#704 Angel’s Return

It’s me again.

Reading the letters updating me on the graduates’ current situations is truly a joy.

I’m deeply moved seeing how they’ve all grown.

Even Sensei, the Lifeless King, was moved to tears, overwhelmed by emotion.

We have to work even more seriously and diligently so as not to lose to their youthful efforts.

On a side note, a few days after the letters arrived, Discus and friends—the newbie witches— returned from their vacation and returned to work.

They have become indispensable personnel, supporting one sector of the farm.

During their absence, Platy, who handled the fermentation and refrigeration departments, was so relieved to see them return that she embraced them in sheer joy, exclaiming, “Finally, you’re all back!”

When this farm just started out, Platy was single-handedly in charge of food refrigeration and fermentation. But since then, the scale has expanded, and Platy herself, now a mother of two, has become extremely busy with child-rearing.

After Puffer and Lampeye, who came to help out at the farm, returned to their home country after their marriages, it seemed like the farm was just barely managing with the help of Garra Rufa and Angel, who remained.

“Now that our main members are back, everything is resolved! I’m happy you guys came back! I’ve never been so happy for someone to return!”

“That much?!”

It’s unusual for Platy, who’s supposed to be the most powerful witch among her kind, to say such things boldly.

“Princess Platy depends on us...?!”

“We’re so happy we could cry...!”

And they really are crying.

Even Platy, who utilizing her genius and could do anything by herself, seemed to have learned the importance of helping others and the wonderfulness of cooperation after becoming a mother.

“That said, Angel, we no longer need your services. Thanks for your help until now. You can go back.”

“Whaaaaaaaaat?!”

So it seems.

As soon as the newbie witches returned, she dumped Angel, who had been supporting us during their absence.

“By the way, why are you still here at the farm, Angel?”

Angel, the second princess of the Mermaid Kingdom, is also Platy’s sister.

With her elder brother Arowana taking the throne, it’s unclear how to address her, but at the farm, she’s supposed to be a student belonging to Mermaid Witch Academia’s branch school.

Since the branch school disbanded upon graduation, isn’t it only natural that she’d return to the Mermaid Kingdom?

“That’s where my little sister is stubbornness comes in,” Platy says. “She was waiting for the time when the new witches would go home. Predicting that we’d be swamped without them, she thought that if she stayed, she wouldn’t be kicked out. If even Angel could be a force to be reckoned with, we couldn’t just let her go...”

Platy grabs Angel’s head and squeezes it with force.

What a terrifying scene.

Angel is being lifted off the ground!

“Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow...! Sis! I helped when you needed me, didn’t I?! You needed my help, didn’t you?! You owe me big, don’t you?!”

“That’s right. That’s why I properly said ‘thank you,’ didn’t I? That means we’re even now.”

“Sis! A ‘thank you’ is not a super powerful spell that wipes out all debts!”

I thought she has matured a bit as a mother...

But Platy quickly returns to her tyrannical ways...!

Well, this certainly feels more like the Platy I know, but still...!

“I know what you’re thinking, Angel. You’re trying to take advantage of the chaos, stay here, and ultimately score a permanent spot on the farm. But that’s not how it works here!”

“Ugh! You saw through my plans?!”

These sisters are hopeless.

Are their actions only guided by their lowly desires?

“Why not, sis?! I want to stay on the farm too! I want to eat steak, katsudon, and okonomiyaki every day!”

“Enough! Your abilities as a potion compounder are nowhere near the standards required to work here! You were a helpful extra pair of hands when we were desperate, but now that Discus and her group have returned, you’re just a substitute! Back to the bench with you!”

“So mean!”

Both of you are.

“Besides, you knew from the start that you weren’t cut out for being a witch, right? That’s why we’ve been focusing on your negotiation and communication skills over the past few years, right?”

Huh? Platy was doing that with Angel?

“She’s always been good at manipulating situations to her advantage, you know? She will use any means necessary to avoid situations she doesn’t like!”

Yes, that’s true.

She certainly doesn’t shy away from using unscrupulous means.

“I think this cunningness can be useful in politics. It’s a rare skill in our family, so it’s quite valuable in its own way.”

Thinking about it, she’s right.

The royal mermaid family that I’ve gotten to know...

...Platy, Arowana, King Nagus, and Queen Mahi...

They are all brutally straightforward people in the truest sense of the word.

If anything, even Puffer, who became Arowana’s partner, is the same.

Someone like Angel, who loves to talk her way out of things and loves tricky schemes, might actually be quite rare in the mermaid royal family.

“I believe your talent will be a crucial factor in Arowana’s upcoming reign. But if you stay on the farm forever, you won’t be able to use your abilities to benefit the Mermaid Kingdom, will you?”

After all, Discus, Veiltail, Heckelii, and Batrachus, the new witches, were initially scouted by Angel and became her followers.

Whether it’s talking people into things or finding valuable people in the community...

Wait.

The more I think about it, the more it seems like Angel is actually quite politically savvy.

“I have political talent...?!”

Even Angel herself seems to be warming to the idea!

Is this what they call autosuggestion?!

And so Platy keeps up the momentum.

“I feel responsible as a former merprincess myself. As the second princess, I wanted to train you to be useful to the Mermaid Kingdom. That’s why I decided to foster you in a different direction, where your talent for smooth-talking could be used to create more trouble.”

“Sis!!!”

“I thought you could go all out as a double-dealing negotiator rather than a potion compounder, so I pushed you in that direction.”

Her occasional harsh insults perfectly represent their relationship as sisters.

“Does that also explain those bizarre orders you gave when you found out I was sneaking snacks? Like making excuses with the flame spirit, Ifrit, over my head?”

“That was a trial to strengthen your courage to speak even under extreme situations.”

“And when you told me to talk my way out before I was swallowed whole by a massive frog?”

“That was training.”

“And when you told me to make excuses while I was about to be dragged into the netherworld by a fiend?!”

“Also training?”

Is that really what it is?

Most of the time when Angel got herself into such predicaments, it was because she had eaten some sweets that Platy had been looking forward to, worn clothes that had been tailored for her, tried to play pranks on Junior the moment Platy turned her back, or done something excessively annoying.

“It was all for your future. I was being strict with you on purpose!”

Platy seems quite good at making things up on the spot.

“I see...I didn’t realize you cared so much about me, sis...!”

This sisterly bond scares me.

Looking at them from the sidelines makes that even clearer.

“I’m going back to the Mermaid Kingdom...! I’ll show you that I can be of help to my brother...I mean, King Arowana, using the negotiating and political skills you’ve nurtured in me!”

“That’s the spirit, Angel. That’s what a woman of the Mermaid Royal family should do. Work hard not to be ashamed of what you’ve learned on this farm.”

“Yes!!!”

As Angel downs a test tube with a magic potion in one gulp, her lower body transforms from two legs back to a tailfin.

Undoing the humanizing potion, the mermaid regains her original form.

She’s ready to dive back into the sea!

“Thank you for everything, Princess Angel...!”

“We couldn’t have come this far without you!”

“You are our benefactor, Princess Angel! We will never forget!”

“We will always be together!!!”

The four young witches who came to the farm together gather around Angel to express their gratitude and admiration.

As they shared their youthful days together, they are now parting ways to move forward.

But the days they spent together will never change.

After all, Angel sees them as her friends, too.

“I love you all! I love you sooo much!”

Angel cries as she hugs her friends.

Even though she finished her graduation ceremony quite some time ago, the surge of emotion hits her now.

Watching this from the sidelines, Platy...

“Just as planned...! Successfully kicked out Angel...! Finally, peace has returned to my house...!”

...is chuckling to herself.

Platy seems to be much better at smooth-talking, doesn’t she...?!