Couldn’t Last a Day

—

In a luxurious room at the high-end inn of Holanda Town—

1:00 AM. Leah tossed from one side of the bed to the other, feeling her calm heartbeat. He’s alive.

1:30 AM. Leah flipped from the head of the bed to the foot, feeling her cold skin. He even tied her up.

2:00 AM. Leah sat up, hugging her blanket, feeling her heart pound as if it would give out any second. He even used that terribly awful liquid on her.

2:30 AM. Leah opened her eyes, staring blankly at the ceiling, then slowly closed them again. He kissed her.

3:00 AM. Leah turned over in bed, scratching her hair, messing it up, then fumbling in the dark to smooth it back down, strand by strand. He poured a liquid on her that could “cure” her magic circuit depression, bringing her back to the feeling she had before the depression—

3:30 AM. He made her magic circuits spin wildly, just like before.

3:45 AM. He made her feel the blood boiling in her veins again.

4:00 AM. He made her hear her heart pounding again.

4:10 AM. He made her feel pleasure again.

4:15 AM. He…
He made her rediscover…
The feeling of falling in love with someone.

…

7:00 AM.

Leah stared at the mirror, illuminated by the first light of dawn. The Leah in the mirror was much paler than before, the red of her prized magic eyes seemed to have faded slightly, and even more severe were the dark circles from a sleepless night. And… a spiritless face. She had been like this for about a few months, but today was particularly bad.

She simply… couldn’t sleep at all! As soon as she closed her eyes, her body would subconsciously recall today’s events, replaying the pleasure she had felt after being taken by Will. And… it would tell her, again and again.

—This is a very comfortable feeling.
—I want more, more, more!
—A little more, right? Don’t you want to return to a normal witch’s state?

“Damn it. Wh-Why…”

Leaning her head against the mirror, Leah listened to the sound of water gushing from the faucet, clenching her fists.

—Go find him now.
—See, you already knew you couldn’t leave him.
—Just submit to him, and you’ll get everything.

“No. I won’t.”

She splashed water on her face, then looked up, staring into her own eyes in the mirror, her wet bangs dripping. She told herself in a hoarse voice—

“If, if I go find him today. Wouldn’t, wouldn’t that be too embarrassing? H-How could I lose so quickly? Absolutely… absolutely not.”

“It’s, it’s fine. As long as I can defeat the Snow Woman, as long as, as long as I can complete Quest 513…”
“I can prove to him…”
“That even without his potion to reignite my magic circuits, I can still complete the difficult quests he wrote.”
“And he, who needs me to complete his quests, is the one who can only watch me, the one who can’t leave me!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Abyss of the End.
Seventieth Floor.

Leah, in a very poor mental state, stood on the stage of this BOSS battle, yet she was still the main damage dealer for the “Cradle” team.

Boom.
Bang.
Crack—

The battle between Leah and the Snow Woman Empress was a back-and-forth exchange. The Snow Woman’s swift ice arrows were completely neutralized by Leah’s Blazing Meteor. The Snow Woman’s ice prisons couldn’t withstand Leah’s Radiant Silence.

But… when it came to the Snow Woman’s most prized “ice wall”… for the current Leah, her castle’s ice wall remained an impenetrable “Wailing Wall” that she had tried every method to break. In fact, besides this defense, the BOSS of the dungeon had nothing else to show. But with such a tough defense, the battle turned into the “war of attrition” that adventurers dreaded most. An unbreakable ice wall would eventually drain everyone’s magic and resources, forcing them to surrender and exit the dungeon. And that Snow Woman, she most enjoyed sipping a cup of hot tea, sitting on her castle, and letting her “fully automated” defense array handle everything.

“I… I don’t believe it. Just… just a little more, surely… surely… surely I can…”

She spun her staff, first dealing with a new wave of ice arrows. In the gap before the arrows were completely destroyed, there was just enough time for her to chant—

Leah aimed her staff at the Snow Woman on the castle. The tip of the Staff of Ancient Flame lit up. Leah softly chanted the incantation. She felt her body’s resistance, a very obvious “powerless” weakness. After experiencing one intense burst, her body protested the subsequent need for another burst without sufficient nourishment. It was like back in school, when she was forced to run 800 meters with her much shorter legs for a fitness test, and for the next few days, even walking to the lab felt impossible. It was like a long, long time ago, when she stayed up for three days and nights to study a certain property of Nourish with Warmth, and then couldn’t even lift a test tube for a whole month. It was like… like right after she had gone on a rampage in the Dustbone Corridor dungeon, unleashing all her magic, blasting the place clean, and then realizing he wouldn’t come back.

“Ultimate ignition… ignite magic…”

As the ice arrows on the other side were reloaded, Leah shouted with all her might.

“A Single Torch for Eternity.”

—My body can’t do it now.
—I need more fuel, more nourishment, more stimulation.
—Something happier, more exhilarating, more comfortable.

Pop.

She watched as the light from her staff, just as it reached its peak brightness, abruptly extinguished.

“…!?”

Swish, swish, swish—

From the high wall opposite, sharp ice arrows, bringing a cold wind, swept towards them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Holanda Town.
Adventurer’s Guild Hospital.

“Th-That, Miss Witch, please don’t move, okay?”
“Mm.”
“It’ll be over soon, it might hurt a little.”
“Mm, I know.”
“This injury is a bit serious this time. You need to rest well for a few days, don’t go back to the dungeon.”
“…Alright.”

The resident healer at the Adventurer’s Guild couldn’t believe it. The witch before her, wearing a large hat and a high-grade mage’s robe, was the same person as the shouting witch from a few days ago. But there were no other witches in this town. She had become much “calmer.”

No… perhaps “calm” wasn’t the right word. More like… much more desperate. She kept her head down, and although she still had her twin-tails, which symbolized a certain cuteness, her golden bangs almost completely obscured her vision. The healer didn’t know if this was a good thing or a bad thing for her. After all, for adventurers with grand ambitions, sometimes knowing you can’t succeed and not throwing your life away could be a good thing. But, in various legends, witches were perhaps not supposed to be like this.

“Then… let me get the hospitalization procedures for you—this time it will probably be about five days.”

“No need.”

On this matter, Leah refused quickly. She got off the bed, put on her hat again, held her bandaged, frostbitten arm, and limped out of the Adventurer’s Guild, dragging her foot that had been grazed by ice and hadn’t completely thawed.

Because… because the Adventurer’s Guild was too noisy, too lively, too energetic. She was a witch who had never liked places with a lot of humans. That’s why in school, she had refused the teachers’ activities time and time again. That’s why in school, she had applied for the most remote lab. That’s why in school, she had only taught one class in several years.

Her heart was cold now, and in such a vibrant and warm human setting, she felt even more out of place.

“Wh-What should I do…” She walked onto the street. Her physical condition hadn’t improved at all; in fact, it was getting worse. Magical circuit depression, for a witch, was such a painful thing. Especially… if in between, she had briefly… briefly experienced her peak state, and recalled the associated memories, the pain became even more intense.

—You really, really want to go back.
—That feeling is so good, you have to experience it, don’t you?
—So, hurry up and find the place with the bard he mentioned.

She passed through the bustling crowd, the noisy sounds in her ears gradually fading, the bright lights beside her dimming. But what followed… was the sound of a “poet’s” singing—

“What kind of witch is the cutest?”
“The lamb says it’s the well-fed witch, it saw her dispel the long, harsh winter.”
“The songbird says it’s the well-rested witch, it heard her release a sonata of fireworks.”
“The fox says it’s the happy witch, it saw her ride the wind and pluck a bright red apple.”

Leah turned her head in that direction. The unpracticed, even slightly off-key singing sounded familiar.

“Only the passing youth says, it’s the witch who has a lover.”
“Because she won’t let her lover get cold, she’ll want to watch fireworks with him, and when she’s happy, she’ll pluck a fruit and share it with her lover.”

She looked over at that spot. A youth in a white trench coat, his face half-hidden by a hat, wearing a monocle, was playing a song at the end of an empty street, a song that didn’t sound like it was describing a witch at all.

…And he couldn’t even play the lute’s chords properly. It sounded like he was just trying his best to “act” like someone playing music. Always releasing his abundant “desire to perform.”

“More importantly, she can find a direction for her witch’s madness to be released—”
“So, that’s what makes a super cute, super invincible, super beautiful witch.”

The strumming hand stopped. The singing mouth stopped. He looked up, gazing at Leah.

For some reason, at that moment, the feeling that had been troubling Leah since her sleepless night vanished. She turned her body, looking at…

Will, the Bard version.

And then, she remembered what Lis had said to her before she left—

—”Witches should pursue that burning feeling in their magic circuits! To follow your magic circuits, to be passionate, straightforward, and true to yourself—that’s what makes a super cute, super invincible, super beautiful witch!”

—