How About Some Sweet Cookies?

“【The Witch’s Treasure Chest】?”

“Yeah. It’s the witches’ dwelling created by 【Tomb of the First Demon King: Couperin】—a witch’s labyrinth, you might call it. They say a tremendously powerful witch lurks in its depths, but if you conquer it, you can obtain an item known as the 【Witch’s Jewel】. We’ll use that to defeat the Demon King.”

Commander Legato was explaining things in the lecture hall where everyone had gathered. The combat group, who had been trained to a decent level over the past few days, had adapted astonishingly quickly and were saying things like they were itching for a fight.

“We’re not going to challenge the Demon King directly?”

Shirataka Gatari asked.

“The Demon King’s level is unknown. No—the two Demon Kings that appeared in this world in the past were far beyond something as simple as level 100. Judging from precedent, defeating one requires a ‘Witch’s Jewel.’ In fact, 【Second Demon King: Pavane for a Dead Princess】 was defeated using a Witch’s Jewel.”

(Those names are getting awfully classical…)

“But if it was already used, shouldn’t it still be around? Why do we have to go get another one?”

“Once a Hero uses a Witch’s Jewel against a Demon King, it returns to the place it originally came from. We don’t understand the mechanism, but that means we must enter the Witch’s Treasure Chest once again.”

This is literally a video game… The students of Class 1-5 desperately swallowed that retort.

“Of course, we won’t be attempting it immediately. To reach the witch, you have to clear all one hundred floors of the labyrinth. We have already opened a path as far as the sixtieth floor, but that is our limit. I want you to steadily raise your levels before attempting it.”

“And naturally, a Hero’s the one who gets to use it, right?”

Koya asked. He seemed oddly excited.

“Of course. In fact, only a Hero can use it. We’ll be putting even more effort into your training from now on, so prepare yourselves.”

“Heh, bring it on. Witch or whatever, I’ll fucking kill her.”

Koya said that while cockily twirling a knife around his fingers. Cringeworthy.

(Three weeks had passed since we were transported to another world. Recently, I’ve started having a little problem. Or rather, it was something that had never happened before.)

“Kushibiki-chan, you’re in the way.”

“Huh? Oh, yeah. Sorry?”

“Listen, you can’t do anything anyway, so could you stop talking to us like we’re equals?”

“…Huh?”

The girl sitting in front of her said it with obvious irritation. The girls around her looked the same way.

Why? No one had ever spoken to her like that before. If anything, they had always been friendly enough to speak casually with her…?

“Y-Yeah. I’m sorry…”

(Something feels wrong. Ever since that first church, I’ve felt that something was off. The thing with my body must have been pointing to me being the ‘Demon King,’ but I still have no idea what was wrong with the atmosphere.)

The palace gardens were enormous. Konoha had a terrible sense of direction, so it always felt like she might get lost at any moment.

“…Maybe I should talk to Karen-chan.”

Konoha decided there should be no harm in asking someone for advice if all she did was mention that something seemed strange.

Lately, she couldn’t shake the feeling that everyone’s eyes contained a hint of contempt whenever they looked at her. It was true that she was useless. But they had never been the kind of people who would despise her over something like that.

Thud.

“Ah, sorry, Kagami-kun!”

She had bumped into a boy from her class. She hurriedly apologized, but what he said next shocked her.

“Ow!! Watch where you’re going, you useless piece of shit!!”

“Huh? Oh, yeah, sorry…”

“Seriously, if you can’t do anything, then at least stay out of everyone’s way, you dumbass.”

Kagami spat out the words before walking away. Left behind, Konoha felt as though a thorn had pierced her heart, and her entire body suddenly grew heavy.

(Does everyone… hate me? But Kagami-kun is quiet… He’s not someone who normally says things like that.)

“Karen-chan and the others… they’re okay, right?”

Her anxiety continued to grow. Had they somehow discovered that she was the Demon King? No, if that were the case, the kingdom would surely have acted immediately. Then why?

“I want to see them, but… they’re training right now.”

Kagami-kun had probably been on his way to training too. Maybe everyone was simply on edge after being transported to another world. Yeah, that had to be it. That was all it was… She repeated it to herself again and again.

Konoha’s days were now centered mainly around working in the kitchen.

She cooked while learning from her master. He was surprisingly good at teaching, and although Konoha was not a chef, she had somehow acquired a cooking skill before she knew it. The conditions for gaining skills varied greatly, but apparently Konoha was the type who learned skills easily. Even her master was amazed by how quickly she acquired them.

Thirty-eight days after being transported to another world, Konoha had learned to prepare not only dishes from her original world, but local cuisine as well.

“You were a little chick who couldn’t even crack an egg when you started… and now look how far you’ve come… Damn it.”

“Master! You’re crying!”

“Idiot! This is… salt water, damn it! Slurp, slurp… Ahh, this is damn good… Looks like you’re worth training after all. I’m gonna keep drilling you hard from now on, Konoha!”

“O-Osu!!”

She had served her master ramen made using local ingredients, and it had earned extremely high praise. Perhaps that was the result of Konoha practically living in the kitchen.

The reason was that everyone else trained in the mornings and afternoons and attended classroom lessons at night, so Konoha surprisingly had very few chances to talk with them. Konoha attended the classroom lessons too, but lately everyone had been avoiding her. Or rather, they hated her. Inevitably, the only people she spoke to anymore were her master and the other cooks.

Once, she had gone into Karen’s room at night. Karen had been maintaining her bow, her weapon, but Konoha had spoken to her anyway. The response Karen gave her was unbelievable.

“…Konoha-chan, I’m trying to concentrate right now, so could you leave?”

Maybe she was simply in a bad mood? Thinking that, Konoha visited Karen’s room again the following night. Knock, knock. The moment Karen emerged, Konoha’s heart brightened all at once, only for her to be shocked again the very next instant.

“…What? I’m maintaining my bow right now. I told you yesterday that you were distracting me and that you should leave, didn’t I?”

After saying that, Karen forcefully slammed the door shut. Left alone, Konoha… couldn’t say anything. She simply stood there for a while, and that night, she crawled into bed and cried until morning.

The following day, she went to Kisaki’s room hoping to let her taste how much her cooking had improved, but Kisaki would not even let her inside. Chidori, Reiji, and Shirataka Gatari were the same. Whenever Konoha tried to speak to them, they made no effort to hide their disgust.

Some people even knocked the food she offered them onto the floor. Konoha gathered it up while crying. Why? Everyone had been so kind. They had been her friends. They had all gotten along so well…

“…Why?”

She had chosen Sasano-sensei as someone she could confide in, but lately even Sasano-sensei’s reactions while listening to her had become increasingly cold. Konoha became frightened as she watched the teacher’s gaze gradually fill with disgust, and three days ago, she had stopped visiting her room altogether.

“No… I don’t want this. I don’t want to be alone. I’m scared. Why is everyone avoiding me? Why does everyone hate me? Why, why, why?”

Once again, Konoha cried alone in her dark room.

Morning sunlight streamed into the room. Apparently, little birds were chirping beside the window. Normally, a day like that would make her think, Time to get up and do some morning exercises! But Konoha simply felt depressed.

(Morning came again… Today makes forty-five days since we were transported here. Is everyone going to clear 【Mount Godard】 again today?)

Mount Godard was one of the Witch’s Treasure Chests. It was a tall mountain located east of the royal capital, Paris Palace, and apparently the Witch’s Jewel lay deep within one of its caves. Ever since that lecture, everyone had been training there. Since the journey there and back was short, they apparently stayed inside until fairly late at night.

Recently, Konoha had seen everyone returning together, laughing and looking like they were having fun. Reiji and Karen in particular had become incredibly close compared to before, and even Funagata Koya, who had caused so much trouble at first, had somehow become part of the group before she realized it. At least, that was what it looked like. Sasano-sensei welcomed them back with a smile.

Konoha was the only one who was not part of that circle.

“…I’ll cook again today, laze around in the garden, and then classroom lessons… No, I’ll skip those.”

Every day was the same. Sometimes she even realized that she had forgotten to use her Fabrication skill. But it hardly mattered. She did not see anyone anyway. No one would see her.

Yet whenever she tried to close her eyes, she remembered the countless insults people had hurled at her recently.

“You useless bitch. Don’t show your face around me.”

“Who are you? Oh, it’s that fake cutesy bitch. Cut that shit out, it’s fucking gross.”

“I’ve thought you were annoying for ages. Hey, are you even listening?”

“Looking at you makes me want to kill you, so stop coming anywhere near me.”

“At least you’ve got a nice body, huh?”

“I’ll let you carry our luggage if you want! Kyahahahahaha!!”

(No. I’m going back to sleep. I want to forget everything.)

Just as she decided to indulge in sleeping in, there came a knock, knock at the door to Konoha’s room. Had someone come to harass her again? With that thought in mind, she timidly called out.

“…Who is it?”

“Me. I’m coming in.”

The person who opened the door and stepped inside was—

“Hiiragi…-chan?”

“You look like hell. Food poisoning? You seem like the type who’d get it from eating too much crab. Hilarious.”

It was Mamuro Hiiragi, the blond lone-wolf girl. Konoha felt something was odd about how lethargically she was speaking.

“…Hiiragi-chan, did you always talk like that?”

“I don’t talk to you much, so you wouldn’t know. Ah, but we did run into each other at the library the other day. I was in a bad mood then too. Anyway, catch!”

“W-Whoa!”

What Hiiragi tossed over was a local sweet—a bag of bite-sized cookies.

“Eat some. You look seriously worn out, you know? Such a waste of a pretty face. Hilarious.”

Looking closely, the cookies were unevenly shaped. They were probably…

“Homemade…?”

“I like baking sweets. Anyway, eat something sweet and cheer up, okay?”

“…Okay.”

Konoha took a cookie from the bag and was about to put it into her mouth when—

“Ah, stop.”

“Huh?”

“If we’re gonna eat them, let’s do it outside.”

“Huh? But going outside…”

“There’s a spot in the back garden where security’s pretty thin. Did you know that? Figures for an early-modern-style place—the security’s laughably full of holes.”

“Um, well…”

Hiiragi grabbed the bewildered Konoha by the hand.

“You’re getting depressed because you’re shutting yourself inside with that gloomy look on your face. Come on, we’re going.”

“Wha!? W-Wait a second!”

“Time for some other-world shopping. Let’s go.”

“Shopping!?”

Hiiragi, still forcefully dragging her along, glanced back and smiled.

“I came here to invite you shopping. So, come on. Let’s go.”