The cats, whom he had expected to tear the room apart in a frenzy, were unexpectedly silent. Without making a single sound, not even the sound of breathing, they fixed their gazes on the tinderbox Isaac placed on the table.

“……”

‘Why are they so quiet? Isn’t this what they were begging for? Did I bring the wrong one……?’ Isaac carefully pulled his hand away from the tinderbox on the table and gauged their reaction. They remained entirely motionless, their eyes locked on the box.

“……Hey, is this not it? Did I bring the wrong thing?”

Isaac was just beginning to grow anxious, wondering if the true tinderbox was such a precious treasure that it was stored separately, or if it had been hidden somewhere in the vault and he had missed it, as he stared at the cats.

Suddenly, tears began to well up in those massive eyes—eyes the size of teacups, eyes the size of pinwheels, eyes the size of towers.

Isaac flinched, shrinking back as he watched the three of them.

Why is there suddenly water in their eyes? Have they caught some disease? Surely those aren’t tears falling from their eyes, it couldn’t be……

『WAAAAAAH!』

『IT’S THE TINDERBOX! IT’S THE TINDERBOX!!』

『OUR TREASURE HAS RETURNED!! WAAAAAAH!』

The three cats suddenly cried out and burst into wails. Like lightning, they lunged at the battered wooden box, unceremoniously dumping out all the gold coins inside, and cherished the box in their embrace. They tried to shove their bodies into a box smaller than a shoebox, rubbed their cheeks against its corners, and wept loudly, *MEOW, MEOW,* as they hugged it tight.

Watching this display, Isaac’s tense shoulders relaxed.

‘Thank goodness. I guess I didn’t bring the wrong one.’ He had been worrying about what he would do if he had messed up this one-in-a-million chance, but as he breathed a sigh of relief, he looked down warmly at the three of them making a fuss over a single box.

It was the first time he had ever seen them cry. In fact, it was the first time he had ever seen any cat cry. Seeing them shed chicken-egg-sized tears from those massive eyes as they stroked and embraced the box was both heartwarming and somewhat pitiful.

Come to think of it, this was the sole reason they had remained in the human world for all these long years. Because of this, even when the witch hunts were running rampant, they couldn’t leave for the Land of the Dark Moon. They had stayed here all this time, unable to see their families and friends.

“Now you can go back too, all of you.”

Isaac muttered abruptly as he looked down at the three rejoicing wildly around the box. ‘Now you can go. I’m, too.’ And the time for him to leave was also rapidly approaching.

Isaac lifted his head and looked at the birdcages hanging by the window. In the middle of the three cages hung in a row sat a small, stout crow. It was the new body into which he would transfer Alikisa.

Once Isaac made his wish and became a pureblood witch, she would no longer be able to reside in his body. The only place for her expelled soul to enter would be that body over there. It was a bit pitiful that she would have to live trapped inside there, unable to do anything until the crow’s lifespan ended, but that was that. He felt a slight twinge of guilt for tricking her, but ultimately, this was her karma.

And as a pureblood witch, Isaac would have to leave the human world as soon as the upcoming Great New Moon arrived. Gazing at the round full moon floating in the night sky outside the window, Isaac swallowed a bitter sigh.

Still, it’s a relief that everything is finally coming to an end.

“There’s no point in me being the only one feeling sad and regretful……”

Isaac deliberately shook his head and turned his gaze back to the tinderbox.

It was time. If he hesitated any longer, his resolve would only blur. Isaac pulled the flint from his inner pocket and set it down next to the tinderbox. The cats, who had been clinging to the box, biting and licking it, suddenly perked up their ears and looked at the flint. The cats rolling inside the box and rubbing their cheeks against its corners stood up and approached the flint.

『The flint.』

The cat that had lowered its body entirely to the floor purred as it stared at the flint. The other two narrowed their eyes. Their eyes grew increasingly glossy, beginning to shine.

『Now our treasure is made whole again.』

『Our treasure, finally……』

The cats whispered lowly. And following that, they looked up at Isaac. Staring at him, they purred without a word. The sound of their purring was rising with anticipation and excitement.

Isaac understood what they wanted. Picking up the flint slowly, he placed it inside the box.

*Click.* The moment the flint was set inside the box.

“——.”

Suddenly, it felt as though lightning had struck inside the room; a blinding light flashed before his eyes like a burst of fire. Isaac reflexively squeezed his eyes shut and turned his head, but a white flame seemed to continue flashing against the inside of his eyelids.

Isaac, keeping his head turned, slowly opened his eyes. As if the tremendous flash of light from a moment ago had been a lie, the room was still. The blinding light was gone. Isaac turned his gaze back toward the box—and saw three tigers.

Three massive tigers, as large as houses, filled the entire room, sitting with their heads bowed low as if they might touch the ceiling. Their pitch-black, gleaming eyes stared down at Isaac.

It was a sight he had seen countless times, yet something was distinctly different this time. Their massive, majestic bodies possessed something they hadn’t before. It was vital energy.

The tigers, having reclaimed the source of their magic, exuded an explosive vital energy—a magic that felt like an endlessly overflowing spring.

That staggering magical power felt as though it could grant whatever Isaac desired. Even that which was deemed impossible—a half-blood becoming a pureblood witch.

『From now on, exactly three. After granting exactly three more wishes, we will take the tinderbox back. That is your reward for finding our tinderbox.』

A tiger pushed its face close to Isaac and spoke.

Exactly three from now on.

He had to think carefully. An empty wish could not be undone, and he could only make three.

Isaac stared into the teacup-sized eye of the tiger leaning in close to him, then reached into the tinderbox and picked up the flint. Gripping the flint, which now gleamed so smoothly in his hand it felt like an entirely different object from yesterday, Isaac quietly struck it.

*Spark.* A tiny flame flickered in his hand.

At the same time, the tigers’ massive eyes flashed like fire. Their glossy black fur rippled and rose as if turning into actual flames. A terrifyingly overflowing vital energy. That astonishing magical power.

Even as a half-blood, Isaac could clearly feel the sheer magnitude of that power, and he couldn’t help but hold his breath.

So this is the power of the tinderbox. Their unparalleled treasure. Now it will grant me what I want—and simultaneously, what I absolutely do not want.

『I will grant your wish. What do you desire?』

The tiger murmured. Hearing the thick, majestic voice that sounded as if it were rumbling from deep underground, Isaac briefly cast his gaze out the window. The full moon hung brightly in the sky.

By now, the Prince would be with the King. As the banquet drew to a close, the King had dismissed the others, saying he would soon step down from the throne to spend his days quietly in a secluded suburban palace, and moved to his study with the Prince to discuss matters of state and royal affairs closely. Because of that, Isaac had also withdrawn and returned to his quarters early.

The King was gentle and benevolent, but somewhat frail in constitution. He had spoken several times in the past of wishing to abdicate early and live a peaceful life in a quiet suburban palace. However, now that the Prince had returned after accomplishing a monumental feat, establishing a towering presence that no one dared challenge, it seemed the King had finally decided to turn his long-held desire into reality.

Though frail, the King was not foolish, and once he made a decision, he executed it swiftly. If he spoke so openly about it at the banquet, the abdication would likely take place within the coming year, or the year after at the latest.

Soon, the Prince would ascend to the throne.

“I wanted to see that happen, at least……”

Isaac muttered wistfully to himself.

The Prince was already solidifying his position so firmly that no one could defy him or bring him down. Still, Isaac wished he could have seen him standing at the very highest pinnacle.

But there was no time.

Isaac turned his gaze from the full moon and looked at the tiger. The tiger was waiting for Isaac’s answer. The other tigers also waited silently.

Isaac took a deep breath. And he spoke the wish that could not be undone.

“Make me a pureblood witch.”

The moment the words left Isaac’s lips, a blue flame seemed to flow from the tiger’s eyes.

『It shall be granted.』

A low, heavy resonance, like an echo from a deep cave. And at the exact same time—— Isaac felt it vividly.

The sensation of something inside his body withering away and dying. Simultaneously, the sensation of something else springing vividly to life and growing explosively. Those two sensations collided and tangled within Isaac’s body all at once.

“——.”

It wasn’t pain. It was a sensation entirely different from pain. It felt as if a tidal wave was crashing through his body.

A violent, abrasive force surged in, and the things that were pushed back swelled up like flames to resist, before suddenly popping and extinguishing like bubbles in an instant. Then, an intense sensation rushed into the empty space left behind, seizing control and covering it completely. It was a sensation so fierce it shook every corner of his body, every single cell, making it hard to even breathe.

Though it wasn’t pain, the sheer magnitude of the sensation was so overwhelming it felt like agony as it whipped through his entire body. Starting from his heart, it surged through his veins, spreading everywhere. When it finally filled every nook and cranny, down to the microscopic tips of his fingernails and toenails, Isaac stopped breathing. His eyes rolled back slightly, and he froze, unable to move a muscle.

A moment where his body could not move, as if it were no longer his own. A fleeting instant where he couldn’t even breathe as he pleased, where what was once his vanished and was replaced by something else entirely—something completely different from what he had known.

It was a moment of a small death.

And right then, Isaac realized he had fundamentally changed into something else.

His paused breath slowly returned. The blood that had stopped in his veins began to flow again. His heart began to beat; his muscles, his bones, his flesh found their rightful places.

Everything returned to normal.

Isaac, who had been frozen stiff, slowly, very slowly, moved his body.

He felt fine. Just like a few seconds ago, everything moved exactly as it had, as if nothing had happened at all. It felt like nothing had changed.

But Isaac knew with absolute certainty. A specific part within his body had died, and a different part had filled its place.

“……”

‘Ah, I see. I know it instinctively, even without anyone telling me.’

He was now a witch.

A complete witch, with not a single trace of humanity left.

It was a subtle, complicated feeling—somewhat sorrowful, somewhat regretful, yet simultaneously feeling like nothing was wrong at all.

“But if I become a witch… what’s different from when I was human?”

Looking down at his body, which felt no different in terms of movement or sensation, Isaac looked up at the tigers.

『Well, living a long time and healing quickly when hurt?』

『The biggest difference between a human and a witch is the use of magic, but from what I can see, Manbang-ie ah, you weren’t exactly born with much innate magical talent, so there probably won’t be much difference.『

『What’s so different? Physically, you probably won’t feel much change,』 one of the tigers muttered amongst themselves, before suddenly pointing a front paw at Isaac’s chest.

『But if there is one thing that’s definitely different right now, it’s that.』

“That……, —.”

Looking down at his chest in confusion, Isaac cut himself off.

From his chest, near where his heart was, a faint, icy-blue smoke was seeping out. Curled up small and round like a fetus, the smoke possessed a freezing blue hue. Wavering as if light were leaking from its center, Isaac knew exactly what the smoke was the moment he saw it. It was Alikisa.

Having lost all her magical power and fallen dormant inside Isaac, the witch could no longer remain in Isaac’s body, yet it seemed she didn’t even have the strength left to awaken upon being expelled. Driven solely by the primal instinct of life, the slumbering soul wavered precariously, desperate to find a vessel to inhabit before it dissipated into nothingness, slowly spreading outward.

It needs to enter something. It needs to inhabit something, possess something. Otherwise, the lost soul will simply vanish.

The smoke, its color beginning to fade, wavered increasingly erratically as it left faint trails throughout the room. The smoke brushed past Isaac, even brushed past the three tigers, trembling as if it didn’t know what to do, until it finally touched the crow inside the birdcage by the window.

The smoke seemed to ripple. Even in its slumbering consciousness, a faint hesitation seemed to linger as the smoke paced anxiously near the crow. But just as the blue hue almost completely faded into a hazy white, looking as though it would scatter entirely into the air, it seeped right into the crow just before vanishing.

*CAAAW————!* The crow shrieked sharply. It fluttered wildly inside the cage, flapping its wings.

The smoke, which had rushed in as if to devour the crow in an instant, quickly disappeared without a trace. The crow, which had flapped its wings frantically a few times in shock, soon grew quiet.

She had completely absorbed into the crow.

The witch, who had wandered among humans for so long, preying on them and causing them suffering, was now trapped inside the crow until its lifespan ended. Unable to speak, unable to transfer to another body, she was locked inside like a prisoner in a cell.

Perhaps mourning that miserable end, the crow let out two long, mournful cries *—Caaaw—, Caaaw——* even though Alikisa must still be deeply asleep inside.

『Hmph. She tormented and harassed humans and witches alike to no end, and this is what it comes to.』

『Haizzz…… it truly is a world where poetic justice prevails. To think Alikisa, who tried so hard to pile up evil deeds, would end up like this.』

One of the tigers leaped lightly toward the cage. Clicking its tongue as if to say her end was pitiful, the tiger’s eyes curved in amusement. It opened the cage door halfway and shoved its front paw inside. Delighting in poking the belly of the wildly fluttering crow, it looked like the epitome of malice.

“Yeah, you’re diligently building up your bad karma like a true witch……”

When Isaac muttered, looking at the tiger with deadpan eyes, the tiger suddenly rolled its eyes wildly and shouted, 『Of course! You are a fully-fledged witch now too, so dedicate yourself to your wickedness!』

A fully-fledged witch. Isaac quietly chewed on those words. Then he looked down at his hands, at his body. He felt exactly the same, yet he was an entirely different being from just a few minutes ago.

‘I really am a witch now.’

“……”

There wasn’t much to be sad or regretful about. Isaac had been half-witch from the start, and it wasn’t as though he hated or despised witches. There was even a time when he wondered what it would be like to just become a full witch and cross over to the Land of the Dark Moon. So becoming a witch wasn’t painful or regrettable, but……

“I guess I have no choice but to cross over to the Land of the Dark Moon now……”

Now, it had become impossible for him to stay in the human world. Staring blankly up at the full moon, Isaac muttered like a sigh.

That was when it happened.

A sudden, deathly silence fell over the room.

The tigers, who had been chattering so loudly just moments ago, went completely still.…when noisy things suddenly go quiet, it’s a sign that they’ve caused a disaster.

“Why so suddenly—”

Isaac furrowed his brow and turned his head. And the moment he did, the words died in his throat.

At the door, the door that had opened silently at some point, stood the Prince.