Surrender

—

“Hello, Miss Witch, what a coincidence, isn’t it? Just as I was singing a ballad about witches, such a beautiful witch appears before me.”

Will, wearing clothes that were decidedly not those of a “bard,” simply holding a lute, spoke to Leah with utmost reverence. He even pointed a finger at the empty coin plate.

“If you’re in a pleasant mood, perhaps you could spare a little change?”

“Y-You fake bard…”

Leah walked up to him, clenching her fists, and spoke these words, somewhat “gritting her teeth.”

Will, sitting on the ground with his lute, craned his neck, seemingly trying to get a look at Leah’s expression.

As a result… Leah suddenly squatted down.

And so… Will saw—

The deep dark circles from a sleepless night.
A face pale from overexertion.
And, under her large witch’s hat, the flushed base of her ears.
And, a pout, a small expression of anger.

“I sang you so cutely, shouldn’t you be happy, miss? Why are you so menacing, as if you’re going to kill me…”

Will’s words were cut short, because the next moment, Leah reached out and snatched off his hat. His brown hair, somewhat dirty from not being washed carefully for a while, was exposed to the air as the hat fell. Will’s face subconsciously showed a flicker of astonishment, especially his right eye with the monocle, which widened.

“Weren’t you always hiding from people? Weren’t you faking your death? Weren’t you avoiding us for so many days? Now, now you’re here playing the lute…”

The sound of a mage’s robe whipping through the air came from beside Will’s ear. The light in Will’s vision dimmed slightly. Will then realized that Leah, while he was sitting on the ground strumming his lute, had taken off her robe and thrown it over his head. Then, she lifted a corner of the robe, and in this space where looking up, one could only see her, she gazed at Will.

Will’s reflection was mirrored in her red eyes. For a moment, Will felt as if he had returned to that afternoon when Leah first agreed to be his teacher.

She reached out, grabbing Will’s neck. Will’s left eye lit up with vigilance, but he found that Leah’s hand on his neck was exceptionally light. It only slightly tightened around his Adam’s apple.

“Alright, I just wanted to tell you—I admit it, I lost.”

“I still want to… monopolize your gaze…”

“Please… please let me go back to how I was before you… you ‘died’.”

After speaking, she brushed aside Will’s hair and kissed his forehead.

—

“So, you… you told that bard the story of witches, and then… then gave him… a counterfeit witch coin, and he trusted you so much that he’d let you… borrow his lute to play?”

“Yes. But… to be honest, when I deceived him with the witch coin, I thought he would chase me down and beat me up.”

Back in Will’s “lab,” Leah had thought that after she had said so much, he would let her taste that liquid directly. But he didn’t. Will seemed to be preparing something, just letting her… sit on that old, broken chair she had been tied to and wait.

“Then why didn’t you just give him real money? A few coins, for you, would be trivial…”

Leah’s words trailed off. She looked at Will’s back, as if realizing… he wasn’t that “young master” anymore. Perhaps he didn’t have much money himself…

“So, since you’ve agreed, let’s do some prep work first—like this.”

Will didn’t reply to Leah’s words. He turned around, starting a new topic. And… he showed her the insect in his hand. It looked like it was made of steel, but had the flexible legs and body of a “living” insect, and the mouthparts of a normal insect.

Using… using Will’s previous term…
Th-This… this should be called…
Called “mechanical”?

Leah looked up. The youth who had been playing a love song on the street like a bard seemed to have vanished. Now, his face was dark, a curious smile on his lips.

“Hah—”
“Hiss—”

After a deep breath, Leah finally sat up straight on the chair. She watched as Will reached out and placed the insect on her neck again. She didn’t resist at all, but her body still trembled slightly.

“It won’t hurt. The insect itself is very small, and its legs have an anesthetic liquid. It will quietly stay in your blood vessel.”

“N-No… it’s not that I’m afraid of pain. After all, getting hit by the Snow Woman’s ice arrows in a dungeon is much more painful. It’s just…”

Leah didn’t finish, turning her head away, trying not to look at the insect Will was pressing onto her neck.

“It’s just that, Teacher Leah, you’re also afraid of insects?”

Will, as if he could read minds, said what she was thinking.

That was… an insect.
With six moving legs, and segmented joints, and most importantly, eyes that humans couldn’t possibly look at directly, and it even made a buzzing sound—!

“Y-You… you can ask, is there any girl who isn’t afraid of the… in-insect in your hand… Mmgh!”

Just as Leah finished speaking, Will took advantage of her distraction and pressed down on her neck with a little force. She really only felt the small insect burrow into her neck, a slight sting like being stung, then a little itch, and it entered her blood vessel. There was no pain.

But… strangely, how did Will know this? Had he used it on himself…

“It’s okay. Teacher Leah being afraid of insects is also quite cute, isn’t it?”

Will sat opposite her, propping his chin on his hand. He was smiling, as if staring at a well-behaved doll that he could manipulate at will. As a teacher, being known by a student to be afraid of insects was perhaps not a good thing. But fortunately, Will probably wasn’t the type to play pranks with insects.

Why would Will “inject” this insect?!

Leah’s hand touched her neck. She could feel a small bulge between her skin and blood vessel, but it was harmless. It didn’t even hurt or feel strange when it wasn’t moving.

As expected… because…

She looked up. Will’s brown hair was a bit damp, as it had rained a little on the way back. His clothes were also a bit damp. He now looked like… a “fallen young master,” who, after his family’s decline and wandering, had learned some harsh survival skills and his true nature had been exposed, becoming crazy and perverse.

—Because he wanted to control me.

She truly couldn’t leave Will. Especially, she couldn’t leave the potion in his hand! That’s right. The reason he was still in the lead was because he had a stronger potion. Both the potion that suppressed her circuits, and the one that brought her back to herself. Leah believed that his control over her magic circuits was only temporary. As long as she… she got used to it…

“Very good, you’re doing great. How about a little reward?”

Suddenly, Will’s hand, which had just been withdrawn, was now coated with a viscous, seemingly cold, blood-red liquid, and he wiped it on the spot where the insect had just been planted!