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[Translator - Tangrine ]
[Proofreader - Seeker ]
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Chapter - 9: The Final Spell
Priscilla has always been afraid of death.
The fear of death relentlessly pursued her.
The eternal silence, the cold stillness of death’s moment, the biological fatality where lungs vomit fluids and arteries spill blood.
She never fully understood what death truly was, it was clear she feared the reaper’s scythe.
So, she created this curse.
It couldn’t avoid death itself but it allowed life to continue one more day after death.
A patchwork spell that tore out the soul roughly and stitched it onto another body.
And then, the day she succeeded in activating the spell for the first time arrived.
‘Did the spell fail? Why can’t I see anything?’
“Iris, are you alright? You should be careful. How can you not see anything?”
“Oh.”
Priscilla awakened in the body of a blind woman.
‘Haha! It worked! It’s a shame about the blindness, but that can’t be helped!’
At that time, Priscilla was genuinely overjoyed at this fact, hoping that this body would live out its natural lifespan in peace.
But the expectations of a witch rarely come true as she wishes.
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The witch’s first spell ended in a horrific failure.
Because of a fire.
A massive blaze consumed the village where the blind woman had lived and with that body she could not escape the fire alone.
Next to the blind woman was always a kind village girl who guided her but that girl died tragically, leaping into the flames to save the blind woman.
‘Next time, if I possess a disabled body, I’ll just let myself die. Suicide is scary but there’s no need to suffer just to live in a disabled body.’
The next body she possessed was a girl who suffered from lung disease and coughed incessantly.
Again, she did not live out her natural lifespan.
Because of a plague.
There was a doctor carefully caring for the girl but the doctor contracted the plague and died while tending to the patient.
‘Next life, if I have lung disease, I’ll just die. Suicide is still scary but…’
After that, the witch failed many times.
No talent for mana? Die. Poor eyesight? Die. Family ties? Die.
With each death, the fear dimmed little by little and the thirst for a full natural lifespan grew endlessly.
But it was as if she had earned a divine curse for daring to seek an unpermitted immortality.
She never once enjoyed a full natural lifespan.
That peaceful death, quietly smiling in bed as she drifted off, was never granted to her.
‘….’
She didn’t want to die.
She was afraid of dying.
In truth, she never wanted to commit suicide.
At first, that was how it was.
But gradually, the fear began to fade, replaced by a thirst that crawled inside her like worms in her belly.
And she thought it would always be that way.
-“Wake up! Pippy! Get up already!”
“…Ah. Is it morning already?”
That was before she met the passionate, macho man—Gigachad.
Priscilla had become an ordinary girl who feared death.
But somehow, she didn’t dislike that fear.
Because the fear of death made her realize… how much she had come to love this life.
-“Yeah. A miraculous—”
-“A miraculous morning, right? I’ll tell you to stretch, drink water, and talk after you get up.”
-“Haha!”
In a world darkened by blindness, only Gigachad’s figure remained vivid.
Gigachad guided Priscilla to the door.
She got out of bed and slowly walked toward the door.
Though nothing was visible and fear gripped her, she trusted Gigachad and took a step forward.
-“You fucking asshole. Don’t trust me, trust yourself.”
“I don’t get it. You’re just a hallucination. How can you find the way?”
-“I’m not just a hallucination. I’m Gigachad. If you do hard training, you’ll find your way easier than eating cake. Wake up the abilities asleep inside you. Feel the sounds and temperature. Recall the distance to the door.”
“Ugh, what a bother. Why don’t you just keep guiding me? You said you’ll be with me forever, closer than my heart, right?”
-“I can’t walk for you.”
"But… you can give me a push, right?"
Priscilla chuckled and opened the door.
Gigachad looked at her with a displeased expression but kindly guided her way.
-“Fuck. Watch out. There’s a cabinet ahead.”
“Thanks.”
-“Helping you is the joy of this Gigachad, My Daughter.”
Truly… she was grateful.
Maybe the greatest result of all her research into spells was meeting Gigachad.
Priscilla thought this for a moment.
.
.
.
As time passed, Priscilla learned how to live as a blind person.
By the sound of the wind hitting objects and swirling around, subtle temperature changes and the sensation of soft hairs on her skin, she could avoid obstacles right in front of her.
She was able to spread her faint magical power like threads to discern the shape of objects.
Using a technique called echolocation, she maps out the surrounding terrain and avoids getting lost.
“Wow, I really can do this.”
-“Of course. Didn’t I tell you? Pippy's potential is limitless. You were always capable of walking on your own.”
Now, Priscilla could walk by herself without Gigachad’s help.
Striding confidently forward, she opened the door to her mother’s bedroom.
With a bright smile, she called out loudly.
“Mom! It’s morning! Please wake up!”
“...Oh my, is it morning already?”
“Yes! It’s a miraculous morning!”
“Yes. Every day feels like a miracle.”
Priscilla plopped down on her mother’s bed and her mother gently stroked her head.
It was the picture-perfect scene of a peaceful, happy family life.
Sunlight streaming through the skylight, the coarse texture of the bed, and the gentle atmosphere flowing between mother and daughter—all were perfectly ideal.
They sat together on the bed for a long while, simply spending time.
Even the golden scent of sunflowers seemed to bless the two of them.
“...Huh?”
…Sunflowers?
At that moment. Priscilla instinctively used every ounce of her faint magic to protect her mother.
It happened without thought, purely on instinct.
That hateful sunflower.
The cursed scent of those who follow the sun.
The very thing that had killed Grand Witch Priscilla again and again.
The sworn enemy of witches who burned her village and destroyed her hut.
The mortal enemies of all witches.
Boom—!!!
A massive explosion echoed.
The shockwave shook her body.
A dreadful darkness blocked her sight completely.
The walls of the hut collapsed.
From beyond the wreckage, a man’s voice rang out.
“The smell of herbs and bugs... It’s the scent of a witch.”
Priscilla coughed up blood from straining to use her magic.
She felt nothing else.
Where am I now? What about Mom? Is she okay?
‘Gigachad... I smell blood... I don’t sense Mom’s scent... Is she really okay...? I’m so scared...’
-“Pippy.”
‘I can’t feel anything... My head is spinning...’
At that moment, she felt something soft and warm wrapping around her.
Tears welled up in Priscilla’s eyes.
The touch was so warm, it made her feel sorry for her helpless body that couldn’t hug first.
And for herself, who had ultimately ruined all this happiness.
A witch must never wish for happiness.
A witch must never live among humans.
The witch’s fate is nothing but death.
Even in the fairy tales her mother once told, the witch always met a gruesome end.
“Mom… I’m sorry…”
“It’s okay… my daughter… Everything will be fine…”
Her mother tried to comfort the sobbing Priscilla.
Then, the hero spoke.
“A moving display of maternal love. Tragically, you became a witch at such a young age… but that’s no reason for you to survive. You reek of death. No doubt you have painfully killed many people.”
-“You fucking asshole! What are you just sitting there for? Stand up!”
‘I can’t... Gigachad...’
Gigachad scowled and shouted.
Priscilla only trembled in fear, collapsing like a child, frozen and helpless.
With Gigachad’s next words, she felt as if cold water had been poured over her, snapping her back to reality.
-“So you’re saying you want to die with your mother?”
‘Yes. Mother. I have to save at least my mother.’
In that instant, Priscilla roughly pushed her mother aside and stood up.
Lifting the corners of her mouth as high as she could.
As if mocking how ridiculous the situation was.
She shook off her mother’s hand that tried to hold her.
“Haha… Risking your life to save a witch like me? How ridiculous.”
“Priscilla?”
“Not even knowing that I am the enemy who killed your daughter and stole her body…”
She stood firm despite her staggering body, glaring at the hero with sightless eyes.
“Thanks to you, damn hero, the fun role-play is over. What are you going to do about it?”
“Indeed. So that’s how it is. You truly are an evil villain. Using a young girl’s mother as a shield to protect your own body.”
“Priscilla, what are you…”
“Shut up! Do you still think I’m your daughter? Foolish woman, you don’t know your place…”
Priscilla stepped forward, like a witch who no longer feared death.
A demon who despised even her own life.
She drew a faint thread of magic from her heart and cast her final spell.
The hero’s declaration and the witch’s incantation echoed simultaneously.
“Witch, according to ancient law, hears whose hand will bring your death.”
「I, Grand Witch Priscilla, break the witch’s cauldron brewed for a thousand years, kneaded for a thousand years, and boiled for a thousand years.」
This was the final spell declaring the witch’s end.
The forbidden secret art that sacrifices all knowledge brewed in the cauldron.
The moment she used this spell, she would lose all of her witch’s power.
That’s what ‘final spell’ meant.
And the effect of the spell is to die as a human, not as a witch.
“The name of the hero chosen by the gods of justice—”
「Witch’s love is tragedy. The witch’s fate is nothing but a brutal death.」
“Aldes Prohiden.”
「But may that final moment sink quietly in sorrow.」
It meant being forgotten from the memory of the one she loved.
Priscilla smiled joyfully as the spell erased her from her mother’s memory.
The hero’s sword swung toward the witch’s neck.
“Yes, this is enough.”
And so, the hero’s sword sliced across Priscilla’s neck—
“...Huh?”
-“Shh.”
Priscilla did not die.
Her head was still firmly attached to her body.
“A fitting end for a wicked witch.”
After a moment, believing the witch to be dead, the hero turned and left.
Priscilla collapsed weakly to the floor.
She blankly stared at Gigachad, who was quietly grinning to himself.
“Gigachad…?”
-“If you hadn’t used that spell, you would’ve died. The witch’s scent wouldn’t have been erased. Heroes never miss the scent of evil, even from a thousand miles away.”
-“Who… are you?”
-“Still asking dumb questions? You know already. I’m you. Your potential.”
“...”
That couldn’t be true.
If that was just a hallucination in her mind, the hero wouldn’t have just walked away.
-“In this world, impossible things sometimes happen. We call them ‘miracles.’ But is that all you’re curious about now? Don’t you have something you have to do?”
“Ah!”
Priscilla ran frantically toward her mother.
She embraced her mother, who had fainted from the spell’s aftereffects, and only relaxed after confirming her wounds were not serious.
With her tension broken, Priscilla leaned her head against her mother’s body and collapsed.
As her mind began to fade, only Gigachad’s voice rang clear.
-“Honestly, I didn’t believe you’d change… but you’ve rewritten your fate, my Daughter. If you never forget this resolve, you’ll become a better person. From now on, it’s time to walk your path.”
And when Priscilla finally woke up.
“Gigachad…?”
Gigachad was nowhere to be seen.
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[Translator - Tangrine ]
[Proofreader - Seeker ]
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