-Arana-

"I feel like I'm losing my popularity."

The first visit from royalty from a neighboring country is such an important event, so why is it that I'm not with Luna right now? There's no denying it anymore, Nera has taken my place as Luna's closest friend... I need to do something about this.

"Hey, Longleg, what do you think I should do to get closer to Luna again?"

"..."

"No, I don't think that she'd want a caterpillar, she prefers eating sweet things."

"..."

"I can't even do that, I only have two legs."

Ah... I don't think that Longleg will be able to help me. It's unfortunate, but spiders don't seem to be very good at being popular with most people. I need to ask someone else.

"Hey, Ranna, do you have a moment for your dear sister?"

"Ranna is not doing anything important right now."

"Say, do you know what Luna is doing right now?"

"Ranna has been busy, Ranna has not been paying attention to anything."

"Ok, why are you talking about yourself in the third person?"

"Small and expressionless girls are supposed to be cuter when they talk in the third person, Ranna is trying to increase her popularity. Is it working?"

"No, it's actually a bit off-putting."

"Oh, well, then I'll stop."

I guess she's not good at this either.

"Anyway, have you noticed that Nera seems to have taken my place lately?"

"Yes, that's normal."

"Normal?"

"Nera's status as the most normal person among Luna's friends makes her the best choice to play the straight man to her antics. It's just natural that she would be the one that ends up spending the most time with her."

"But I'm also a great comedic foil for her! You know, I can make fun of all the silly things she does or play pranks on her."

"The problem is that Luna is far too likable. Having someone else be annoyed at her nonsense is clearly better than having her be the one annoyed at your nonsense."

"N-no, it can't be..."

So that's it, I have been replaced by Nera.

I thought that she would leave as soon as she got the chance to go back to her home, but it seems like she was here to stay. And as long as she's here there's no way that I'll get my position back... If only something could happen that would force her to leave. Like, for example, there are some accidents that could happen that might-

"You're thinking something dangerous aren't you."

"I wasn't thinking anything dangerous."

"But you were about to."

"Come on, there's no way that I would do something bad just to get back my popularity."

"..."

"I'm your sister, you know me!"

"Yes, I know you."

To think that my younger sister would trust me so little, I'm hurt.

"Ugh... It's not even just Nera. She now has Xania for when she needs someone that's not as nice as her, Nera's maid is in charge of cooking, and that devil guy she met is apparently a better mentor than I am. What is there even left for me to do?!"

"You still make her clothes."

"I guess..."

Well, I'm indeed the only one that can make clothes capable of containing Luna's body, when she tries to wear something else it always tears off, particularly around the chest area.

And that is why none of those usurpers can get as close to Luna as I am. They don't know the softness of her skin when I take her measurements, or what it feels like to know that the clothes I made are caressing every inch of-

"Now you're thinking something perverted."

"When did you become a mind reader?"

"I'm only reading your face."

Sometimes I get the feeling that Ranna doesn't really respect me as an older sister.

"Excuse me, could you give me a moment of your time?"

Ah, an interruption, just in time.

Oh, it's that old man that met with Luna earlier. I believe that he used to be a disciple of Cureva, so I'm not sure if I can trust him. Granted, it was a previous incarnation of Cureva, but still...

"I imagine that a conversation between two witches must be a serious issue. I apologize if I'm interrupting something important."

"We were discussing the political consequences that this meeting could have on the rest of the continent. But I suppose that we can also make some time for you."

"..." For a moment, it looked like Ranna was about to say something.

"In that case, I'll go straight to the point. If I'm not mistaken, the two of you have cut ties with the rest of the six witches and are now hostile to them. I wanted to know what that's all about."

"What's that about? It's about the witch of darkness, our supposed leader, being an arrogant idiot that betrayed our principles and is allowing herself to be manipulated by the witch of wind, your supposed former mentor, who is a complete psychopath in this incarnation."

"I see... That's more or less what I feared. When I saw her recently pretending to be the 'goddess of wind' I could tell that she wasn't planning anything good."

"Didn't you help her do that? By making it look like she had been able to override your spell."

"Oh, no. That is actually the thing that concerns me the most... She took control of my spell by erasing its 'will'. With what I believe must have been void magic."

I had a few guesses for what he was going to say but this nonsense was not one of them.

"What are you talking about? There's no such thing as void magic, it doesn't even make sense as a concept."

"Indeed. Magic is fundamentally about manipulating mana with willpower to create a spell, and each element contains a different type of will. Void mana is defined as not carrying any will from a living being, so 'void magic' seems like a contradiction. And yet, I clearly sensed her cast a spell with void mana."

"That's really hard to believe. If a void spell existed, it would be something that killed its caster."

"I understand, I wouldn't believe it either if I had not been there myself."

"Ugh... We also found out recently that Cureva had been messing with void demons..."

"But that was not the first time I've heard about a 'goddess of wind'. Have you heard about the 'ghost roses' that recently appeared in the Magnel kingdom?"

"I believe that's the name of some drug? But what does that have to do with anything?"

"A drug... That's not too far off the mark. People who are stabbed by its thorns have their emotions dulled and stop caring about other people, those who have social anxiety in particular tend to become addicted. However, this is far from a normal drug, this rose contains void mana, which should never happen in nature."

"Void mana again?"

The old man hands me a transparent box he had in the pocket of his tunic. Inside, there's a white rose, and by white I mean the entire thing is white, not just the petals. It's even partially transparent, no wonder people call it a ghost rose.

"They first appeared in the country 10 years ago. At the time there were rumors of a beautiful and kind young girl that handed over white roses that could help to ease people's suffering, her otherwordly presence caused her to start being called 'the goddess of wind'.

When the side effects became apparent, those roses were banned in the country, but very little is being done to enforce that ban. After all, the king and queen were among the first to become addicted."

"Wait, stop there. First void mana spreading around a country and now you tell me that the king is also compromised? The six witches are supposed to keep watch for things like that! How is it possible that I haven't heard anything about this until-

Wait, Ranna, who was the one in charge of watching over the Magnel kingdom?"

"That would be... Cureva and her subordinates."

It can't be...

"I see, it appears that my suspicions were correct. Whatever it is that happened to the witch of wind, the demons of the void seem to be closely related to her."

Ugh... I've been obsessed with Cureva for so many years, how am I only finding out about all of this void stuff now?

All this time I felt satisfied by thinking that Cureva was just evil and didn't feel the need to ask for details. That might have been a mistake.

"And what exactly are the side effects?"

"Various changes in behavior. The victims tend to isolate themselves and become unable to have normal relationships with other people... I've known the king ever since he was a child, he used to be a kind-hearted man who loved his family. But ever since he started using those flowers, he began to see his own children as nothing more than political tools. He even seems to consider his second son to be completely useless, I suspect that he sent him here precisely because he sees him as the most disposable one."

"Just being stabbed by these thorns can do all of that? It seems hard to believe."

I take a closer look at the ghost rose, and feel something wrap around my neck.

<You. It was you!>

W-what's going on? The rose seems to have been replaced by something... something enormous... I'm not able to perceive it properly, but whatever it is, I'm being strangled by it! I can feel many small thorns piercing my neck.

<You are the one who took her away from me!>

That voice sounds like it should be angry but I feel no emotion in it. When I try to speak, no sound comes out.

<Soon she will be mine again.>

The rose returns to its regular form and everything goes back to normal. I feel around my neck with my hands but I don't find any of the wounds that I was expecting.

"Arana, are you alright?" Ranna looks at me with concern and the old man looks just as confused.

"Didn't you see that thing just now? Didn't you hear that voice?"

"What are you talking about? You just started touching your neck out of nowhere."

So that wasn't real? No, there was definitely some powerful entity just here a moment ago. But I'm the only one who noticed? What was that about?

-Luna-

"Alright, I'm ready. I have obtained the weapons I need to face a clown."

"Weapons? All you've done is ask Mari for some cream pies." It seems like Nera doesn't really understand the true power of her maid.

"A thrown pie is a clown's greatest weakness, now I'm ready to fight back if something goes wrong."

"Then why are you eating one of them just now?"

"Yf nffd o gwep" Uh, I shouldn't speak with my mouth full. "I need to get some energy first."

"You know, you've been eating a lot of sweets ever since Mari joined our group. I don't understand how you're not getting fat."

When she hears Nera say that, Xania takes a closer look at my chest.

"Now that you mention it... Is it just me or did her boobs get bigger recently?"

"Uh, I think you might be right."

"S-stop staring at me like that! Sweets are needed to fuel powerful magic, that's why I won't get fat no matter how many I eat."

"I don't think that's true."

"It's true for me."

They don't seem to be buying it, but since I'm the best mage in here, I should always be right about these things by default.

"Anyway... Now that you got what you wanted, are you ready to go and talk with the prince?"

"No, but I guess I don't have I choice..."

I cannot delay it any longer, it's finally time to go and face my most difficult battle so far.

forli

So with this chapter I'm now committed to going with the plot I was planning... Another thing that always makes me nervous is writing more 'serious' plots, I'm not sure if it really fits this novel.

I said last time that I might make a discord for the story but I'm not sure if anyone is really interested... I think I'll make a poll.