I Reincarnated as an NPC Witch

Into the Woods

“I guess. I agree with going with you. So, I think I’m ready.” Gallant smiles, “Great! That’s the spirit. Let’s go. It won’t take us long to go there. Just a fifteen to twenty-minute walk.” They walked out of the hut. She looks back at the home she lived for about an hour. “I will miss the peacefulness of this hut before you arrived here.” She looks back at him. “Hey! At least your life will be much more exciting than brewing potions!” She groans, “For like minutes. As if like I took my whole life brewing potions.” He sighs, “Right, you are someone who just woke up in this world without a clue of what’s happening.” They continued walking through the meadows. “Are you mocking me?” She glares at him as he grunts, “Why do you always consider everything I say mocking?” She shrugs, “I don’t know, it’s just your attitude.” He was about to say something but shuts himself up. “Let’s just focus on the journey. We don’t want to be lost in this haven of flowers.” Abigail giggled, “You’re the only one who needs to focus. You’re the only crazy person who tried to find someone that is almost non-existent if coincidence didn’t align with your plan.”

“Well, you already existed to us if you don’t know that. Although, I have not witnessed anything of your acts that people from Pacuvinium have said in their testimonies. We just know that there’s a magical witch in the woods of Critonus. None of my friends have to. So, we just followed what the people said.” She looks at him, “What stories did they tell?” Gallant rubs his chin as he thinks, “Mostly things about you giving me healing potions and flowers that brought them luck, prosperity, harvest for their farms, and other things. All of them centered on your witchcraft and obviously, flowers. They also look at you like a goddess. You have a much different title for them other than Floral Witch and a heroine.” “What is it?” She plucked a flower growing from a tree that interests her since the time she saw it from the distance. “You are Crocus, Goddess of Floral Life, Prosperity, Harvest, and…” He scratches his head, “It’s a long title. You get it. Whatever you give them, they add it to your goddess title.”

“Wow, I am a goddess to them?” She laughs as she mockingly smirks at him, “I am a goddess, Gallant, so you must respect me!” Gallant rolls his eyes, “I have my freedom to choose who I respect, worship, and who I will mock. Thank you very much for that offer but I deny it.” Abigail continues to laugh, “But, if you mock me, you will be attacked by everyone that worships me!” He groans, “Hey, they don’t worship you in any way. They see you as someone that is gifted by the heavens. They are thankful for your gifts but they didn’t worship you in any way.”

“Pfft. You just regret that you said that to me.” He slaps his face gently with his palm, “Well, I do, a lot. You are more egoistical than me.” She continued cackling, “Because it’s fun. Besides, who will not be egoistical when you are already worshiped even you still don’t exist in this world. I am worshiped for nothing because basically, I just came here.” “Correction, you are not worshiped. They are just thankful.” She rolls her eyes and the laughter fades finally. “Yeah, if you want to use that as an alternate word for worship.” He sighs, “You are worst than me.”

“Well, you can’t say that. I have seen your worst. You won’t believe where I came from and how in the world I knew you before we even met.” He looks at her with small amounts of fear visible on his face. “I think those potions you have been brewing get up to your mind finally.” She sighs, “How many times do I have to say that I am not from—” He gestures her to stop, “Okay, okay. I know it. I know it. You are someone from another world that somehow ended up here. You keep insisting that on me and repeating on my head, so how will I forget it?” He took a breath, “You know what? Tell me where you came from and how you got here. I will try my best not to laugh at it. No matter how stupid or out of this world it is.” Abigail glares at him, “I thought you were genuine about it for a second there. I should be used to your attitude. I already know who you are and I almost fell on that trap.” Gallant looks at her with an innocent look at his eyes, “What? That was genuine. I know your stories will be crazy and there’s a high chance that I will laugh out loud when you said a thing or two. I was genuinely honest that I am not going to be serious in some parts if there will be. At least, I didn’t lie that I will be taking what you will say seriously. But, I will listen with all my ears open and mouth’s shut, as long as possible.”

“You’re such a jerk.” She groans as he cackles, “I am an honest jerk. Are we already done with this part of the storytelling? I am waiting here.” She rolls her eyes, “This story will just be nothing if you are just going to laugh at it. All of this is the truth. I am not crazy like you are saying to me.” He snickered, “Did I said that you are crazy? I already stopped with that since you threatened me like a psychopath in your own very house, in a place only you can enter and exit freely. I don’t want to die right now.” She sighs, “Do you really want to hear what really happened to me, or are you just playing mind tricks with me again?” He shakes his head, “I am not. If there’s someone who will play mind tricks between us, it’s you. We don’t know if this story is a mind trick—” He clears his throat when he saw Abigail glared for the nth time this day. “I do want some stories to hear. A story to tell while we travel to the camp in the middle of the woods. Plus, there’s a chance I will get enlighten by whatever you will be telling me today.”

She squints at Gallant for some seconds. “What?” He said as she retracted her look to him. She took a deep breath, “Just checking if you really mean it.” “I do! Besides, it will be awkward for us to be silent this whole journey. I don’t have that many topics on my sleeves to talk with you. And, you seem irritated by my voice so that’s another factor.”

“Well, here it goes.” She took another breath, “I was from this world called Earth. You know it?” He was visibly confused, “This is called Earth too.” She was a little bit surprised, “So, this whole game world is called Earth even it has only one continent?” “Well, those in the geographers said to us that this was called Earth or Gaea. Just any of those two. They said they are other continents across the sea. It’s just they are too far that it will be a dedicated adventure on its own.” She nods, “That’s fascinating. Because your world is the only continent in this virtual space.” The confusion becomes more prominent in Gallant’s face. “You see, in the reality. Not yours, the reality I once have been, you are just a character in a video game.”

“Video? Familiar word but I don’t know it.” She smirks, “It seems you are like me before. You are once in that reality.” “How do you know that? Do I have something on me that resembles things in your reality?” She holds her laugh and maintains her straight face, “Video. Video is almost non-existent in this era that your world is set in. Even if this is contemporary fantasy era, there’s no way you know video.” He shrugs, “It might be an ancient script that I studied before. We don’t know. Continue your story. It’s not about discovering if I am crazy as well. It’s about discovering how crazy you are.”

She groans, “When will you stop?” He chuckles, “I don’t know. How can I word that much perfectly than it is?” Abigail puffs as she started to walk faster and goes ahead of him. “Hey, where are you going?” She looks up, “Going on my own adventure, you imbecile.” She started marching away. Gallant watches her and thinks to himself for a moment. He shakes his head and sighs. “Hey, come back!” He runs up to her and grips in her arms. “You can’t just venture on your own.”

“Why can’t I?” She turns to him and harshly pulls out her arm. “Because it’s dangerous out there. Wars are happening, diseases, chaos, just everything the world doesn’t need right now. Besides, we need you on our journey. It’s not that you can’t survive, you will have a better chance out there if you have people by your side. Being a lone wolf in this discord of a place is not the best thing to be. And, you don’t know what your powers are yet, right?” She was about to yell at him but she sighs and calms herself. “You’re right, I can’t venture on my own out there. I don’t know what my abilities are yet and I don’t know how I unleash them. I don’t have any means to protect myself yet.” She looks at him, “If you just stop being a jerk, then I will stay by your side.”

“I can’t promise that.” She groans as she started marching away again. Gallant quickly caught her arms again and pulls her closer. She turns to him and pulled her arms again in brute force. “It’s just me, you know? I am frank, just remember. Besides, you know me right? You said you know everything about me so you should be understanding me right now.” She stares at him for a moment and sighs, “So, you’re saying I should be smarter in between the both of us?” He shrugs, “If you put it that way, sure, I guess. Just stay with me until we get to camp. Then stay with us until you get to meet the person you are looking for. It’s just that.”

“Sure. Let’s continue walking then.” Gallant retraced where they will be going through the custom markers that he scattered all throughout his journey to her. It was useful for them to get back to the camp. Although, they need to trek and travel to the bumpy forest floor of Critonus. There were times Abigail almost tripped and fall flat in her face. But, she proves she can handle herself incredibly well. “This forest is so big then it seems.” She said as she hops over a big root that blocks her way. “It is. Although, we’re not too far from our campsite.” He grunts as he leaps across the consecutive blockage of roots. It was a common theme in the forest, “We’re slowly getting near actually. We might encounter Keeana along the way. She might probably be in these trees still, just scouting for danger.”

They kept traveling through the annoying terrain of the forest. Minutes later, they arrived in the camp where Abigail saw a lot of people laying on some cloth bags. Some of them are visibly wounded. She looks around. They had some customized tents and a fire in the middle. She trails off from her thought process when someone landed in front of her. “Hey, are you Crocus—” Before the person finished her sentence, Abigail suddenly pulled out of her position. “Watch out!”