Whose youth romance story begins with a witch's trial?!

"Okay, let's play it right away. I'm also very curious about this videotape."

Hiro smiled and responded, then plopped down next to Chang Rong, ignoring the latter's shocked "Eek!?" sound, and went about her role as a quiet and elegant literary girl appreciating a documentary.

"Hopefully, there might be some clues inside..."

As always, Chang Rong took out her phone, opened Ze Du Ke Ke's profile picture, and placed it aside. Then she swallowed hard, thinking about how she should escape if Xi Luo had another episode, while watching the images appearing on the screen with the two of them.

This place was originally an island inhabited by witches.

Volume 1: Chapter 125. The Last Great Witch

This place was originally an island inhabited by witches.

Witches, for a long time, were fictional characters existing only in various fantasy works. They were said to possess incredible power, living in seclusion yet easily able to control the weather. Even a small spell from them was enough to keep humanity studying for a long time. Their full power could easily stir up turmoil in human society.

Humans initially thought these were just the delusions of some people spouting nonsense, but as more and more eyewitness accounts emerged, more and more people began to seriously recount that they had actually seen witches, and some countries also began to study this existence that should have been just a joke.

As the investigation progressed, humanity made a startling discovery: witches truly exist in this world, and have existed for a very, very long time. Although they wield immense magical power, they lead secluded, peaceful, and independent lives. They only occasionally appear in human society, using magic to guide those who have suffered great calamities, leading humanity in a path that ensures survival.

The witches, whose whereabouts are elusive, also have their own 'kingdom'. This witch island is a cozy home where witches gather to drink tea, chat, read books, and appreciate flowers.

On Witch Island, led by the "Great Witch," the witches live a free and unrestrained life, using their magic for pranks and various wonderful creations, leading a secluded and ethereal paradise.

However, as more and more countries in human society became aware of the existence of 'witches' and their power, those countries united and launched a war to punish them.

At the start of the war, it couldn't even be called a war. The witches' various wondrous spells could manipulate the soldiers without firing a single shot. Their spears would disintegrate into four pieces before they could even be thrust, their water bottles would turn into butterflies before they could even drink a drop, and their encampments would all float away and disappear overnight. One day, a soldier suddenly erupted in anger, claiming he was the real general, merely under a spell—

The disparity in power made human wars seem like a farcical outburst of temper, while the witches appeared to be adults deliberately playing along to appease this anger—until humans realized the witches' 'weakness'.

While witches possess power unmatched by humans, they also possess an innocence that is difficult for humans to comprehend. Their reclusive lifestyle makes these escapist magicians overly naive about the ways of the world, and their clan structure, which has never experienced internal strife, makes it impossible for witches to understand the kinds of means humans would use for so-called "victory."

A great witch wanted to stop humanity's pointless and wasteful actions, but she was captured during negotiations with humans. This great witch was taken hostage, preventing the other witches from using magic to stop the humans' invasion of Witch Island.

Not only that, the humans used this as a springboard to capture more witches, and the torture and interrogation they subjected caused the other witches great suffering. In the end, in order to end this inexplicable war as soon as possible, the witches voluntarily broke the defensive seal on Witch Island, allowing humans to invade the paradise that had always belonged only to them.

If the war ended, the captured comrades would naturally be released by the humans—that's how naively and childishly the witches thought back then.

The human army finally arrived at the center of the castle on Witch Island. When the leading witch was put in shackles, she frowned and asked why humans were waging such a war against the 'witches' who had almost never interfered with the progress of human history.

"Of course, it's to eliminate potential enemies! You witches are not human after all, yet you possess terrifying power capable of destroying humanity. As long as such creatures exist in the world, they will forever hang over the heads of all of us humans. Therefore, we must eliminate you no matter what!"

"Naturally, it's to gain your mastery of magic. This power, which cannot be deduced by philosophy or logic, contains countless possibilities. It would be a waste to just use it for admiring flowers, making tea, and building houses. This power should be mastered by us humans. After that, the human world will experience leaps and bounds in progress!"

"Your existence is a constant blasphemy against the gods we worship! We cannot accept the existence of witches under any circumstances, because our Lord is the greatest and most supreme being in this world! They are just a bunch of little girls who know a few tricks. Don't even think about trying to lay a finger on the true god that we have worshipped for generations!"

“Killing witches will bring us funds from other countries, and the spoils we obtain from you can be exchanged for gold coins to purchase all sorts of supplies. Since you possess so many inexhaustible resources, wouldn't it be better for us to share some with those who are still starving in our own territories? Witches don't understand the greatness of money and trade, but for us, they are essential for survival.”

The generals gave completely different answers. They came together for reasons that were not their own, and each of them regarded the witch as their greatest enemy and launched a campaign against her.

Having realized this, the Great Witch said nothing more. The reason was irrelevant, or rather, any reason didn't matter; what mattered was that the witch race had become an obstacle that humanity had to eliminate.

Throughout the entire conflict, the witches offered no real resistance. This war, which could hardly be called a 'war,' unfolded in a farcical manner, but ultimately ended in a way that was incredibly cruel and bloody for the witches.

Their paradise was invaded and plundered by humans, and the witches themselves were almost all killed in the war. Although they possessed countless great magics, in terms of the weight of life itself, they were no different from ordinary humans.

The leading witches were executed or taken away as spoils of war, but they quickly disappeared from everyone's sight, as if they had never existed in the world at all.

The war ended, and humanity emerged victorious, without paying a heavy price. Yet, only after the victory did their 'curse' begin to slowly surface.

Countries that viewed witches as a 'threat' quickly began invading other countries after the war to exterminate them ended. However, due to unfamiliarity with the local environment and terrain, they lost more than 6% of their young men in meaningless battles. As a result, the countries themselves aged, decayed, and disappeared.

The country that used the extermination of witches as a pretext to "cleanse heretics for the Lord" was utterly destroyed by a religious war launched by a neighboring country before it even had a chance to write an epic hymn to the war after it ended. The country was completely wiped out, and the gods they worshipped were also reduced to dust.

A nation that saw magic as the future path to human civilization devoted all its resources to researching magical techniques after the witch-slaying war. However, over the next 50 years, they exhausted all their human and financial resources, and still no one could cast even a tiny flame of magic. Ultimately, the nation was completely drained and inevitably faced destruction.

The small nation, merely seeking to earn funds, had just begun using the blood-stained gold coins to purchase supplies after the witch-slaying war when it was caught up in the war between neighboring great powers. The small nation didn't want to become a vassal state of either side as cannon fodder, but it failed to navigate both sides successfully and was directly crushed by the neighboring country's war. Most of the blood-stained gold coins didn't even make it into trade, being completely buried in the ruins.

Finally, the witches were hunted down and disappeared, and the kingdoms that hunted witches devoured and slaughtered each other, all perishing in less than a hundred years. This history, which to later generations seems more like a fable, was thus completely sealed away and ended—except for one great witch who survived.

After witnessing the annihilation of her race, the great witch finally gained the emotion that originally belonged only to humans: hatred.

The Great Witch hated all humans and wanted to exterminate them to avenge her fallen kin. Therefore, she created something called the "Witch Factor." Like a virus, the Witch Factor could infiltrate the bodies of all humans, transforming them into "witches"—magical, immortal beings, but devoid of reason, terrifying monsters driven only by the urge to kill.

In order to spread the witch factor to the whole world, the final Great Witch even sacrificed almost all of her magical skills. She dismantled and discarded all her magic, just so that the witch factor attached to them could spread to all mankind as quickly as possible, even if it was just for one more day, one more hour, or one more second. The Great Witch only wanted to witness the end of all mankind.

Just like the immortal and indestructible remains of the witch that the Great Witch herself created, her hatred for the 'human' race continues to this day, immortal and ever-spreading.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

-

"So...this prison island has such a history...?"

"Um... this kind of thing, this kind of thing is simply wrong..."

Inside the screening room, as the videotape reached its end, the image on the projection screen went blank.

Saeki Miria's voice trembled slightly as she covered her mouth with both hands, her tone filled with disbelief. Even Nikaido Hiro, standing beside her, had a livid expression, wanting to say something but unsure how to respond.

On their first day on this prison island, a question had already arisen in the minds of the aspiring witches: if this was a prison for 'witches', then why was it decorated in such an overly luxurious yet outdated castle style?

The answer is now clear: this 'prison island' was not originally intended as a prison for criminals, but rather as a playground for 'innocent witches' to live and play.

Humans are the culprits who invaded and turned Witch Island into a prison.

The reason these aspiring witches were imprisoned here was not due to conspiracy theories or some unknown commonality, but rather... simply bad luck.

That's right. Almost all humans have probably been infected with the so-called witch factor, and these prospective witches simply had 'bad luck' in awakening the witch factor, which is why they became witches. That's all.

"So...we humans, we are...the bad guys?" Saeki Miria said softly, her voice still trembling as she covered her mouth.

"The contents of this videotape may not even be true... and these kinds of things are no longer about right or wrong. The 'enemy' that the Great Witch should have avenged has long since perished with the passage of history. Even if her initial actions were righteous 'revenge,' human society itself is also progressing, and we are not even aware of the 'evil' we possess. How can such evil be passed down? The Great Witch's actions have long deviated from universal values—although they are our human values."

Nikaido Hiro rested his gloved right hand on his chin, gritting his teeth and frowning in response.

"What were you thinking, you idiot rabbit?"

Feeling his thoughts were in complete disarray, Hiro turned to the white-haired boy beside him, hoping to get an answer from him that could help him sort out his thoughts.

"I...I don't know."

Chang Rong said he didn't know.

The white-haired boy kept rubbing the tip of his nose. His eyes were tightly closed, not because he didn't want to see the tragedies in the videotape, but because his brain was constantly being pierced by a steel needle, causing dizziness and nausea.

“However… no matter how we view this matter, we actually only have two choices, don’t we?” Chang Rong took a deep breath, trying to dispel the stinging pain in her mind, and then looked at Milia and Shiro.

"Two kinds...?" Hiro frowned.

"That's right, you either try to 'communicate' with the Great Witch or try to 'fight' the Great Witch. There are only these two options."

"Eh?!? We're going to fight the Great Witch...?!? M-Uncle has a heart condition, Xiao Rong, don't joke like that...!"

Milia was startled, and Hiro also showed a surprised expression. The documentary had just shown the terrifying nature of witches. If humanity didn't rely on the witches' innocence as a weapon, this war would just be a one-sided farce.

The 'last great witch' is a terrifying being who has abandoned innocence and only wants revenge. In other words, she is an almost invincible 'god' with an overwhelming power gap.

"No, as long as we can find the Witch Slayer Potion... no, we won't even need the Witch Slayer Potion. The original witches are not immortal to begin with; they can be damaged simply by attacking them. Moreover, that great witch has almost no magic left after spreading the witch factor. If we are well prepared, it is not impossible to kill her."

“Hmm… perhaps that is true…” Hiro replied softly, his face dark with thought.

"However... if possible, I would still prefer to communicate with that great witch through dialogue. If we don't negotiate, all the misunderstandings and hatred will only deepen, and the situation that didn't have to come to this point will become irreversible. — I'm sorry, just consider what I said earlier as nonsense."

Chang Rong quickly waved his hand, saying that if anyone heard him say something like "have a calm chat" with the great witch who wanted to destroy all of humanity, the hats that were being put on his head could probably fill a whole hat wholesale market.

He genuinely wanted to eliminate the mastermind behind all of this, the "Great Witch," no matter how justified her revenge might be, something Chang Rong simply couldn't comprehend.

He couldn't empathize with the Great Witch's pain of her people's annihilation, but he had personally experienced the suffering and despair endured by these aspiring witches. Chang Rong knew better than anyone that these girls shouldn't have suffered such torment; it wasn't their original sin, but rather the sin of the 'Great Witch'.

But... for some reason, despite her anger towards the Great Witch, Chang Rong still wanted to communicate with her, as if doing so would make everything alright.

—Compared to murderous intent and anger, your first reaction to the conspiracy is actually 'talking it out'? Chang Rong, are you even a genuine Sigma man anymore...? Don't really think you're playing the role of a gadget, that you can make someone like the Great Witch cry and kneel down to apologize with just a few words!

Chang Rong cursed himself for being so indecisive and conflicted. To say something like "Let's talk" in front of an enemy of all humanity was such a nonsensical act. That was a forbidden move only a true male protagonist of the Gala-Gee-Mu series was qualified to use. He should just wash up and go to sleep.

"Hmph, anyway, we can't just sit and wait to die in front of that great witch. My life has always been righteous and just. I absolutely do not agree that I have any ridiculous 'original sin' on me, and I will not agree to die with everyone for no reason. But in the end, these are just discussions based on the possibility of 'meeting the great witch'."

Every now and then, XSR Chang Rong would use the guise of tutoring to take advantage of him, and the model student council president, the righteous and just person Nikaido Hiro, would feel murderous whenever they met.

"No, that's right! In any case, those things happened after we met the 'Great Witch'... But, do we really have a chance to meet the Great Witch? Little Lu (Meruru) seems to have been trying to find traces of the Great Witch, but she has no clue at all. The Great Witch is currently in a state of complete uncertainty about whether she is alive or dead, right?"

Milia said with some worry, "Although seeing the Great Witch might bring annihilation to everyone, at least it would offer a possibility of ending it all. But right now, none of us even know where the Great Witch is; we're stuck on the very first step."

"Her fate unknown? That means she's still alive! How could someone who takes her anger out on all of humanity die before even completing her wishful revenge? We must find her…!" Hiro said through gritted teeth, her initial confusion and bewilderment after watching the documentary quickly replaced by rage. She wished she could drag the Great Witch out right now and severely punish her for her 'incorrect' behavior.

"Haha... Xiao hope is energetic again. But this is all the information in this videotape. Although we know the history of Witch Island, it's hard to say whether this information will be of any use..." Milia rubbed her hair. There seemed to be more pro-war people around her than she had expected. It was better for her, the peacemaker, to keep quiet for now.

“It will definitely be useful. All we can do now is gather intelligence. The more clues we get, the more useful they will be. — It’s almost dinner time now, I need to go cook.”

Chang Rong encouraged Milia in an unquestionable tone, then glanced at the time on her phone and almost instinctively prepared to go to the cafeteria's kitchen.

"Cooking?" "Could this guy have really gone stupid from being pushed so hard...?"

Chang Rong's words startled Milia, while Hiro looked somewhat guilty, wondering if he had been too forceful lately and had been fooled by the white-haired boy.

"Oh no, no, that's not right."

Noticing the idiotic looks from Hiro and Milia, Chang Rong finally remembered that she was no longer the senior chef for the aspiring witch.

Back then, if we were lucky, we could improve our meals, and everyone was happy to cook for us. The only downside was that sometimes we had to teach a clueless person how to cook… wait, who was it again?

Recalling the past, Chang Rong was like someone who had stumbled upon a faulty disk while sweeping through an inventory. He stood there stunned for a long time before shaking his head and leaving the entertainment room.

"Um...has Xiao Rong been acting...a bit strange lately...?"

After Chang Rong left the room, Milia asked Hiro in a worried whisper. She was always concerned that Chang Rong might be overworked, but now all the signs indicated that the white-haired boy was indeed in a dangerously dazed state.

"Tsk..." Xiluo frowned, looking annoyed. She hated Chang Rong's appearance. Compared to the boy who would occasionally show a confused and bewildered expression, Xiluo still preferred the silly rabbit who would prank her with his annoying look.

Well, based on past experience, if this guy suddenly falls into a state of emptiness or some kind of depression, all I have to do is switch into my "favorite mode" and everything will be fine...!

With this thought in mind, Hiro's eyes regained their resolute expression.

Milia glanced at Hiro, shook her head helplessly, and sighed. That kind of look, put aside everything else, should never have appeared on someone who aspires to be a 'gentle, kind, understanding, and amiable girl'.

It seems that Shiro is not a competitor of his own kind. Although even if they were in the same ecosystem, the old man was confident that he could crush this girl with his front armor.

After leaving the recreation room, Chang Rong looked at the scenery outside the window with a somewhat empty and confused expression.

In reality, just as Milia said, this intelligence was meaningless in the current situation; it couldn't directly change the fact that everyone was imprisoned.

But Chang Rong kept experiencing waves of heart palpitations for no apparent reason, and he couldn't help but think—it's too late.

If he had seen that videotape sooner, if he had known sooner what the final witch was trying to do... perhaps he could have changed some things.

Can change really be changed? This hatred that has lasted for hundreds of years, to the point where the parties involved can no longer stand up to each other, is it really something I can change? Stop trying to glorify yourself, you're just a Sigma man who has nothing but good looks!