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

"Meruru, are you praying?"

"Yes, yes, Chang Rong-san! Praying every morning is also a must... I used to go to the underground to pray to you, but now that you have been resurrected and descended again, I originally planned to pray in my room this morning, but Miss Coco and the guard chased me away... So, I could only come here... Waaah..."

As Meruru was talking, she almost dropped her little pearl again. Normally, when a Sigma man sees a girl crying, he should go up and comfort her fragile heart. However, when he thought about how this guy was also a terrifying being who came early in the morning to try to spy on him, Chang Rong didn't know how to comfort her for a moment.

"Whether it's magic or mushrooms that make people feel better, none of these methods can completely erase my sins. I must find other ways to alleviate this torment and pressure, so... that's why I pray to the Great Witch and the Holy Son day after day. Now that the Holy Son has answered my call, then—the Great Witch's arrival must only be a matter of time, right...!"

"Yes, Hiro and Mag are working hard to summon the Great Witch, aren't they? But speaking of the Great Witch... Meruru, what kind of person is the Great Witch?"

Considering that this hidden character, who can only be unlocked by collecting all 13 witches, is an important character for clearing the HE (Happy Ending) game, Chang Rong also wants to try to gather more information.

"The Great Witch? The Great Witch is a very, very good, incredibly kind and incredibly powerful being!" Upon hearing the mention of the Great Witch, Meruru immediately perked up and spoke to Chang Rong with great enthusiasm.

"Hmm, what else? For example, the name of the Great Witch?"

"The Great Witch—the Great Witch…it's the Great Witch, isn't it?" Meru on Ice changed the subject.

"...Uh, so, what does the Great Witch look like?"

"The Great Witch's appearance... first, she must be an absolutely perfect being! That's right...!"

Meruru clenched her fists and said in a serious tone, but it didn't sound like she was preaching the gospel of the Great Witch to Chang Rong; it sounded more like she was just being stubborn and trying to hypnotize herself.

—I always felt that, compared to her psychological problems, Meruru's most pressing issue was her intellectual development...

The Great Witch is a fangirl who's single-mindedly pursuing someone, but we don't know her name or what she looks like. So what exactly are you single-mindedly pursuing, Yamato Nadeshiko Hiro?

"Waaaaah... I, I was just too excited to see the Holy Child...! Oh, right, I remember the time when the Holy Child was preparing for the witch exam...!"

Even the slow-witted Meruru noticed Chang Rong's tender gaze, which seemed to care for elderly people suffering from dementia. She hurriedly pulled out a photo, trying to prove that she didn't have dementia and that when the sun rose, she would still be the world's number one witch.

“Look, Chang Rong-san! This blonde little girl is Alice. She always looks sleepy, but she loves to stick close to Chang Rong-san! This next one is Miss Fut. This photo was taken by Miss Fut's camera! She's a very energetic and motivated girl. And this is... this looks like me, right? But this is 'Kurobe Nanoha Kaori,' I know that very well! But we only found out later that she's actually Kurobe Nanoha Kaori's 'older sister'... She's a very reliable and strong girl with great initiative.”

Meruru pointed to the girls in the photo and spoke of them as if they were old friends, it seemed that she had not yet erased the memories of these prospective witches from her mind.

"Nanoha's older sister, my former comrade..." Chang Rong looked at the photo of Kurobe Nanoha and finally understood why Nanoha's older sister, the 'Hairband Guardian,' was staring at him so intensely. It seemed that during the Witch Trial, he and his sister were also a pair of star-crossed lovers.

"Um... Although Miss Nana and Miss Reika were reduced to wreckage, especially Miss Reika who still hasn't been contained... I've managed to preserve the bodies of Alice and Miss Futo... Chang Rong-san, would you like to go check on them? Although I've forgotten the exact location, I should be able to find them if I look around."

On the ice, Meruru quietly asked Chang Rong if they should go and pay their respects to their former companion, but after a brief silence, Chang Rong finally shook his head.

Although hearing their names and hearing what they used to look like causes my heart to ache terribly, I'm sorry, what I need to do right now is to help those I can still help.

"No need, Meruru, let's try our best to find that great witch first."

"Yes, yes...! As long as we can find the Great Witch, everything, everything will definitely be restored to normal...! Everything will be alright!"

Meruru's tone was incredibly certain. Although she had forgotten the Great Witch's name and appearance, she still believed in the Great Witch's abilities more than anyone else.

"Hehe... um, it really feels like I'm confessing to the Holy Son..."

After rattling off a whole bunch of things, Meru on Ice gave an embarrassed smile. At least for that moment, she really did look like just a shy and timid ordinary girl.

"However...! It still feels a bit off!"

"Huh?" Chang Rong blinked. Meruru's sudden surge of energy didn't seem like a good thing...

Suddenly, Meru pulled out another outfit from somewhere. It was a long, tight-fitting robe with a pure black base, a huge cross pattern printed on the chest, and the bottom of the robe extended all the way to the hem of the skirt.

"Please, please try this one on! Also, this outfit comes with 14 exclusive lines of dialogue, so please make sure you cooperate with them, Your Highness!"

"Huh?"

Chang Rong was pushed along by the overly enthusiastic invitation from Ice Meruru, and had no choice but to put on the overly tight priest's robe while picking up a piece of paper with the lines written on it and trying to read it aloud.

“‘You worked hard.’ ‘It’s okay.’ ‘You did a great job.’ ‘Don’t worry.’ ‘It’s okay.’ ‘Don’t be afraid.’ ‘It’s okay.’ ‘Pat on the head.’ ‘Good boy.’ ‘Angel.’ ‘Great witch.’ ‘It’s okay.’ ‘Pat on the head.’ ‘I like you.’ — One last thing, the witch’s trial is about to be accelerated!”

"Waaaaah... I'm already in heaven...!"

"Don't go!?"

After reciting the 14 secret phrases, Ice Meruru lay directly on the ground with her hands clasped together, her face beaming with happiness. Countless blood-red butterflies poured out of her nostrils and fluttered about. Haha, she was already in heaven!

Fortunately, Meruru used her last bit of strength to heal herself with a healing spell, otherwise Chang Rong would have been sent to the witch trial for murdering the mastermind.

Looks like I can't praise this guy too much anymore, or she'll be in a physical paradise of bliss...

Volume 1: 169. Two People Atoneing for Their Sins

"But speaking of which, Meruru, how exactly did you make these clothes? Did you really have enough time?"

Chang Rong switched back to the default skin and asked with some curiosity.

"Just... as long as I try my best... I've always been a really, really clumsy person, and there are so many things I just can't learn... But once, the Great Witch saw the clothes I made out of bed sheets, and the Great Witch... laughed. So, so I want to work hard in that direction, and keep working hard, keep working hard..."

Meruru spoke softly in a nostalgic tone, saying that behind this so-called 'talent' was perhaps the result of countless years of hard work for Meruru herself.

"I see... So these fantasy retro styles are also to cater to the Great Witch's taste? Everyone's clothes are very beautiful, the Great Witch will definitely like them." Chang Rong replied with a smile, thus solving a small mystery that no one else cared about in a strange place, the mystery of the witch's clothing style.

“Yes, yes… I believe the Great Witch will definitely like it…” Ice Meluru nodded, then froze as if her brain had crashed.

"What's wrong, Meruru—whoa!?"

"I... I almost felt truly happy just now... This... How can this be!? I... I'm someone burdened with sins who needs to be judged, right? I absolutely have no right to feel happiness...! So, yes, that's it! Consider it payment for confession, please... please hit my stomach hard...! Don't, don't look at me like this, but I'm very confident in the feel of my stomach...! It's soft and has a strong rebound, Holy Son, you should try it, you'll definitely like it! If I accidentally vomit, please, please hit it even harder as punishment—"

Meruru, who had been momentarily stunned, snapped back to her senses and lunged at Chang Rong. As she gasped for breath, she lifted her pure white dress, revealing her fair and soft belly to Chang Rong.

"^q^ How could I possibly like that kind of thing?!"

A perfectly normal chat can easily veer into something terrifyingly 18G; who can handle that?

Chang Rong originally wanted to talk more about Meruru, but now that things had come to this, she could only run away quickly, afraid that Meruru would entangle her and chase her around for a belly punch.

When Chang Rong ran away from the confessional, he happened to run into Kurobe Nanoha Kaori, who was coming out of the infirmary.

"Ah, good morning, Nanoha Kaori. Perfect timing, we can talk about mine clearance in a bit—"

"Um...! Well, I'm not ready yet... But, but, when I'm ready, I...I...I'll pack it up and send it over...!"

"Ready? Packing...?"

Despite appearing to be a cool, sassy, ​​and mysterious lone wolf sniper, Kurobe Nanoha's cheeks practically flushed crimson the moment she emerged from the infirmary and saw Chang Rong.

She hurriedly grabbed her cycling helmet to cover her face, while waving her hands frantically as if rejecting something. The moment she saw Chang Rong, she panicked and distanced herself.

"Wait a minute, Nanoha Kaori—whoa, she runs so fast!"

Nanoha Kurobe's super agent abilities only seemed to manifest themselves when she was extremely flustered and running away. Chang Rong could only watch helplessly as Nanoha Kurobe slung her backpack over her shoulder and ran away in a panic, like a black cat whose tail had been stepped on.

The scene of Nanoha Kaori running away within 3 seconds of meeting her was so impactful that Chang Rong had to immediately look down to check if his clothes were properly on instead of something going wrong while changing clothes, resulting in him exposing his testicles.

No matter how much he checked himself, Chang Rong still didn't feel anything was wrong, and he had no idea why Naoya Kaori blushed and ran away when she saw him.

It can't be 'I'm hallucinating,' right? What kind of hallucination would have this effect?

Chang Rong glanced into the infirmary but didn't see anything unusual. However, she did see Nanoha Kaori's older sister, the 'Hairband Guardian'.

"..." The guard with the hairband was in a daze.

"Ahem, um—'Big Sister'? I have something I want to ask—whoa, don't just pounce on me like that!"

The headband guard activated at lightning speed and pounced on Chang Rong the moment it saw her. Considering that her body would absorb 'Big Sister' just by touching her, Chang Rong had no choice but to try to dodge in a disheveled manner.

"Wait, wait a minute, Stopp!!!"

Seeing that he was quickly cornered against the wall by the guard, Chang Rong quickly raised his hand to signal a halt.

"...?" The guard with the hairband tilted his head, but he did indeed carry out Chang Rong's order.

"Um... I don't know what happened in the past that made you feel this mix of possessiveness and self-destructive tendencies when you see me, big sister... However, this time my goal is a happy ending for everyone, including you, big sister, so—this kind of self-destructive behavior of rushing up to seek suicide is absolutely NG, strictly NG!"

Chang Rong made a big X with both hands, looking very serious, indicating that she did not accept its self-destructive behavior.

Even if I have to use force, everyone has to be redeemed. I won't even spare the guards of the wreckage. This is my own selfish desire!

"..." The guard paused for a moment, motionless as if it were thinking about something, or perhaps making some kind of decision.

After a while, the older sister finally took action again, as if she had made up her mind.

She extended a slender black tentacle and pointed it lightly at herself, then pulled out the grotesque decorative greatsword stuck in her chest and pointed it at Chang Rong.

Then—Pfft!

The longsword grazed Chang Rong's body and pierced the wall beside him, the force of which was so great that it even pierced through the infirmary and the corridor.

"..."

The guard's actions were somewhat puzzling; an outsider might have thought they were trying to kill the white-haired boy. But perhaps because of certain fragments hidden within her memories, Chang Rong fully understood what her older sister meant:

During that witch trial, she killed the white-haired boy.

The older sister's self-destructive tendencies stem not from despair about her appearance, but from guilt towards Chang Rong. This guilt makes her, despite having high hopes for Chang Rong, afraid to actually touch him. Instead, she wants to use 'contact' to make him kill her with his own hands, thus atoning for her past sins.

"I understand... but this is cheating."

"...?" The guard with the hairband was taken aback.

"I'm in a mode where I can't remember anything right now, you know? If you suddenly die before me in this situation, I won't feel any sense of redemption or satisfaction. Instead, I'll just wonder if I made a mistake in the game that caused my teammate to kill me... If you really want to atone for your sins against 'veteran Chang Rong' in this way, then at least wait until I regain my memories."

Chang Rong rubbed her eyebrows and sighed, saying that even if one wants to atone for their sins, one must first ask the person involved for their opinion. Otherwise, if one acts recklessly, it will only cause more trouble for others.

"—"

"So, sis, just stay the way you are, take good care of Nanoha, and don't do anything that will bother me, okay?"

"..."

After a moment of silence, the guard with the hairband nodded slightly. Although the expression on the mask remained unchanged, Chang Rong could vaguely see the smile of a girl with white hair just like herself.

"Okay, then it's a deal, Big Sister—by the way, Big Sister, do you have any information about the Great Witch?"

(Shakes head)

"Hmm...she really hid it well. Ah, don't be so disappointed! I didn't think I could find the Great Witch's traces so easily either."

Seeing the guard with the headband visibly become disappointed, Chang Rong quickly cheered him on. He noticed the bandages on the table next to him and suddenly remembered something. He immediately wrapped the bandages around his palm again and again, making sure it was wrapped tightly. Then, he desperately stood on tiptoe and raised his palm, carefully trying to touch the other person's hood.

"...!?"

"Yes, yes, as long as it's wrapped thickly, at least this small area of ​​contact shouldn't be a problem. Anyway, please cheer up, big sister, everything will be alright!"

Chang Rong gently rubbed the headband while guarding the head equipped with various controllers, all the while comforting and encouraging the other person.

"—Hiss hiss hiss!!"