When Charlie heard about the situation, he let Gremory into the woods. The corpse of the evil spirit was purified in the Lake of Purification, and the demon disappeared with a relaxed face.
Charlie brought a black dog to interpret and talked to Gremory.
Wal. Wal.
"You let me use the lake once, so next time I have to help the verdant forest? It's so salty."
Yoke.
Why did you, a witch, save an evil spirit?
"That's it..."
If Isolene, Anna, and Chession are captured by witches and tortured to death because of me. What If they become an evil spirit because of it... It would seem too imaginative.
"...It's my heart."
Gremory turned around and walked out of the verdant forest. He went back to the Lores family home and woke Alan up from his sleep.
"Hey, wake up."
"Mmm...Who are you...Aaaa..."
Alan came to his senses, screaming and scurrying. Gremory frowned at the noise and tugged at his collar.
"Stop screaming and answer my questions. Is there anywhere else to go?"
"Hey, please help me! I think I've been possessed by evil spirits all this time!"
"Oh, it's noisy. I have exterminated that evil spirit, so shut up and answer. Do you have a place to go?"
"Yes? Yes, there is a relative's house nearby... Ugh."
Alan's body staggered as he tried to get out of bed. Gremory quickly supported his body.
"That's a lot of work. Can't you walk alone?"
"I can't walk because my legs are weak."
"I only take you outside the house. After that, you can take care of yourself."
"Yes, thank you for saving me!"
"You're so sunny. On the subject of your family being exterminated and burying your lover's body with your own hands. Is it okay because you live alone? I can only guess how bad your personality was and what your family was like."
"...Yes?"
"I'm not helping you now, it's not for you. I think your lover has already given you all the punishment, so I'm just letting you go, so you'll live with atonement for the rest of your life."
Alan's expression turned cold in an instant. Gremory ignored the stinging gaze and dragged Alan out of the mansion.
As Alan began to stagger away, the crowd in front of the mansion rushed over.
"Alan, are you okay? Have you finally come back to your senses?"
"What happened?"
Gremory left Alan with the people and walked away. Alan's prickly gaze followed her persistently.
"...I was possessed by an evil spirit, but she saved me."
"What? Evil spirits? Alan, is there something wrong with your head? Where in the world is that?"
People began to argue in a murmur. They don't know if it's true that it was done by an evil spirit. At the same time, these words also spread.
"But isn't the woman who just brought Alan out of the convent, Miss Mori, who worked at the convent?"
"Oh, yes! I saw her in the last coal mine incident!"
"Miss Mori knows how to exterminate monsters, make medicine, and even exorcise evil spirits? She is a great person."
Gremory's ears perked as she walked in the distance.
"When I return to the Grand Duke's Palace, I won't have to worry about being robbed by Isolene."
She can say that she didn't come here because she didn't want to deal with paperwork, but because she came to get rid of evil spirits. There are so many witnesses.
The sun was setting. Gremory returned to the Grand Duke's residence with a bitter heart.
And she was robbed by Isolene, who was waiting for her.
***
Gremory became famous as an exorcist of evil spirits. Because she was rumored to be so good in so many ways, Gremory was often treated as a fantasy.
"She must have been a Saint!"
"No, she doesn't! What is a saint? I heard that she was a pharmaceutical company."
"Uh-huh, what kind of wizard is a pharmaceutical company?"
"As far as I know, she is a Saint, a sorcerer, a druggist, and an exorcist of evil spirits!"
"Hey, who in the world can do all that! Hahaha!"
Yes, no person in the world could do all of that. There are witches.
A garden where the sun shines pleasantly.
Anna laughed as she told her what she had heard at the grocery store. Gremory chewed on the dried jerky from the wyrm's wings and looked at the mountains in the distance. She was thinking about when she should leave this place and what she should say to the members of the Grand Duke's family.
"Everyone was just talking about Miss Mori! By the way, can you tell me about the evil spirit?"
"I don't like it."
"Hey, what's wrong? Please give me a tip."
"Anna."
"Yes."
"I think I like you a lot."
"Oh, suddenly?"
While Anna is confused, Gremory ponders.
'I spat out the words, but 'is good' what I think it means?'
The feelings she gets when she sees something pretty, when something satisfying happens, when she talks with Anna, or when she eats something delicious.
'Is that feeling as cozy as a blanket called 'good'?'
Gremory looked up at Iris. Iris was smiling and nodding happily.
Isolene, who was bringing a teapot next to her, laughed lightly
"What, what kind of love confession do you have all of a sudden? Tell me you like me too!"
"I like you too."
"What, are you serious? Why are you so serious?"
Gremory had a sullen face and chewed on the wyrm's jerky. Then she trudged away.
"What are you?"
"I don't know."
Anna and Isolene, who didn't know anything, tilted their heads and continued with their own tea party.
When Anna and Isolene were separated for some time, Iris spoke to Gremory.
- What kind of love confession do you have suddenly? Moreover, what is this gloomy face?
"I think I've realized something since I expelled the demons yesterday, but I don't know what this feeling is."
- Tell me. I'll listen to you.
"Sitting down together, eating something, and laughing like this. It used to be nothing, but now it feels different."
Just like when she plays with Lenia.
- I think you liked it.
"Like?"
- In my opinion, you are a very affectionate person... No, you're a witch. So I keep coming and going to help. I don't think you realized it yourself.
"What is like?"
- It can be said that the other person feels comfortable. It's fun to be with them, and it makes you want to talk about fun things together.
Suddenly, Gremory's mind was demon world. The demon world had the opposite feeling from this place. It's uncomfortable. She doesn't like it, and everyone says terrible things to me.
...On the other hand, this place.
It was unsettlingly comfortable. She was afraid that shr would lose this peace.
- Congratulations, Mori. You have something Important.
When Iris smiled and laughed.
Gremory was determined. She decided to leave right now.
Yes, she felt fond of this place. And everyone who lived in the palace became precious. Therefore, she could not stay here as she did not know when she would be discovered and taken away by the witches. Even her Important people might get involved in her work.
Gremory immediately went up to her room and packed her things. She broke into Chession's office.
Thump
"Uh. Mori, I'm in..."
"I liked you."
"What? Wait, Mori!"
Chession, his face reddened, reached for Gremory, but the door to his office had already been slammed shut.
Then came Iris's astonishment. For a very long time.
***
Chession's heart thumped. The words 'I liked you' came to his mind a million times.
'Why are you saying that?'
It was bottomless and endlessly exciting.
While Chession is in the middle of soothing his surprised heart. Suddenly, Anna knocked and opened the door.
"Your Highness!"
"Why are you again?"
"Miss Mori is strange!"
"I think so. Did she say she liked you, too?"
"Yes! Best of all...! I went into Miss Mori's room to clean and saw something shocking!"
"What is it?"
"It seemed that she had packed her things to leave this mansion."
"What?"
Surprised, Chession left the office and strode to Gremory's room. There, Gremory's favorite quilt was folded and tied to a string. There was a pillow tucked into it.
"Miss Mori never folds the blanket herself! But after folding it finely, she tied it with a string! Even her favorite quilt. This must have been packed to leave the house!"
"Hey, this is the luggage she packed to leave the house? I think it's too simple to do that."
"She simply packed her precious things. Have you noticed that Miss Mori cherishes other things besides the blanket?"
"Pillows too... No way!"
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