The Most Powerful Witch in History

“Drink…?”
A sudden invitation to join them. The burly men with appearances reminiscent of pirates answered my question with beaming smiles.
“Yeah, my friend here has taken a liking to you, let’s have a drink together.”

“…”
…Listening to them talk, it seemed less like they wanted a simple drinking companion and more like a situation closer to hitting on a woman.
Being picked up by men reeking of alcohol and tobacco, I wonder what they would say if they knew my original appearance, not Arianna.

“Sorry. I don’t have time today.”
I firmly shook my head at the men’s proposal.
I had no intention whatsoever of drinking with these rough-looking men, not pretty ladies, for impure purposes rather than socializing.
It was also true that I was busy, as I needed to visit the guild office before sunset.

“I’ll get up first.”
The food wasn’t tasty anyway, so to quickly escape this awkwardly burdensome situation of being surrounded by three men, I slowly stood up.

“Don’t be like that, leaving so soon.”

“…”
But they didn’t seem to want to let me go nicely, as they put their hands on my shoulders and pressured me back into my seat, preventing me from standing.
I frowned deeply at the unpleasant sensation of the man’s sticky, thick hand touching my skin.

“…What are you doing?”
Despite politely refusing, I asked in a sharp voice to the men blocking my way.

“What do you mean what, we’re saying don’t go and play with us more.”
“We’re even buying the drinks, what’s the problem?”

“…”
They answered shamelessly with sly expressions. Moreover, I began to hear people around whispering about these men’s behavior.

-Look over there, it’s ‘Tyrant’ Victor.
-That guy drugged and raped another girl last time, and he’s doing it again.
-Shh, they’ll hear.

“…”
Overhearing others’ whispers, it seemed these men had been committing impure acts for some time. Certainly, seeing their bright red faces from being completely drunk, they didn’t seem to have the sense to exercise any restraint.

“We’re saying play with us? You won’t regret it either.”

“…”
One of the men grinned and started caressing my skin, moving the fingers of the hand gripping my shoulder. Gritting my teeth and enduring that filthy and unpleasant sensation, I gave him one last chance, as I always did.

“Get lost.”

…But the men seemed to take this as just a cute tantrum, and instead pushed their dirty faces towards me even more shamelessly.

“And if I don’t?”

“…”
And this time he placed his other hand on my thigh. The creepy feeling, as if a centipede was crawling, almost made me nauseous.

“Hah…”
…I let out a deep sigh at that filthy and unpleasant sensation. Even if I could tolerate other things considering they were drunk, I absolutely couldn’t let this pervert-like hand movement towards Arianna, towards me, slide.

“We have some drink we prepared, if you drink it you’ll feel really goo- Argh!!”

“…”
No longer holding back, I twisted the right wrist of the man caressing my shoulder and slowly stood up. The man slumped down in his seat, unable to bear the pain of his suddenly twisted wrist.

-Crack.

“…”
The feeling of the man’s wrist bones slowly crumbling, transmitted through my fingertips.
From the whispers I heard earlier, it seemed this wasn’t the first or second time they had done such things, so it didn’t seem bad to correct their habits once and for all.

“W-What are you doi- Argh!”

I twisted the man’s wrist even more as he tried to protest. At the same time, I checked the blue screen flickering above the man’s head.

Name: Victor

LV. 42

“Level 42…”

42 levels.
It might be considered strong in this ‘Village of Beginnings’ where newbies and weak NPCs swarm, but for me, it was absurd that he went around with titles like ‘Tyrant’ with just that level.

“W-What are you doing?! Let go of my friend right now!”
“You little brat, how dare you!”

“…”
As I gradually twisted Victor’s wrist more painfully, the other two men rushed at me frantically from both sides.
…Towards these men swinging heavy fists quickly, I activated one skill.

“Marionette.”

“Ugh!”
“My, my body?!”

‘Marionette’ is a skill that can freely control opponents below level 50 for a short time. I changed the trajectory of those fists flying towards me, making the men strike each other instead of me.

“Argh!”
“Aagh!”

“…”
They planted nice straight punches on each other’s faces.

“What are you doing!”
“N-No, my body moved on its own…”

They criticized each other with quite bewildered expressions.

“You little brat, what did you do?”
“Do you have a death wish?”

“…”
But that was only for a moment, they glared at me again as if to kill me and swung their heavy fists forcefully.

“…Marionette.”

I sighed deeply and activated the skill once more, and this time too, they threw punches at each other instead of me.

“Aaagh!”
“Gack!”

Two heavy fists striking each other’s faces. Then with a loud thud, they collapsed limply on the spot.

“…”
I looked at them who had fainted with an incredulous expression.
…To faint in one hit, just how hard did they swing their fists?

“W-Who the hell are you…”

“…”
Now only ‘Victor’, who dared to touch my body without knowing his place, was left. I applied even more pressure to his wrist that I was holding.

“Aaaaargh!”

Then with a sound like a branch snapping, his right wrist completely crumbled. Looking at his dangling hand with a terrified expression, he rolled on the ground from the spreading pain.
…Even if a witch’s physical abilities are weak, I can subdue the likes of you with one hand.

“M-My hand! Aaagh!”

“…”
Leaving Victor in panic behind, I gathered my witch’s hat and staff and left the inn. The other guests must have been watching us quite attentively, as the inn was enveloped in silence.

-Wow….
-She handled Victor’s group with one hand!
-Who is that lady?
-I’ve never seen her before… Is she an adventurer?

“…”
This time, other guests whispered about me, not Victor’s group. They must find it amazing that I easily subdued those who were called tyrants for their violence.
Still, this much should be enough to make them never think of harassing anyone arbitrarily again. I wanted to kill them outright, but since there was a high chance of triggering a ‘Black Quest’ for killing someone in town, I had to be satisfied with this much.

-Ding!

“…”
I opened the inn’s door and went outside.
The sun was about to set. Wanting to visit the guild office today if possible, I walked quickly towards the office located in the center of the village.

“…So NPCs can’t see others’ information after all.”
I muttered while walking.
Like the thieves in the forest and Victor just now, if they knew my level was approaching 800, they wouldn’t have dared to even think of attacking me, but seeing how they picked fights so arrogantly, it seemed that unlike me, NPCs couldn’t see others’ information or levels.

“This is a bit inconvenient…”
If other people could see my level, annoying things like this wouldn’t have happened.
Given that the world of ‘Deal and Attack’ is full of outlaws, countless similar incidents will likely occur in the future, and I was already sighing.

“…Let’s think about it later.”
I shook my head with a deflated expression. Appreciating the scenery of the harmonious streets, I continued walking towards the guild office.

“Guild office.”
…In this world of ‘Deal and Attack’, the guild office had exactly two roles. Issuing quests that could raise experience points, and forming parties to solve those quests together.
As it was in charge of issuing ‘quests’ central to playing ‘Deal and Attack’, there was at least one guild office located in every country and every village.

“Arrived.”
…After walking for about 10 minutes, I arrived at the guild office. A massive Colosseum-shaped building came into my view.

“Oh…”
A building much larger than I expected. It seemed about twice as big compared to what I had seen in computer graphics.

-Did you succeed in your quest today?
-Of course! I even leveled up!
-We’re short on party members… Should we post a notice?
-That sounds good!

“…”
As befitting a guild office, numerous adventurers were roaming the streets around here. Passing through the streets filled with the scent of adventure, I opened the door of the guild office and went inside.

“Hello! Welcome to the guild office!”

“…”
The receptionist lady greeted me brightly. She was smiling radiantly, making even onlookers feel good.
…Embracing these exciting situations in my heart, I walked towards the reception desk of the office.

“Hello! How may I help you!”
The receptionist lady asked me in a lively voice.
I immediately told her my purpose.

“Show me the highest level quests possible.”

To reach level 800, I needed about 1 million experience points. Rather than small quests, I needed to do the highest possible quests intensively to fill that amount at a somewhat faster pace.

Hearing my words, the receptionist nodded with a bright smile.

“Yes! Understood! But before that, could you show me your adventurer card?”

“…Adventurer card?”

“Yes! Your adventurer card!”

“…”

“It’s something you must show when receiving quests… Is there any problem?”

“…”

My brain froze at the existence of this ‘adventurer card’ that I had never heard of or seen before. I’m sure I received quests just fine without such a thing when playing ‘Deal and Attack’ on the computer…?

‘Ah.’

…After pondering for a moment, one possibility occurred to me.
Perhaps this adventurer card is for NPCs.
While players had the system automatically select and process quests suitable for their level, NPCs living directly in this world couldn’t use such conveniences.
Did they create this ‘card’ that also serves as identification to replace that?

“Um, perhaps, do you not have a card?”

“…!”

And, perhaps seeing that I was at a loss, the receptionist carefully spoke to me again. I nodded briefly to her question.

“I see, don’t worry! If you come this way, I’ll help you issue a card. It won’t take long!”

She said if I didn’t have a card, I could get one issued. The issuance process seemed quite simple, as she immediately took me to another desk in the office.

-Hey hey, look over there.
-She’s going to get a card issued. Must be a newbie.
-Heheh, cute kid. She’ll be busy gathering herbs.
-For a newbie, that equipment is quite impressive.

“…”
…Moreover, other adventurers seemed to mistake me for a newbie adventurer getting a card for the first time.

-Let’s go watch!
-I wonder what level she’ll be.
-Wanna form a party together if she’s over level 10?

“…”

Card issuance, which included level measurement, seemed to be a good spectacle in the office, as adventurers gradually gathered around me and the receptionist preparing for the card issuance.

“Well then, let’s start issuing your adventurer card.”

“…”

Although the gathering adventurers were a bit burdensome, I ignored them and slowly followed the receptionist’s guidance.

“First, the most important level measurement. Please place your hand on this orb!”

“…”

She said they would first perform the level measurement. As she instructed, I placed my palm on the crystal orb that was crackling with small sparks.

“…”

After a tingling sensation scratched my palm a few times, the sparkling crystal orb lost its original light and changed back to an ashen color.

“It’s done, you can take your hand off now.”

“…”

“Just a moment…”

Then the receptionist brought a paper to the orb. Numbers that seemed to be my level started to faintly appear on that paper.