Cleansing, A Contract, And The Witch’s Daughter Who Slapped Me

The first thing I did after she agreed to a contract stating that I wouldn’t harm her was give her a thorough washing.

Mistaking my outstretched hand as a sign that I was going to take her hair, she offered me her head, and I washed the grime away with countless tiny droplets created through water Magic—in other words, a shower.

Naturally, I combined it with heat-producing Magic as well, so the droplets came out as pleasantly warm water.

Caught off guard by what I was doing, she instinctively tried to run away, but of course I wasn’t going to let her escape.

Even if I used sterilization Magic, the clothes she had been wearing were far too unsanitary, so they were going straight into the trash.

I’d take out some spare clothes from storage later.

They were men’s clothes, but they had to be ten thousand times better than the rags she was wearing now.

As for whether all this counted as harming her, the truth was that it fell into a rather gray area, but I still hadn’t received any of her hair, meaning the contract hadn’t actually been established yet, so I was safe.

It would serve as a good lesson that one should never let one’s guard down around a devil.

Besides, if I was going to receive some hair anyway, I’d much rather it be clean.

Once the mud and grime had been washed away, the painful-looking bruises covering various parts of her body stood out even more clearly, so I erased those one by one with healing Magic.

Still, she was so scrawny… No, rather, she was terribly thin.

Had she not been eating properly?

I’d have to do something about that later too.

I should still have enough food in storage to get us through the immediate future.

By the time I’d thoroughly washed every part of her and moved on to drying her with a combination of wind and heat Magic, she had become completely docile, perhaps because she’d realized I meant her no harm—or maybe she’d simply given up resisting.

So while I was at it, I plucked a few strands from her now-clean, pale golden hair and absorbed them.

With that, the contract was established, and I could now remain in this world.

“All right, you’re clean now, so next, could you put these on? They’re my spare clothes, so they’re men’s clothes and a little big on you, but they’ve been properly washed.”

She looked back and forth between the clothes I’d taken from storage and my face, wearing a bewildered expression.

Wait. Don’t tell me the reason she stopped resisting wasn’t because she realized I meant no harm…

“Were you bracing yourself for me to do that sort of thing once I finished washing you? Sorry, I scared you. Don’t worry. I’m a devil, so unless my summoner asks for it, I wouldn’t do anyth—wait, do you want me to?”

Her answer to my question was a full-force slap after winding her arm all the way back.

Well, at least she seemed to have gotten some of her energy back.

Once she was clean, I gave her a simple meal from my storage while asking why she had summoned me.

Her name was Isha. She was a commoner and had no family name.

Apparently, Isha had lived with her mother in this forest hut, making a living by gathering medicinal herbs and preparing medicines to sell in the nearby village.

According to her, Isha’s mother had also occasionally acted as something of a doctor.

In other words, yes, she was what one might call a forest witch.

But about a week ago, their lives changed completely when a new priest was dispatched from the church to the nearby village.

Unlike the previous priest, who had been mild-mannered and understanding of local beliefs, the new priest refused to recognize the old forms of worship, persecuted heresy, and furthermore branded Isha’s mother a witch who led people astray, arresting her when she came to the village.

At first, Isha’s mother had denied the accusation, but after they began assaulting not only her but Isha as well, she apparently confessed to the charges on the condition that Isha be released.

At noon tomorrow, Isha’s mother was going to be executed in the village square—burned at the stake.

“If you’re a devil, you can save Mother, can’t you? Please, save her. I’ll give you anything I can offer!”

After Isha finished her story with those words, I lightly smacked the top of her head with just enough force to avoid having it judged as harm and violating our contract.

This girl was seriously reckless.

Summoning a devil was bad enough, but even if she’d failed to summon one, I had a strong feeling she would have done something outrageously desperate and ended up being executed as a criminal herself.

“You shouldn’t ever tell a devil you’ll give them anything. If someone took your soul, you wouldn’t even be able to reincarnate anymore. And then what would have been the point of your mother helping you escape?”

After becoming this involved, I obviously had no intention of abandoning her now.

Even so, I couldn’t simply overlook her careless and reckless words and actions.

After all, even if it had only been by sheer luck, she had successfully summoned a devil, so if Isha acted carelessly again, there was a chance she could cause an enormous disaster.

And so, I spent a little while thinking.

What would be the best course of action in this situation?

“All right. I’ll save your mother from tomorrow’s execution, and I’ll make sure the two of you can live safely for a while afterward. But naturally, I’ll be taking payment.”

Having organized my thoughts, I looked directly into Isha’s eyes.

Joy spread across her face, and when she opened her mouth to say something, I pressed a finger against her lips and stopped her.

“My payment is that you become more cautious. You’ll learn sorcery from me and become a genuine sorcerer. Then, once you’ve grown older, your hair has grown long, and you’ve matured as a sorcerer as well, you’ll cut that hair and give it to me.”

Isha tilted her head and thought about my words for a moment, but before long, her expression turned serious, and she gave one firm nod.

I’d only just arrived, so I couldn’t say with certainty, but this was probably a world where mysticism and sorcery were gradually declining.

Perhaps it was even a world somewhat similar to the Earth I had once lived on.

I vaguely remembered hearing about religions persecuting heretics and followers of other faiths.

And most importantly, the real problem was that Isha’s mother was probably not merely a witch in name, but an actual witch.

After all, if instructions for summoning a devil had been preserved in their home, what other explanation could there possibly be?

The fact that she’d been captured so easily suggested she didn’t possess much power, but precisely because of that, there was probably nowhere in this world—or at least nowhere within the sphere of influence of that religion—where Isha and her mother could live safely.

In that case, they might as well accept the situation and acquire enough power to defend themselves.

Whether they chose to hide away far from human settlements or set out for some distant place, as long as they understood how to use it properly, there was no such thing as having too much strength or knowledge.