Chapter 113: Meeting Peiya by Chance, Impossible to Defeat
“Miss Peiya, your ‘cat’ is quite special,” President Maya said with a light laugh, shaking her head. “That’s a red tiger from the Beast Tamer Association, right? Where did you find it?”
“In the deep forest, near a group of monster corpses. I found it using my detection ability. And from the injuries on its body, I noticed something strange about the riverbed. Someone might be hunting monsters on a large scale. You should be careful when entering or leaving the Calamity Forest these days.”
Peiya’s casual words made Maya frown.
Large-scale monster hunting?
In the kingdom, this kind of thing was absolutely not allowed. Even though people generally disliked monsters, anyone could tell that this kind of hunting was not a good thing.
On top of that, cultists often liked to perform sacrifice rituals.
Over time, large-scale killing of monsters had been strictly forbidden.
Now that Peiya said something like this was happening in the Calamity Forest, Maya immediately became very alert.
“Do you have any evidence right now?”
“Evidence…” Peiya bit her lip. Most of what she knew came from analyzing the red tiger, and she had also asked Yingying to check the river.
The monster corpses were not her imagination, they were real.
So the first part of what she said could be trusted. The only question was the relationship between the Church and the Beast Tamer Association in this matter.
Because she didn’t have solid proof, Peiya only shared the first part and left out the rest for now. She could think about it more after getting better clues.
“I don’t have much evidence right now. What I’m going to say next might be a bit hard to understand. If you don’t get it, just tell me.”
Peiya looked at the two of them. Seeing no objections, she continued,
“When I found the red tiger, it was fully under control. Then it attacked me.”
“Attacked…” Maya interrupted, unable to hold back. “You didn’t get hurt, right?”
“No. I used a calming-type magic to restore its mind. From its injuries, I found traces of human magic, very strong traces. I’m not sure yet if it’s beast-taming magic or some other kind of mind-control magic.”
When she mentioned “mind-control magic,” Maya became serious.
She knew what kind of person Peiya was. If Peiya pointed it out so directly, it meant that more than one force might be involved.
“Go on. We’re all on the same side here. I’ve known Victoria even longer than Nara.”
“Hey, hey! Since when did I become the standard for judging traitors? Don’t say things like that!” Victoria looked at Maya with teary eyes.
From beginning to end, she felt like she was just standing there doing nothing. But when the topic of betrayal came up, she suddenly got named directly.
Where is the justice in this?
Peiya gave an awkward but polite smile and continued,
“I think it’s not safe to keep investigating. If we run into those people, we might not be able to escape. I’m a support type, and Victoria is a scholar. If a conflict really happens, we can’t rely on President Maya alone. And since she’s an official, she can’t act freely. If we meet them, it will likely be very troublesome.”
“That makes sense. But I feel like… you just want to hurry back to see Elise,” Victoria said with a mischievous smile.
She looked just like a nosy aunt.
“That’s not true…” Peiya paused, and the atmosphere in the group suddenly became cheerful.
“You… it’s almost written on your face what you’re thinking. But after you go back, be careful. Not everyone is like us.” Victoria became serious. “Unless it’s necessary, don’t let others get something they can use against you.”
“Mm, I understand.”
Peiya bit her lip. Her feelings were complicated. She understood what Victoria meant. She didn’t want others to know that they were very close.
Because… bad people might use it against them.
But in Peiya’s opinion, the real problem was that she was still too weak and needed Elise to worry about her.
While sitting in the carriage, Peiya kept thinking about this.
What did Elise think of her?
After all, no one knew her identity as a witch. Even though her witch form was powerful, it was not something she could show openly.
But if Elise didn’t know how strong she really was, would she one day misjudge her strength and do something foolish?
That must not happen.
Peiya really disliked stories where things were not clearly explained, and one person sacrifices themselves for the other because of misunderstanding.
She felt that tonight, she had to talk properly with Elise.
At the very least, she needed to tell her. She was strong, she didn’t need to worry, and she must not do anything reckless.
With these thoughts, the carriage slowly came to a stop.
“We’re here, busy girl. Time to get off.” Maya knocked on the window, pulling Peiya out of her thoughts.
“We’re here already? Thank you.”
Peiya took her belongings and said goodbye to the two people in the carriage.
“Be careful on your way, Miss Peiya,” Victoria waved.
Peiya watched as the carriage slowly left. The sky was now filled with a beautiful sunset, with red clouds covering half the sky and lighting the road home.
She put her luggage in her room, took a simple hot shower, and put on clean clothes. Then she carefully used magic to dry her hair.
After so many days, she had slowly gotten used to her new body. Handling her messy hair had become much easier.
After getting ready, Peiya went outside, found a carriage by the roadside, and headed toward Elise’s manor.
On the way, she lifted the curtain and looked at the burning red clouds, lost in thought.
When she arrived, she stood at the entrance of the manor and pressed the simple doorbell.
Holding her bag with both hands, she waited for a while. Then the maid, Yuni, came running from afar, holding her hat.
“S-sorry to keep you waiting, Miss Peiya!”
Peiya looked at Yuni in her maid outfit, then glanced behind her.
“Are you alone?”
“Yes. The others went out. Only the most useless one, me, is left to guard the manor.”
“Oh… is Elise here?”
“Yes, she is. I just saw her. I’ll take you to her.”
Yuni quickly fixed her clothes and led Peiya upstairs, stopping at the corridor.
“You should go the rest of the way by yourself, Miss Peiya. I won’t go further.”
“Okay.”
Peiya didn’t ask why. Carrying her bag, she quietly walked toward the light ahead.
Her mind was still filled with the thoughts from before. She felt like a student about to enter an exam room, adjusting her breathing again and again.
She was very nervous.
After just a few steps, she saw Elise.
She was sitting by the balcony, in front of an easel, holding a brush and drawing on the canvas. The setting sun covered her with a soft red glow.
It made her fair skin look even more beautiful.
Peiya stepped forward. Her shoes made a soft creaking sound on the floor.
Elise paused for a moment while painting. When she saw Peiya standing at the door, a gentle smile appeared on her lips.
“You’re here, Miss Peiya.”