It felt totally out of place, like a horror movie prop suddenly appearing in a light-hearted romantic comedy. Something about the sight of it felt incredibly wrong and chilling. Not to the extent of the primordial fear that pale woman injected me with… but still quite something.

A murmur echoed through the hall.

It was clear all of them were upset over the princess providing me with the option of being pardoned with something as seemingly small as a promise, and yet, here I was staring at that piece of rock. A horrid shiver went down my spine every time I looked at it. I had no memory of ever seeing or reading about anything like this.

There is no way in hell I wouldn’t remember such a distinctive set-piece in a novel.   

This realization really ruined my theory of this being a novel or a game I knew from my past life.

What the hell kinda horror story was this supposed to be!? Why was nobody batting an eye at this. This stone looked like a cursed object owned by a dark cult, and here it was in the golden hued halls of the castle. Why was it brought here by the order of the princess of all people?!

Could these people truly not see the air around the rock turning gray? Could they not see the sparkles? The armored guard in the cell said so… But I simply thought he was too panicked to understand what I was even talking about. 

“I’d like to…” There was something completely messed up here. I could totally understand seeing an ugly and blatantly evil looking person bringing this damn dark artifact into the room, but why was the main-character bringing it in?! AND WHY WAS SHE GRINNING LIKE A VULTURE WAITING FOR PREY WHEN I BEGAN SPEAKING!? What the hell was wrong with this place?!

Let me emphasize that. The girl looked positively BLOODTHIRSTY as she yearned to hear my words. What the hell was wrong with this place?!

“You’d like to…?” The judge grumbled in an annoyed tone.

“I’d like… to be exiled.” I finally spoke out loud.

I could instantly tell I chose the right option. The incredibly burning hatred the golden princess stared at me with was visceral. It’s clear she wasn’t expecting me to choose the swamps.

“W-wait! Maybe you’re confused!” She began speaking, her voice was shaky, and her face was definitely not that of a dainty princess anymore. She really was bad at hiding her true emotions. “The swamps of Ravica are a horrible place! You can just go live in some village if you just swear…!” She continued in a tone that somehow made me almost feel she was desperate for me to touch the stone.

“No. I don’t think I am confused. I’d like to be exiled, please.” I stated matter-of-factly. It really felt like there was something suspicious going on. I had no interest in playing into the hand of this woman.

“Ungrateful vermin…” The judge grumbled.

The entire hall was dedicated to howling at me like dogs in heat after my answer.

There was no opportunity for me to even talk, as I was quickly judged guilty of high treason and attempted murder.

It was clear the princess was unhappy about my answer. She was biting her lip to the point of causing it to bleed while glaring daggers at me as I stood there while people from the balconies threw small items at me in protest.

I don’t know why she was so desperate to have me touch the black object, but to be completely fair. I didn’t really care. Not only that, but I honestly wanted to get back at her a bit, no matter how petty the method.

I got two birds with one stone! I didn’t want to touch that creepy thing… and I wanted to annoy the princess! A vein popped on her forehead as I winked at her. She seemed like she’d be fun to tease.

I remained silent in the uproar of the jury. I’m sure I could have said something to annoy them further, but I decided against it. I’m a specialist when it comes down to understanding when resistance is futile.

Wasting my breath on this scummy bunch wasn’t something I had plans for. In fact, I was elated to be exiled, for exile meant freedom. The one thing I NEVER had in my life. Who in their right mind would not be overjoyed by something like this?

I felt like I was a prisoner in my own body for the entirety of my past life. Being given this joy of free roaming was nothing short of a reward.

The princess was frustrated over the outcome, but she wasn’t able to just force me to touch the stone either, as it would go against her carefully constructed character…

With that, the trial came to a conclusion.

I was dragged out without much fanfare. Seemed like the exile was to be made into a reality post-haste. A wooden caravan with iron bars awaited me at the gates of the castle.  

Surely if I really was a witch, these shoddy iron bars wouldn’t hold me back… and yet nobody questioned this. I grew ever-stronger in my belief that the people in this kingdom must have been a part of some unholy mouth-breather cult. Seemed like, no matter where I looked, there were imbeciles to be seen.

The caravan was much more comfortable than the jail cell, simply because it wasn’t wet or particularly cold. The ride out of town was a bit bumpy, but not to the point of discomfort.

My eyes widened at the sight awaiting me behind the castle walls. It was truly breathtaking.

A vast field of flowers was in full bloom, gently waving in the wind, sending some multicolored petals flying all over. It seemed to be the heart of summer, and the air was warm and full of life.

The guards riding the carriage were clearly disturbed by my audible joy at every sight. This only made me want to be louder about my elation.

“WAAAAH! IS THAT A BUTTERFLY!? A BUTTERFLY! It’s so pretty! Did you two see that?!”

“What the hell is wrong with you?! What are you getting so giddy over!?”

The grouchier of the guards barked at me. He had a grumpy face to match his tone of voice. He was like a living caricature of what an angry middle-aged man looks like.

Every annoyed wrinkle on his face was very emphasized and noticeable. He was also a sad victim of the notorious short-and-stout-syndrome, which plagued stereotypically evil people like him. The fancy embroidered vest he was wearing was strained against the oppressive pressure of his gut.   

He was accompanied by a skinny and taller man with an oddly pointy mustache. The kind of pointy you only see in ancient photos. It was almost equal in its ridiculousness to the amount of anger the little fat guy had in him. The undersides of his eyes were really dark. I bet he didn’t sleep a whole lot. 

His outfit was similar to his companions, but the issue this time was that it was far too big, causing it to drape over his frame.

Despite these two being a particular eyesore, the rest of the scenery was positively fantastic.

The trees in the forests were so deep in color I had to blink a few times to make sure I wasn’t dreaming.

“OOOHHH! A squirrel!! How cute!! It’s like a mouse living in a tree! A tree-mouse!! What wonder!!” At this point, I was just getting excited over stuff to annoy the clowns driving the carriage.

“SHUT UP!!!!” The grumpy shorty slammed his fists against the iron bars of my cage. My plans of pissing them off were successful! Soon afterward, I did quiet down to marvel at the scenery again, though.

There were faint lights flickering in-between the branches. I couldn’t help but hope they were fairies, but they could just as well have been fireflies. While the people back in the kingdom spoke of witches and magic, I hadn’t seen any proof of magic actually existing in this world yet. People spoke of magic and witches in the world of my past too, but that doesn’t mean they ever existed there.

To be fair, even if there was no magic in this world, finding solace in the fact that I had gotten fantastically reincarnated was making me happy enough.

Even if this world was just another earth, it was nothing short of paradise to me, since I had a healthy new body.

A body like this was all I had ever hoped for. Maybe all those spells and magic I practiced as a teen really did do something.

Days turned to nights, and the sights I saw were slowly turning a bit bleaker as the swamp most likely drew near.

I was so excited, I didn’t end up sleeping a wink through the nights. Healthy bodies are truly remarkable! Or maybe the frog-like croaking of the pudgy man as he snored made it impossible to fall asleep to begin with.

It suddenly made a whole lot of sense why the skinny guy had such dark rings under his eyes.

Even the darker areas were fascinating to me. I saw a non-human frog for the first time too. I think it must have been eating a bug. It was just staring at the caravan as we passed, munching on something.

Something about the sights of this new world made my imagination bubble wild. What if this world really had magic in it? I almost wanted to start drawing the magic sigils I practiced rigorously in my youth on my arms, but I somehow had a feeling they probably didn’t have permanent markers here in this world.

Maybe I could try to paint them on? That could work too! I get that this was just wishful thinking, since the mana symbols were simply things I saw in a game… but… they were really cool.

If it turns out this world has magic, possibly I’ll get some painted on myself just to look cooler, even if they won’t have any magical properties.

As I was distracted by my own musings, the caravan stopped. By now, we had travelled maybe a good five days. A thick fog surrounded us to the point where it was challenging to see further than five or so meters ahead. It was shifting around slightly, like a thin blanket with a life of its own. I couldn’t feel any wind, which made it quite mysterious how it was moving.

“Okay. I think we’re deep enough.” The grouchy frogman spoke.

“A-are you sure we didn’t go too far? Haven’t you heard the rumors?!” The skinny man replied. There was a noticeable presence of what sounded like fear in his voice.

“Shut your mouth. We’ll be going back right after we take care of the witch!”

And with that, the man hopped off of the carriage and pulled out his sword. I raised an eyebrow as he approached the part of the caravan I was locked in.

Without a warning, he suddenly jabbed the sword at me through the bars. It sunk into my left arm. The pain was searing and cold. It was as if I could feel every piece of muscle fiber being cut by the rusty and dull blade.

            “WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!” I grasped the bleeding arm in horror.

            The man chuckled to himself. “Hah… So, witches bleed red too?”

The other man approached behind me, trying to stab the sword at me too. He was much shakier and ended up missing.

“Weren’t you supposed to exile me?!” I screamed at the two, one of whom was taken back a bit.

“Getting exiled is just political jargon for being executed outside the border of the kingdom! Nobody ain’t complaining if a witch or two disappears into the mists of these swamps!” The short man’s laughter was disgusting. Like he was choking on his own tongue, he croaked as he began trying to swipe at me more.

This was cowardice beyond any sense. Two grown men were attempting to stab at me while I was locked in the damn cage. I had just gotten a new life, and now I was to be killed by these damn crooks?!

“DON’T YOU DARE TOUCH ME! I’LL CURSE YOU BOTH TO DEATH!!” I screamed. It was obviously a bluff, but the meeker man yelped in horror, backing away a bit.

“Yeah, yeah! You probably ain’t even a real witch! A real one would have escaped long ago! Bah!” The frogman gurgled contently. I suppose they were a bit less stupid… and a lot nastier than I thought.

My body felt cold. The blood loss was getting to me. I could no longer move my left arm. The fingers had lost all feeling.

I wasn’t planning on giving up, but fear was slowly creeping its way up my body. A cold, miserable feeling I remembered from my past life very well. I had given up on life… but it was because there was nothing left for me.

Now I had everything! Everything I had ever wanted, and these people were trying to rip it away from me once more!

I let out a most blood-curdling scream I could manage. It was the only act of defiance I could muster in this hopeless situation.