When I returned to the Grim Palace late at night, we all went our separate ways. I returned to my room, took a bath, put on my pajamas and fell into a deep slumber. A honk-shoo-mimimi sleep that others could only hope for NOT!
"What the fuck was that!?"
The Grimoire rested against my pillow on the bed while I crashed out, holding my head. Seriously. SERIOUSLY!
Has anyone here accidentally caused a giant, city shaking explosion? No? Makes no sense, right? Yet. YET.
I glared at the Grimoire.
"Oh, I swear. I thought it was just a basic fireball magic spell, so what the fuck was that?"
The words on the Grimoire changed again.
[It was just a fireball. It's not your fault if everyone else in the world is weak. And well, the spell would always be proportional to the level of the mana you absorbed, the girl was just too powerful.]
It had taken up all the 'mana' I could feel after having kissed Nea, but that still made no sense. Then again, if this was done using her mana, then maybe she was capable of such feats and then some?
It was nonetheless a tangent we didn't have to go on. I glared at the damned grimoire as it frivolously flipped through its pages. I could swear that if it had face and a single hand right now it would be picking its nose with an entitled grin on its fucking face.
Maybe I should just set this thing on fire? The thought was deeply tempting, but the idea of being able to run wild and escape from Weiss' clutches always remained my mind's Shangri-La. How could I just skip that to be rid of this annoying grimoire? And, to be fair, the Grimoire had its moments.
Being frustrated over this damned book was not yielding any results, so I let it go at the end of the day. Of course, by 'letting' it go I only didn't physically harm it.
I bound the damned grimoire with a thread and tossed it in a cupboard of one of the other rooms. There, get eaten by moths for tonight, bitch.
***
A cat pounced atop the lap of the Queen of the Witches.
"Is he back?" She asked, taking the cat's hands in her own and pressing on its toebeans. A smile, very soft and very shy, almost unnoticeable in its nature, lifted her lips.
It was not a smile of desire or of romance or anything fancy, anyone who knew a person could look at her and tell it.
It was simply the smile a person carried for the people they cared about.
"I can head to sleep then," the Queen yawned and lay her head on her pillows, sinking in their softness.
"Meoow~"
The cat cuddled around her chest.
***
Now, a reason why I didn't talk much about my days with Weiss was because they weren't all that special. Being hung upside down, getting to kill some intruders, all of those were rare occurrences.
Passionate about magic as Weiss was, she also suffered from the same affliction that ailed every genius of the society. She was lazy.
Lazy as fuck.
That meant barely ever did she make the potions or create the kind of groundbreaking magic she tried to make all the time. Usually…
"Hey! Butler, make pancakes."
"On it, on it. Miss Witch, have some patience."
Dressed in clothes that were practically falling off her, Weiss sat at the dining table and kicked her legs. There was a dining table in the Palace that would make many kings want to crawl into a hole and cry about their lack of money, yet our Witch Queen decided to put a smaller dining table near the kitchen so she could annoy me and get food right in her hands.
Since there was no one else here, I did appreciate the company to some degree.
I continued stirring the batter and tempered the heat of the pan with a cloth before pouring the batter in. The sun's light entered through the window, giving us a rare respite from the constant snowstorm that surrounded the Grim Palace and the Monster Wall behind.
"Say, Miss Witch," I asked. "Are there still demons behind the wall?"
"Yeah," Weiss answered. She tapped the plates with her knife and fork in an attempt to make a horrible beat that I couldn't stomach. "One of them came to visit yesterday."
"Huh!?"
"They pop by once a year," said Weiss. "I give them seeds that grow in that land. Magically enhanced."
The same demons that were so elusive that we all considered them long extinct had reached her house? What was I doing yesterday!? How did I miss this once in a lifetime event!?
Oh yeah. I was off flirting with a girl.
"I think even the pancake would be done with your boring questions now. Bring it here."
Right right. Sure. I flipped the pancake straight from the pan to her plate. Weiss licked her tongue as I poured the batter for the next one. With a click of her fingers, a jar of honey floated over and landed in her hands. She didn't spread it on her own, instead everything from the slather of honey on the pancake to the cut and the bite all got handled through telekinesis.
It happened around then, the thing that usually never happened at the Grim Palace. A golem entered the kitchen and bowed. Even though it didn't say anything, I understood clearly.
"There's someone at the door? A guest?"
Weiss didn't bother talking about this. As the butler, it was my job to take care of this stuff.
"Who could come to visit our shut-in witch? There has never been a friend."
"Oi."
I quickly covered my mouth and sent the Golem away. This was something I had to take care of on my own.
But, of course, whoever it was they could wait while the pancake was being made. I finished cooking a few more of them and placed them on a plate for Weiss before removing the apron. I was just about to leave when she grabbed my wrist and pulled me back.
"Butler…" The Witch Queen's voice went through my ears and straight down my spine. A chill. A shiver. "You are my dog. Don't go around sniffing random bitches, do you understand?"
"I… don't know what you mean."
The Witch didn't say more, she simply let go of my hand and smiled. With her chin, she gestured at me to go.
My heart raced rapidly. What in the fuck could that mean? Were traces of Nea's mana left on me? Did she notice something strange? The Grimoire? All kinds of thoughts raced through my mind as I reached the front door and—
"—Oh god. You're a pelican!?"
A giant pelican stood there. It had a hat, and a bag strapped around its shoulder. The pelican reached into the bag and handed me a sealed envelope.
"A letter?"
"Kaaa!"
"My god, that's the sound you guys make?"
I opened the envelope, the pelican seemed just inches away from wanting to punch me. Funny guy.A letter from the Council of Thirteen it said, must be something for Weiss.
"Well, thanks," I said to the Pelican.
The Pelican nodded. It reached into its bag again and pulled out a small stick. With the press of a button, the stick elongated, bristles appeared on one end of the stick. A broom.
The Pelican got on the broom.
It turned around.
And flew off.
On the broom.
"YOU HAVE WINGS!?"
Needless to say, the Pelican did not heed my words. I returned with the invite to Weiss and told her about the extremely peculiar experience.
"Oh," Weiss said. "This is an invite for the Walpurgisnacht. The Witches of the world want to meet me. Of course, you'll come along."
"Alright, but. It had wings?"
"Butler. Go clean the dishes."
"But…"