The Seed Thief

The stone golem she had created was emotionless. So were her other creatures. At least the forest beasts would sometimes reveal hints of emotion, but it was only a brief moment of instinct-driven feeling. It was hard to sense joy or sadness from the forest animals.

Perhaps, her endless yearning for emotion stemmed from that. She hadn’t struggled with such feelings before when living with the forest witch, who was full of expression.

Lulu crouched down, silently staring at the people. Until the laughter carried by the wind and the sunlight stung her eyes, Lulu lowered her head even more.

* * *

As the sun set, looking at the orange sky, Lulu muttered.

“……It’s a failure.”

After Lulu began to observe, as time passed and the crowds thinned out, she had many chances to use obedience magic. But right before using it, she hesitated. Was it right to take the seed using forbidden magic? After all, it was stealing.

‘You shouldn’t take what’s not yours,’ was one of the few pieces of wisdom the forest witch taught her. Moreover, the magic she was about to use was forbidden, which the forest witch had warned against using.

Her plan now involved breaking both rules; it couldn’t be right.

‘What if I give something else in exchange for the seed?’

Lulu pondered what she had at home that might be valuable to people. First, the ores the old lady, who had given her bread, wanted. That would be valuable.

‘Other ores may have value too?’

There were many ores with pretty colors. What else might people want? As the sun sank lower, Lulu considered what to offer in exchange for the seed for a long time.

Then she heard a rustle behind her. Who could it be? Lulu turned around in surprise to see the scarecrow standing there.

“What, why are you here?”

In response to Lulu’s question, the scarecrow dashed to a nearby rock and hopped agitatedly around it. Compared to the golem, the scarecrow was made from scarce ingredients, so it couldn’t convey intentions well.

Looking puzzlingly at the scarecrow, it took Lulu a while to understand what it wanted to say.

“The golem is worried because I haven’t returned, so he told you to see me?”

The scarecrow hopped high like yes to her words. Then, as if its mission was complete, it turned around and ran away.

“Hey! Where are you going? Come back!”

Lulu hurriedly called out to the scarecrow, but it acted as if it didn’t hear her and vanished into the forest.

It listened to the stone golem, but why did it ignore her, its creator?

Mumbling that it was a defective creation, Lulu stood up. The sun had hidden beyond the mountains when she got lost in thought. The forest was submerged in the darkness as the night approached.

She could easily create a small light with magic, but if a light floating in the forest at this hour, it would alert the villagers to her arrival. So she needed to get back quickly.

It was the moment Lulu turned toward the forest.

A scream pierced the air. Lulu turned her body in a flash to the sound.

“Scarecrow!”

When she first breathed life into the scarecrow, it could not control its body well and would often bump into things and break. Anytime that happened, Lulu had to roam the forest all day, searching for its shattered remains. It was so tiring that she gave the scarecrow the ability to make noise with a new magic formula. Thanks to that, the scarecrow called out to Lulu when it was in danger.

Like right now.

And it was the loudest, shrillest sound the scarecrow had ever made.

Lulu ran frantically after the scarecrow. Despite its failure, it was her first creation. When she first made it, she was so happy that she hugged it to sleep every night as it tried to escape. Lulu cherished the scarecrow as much as the stone golem.

“Where are you! What happened?!”

No cliffs to fall from around here. Could it be caught in a trap set up by the villagers?

Lulu dashed madly through the trees until she arrived at the clearing in the forest.

Something broke with a sound, rolling under Lulu’s feet. What was it?

Startled, Lulu stopped in her tracks and stared at what had rolled, soon her face contorted in horror.

There on the ground was the head of the scarecrow. Lulu crouched down and hugged the scarecrow’s head. What was going on?!

She turned her head in the direction the scarecrow’s head had come from.

“Ah…….”

Lulu let out a sign-like groan. An enormous black shadow stood there. Even in the darkness, glowing blue eyes pierced sharply at Lulu.

As soon as the moonlight reached the spot, Lulu saw a tall human man.

“Are you the witch of the forest?”

It was a voice deeper and lower than the echoes in the cave, sending a shiver down Lulu’s spine. An overpowering sense of oppression crushed her for the first time.

The moment their gazes interlocked, she couldn’t look away. Lulu observed the man in detail.

He was so tall that she could mistake him for the golem. Under the well-tailored clothes, his muscles trained to extremes, prominently showing their tightly bulging presence. Yet there was no bulk in the man’s movements but agility. That wasn’t the only reason Lulu couldn’t look away.

‘Beautiful.’

The man’s silver hair glistened in the moonlight. Cold glaring blue eyes underneath the thick, straight eyebrows. The sharp nose and lips formed a dedicated line similar to the face of an angelic figure Lulu had seen in a book. Back then, she had thought the figure in the book was pretty…

While Lulu looked at him as if possessed, the man pointed his sword at her.

“Answer me. Are you the forest witch?”

“Me? I’m…uh, that’s…”

Lulu was at a loss for words when the man asked the question. The forest witch had raised her. But the villagers also called her the forest witch. He said who?

As Lulu hesitated to answer, the man’s eyes narrowed.

“From your appearance, you don’t need to speak. You’re just as what people described.”

“Huh?”

Her looks?

Lulu looked back at herself and saw her clothes torn by the pull of the golem. It might seem odd, but at least she was dressed.

While Lulu hastily arranged her tattered clothes, the man continued.

“Not only did you kill the sheep on the ranch, but you also robbed people of their money and goods. Are the missing people thought to be dead also your doings?”

“Me?”

Lulu’s jaw dropped at the man’s words.

Did she kill the sheep? Those cute little things? And she robbed money? But she hadn’t taken anything from the villagers, not yet! 

Furthermore…

“I killed people?”

She was dumbfounded. Kill people. How could she have done such a terrible thing?

The first time she killed a rabbit for meat, she hesitated for a week before finally doing it. Her hands trembled when she lifted the dead rabbit.

Even though the forest witch told her that it was inevitable to kill animals for food, it still shocked Lulu to see the creature that had just been running around, limp and cold.

From then on, Lulu never killed anything larger than a rabbit, and only killed when absolutely necessary. But could she have killed a human?

While Lulu was speechless, opening her mouth wide at the sudden accusation, the man continued.

“Are you pretending not to know? It’s useless. I’ve already seen traces of your magic used near the village. Killing a person wouldn’t have been difficult with that.”

“Ah, no. I’m……!”

But the man didn’t wait for Lulu’s answer. Just as he stepped forward, moonlight flashed on the blade of his sword.

Lulu knew it instinctively. This man was going to kill her. If not to kill her, he was definitely thinking of knocking her down on the spot.

‘I have to run!’

But before Lulu could react, his sword was under her chin. Suddenly, a small figure jumped out. Puck! It hit the man’s face.

“Urgh!”

The man backed away from the sudden attack. At the same time, the figure that had hit the man landed in front of Lulu.

“Crow!”

At Lulu’s cries, the crow flapped its bony wings as if complaining of pain. It hit so hard that its pretty evenly-spaced wing bones had been broken by more than half, leaving it a mangled mess. Lulu quickly scooped the bone crow into her arms, the barely attached bones scattered to the ground.

The sight made her want to burst into tears. Meanwhile, the man figured out what had hit him, said in a colder voice.

“These things are walking around alive. As expected, you’re a witch who practices sorcery. I’ll have to kill them first.”

The man’s sword glinted in the moonlight. If he approached again, she would definitely die along with the scarecrow and the bone crow. To survive, Lulu reached out to the air. Then the magic formula she had drawn beforehand unveiled a dazzling light in the darkness.

“You cast magic without any preparation? Such trickery…”

“Stay back! Don’t come any closer!”

As he attempted to move, Lulu shot the magic she had prepared. The magic formula made of light flew straight toward the man according to Lulu’s will. His body, which was about to attack her, froze.

Lulu seized the opportunity, jumped up, and ran home madly through the bushes, not giving a damn about her shoes slipping along the way.

“Hah, hah, hah…”

The scarecrow’s head and bone crow shook in Lulu’s arms. She struggled to run with both in her arms, but Lulu just ran, hugging them tighter.