Chapter 2: Friend

“I have friends in the demon realm?”

Wow, I had absolutely no memory of that.

What was I supposed to do now?

“She said that if you told Master her name was Karin, you would understand.”

No, I didn’t understand at all.

I had no recollection of that name whatsoever.

Should I let this Karin person in?

After a moment of silence, I decided to at least let her come in first.

If our relationship was shallow, she might not notice anything was off.

I stood up and walked to the magic circle, then headed toward the entrance following my memory.

“Hey, long time no see!”

There weren’t just one, but two humans waiting outside the tower—a man and a woman.

The one who spoke was a beautiful young girl, around eighteen or nineteen, and beside her stood a boy who looked about sixteen.

I noticed the boy’s clothes were ragged and torn.

He seemed to have suffered many injuries before, though they had all been healed now.

I could tell that both of them were alive, but having human friends in the demon realm of all places… how strange.

“It’s been nearly two hundred years, hasn’t it?

Since you became a lich and moved to the demon realm, we haven’t seen each other.”

“Ah, yeah… it has been a long time, Karin.”

Regardless, I’d go along with it.

It seemed highly unlikely that she was here to trick me while I had lost my memories; she was most likely a friend from before I became a lich two centuries ago.

“Two hundred years?

Master is that old?

I thought—”

“Repulse!”

Bam.

Before the boy could finish, Karin whipped out a small wand from somewhere and fired a spell that sent him flying into a nearby rock, shattering the massive stone into several pieces.

Good heavens, that looked painful.

“Remember, I am forever a seventeen-year-old beautiful girl, got it?”

“Ye-yes, Master.”

“Anyway, let’s head inside first.”

Seeing the maid approach, I quickly led them into the tower.

After we reached the parlor, I ordered the maid to prepare some refreshments.

Though she hesitated for a moment, she obeyed and withdrew.

No sooner had she left than Karin spoke up with a slightly serious tone.

“Actually, I’m rather curious—what’s the deal with that female vampire?

Is she a contracted servant?”

“Uh, yeah, that’s right.”

“I see…” Karin looked thoughtful.

What was so strange about that?

“Anyway, never mind that.

It’s been ages since we last met—aren’t you going to use your real body?”

Huh?

Real body?

I didn’t even know where my phylactery was.

“Well, switching bodies is inconvenient… right?”

I said hesitantly.

“Hehe.”

Karin gave me a sly grin.

“Is that so?”

Had she seen through me?

No, probably not yet, but continuing this line of conversation was too dangerous for me.

“So, who’s this guy, anyway?”

I quickly changed the subject, hoping she wouldn’t see through me.

“He’s my student for now, Frey Horn.

Actually, I came here because of him.”

“I’m really sorry, Master.

It’s all my fault for falling for a trap and getting lured here, forcing you to come to the demon realm to rescue me.

And now I’ve—”

“Alright, alright, just stop talking and rest for now.

I’ve healed your wounds, but your stamina won’t recover that fast.”

“Yes, Master.”

If he was injured, why did she just blast him away just now?

It seemed Karin was very touchy about her age.

“You’re not thinking something rude, are you?”

“No, absolutely not.”

I shook my head quickly.

That was incredible—was that mind-reading?

“Good.”

Karin smiled.

“But you know… I really think you should go back to your real body to talk to me.

It feels strange talking to a face I don’t recognize.”

Oh, here we go again.

I didn’t know where my phylactery was.

“No, I can’t.

Recently, for certain reasons, I—”

Before I could come up with an excuse, Karin stood up and aimed her wand at me.

“Don’t worry, if you don’t want to change back, I can help you.

Unrivaled power of lightning—”

Karin began her incantation.

A mage who had lived over two hundred years in this world, chanting a spell for an extended time—how powerful could that be?

Besides, I’d lost most of my magic; there was no way I could resist.

“Hey, wait—”

“…Annihilate my enemy.”

Karin finished the spell in no time.

Before I could stop her, darkness swallowed my vision and I lost consciousness.

“Ugh… getting electrocuted really hurts.”

When I woke up, I still remembered the pain from earlier.

It took me a moment to get up.

“This is…”

I looked around.

It seemed like a normal room, and I was lying on a bed.

That was fast—had my puppet body been destroyed?

“But… I feel like I’m full of power now.”

The difference after returning to my real body was enormous.

I even had the illusion that I was invincible.

With just a thought, I floated off the bed.

This feeling… it was incredible!

But when I instinctively raised my hand, my excitement was instantly doused.

Pale, smooth skin so fine that pores and hair were barely visible, slender and delicate little hands.

This… I had a bad feeling!

“Hey, found you.”

Karin appeared abruptly in the room, clutching Frey’s hand.

“As expected, you’re much cuter like this.

Seeing you in that other form was really awkward for me.”

“Forget that—mirror, I need a mirror!”

“Huh, a mirror?

Fine.

You’ve become so strange lately.”

Karin blinked in confusion, but she conjured a mirror before me with her wand anyway.

The reflection in the mirror showed a face that looked pitifully young.

Cute features, beautiful sapphire-blue eyes, a height of about 1.4 meters, and long, straight black hair reaching down to her waist.

The oversized robe she wore only accentuated how tiny and adorable this body was.

At first glance, I, as a professional connoisseur of the art of loli appreciation, had no hesitation in giving the highest possible evaluation to this body that now belonged to me.

This was simply the ultimate masterpiece of human form!

Wait, no, stop, stop.

This—this was my body?

I’d had a premonition, but knowing the truth still left me stunned… I mean, yes, I was a lolicon, but I never wanted to become a cute loli myself!

“Hey, hey, have you looked long enough?”

Karin waved her hand in front of my face.

“Y-yeah, enough.”

I lowered my head in shame.

“…You’ve really turned into this, huh?

Your face is bright red!”

Karin stroked her chin.

“Anyway, I’m glad to see you’re still as adorable as ever!”

“Ugh…” I couldn’t even speak.

Wait, blushing?

Did that mean my emotions had returned now that I was back in my real body?

Damn it, having a puppet body was better after all—I didn’t want these feelings!

“I—I don’t have any spare bodies left.

What am I supposed to do now?”

“You don’t have a spare body?

Well, I did destroy your puppet, so I’ll take full responsibility.”

“Don’t phrase it like that!

Damn it!”

I was still a bit angry.

Even if I’d had a premonition, could you at least let me dream for a while?

I’d lost my means!

Watching Karin fiddle with a magic circle on the floor, I had no choice but to sit quietly and wait.

“I feel like Miss Lich’s magical power has increased quite a bit.

Since that’s the case, why not stay in your original form all the time?”

Frey suddenly voiced his question.

“Liches generally pursue endless knowledge more than witches like me do, so they spend years doing all sorts of dangerous alchemical experiments.

Flesh is weak—if an experiment goes wrong, that’s not good, right?

So of course you need a puppet body to handle things safely.”

“I see…” Frey looked thoughtful.

“But I remember reading in a book about liches that they store their ashes in a phylactery and keep it—”

“Repulse!”

Bam.

“Shut up!

I worked so hard back then to convince little Rosa not to give up her body.”

So my name was Rosa?

And I wasn’t a skeleton in the first place because of her?

But now, I couldn’t bear to turn this cute body into ashes either.

“Hey, don’t do anything rash!”

Karin dropped what she was doing and ran over to hug me tightly.

“Okay, okay, I promise.

Just give me a new body first.”

Her grip was so strong I couldn’t pry her hands off.

“Promise me.”

“Yes, I won’t do what you’re thinking.

Trust me.”

Only after hearing my assurance did Karin go back to her preparations.

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