The Most Powerful Witch in History

“Hmm…”
Walking through the Forest of Gragu, known as the mecca for newbies, I kept waving the hand holding my staff back and forth.

“…”
The clearly different feeling of my changed body.
Even just standing still, I was overflowing with energy, and above all, my whole body felt light as a feather.
Well, after investing 12 years in raising various stamina and basic physical skills, it would be stranger if my body felt heavy.

“The weather is nice.”
…I muttered while walking through the forest to get to the Village of Beginnings.
The cool breeze and the sound of chirping birds.
It was truly the white noise of nature that I hadn’t heard in a long time, having leveled up and run increasingly difficult dungeons.
Feeling like I’d become a newbie again,
The choice to walk to the village even if it took a bit more time seemed quite good.

“Hmm…”
While walking, I tried testing various abilities of Arianna.

“Summon Servant.”
I tried summoning the servant, the familiar I received at level 100. Not long after, a red baby dragon appeared in mid-air.

-Pyorrung!
As if recognizing its master, my servant, the baby dragon ‘Lily’, greeted me with quite joyful wing flaps.

“So it has developed its own consciousness, huh.”
I muttered while tickling Lily’s forehead. Originally in the game, servants only followed the player and automatically provided supportive combat or healing.
But now, Lily was expressing its own will and emotions, flying through the air as if by its own volition. Seeing this, it seemed very, very likely that other NPCs scattered around would also have their own distinct consciousness.

“…”
…And after several experiments, I learned that all skills are manifested only when I shout the skill name out loud.
It seemed quite good in that I didn’t need to recite complex incantations or open the status screen every time I used a skill, but there was a clear disadvantage in that I couldn’t do anything if I was gagged or in a situation where I couldn’t make a sound.

“I’ll need to find a way to compensate for that…”
From the perspective of a witch with the worst close combat ability compared to other jobs, being unable to use skills would be fatal, so it seemed I should look for a way to solve this, even if it took time.

-Kyurung!
“Huh?”
…As I was walking through the forest lost in thought, Lily suddenly bumped my shoulder with its head as if it had something to tell me.

“I know too.”
I chuckled and scratched under the chin of my seemingly tense servant.

“Hmm…”
As Lily had sensed, I too detected some movement ahead. Although it was still quite far, the witch’s detection ability was among the top of all jobs in ‘Deal and Attack’, so I could easily notice it.
Originally, it would have shown enemies lying in ambush as red dots on the mini-map, but now an inexplicable intuition tingled up from my fingertips.

“Four on the right, two on the left, six in total.”
Stopping for a moment, I roughly counted the number of enemies lying in ambush as if to attack me. Judging by the energy I felt, they seemed to be intelligent life forms rather than monsters.

“Stop hiding and come out.”
I called out coldly towards them. If I wanted to, I could have just burned them all right away, but since they could be innocent people, I decided to check their identity first.
After all, the black quest that triggers when you accidentally kill a villager instead of a monster – having to evade pursuit by the guards – was annoying no matter how high your level was.

“Heh, heh heh…”
“…”
And, as I expected, six people slowly emerged from the bushes on my left and right.

“You’ve got good senses, little girl.”
“…”
Those six men gradually surrounding me.
With their fierce looks and fully armed bodies, they certainly didn’t appear friendly.

“Usually, girls raised in noble families are quite insensitive, you know.”
“…”
One man approached me slowly with a rough wooden club slung over his shoulder. At the same time, I could see something flickering above his head.

LV. 7

“…”
Their identity was none other than thieves.
Of course, there wouldn’t be any armed groups roaming around in this forest, the main stage for newbies, other than bandits.

“Six level 7 thieves, huh…”
I looked them over with an expressionless face.
…When I killed the level 15 wolf earlier, I only gained 0.3 experience. The experience I’d get from killing these even lower-level guys probably wouldn’t amount to a rat’s dropping.
Dealing with these guys who wouldn’t be of much help would just be a waste of my MP and weapon durability.

Eventually, I passed by the man in front of me with a gruff voice.
“Get lost.”
Treating them as if they were less than ants on the ground, I completely ignored them.

However, perhaps finding my behavior absurd, the man who had blocked my path pointed his club at me again, stopping my movement once more.

“Now, now, you shouldn’t think you can pass for free, miss.”
“We collect a toll, you see.”
“…”
The thieves looked at me, giggling and using embarrassing words like ‘miss’. I thought that even if they had developed consciousness, a thief was still a thief after all.

“…”
Well, they’d given me a taste of newbie-era nostalgia of ‘being ambushed by thieves’, so I took out one gold coin from my robe pocket connected to the inventory window and threw it at his feet.

“That should be enough for a month’s meals.”
It would be a lot of money for them, but for me, who had experienced cash shopping and 12 years of grinding, it was just pocket change. Thinking I had paid an appropriate fee for the ‘toll’ they were demanding, I continued to walk.

“Hey now, who said you could move?”
“We haven’t even told you how much the toll is yet.”
“…”
Human greed knows no bounds, as the thieves blocked my path even more than before. The one who seemed to be their leader picked up the gold coin I had thrown on the ground and began to examine it closely.

“From that fancy outfit, to casually throwing away gold coins like trash, you must be from a noble family, right?”
“…”
It seemed they were mistaking me for a young lady from a noble family.

“But you know, miss, we already have plenty of money.”
The thief leader threw the gold coin I had given back into the bushes with a vicious smile. Then he pointed at me with his sharp dagger.

“The toll we want is you, miss.”
“…Me?”
I asked back, furrowing my brow at the thief leader’s words.

“You want me as the toll?”
“That’s right.”
“…”
Desiring me, Arianna, as the toll – I could immediately understand what lewd thoughts they were having. It was truly absurd how these mere mobs had become so arrogant just because they had gained consciousness.

“We’ll take you hostage, have some fun with you, then blackmail your parents for a large sum.”
“A noble young lady wandering alone in a forest like this, you must have been prepared from the start, right?”
“…”
The thieves gradually approached.
Their leader licked his lips along with his dagger, reaching out his sticky hand towards me.

“Hah…”
Looking at them, I let out a deep sigh.
This is why people shouldn’t be too greedy.
Or at least, they should find out some minimal information about who they’re dealing with before doing something like this…

“…Even MP is too precious to waste.”
I shook my head, then immediately struck the thief leader’s ribs with the staff I was holding.

“Argh!”
With a cracking sound, he flew several dozen meters and crashed into a tree. Though I had held back a bit, a mere level 7 had taken an attack from someone nearly 100 times his level, so it would probably not be easy for him to survive.

“Y-You bitch…!”
Seeing their leader fly away, they all rushed at me together, seemingly enraged. They charged at me vigorously, each brandishing their weapons.

“How dare you attack so cowardly,”
“Do you know who we are to resist like this!”
“My level is over 10, it’s too late to beg now!”
“You have quite nice protective gear, I’ll take it.”
“…”
They seemed to think that what happened to their leader just now was due to a surprise attack, or thanks to this staff, and so they charged confidently like this.

“Sigh…”
I shook my head again with a look of disdain, and this time too, instead of using a skill, I thrust out the staff I was holding forcefully.

“Gack!”
The staff pierced straight through the solar plexus of one charging thief, and red blood droplets spread around.

“Hup.”
Next, I swung my elbow and struck the cheekbone of a thief rushing in from the side.

“Aaaaargh!”
Just like their leader, he flew several dozen meters and tumbled on the ground. After twitching a few times with his caved-in face buried in the dirt, he finally stopped moving.

“…”
Then I pulled out the staff that had pierced through one thief’s chest, and that thief fell limply to the ground, soaking the surrounding grass thoroughly with his blood.

“W-What are you…”
“Monster…”
“…”
And only then did the thieves start to back away with terrified expressions. This must be the first time they’ve encountered someone who butchered them like this while they were thieving, so it’s understandable they’re surprised.
At least in this ‘Forest of Gragu’, they must have thought they were the Lü Bu and the king.

“What are you, a-are you an imperial knight or something?”
One thief asked me, trembling. To his question, I adjusted my witch’s hat and kindly answered.

“…Knight my ass.”
I wouldn’t choose such an unromantic job bound by rules. I pointed the blood-dripping end of my staff at them.

“I’m a witch.”
“A w-witch?”
“You’re saying there are still witches left?!”
As if it was an identity they never expected, they fell back on their behinds, startled. I hope they’ve now realized what kind of being they’ve messed with and tried to threaten.

“Yes, a witch. The witch of fire and flames.”
“A witch, what do you mean…”
“W-We’re sorry.”
“Please, spare our lives…”
Now the thieves started begging on their knees. Looking at the ugly sight of these burly men, I smirked.

“…Since it’s come to this, I’ll show you the best fireworks.”
The red orb at the tip of my raised staff gradually grew hotter. Tears welled up in the eyes of the thieves as they sensed their future, and the surroundings were enveloped in quiet and silence.

Eventually, I muttered in a quiet voice.
“…Flame Rain.”

…A massive pillar of fire rose from the middle of the Forest of Gragu.