are undoubtedly more mysterious than mages who can only do some witchcraft.

But the witch who returned to the royal capital with the young knight seemed to be different.

On the streets of the bustling bazaar, there is an additional magic shop.

As long as you pay enough, you can get the help of the witch-sama.

Whether it's healing a wound, predicting the future, or finding a lost item or loved one...... The witch is capable of anything.

In less than a month, the residents of the entire royal capital remembered this magic shop on the street and the beautiful and cute silver-haired witch in the magic shop.

"Okay~ It's okay anymore."

"Thank you! Thank you, Witch-sama! ”

"No need to ......"

At noon on a drizzly day, a knight in civilian clothes walked into the magic shop with an umbrella and passed by the residents who had come to heal.

"Aren't you training today?"

The king did not blame the knight, but rejoiced that he was still alive—she knew it.

When she returned, the young knight was busier than he had heard from the knight's story. Even though I often come to the magic shop, it's always at night, no matter how heavy the rain is.

Only this day is an exception.

The little witch felt that the atmosphere was a little unusual.

"It's going to be war again."

"Huh?"

"I'm leaving tomorrow, so go back to the forest."

"Where are you going?"

"To the battlefield, of course."

“……”

In the past year, the little witch has been back to the cabin in the forest twice, but there is no trace of her witch master coming back, perhaps there is something more important to do.

She's grown accustomed to running her own little magic shop in the city.

"Why am I leaving?"

"If you don't go back for so long, you'll be discovered by your master, right?"

The young knight dodged his gaze, not knowing how to tell the real reason.

What he was supposed to do at noon today was to bring the little witch to the battlefield with him.

The king was glad that he had come back alive a year ago, but what he valued more was the little witch who had come back with him and had mastered all kinds of powerful magic.

Leaving the little witch behind became the task given to him by the king for the past year.

If the little witch is still in the city after he leaves, I'm afraid the king will use other means to disadvantage the little witch.

"But I ......"

The little witch is reluctant to give up the magic shop, and she is not willing to give up the knight.

She thought about it, and finally nodded slightly.

"Hmm."

It rained until the next day.

When the weather is fine, the knight is gone, and so is the little witch.

The king did not get any news that the little witch had gone to the battlefield, thinking that it was a knight's strategy to hide his hole cards, so he only stayed in front of the door of the magic shop with a sign of "closed" for a while and left.

The knight went to the northern border of the kingdom.

The rugged hilly terrain borders the cold regions of the north.

Standing on the watchtower on the border, you can see the snow-covered white plains in the distance, and you can see the wheat fields cultivated by the northern neighbor on the land that has not yet been covered with thick snow.

And their army rested in front of the wheat field, which was just a stone's throw away under a watchtower on the border of the kingdom.

To the south of the watchtower, corpses, broken swords, and dried blood were scattered across the ground.

The lookout camp on the border has fallen.

The little witch on the other side, going around and around for the direction of the battlefield, flew north, flew across the border, and flew into the snowy cold snow.

In the vast white plains, it is difficult to see even the traces of animals, not to mention people.

The little witch saw a village from a distance, and when she got closer, she found that the roof of the wooden house had been crushed by snow, and the dilapidated village had long since been devoid of residents.

A cold wind blew, and the little witch felt cold, and tapped her fingers lightly, and the warm heat gently wrapped her, dispelling the cold in the snow.

She continued to fly north, and saw the bodies frozen to death buried under the thick snow, and saw the marks that appeared from time to time along the way.

The marked object is clothing, or a backpack, or a broken snowmobile, or a human corpse......

The markers are painted with red crosses, and the names of villages or people are sometimes engraved underneath them.

These are road signs that have been built with life.

The little witch stopped at one of the markers—the name was only halfway written, the hand holding the knife dangling along the plank with her head.

When there are only red crosses along the way as markers.

Is it hope or despair......

Fly further north.

There are no more markers.

No one has ever been here, only the vast expanse of snow and the deep night sky.

The little witch uses her magic to melt a small area of snow, and under the thick snow is not the earth, but the hard ice. Cutting through the ice, there is bottomless water.

This is no longer land.

The little witch returned, with an indescribable mood, as if something was blocked in her heart, heavy, and out of breath.

If you don't follow the marked path when you don't come, you can still see new markers and abandoned villages on the way back.

It wasn't until she could see the faint green outside the snowfield from a distance that the little witch finally saw a different mark.

The markings are also bright red, after all, there is no other paint in the snow field except red.

A red circle is drawn on the wooden plaque, and there is a line of small characters carved with a knife underneath.

[saved.] ]

The little witch stretched out her hand and touched the wooden card, feeling sincerely relieved.

She flew out of the snowy fields in the distance.

It was a town, with simple wooden houses and vast expanses of farmland outside the town. The town is backed by cold snow, and it's not even as reassuring as the town in the knight's hometown.

The people in the fields, dressed in warm clothes with patches, stopped their farm work and beckoned to her.

"Are you also here to help our mage?"

The little witch shook her head, and then flew away from town.

She saw the kingdom's watchtower, and she saw the camp built on the edge of the farmland.

Under the watchtower, the two sides are fighting, full of blood.

The little witch walked around there, her mind in turmoil.

She was afraid to see the scene of the battle on the battlefield, and even more afraid to see the knight fall on the battlefield.

She vaguely understood why, when she was an apprentice magician, she had been taught by her teacher not to go out of the forest and sit on a flying broomstick in a daze.

The magic on the broom carried her back to the forest, to the hut among the thorns.

In the cabin, the witch teacher who had been waiting for a long time was quietly drinking tea, looking at the lost little witch with a gentle expression.

"I was wrong...... "The little witch said.

"What's wrong?"

"I shouldn't have broken my promise and run out of thorns."

"Nope."

"Huh?"

"You made a mistake in not helping him defeat the enemies who invaded the kingdom."

"But ......"

That's a bunch of people who have no way back.

"The snowy fields of the north were also the territory of the kingdom." The witch whispered, "Even if not, what righteous reason does the intruder have?" ”

“……”

The little witch raised her head, speechless.

……

……

"So, what is right and wrong......

At this moment, more than ten years after the girl came to the forest, the witch asked again.

But this time, it wasn't the girl who asked, but herself.