Kataria is, first and foremost, a witch.

WHAM

"GYAH!!!!!"

"Hello. I'm back."

Witches practice magic. They make potions. They write tomes. And other... things. Kataria is sure there's more to it, she just hasn't figured it out yet. At the very least, those are the things that she enjoys doing, and because she's a witch, the most witchy of witches, they must be things that witches do.

"Lady Valentine said she wouldn't pay me if I couldn't convince you. And I really don't want to miss out on that, so here I am."

"The nerve of mortals these days, to trespass onto my territory all for money..."

"Well, it's technically Lady Valentine's now. You never legally claimed it."

"Um."

The main point is she does not want to mingle with the cogs that keep this world turning -- society. She is, and she cannot mentally stress this enough, a witch. An elusive, legendary witch. Does it make sense for such an existence to bow their head to some pathetic noble, and pay them tribute? No! She refuses to do such a thing. Such actions are beneath her, so far beneath her in fact, that the very thought is inconcievable!

"Well, girl. What if I refuse? What can you possibly hope to do to get me, Kataria, to follow your lord's orders?"

 "A few things, really. I can keep pestering you, keep coming back. Or maybe I could spread a rumor that this tower is full of treasure, and have my fellow adventurers in a scramble to come and peruse your home. That would be funny."

"What the hell is wrong with you!?"

And lately, she's had a slight problem, regarding her very aversion.

WHAM

"Hello. I'm back. Again, again."

Kataria is flabbergasted! Astonished! Confounded! And every other word from the dictionary that means some form of surprised or confused! Much to her chagrin, it turns out problems do not always disappear when transferring them out of her line of sight.

'What was the point in learning to teleport lifeforms if it can't even do that?', she thought. 'Hmph.'

Once again, for the fifth time in the past... month? Yes, month. Time is rather vague to her senses. For the fifth time in the past month, this... girl, is going to demand she pays taxes. The audacity! For somebody not even past the age of 100 to think to order her around, it's absolutely unthinkable. And yet, no matter how many times she teleports her away, she keeps. Coming. Back.

And even worse, that unchanging face of hers! Would it kill her to at least show a bit of emotion when talking to a living legend? Never before had Kataria talked to a brick wall, but she felt it would be an awfully similar experience.

"Seriously!" she showed off her best, most imposing, witchlike scowl. "What is your problem?"

"I could ask the same." That damnable girl was unphased. "If I can't fulfill the agreements set by my employer," she stated, face showing as much emotion as a rock, "I won't be paid. Meanwhile, you're just being stubborn, aren't you?"

'Stubborn!?'

"I mean, you're clearly some all powerful magi," she said, shrugging her shoulders, "So making money shouldn't pose much of a problem."

"I..." She will not be outmaneuvered in this battle of words with a... a mere mortal girl!

"..."

"...a..."

Regrettably, conversation is not one of her strong points. That blasted voice of hers fails to work in the most crucial of situations.

'What to do... what to do...'

Oh. A splendid idea sprouted into her mind. A truly splendid idea indeed.

"Girl-"

"My name is Rose."

"...Girl, show me the currency you humans use in this age."

The silver-tier adventurer put her hand over her pouch in a protective manner. "Uh, I'm not gonna let you use my money to pay-"

"No!", Kataria sputtered, "No, what the hell? I just want to see it."

The girl's blank expression finally broke with a small frown, but she begrudgingly retrieved two different coins from the pouch on her waist. Floating closer, Kataria peered down at the small, circular objects in her hand. One was a brownish color, likely copper or bronze, and the other was a shiny silver, which was most likely, um, silver.

'Uh, hold on. Usually there's one more.'

"Where's the go-"

"I'm not taking out any gold coins."

"O-ok."

Breaking eye contact with the girl, she went back to her thorough analysis of the currency. Making a show of it, she stared at the coins, bringing her peculiarly pointed ears closer to them, even blowing on them, for some reason. She also tried poking the coins, only to get her hand batted away like a cat with a sharp "No touching!".

'...I see. The copper is relatively pure, likely intended to be as pure as possible. And the silver...'

"Hey you," she started, "...How much is this silver coin worth relative to the copper?"

"My name is Rose."

"..."

"...One silver is ten coppers."

Of course! Kataria grinned, smugly. Her judgement could never possibly be incorrect! The silver coin was simply iron, coated with a thin layer of silver -- in fact, it was almost completely iron. Kataria didn't recall much of society's ways, but even an outc- ehm, witch like her would know that silver is significantly more than ten times as valuable as copper.

...Right?

A-anyway, that's not what matters. What matters is that she now knows the exact composition and shape of these coins and thus:

"Here! The two silvers that Lady of yours has requested. Take them."

With no theatrics, no effects, no form of effort on her side, two silver coins winked into existence next to the coins the girl held in her hand. Simple feats like this are nothing to her.

"Thank you, miss Kataria."

"Yes, yes, now please lea-"

"But," she said, pocketing the coins, "I cannot in good faith accept these."

"Whwhwh- you, WHY!? And if you can't accept them, why take them anyway!?"

Seeing Kataria's very calm and composed expression, the very expressive girl continued speaking. "Valid currency is only sourced from official kingdom treasuries. All others are considered either invalid or counterfeit, depending on the situation. In this case, it's the latter."

The very composed witch clenched her teeth, grasping at her extremely stylish witch hat as she writhed around in the air, acting out some kind of surreal, aerial temper tantrum.

"Miss," the girl said, snapping her out of her... exercise.

Righting herself in the air, she made a show of fixing up her robes, which didn't really have anything in need of adjusting. "Wh- what is it?" she said, acting as if nothing happened, because nothing happened.

"I'd like to remind you that the monthly tax will be due in approximately five days."

Kataria's body deflated like a balloon, before seemingly remembering that she's supposed to be a legendary witch, and once again stood at attention.

"Oh?" She scoffed, raising a hand up to her mouth like some kind of stereotypical young noble girl. "And then what? Even if you bring over your adventurer friends, I'll just teleport them all away."

"Maybe so," she conceded with a small nod, "But enough of that. Something else has been troubling me, Miss Kataria."

"Do tell."

"You seem... so awfully hesistant to accomplish such a simple task. With all of your power, don't tell me that earning a simple two silver is... too difficult for you?"

"What?" Kataria looked as though she saw a ghost (not that she's scared of ghosts, that would be embarrassing) before fixing her expression with a small laugh, "I'm afraid I don't quite understand what you just said," she muttered. "Could you repeat it once mo-"

"Don't tell me that," she started to say in a mocking tone, "Earning two silver coins is too much trouble for a legendary, mythical, witch."

"..."

"...Miss Kataria?"

"...a task... above me...?"

The room inexplicably dropped in temperature, and the color literally drained away as if reality itself was becoming black and white. Pulling the brim of her hat down, the witch covered her face, cackling to herself in a strangely strained manner. The only source of vibrance in the room were her two, wide open, blood-red eyes, as they stared into nothing, glowing eerily.

For the first time since taking the job, Rose felt as though it may have been slightly beyond her paygrade.

...Such thoughts were shattered within the next moment, as all returned to normal, and Kataria stamped her feet in the air with teary eyes.

"Fine then!" she cry-shouted, "You think I can't do something so simple!? I'll show you the power of the Endspeaking Witch! You'll rue the day you challenged me, girl! Mark my words!"

In an unneeded flourish, the witch snapped her fingers as two staffs appeared in the air with a thunderlike roar: one onyx colored, sporting three wicked prongs, and the other a dazzling gold, veins of pure energy pulsing periodically throughout. They flew to her hands seemingly out of their own volition, attracted by some strange force.

And then, turning up her chin and letting out a small "Hmph!", she blasted out of the window, kicking up a massive gust of wind that ravaged the already messy room.

 

...Moments later, she was back, hiding a blushing face with her oversized hat.

"I..."

"..."

"...I don't know the way to that town of yours."