TUHWKM 07

Chapter 07

“I-I told you exactly as it is.”

The servant wearing a kitchen hat stuck his neck out like a turtle. His neatly clasped hands trembled.

I checked the tray held out to me with a bewildered gaze.

One piece of bread, one bowl of soup, a handful of stir-fried vegetables, and a few strawberries.

“No, why is this all you can give me?”

“Well, the servants’ meals and portions are fixed… Everyone receives the same amount.”

Does that make sense?

It’s not like there’s a drought or famine. How are people who run around on their feet all day supposed to survive on just this?

…Could this be a new form of harassment?

Hazing, or something like that?

But for that, the servant standing before me was trembling too pitifully. Look at him, lowering his head hurriedly the moment our eyes met.

These were people who had once been under the rule of black mages. So they knew the terror of black mages all too well—they would never dare to look down on me.

Still, I asked just in case.

“Are you perhaps deliberately excluding me?”

“Th-th-th-that can’t be! I-I swear it’s the fixed amount…”

Lusipenia had become one of the most fertile lands after breaking free from the black mages’ domain and becoming a grand ducal territory. In the latter part of the story, the mastermind appears near here and turns the territory into near-ruins, but that’s a story for one year later.

There’s no way it should be like this.

“W-well. A-actually… not long ago, because of the black mage who attacked the territory, the land was contaminated. The knights are working to restore the polluted soil, but… we’ll have to maintain this for at least a few more months.”

“Ah.”

…Ah.

My head rang belatedly.

「The wicked black mages frequently tried to invade the Lusipenia Grand Duchy to reclaim their old lands.」

Right, that’s how it was. It was a setting I had written in just one line in the story, so I had briefly forgotten.

Black mages were, in many ways, a tribe that didn’t know how precious their lives were. If caught by Kaierus, they wouldn’t die peacefully—yet they targeted the territory knowing that.

Hmm…

Is it not my place to say that?

Anyway, that wasn’t the problem right now.

I’m dying of hunger here.

“Excuse me.”

“Hiiik! I didn’t lie!”

“The contaminated land—could I take a look at it?”

—

***

“Oh…”

I stared blankly at the sight spread out before me.

“This is a bit…”

I was at a loss for words.

The problem site I arrived at far exceeded my expectations.

Based on the artificially planted stake fence, the left side was full of fresh crops and fruit, while the opposite side had nothing but blackened, burnt-dead trees and a plot of land with dark purple energy rising from it.

“Black mages are vicious, so vicious…”

And petty.

Since they don’t have the confidence to kill Kaierus in a head-on fight, they flip over an innocent territory like this and run away.

Still, even so—to reduce perfectly good land to this state? Who’s going to take responsibility for my hunger?

Nevertheless, the knights seemed to have been working quite hard, as there were traces of overturned soil here and there. It seemed they were bringing in soil from outside to restore the fields.

The contaminated site was so vast—how long did they think it would take to finish all of it?

“I’ll die of hunger before it’s restored.”

Clutching my starving belly, I looked around.

Far in the distance, I could see a farmer in a straw hat moving between apple trees that bore no fruit.

I strode over and tapped the farmer on the shoulder.

“Excuse me.”

“Eh, cough, cough… Who—aagh! It’s the witch!”

Crash!

Look at that reaction.

I held up both hands to show I had no intention of harming him.

“I have something to ask.”

“D-don’t bite me! I’m sick so I probably won’t taste good!”

Who said anything about eating you?

“That area over there, it’s all contaminated, right? What used to grow there?”

The man, who had fumbled to pick up his straw hat that had flown far away and put it back on his head, blinked rapidly.

“Th-that area…? That was where we grew peaches…”

“Oh, peaches. And?”

“Behind that was where tomatoes and orange trees were… but why are you asking?”

“Jackpot, tomatoes.”

I’d only imagined it and my mouth was already watering.

I thought for a moment, then asked.

“If I restore that land over there to its original state, can I eat as much of the new fruit as I want?”

“…What?”

“You said it’s contaminated and unusable right now anyway. I asked a servant at the grand ducal castle and they said it’ll stay like this for at least a few more months.”

“That’s true, but…”

“So you’re giving me permission?”

“What?”

Alright.

Leaving the dumbfounded farmer behind, I hopped over to the contaminated site.

“Ugh, the smell.”

How much vicious black magic did they sprinkle here before leaving?

Just setting foot on it, a foul, stuffy smell pierced through my nose all the way to my brain. Perhaps because the land was contaminated, the soil sank down like a swamp.

With this level of contamination, ordinary people vulnerable to black magic would have long since taken to their beds.

I could understand why the territory’s people trembled like aspens whenever they saw me. If this kind of thing happened constantly, it made sense to fear black mages.

“Let’s see…”

I rolled up my sleeves and loosened my hands.

The reason black magic is troublesome isn’t simply because it’s hard to track.

Phenomena caused by black magic can only be nullified by black magic.

Normally, this kind of thing can be resolved by reabsorbing the mana that has seeped into the entire soil, but if a white mage who doesn’t know how to handle black magic recklessly attempts it, there’s a high chance they themselves will become contaminated and die.

“I’m being generous.”

I’ll solve it for you, like giving a rice cake to someone you dislike.

More than anything, I couldn’t endure the hunger any longer. To eat, I had to do something.

It was a good thing I had wolfed down the food I received from the kitchen in one bite. If I hadn’t, I would have collapsed from hunger before even arriving here, let alone attempting restoration.

“Kaierus, be grateful.”

While I’m at it, I might as well handle the other farmlands too, not just the orchard.

I stretched out one hand and spread my five fingers wide.

“Yap.”

Dark purple mist billowed thickly from my fingertips and drew a massive magic circle in the air.

As I infused my mana, the area around the magic circle began to shine dazzlingly.

As if responding to this, the tar-like, sticky contamination surged up from the ground.

“Ugh, disgusting.”

To think they deliberately buried that much contamination deep under the ground before leaving. Truly remarkable dedication in many senses.

“Let’s absorb it.”

As I spread my hands with a bit more force, the squirming contamination rushed toward the magic circle as if being sucked into a vacuum cleaner.

That’s it.

It’s being absorbed!

Wriggle, wriggle. The more the unpleasant sensation dominated my body, the more I felt the surrounding air becoming fresher.

However, before long, I encountered another problem.

“…Huff, ugh. I’m hungry.”

I was so hungry.

The hand I had extended to absorb the contamination was trembling. The magic circle trembled along with it.

Did I use too much mana? As expected, I should have insisted on getting at least two plates before coming.

“Ugh…”

Eventually, strength left my legs and I plopped down right there.

The world spun dizzyingly, as if it were a lie.

I was almost done, too.

I can’t collapse now.

“Damn it, my peaches…”

I must be the only mage in the world who faints from hunger.

My consciousness faded away.

—

***

I had a dream.

It was a dream where I escaped from this hopeless possession and returned to my small, precious studio apartment.

Overcome with emotion, I immediately ordered two burger sets and a pizza and devoured them all. It was the taste of the mortal world.

This is life.

Burgers are the best.

Pizza is the best.

I will never be possessed again.

“Shouldn’t we wake her?”

“…Is she dead?”

“Th-then is she a corpse?”

Flash.

I opened my eyes.

I saw a blue sky.

“H-huuuuh!”

“Kyaaah!”

The people who had been murmuring while surrounding me each screamed and scattered in all directions.

Blinking blankly, I scratched my head and sat up. The fullness I had felt in my dream just moments ago was nowhere to be found, replaced by a rush of hunger.

It was so nice just now.

Why is it reality again?

“Sh-she’s alive!”

“Th-the corpse came back to life!”

The people who had retreated far from me were each holding farming tools and watching me warily in awkward postures. The farmer I had met earlier was among them.

“I never died.”

I’m dying of hunger and people are treating me like a corpse and making a fuss.

As I glared at them disapprovingly, I suddenly snapped to attention.

“Right, the restoration!”

How did the restoration go?