Chapter 54: It’s Time to Sleep

Did that mean she could actually taste spiciness?

“Feiye, do you know anything else that could give me a sensation like this?”

“Huh? Th-this… Feiye doesn’t know. Are there other foods that can do that too?”

“Hehe, of course there are. Come with me.”

Peleti threw her own shaved ice into the trash, held Feiye’s shaved ice in one hand, grabbed Feiye with the other, and ran straight toward a barbecue stall she had set her sights on.

Feiye didn’t understand Peleti’s behavior, but since it was something her sister wanted to do, she would support it with all her heart.

Peleti brought Feiye to a barbecue stall. Meat and vegetables were laid out on the grill, and the vendor was bare-chested, wiping away sweat.

“Two young ladies, what would you like?”

“Two grilled fish. Extra spicy—very, very spicy.”

“Alright! Don’t complain later if it’s too spicy to eat.”

“Don’t worry, we can finish it.”

“Good then!” The vendor took out two cleaned fish and placed them on the grill.

“Boss, is your fish fresh?” Peleti asked.

“What kind of question is that? We’re a small business, but we run it honestly. All the fish here were caught from that river this morning.” The vendor kept working as he jerked his head toward the nearby river.

“You catch that many fish in one day?”

“Heh, you don’t know, do you? This Doso River is one of the most famous places in Falisa. Looking at it here, it just seems like an ordinary river, but it’s actually very long. It flows down from the northern mountains all the way here, through the town, and deep into the forests. There are all kinds of fish—plenty of them. You can catch a lot every day.”

“So long?” Peleti looked toward the river the vendor pointed at. It really didn’t look special, just an ordinary river. It was hard to imagine it being as impressive as he said.

“Don’t doubt it. I’ve lived here for years and fish here every year. Not a fortune, but enough to keep this small business running.”

Grilling the fish took some time, so Peleti and Feiye sat down on nearby wooden chairs.

This time, it was Feiye who didn’t understand.

“Sis, what does ‘extra spicy’ mean?”

“You’ll find out in a bit.”

“Oh.” Feiye nodded vaguely.

The vendor skewered the grilled fish, sprinkled a thick layer of chili powder over them, and handed them to Peleti.

“Here you go, your grilled fish.”

“Thanks, that was hard work.”

“Hard work my ass,” the vendor laughed as he took the money, wiped the sweat off his face with a towel, draped it over his shoulder, and kept working.

When the vendor had pointed out the Doso River earlier, Peleti had noticed a bridge nearby. After thinking about it, she decided it would be better to eat there.

Falisa still felt uncomfortable to Peleti. Even at night, the air was filled with lingering heat.

Standing on the bridge, she leaned against the railing and quietly felt the cool breeze brushing past her ears.

She looked at the bright red grilled fish in her hand, hesitated for a moment, then finally took a small bite.

As soon as it entered her mouth, she felt a familiar flavor—spicy.

Her tongue burned painfully, but it was indeed the taste she remembered, with no hint of fishiness.

Seems witches have their own advantages too.

Enjoying the breeze while holding a skewer of grilled fish, Peleti suddenly felt as though she hadn’t become a witch at all—like she was just an ordinary person, with no one disturbing her, and without so many dangerous moments.

That actually felt… pretty good.

“Sis, is it tasty?” Feiye asked.

Peleti didn’t answer right away. She chewed slowly, savoring the grilled fish—or rather, the chili that carried it.

“It’s good.” The taste of chili was far inferior to Feiye’s blood, but this was the first normal food she had eaten since becoming a witch.

Seeing how happily Peleti was eating, Feiye looked at her own grilled fish and took a big bite.

Since her sister said it was good, then it must be good.

“Mm…”

Feiye chewed a few times and swallowed, fish bones and all.

Only then did she notice Peleti staring straight at her.

“Sis? What are you looking at?”

“Uh… don’t you feel spicy? It’s a kind of pain, you know.” Peleti had added extra chili on purpose, thinking that with Feiye’s childlike constitution she wouldn’t be able to handle it, so she could watch her make a fool of herself.

But the result seemed… different from what she had imagined.

“Spicy? So that feeling is called spicy. Mm, Sis probably doesn’t know, but Feiye lost her sense of pain a long time ago, so Feiye doesn’t feel ‘spicy’ at all.”

“…Sorry.”

“It’s okay, Feiye’s already used to it.”

“Anyway, Sis, if you like it, you can eat mine too.”

“Um… better not.”

“Why?”

Peleti made a pained face, stuck out her tongue, and panted heavily. “Too spicy. My tongue can’t take it anymore.”

———

Falisa Parish, clergy dormitory.

Dunn held his head and struggled to sit up in bed.

“Tss, it hurts so much… feels like I was kicked by a horse… what happened to me?”

He muttered in confusion, but in his own room, there was obviously no one who could answer him.

Once his mind cleared a little, Dunn got out of bed and slowly looked around his room. Through the window, it was pitch black outside.

“The dormitory? When did I come back? And it’s already dark… was I just too tired lately?” Dunn thought for a while and felt that was very likely.

“Mr. Dunn, are you awake?”

A nun pushed open the door to his room, hands clasped at her chest in silent prayer.

“Yes, I’m awake. I feel like my body’s falling apart.” The nun was the dormitory supervisor, someone Dunn knew well and got along with.

“By the way, what exactly happened to me during the day? I can’t remember anything…”

The nun slowly walked closer to Dunn.

“You collapsed from overwork in the storeroom. It was the candidate saintess, Miss Josuna, who discovered you in time and assigned two nuns to bring you back.”

“I see.” Dunn scratched his head.

“Then I must still have work unfinished. I should go back quickly.”

“No need. It’s already so late. Have a good sleep and go tomorrow.”

“That won’t do. If you do a job, you should love it. You can’t slack off…”

Dunn tidied his clothes. When he turned to look at the nun, he found that the usually kind-faced woman now wore a strangely terrifying gentle smile.

In the next moment, Dunn felt a chill in his chest, and his body gradually grew cold and numb.

“Wh… you?!!”

“I said, it’s already late. Time to sleep.”