Synopsis / Extended Summary

The crafty Echidna leads a team of girls who moonlight as the mythical witches known as the Witches of Lugnica.

A young half-elf, Satella, was once a friend and a member of the witches before she was forced to betray them to their pursuer, the Sage Flugel of Pleiades Corps.

However, by either sheer luck or a cruel twist of fate, Flugel offers the witches a Contract instead of turning them in; from now on, they are to work under his command in exchange for their lives.

This marks the start of a dark rollercoaster ride.

As Satella's precious everyday life begins to crumble around her, she tries to regain the trust of her friends, protect her love for the boy Natsuki Subaru, keep her sister, Emilia, safe from impending dangers, and unravel the surrounding mysteries that threaten to destroy her life. But in order to do so, she must find common ground with Echidna, the girl who had always treated her with hostility and disgust for reasons unknown.

Will they be able to put aside their differences and work together?

or

Will they get swallowed in the endless cycle of turmoil and destroy each other?


Intro Chapter: Meet the Witches of Lugnica

March 21 | 07:00
The Witches' Hideout

"Betty will go over the mission details, I suppose," announced a girl named Beatrice.

Beatrice is a petite blonde with a hair composed of two twin drills. She dons a red frilly dress with a large ribbon attached to the left side of her hips. Moreover, in order to establish her inner "teacher" mode, she wears a pair of lens-less glasses and carries a lecture stick in her right hand.

In front of her, she's addressing the six girls settled around the roundtable.

Echidna, a girl with a long snow-white hair, wearing a white blouse and a mid-length black skirt, sits on the front alongside the blonde Minerva who wears a sleeveless white shirt, a blue miniskirt, and hair tied in a ponytail. Their respective intellectual black eyes and determined blue eyes are solely focused on the little girl speaking.

The middle of the table is occupied by Sekhmet and Typhon. Sekhmet is a woman with an abnormally long unkempt magenta hair and she's dressed sloppily in long black robes. Typhon is a young, petite girl with a green bob cut hair and she's sporting a youthful white dress.

Unlike Echidna and Minerva, these two don't seem to be paying attention. As usual, Sekhmet is slumped over the table, indulging in her beauty sleep while Typhon's ruby colored eyes glimmer joyfully as she hums a tune to herself.

On the backside of the table sat Carmilla and Daphne. Carmilla is a modest girl with pink hair and a face of pure innocence. She's dressed in a long white coat with a big green scarf wrapped on top of her shoulders. Lastly, Daphne is a gray-haired middle schooler wearing a black sleeveless shirt and a blindfold covering her eyes.

Like Sekhmet and Typhon, they don't seem to be paying attention either. Daphne is too busy eating cookies and biscuits, while Carmilla appears to be lost in her thoughts.

Together, the six of them, seven before the past month, form a group known as [The Witches of Lugnica]. The main goal of the group is to hunt down certain corrupt officials and influential figures throughout the kingdom. Supposedly, no one even knows why they engage in activities that would go along the lines of a political activist with the exception of Echidna. As the creator and leader of the group, she's the only one who knows the true purpose of the group.

The others are, more or less, just there for the ride.

Moreover, the reason why Echidna insisted on calling themselves witches, of all things, provides another strange mystery. The others would have preferred if they went with a more colorful or light-hearted name such as The Magical Girls of Lugnica.

Regardless, because they operate in the dark, their actions resulted in "witch rumors" to spread throughout the kingdom. Furthermore, their activities have even sparked countless debates whether they're real or just a myth.

The populace's confusion is somewhat of a source of amusement for the girls.

Unfortunately for them, however, their free reign as the enigmatic witches came to an end when the Sage of Pleiades Corps, Flugel, solved the witch mysteries and captured them one month ago.

After their capture, one would expect the Sage to hand them over to the authorities. Perhaps, their secrets would have been exposed to the land. They probably would have been burned at a stake for all to see, even! After all, historically, the kingdom isn't fond of witches. Anyone who claims to be a witch usually results in an arrest.

And yet, what Flugel did was unexpected. He struck a Contract with them, stating he would rather not hand them in and vowing to keep their identities a secret. In exchange, he asks for their mutual cooperation. He wanted them to help him with his job; to solve bizarre mysteries and protect the kingdom from the occult.

Ultimately, they didn't have any other choice and accepted the Contract, which is how they find themselves in the present situation.

"The Witches of Lugnica had been assigned its first mission under the Sage of Pleiades Corps," Beatrice continued on. "The main objective of the mission is to rescue a hostage whom we shall refer to as [Frost], I suppose. [Frost] had been kidnapped by a man during yesterday's noon, in fact. A man whom we shall refer to as [Black Greed], I suppose."

"Uunnn~! Mhhhhhhh~! Ommmm~! Nommmmmm~! Yuuuummm~!" expressed the voracious Daphne as she chomped on her food.
"Huu… haa…. Huu… haa…" silently snored the sleeping Sekhmet.
"Hmmm~ mhm~ mhhh~ mhm~," hummed the merry Typhon.
And Carmilla is twiddling around with her fingers for whatever reason.

"Grrrrr…" Beatrice grimaced and grumbled silently. It's beginning to be a challenge for her to continue while more than half of the witches are slacking off. She had to clench her fists to prevent herself from losing it.

Beatrice sighed and cleared her throat to regain everyone's attention… or rather, Echidna and Minerva's attention, the only two who are actually paying attention.

"Betty would appreciate if everyone shows some manners, I suppose." She said with the intention of catching the rude insects' attention. Unfortunately, it didn't work. "Moving on, [Black Greed] used to be a mere common man before he found fortune. Throughout the years, he gained tremendous wealth, married many women, and he even purchased a castle. To obtain such possessions seemingly out of nowhere, how did it happen, I wonder? Betty senses a foul play, I suppose. Back to the main point, it appears [Black Greed]'s goal for taking [Frost] hostage is to force her hand in marriage… i-"

"Uuunn~. Mhhhhh~! Shooo ghoood~! Shaynks fhoor jhee chreattt, Jhona-Jhona~!" A mouthful Daphne failed to speak coherently.
"Huu… haa…. Huu… haa..." sleeping Sekhmet continued her silent snoring.
"Hmmm~ mhm~ mhhh~ mhm~," merry Typhon continued humming.
And Carmilla is still lost in her own world, twiddling with her fingers.

"Moving on, I suppose!" A frustrated Beatrice almost shouted. Her boiling point crept closer by the second. "[Frost] must be recovered before the marriage, I suppose. It will not be an easy task, regrettably. The Elior faction had been searching for [Frost] since yesterday to no avail, in fact. [Black Greed] desperately wants this wedding to go through. To make sure the marriage goes through without a hitch, he sponsored countless weddings throughout the entire city as a diversion... I suppose... as well as…"

"Hmmmmmmm~! Ommmmmmmmmmm~! Yummmmmm~! Hmmm~!"
"Huu… haa…. huu… haa…"
"Hmmm~ mhm~ mhhh~ mhm~"

"Grrr..." Beatrice finally had enough.

She walks to the blackboard, grabs four pieces of chalk and…

"THAT'S ENOUGH, I SUPPOSE!" She launched one chalk each at Sekhmet, Daphne, Typhon, and Carmilla. "To not pay attention when someone is speaking! How rude, I suppose!"

The sleeping Sekhmet nonchalantly catches the chalk without even looking... or waking up, for that matter. Typhon skillfully dodges by ducking her head down. Daphne snags the chalk in mid-air and quickly tosses it inside her mouth.

"Eek!" The only one to get hit by the chalk, Carmilla, yelped in surprise. She frantically searched the room for the chalk-throwing culprit, her body trembling in a rather disturbing manner. "Heeh... eeh... heh... eeeh... hehhh..."

"Uunnn... hard powder milk still tastes as weird as ever… but..." Daphne commented as she swallowed the chalk. "'Tis not bad! Not bad at all~! Thanks for the treat, Bea-Bea~."

"Betty is sooo~ good at throwing! That thing was going to hit my head, you know! That's an act of eviiil~, you know." Typhon chimed in with a happy grin. "Even so, I don't believe Betty is a bad girl~."

Typhon hops down her chair and skips over to Carmilla. Once there, she gently rubs the spot where the pinkette got hit.

"Although, poor Milla."
"Oww… oww…"
Thanks to Typhon's comfort, Carmilla managed to calm down.

"Betty is done, I suppose. Stupid, useless, witches…" Beatrice muttered to herself with a deep frown. After her silent complaint, she settles herself on the front table and pouts.

"You did a good job, Beatrice. Don't mind them too much." Echidna praised the petite girl in an attempt to reduce her grumpiness.

It was a success as receiving praise from the person she admires the most brought a relieved smile to Beatrice's face.

"If onee-chan says so, Betty will be fine."

"You will get used to this, eventually."

Although Beatrice had already met the witches before, this is only her first job as an associate of the team since becoming some sort of an informant for them, a role that Echidna used to hold among many others.

At first, Echidna showed heavy opposition against her involvement with the witches' activities, claiming it's too dangerous. However, Beatrice kept persisting, stating she wanted to help out and lessen Echidna's burden especially after their last mission, where they were captured by Flugel, ended up in a disaster. Eventually, her stubbornness, along with some "assistance" from certain members, paid off. There are some conditions, of course. For example, if everything gets out of hand, she's to withdraw and cut all ties with the group.

Nevertheless, unknown to Beatrice until today, the witches are always too preoccupied doing their own thing to pay attention to "trivial" matters such as mission briefing. It doesn't matter whether it's Beatrice or Echidna leading the discussion, the end product remains the same; a useless waste of time.

"It will always be like this, I suppose."

"Right. And like always, we'll figure out a way to solve the present situation… somehow."

"As long as onee-chan is around, everything will be fine, I suppose."

"You have too much faith in this wicked girl, Betty." Minerva intruded in their conversation. "I advise you not to blindly follow whatever this sly girl says."

"Betty believes onee-chan is the only useful witch, I suppose."

"Ow. H-how can you say something so mean, Betty?! You don't like us very much, do you?!"

Beatrice crossed her arms with a "Hmph!"

Echidna takes another sip out of her cup.

"Actually, she likes all of you. That's just… her unique way of expressing her affections, I guess."

"T-that's not true, I suppose!" Beatrice's cheeks turned slightly red in denial of Echidna's words.

"Betty is cuuute~! A cute girl is not evil. Therefore, Betty is not a bad girl~. I'm relieved!"
"Daphne wouldn't mind sharing a meal with Bea-Bea, you know!"
Asserted by Beatrice's fellow middle-schoolers, Typhon and Daphne.

"Really? Heheh," asked Minerva with a giggle. "Come on, there's no need to be shy! You should just be honest and open with your feelings!"

"B-Betty had enough for today, I suppose! Betty is going back to the orphanage and teach that foolish girl Lewes some manners, in fact. So she may never end up annoying like useless witches! G-good luck with the mission, I suppose! All of you better come back alive if you don't want Betty to insult you in death, I suppose!"

With a flustered face, Beatrice stands up and quickly struts out of the hideout.

"Seriously, what a cute, adorable girl," expressed Minerva with a pleasant smile.

On the other hand, Echidna doesn't look all too pleased.

"Well, congratulations. Now that most of you have rendered my dearest assistant's briefing useless, which I take as a direct insult towards me, by the way, I suppose it falls on my responsibility to get everyone on the same page... again."

"... I'm sorry... I didn't mean to be rude to Beatrice... I just lost focus... that's all..." Carmilla apologized.

"Ahahaha, you always lose focus, Milla~. That's why you got hit in the head. You really have a bad attention span, you know~." Typhon said to Carmilla before turning to Echidna. "And stop lying to yourself, Dona. Dona loves explaining and showing off, you know~."

"Well, that's true, generally speaking... but seriously, time is running short. We need to retrieve that girl before the marriage. As much as I would rather not partake in this mission, we don't run the show anymore. The Sage does." Echidna reminded them of the Sage's conditions when they agreed to the Contract one month ago. Then, she turned to Minerva. "Please, if you would so kindly wake up Sekhmet."

"Sure!"

Minerva walked to where Sekhmet was slumped over the table. She exercised her fists for a few seconds and...

"WAAAKKKEEEEE UUUUUPPPP!" Her shriek was accompanied by a booming punch to the table.

Minerva's renowned deadly shriek-and-punch combo was a success; Sekhmet awakens with an annoyed groan.

"Haa..." Sekhmet sluggishly raised herself. "You didn't have to be so obnoxiously loud... huu... this early in the morning…"

"Hey! Do you have any idea how hard it is to wake you up?!"

"Good morning, mom!" Typhon happily greeted Sekhmet, a woman she refers to as a 'mother.'

"Haa... good morning, Typhon, and everyone... huu..."

Echidna snaps her fingers to call for everyone's attention.

"So, now that the great Sekhmet has awakened, is everyone ready to get started?"

"Yes, yes, Daphne is ready now." Daphne shoved the final piece of biscuit into her mouth. Then, she looked at Echidna with a grin. "Soooo~, what was the whole point of the mission again? It was something about a man named [Black Greed] and a girl named [Frost], right~? They're having a nasty argument over which food they should consume at the banquet after their wedding, right~? And that's where we come in! It's our job to sample the whole banquet and help them choose the appropriate meal, riiigggghht~?!"

A sigh. A sigh that contained a thousand unspoken words of frustration.

That was Echidna's one and only appropriate response.


After Echidna provided a brief and concise summary of the objective, the witches dressed in their mission getups.

Echidna dons a black slim capelet coat extending to her thighs. In addition, she also sports a black beret and she hangs a black facemask around her neck, ready to be used at moment's notice.

Sekhmet wears a black long trench coat. And in contrast to her black, Typhon goes for a white trench coat.

Daphne exhibits a hoodie jacket with cat ears made entirely out of thick animal fur. Furthermore, her blindfold was also replaced by pitch black goggles.

Carmilla is dressed in a light pink double-breasted frock coat and a red scarf wrapped around her neck.

Finally, Minerva opts for a sporty blue shirt that exposes her mid-drift along with a long white coat draped over. Her outfit looks radically different from the others. In fact, it makes her stand out. She had actually been accused of being an attention seeker by certain members, in which she immediately denied with anger. In the end, Carmilla states "it's a good fit" for her. Thus, because Carmilla is the only one who has an ounce of interest when it comes to fashion like a normal teenage girl, no one can really say anything about it.

"Haa… for her sister to have been kidnapped… this is a serious matter… huu… I never expected our first mission under Flugel to be something like this… haa… how troublesome…" The drowsy Sekhmet complained slightly.

"It doesn't matter whether Flugel instructed us to do this or not! We would have acted either way!" claimed Minerva.

"Huu… I suppose you're right… haa… this is something of a personal issue, after all…"

"No, I disagree," Echidna joined in with her apparent disagreement. "This is nothing personal to us. At least, not anymore. At some point, all of us need to get over the fact she's not one of us anymore."

The she they're discussing is, of course, Satella, a former member of the witches. She was one of them until one month ago. On the very same mission they were captured by Flugel, Satella led them to the trap Flugel set up herself. Until now, her motive behind her treachery remains a mystery.

It was rather puzzling for the girls except for Echidna, who claimed she expected Satella to show "her ugly colors" at some point. The rest, however, was saddened and disappointed because they considered Satella to be a good friend. Conversely, they thought Satella felt the same way about them. Additionally, she had never shown any sign of malice that would indicate her impending "betrayal." Thus, whether it's due to delusion or trust, they believe there's something more to the story.

"You know, Dona-Dona, you always have that disgusting look on your face every time we speak about Tella-Tella." Daphne pointed out with a grin.

"Dona has always been a meanie to Tella, you know~. Even though Tella is such a sweet, nice girl, you know~." Typhon joined in. "Is it because you're evil, Dona?"

As the two youngest of the group alluded to, Echidna has never been fond of Satella, even before the latter's so-called betrayal. Ever since the two first met, it's nothing but hostilities on Echidna's side despite the half-elf's numerous attempt to pacify her. As always, no one knows the reason behind Echidna's behavior.

"I'm guessing you're probably going to use this situation as an opportunity to pile your hatred even more against her." Minerva accused.

"How I feel about that thing is beside the point. That doesn't change the fact she betrayed us."

"I believe in Satella. I'm sure there's a reason why she did what she did. And unless proven otherwise, I'll put my faith in her."

"Hm~! Hm~! Hm~!" Typhon nodded in support of the blonde. "And I don't sense any evil in Tella, you know~."

"Typhon's point aside, aren't you being irrational? Besides, it's not because 'she had reasons for doing what she did'… but to willingly fool and maneuver her own supposed friends towards a trap… that's truly unforgivable. There's an unspoken rule that betrayal is the ultimate sin to a group, you know. I'm actually surprised I seem to be the only one who felt betrayed by her actions."

"Are you seriously accusing me of being irrational when your attitude towards that girl has always been irrational?! It seems to me you just hate her for no reason!"

"P… please… stop…" Carmilla stepped in nervously. "Arguing… over… Satella-chan… always goes nowhere… a-and… don't we have… a girl… to save?"

With Carmilla's intervention, of all people, they were reminded of their new mission.

"Oh, right!" Minerva smacked herself in the head. "How could I forget? That poor girl must be so scared right now…"

"Let's save this discussion for another day… haa… I would rather get over this… huu… as quickly as possible… haa…" proposed Sekhmet.

"Fine…" Echidna folded her arms with a sigh.

Then, for a brief moment, an unreadable expression was displayed on Echidna's face. She appeared to be exhausted? Sad? Uncertain? Angry? Or perhaps, indifferent? Sekhmet caught on to it, but chose not to say anything and gave her a slight nod.

Nevertheless, the issue regarding Satella's betrayal is momentarily set aside.

And so, Echidna walks in front of everyone.

"Well, then... as a final reminder, our mission is to prevent the marriage of [Black Greed] and [Frost] and the recovery of [Frost]. [Black Greed] sponsored countless weddings across the city as a diversion to prevent everyone from finding the real chapel where's he's to marry [Frost]. Hence, the first and most important part of this mission will be to discover the true location of the wedding." Echidna explained their object for the last time. "And remember, just because we're supposedly working for the Sage now, this doesn't change anything at all. We still have to be discreet as much as possible. With that said, any questions?"

When no one voiced their concerns, Echidna nodded in acknowledgment.

"Well, if there are no other questions, let's get started~."