The Last Boss Witch Will Keep Her Past Self's Crush Until Her Dying Day Chapter 28

There were various things to consider about the early life of Ambert and Cross. Who could have imagined that our fathers were fellow slaves who were as close as siblings? It's certainly a curious coincidence.
Besides, it was shocking that Black Witch Slayzia was researching homunculi and the two might've been her specimen.

But, I was strangely convinced.
I know the『peculiarity』of my body. There is a chance that my extraordinary amount of magical powers and talent in magic haven't been inherited from my mother. Any other abnormal traits of mine might also come from my father's genes.

It's the same for Will too.
Being the second generation knight who's a good compet.i.tor for the t.i.tle of the strongest knight in Mistria might be because there's some secret to his body. It would be pitiful to deny all his strenuous efforts though.

What kind of homunculus was Slayzia trying to create?
What happened between Ambert and Cross?
I want to know. I want to investigate. I want to do all sorts of inspections of my and Will's bodies.

Enduring that urge, I headed towards Banheid with Will.
Accepted job must be seen through by all means. It also concerns human lives and I don't want to disappoint Brother.

Dragon carriage ran through the wilderness at full speed. Unika is still house-sitting. I left the task of taking care of him to Marin and other apprentice witches.

 "What's with you, staring at me like that…are you worried about something?"

"It's nothing."

Will seemed uncomfortable and told me to stop staring at him if I had nothing to say.
 Sorry.
I still can't tell Will about our fathers. It'll just upset him.
Besides, if my father was also deeply involved with the death of Will's parents along with my mother, even I wouldn't be able to raise my head before him…so it's hard to bring it up. It'll be a pain if he became wary of me again after finally getting attached to me.

Banheid was a completely ordinary rural village with a population of less than five hundred. Contrary to the idyllic scenery of the fields and creeks, the atmosphere in the village was tense, with villagers full of grim resolve, medical personnel busily running in all directions and the wheezing patients.

The village's a.s.sembly hall had become a temporary quarantine zone. As soon as we arrived, we were briefed by the doctors and sorcerers who were dispatched by Brother.
There were already around 50 infected with the new type of Mana Fever and the 10 of them were severely ill. Conventional medicine had little to no effect and they seemed to be at a loss at what to do.

"Presently, the number of infected people has stopped rising. However, no infected have shown any signs of improvement. If it continues this way, those who have exhausted their vitality will be the ones to…"

6 days have already pa.s.sed since the first villager collapsed. They must be at their limit around now.

"Will, you go help the group handing out emergency rations and carrying the load. Try to avoid interacting with patients as much as possible."

"Sure. Then you'll…"

 "I'll briefly examine the patients. It'll be fine. Controlling magic is my specialty."

It is said that the cause of the Mana Fever is a change in the stream of the magical powers in nature.
In a very rare case, a special wave is emitted when the flow of the stream changes. That wave greatly disturbs the magical powers inside living beings and worsens their physical condition.  The wave is transmitted to other people one after another and that's basically how the infection spreads.

That's why, theoretically, as long as you stabilize the magical powers inside your body, you won't get infected.
I should be less susceptible to infection than normal people. After all, I wouldn't be able to call myself a witch if I couldn't control my magical powers.

…But then again, it depends on the degree of the change.
I suppose it would be easier if you compared it to the weather.
Anyone can walk outside in light rain, but there are only a few who could endure a heavy rain or strong wind. I can walk gracefully in most weather, but even I would have to stop walking or start running if I came across a heavy thunderstorm. In other words, my control of magical powers will get disturbed.

But Banheid isn't giving me an impression of rain.
It's almost like I'm walking in the mist. There's an unnatural mana movement, but I can't grasp it. There is something frightening hiding beyond the invisible sight. It has a dangerous atmosphere.
I can't really compare it to anything since I haven't been to an infected region before, but this village is giving me a really bad feeling.

I got the permission and visited each patient one by one.

"How is it, Sonisama?"

After being asked by attending sorcerer, I touched the neck of a male patient. His pulse was weak. The flow of magical powers seemed like it would stop at any moment now. According to the sorcerer's diagnosis, tonight would be his critical night.1

"This is a drastic treatment but let's give it a try."

We won't make it in time if we start compounding the medicine right now. Let's try controlling the flow of magical powers from outside.
I poured a single drop of my magical powers into the young man and thought about it circulating inside his body.
The patient groaned painfully for a second, but calmed down right away.

"Oh, the internal magical powers have stabilized!"

Using my magical powers, I examined his entire body. Then, I felt something out of place.
A sinister presence that made me break out in cold sweat.
Is this――

"It's not good…there's more disrupted energy. It'll go back to the critical condition after a while."

If I pour more magical powers into him, it can cause rejection and end up in death. This would simply prolong his suffering.
A fundamental solution is still necessary.

After that, I stopped by to see the examination of the healthy villagers. Everybody was anxious, so they made up a long line. Some women in the line looked like travelers.

"Oh? It seems that a child named Raz has never been to the examination."

After finis.h.i.+ng the examination, the doctor looked at the register of the villagers and tilted his head.

 "Who cares about that guy."
"He's this village's plague. How filthy."
"More importantly, help my daughter faster."

The villagers said as if spitting out. I wonder if they're just irritated due to their anxiety about the disease.

When I asked the young man, who was close to me in age, about Raz, he started talking incessantly.
I haven't hidden my ident.i.ty, so everybody knew that I was the daughter of Alonia, the Witch of Salvation. Brother also told me that if the villagers knew that I was visiting, they would cheer up more. In fact, there were also villagers who were in high spirits, saying that a celebrity had come.

"His mother was just the worst. My old man was also fooled, and made my mom angry like a demon. It was just awful.”

Raz was a child born from a prost.i.tute. His mother lost her job at the town's brothel after stealing and together with Raz, who she bore from a customer, started to lodge in this village. However, over the years, she seduced many villagers and disappeared after stealing their a.s.sets. She was supposedly wanted for a fraud.

Raz seemed to have been left in this village and hated from others ever since then.
It would have been fine if they just drove him out from the village for once and all, but he's been forced into hard labor like a slave. So basically, Raz himself hasn't done anything bad, but he's been used for venting their frustration. The villagers don't seem to feel guilty about that at all though.

You can hear similar stories everywhere.
My heart doesn't really ache for him, but it doesn't really put me in a good mood. The part about his mother's misconduct being forced onto him even made me unintentionally sympathize with him.

"If that child was infected, we must quarantine him…everybody who's free, please search with me."

According to villagers, Raz is often at the cave at the back mountain, a shed in the field or a barn. I wanted to walk around the village to see the situation, so I decided to join the search. Will also joined from the half way and we headed towards the livestock and mount beast barn together.

"How is it? The new kind of Mana Fever."

Will, who mingled with the village women and helped them distribute food, seemed to have been completely overtaken by the worries they felt towards their husbands and children. He looks really anxious. I checked if anybody else was around us and told Will.

"According to my judgment, this is not a Mana Fever."

It's no wonder that the sorcerers couldn't notice anything.  The symptoms themselves, which cause anomaly in internal magical powers, are very similar to Mana Fever. If the damage was extensive, it would be normal to suspect a contagious disease.

However, this time, the way of infection is strange.
There are regions with zero casualties and there's also difference in the severity of the symptoms. It's unnatural.

"Huh…? What does that mean?"

 "I still can't say it with conviction, or more like, I can't believe it, but this is――"

At this moment, the door of the barn moved. A little shadow appeared from the inside and we stopped moving.
It was a boy, who had bandages wrapped around his face and the skin that was peeking out from his clothes. What hollow eyes he has. Those don't look like the eyes of a child around 8 years old.
His physique is the same. He's much smaller and thinner than the average children of his age. He isn't getting enough nutrition.

"You must be Raz. We've come to help with curing the disease. Would it be fine if I took a look at you too?"

Even when I smiled at him, Raz's face didn't change. It was expressionless, as if he had given up on everything and had distanced himself from the world.  Taking advantage of the lack of reply, I stepped into the barn. Raz didn't seem to have enough energy to resist.
There was nothing except piled up hay in the barn and it smelled slightly.
With the brown puppy flying up and starting to bark, everything instantly became nosier.

 "I'll be intruding then. Don't worry, I won't hurt you."

I shut it up by intimidating-, no, greeting it. The dog whimpered and hit behind Raz's legs.

"Are you sleeping here?"

Raz nodded and hugged his arms. Perhaps he was embarra.s.sed for not living in proper human living conditions. Neither I nor Will would make fun of his circ.u.mstances.

"Are you injured?"

As Will asked, Raz instantly retreated to the corner of the hut. He's probably afraid of men with good physique. Even more so when there is a knight's sword hanging from his waist. I wonder if the villagers are abusing him on a daily basis?

 "Don't be afraid. He's like my dog.  He's the same as the doggy over there."

"Who's a dog!…I really won't do anything."

When Will crouched and met his line of sight, Raz nodded slightly.
I secretly ordered Will to bring food over. I also had him relay to the doctors that I would be examining Raz.
Taking Raz's hand, I checked the state of his internal magical powers. His body temperature, transmitted through his bandages, was low and his fingers were trembling.

"You don't seem to be infected, but you're still quite exhausted. You have neither 'Core' nor 'Brain', right?"

Raz nodded, seeming anxious.
As I tried to undo his bandages, I was politely rejected. Looks like forcing him won't work.

Will brought egg soup with vegetables and soft bread. I'm glad that he chose food which would be easy on stomach. I was worried about what to do if he brought a greasy chunk of meat, but looks like his common sense is still working.
Though the amount of food he brought is definitely abnormal for a single child. Since it was a good opportunity, both of us decided to also have our meals here. Now that I think about it, I haven't had lunch.

"Eat slowly, you two."

Both Will and Raz nodded at the same time. I gave milk to the puppy, which was looking at our meal with envious eyes.

"What's this doggy called?"

"…Tirle."

After this, Raz started to properly answer the questions, talking about how Tirle was a stray dog and most likely thrown away by its mother, how Raz couldn't leave it and always shared his feed with it. Hearing about how Raz hadn't had a warm meal in a long while, Will frowned, perhaps remembering his childhood.

After the meal, Raz languidly fell into the hay bed. He seemed to be exhausted from all the nervousness. Not like he was in a good condition since the start anyway.

"Raz, if you stay here, you'll get sick. Do you want to come to our inn?"

Because adventurers stop by from time to time, there are many farmers, who run inns as a side job, so there is no shortage of accommodation facilities. We have booked the best inn in Banheid.
Raz shook his head in refusal, saying that he would get shouted at by the owner of the inn anyway and get kicked out anyway.

"Then, I'll have a talk with the village chief, so do you want to live in another town? You're not keen on this village, right? Azurite's feudal lord is kind, so you might even become a n.o.bleman's adopted child."

My words seemed to have surprised Will. I'm being excessively charitable. Of course, I'm not proposing this just because of my compa.s.sion. There's something that I want to check.

"It's fine. I'll stay…in this village."

Raz looked up at me with dark eyes, devoid of any childishness.

"Why?"

"…Because I want to see."

Raz's small lips twisted into a smile.
I want to see this village's end, he said.

—
Notes:
Sorry, I wasn't planning on taking so much time for this chapter but last few paragraphs took me forever to do for some reason.
Do you think Raz is creating the disease? or did he just feel that the disease was man-made and decide to watch the world burn? The bandages do seem suspicious but maybe he;s just scarred because of the s.h.i.+tty villagers.
This chapter is t.i.tled “Banheid's Darkness” so you know that something is happening there.

1. 峠 is what raw says. It's like the night which will show if the patient will live or die.↩
Dig us called チルル btw

I hope the formatting is okay this time. I accidentally clicked “convert to blocks” and f.u.c.ked s.h.i.+t up again…

Notify me about mistranslations, typos and awkward grammar so I could fix it afap.