“AH…” I just now realized the similarity. “I THINK IT DOES!” I slapped my hand against my thigh. “I never realized that!! That’s so cool!! W-what an epic name!! I like it even more!!” I realized I had let my love for all things witches leak out a bit too late yet again.

Amelia’s defensive curled up posture loosened a bit. “Y-you didn’t realize it before…? Even though it’s your own name…”

“H-hey! I’m sure there are plenty of people who don’t know the meaning behind their names!” I tried to argue weakly.

“You’re a named monster, though… Surely, the name was given for a reason…” Amelia was dumbfounded.

“S-shush… I just chose it because it sounded cool…” I could feel my ears turning red.

“S-sounded cool!?” Amelia’s expression grew even more puzzled.

“Yeah… It’s a cool name…”

“PUHA… PUAHAHAHAHAHA!” Amelia burst out laughing properly.

”IT IS COOL TOO!!” I tried to whine at her as she kept laughing at me uncontrollably. Eventually, I couldn’t stay serious and started giggling with her.

We laughed for a good twenty or so minutes, Amelia was crying and laughing at the same time. I don’t know whether she was crying because of the laughter… or because of something else… but the laughter alone lifted the mood a lot already.

I guess I can officially say, that I made myself an adventuring companion.

…

“So… Do we need to make some kind of a demonic contract?” Amelia began speaking after we finally calmed down.

I had no idea what she was talking about. Instead of trying to figure out things bit by bit, I felt I should just ask her the most important question directly.

“Um… Amelia. What exactly are witches to you? Can you please explain your view on us to me? I’m a bit lost in some of the things you say.”

“W-what in the world kind of question is that? Witches are witches! Monsters! Your kind is mostly famous for guiding lost souls to ruin, casting horrifying curses and eating souls to increase your magical powers.”

“Riiiighht….” I nodded, crossing my arms. “Have you ever met a witch before me?”

“No.” Amelia replied bluntly.

“Have you ever seen a witch… guide a lost soul to ruin… or eat souls at that?” I continued.

“N-no…” Amelia probably had a hunch on where I was going to go with this.

“I see…” I decided against questioning her beliefs. “Now. This might come off weird, but I actually don’t really find the thought of eating someone’s soul particularly appetizing.” I went on.

“How do you supposedly sustain yourself, then?” It was a fair question of her to ask. If witches really ate souls, I guess I’d wither away and die without them… But that didn’t seem to be the case, so…

“I seem to be doing quite fine with just eating normal food.” I pointed at the pantry. “I actually have no memory of ever eating a soul.” Crossing my arms, I presented my case.

The armor clattered again. “W-what?!”

“N-now! Don’t take my words too seriously. Like I said, I’m suffering from a case of amnesia.” I lied. “I only have memories from the point when the golden girl began accusing me of being a man-stealer.”

In theory, I wasn’t lying… kind of. I was just… selectively revealing the truth in a manner that gave off a very different impression of how things actually were. I wasn’t comfortable telling her I got reincarnated into this world from an entirely different world, and I also really didn’t want to tell her about my past.

“No wonder you’re behaving so… strangely.” Amelia’s line of sight was quite focused on my eyes. My guess is: They made her uncomfortable to an extent.

            “Strangely…?” I repeated.

“To my understanding, witches can converse with people, but they’re emotionless and cold to an effortlessly noticeable degree.

“Oh…”

Somehow, this statement reminded me of the fact, that I hadn’t cried at all after hearing Amelia’s story. I used to cry a lot when I was younger, but over the years things grew dull and gray. When you sit in a hospital all of your life, you’re bound to see a few tragic events.

Eventually, they all begin mixing together into a mush, just like how you can grow dull to violence on television, I grew dull to tragedy at the hospital. The cries of families mourning the passing of a loved one… the cries of those at death’s door howling desperately for some magical entity to save them… I have heard all of them…

But… I wonder if that’s really what it was? I did feel troubled and strange after hearing Amelia’s story, but no tears came out.

I wonder if witches simply cannot cry?

My self-analysis was interrupted by Amelia. “Ahem… So, about the contract?”

“R-right… what was that again?” I shook my head.

“Well. I agreed to an evil demonic pact with you… didn’t I…?” Amelia muttered under her breath, clearly conflicted about the subject.

“RIGHT!” I nodded. I seriously thought she was joking about the whole demon pact thing… I thought we both were on the same page about the stories about witches and demons exploiting people at their worst moments were simply THAT! STORIES! NOT REAL!! I GUESS THERE WAS SOME MISCOMMUNICATION GOING ON HERE!

“So, how does it work.” Amelia asked nervously.

“Huh… Right-o… Demon pact… lemme… go pick one up real quick.” I muttered and got up, shakily wandering into the pantry.

But seriously, though… WHAT THE HELL IS A DEMON PACT?! I’m a witch, aren’t I?! Why am I writing a demonic pact instead of something more witch-like?! Now, was truly a time to improvise! Amelia was dead-set on us forming some kind of evil contract…

WHERE AM I SUPPOSED TO FIND DEMONIC ITEMS IN THIS TINY HUT?!

But then, my line of sight made contact with something with potential! One of the dried food cans had a label made of paper. It was worn out and peeling off slightly.

Better than nothing, I guess!

I walked out of the pantry, trying my best to ignore Amelia’s wary gaze. I walked to the fireplace and took out a charred stick. Without a word, I returned to the pantry.

I did my best to look like I knew what I was doing. In actuality, I had no idea what the hell a demon pact was even supposed to be.

Admittedly, after doodling said pact on the piece of paper, I did feel pretty proud of it.

It honestly looked really convincing!!... At least for someone who had no idea what demons did in the first place! I drew various mystical symbols I knew from my past life on it to make it seem more convincing.

Now, the only issue was… how to make it feel magical. I managed to cast a spell in a panic, but I genuinely had no clue to how magic worked in general.

I knew it had something to do with the tiny sparkling things I could see all over the place… But that was about it.

Sadly, I didn’t really have the opportunity to start studying magic properly in the heat of the moment.

Buuuut… if by carving the sigil for ‘fire’ into my arm caused it to burn… Maybe if I drew the same symbol on to the paper, it would also burn? It was worth a shot, right? Having the paper go up in flames would surely make for a cool magical effect to seal the deal. Sadly, I didn’t have any more paper to use as guinea pigs for my little experiment.

So, if it wouldn’t end up burning, I’d just need to… wing it somehow, I guess.

“Okay! I have the um… witch… contract here!” I staggered back into the room with Amelia.

“It’s not a demon pact?” Amelia was somehow still stuck on the whole demon thing.

“I’M NOT A DEMON! HOW WOULD I MAKE A DEMON PACT FOR YOU!?” I let my inner voice become my outer voice for a second.

“Ah… I suppose you’re right.” Amelia seemed a bit taken back by my suddenly increased volume.

“AHEM! Anyway… just uh… let a drop of the blood you spilled on this, and we’re good.” I explained with utmost confidence. Surely, a mystical contract would require a blood sacrifice.

“How vile…! Will I lose my soul for this?” Amelia gulped dryly.

“I already told you I don’t need your damn soul! It’s just a mutual co-work contract!” This paladin and her fixation on losing her soul was starting to get on my nerves.

“A… mutual… co-work contract?”

“Basically! We mutually agree to put all of our effort into fulfilling the shared goal of revenge! It simply prevents one of us from going back on the promise later on.” I did my best to explain my fake contract. The lore behind it was mostly a safeguard to make sure Amelia wouldn’t backstab me in the future.

“Sounds… too good and simple to be true.” Amelia was still doubtful.

“HEY! WITCH CONTRACTS ARE DIFFERENT, OKAY! You’re too dead-set on the whole demon contract thing! Witches can make more mutual contracts too! Revenge is evil! We’re doing something bad! That’s enough evil for me!” I flailed around with the paper in hand.

“R-right… right! Forgive me… I’m still unfamiliar with these unholy happenings…!” Amelia admitted nervously. “Are you sure I won’t lose my soul…?”

“WHO THE HELL WANTS THE SOUL OF A GRIEVING MOTHER?!!” I finally snapped, going on a tangent for a bit. “OKAY! LISTEN UP WOMAN!! I DON’T NEED YOUR GODDAMN SOUL! YOU HAVE NO MAGICAL POWER AT ALL TO BEGIN WITH! WHAT WOULD I BENEFIT FROM THIS?! DON’T YOU UNDERESTIMATE WITCHES, OKAY!? WE NEED A GOOD DEAL TO…” I kept going for a good ten minutes about my… witchy values.

“Fine, fine! I understand!” Amelia groaned… then grasping to her chest as if to protect her soul…

“YOU TOTALLY DON’T UNDERSTAND, DO YOU?!” I went on another rant about witches, even though I honestly had no idea what I was talking about. My only guess about Amelia not having a lot of magical power was due to her not shining a whole lot. My assumption was, that the more of those tiny sparkles people attract, the higher their magical powers are. This assumption was due to the lights amassing around my arm when I cast my first spell.

After a good thirty more minutes, I finally convinced Amelia to press her thumb on the paper, leaving a red fingerprint on it. I then drew the magical sigil for fire on it… and to my relief, the paper actually burned on the spot. It didn’t really flare up in a big flame or anything, but instead it just singed slightly and turned black.

“WHA!?” Amelia gasped at the… most impressive showcasing of magic. “You truly are a witch!” She was straightforward to impress.

“So! Do you feel somehow lacking in soul yet…?” I asked the knight who was poking the burnt paper.

“A-admittedly, I may have been a bit hasty in my judgement… Forgive me… Yverna.” Seemed like she was finally done with the doubting.

“THANK YOU.” I nodded in an exaggerated manner. “Ahem… Anyway… now that the f… I mean… totally real contract is dealt with, I think we should plan on what to do from here on out.”

I couldn’t help but question why I put so much effort into something this stupid. I was probably going on a complete suicide mission with this paladin. Not to mention I was weak and so was she. How in the world would we ever oppose a golden princess who seemed to make everyone around her fall in love!?

Despite the lunacy of the whole plan, I still somehow felt happy about it. I made my first companion in years. Amelia was a bit stern and somewhat shortsighted, but she seemed like a nice person overall.

“There’s a lot of preparation and planning we need to do.” I began. “We need supplies to journey out of the swamp… and proper equipment and maybe a few more allies to take down an entire kingdom.” I counted the things I listed with my fingers.

“I think it’d be best to start off with basic supplies. After I recover my strength somewhat, I can go on foraging trips around the hut in order to find whatever I can get my hands on.”

“What about me?” I asked her.

“Does your unholy magic work on other monsters?”

“Uhhh…” I had no idea what she meant.

“I heard it’s very unusual to ever see cursed monsters… so I assumed witch magic simply doesn’t work on other monsters.” Amelia went on.

“MMmmmm… I-indeed…” I crossed my arms. Oh, no... I seriously had no idea what she was talking about. “I think I need to do some research into this subject… I’d appreciate it if I could leave the heavy lifting to you.” I tried my best to sound confident.

“I expected nothing less. While I may no longer have my divine protection, I still pride myself in my strength.” Amelia smiled at me in a slightly warmer manner.

“Fair, but please don’t overdo it. Your body is still weak. Please focus on recovery first.”

“V-very well…!” The knight seemed a bit taken aback over my concern for her health.

“Ah! But speaking of. Can you… explain to me what divine protection is?” Amelia kept mentioning some kind of divine power, but I honestly wasn’t too clear on what it meant.

“Of course. Forgive me. It slipped my mind you might not be familiar with the subject due to your magical alignment.” Amelia was using mysterious words again.

I had no clue on what magical alignment was… Or maybe it was one of those dark and light things? Because I was a witch, divine powers or something were incompatible with me?

“I-indeed.” I nodded my head yet again… with utmost confidence.