NOVEL ONLINE FREE Chapter 7 Part 1
This is the provincial city of Lapis.
A city large enough, bustling with a fair number of people—and home to a witch.
One of the Seven Sages, a group of only seven in the entire world.
The eternal witch, Faust.
And her apprentice—
“Ah, it’s Meg! Hey, ugly! Barefaced shut-in!”
“Who the hell are you calling an ugly shut-in?! I’ll kill you, you little shits! You wanna get turned into mincemeat?!”
Thus, I—Meg Raspberry—am the apprentice witch.
Despite my title as an apprentice, my days are anything but idle. Every day is filled with magical training, studying, and running errands—no, embarking on great missions assigned by my master.
And yet, thanks to my natural beauty and exceptional charm, I find myself constantly surrounded by people whenever I step into the city.
Especially these little brats—enchanted, no doubt, by my beautiful soul.
I graciously take the time to entertain them.
“Meg, how old are you?”
“Huh? Seventeen.”
“How long have you been an apprentice witch?”
“Seventeen years.”
“Huh? I saw on TV that normal witches become independent after ten years.”
“Yeah, I saw that too!”
“Me too! Hah, eternal apprentice!”
“Shut it! You think you can get away with that? I’ll rip your heads off and serve them as appetizers!”
“Hahaha! She’s mad!”
…See? I’m graciously entertaining them.
“Haaah… these little brats are particularly mouthy today. Next time, I’m throwing them in a bath of manure.”
As I muttered ominously, casting a sidelong glance at the giggling children, something caught my attention.
One of the kids—a girl—had a peculiar mark on her neck.
A burn-like scar.
“Hey, you. Uh…”
“Mary!”
“Mary, huh? That mark on your neck—what happened?”
Mary’s neck bore a mark, clear as day, as if it had been branded with a searing iron.
A symbol. A crest. A brand.
That’s the kind of impression it gave me.
But when I asked, Mary only tilted her head in confusion.
“A scar?”
“Yeah, look, it’s like a burn. Right there.”
“Huh? There’s nothing there.”
“No way. Look, guys, you see it too, right?”
At my words, the other children gathered around Mary, peering at her neck.
But they only looked puzzled.
“There’s nothing there.”
“You’re acting weird, Meg.”
What…?
What’s going on?
The mark on Mary’s neck was striking—impossible to miss.
If they couldn’t see it…
That meant they were incapable of seeing it.
And then it clicked.
Not just them.
Ordinary people wouldn’t be able to see it at all.
There are things in this world invisible to those without magic.
The flow of mana, for instance.
Or… a curse.
“Meg’s talking nonsense again. She’s all, ‘It’s a burn! It’s a burn!’ over nothing.”
“She’s been overworked by Faust-sama and lost her mind.”
“Haha, corporate slave!”
“More like a literal slave than a corporate one.”
“Eternal apprentice, Faust’s indentured servant!”
“Who the hell do you think you’re talking to?! You wanna die, you little punks?!”
Even as I roared at them, my mind remained fixated on that brand.
A creeping unease settled in my chest.
I knew this feeling.
A feeling I’d had before, right before someone died.