[h1]Witch's Household[/h1]

[hr]

"... Did I [i]say[/i] no?" Ilsa glared after the departing medusa, speaking perhaps deliberately too long after the woman walked away to be heard. With a sigh, she turned towards the goblin.

"As you might have guessed," began Relki, "Dear little Ilsa has a bit of trouble being direct and honest~"

"Quiet."

Ilsa's flat tone made her annoyance with the raven familiar rather clear.

"I'm not sure what you mean by a 'plane crash', but you're not entirely wrong about alchemy," she began, "I'm not sure how you know that of all things."

Pausing for a moment, she took a deep breath.

"Alchemy is the practice of analyzing the components of something and using them to make something else," Ilsa explained, gesturing in an idle fashion as she spoke, "So you could take something apart and force it to become gold, certainly, but it's far more useful when applied to creating tonics and potions. It's also used in the creation of automatons, but I couldn't tell you anything more about that. As for fam-"

Relki rather abruptly cut the petite witch off, practically jumping in front of her.

"As for familiars---"

"H-hey!"

Leaving Ilsa fuming, Relki continued.

"Familiars are magical assistants, more or less~ They're most commonly created by contracting a nameless spirit that's lost its memories and identity and imbuing a common animal with it, alongside a few different ritual components~ I used to be an ordinary raven, as you might have guessed," she declared cheerfully, "Rather then overwriting the animal's consciousness, the spirit merges with the animal and creates a familiar contracted with the creator. I'm rather thankful, because while my feathers are quite luxurious---"

She struck a pose, one hand behind her head as she thrust her hips to the side with a wink.

"---I can only have looks like [i]these[/i] in this form~"

Irritably, flustered, Ilsa pushed past Relki. The familiar was left giggling, as the witch cleared her throat.

"... She's more or less correct, though she left out the fact that a mage's mana is crucial to forming the connection between familiar and creator."

Meanwhile, outside, the fairies that had been flitting over the cabin had started to watch the medusa as she practiced with her newfound ability. After a few moments, one in particular, a gossamer-winged miniscule girl with blue hair and a matching dress, flitted down closer.

"... Woooow, Ilsa's going to be mad~" she declared cheerfully, as if that was a completely ordinary thing to say, "She doesn't like it when people mess up the garden, no, not at all."

She observed the hole in the tree for a few moments.

"... If one of my big sisters saw this, she might take all your limbs off and hide them! Then you'd have to find them, and I bet that's really hard~"

Despite talking about potential dismemberment, it didn't appear as if they fairy quite grasped the gravity of the topic she'd chosen. Perhaps that was to be expected.

It seemed as if all the commotion had disturbed a few other garden residents. A gaggle of small, short, stubby creatures with stumpy hands and thick bodies, a stubby mushroom cap in place of their heads, emerged from beneath a large flower bush and warily eyed the damage.

[@Rune_Alchemist][@Pyromania99]

[hr]

[h1]Smithy[/h1]

Tch---!

I should have expected this. The undead in the smithy were probably stuck inside, so it didn't matter that the bell is still ringing. And naturally, they're going to go for the nearest living targets instead of the distant bell.

On top of that, all the weapons look rusty and worn down.

Damn it, was this a mistake? We didn't need to get into this fight!

I grit my teeth and take a step back.

How do I fight? How can I fight? These thin arms don't have any strength in them. This small body is fragile. If I was still the person I was in my original world, I could at least throw a decent punch. With how decrepit these undead's bodies, that might be enough. At least to knock one down.

But I can't do that now.

I have a staff, but I have no idea how to use it. My skill didn't help either. I have magic, but no idea what to do with it.

How do I cast a spell?

My hands tense. My fingers tighten on my staff.

...

They're spreading out. Of course, even if they're mindless, their bodies remember how to fight. That much is obvious just based on how they wield their weapons.

"D... d-don't let them flank you!"

It's all I can manage.

[@PKMNB0Y][@RolePlayerRoxas][@Aku the Samurai][@SilverPaw]