Dorothea was a clever girl.

This was evident from the fact that a girl who hadn’t even learned to read and write before meeting the Witch of the East had mastered basic necromancy in just 4 years, and survived for a year while struggling in all sorts of dangerous places.

However, “common sense” was not the kind of ability that could be acquired just because an individual was clever.

It was an ability that could only be gained by mingling with others a lot, melting into society, and gradually learning what was “strange” and what was “normal”.

In other words, it was impossible to cultivate common sense by the side of the Witch of the East, who was the epitome of uncommon sense—eating food only when she felt like it, sometimes sleeping for three days and nights straight while other times staying awake for over a week without issue, treating the use of undead for trivial tasks more lightly than going out for a neighborhood stroll, making one wonder if she was human or the incarnation of death descended to the human world.

Although Dorothea had lived with her parents until she was eight, even those parents didn’t tell their daughter that “you shouldn’t try to enter a city with summoned undead”. Rather, it would be scary if there were parents who gave such education to their daughter.

“Come on, catch her! Catch the wicked necromancer!”

“Don’t let your guard down just because she looks like a child! I’ve heard there are evil types among necromancers who have the ability to parasitize other people’s bodies!”

“How wicked!”

“To think they sacrificed such a young child!”

“Huh? Huh?”

Therefore, even as she saw the soldiers rushing at her in fury, Dorothea didn’t know what she had done wrong.

To put it in more general terms, it was similar to going out for a walk with a dog for guard duty, and suddenly people treating you as someone to be killed.

Regardless of whether its master was dumbfounded or not, the skeleton automatically protected Dorothea according to its basic performance, and while the soldiers firmly believed Dorothea to be a wicked necromancer at this sight, they couldn’t easily rush in.

The place Dorothea had visited was a village that was quite large for this area, but even so, the level of the soldiers didn’t exceed that of a vigilante group.

For those who had never seen a fireball in their lives, the threat of a skeleton was almost on par with a legendary ogre.

In fact, while not quite at the ogre level, the skeleton blocking their way was quite strong thanks to being enhanced by Dorothea’s extraordinary mana.

Considering that it could fight without fear of death or injury, it could even potentially take on about four ordinary soldiers who couldn’t handle mana, so it wasn’t such a wrong judgment not to rush in recklessly.

The problem was Dorothea.

Just as a modern person who was just trying to stop by a convenience store while walking a dog would panic if suddenly threatened by police with stun guns and batons, Dorothea fell into a panic, unable to understand what this situation was.

Dorothea’s experience points were still lacking to become a witch who would threaten to curse back a soldier attempting sexual harassment.

Unable to confidently demand what the problem was, nor to order the skeleton to take down those guys, Dorothea fidgeted anxiously and finally threw another bone fragment on the ground.

The bone fragment grew rapidly, feeding on Dorothea’s mana, and turned into another skeleton, and the soldiers gasped.

If that skeleton attacked again, they would become dead men.

However, the newly appeared skeleton didn’t even look at the soldiers, but quickly embraced Dorothea and started running.

“Huh? W-wait! Stop right there!”

That was right.

Dorothea ran away.

The soldiers tried to catch her in confusion, but with the other skeleton continuing to hold their ankles, the pursuit was in vain.

After the distance had widened enough that she couldn’t feel the gaze of others.

Dorothea fell into contemplation alone.

Recalling the sight of the soldiers who were startled at the sight of the skeleton soldier she had brought as a guard, she thought.

“Wicked necromancer”. huh…? It seems I shouldn’t reveal that I’m a necromancer, nor should I carelessly summon undead.

Anyway, now she couldn’t go to the village she was about to visit.

Dorothea decided to stop by another village first and collect information again.

“A village or city where I can buy clothes? If it’s that, over that hill—“

“Isn’t there anywhere else besides that village?”

“Hmm? Then, you see that mountain at the end there? If you walk along the edge of that mountain, you’ll come to a city called ‘Glückstadt’. But isn’t there an adult with you? It’s quite far for a girl to go alone.”

“It’s fine.”

Dorothea’s words weren’t empty.

For Dorothea, who had experienced survival life crossing mountains in the wilderness, a plain that was just a bit far wasn’t particularly dangerous or difficult to traverse.

“Here, a token of gratitude.”

“What?”

The village woman, who had been enjoying the conversation with this foreign girl who, although wearing dirty clothes, seemed likely to become quite a beauty when grown up and was also sharp-witted, was taken aback when the girl suddenly held out a coin.

“It’s okay. It’s not like I did anything great.”

“No, my teacher said a witch must be thorough in transactions.”

“Witch…?”

The village woman felt her heart sink.

Dorothea simply thought that the fact that she was a “necromancer” shouldn’t be revealed, but in fact, in this area, the title of witch was one of the names that inspired fear no less than necromancer. No, the number of people who equalized witches with necromancers was by no means small.

This was partly due to the tremendous reputation of the Witch of the East, but more so due to the influence of other necromancers who had come from all over the continent after hearing of the Witch of the East’s fame.

Among them were those who wanted to become apprentices of the Witch of the East and learn her techniques, and conversely, those who wanted to gain fame by showing off their skills against the Witch of the East.

Those with skill and caution didn’t make themselves noticeable to the surroundings, but those with no skill and only inflated egos caused trouble in nearby villages and were eliminated by soldiers.

The reason why the soldiers chose to fight rather than flee when they discovered Dorothea was a necromancer was because the general perception of necromancers was fixed as “disgusting but not undefeatable beings”.

Of course, Dorothea didn’t know much about this.

She mistook the village woman’s hesitation as just being uncomfortable about receiving money.

“I said take it. If you don’t want to take it, should I give you something else?”

“S-something else?”

“Hmm…. Like powder that keeps insects away when sprinkled, or ointment that makes wounds heal faster when applied to the skin, oh, there’s also powder that makes laundry dry quickly. It shakes off well when you just shake it after it’s dry, so there’s not much to worry about.”

“Oh…”

The expression of the village woman, who had been afraid of what terribly wicked witch’s secret would come out, became strange.

It was undeniably useful, but it wasn’t the kind of magic one would typically associate with the title “witch”. Instead, it seemed more like practical everyday knowledge.

Moreover, the young girl blinking her eyes in front of her didn’t feel like the wicked being she had heard about in stories.

“Does that ointment last long?”

“If no water or blood gets into the container it’s stored in, it’s fine for about a year. If stored in a dry place, it’s okay for up to 3 years.”

“Then I’ll take that, please.”

Dorothea nodded, then rummaged through her leather pouch and took out something like a shell about the size of her palm and held it out to the woman.

The woman looked curiously at the gray, oily lump inside, then carefully applied it to the many small wounds on her hand.

When she felt an itchy sensation as if bugs were crawling, the woman was scared, thinking she had been too hasty, but soon she smiled broadly as she saw the wounds visibly healing.

In an era where even hospitals didn’t properly exist, and most illnesses and injuries had to be dealt with on one’s own.

Such an effective medicine was, in a sense, a precious item no different from a spare lifeline.

Naturally, the village woman’s attitude towards Dorothea became even friendlier.

“Oh my, thank you. I feel bad for receiving so much. Would you like to have a meal before you go?”

“It’s okay. I’m in a hurry.”

“Is that so? That’s a shame. Then, um, something that might be helpful… Ah.”

The woman said to wait a moment and ran off somewhere, then soon came back and held out a loaf of bread about the size of a fist to Dorothea.

“At least eat this on your way. Also, you shouldn’t casually mention that you’re a witch.”

“Why?”

“There might be kind witches like you, but around here, there are more wicked witches who only cause trouble to others. You might receive strange misunderstandings unnecessarily, so it’s better to hide that you’re a witch.”

Dorothea, who heard about the—questionably—exploits of “self-proclaimed witches” and “self-proclaimed necromancers” from the woman, opened her mouth in an, “Ah,” as if in admiration.

So I was chased out for no reason because of those guys!

In fact, trying to enter a village with a skeleton soldier by her side was in itself enough to be considered a criminal act, but unfortunately, Dorothea needed a bit more experience and time to clearly recognize this.

Dorothea, having confirmed her own innocence, jumped back into her clothes-buying journey with a slightly excited feeling.

And so, she arrived at Glückstadt.

It was the largest city Dorothea had seen so far, with the most people, and… it seemed to be a place with as many incidents and accidents.

The following was a scene Dorothea saw within 3 minutes of entering the city.

“Hey, you bastard, can’t you watch where you’re going!?”

A young man with a fairly large build was threatening a boy he had grabbed.

The boy, grabbed by the collar, already had bruises on his face as if he had been hit a few times, and those who appeared to be the young man’s companions were grinning at the sight instead of stopping him.

The boy turned his eyes here and there as if seeking help, but no one responded.

Passing pedestrians only glanced briefly as if this was a common incident, showing no particular interest as they went on their way, and even the soldiers who should maintain public order ignored the boy’s plea for help.

In the midst of this, suddenly the boy’s gaze met Dorothea’s.

Unlike others, Dorothea didn’t avoid the boy’s gaze.

Rather, she stared back with challenging eyes, as if to say, “Do you have something to say?’

But this time, it was the boy who turned his eyes away.

It was a gesture as if he had given up, seeing Dorothea’s outward appearance and thinking it was impossible for her to save him, anyway.

Dorothea felt a surge of anger for a moment, but soon regained her composure.

She had her own purpose, and whatever happened to the boy was irrelevant to Dorothea.

Above all, Dorothea had just learned that she shouldn’t carelessly summon undead or show signs of being a witch in the middle of the city.

It was impossible to fight against several young men with larger builds than herself without using magic.

Therefore, she ignored the boy’s plea for help.

“Hey, aren’t you going to let go of that hand?”

—To be precise, she was about to ignore it.

At Dorothea’s sudden intervention, the young men showed a reaction mixed with displeasure and bewilderment.

“Who are you? Are you this kid’s friend or something?”

“Friend my ass. He’s my guide.”

“What?”

Helping the boy without any benefit was unreasonable. But if the boy became Dorothea’s guide, that was a fair trade.

Compared to wandering aimlessly in an unfamiliar city, having a guide would allow for much more efficient movement.

Dorothea, having quickly finished her self-rationalization, slapped away the wrist of the young man trying to reach for her and pulled her body back.

Of course, a small girl slapping with her palm wouldn’t cause much damage. If anything, it only provoked the young man’s anger.

However, this time, the young man’s intention to grab Dorothea couldn’t be carried out.

Suddenly, a sensation as if something was crawling on his skin tormented the young man. The young man reflexively looked at the wrist Dorothea had touched, and soon was horrified.

Wriggling. Squirming.

An enormous number of ants were crawling on his skin.

“W-whaaaat!?”

The young man tried to shake off the ants in panic, but the ants didn’t fall off.

Rather, they even clung to his other hand that had been fine, and soon began to crawl up towards his body.

“Water, fuck, water!”

“Huh? Hey, where are you going!? Hey!”

The young man ran off urgently to get rid of the ants, and his companions followed him in confusion.

Dorothea heaved a sigh of relief.

She was glad that the extremely basic curse, or rather hallucination, had worked properly.

The boy looked at Dorothea with a dumbfounded expression, then soon his eyes welled up with tears.

Dorothea stepped back in alarm.

“T-thank you. You saved me…”

“Ahem, well, it’s fine. As I said earlier, I didn’t do it for free. You can guide me around, right?”

At Dorothea’s words, the boy wiped his tears with his forearm and nodded.

“Yes, anywhere I know. But, what’s your name?”

“Name?”

Dorothea, who was about to say her name, hesitated for a moment.

She thought that even if she had just gotten away with it now, she had actually used magic within the city, so those with keen eyes might notice later.

It would be troublesome if rumors about being a witch spread widely under my real name, right?

“Dorothy. Call me Dorothy.”

The black-haired boy held out his hand with sparkling eyes.

“Hello, Dorothy. I’m Tip.”

***

https://ko-fi.com/genesisforsaken