Chapter 76

“Never mix with humans.”

The witch Morone recalled the last words her deceased mother had whispered.

Stay away from humans.

It was a piece of advice she had felt deeply, even from the hazy memories of her distant childhood.

“Humans hate us.”

She didn’t know the exact reason.

Despite not having harmed them, humans had been despising witches for thousands of years.

Because of this, witches had been driven into the woods, living meager lives.

That was until the Great War broke out.

– What are we going to do now?

– The monsters are invading the forest.

– We are running low on potions to fend them off…

After the alliance lost in the Great War, monsters pushed into the woods.

Even though witches managed to hold on somewhat with potions and curses, sheer numbers still mattered.

In the end, witches had no choice but to blend into human society and live as if they were humans.

“There are no other options…”

Morone was one of them.

Surprisingly, life hadn’t been too bad.

With her extensive knowledge of herbs and magic, she could earn a decent amount of money.

But the problem came unexpectedly.

“It’s a witch! I’ve seen it clearly!”

It was because the village priest had accused her of being a witch.

Morone felt as if her heart was about to drop.

‘How did, how did they know?’

She hadn’t done anything related to witchcraft at all.

She didn’t even like curses or potion-making.

She was building a good reputation by helping people.

However, the priest didn’t see through to the truth of her being a witch.

“It is highly suspect that she is a witch. Take this woman for the witch trial!”

If one wins in a witch trial, the witch’s property automatically goes to the accuser.

It was a scheme devised by the greedy priest and cardinal who had their eyes on her assets.

It didn’t matter if she was a victim or not.

“My arm has turned black!”

Being a victim didn’t matter if they could just make something out of it.

Thus, accused of being a witch, she was brought to the stake alongside two other women who were dragged in for similar reasons.

In truth, the only witch among them was Morone herself.

“I don’t want to die…”

“Why… I did nothing, I’m the victim…”

As Morone stared at the two women crying in fear, she slowly looked up at the sky and realized.

‘It doesn’t matter if I’m really a witch.’

They just needed something to hate, and she happened to be it.

She was fated to be unwelcome anywhere.

If the sky-high cardinal demanded her death, she must perish like a fly.

As she closed her eyes, having given up everything,

Head of the Gallery: (A frog with an angry expression, holding a stop sign)

Sorry, I drew you in just to show this too…

Are the medieval humans really this clueless?

This trial is that of the strongest fools in the world…

But even above the sky, there is a universe.

There existed beings far higher than the cardinal.

Into Morone’s painful life, the Head of the Gallery pierced through.

*

During the day, the cardinal’s corpse was discovered.

In a grotesque form, with multiple arms, burned, leaving only bones.

It was filled with malicious intent.

– Wow; who would dare to go outside now…

– (I’m scared)

– The heat’s gone up.

– (Become a Fire Punch)

However, it seemed that there were no mourners since the cardinal’s actions weren’t very pristine.

But murder is murder.

No one knew when it would extend to innocent people.

Being someone who knew exactly who the culprit was, I couldn’t easily turn a blind eye.

I could quickly find that Gallum and entered the Gallog first.

[List of posts by ‘I Will Become a Potion Master!’]

Private, ?? years ago / A gallery suddenly appeared. But how do you use this?

Private, 8 years ago / Humans dislike witches. But why? We didn’t do anything…

Private, 4 years ago / The Great War has begun. Monsters have invaded the forest. I don’t think we can hold on longer. What should we do…?

Private, 3 years ago / I succeeded in sneaking into a human city. Can we live quietly?

Private, a week ago / I was accused of being a witch. There shouldn’t be anything specific.

The victim also came forward. They said their arm turned black, with a face I had never seen before.

Are they aiming for my property?

…I don’t want to die.

“Hmm…”

From the writings, it didn’t seem like they would commit a brutal murder.

Most importantly, I had never seen a witch in the gallery.

Witches didn’t write open posts, and no one had ever declared themselves a witch.

It was, of course, due to humans’ witch-phobia, but I couldn’t understand the reason.

I Will Not Die Even If I Am a Vampire: It’s because of the color of magic.

Other than those like I Will Not Die, who have been around for a long time.

Head of the Gallery: ?

I Will Not Die Even If I Am a Vampire: The magic color of witches is all dark or deep.

When you think of magicians, the color that pops up is blue.

But witches’ magic color is a deep violet.

But why is that?

Head of the Gallery: Does that matter?

Is that color something harmful to the human body?

I Will Not Die Even If I Am a Vampire: No, not at all.

But there was nothing harmful about it.

It was just a color in its truest sense.

I Will Not Die Even If I Am a Vampire: I guess it looked filthy to the humans thousands of years ago.

Head of the Gallery: What?

Stumbling over trivial things becomes a problem.

Magicians were the mainstream, and witches were the minorities.

The reason witches were discriminated against was simply because of the color of magic.

“That can’t be… No, could it?”

Thinking back, there were many similar issues even in modern times.

Of course, everyone knows by now that magic color is no longer a problem…

I Will Not Die Even If I Am a Vampire: It doesn’t matter; as long as there’s something to hate.

I Will Not Die Even If I Am a Vampire said it calmly, as if they had known it for a long time.

“Isn’t this just too much to catch?”

Witches had been playing a revenge game of Level 99 for a long time.

But in this deadlock, revenge would inevitably occur when they couldn’t hold back any longer.

– Ah, damn it, found another similar corpse;

While I was contemplating, another murder occurred.

This time it was in a village far from the city.

– Who is it this time?

– It’s said to be the priest who accused the witch last time.

– Wait, wouldn’t this mean it was truly the witch’s doing?

It was discovered that the priest, who had aimed at a witch’s property, had been found dead.

This was already the second time.

Before a bigger incident occurred, I messaged the Gallum.

[‘I Will Become a Potion Master!’ has entered.]

Head of the Gallery: No, seriously.

I Will Become a Potion Master!: Head of the Gallery! What’s going on?

Head of the Gallery: Are you the culprit of this murder?

Without beating around the bush, I asked.

After all, I had openly said I would take revenge last time.

I Will Become a Potion Master!: Yes, that’s me.

And I didn’t hide it much.

If this kept up, I wouldn’t be able to escape trial this time.

The problem was that I didn’t particularly want to live.

I Will Become a Potion Master!: I’ve given up on everything.

I can’t get involved with human society, and if I go outside, I’ll die by monsters.

I just want to take my revenge and die in peace.

Head of the Gallery: Why? You have potions, right?

The forest witches have been using recognition-reducing potions to avoid monsters.

If they stayed like that, they could survive outside.

But the world wasn’t kind to witches.

I Will Become a Potion Master!: The ingredients needed to make that are too expensive, haha;

Because of the costs of potion materials.

Head of the Gallery: What are the ingredients?

I Will Become a Potion Master!: 1kg of sugar, 500ml of oil, 10 frog legs, 1,000 insects, and a total of 3kg of beast liver, intestines, lungs, and other organs.

How are we supposed to gather that?

We are after all poor witches.

After the Great War, even beasts were hard to come by, so how could we possibly find 3kg?

Not to mention, 1,000 insects and especially sugar was impossible.

Although witches’ potions performed excellently, the problem was that the cost of materials compared to their effectiveness was insane.

“It’s going to be hard to gather in the forest.”

It would be the same in the city too.

Where would you find 1kg of sugar?

What about the oil?

“A witch? That’s no easy task…”

Magic was a scholar’s path reserved for the chosen few.

You needed talent and money.

“But witches have it worse.”

However, the cost of potion-making for witches was comparable or even more than magic itself.

So, I was suddenly curious.

Head of the Gallery: So what other potions can you make? Assuming you have all the ingredients.

The recognition-reducing potion couldn’t be made even by magicians.

So, if the ingredients were sufficient, what else could be made?

I Will Become a Potion Master!: If I have the ingredients, I can make healing potions too.

“What?”

A healing potion…?

Isn’t that something essential in another world?

Head of the Gallery: What are the ingredients?

I Will Become a Potion Master!: I expect 10kg of pepper and 10kg of salt.

“?”

Pepper and salt?

I Will Become a Potion Master!: Lol, doesn’t make sense, right?

I Will Become a Potion Master!: Anyway… So, are you going to turn me in now?

But it seemed that the potion master misinterpreted my thoughts.

He thought I was trying to interrogate him.

Seeing his half-desperate chat, I left a reply.

Head of the Gallery: Hey, I’ll provide all those materials.

I Will Become a Potion Master!: Of course, I’m always grateful to you, Head of the Gallery… What?

A moment of silence.

The chat paused for a few minutes before it came back.

I Will Become a Potion Master!: Are you serious?

Even though I had given up, if there was a way to survive, one would want to live.

“There must be many witches other than you.”

Though the number may be few, they could still gather something together.

There was no more need to think about it.

Head of the Gallery: But will you work with me on one task?

“I have to catch her.”

Witch stocks, this is bound to skyrocket.

*

In a dark and gloomy clearing in the forest.

Morone stood in front of a crumbling hut.

“I didn’t expect to come back here…”

This was her long-lost home since her mother was still alive.

Though it had been abandoned and untouched since the Great War,

She brushed away the dust piled at the entrance with her finger, recalling the words of the Head of the Gallery.

“You said you would provide everything…”

The expensive and unimaginable materials.

The Head of the Gallery had said he would readily provide them.

Having been deceived by humans countless times and nearly killed, she was filled with doubt.

She didn’t suspect the Head of the Gallery, but could this seriously be heartfelt?

Those materials would challenge even the elite human nobles…

“Well, I don’t have any other choice, but…”

Morone chuckled softly.

She definitely wanted to take revenge and die.

But with just those words from the Head of the Gallery, she inexplicably found herself wanting to live.

Was it that she felt warmth for the first time from someone else?

Morone felt a strange tingling sensation in her heart.

[Items have been delivered!]

“!”

The system notification chimed in the silence.

Morone was startled, but she slowly opened the box that had fallen beside her.

“G-gosh.”

And indeed, it was there.

[100kg of Pepper]

[100kg of Salt]

…

“Is this, really pepper?”

Something that commoners would never dream of, the ultimate luxury even the nobles would long for.

And there it was, piled like a mountain.