“…good night, Ed.”

The moment they got home, Ed immediately fell asleep. After his fight with Gram, he barely had any rest, so his fatigue must have built up.

Seeing Edgar who fell asleep sitting down on a chair, Arisa giggled.

She carried Edgar to the sofa nearby and covered him with a blanket.

As she smiled gently, Arisa slowly caressed Edgar's cheeks.

“Edgar…my lovely, lovely Edgar…I really thank you for your hard work. Rest well.”

She pecked a kiss on his cheek before whispering, “…I love you.”

She licked her lips before heading into her own bedroom, but as she did,

“…ara,” Ellie was waiting on her knees.

“…Ellie, you should rest too. You're tired, aren't you?”

“—Thank you very much, Arissama.”

The bright cheerfulness Arisa and Ellie had when they were with Edgar were nowhere to be found.

The two weren't even trying to conceal their dark emotions flowing out. It was obvious why. They only need to do that in front of Edgar.

The two had no reason to hide anything from each other.

After all, they are in good relations.h.i.+p as an accomplice in their feelings toward Edgar.

When Arisa walked past Ellie, Arisa whispered;

“…I'm going to sleep already. Aren't you going to bid him a good night sleep?”

Towards Arisa's devilish smile, Ellie's chest throbs.

“…”

The moonlight pouring in from the window illuminates Ellie and Edgar.

As if drawn to him, Ellie inched closer to Edgar.

There she sat, in front of the sofa Edgar is sleeping on, thinking of the person in front of her as she gazes onto his sleeping face.

Edgar…

The color of his eyes and his hair is black, just like me.

He's quite taller compared to me.

The look on his eyes are somewhat scary.

Yet he's so kind.

He cares for his friends, and he's the one person Arissama had opened up to.

He had melted Arissama's frozen heart with that kindness of his. The same way he did to me.

But he also got some bad points too.

That laziness of his is also beyond me.

He's so catastrophically bad at doing ch.o.r.es that I felt like Arissama is spoiling him too much.

I need to be by his side a lot then.

Snicker, she giggled.

“What a stupid person you are, master~”

Master.

She wouldn't probably call him like that anymore.

It felt like it's been forever since they first met.

Even though it's only been several weeks since then.

But before she realized it, this man had made her open her heart to him.

Ellie gingerly stretched her right hand forward…and brushed Edgar's disheveled hair.

“Aah, so unkempt. Even though Arissama always made it look cool. It's because you fought for me that it became like this.”

A warm feeling gushes forth from within Ellie's chest.

“For someone like me…”

“For someone like me¹…”

“Someone…like me…”

The more she said it…the more tears came flowing down her eyes.

At the same time, the feeling of loving this person swells up.

The hand that brushed his hair stopped, and as it did, she brought Edgar's face to her chest and embraced him—gently as to not wake him up.

“…Thank you, Edgar.”

Her feelings toward that human man is a warm, suffocating one.

At first, it was fear.

Then it was the confusion from him suddenly crying.

And then it was anxiety.

And then it was despair.

But now, it was nothing but love and grat.i.tude.

If it's for him, I would do anything.

For him, who had saved my crushed heart.

For him, who gave a meaning to my life.

—Why did she change so much?

She didn't know.

But there are some things that are certain;

That this person thinks of me as a family.

That I am happy for it.

“…I love you…I love you², Edgar.”

That I finally found someone I can say these words to.

Just when she thought she had lost everything,

just when she thought she had fell into the depths of h.e.l.l,

—I'm thankful to this person

—and I'm thankful for the fortune that allowed me to meet him.

That evening, Ellie fell asleep while holding onto Edgar.

The fact that there were a bit of a commotion between the three is a story for another time.

A shadow stretched in the training grounds on Lord Gram's mansion after Edgar had left.

It was the shadow of a blonde-haired man in a butler outfit—Ludo.

“Hmm, I should say, I shouldn't expect less from the sorceress' disciple. It seems like even I would have a hard time with this”, Ludo said, looking around the battle-worn field.

Ludo is here to recover a certain something…or rather, someone.

After a while, he seemed to have found what he's looking for.

He walked up to a certain place; a place where Edgar finished off Gram.

“What a demon. I should say that your craving for life is truly something to behold.”

Where he stood, a small lump of flesh measuring only several centimeters meekly squirmed.

Ludo pulled out a vial containing emerald-green liquid from his pocket as he looked down on it, and finally he dumped the liquid onto the flesh.

Gradually, the lump of flesh regained its size.

Ten minutes later,

Gram had completely recovered.

The person Edgar had tried to annihilate had returned to this world from the gap between life and death.

“Gahahah! He's strong. I won't be a match for him!”

Immediately after his recovery, Gram laughed happily.

Looking at Gram with a sidelong glance, Ludo involuntarily let out a sigh.

“The thought process of battle junkies like you is carefree as ever, isn't it…”

“I've got nothing to say if you put it like that, Ludo.”

Afterwards, Gram stood up, stared at Ludo in front of him and spoke;

“By the way, Ludo,” at that word, his lenient atmosphere suddenly disappeared, leaving only sharp, discerning eyes.

“…the sorceress' pupil was serious. That was the extent of his power. Really makes the Fire Sorceress look cute, didn't he?”

“…yes, I could tell just by looking. He would probably evenly matched against me.”

Judging that Ludo wasn't saying it as a joke, Gram's face warped.

“An even match with you, huh. He's the Fire Sorceress' disciple after all. The Fire sect is gonna be pretty safe for now…”

As they said that, the two could hear a set of footsteps coming from behind them.

“Ludo, how's Lord Gram's recovery?”

Under the stretching shadow cast by the moonlight, Ludo turned around and kneels.

Gram, too, did the same.

“Thanks to Ludo-dono, I have completely recovered. My thanks be to you, Lundono.”

The moonlight illuminates upon that person.

A woman with brown ponytails clad in maid uniform; Luna.

Luna whispered thank goodness, and she slowly removed her hairband³.

The moment she did, the color of her hair and pupils changed.

As if blazing…no, as if it's flowing blood, its color was dark red.

Meanwhile, her eyes glow golden.

“…we planned to measure the witch and her disciple's true strength, but did we make a mistake by evoking hostility towards them, nee-san?”

Luna cackled towards Ludo's slight discontent.

“Of course not. Arissama aside, I do believe Edgar-sama didn't show any hostilities toward me and you.”

Afterwards, Luna turned towards Gram.

“Thank you for your cooperation, lord Gram. I extend my thanks as the Blue Sorceress, Lunaria Del Furious.”

Luna pinched the hem of her skirt, lifting them as she bowed.

“…No, I don't mind that in itself. I've got to fight with my all for the first time in a while after all. But it seems like after a long while, my skills had grown dull…”

At that point, he narrowed his eyes and asked Luna;

“So I'd like to say something…The witch and her disciple…haven't they grown strong enough?”

“…right,” Luna sighed in melancholy.

“For now, we've managed to sample the wavelength of Edgar-sama's mana, so we could recover him at any moment.”

Luna responded kindly to Ludo's report;

“Thank you, Ludo. You've always been very helpful.”

“…No, it's only obvious. I'm your little brother after all.”

Ludo smiled slightly.

“…Alright, let's proceed with the plan soon. I'll leave the preparation to you, Ludo.”

“Understood, nee-san.”

As if finis.h.i.+ng the conversation, Luna turned her heels towards the moon and walked across the desecrated land as her crimson hair flutters about.

“What a waste though…that dire wolf girl. She was a good toy…”

Gram grumbled as he put his hand on his jaw.

“What a bad taste, Lord Gram. How could you sully such a young, immature girl.” Rebuked Ludo.

As if he's saying that he's played around too far.

For the two, Ellie's case was nothing more than just them playing around. After all, she was a slave; something that's considered a thing rather than a person.

Discontent with Ludo's manner of speaking, Gram snapped back.

“I'm not one with a bad taste, it's Lord Zamd, you know? He's the one who gave me the thing. Well it's because of his education that we can have first-cla.s.s goods to start with.”

Gram chuckled.

“Well, that doesn't matter. Anyways, Lundono, I'm officially declared dead, so I'll just hide for now. I won't be able to help with a lot of things, so is that okay?”

Luna swung her long ponytail as she turned around and answered;

“Yes, please do for a while, Lord Gram. Oh, wait, you're not a Lord anymore then, right? Very well then, comrade Gram, I will call all leaders when the preparation of the ritual is complete, so please check your communications equipment. When we are ready to retrieve the witch and her disciple, I will come to them personally.”

“Roger that.”

Afterwards, Gram puts on the clothes Ludo pa.s.sed to him and equipped a magic tool to change the color of his hair and his eyes.

“Well then, see you, Ludo-dono and Lundono.”

Luna and Ludo saw him off as he disappeared into the darkness.

The blonde haired man and the red-haired woman were left behind.

Ludo and Luna.

In the open s.p.a.ce that was dead silent as if there are no other existences than the two, Ludo whispered,

“…Our family's wish is finally coming true, isn't it, nee-san?”

His voice carries with it such depth of emotions.

Solemnly, Ludo spoke them out word by word as if reflecting upon it.

Their family's wish.

It is without a doubt the one thing that the two held with utmost importance; it is their destiny.

As if agreeing with Ludo, Luna, too, looked up to the sky.

“…yes…yes…that is correct!”

What poor fate falls upon those two!

How merciful, those who aims to save them!

Moving forward on the ruined ground, Luna exclaimed, as if praying to the sky.

“Wait for us, Edgar! For we! We will, without fail, save you from the never-ending cycle of the Witch and Her Disciple's disastrous fate!”

Under the moonlight, the Water Sorceress, tainted by madness, proclaimed.

¹ Ellie said this (again). The first “me” is written in kanji, the second one is written in hiragana.

² Ellie (and Arisa, earlier as she bids him good night) used “Ais.h.i.+teru” when expressing her love towards Edgar, not the regular “suki“. Both mean “I love you”, but the former held a far deeper meaning that people don't use it so casually.

³ I find it interesting that the raw actually said “Katyusha”, which apparently, other than Stalin's Organ, it also translates to Alice Band

Alright, that's the end of Volume 2; The Slave Girl and the Lord of the Fortress City. Starting from the next chapter it would be Volume 3: The Disciple of the Two Sorceresses. Hope you've enjoyed the chapters so far, so I'll see you next time

Have a great day!