By Zephyria 
That day, he had been seized by the guards and dragged to the dungeon on the spot without any time to prepare, so he hadn’t had the chance to pack his flint jar. Since he had poured out all the gold coins inside anyway, no one would bother taking that worn-out box even if the coins were gone, but he worried that someone might have simply thrown it away. If he lost it again, the cats would cry incessantly.
“…….”
The cats……. Isaac suddenly frowned. Just as he let out a long, heavy sigh that settled in his chest, the sound of an iron door opening and closing echoed from the end of the hallway.
Thinking that the guards had already changed shifts, he looked out to see Hoden, who had been sitting outside the bars, hurriedly standing up. ……He knew who it was. Isaac stood up as well.
Soon, heavy footsteps approached, and the owner of those steps, who stopped in front of the cage where Isaac was confined, was the Prince, as expected.
The Prince looked at Isaac inside the cage and then shifted his gaze to Hoden; as Hoden quickly opened the bars, the Prince stepped inside without hesitation. Hoden simply closed the bars lightly from the outside and stepped back.
Normally, a person of such high status would never enter a prisoner’s cage alone, nor would the bars be left unlocked like that, but right now, no one cared about such things. It was because everyone knew that nothing dangerous could possibly happen.
“Are those fellows doing well?”
After bowing to the Prince, the first thing Isaac asked was that. It was because he had been thinking about those fellows just a moment before. The Prince tilted his head as he sat on an empty chair provided in the cell.
“I wonder. They keep crying inside the birdcages, but I cannot understand their language, so I cannot tell. I’ve kept them locked with a seal of the High Priest so they don’t wander off and get hurt.”
“……Please don’t torment them too much,” Isaac murmured gloomily.
Isaac had heard that on the day he was brought to the dungeon, the tigers had also been caged. He had heard that by grabbing one snarling beast and threatening it with a sword, the Prince had easily forced the other two back into their cat forms, locked them in separate cages, and then turned the last one into a cat and caged it as well.
“Since they are witches anyway, there is no need to care for them to ensure they aren’t suffering,” the Prince replied nonchalantly.
Those indifferent words were neither a joke nor a threat, but a plain fact. Isaac’s expression darkened.
He was more worried about those fellows than his own situation in the dungeon. No matter how spiteful and obnoxious they were, the thought of them being locked up and crying where he couldn’t see them kept weighing on his mind.
Furthermore, as the Prince said, they were witches. He didn’t believe the Prince, knowing that fact, would take good care of them. No, rather, whenever the thought suddenly crossed his mind that the Prince might kill them simply for being witches, his heart felt like it was turning black.
“If you are that worried, why not use one of your remaining wishes?” the Prince said.
Isaac flinched.
Wishes. Two wishes still remained. But he couldn’t use them. It was because he had left the flint jar behind.
As Isaac bowed his head gloomily, unable to answer, the Prince, who had been watching him intently, tilted his head.
“I see…….”
Hearing the Prince mutter to himself, Isaac realized. The Prince had just been testing him. He was gauging whether Isaac could freely make wishes. And he had likely just deduced that he could not.
Smart people are scary sometimes because you never know what they’re thinking, Isaac clicked his tongue inwardly. Even now, he didn’t know what this man, who was staring through him, was thinking.
The Prince had been visiting the dungeon every day. Since he didn’t know the time, he couldn’t be sure, but it seemed quite frequent. About twice a day.
He didn’t stay long. Usually, he stayed just long enough to finish a single meal. Since it was right after returning to the capital, he must be busy day and night, so it was almost strange that he came as often as he did.
He didn’t do anything special when he came. He would simply enter the cage, sit and look at Isaac, and then leave. Every few visits, they would sleep together—and during those times, Isaac would spend the time wishing he were dead, feeling the gaze of his former comrade just outside the transparent bars—but generally, he just sat there to the point where Isaac didn’t even know why he came. As if, despite his busy schedule, he came just to see Isaac’s face.
“Three wishes……. They must be related to those cats,” the Prince said.
Isaac wondered what the Prince was trying to fish for this time, so he just blinked and looked at him as if he hadn’t heard. However,
“Then, to prevent you from making the remaining two wishes, I wonder if I should just kill those cats off entirely.”
“You can’t!”
He shouted without realizing it. He had intended to keep his mouth shut, but the Prince silently watched Isaac, who had instinctively leaned forward, his complexion changing. ……Damn it. This man must have guessed something again. All he could have learned from this…… is that the cats are related to the wishes. Agh, I fell for it, I fell for it.
As the Prince watched Isaac smacking his lips in dismay, he seemed to let out a faint smirk. However, when Isaac looked again, the Prince’s face was expressionless, so he couldn’t be sure.
Isaac looked at the Prince and let his shoulders slump.
“……It’s not that they aren’t related at all, but…… I can probably still make wishes even without them now. But please don’t kill them. ……I beg you.”
The flint jar had now become a complete treasure. He had realized it when he made his first wish a while ago, even without anyone telling him. He knew how much Mana was imbued within that treasure. Most likely, as long as he had the flint jar, he could grant wishes even if the cats weren’t by his side. But regardless of that, Isaac did not want them to die. No matter how spiteful and obnoxious they were, absolutely not.
He knew it was foolish to plead like this and expose his weakness to his opponent. Still, if it was this Prince, he might actually kill them. No, rather, it was strange that a man who wasn’t benevolent enough to spare things that annoyed him had kept them alive this long…….
“……, ……Could it be, they’re already dead…….”
A sudden terrifying thought flashed through Isaac’s mind, and his expression shifted. The Prince gazed steadily at Isaac, who was staring at him with a stiff face, unable to finish his sentence.
“If I had killed them, would you resent me?”
“――.”
The blood drained from Isaac’s face instantly. His heart sank, and his fingertips turned cold. In front of Isaac, whose complexion turned pale with startling speed, the Prince’s eyes flickered, and he spoke immediately.
“I didn’t kill them.”
“……, Really?”
“I didn’t kill them. I’m just on my way out after seeing them stop crying and devour a mountain of goat meat I put in the cage a moment ago.”
“……. They like wine, too.”
“I gave them some. Their crying changed immediately.”
The Prince cut him off with a click of his tongue. Seeing him answer so promptly, it seemed he really hadn’t killed them. And perhaps they were living a fairly luxurious life in their cages. Isaac shut his mouth, imagining the three of them crying woong-woong and then drinking wine woong-nyang-woong-nyang. ……Now that the worry is gone, they’re starting to be annoying again.
Still, they weren’t dead. And unless something unusual happened, it seemed he wouldn’t kill them immediately. The tension that had gripped Isaac’s body vanished all at once.
The Prince gazed steadily at Isaac, who was slumping over while thanking him.
“The fact that you can make wishes even when it’s not the Dark Moon……. ……Was it the day you stopped by the treasury?”
The Prince muttered as if to himself. Isaac had to tighten his resolve again. He didn’t know what the man was guessing or how far his deductions went.
“Why gold coins?” the Prince asked slowly.
Isaac couldn’t think of an answer immediately, so he let a moment of silence pass.
“I heard that Your Highness doesn’t like it when people are too greedy for big things. So…….”
The Prince likely wouldn’t take these words, a mix of truth and lies, at face value. However, Isaac felt a momentary relief upon realizing from the question that the Prince wasn’t paying attention to the box. He kept his head bowed, glancing up at the Prince with only his eyes. He hadn’t known that probing each other’s minds like this would be so exhausting.
“I ordered that nothing in your room be touched, so the gold coins should still be there. Rest assured, I will not take away the precious reward you earned.”
The Prince spoke while crossing his arms and slowly tapping his finger. He seemed to be doubting, and perhaps mocking, Isaac for wasting a chance to obtain something far more precious for a mere amount of gold coins.
But Isaac felt relieved once more at those words. That meant there was no worry that someone had thrown the flint jar away. For now, he could be at peace.
But he had to get his hands on it somehow. Before the Great Dark Moon arrived.
“What is the date today?” Isaac asked.
It was something he asked every time the Prince visited. The same conversation was bound to repeat itself, but Isaac had no choice but to ask again. It was the fundamental problem of being locked up here.
“I wonder. The moon has waned quite a bit.”
The Prince, looking at Isaac with narrow eyes, did not give a clear answer. Isaac guessed that the Great Dark Moon had not yet arrived, but as he couldn’t know exactly how much time was left, he was becoming increasingly anxious as time passed.
If the Great Dark Moon passed, he could not go to the land of the new moon. He would have to wait another seven years for the Moon Fragment Ship to arrive. That long of a time.
“……. Please let me go to the land of the new moon,” Isaac said, like a sigh.
It was a sincere plea, without any embellishment or ulterior motive. And it was the only thing Isaac wanted from the Prince.
Isaac said those words every time the Prince came. Even while seeing the Prince’s expression turn cold each time, he couldn’t stop saying it. Because it was the most central issue at present.
During the time he spent locked in the dungeon with nothing to do, he thought about it constantly. He thought and thought, but he couldn’t understand. Why he was locked up here.
The Prince’s disposition toward Isaac would likely be one of two things.
Either send him to the land of the new moon, or kill him.
However, seeing as he was being kept here, it seemed the Prince had no intention of sending Isaac to the land of the new moon, and if so…… he would kill him.
But on the other hand, if he were to kill him, there was no reason to keep him alive like this. He no longer had eyes for Alikisa—nor a need for her—and once all the witches left, the Curse of the Dark Moon would end, so his blood would no longer be needed. There was nothing to regret in killing him right now.
Then again, if he didn’t send him to the land of the new moon but kept him alive.
That couldn’t happen. That was impossible. As long as a witch remained in the human world, the curse placed upon him would not be broken.
“You will stay by my side.”
Then, the Prince, who had been looking at Isaac expressionlessly, spoke. Hearing those words, Isaac lifted his head to look at him.
Until now, whenever Isaac said those words, the Prince had only stared at him with cold eyes without answering. As if he himself had not yet reached a conclusion—or as if he didn’t know why he was doing this.
For the first time, the Prince gave a clear answer. But it was an answer Isaac hadn’t expected. Or more accurately, it was the kind of answer he thought would never come.
“……Why…….”
Then the curse would not be broken. As long as even one witch remained in the human world, the Prince would not be liberated from the agony of the Dark Moon.
The Prince remained silent and gazed steadily at Isaac. With his lips faintly curled in a frown, he looked lost in thought, appearing somewhat ambiguous. It was as if he had reached a conclusion, but had not yet found the reason for it.
Isaac looked at the Prince with a strange feeling.
As far as he knew, this man was not like this. He was always a person of clarity and precision. If it was a matter requiring deep deliberation, he might take some time, but he had never been this vague.
“Since there might be more witches hiding in the human world instead of crossing over to the land of the new moon,”
And,
“Since I might need your blood every Dark Moon.”
He had never made a decision based on such clumsy reasons—reasons that even he himself didn’t seem fully convinced of.
The Prince, too, seemed to feel something was lacking even after speaking, as a faint wrinkle remained between his brows.
“……That won’t happen. Everyone will cross over.”
Isaac shook his head.
The cats had told him. All the witches remaining in the human world had decided to cross over to the land of the new moon. They said they would now abandon this stingy and harsh human land.
Individually, they were infinitely free-spirited and fickle witches, but when a collective decision was made, it was their nature to follow it as if it were an absolute iron rule.
Therefore, keeping Isaac was meaningless. Rather, it would only cause the curse to continue to manifest.
“Witches in the land of witches, humans in the land of humans.”
Isaac recited words he had once heard on the wind.
“I believe those words are correct.”
Even if Isaac himself felt a sense of regret in saying so.
The witches had stayed in the human land for too long. It was now time to leave. Then, mixed-bloods like himself would no longer be born, and only humans would remain in the human world. How they cultivated that land would be entirely their own responsibility.
However,
“A witch’s words cannot be trusted,” the Prince cut Isaac off.
Even though he could trust that Isaac wasn’t lying or trying to deceive him, the Prince always said that in the conversations they had repeated several times. A witch’s words cannot be trusted. Your words cannot be trusted. It was as if that was the only clumsy ground he could claim.
He’s not usually like this.
Or did he have some entirely different motive? A political reason why at least one witch had to remain……. But as he thought this, Isaac shook his head. It could be possible, but he had no clue.
“Please let me go.”
So in the end, Isaac just said those words, as devoid of reason as the words the Prince stubbornly insisted upon. It was the final plea that remained after stripping away all other reasons.
“Please let me go.”
Isaac said it once more, and the Prince’s face grew even colder. The wrinkle between his brows deepened. The finger tapping his crossed arm became slower and heavier.
“You are a more troublesome and difficult fellow than I thought,” the Prince said, as if to himself.
Wondering why he was suddenly bringing up insults, Isaac shut his mouth and waited for the rest of his words.
“So, when you act stubborn like this, I think the easiest solution would be to just kill you,”
“――.”
“……Do not make me angry.”
The Prince finished his sentence. His coldly shining eyes looked at Isaac with a warning.
Where else is there a subordinate as obedient and diligent as me that you’d call troublesome or difficult…… Isaac, who had no memory of ever rebelling, felt it was unfair.
“Are you going to cut me if I make you angry?”
And so, for the first time in his life—in his own opinion—Isaac tried to rebel sullenly. He saw Hoden, who had been peeking inside with an anxious look, widen his eyes and mouth the words, ‘Is that guy crazy?’ Isaac internally thought the same thing, but having been locked up for a while for an incomprehensible reason, he felt as if his mind had gone crooked.
The Prince glared at Isaac with an incredulous look. Is this guy crazy? Those words were etched into that expression.
“……You witch.”
“I’m sorry. I misspoke.”
The moment the Prince’s low voice turned dangerous, Isaac answered quickly. Half of him had suddenly come back to his senses, and the other half had wanted to push further. The Prince’s expression moved past incredulity to sheer absurdity, before returning to a face devoid of any emotion.
“……Throughout my life, I’ve never really felt much in the way of emotional swings. I rarely felt joy, anger, or sadness, but the only exception was the race known as witches. Only witches awakened such intense emotions in me—a hatred and rage so powerful that it felt as if no other emotion existed in the world,”
The Prince spoke, tilting his head slightly. His cold gaze did not leave Isaac.
“Every time I thought of you, I felt an intense sensation I couldn’t quite identify, and I wondered what on earth it was. Now I know. It is because you are undoubtedly a witch.”
“You mean you’re angry, right?”
“…….”
At that moment, Isaac stopped pushing his luck. The Prince was staring at him with a terrifying intensity, a look that clearly signaled he would draw his sword if Isaac uttered one more word.
Isaac quickly shut his mouth and bowed his head, adopting a humble posture. He could feel the menacing gaze looming over him, but fortunately, the Prince did not draw his sword. While waiting for that sharp edge to subside, Isaac suddenly let out a faint, hollow laugh.
He used to make these kinds of jokes often in the past. When he was in the Royal Guard, he spent his days almost constantly annoying his comrades and being annoyed in return, laughing and chatting through it all. Yet now, while those very comrades shunned him, he was acting like this with a man who knew everything about him. It felt funny, strange, and at the same time, his heart ached with a sharp pang.
It would have been nice if he could have been like this with this man. With such a comfortable heart. If they could continue to be together like this in the future. How wonderful would that be?
Isaac lifted his head. He gazed blankly at the Prince, who was still looking at him with a deep frown between his brows. As they locked eyes, he saw the Prince’s frown slowly fade.
As expected, it was lovely. This man was truly endearing and precious. To the point of greed.
“……I feel a lack of energy from just sitting here helplessly, locked up and unable to do anything,”
Isaac spoke up abruptly. The Prince arched an eyebrow.
“Could you give me some life force?”
Only after saying it did he realize this might be the first time he had asked for it first. He also felt it was somewhat brazen to demand it when he no longer had any reason to consume a large amount of life force. However, brushing those thoughts aside, Isaac looked at the Prince.
The Prince looked at Isaac in silence. His expression remained blank, yet he looked strange—somewhat frowning, yet somewhat surprised. For some reason, Isaac felt a chill wash over his face.
“No, if you can’t, it’s fine—”
It was just as Isaac mumbled, awkwardly scratching the back of his neck. The Prince flicked his hand. It was a light, single movement, but it was a clear sign of consent.
Isaac smiled. He was suddenly struck by a surge of joy. Yes, he was happy.
The Prince’s gaze landed on the curve of Isaac’s lips. His eyes did not waver as Isaac stood up and approached him.
Approaching the Prince, who remained still in his chair, Isaac looked down at him. After a very brief hesitation, he reached out without reserve and wrapped his arms around the Prince’s neck.
The overlapping of their lips was familiar. They were lips that had met countless times already. There was only one thing that felt strange: the Prince, who remained perfectly still.
Even though it was impossible to see his face at such a close distance, Isaac entwined his tongue with the Prince’s, who stayed motionless, staring as if trying to pierce through him.
It felt somewhat unfamiliar and a bit awkward for a while, but soon he decided it didn’t matter. He simply liked this man so much that it was enough to just kiss and embrace him alone like this. He wondered for a moment if this was how a mother felt when kissing and cuddling her baby, but he quickly shook his head. It couldn’t be that. A mother’s heart wouldn’t beat with such a sweltering, fluttering intensity.
He truly was endearing and lovely.
Rather than the act of mixing lips—or bodies—itself, he loved how being entwined like this allowed him to perceive that thought more intensely and clearly than usual. Ah, he is so lovely, he thought.
After softly licking the Prince’s tongue for a while, Isaac let out a contented sigh and relaxed his body. When he felt it was enough, he pulled his lips away. And then, one last time, as he lightly pressed his lips against the other’s,
“――.”
The Prince grabbed the nape of Isaac’s neck and pulled him in. Their lips overlapped again. And this time, it became an entirely different act.
It was a greedy, rough kiss, as if he intended to devour him whole. Though he had tasted it many times, his heart raced with a strange thrill every time, as if being preyed upon by a beast. Isaac hugged the Prince and gripped his shoulders. He loved the feeling of the man filling his embrace. Consequently, a long sigh escaped between their ragged breaths.
“They say a witch’s job is to bewitch people,”
The Prince suddenly murmured in a low voice. He pressed his lips against Isaac’s with a force that felt as if he were angry, almost biting.
“Yes, you are definitely a witch.”
The hand pulling Isaac’s neck tightened. So did the arm wrapping around his waist.
“Because I keep thinking only of you. What should I do… What do I want to do… For days, continuously—no, since long before that.”
The reason in his mind should have been clear and concise. Send him away, or kill him. Either would be a simple matter.
“Yes, you are a witch—for I have never felt such an intense emotion for anyone other than a witch.”
But I don’t know what this is, the Prince whispered as if to himself. At the end of that whisper, he devoured Isaac’s lips again as if enraged. Isaac inhaled a shallow breath, accepting the tongue that pushed in so violently it felt as if it would stifle his breath. His heart hammered.
“……It would be nice if you called it affection.”
If he called it love. The words he murmured unconsciously leaked out like a breeze. It was a light comment, half-joke, but the moment the words left his mouth, they became sincere. It really would be nice. If that intense emotion were not hatred.
However,
“That is impossible.”
The Prince’s answer came back instantly and firmly.
Isaac had expected as much, so he slumped his shoulders and murmured, “Yes.”
“Like this,”
The Prince seemed to say something suddenly. But after a brief silence, the Prince overlapped his lips with Isaac’s again, and the words vanished as he pulled him in a crushing embrace, as if he might break his body.
—That I want to swallow you whole like this, there is no way this rough and violent greed could be that.
It felt as if a faint phrase had brushed past his ear. But it vanished too quickly to be understood.
—Manbang-a! Manbang-a!
He felt as if he heard the sound of a cat crying from somewhere.
—Manbang-a! Where are you, Manbang-a!
—Please come quickly! Manbang-a! Please get us out!
Isaac snapped his eyes open.
As the dark stone ceiling entered his vision, the sound that had been ringing clearly in his ears until a moment ago vanished like a lie. All that remained was a heavy silence.
“…―.”
As Isaac sat up abruptly, the guard sitting outside the bars looked up in surprise. Isaac blinked a few times while facing Hoden, who was on day duty today, and then slowly let out a sigh and rubbed the back of his neck.
He must have fallen asleep at some point. It was only for a short while, but it seemed he had dreamed. Isaac sat blankly, staring into the air.
Manbang-a, Manbang-a, the meowing sounds were still vivid in his ears.
Witches do not dream. What a witch sees while sleeping is either something they desire or something someone else desires from them.
The monsters’ desires for Isaac.
“――.”
Isaac clouded his expression and scratched his head vigorously. A low groan of “Ah…” escaped him. Please come quickly, get us out—that vivid voice echoed in his ears several times.
The monsters were crying out in urgency.
It was because the Great Dark Moon had arrived.
Though there was no one to tell him how much time had passed and there wasn’t a single window, Isaac could tell by his body that the Great Dark Moon was here. It was a day when life force welled up from deep within the body, making a witch feel buoyant and excited.
Today is the day.
Today was the Great Dark Moon that arrived once every seven years.
Tonight, the Moon Fragment Ship would visit the human world to carry the witches to the land of the new moon. And if they missed that ship, they would have to wait another seven years.
“I have to let those monsters go……”
Isaac murmured with a pained voice.
For a few days, he had been hearing the faint cries of the cats. Whenever he closed his eyes, the cries would approach and vanish like a dim mist. Each time, Isaac grew more anxious, but no matter how much he pleaded whenever the Prince visited, no answer ever came.
And so, the Great Dark Moon had finally arrived.
Even though he had only closed his eyes for a brief moment during the day, the cries of the cats had become pitiful and urgent, ringing loudly in his ears. His heart beat with a corresponding anxiety.
What time was it? Was it still day? Or night. Surely the Moon Fragment Ship hadn’t arrived already. Could it have already left?
Because he was anxious, his thoughts didn’t seem to function properly. Patting his cheeks a couple of times and shaking his head, Isaac took a deep breath and looked up.
Seeing Hoden, who was sitting outside the bars, repeatedly glancing toward the door, it seemed the shift change was approaching. If so, it must be around six in the evening. It was the time when the sun set and the Dark Moon night began. There were only a few hours to catch the Moon Fragment Ship, which arrived at sunset and departed at sunrise.
He should have brought the flint stone that day.
Isaac regretted it belatedly. He should have managed to pack the flint jar when he was captured by the Prince and brought to the dungeon. But on the other hand, he thought that the Prince would have surely found it strange if he had. The Prince still seemed to be pondering curiously why Isaac had asked for gold coins from the treasure vault. If he had brought the flint jar that day, the Prince would have certainly noticed.
……But this is exactly when it’s needed.
Isaac swallowed a groan, recalling the cries that seemed to ring vividly in his ears.
Just then, the sound of the iron door opening echoed from the end of the hallway.
As Isaac turned his head, he saw Hoden, who had stood up with a welcoming face thinking the relief guard had arrived, suddenly freeze stiff. Simultaneously, he heard heavy, unstable footsteps walking down the hallway. Heavy footsteps approaching slowly, as if the body couldn’t move properly, yet with a sense of urgency. —Thump. —Thump. Isaac knew exactly what those footsteps, which sounded like a terrifying predator approaching, belonged to.
It was the Prince.
The Prince, having met the Dark Moon, was walking toward him immersed in terrible pain. He was filled only with the instinct to escape that pain, with barely a shred of reason left. He was approaching Isaac while suffering from agonizing pain.
Even though he had experienced the Dark Moon several times, facing the Prince in that state was a terror that made his heart tremble. While Isaac sat upright with clenched teeth, Hoden was trembling violently, pale as a ghost, behind the bars.
Eventually, the Prince reached the bars. In front of Hoden, who was too terrified to even move, let alone take out the key to open the cell, the Prince gripped the lock and pulled it as if tearing it apart. The steel lock slammed against the bars with a loud clang—. Hoden hurriedly tried to get the key out with trembling hands, but the Prince didn’t even wait for that; he yanked the lock, and after the sound of metal clashing—clang, clang, clang—echoed loudly through the dungeon, the bars where the lock had been were bent wide. The Prince stepped through the bent bars.
No matter how many times he experienced it, he could never get used to this moment. The moment a beast, having lost its reason to pain, pounces.
“――.”
The Prince lunged at Isaac in an instant. Feeling the teeth sink into his neck, Isaac closed his eyes. Soon, he felt a searing pain and the burst of blood.
The fear that he might actually die this time, as the man’s reason had blurred, only subsided after he heard the sound of the Prince greedily swallowing the blood. Soon, his reason would return.
When Isaac faintly opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was Hoden, looking at them with a pale, frozen face from over the Prince’s shoulder. Having seen the Prince “eating” Isaac, Hoden had been frozen with wide eyes, and they grew even wider when he locked eyes with Isaac. However, he soon dropped his shoulders with a look of slight relief.
The Prince swallowed the blood like a starving beast, his throat bobbing, while Hoden watched them with a mixture of guilt and fear, looking restless as if he were watching someone be eaten alive while doing nothing. Isaac didn’t know if Hoden saw him faintly wave his hand, signaling that he was okay and to be at ease.
Isaac quietly embraced the Prince. Perhaps because it was the Great Dark Moon, the Prince seemed to be in more pain than usual. Even though he had been sucking blood for much longer than usual, there was no sign of the pain subsiding. His body, which continued to twitch with spasms even while drinking blood; his ragged, irregular breaths, as if it were difficult to even breathe; and the sound of him forcing back groans—all conveyed his agony.
“……It will be okay. Just a little more……, just a little more and you’ll be fine.”
It’s okay, it’s okay, just a little more, Isaac whispered softly into the ear of the Prince who was biting his neck. The muscles that had been stiff with tension seemed to relax ever so slightly. The Prince’s breathing also seemed to fade faintly.
It’s okay, just a little more and you’ll be fine, Isaac whispered incessantly, stroking the Prince’s back. As he whispered those words to the Prince and to himself, Isaac felt his mind gradually grow foggy. It was because too much blood had been drawn. Today was even more intense than usual. ……He might actually bleed to death today.
Suddenly, he thought he heard the Prince, who was still biting his neck, let out a low growl.
“……Witch……, all of this is the doing of your kind……!”
That low voice was filled with pain and hatred. Beneath the reason that had not yet fully returned, the hatred deeply engraved in his nature seeped through poignantly. It was a fundamental emotion, rooted so deep in his heart that it could not be erased even if he wanted to.
Isaac lay there, staring at the ceiling, and exhaled softly. The strength left his body. But since there was nothing he could do, he simply continued to stroke the Prince’s back. Right now, he only hoped that this man’s pain would subside. That he would not suffer so much.
After some more time passed, and just as Isaac began to feel a serious threat of exsanguination, the Prince’s body slowly relaxed. Only now was the pain subsiding and reason beginning to return.
Although he had lacked reason, the Prince seemed to know that he had drunk far more blood today than usual. Normally, he would continue to suck blood for a long time even after his reason returned, but today he pulled away shortly after. However, as if clear reason had not yet fully returned, he remained sitting there blankly.
Ah……, it really hurts and I’m really dizzy……, Isaac lay there blankly, looking up at the ceiling that was wavering dizzily. Then, he dropped his gaze to look at the Prince.
“Are you alright? You seemed to be struggling more than usual today.”
Isaac frowned as he examined the Prince, who was drenched in cold sweat mixed with blood. The sweat staining his entire body was redder and deeper than usual.
“It must be because of the Great Dark Moon. ……Once today passes, all the witches will disappear.”
Isaac murmured, softly wiping away the blood-sweat trickling down the Prince’s eyelids with the back of his hand. The Prince, who was staring into space with a haggard face as if he hadn’t yet escaped the memory of that terrible, agonizing sensation, let out a low mutter to himself.
“……I should have killed them all.”
Every witch in the human world, and even the remaining dozen or so who were about to leave the land of humans. He shouldn’t have let them leave. He should have killed every last one of them.
Hatred seeped through the Prince’s voice.
Isaac’s hand, which had been softly stroking the Prince’s eyes, paused. He soon moved his hand again as if nothing had happened, but that brief silence seemed to have been conveyed to the Prince. Suddenly, the Prince’s gaze fell upon Isaac.
The moment their eyes met, the Prince’s gaze narrowed slightly. A flicker of dismay crossed his face, as if he had only just realized Isaac was there. However, the Prince’s expression twisted harshly for a moment before he suddenly yanked Isaac toward him. Clutching the body that had been limp until pulled up, the Prince bit Isaac’s earlobe.
“You should have become human. Regardless of what happened to that mage’s curse.”
A rough voice spat out fury. Isaac swallowed a low breath within the embrace of the Prince, who bit his earlobe, his cheek, and his neck as if unable to control his own rage.
To think there was a hatred carved so deeply into the bone.
It was no use. It was fundamentally impossible to wash away.
Isaac reached out and embraced the Prince. The Prince, who had been biting him, seemed to falter. Isaac simply held him, until that rigid body relaxed and the suppressed breath began to seep out. Just like when he used to whisper, It’s okay.
How much time had passed?
Once the pain had completely subsided and his mind had cleared, the Prince slowly pushed himself up. He looked down at Isaac blankly. After staring at the limp Isaac for a long while, the Prince let out a low sigh.
“I will let you out tomorrow.”
At the Prince’s words, Isaac’s eyes widened faintly. The Prince reached toward Isaac’s face but stopped midway; he clicked his tongue softly and stood up. Brushing back hair stained with blood and sweat, he turned away.
Hoden, who had been standing frozen outside the bars, flinched and stepped back. However, the Prince didn’t even spare Hoden a glance as he stepped outside the cage. After staring at the bent bars for a moment, he gripped them and pulled. Without seeming to exert much effort, the Prince tapped the bars, which had been straightened back into place after a few movements, and only then turned around.
“Keep a close watch. Today is the last day.”
Tossing those brief words to Hoden, the Prince left. As he always did after drinking Isaac’s blood on a Dark Moon night, he was heading to some puddle or pond to wash away the blood and sweat from his body.
Isaac lay there, sprawled out like a dead man, listening to the receding footsteps until they were cut off by the sound of the iron door closing.
His head was dizzy. He must have lost too much blood. Even though it was the Great Dark Moon, a time when his life force should have been more overflowing than usual, he had no strength in his body.
“…….”
Even blinking was too much effort, so Isaac lay there with his eyes closed, until he heard the faint clink of metal nearby and forced his eyes open. As he shifted only his pupils, Hoden, who had approached the bars and was peering inside, flinched and took a step back.
“……, ……Are, ……are you okay?”
Hoden asked hesitantly, unable to take his eyes off Isaac despite his uneasy expression. The way he looked at Isaac with a worried, restless gaze was the clumsy and gentle Hoden from when they lived in the same room. He was the one who had glanced at Isaac with pity, even while keeping his distance and feeling wary of the Isaac who had returned as a witch.
Having witnessed the sight of Isaac being bitten and his blood being sucked so terrifyingly, Hoden seemed deeply shocked, repeatedly muttering, “God, oh God.”
“A-ah, no matter if he’s a witch, such cruel treatment…….”
Isaac stared blankly for a while at Hoden, who was pacing back and forth in front of the bars, not knowing what to do. Suddenly, his heart felt warm. I see. He still worries about me.
As Isaac let out a weak breath, smiled, and closed his eyes again, Hoden, who seemed to be hesitating with a conflicted look, spoke cautiously.
“Do…… do you want me to bring some medicine? Damn it, what kind of medicine is a witch supposed to apply in a case like this?”
Hoden muttered while biting his nails. Just then, a thought suddenly flashed through Isaac’s mind. ……Perhaps. ……No, it might be dangerous. ……But there is no other way. Nor is there time.
After staring at the stone ceiling for a moment, Isaac quietly spoke.
“I think it would be nice if I could smoke a cigarette. I feel like the pain would fade a bit.”
“A cigarette? ……I don’t smoke…….”
“There are some in my room. It’s in the annex, so go up from here and it’s right next door. Enter through the small door on the Byeokyeong Palace side, and the room I used is immediately to the right. It should be in the inner pocket of my uniform. ……And since I’ll need fire, my flint jar too. There will be a small wooden box on the table along with the flint stone.”
Hoden paused and looked at Isaac. Although he had agreed, he felt a belated reluctance to converse with a witch, and he was concerned about leaving his post, even if the annex was right next door.
Maybe it won’t work. Isaac closed his eyes weakly and let out a quiet breath. His pale face looked as if it wouldn’t be strange if his breath stopped at any moment. Blood was still seeping from the neck the Prince had bitten. Tooth marks were engraved everywhere.
Looking at that wretched sight, Hoden frowned. After blinking a few times and swallowing hard, Hoden looked at the firmly locked bars and lock—which could never be bent unless by a monster like the Prince—and turned around.
“I-I’ll be right back. Just stay there.”
Even though he knew perfectly well that Isaac couldn’t leave, Hoden spoke firmly and hurried away. Listening to the sound of those urgent footsteps receding, Isaac opened his eyes. His heart began to beat wildly.
……Would he actually be able to get the flint jar without any trouble?
What if someone had moved the flint jar in the meantime, or if he ran into someone else and had to borrow a cigarette and fire, or if he tripped on the way and broke the flint jar?
Perhaps because of his anxious and urgent state of mind, all sorts of thoughts flooded in.
Please. Please let it be in his hands safely.
“…….”
Isaac let out a long sigh and covered his face with his hand. It was hard. His body was, but more than that, his heart was exhausted.
As expected, he had to go.
Did he really have to cross over to the land of the new moon? Could he not just stay here? Even if the witch’s curse remained unbroken because he failed to leave for the land of the new moon, it wouldn’t be his fault since the person who cast it was holding him here. So, wouldn’t it be okay to just stay and pretend not to know?
Such thoughts entered Isaac’s mind several times a day.
There was no way he could leave without any lingering attachment. This was the place where he had grown up since birth. There was no way he wouldn’t want to stay.
And by that Prince’s side as well. Even if he couldn’t be by his side, it would be enough to live in the same world and occasionally see him from afar.
He hadn’t known that loving someone could be such a poignant emotion. He wanted to do anything for him. He felt he could give anything if that person could be happy. Even if nothing was returned.
That was why—he had to go.
The Prince hated witches with a deep-rooted passion, and even if the curse were broken now, that long-held hatred would not be forgotten.
Isaac wanted the Prince to live with a peaceful and relaxed heart. He wanted him to forget the hatred entirely. To do that, there must be nothing that would remind him of those memories.
“I, as a witch, must not be by his side…….”
Isaac muttered weakly. The words, covered by a sigh, barely left his lips. Suddenly, fatigue seemed to weigh down his entire body even more, and he slumped over, resting his arm across his forehead. He felt as if his consciousness were about to plummet far below.
Then, a thin cat’s meow reached his ears from afar.
“…….”
The cat kept crying, not even letting him close his eyes for a moment. Isaac abruptly sat up with his heavy body. His already gloomy heart grew even heavier. His heart beat anxiously.
Somehow.
He had to get out somehow. He had to go to the Moon Fragment Ship. If only for those three cats.
The night was deepening. The sun must have set, and the black night must have arrived. Somewhere in that pitch-black night where no moon rose, the Moon Fragment Ship would be docked. Only tonight.
“Why is he so late…….”
Isaac muttered anxiously, looking outside the bars. A considerable amount of time seemed to have passed since Hoden left, but there was still no sign of his return. Perhaps because he was in such a hurry, it felt as if dozens of minutes had passed, though in reality, only a few minutes had likely gone by.
Did something actually happen? Did he fail to find the flint jar, or did he run into someone? What if the Prince comes first? It felt like the Prince really might come first. It wouldn’t take very long to soak in the pond right in front of Byeokyeong Palace and come back.
He wondered when he had ever been this nervous and anxious before. Isaac gripped his ears, which still felt haunted by the cat’s meowing, and let out a low groan, “Uuuugh.”
Right then, the sound of the iron door opening rang out.
Isaac flinched and lifted his head.
Who was it? Was it Hoden, or had the Prince really come first?
As Isaac anxiously scanned the presence outside, he heard the sound of fast, running footsteps. Hearing that light sound, Isaac’s heart leaped with relief, and at the same time, it began to race.
It was Hoden. Had he actually brought it? What if he couldn’t find it?
“I-Isaac, is this the right one……?”
Hoden suddenly appeared in his field of vision. Isaac shifted his gaze to Hoden’s hand as he approached the bars.
In one hand was a cigarette box, and in the other—the flint jar.
In that instant, his heart hammered.
There was no mistake. It was the magic flint jar.
“Uh…… yes, thank you.”
Isaac spoke with as nonchalant a look as possible, suppressing his wildly beating heart. As Isaac reached his hand through the bars, Hoden handed him the cigarette box and the flint jar. He could hear the flint stone rattling inside the jar.
He finally found it. He got it back. Now he could leave this place.
“Thanks, Hoden. But did it take long to find? Why were you so late?”
“No, I found both quickly, but I ran into a servant on the way out and spent some time greeting them. ……They looked at me strangely for taking these, so I told them you asked me to bring them…… it is yours, right?”
Hoden asked as if confirming, perhaps worried he might be misunderstood as stealing someone else’s belongings. Isaac nodded, then paused.
“Yeah, it’s mine. ……. You ran into a servant?”
Hoden nodded and scratched his head. Whether it was talking to a witch or granting a witch the kindness of a single cigarette, he seemed to feel reluctant again, and his expression wasn’t particularly bright. He also seemed to be worrying belatedly about whether he might be punished.
And Isaac fell silent. He had a bad feeling about the mention of the servant. The Prince had ordered that Isaac’s belongings be left alone. If so, if someone had taken an item out, even a trivial thing would likely have been reported. By now.
“――.”
Suddenly feeling anxious, Isaac tried to pull the hand holding the flint jar back inside the bars, but—clunk—it caught on the bars.
The box was just slightly larger than the gap between the bars. By a tiny difference of less than half a finger’s width, the flint jar caught on the bars and wouldn’t go in.
Damn it…… Isaac clicked his tongue. He tried changing the angle to pull it in, but it caught regardless of the direction. He grew desperate.
“It won’t go in. ……Give it here. I’ll light it for you.”
Hoden, who had been watching from a step away with an uneasy look, glanced at Isaac and reached out. Isaac quickly shook his head at Hoden, who was reaching for the flint jar.
“No, it’s okay. This one doesn’t light easily and requires a certain knack, so I have to do it. ……Ah, I can put it through here.”
The bar that the Prince had bent and then straightened earlier was slightly wider than the other bars. Isaac moved toward that spot and pulled the flint jar. However, it caught here too, minutely. By the width of a fingernail, very minutely.
Isaac became increasingly desperate. Just a little, just a little more if it opens. Isaac tried to pull the bars with all his might, but the bars didn’t budge. It felt like a lie that the Prince had bent them so easily earlier.
“I’ll just try lighting it…….”
Hoden spoke while looking ambiguously at Isaac, who was struggling to widen the bars, but Isaac shook his head and clung only to the bars. Just a little more. Truly, just the width of a fingernail, no, half a fingernail.
His heart beat faster and faster. It was in his hand, he was holding it right now, yet he couldn’t bring it in. He had to hurry.
Just then,
—Clang.
The sound of the iron door opening rang out. Isaac’s heart sank.
Rough footsteps approached. Heavy footsteps came stomping closer.
Isaac instinctively turned his head. Beyond the bars, he saw a man approaching from the far end of the corridor, almost running.
It was the Prince.
The Prince was walking toward him with a chilling aura.
Water was dripping from his body, as if he had come straight here after soaking in the water. His expression was terrifyingly rigid, with droplets of water rolling down his face.
At that moment, Isaac’s eyes met the Prince’s.
The Prince’s gaze dropped upon seeing Isaac. He saw Isaac’s hand outside the bars. He saw the flint jar that Isaac was struggling to pull through the bars.
In that instant, the Prince’s face hardened.
Only then did he realize.
What Isaac had taken from the King’s treasury was not ‘gold coins’ that would fill a small, old box. It was a ‘small, old box’ that contained gold coins.
“Don’t give it!”
The Prince’s shout echoed loudly throughout the dungeon.
Hoden, who had been looking bewilderedly at the Prince approaching with a terrifying face, flinched and shrugged his shoulders. The moment that shout was heard, Isaac, who had been frozen while meeting the Prince’s eyes, hurriedly yanked the flint jar.
It wouldn’t go in, caught on the bars. It felt like it would work if it opened just a bit more, but the edge was minutely caught. Please. ……Please.
The Prince’s pace quickened. No, he was running. The distance between them closed in an instant.
Just as the Prince reached the bars where Isaac was trapped and reached out to seize the box,
“――.”
Isaac tumbled backward. He clung to the box he had pulled with all his might. The flint jar, its corner slightly chipped, entered the bars and landed in Isaac’s embrace.
The Prince’s face twisted harshly. He immediately gripped the bars and pulled. Screech—the bars, which had not budged until a moment ago, began to widen little by little.
Isaac quickly pushed himself up. He hurriedly backed away and opened the flint jar. The moment Isaac held the flint stone in his hand—as if sensing something—the Prince’s face froze. With a desperate look, like a man driven to a cliff, the Prince shouted, “Stop!” And simultaneously with that shout, Isaac struck the flint stone.
—Spark.
A spark flew from the flint stone. The flint jar that Isaac was clutching in one arm trembled faintly. Woooong—a low resonance began to spread through the air. The flint stone glowed bluish, sending up small sparks. From somewhere, the distant, low, and massive roar of a great beast seemed to be heard.
The Prince and Hoden watched the flint stone emitting those blue sparks from outside the bars. Beside Hoden, who was staring in stunned silence with wide eyes, the Prince’s face grew darker and darker.
Even without being told, Isaac knew that now was the time to make his wish. In place of the messenger of the flint jar who could not come here, directly to the flint jar.
“May the cats—the three brothers of Gregoroborius, the owner of the flint jar—be set free.”
The moment Isaac whispered, the flint stone emitted a blinding light, as if exploding. Everything before his eyes turned white, like a bolt of lightning. The light, which flashed brilliantly as if to illuminate the entire dungeon, disappeared in the next moment as if it had been a lie.
It was a very brief moment. As if it had been a dream, no trace remained. Neither the sparks nor the blinding light.
However, Isaac could tell that what he wanted had been granted. The flint stone in Isaac’s hand was trembling faintly. It trembled very softly and calmly, making a low hummm sound. It felt as if it were saying, ‘I have granted your wish,’ and Isaac quietly gripped the stone.
Right then, Screech—a metallic sound rang out from the bars.
Isaac flinched and looked up to see the Prince widening the bars. Every time he put strength into the hand gripping the bars and pulled once, the bars bent with a screech, screech.
He had to hurry. He couldn’t afford even a moment’s delay.
Isaac hurriedly struck the flint stone, and with a snap—the moment a bluish spark flew once more,
That spark instantly swelled into a massive blaze, as if it would incinerate everything inside the iron cage,
And from within it, a giant tiger revealed itself.
A tiger with eyes as large as towers, its entire body shimmering in a deep, pitch black.
「I shall grant your wish. What do you desire?」
The tiger, filling the interior of the cage, thrust its head forward and asked. Listening to that low, majestic voice, Isaac stared intently at the tiger and wrapped his arms around its neck.
“—You’ve come safely.”
Isaac whispered. It had only been a few days since they were last together, yet his chest felt warm. …Though he ended up shouting, “Ow, that hurts!!” because the creature licked Isaac’s face with its rough, broad tongue.
Just then, a harsh metallic screech rang out again—screee. Turning his head, he saw that the iron bars were severely warped; it looked as though one more push would create enough space for a person to step through.
Through the bars, his eyes met the Prince’s. The Prince was looking at Isaac with a stiff expression. In that intense gaze, which felt almost like a glare, flickered a light of urgency and peril. It was quite unlike him.
For a moment, Isaac found himself captivated by that unfamiliar expression.
At that moment, the Prince threw himself against the bars once more, and with a screee—the bars warped wide enough for a person to pass through. The Prince stepped inside.
In an instant, Isaac’s heart hammered. —No.
“Take me,”
Isaac clung tightly to the tiger’s neck.
“Take me to where the Moon Fragment Ship is.”
Isaac spoke.
That was Isaac’s final wish.
With that, the three wishes granted to Isaac by the flint jar came to an end. And those wishes were guaranteed to be fulfilled.
The Prince climbed through the bars and reached out toward Isaac.
And then,
「The third wish, granted.」
The tiger’s voice resonated, and simultaneously, the surroundings were engulfed in a light as blinding as lightning. An intense, brilliant light that made it impossible to keep one’s eyes open enveloped Isaac and the tiger, and through his squinted vision, Isaac saw the objects around him blur instantly.
And in the midst of it, he saw the Prince, who had just been reaching for him.
The fingertips of the Prince brushed against Isaac’s face.
But at that very moment, the Prince’s hand passed through Isaac’s face, which was becoming faintly transparent—and the Prince, his expression twisting in utter devastation, soon blurred into white within Isaac’s sight.
—Isaac!
Beyond the already faded white vision, he seemed to hear a loud voice calling his name.
The first thing he felt was a cool breeze brushing against the nape of his neck. Next was the scent of earth and trees, mixed with a faint, acrid smell of dust.
A forest. A forest not far from where people lived.
Isaac blinked. The sensation of lights flashing behind his eyelids had not yet vanished. It was because the intense light from a moment ago remained etched in his eyes.
After blinking two, three times, the white light covering his vision slowly faded, and in contrast, the sight that had seemed pitch black gradually brightened. And by the time he could finally discern his surroundings,
「Manbang-a!」
A large, fluffy mass flew in like lightning from behind and smacked the back of his head. Isaac’s neck snapped forward, and he staggered as a clump of black fur clung to the back of his head.
「Manbang-a! Manbang-a!」
「Where did you go! Why are you only coming now!」
The moment he grabbed and pulled away the fur clump dangling from his head, another fur clump struck the back of his head again as if it had been waiting for the chance. This time, his neck nearly snapped for real, and Isaac gasped, catching his breath.
“You rascals, I set you free from being locked up and now you’re trying to kill me…”
Isaac, holding one fur clump in each hand and glaring at them, suddenly stopped talking and quickly dodged to the side. Sure enough, he avoided a third ambush coming from behind by a hair’s breadth. Since that attack was a fur clump the size of a house, he surely would have died from a broken neck had he not dodged.
「Eh? He’s gotten quite nimble…?」
「I think he might have done some exercising somewhere while we were locked up…?」
The two creatures dangling from Isaac’s hands tilted their heads and chattered. The tiger, which had flopped down exactly where Isaac had been standing, paused for a moment, then calmly began licking its front paws as if it hadn’t failed at all and had simply intended to lie down. Meanwhile, its body shrank like a water-soaked cotton candy, returning to the form of a cat.
“Of course I’m nimble, unlike you slowpokes. Just how slow are you that all three of you got caught and locked in a cage without a peep?”
I couldn’t sleep because of your crying, Isaac muttered, looking at them with cold eyes, but before he could finish, the creatures let out a kaak!, bristled their fur, and unsheathed their claws against Isaac’s cheek.
“Ack!!”
As Isaac curled up, clutching his cheek where red lines from the claw marks had appeared, the two who had jumped from his hands landed beside him, puffing out their cheeks like peanuts and licking their front paws.
「What do you mean ‘locked up’? We were just resting for a few days, exhausted from a long excursion!」
「Indeed, indeed. When they offered us a bed made of pure silver, begging us to please use it, we felt we should use it out of respect for their sincerity.」
“Is that why you were locked in a cage and cried to be let out every time I slept?”
「Kaak!!」
The cats bared their teeth. Since it wasn’t scary at all even when they opened their maws in tiger form, Isaac snorted, thinking it’s just a cat.
“As soon as we cross over to the land of the new moon, I’m going to order a custom-made pure silver cage.”
「What are you going to do with something like that!」
“I’ll take it to the temple and ask the priest to consecrate it—”
「…」
“…But is there a temple there?”
「Before that, do you think you could even touch pure silver that has been consecrated?」
“…”
Isaac shut his mouth. The cats also shut their mouths. Four pairs of eyes locked in the air.
He really is a bit airheaded, completely clueless in everything, that’s our Manbang, the three whispered, huddling their heads together. And Isaac admitted, Yeah, I was stupid. When he made the second wish, he shouldn’t have asked for them to be set free, but rather to be transported to the Moon Fragment Ship along with the cage.
Still, seeing the three of them huddling and chatting while tapping their tails, they all seemed perfectly fine and unhurt. He had been worried because that person would hesitate not to cut the necks of these little witches if they were even slightly bothersome, so it was a relief.
“Did Lord Kaieon harass you?”
When Isaac asked, the cats lifted their heads.
「We served him with the utmost devotion! He gave us goat meat and wine every day!」
“…That’s unexpected.”
「And then he threatened to break our necks! Telling us not to even think about taking that guy with us!」
“…Wait, that doesn’t make sense. Who is ‘that guy’—”
Isaac, tilting his head, stopped mid-sentence.
He told them not to take him. —He had said he couldn’t go.
Isaac looked silently down at his feet and slowly shook his head. He should stop thinking about it. If he kept thinking, he felt he would miss him more. Then, since he hadn’t even boarded the Moon Fragment Ship yet, he might want to go back.
“I’ve come all this way.”
Isaac murmured quietly. Then, he suddenly looked around.
Come to think of it, where was this? For his third wish, he had asked to be taken to where the Moon Fragment Ship was.
Isaac scanned the area. However, nothing unusual was visible. Only trees swaying quietly in the night breeze under a bright full moon. The moonlight was so brilliant that the trees were vividly illuminated.
As Isaac thought, it was a forest. A forest from which the lights of the Holy City could be seen below. Following the lights lined up like stars along the streets with his eyes, Isaac murmured, “Oh.” The straight layout of the streets looked familiar.
Isaac quickly followed those lights to the end of the street, looking at the center of the streets that spread out circularly like a spiderweb.
A beautiful white building rose in the center of the vast city. Despite it being midnight, the lights brightly lit around the building made it look even more beautiful.
The Royal Palace.
Only then did Isaac realize he was on the foothills of a mountain on the outskirts of the capital. Atop a mountain hill that wasn’t very high.
“…”
Isaac suddenly let the strength leave his body. He had left that place to come here. He felt acutely that he was now far removed from that scenery. Even though the distance was likely only an hour or two’s walk, it looked so distant that he felt he could never return.
Standing blankly and staring at that distant scenery, Isaac turned his gaze away. This wouldn’t do. He was truly starting to miss it. A desire to return immediately swelled within him. If he had one more wish left, he might have prayed to be sent back.
It would be better to just leave quickly. Isaac took a deep breath into his heavy chest and lifted his head. Trying his best not to look toward the city, he looked around. There were only trees.
“But where is the Moon Fragment Ship?”
Just as Isaac, looking around curiously, turned back to the cats, he paused.
A forest under a full moon.
Today was the Dark Moon. There was no way a moon should be in the sky.
Isaac looked up at the full moon shining brightly above the forest. It was an exceptionally large and bright moon. The soft silver light was dazzling.
“The moon…”
A low whisper escaped Isaac’s lips.
The moon was slowly falling.
Leaving the pitch-black night sky, it descended slowly and silently, as if to land upon the earth.
As it descended and grew larger, only when it reached the point where it almost touched the tops of the forest trees did Isaac realize it was not the moon. It was the bottom of a large, round ship. A hull as round and smooth as if the moon itself had been carved.
As if possessed, Isaac looked up at it and stepped backward. He only stopped once his back hit a tree at the edge of the forest. Only then could Isaac see it properly.
Something he had seen only once, fourteen years ago.
The white, smooth hull that looked as if it were carved from the moon, and the large sails that fluttered slowly as if silver powder would scatter despite the lack of wind—everything was exactly as it was in Isaac’s memory.
A dazzling sailing ship he had never once forgotten.
The Moon Fragment Ship was descending upon the forest.
“…”
The ship stopped. Having descended through the massive trees as if cutting through waves, the ship ceased its descent, hovering at a height of about one person’s height from the ground. As much as that height, the ship seemed detached from anything in this world.
Isaac stared blankly at that beautiful hull, which did not belong to this world. At that moment, something slid down from the bow of the ship. It was a staircase of the same color as the ship.
When the stairs stopped at human height, a silhouette cast over them.
「It seems you’ve finally recovered the precious treasure of the Gregorovius Family. I was originally planning to head toward the Valhallis Mountain Range this time as well, but a thing emitting an enormous amount of Mana appeared nearby, and the ship was drawn this way.」
The silhouette, appearing with one foot on the stairs, spoke while looking down. It was a short man whose white beard nearly covered his entire face. Isaac knew who this man, holding a large oar in one hand, was.
“The boatman of the Moon Fragment Ship…”
As Isaac murmured, the man, who was making way for the pitch-black cats hopping up the stairs, looked at Isaac. Black eyes peered through the thick beard covering his face. After blinking a few times, he exclaimed, 「Ah, you’re Kali’s son!」
He was the boatman who, fourteen years ago, when Isaac’s mother was sent away on the Moon Fragment Ship, had refused Isaac’s plea to be taken along, saying that a Half-Blood child could not be boarded.
「Have you grown this much already? Humans really do grow fast. But what brings you here? …Hm?」
The boatman, who had been clicking his tongue in admiration, suddenly raised an eyebrow and tilted his head. Then, he leaned forward and thrust his face right in front of Isaac’s nose.
「Hm? Strange… you were definitely a Half-Blood? Why do you look like a witch?」
「Because he is a witch.」
「Our Manbang has really made it big, he really has.」
The cats, who had hopped up the stairs, sat their plump bottoms on the gunwale next to the ladder and chattered. The boatman, who had been blinking and looking intently between Isaac and the cats, suddenly slapped his palm. 「Aha! I get it!」
「Now that I see it, you borrowed the power of that treasure, didn’t you? There’s no mistake! Otherwise, there’s no way a human could become a witch!」
「Indeed, indeed. This is only possible with the magnificent treasure passed down through our Gregorovius family.」
A cat, perched with its front paw firmly atop the flint jar, nodded with a satisfied expression. The boatman looked at the flint jar with eyes full of admiration and greed, then reached out.
「Let me see. It’s been quite a while. I heard it stayed in human hands after AmneMika died? Oh, perhaps because it’s been aged so long, the power seems even more abundant.」
「Hey, don’t touch it! How dare you smudge someone else’s family treasure with your hand-grime!」
「Just give it here for a second, it’s not like I’m stealing it. I just want to take a look since it’s been so long since I’ve seen such a precious item.」
While the boatman and the cats were bickering, Isaac climbed the stairs. Even when he stepped onto the gunwale and entered the Moon Fragment Ship, the boatman did not block him this time. …Isaac wondered if he was simply too preoccupied with the cats to notice.
Isaac looked around the ship. The sailing ship with its beautiful fluttering sails looked much more spacious inside than it had from the outside. From the outside, it looked like it would be full with about 30 or 40 people, but inside, it seemed it could hold twice as many. No, maybe three times. No, four times…
“…”
Isaac tilted his head. It was strange. Even though the interior of the ship was clearly visible, he couldn’t gauge the width. With a bizarre feeling as if he were being bewitched, he tried hard to measure the space, but it was no use.
Recalling the numerous people who had stepped onto the ship without hesitation when he had seen it before, even though it seemed the capacity had already been reached, Isaac nodded to himself, feeling that while he didn’t understand it, it made sense.
Meanwhile, as if knowing the Moon Fragment Ship had dropped anchor there, witches began to arrive one by one and board the ship. When he had seen them at the Grand Coven of Witches, they were diverse—some looked human, some like beasts, some had grotesque forms—but those boarding the ship today were mostly in human form.
「Mr. Moon, it’s been a while. The Gregorovius siblings arrived first. Oh, isn’t this Kali’s son? I heard he was a Half-Blood, but he’s become a witch in the meantime. How did you do it?」
A young woman with long hair greeted him as she boarded. The woman, who asked while blinking in surprise upon seeing Isaac, didn’t seem particularly interested and went inside without waiting for an answer.
I think it’s my first time meeting her, so how does she know me? Where have I seen her? Isaac wondered, but the middle-aged gentleman who boarded next was the same. After greeting the boatman and the cats, he looked at Isaac and said, 「Kali’s son. You’ve grown a lot. You’ve become a witch in the meantime,」 before heading inside. It seemed there was some way for witches to know each other’s origins. He decided he would ask how they did it later.
In front of the curious Isaac, the boatman continued to squabble with the cats, indifferent to who was boarding the ship.
「Oh, what’s the harm in letting me see that worn-out wooden box! Will it wear down? Will it?! Give it here!」
Finally losing his temper, the boatman snatched the flint jar from the cat’s front paw. Turning his back on the cats who were frantically demanding he give it back, he examined the flint jar, stroking it.
「Oh, indeed, this is a masterpiece crafted with a lifetime of effort by the legendary artisan Arlezionne. Beautiful, truly beautiful. Ho ho, this perfect size, perfect shape, perfect feel in the hand!」
The boatman, who had been stroking it ecstatically while looking at it at eye level and then holding it above his head, suddenly frowned. “Hm?”