[V13C13.1] Interlude: Stray Dog Chased Out by a Wasp

This happened on the day when the Starseer Witch arrived in Sazandal, right after it was officially decided that the Silent Witch would employ the ancient artifact Star-Weaving Mira.

It was around afternoon, and Melissa Roseberg, the Fourth Thorn Witch, was busy reviewing the security plan for the operation.

As the eldest of the Seven Sages, Mary was generally the one to oversee everything. However, she decided to delegate the security proceedings to another due to her lack of familiarity with Sazandol.

Monica was the most familiar, being a long-time resident of Sazandol, but she would be busy with Star-Weaving Mira. As a result, the role naturally fell to the next best candidate, Melissa.

As a side note, Melissa was so familiar with Sazandol because she had been ignoring her job and going sightseeing all the time. How ironic that this led to her being saddled with the additional job of overseeing security.

Melissa leaned back into her chair (which she stole from the Branch Director along with his office) and stared at a map of the city. But then, she was interrupted by a knock at her door.

She would normally straighten her posture when dealing with visitors, but after seeing who it was, Melissa leaned even back further against her chair’s armrest.

The person entering her office was Isaac Walker, a man with a scar above his right eye.

Melissa hated his guts, so she seriously considered kicking him out. However, Isaac was holding a tray with a cup of tea and baked sweets.

“Good afternoon, milady. I have brought you some tea.”

Since he had brought an offering, she was willing to spare him. For now, at least.

Melissa gestured with her chin at the corner of the desk, so Isaac placed the tea and snacks there.

His refined movements reflected an immense amount of experience in serving the upper class. There was no doubt he gained this experience under the Duke of Erin, aka Prince Felix.

Melissa lifted the teacup. It appeared to be an herbal tea, in particular, the kind that was effective against acne.

He had some nerve offering a herbal skin-remedy to a witch from House Roseberg, famed for their extensive knowledge of plants.

Melissa took a sip, finding that both the taste and aroma were exquisite. Rather than focusing on the medicinal effect of the herbs, Isaac had refined their flavor as well. The sweets on his tray were even baked with citrus peels to harmonize perfectly with the tea.

Both the tea and the sweets were just so annoyingly perfect. Melissa could not help but scowl.

“By the way,” Isaac said as he approached her desk, “I heard that Monica will be employing an ancient artifact at the lighthouse tomorrow night.”

“Yeah. And because of that, I’m super busy with the security plans.”

Melissa tapped the map with her nails.

Without disturbing his perfect posture, Isaac followed the map to a certain point: the location of the lighthouse.

“Please allow me to observe, as her disciple.”

“What?”

“I want to watch Monica use the artifact. Front and center.”

Was this some sort of joke? Melissa observed Isaac’s face for a few seconds, but he seemed as serious as he could be. And to top it off, he wasn’t even hiding his excitement.

Melissa contorted her face in disgust. However, she held back the flood of insults and pasted on a fake smile.

“Looks like this silly dog needs to be taught a lesson. A disciple doesn’t have the right to ask for anything, only an obligation to serve.”

“I see,” Isaac replied. “In that case, I wouldn’t mind working at the lighthouse under the pretext of Monica’s bodyguard.”

I’ll mind, you damn bastard… is what Melissa wanted to say, but she refrained from saying that out loud.

Melissa was unaware of how Star-Weaving Mira often caused trouble when men were nearby.

To be honest, watching the ancient artifact flirt with him actually sounded quite entertaining. However, there was no guarantee that Star-Weaving Mira would be interested in him, and above all, Melissa Roseberg was not the type of woman to obey someone she hated.

Melissa tapped a different location with her red-painted nails, putting on a wicked smile.

“I’m placing you on guard duty at East Third Street in the Industrial District.”

This location was carefully selected to have its view of the lighthouse obscured by several chimneys, in addition to having a high crime rate and large amounts of foot traffic. In other words, it was the worst possible assignment.

“Either you stand guard there, or I hang you from the lighthouse. I’ll let you choose.”

“Oh dear. Depending on where I am hung, I might not be able to see Monica.”

This guy had the gall to consider being hanged as a valid option. After a slight shiver at this realization, Melissa plucked a rose ornament from her hair and starting chanting.

Simultaneously, Isaac sprinted towards the door with incredible speed.

Rose vines extended from Melissa’s hand, slithering across the floor like snakes aiming for Isaac’s feet.

However, Isaac jumped to avoid them at the last moment. It was almost like he had eyes on the back of his head.

“I’ll put a collar on your and drag you to your position, you damn mutt!”

“I must say, you have some interesting tastes.”

Melissa decided that once she captured Isaac, she would put a large sign reading “I am a dog” hanging from his neck. With that firm determination, she plucked another rose from her hair.

This time, she flung her vines at Isaac’s torso.

Isaac dodged this by sliding across the ground. Then, he immediately stood up and stomped the earlier vines aiming for his feet.

Melissa knew that Isaac would be forced to pause his movements while opening the door. She had been waiting for that perfect moment to order her vines to strike.

However, stomping on the vines had bought him enough time to secure the door.

“Well then, if you will excuse me, Milady.”

Isaac escaped into the corridor, then slammed the door shut to prevent the vines from pursuing.

“You’re not getting away!”

Melissa stood up with such force that she overturned her chair. She rushed into the corridor after Isaac, clacking her bright red heels.

She checked both left and right with bloodshot eyes, but there was no sign of Isaac. However, Melissa did spot an elderly cleaning lady, so she called out to her.

“Excuse me, Madam! Did you see a stray dog come this way? He’s big, with blond hair, and has a scar above his right eye!”

The cleaning lady paused her mop and pointed towards the right passage with a disgruntled expression.

That passage could access the stairway to the first floor. Apparently, that was how Isaac planned to escape outside.

“Thank you!”

Melissa waved her hand to the cleaning lady and ran down the corridor, lifting the hem of her dress.

＊　＊　＊

After Melissa rushed down the stairs, Isaac peaked out from the left passage, opposite of the direction indicated by the cleaning lady.

“I appreciate your help, Mrs. Gray,” Isaac said with a formal bow.

However, the cleaning lady simply scoffed, glaring at the numerous rose vines jutting out of Melissa’s office.

“Whenever she gets excited, my workload increases. Have you guys ever considered who is cleaning up after you?”

“If you could just sweep it against the wall, I’ll clean everything later.”

The cleaning lady scoffed again at Isaac’s suggestion, then silently resumed her sweeping.

Isaac stepped into the vine-covered office, opened the window, and voiced an incantation. This was a water spell he had been practicing recently.

A ball of water appeared above Isaac’s palm, before unraveling into a long rope, as if someone had peeled it like an apple.

Isaac fixed one end of the rope to the the office furniture, then jumped out of the window with the other end in hand.

He kicked off the wall a few times, using the water rope as a lifeline. In the middle of this, he glanced upwards for a moment.

(As I thought, it will be hard to see above myself if I’m hanging off of something.)

Isaac wanted to observe Monica’s feats, so letting Melissa hang him from the lighthouse was not an option. In that case, the best location was probably the roof of a building a short distance away from the lighthouse.

He continued his descent while calculating the optimal location in his head.

After reaching the ground, Isaac honed his ears to listen for Melissa’s angry swearing, then ran off in the opposite direction.

Meanwhile, Monica and Cyril finished eating lunch at a restaurant and parted ways. It was really awkward when they bumped into each other in front of the Mage Association half an hour later.

Both quickly realized that they had the same destination in the first place, and started screaming internally.

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