Until The Witch Dies

Section 5: The Magic Mechanism

Translated by AmaLynne

TN: The doctor/father’s name is kinda confusing. Previous chapter it’s『ヘンディさん』;『Hendy-san』. In this chapter sometimes it’s『ヘンディさん』;『Hendy-san』, and『アンディさん』;『Andy-san』. Maybe it’s an author typo. I’ll use『Hendy-san』for the doctor/father’s name.

Hendy-san takes me to the kitchen.

There are still three toothbrushes in the bathroom.

Mugs and plates in the kitchen.

Traces of Anna-chan’s mother’s life could be seen here and there.

I see.

Time still remains frozen in this house.

「I just can’t seem to get around to cleaning it up.」

Hendy-san laughs in troubled amusement as he makes a pot of tea.

His appearance is somewhat powerless.

「Is there anything I can do to help?」

「You’re our guest, so you can sit down.」

「Then let me do something for you. Witches are a culture of helping people. Now, if you could just give me some tea cakes…」

「Haha, well, since you’re here, maybe I’ll ask you to mix up a potion for me.」

「Point taken.」

I picked up the medicinal herbs on the shelf, put them in a mortar and mixed them together.

In the past, when it came to medicines, it was common for witches to mix and make them.

But in today’s society, it is normal to purchase medicines from pharmaceutical suppliers.

No one, not even witches nowadays, ingests prepared herbs and medicinal plants.

However, the effectiveness of both ingested and applied medicines increases if they are mixed with magic potions.

In this way, both magic and witches have changed over time.

After mixing the three herbs with the herbs, I put my hand over them.

As I let the magic flow into the palm of my hand, I was gently enveloped in a faint light.

「……Show me your power under my command.」

Then the herbs began to smoke quietly and smolder.

It is causing a magical reaction.

In this way, the healing power is increased.

「Wow, amazing!」

Anna-chan came back before I knew it and her eyes lit up when she saw my handiwork.

「Is this magic?」

「Yes, it’s amazing, isn’t it?」

「Uh-huh. Can you make anything?」

「That’s a bit of a stretch. It takes a lot of knowledge to do magic.」

When people think of magic, there is a tendency to think of it as a miraculous technique that can make anything happen without limit.

But it is not.

There are different fields of magic, and without knowledge of phenomena and substances, it is impossible to produce the desired effect.

If you want to start a fire, you generate frictional heat in the matter.

If you want to produce water, you must perform elemental decomposition and binding.

Of course, the method differs depending on whether you are exploding or spreading fire.

All mages have their own strengths and weaknesses.

I study pharmacology and botany, and some mages study science and chemistry.

Without knowledge, magic is useless.

Among them, the『Time Magic』used by master is on a different level.

Time theory itself is considered a field of physics and philosophy, and time magic requires all the knowledge that complements them.

Since master can also use clairvoyance, it can be inferred that she is reading time by further influencing the time magic she has constructed through knowledge into her physical body through human anatomy and medicine. ‡

It’s impossible for me!

「Speaking of which, where’s your album?」

「Oh, yes. I brought it.」

Anna-chan huffed and put the album in her hand on the desk.

It was a very thick album, and I could see that it contained many photos.

In the beginning, it was just Hendy-san and his wife.

Anna-chan joined them in the middle of the album, and the three of them took pictures together.

Each of them was photographed.

The history of a family is depicted in this album.

「There are so many travel photos……」

「My wife and I love to travel. Before Anna was born, we used to travel the world together.」

「Rich people.」

「You’ve been all over the world, haven’t you, with Master Faust?」

「That was work. It’s for money.」

We have been to Eastern Europe, Scandinavia, South America, Europe, America, and Asia. This is truly world travel.

As I was looking at the photos, Hendy-san, beside me, said, 「This is nostalgic.」

「Look at this picture. This is from my trip to the Orient. It’s an island country.」

「Many of the buildings are decorated in Japanese style.」

「There’s still a lot of the old culture there. Come to think of it, I had a strange experience here.」

「Mysterious experience?」

I titled my head and Hendy-san nodded.

「I went to see the temple by the mountain, and it was snowing.」

「Snow?」

「Yeah, it was strange, even though it was warm. It was pink snow. It was beautiful.」

「Anna didn’t know that!. Mama and Papa not fair!”

「We were talking about going back one day and showing Anna.」

So Anna-chan’s mother fell ill there.

The air is somewhat grim.

I don’t like it.

I scratched my head and looked at the medicinal herbs on the shelf.

Ah, I see.

「Anna-chan, is the place where your mother sleeps close to here?」

「Eh? Yes. It’s just a short walk.」

「Then take me with you, now.」

I smiled.

「I’ll show you pink snow and your mother’s favorite flower.」