After the shapeshifter woke up he quickly surrendered and told us were the real baron had been locked up, for some reason he seemed very eager to do everything I asked of him, even when I told him to hand himself over to the guards and confess everything he had done he didn't put any resistance at all, I think that he's afraid of me but I don't know why.

However, they only arrested him for kidnapping and impersonating the baron, it seems like they didn't believe me when I told them that an ant had been destroying the town, can't they see all the houses and streets that got wrecked? If they don't believe that there was a monster ant, then who do they think did all of that? And why did they keep giving me those weird looks?

Oh well, as long as the one responsible receives his punishment I guess everything is fine so I'll just leave it be, besides, there's someone else who also needs to be punished.

"Luna! It hurts! Let go already!"

"Why didn't you warn me that your enchantment would send me flying like that!? You did that on purpose, didn't you"

I'm pinching both of Arana's cheeks, it's surprising how much her face can stretch, she looks kinda funny right now.

"I didn't know that would happen! I was just trying to help!"

"And why did you tell the dragon about Nera's skill? Did you want her to get kidnaped?"

"I just wanted to help him because that mission of him seemed important! Why are you angry at me when all I did is trying to help people? Please let go! It really hurts!"

Is that true? Maybe I'm being a bit too harsh... I guess I'll let her go for now.

"Don't let her trick you! She obviously did that to get you to fight against the dragon!"

"Huh?"

Nera is looking at Arana with an angry expression, I think that she dislikes her, but I don't know why.

"Why would she want me to fight against a dragon?"

"Don't you get it? She's clearly trying to make that prophecy about you become true, by fighting him you ended making the dragon 'bow before your might', just like the prophecy said, and you flying around causing destruction like that also helped your bad reputation"

"What!? Is that true!?"

Now that she mentions it, it's true that a lot of Arana's actions seem to have been leading me on the path of following the prophecy, has she been doing this intentionally?

"Arana! Is that true!?"

This is a big deal, so I called her Arana instead of Ara, to show that I'm serious.

"Like I said I'm trying to help you... since I know that you probably would have rejected it, I didn't tell you about the method to deal with a prophecy"

"The method to deal with a prophecy? What are you talking about?"

"Do you know what a prophecy is? A lot of people believe that it's a spell that let's one see into the future, but do you think that's true?"

"I think I know what you mean, 'no event can influence another event if the later occurs at an earlier point in time', seeing the future would contradict this fundamental rule of magic, but it's true that a prophecy can do just that, is it not?"

"No, a prophecy is an incredibly powerful spell that is cast by the world itself, it will identify a set of events that are very likely to occur and then it will cause them to happen one way or another"

"What!? I've never read anything about that..."

"Nobody understands prophecies all that well, I admit that I only know the basics myself"

"But doesn't that mean that it should be possible to fight against it and stop it from coming true?"

"As I said, a prophecy is a very powerful spell, trying to go against it usually ends up badly, that's why the correct method to deal with a prophecy is to fulfill it in a way you want"

"Eh!?"

"Prophecies tend to be rather vague, they can be interpreted in many different ways, or in other words, it can be fulfilled in many ways. For example, there was a man who had a prophecy saying that he would be killed by his own son, so he made his son promise that he would kill him when he's already on his death bed. Your prophecy is the same, just because you have to become the queen of darkness that doesn't mean that you have to become a villain"

"So that's why you wanted me to fight the dragon?"

"Yes, if we didn't take this chance, you might have ended up running into another dragon in a less optimal situation"

So she really was just trying to help me out?

"Don't listen to her, she's still hiding something, a witch cannot be trusted"

Nera really doesn't like Arana does she... but it's true that I also got the feeling that she was hiding something, in particular when she talked about 'fulfilling a prophecy in a way you want'...

"Arana, are you hiding something from me?"

She shrugs her shoulders. "Everyone has secrets, can't you trust your friend a little?"

"I want to trust you, but you make it really hard..."

"And miss princess... not only do you know what a witch is but you also seem to dislike them for some reason, did you meet some other witch by any chance?"

Nera looks down at the ground for a moment before answering.

"A girl with a hat just like yours became an attendant of my mother not long ago, she's the one who gave her the idea of making a deal with that demon lord"

"What!? A deal!?"

"Because of my skill I could hear their conversations, and when my mother found out, she decided to kill me, that's why I had to run away"

"Your mother wants to kill you? Just for hearing something?"

"So she's a genuine evil queen... Luna! Maybe you could ask her to give you a few tips!"

"I don't want to learn anything from someone like that!"

"It's true that my mother has always been a bit crazy, and she never liked me at all, in fact, I barely even know her. However, she never did anything this drastic until that witch came!"

If that's how it is I can see why she doesn't like witches... wait, when did I accept the fact that witches are real? I still have not seen any proof.

"And that witch that you're talking about... do you know what the color of her hat was?"

"It was blue, why do you ask?"

"Blue? That can't be... are you sure?"

Arana looks confused for some reason.

"How old was she?"

"She looked very young, I'd say around eleven years old"

"Mmmmmm"

Does Arana know who she is? She looks lost in thought, and then she looks at the sky and seems to get scared.

"Luna! That crow over there is a monster! Shoot it down!"

"Eh!? Ah! Sure! Shadow lance!"

The crow got obliterated with just one attack, what was Arana afraid of?

"In any case, we should go to the Agua kingdom next, if your mother is planning to do something bad you probably would like to stop her, right? We would like to help you out"

"Help me? I guess I do want to stop her, but can you two really help me?"

"Of course we can! Luna is really strong after all"

"I'm not sure if me being strong will be enough to stop her mother from... wait, shouldn't we ask what her mother wants to do before we offer our help?"

"Luna, isn't it natural for you to help your new friend?"

What!? Did she just say that Nera is my friend!?

When I hear that, I quickly get near her and place my hands on her shoulders.

"Is that true!? Are we really friends!?"

That sounds too good to be true, can I truly make a real friend? One that doesn't get me into trouble and laughs at me all the time?

"Uh... yes, I guess we can be friends if you want"

"We're friends!"

I cannot stop the tears from coming out.

"Hey, are you alright?"

"Frieeeennd"

-???-

A young woman wearing a green pointy hat just entered my room, the smile on her face makes me think that she knows something that I don't.

"Is something the matter?"

"I finally found our lost sister"

"Is that true? Tell me what you saw"

...

..

.

"I see..."

Not long ago, the prophecy of the queen of darkness was made public in a small remote country, there's only one person who could be responsible for that, after all, an oracle will not make a prophecy public until a witch tells them to do it, and the only witch I had lost track of is Arana, however, I couldn't understand what she was trying to do until just now.

"Hahaha, you say that she's with the queen of darkness? I see I see, so that's what she's planning..."

"I believe that they intend to go to the Agua kingdom next"

"The Agua kingdom? If I remember correctly that's where Ranna is right now, we'll have to send her some instructions"

I have to admit that I had underestimated you Arana, and yet, I can only call you a fool for trying to go against me.

forli

I have to admit that reading some of the comments that try to predict where the story is going makes me want to change my plans sometimes. Some because they guess something right so I think it's too predictable, some because the guess is so far off the mark that I think I'm going to disappoint, and some because they sound better than what I'm going to do.

I had been thinking that I could change what the 'truth about Arana' was until I wrote this chapter, but now it's too late :S.

Also, I want to clarify that the name of that character at the end is not actually '???', that just means that we do not know her yet.