Reborn as a witch in another world [slice of life, isekai] (ch. 86)
Blurb:
What does it take to turn your life around? Death, of course!
I died in this lame ass world of ours and woke up in a completely new one. I had a new name, a new face and a new body. This was my second chance to live a better life than the previous one.
But goddamn it, why did I have to be a witch? Now I don't just have to be on the run from the Inquisition that wants to burn me and my friends. But I also have to earn a living?
Follow Elsa Grimly as she:
- Makes new friends and tries to save them and herself from getting burned
- Finds redemption from the deeds of her previous life
- Tries to get along with a cat who (like most cats) believes she runs the world
- Deals with other slice of life shenanigans.
--
Chapter 86. Adventures of Snow White, Cinderella and Baba Yaga
Since we were running on short notice, we decided to fly Opal to Ironwatch to get there faster. “Um, what was it that Cuthbert needed our help with again?” Lily asked as she steered the windcleaver.
“The gangsters, Lily,” I said. “They call themselves Iron Snakes. They have been pressuring Cuthbert to manufacture more guns for them and want to use his supply line to smuggle guns across the province.”
Lily whistled softly. “That's quite elaborate. Are you sure this gang is filled with rookies? Those are some good ideas, objectively speaking.”
“Since when did extortion become a good idea?” I asked.
“Depends on who your target is,” Smokewell said. She was sitting in a leather backpack I had put on, her head sticking out of the main compartment and her whiskers tickling my cheek. “Not all criminals are bad people. Look at us.”
“We aren't criminals, Madam,” Lily said. “We are outlaws.”
“That doesn't sound much different,” I said.
“No, you see a criminal is someone who commits crimes. An outlaw is someone who breaks the law. Breaking the law is only a crime when you piss off the government,” Lily said.
“That's my girl.” Smokewell reached out to pat Lily with a paw.
“Thank you, madam!” Lily said sweetly.
I had a good retort for both of them but I don't think it would've stood much chance against the mother-daughter moment the two were having.
--
Eugene Cuthbert was a rotund man in his late thirties. The last time I met him, he looked like a rich and healthy guy. But the threats from the gang had visibly worn him down. Even his round face was starting to look gaunt now.
I had sent a telegram ahead of time to Ironwatch, warning him to cancel any and all visits he might've planned and to not to let his family leave the house until we showed up.
Cuthbert's house was a surprisingly humble looking structure. Only two stories tall, a perimeter wall from all sides without a large yard or a patio and a single steam carriage standing in the driveway. Compared to all the places of the rich I'd seen in Orowen, his house didn't look much different from our own in the Burning Bend.
A cute golden retriever who had been resting in his kennel by the east wall noticed us walking through the gates and started barking. “Oh, look at him, such a good little boy!” Lily said, hopping over to the dog with a merry spring in her step.
Even the canine looked surprised at her forwardness and had to pause. Lily patted the dog on his head and scratched his side gently. “Aren't you a good boy? Guarding the house by yourself. Do you want a jerky? Here you go!” She pulled out a scrap of dried meat from her pocket and waved it a bit before dropping it in front of him.
The dog looked at her for a second before sniffing at the piece of meat and gobbling it up in a minute. Soon, his tongue came out and his tail began to wag. “Such a good boy!” Lily patted his head again. And noticed the name painted on the front of the kennel. “Aren't you a good boy, Ted?”
The dog gave a small happy bark.
“Remind me to not let her touch me without washing her hands,” Smokewell said from the backpack.
“Miss Snow White?” Cuthbert said, coming out of the house.
Lily hopped away from the dog who followed after her excitedly. “Yessir! That's Miss Snow White. I'm Cinderella and this is our lovely Miss Baba Yaga,” she said, pulling Smokewell out of the backpack and holding her up like a prize.
“Who the hell would call themselves Baba Yaga?” the cat grumbled.
Cuthbert looked confused at the talking cat.
“Don't mind her,” I said. “We flew here so she is a bit grouchy.”
If we really wanted to take down the Order of the Unseen, we couldn't let our real names come out in all of this. I'd grabbed enough attention since I'd arrived in this new world already. And it had taken a fair share of risks to clear our names from the Inquisition's burn list. In the hands of someone like the angels or the Order of the Unseen, our real names were vulnerable. They could use their power and connections to set us back on square one. Thus, we had to work with these aliases.
Cuthbert didn't seem to find our names weird either way, nor did it seem to bother him that our cat could talk. Worry and anxiety flickered in his eyes again. “We did as you told,” he said. “No one has stepped out of the gates since I received your telegram.”
“Good,” I said and we walked in.
“You should let Ted stay inside too,” Lily said, whistling at the dog to call him over. “Don't you have a little daughter? They both will keep each other company while we take care of your problem.”
“You're right,” Cuthbert said absentmindedly, letting the dog into the house. “Carla,” He called out and a little girl of about five or six years came downstairs. “Take Ted to your room with you and don't come down.”
The golden retriever rushed over to the girl and nuzzled her hip. The girl had two small pig tails, a chubby face and she was wearing a floral pink and white dress. She regarded us curiously for a second before nodding to her dad. “Okay, papa,” she said.
“Um, wait,” I said a bit hesitantly. I dug into the pocket of my waist coat and fished out a handful of candies. “Do you like this?”
The girl looked at me as if she was holding back a frown. She looked at Cuthbert, as if asking for permission. Cuthebert smiled tiredly and nodded at her. She took the candies from my hand. “Thank you,” she said and curtsied and left to go upstairs with Ted at her side.
“A well mannered child,” I said to Cuthbert.
“She is,” he said. “All credit goes to her mother. She is intelligent like her as well. I feel glad that she hasn't taken much after me. I've only brought trouble to this house afterall.”
“Mr. Cuthbert,” Lily said sternly, instantly getting the man's attention. “Let's get one thing out of the way. The trouble in your house is caused by the people who are threatening you. You care about your family, that's why you called us. A man who didn't care would've skipped the town and his family altogether.”
“R-Right,” the man said sheepishly.
“We apologize for not coming sooner,” I said. “We had been caught up in some other business.”
“No need to apologize,” a woman said, appearing at the door of the hallway by the living room. Probably Cuthbert's wife, Enola. “I'm glad you are here now.”
“As you should be,” Lily said. “We'll solve your problem so well that all your other problems will feel scared of giving you any more trouble.”
I dug into my backpack and pulled out a loaded paper bag. I moved up to Cuthbert's wife and handed it to her. “These are some cakes and pastries we bought on the way. It felt like a good idea,” I said shyly.
“Cakes are seldom a bad idea,” Cuthbert's wife said with a small smile. “I'll go and serve these so we can all have some.”
“Save our cake for later,” Smokewell said. “We have to make some arrangements around the house first.”
It took us thirty minutes to make the necessary arrangements. After we were done, Enola asked if we would like to have tea.
“We would prefer coffee,” I said. “We are going to need it to stay vigilant throughout the night.
Enola brought us the drinks, then she looked at Smokewell hesitantly. “Um, what about…Miss Baba Yaga?” she said.
“Don't worry about me. I have this,” the cat said and held up her ivory pipe before lighting the tobacco and taking a drag.
Enola was obviously not expecting the cat to start smoking but tried to keep her expression neutral. “Baba Yaga, we are at the client's house! You didn't even ask if it was okay to smoke,” Lily said, folding her arms across her chest.
The cat looked at the girl, unamused. Enola quickly said, “No, it's okay. She can smoke if she wants.” Then she turned to me and said, “Um, would you be joining us for dinner?”
“Of course!” Lily said before anyone could answer. “We would love to.”
Enola gave a big smile. “Wonderful. Eugene is setting the table right now. We'll have the meal in a few minutes,” she said.
Smokewell sighed and blew a cloud of smoke. “Why would you do that?” she said to Lily. “You really want to intrude upon a family dinner?”
“She offered to let us join them. You think I should've turned her down? Also, I'm hungry for some good home cooked food,” Lily said.
“Quit bickering you two,” I said, taking a sip of my coffee. “How about we don't let our focus waver until the job is done?”
The cat raised an eyebrow at me. “You are the leader now?”
“You could've been the leader if you weren't too busy arguing,” I said.
“When did we agree to make you the leader?” she said, pursing her lips.
“Just now,” Lily said. “I vote for Snow White as our leader.”
“See?” I grinned. “Cinderella agrees.”
“I haven't agreed, you idiot. Which means you have an equal number of ‘for’ and ‘against’ votes. That's called a deadlock,” she said.
“Oh yeah?” I smirked. “I didn't know that since you didn't send us to a proper school.”
The cat groaned and took another puff from her pipe.
“But, getting back on track,” I said. “How did the arrangements go?” I looked at Lily.
“All my summoning cards are in their place,” she said proudly. “I can activate them when I need to within a blink. I enhanced my summoning before coming here.”
“I checked around the perimeter wall. And I wandered around outside for a bit to check if anyone suspicious was keeping an eye on the house,” Smokewell said. “There was no one like that.”
“I put bottles of abyss around the house. In other words I have eyes and ears almost everywhere.” I nodded and looked at Lily. “Did you find a spot?”
“Yes,” Lily said. “I checked the basement. It's a bit dark but if we put a lamp and a mattress or two in there then the family can squat down there for the night.”
“You think the men from the gang will break into the house?” Smokewell said.
“If they get impatient,” I said. “But it might take some time for them to get impatient.”
“Are you hoping to deal with them here? While the family is in the house?” Smokewell said.
“Yes,” I said without hesitation. “Because this area is under our complete control. They come in here, none of them is going to leave the house alive.”
“There's a child in the house, Miss Snow White,” Lily said. “You want her to see bloodshed?”
“I want her to be able to start going back to school instead of staying hidden in her house scared of a bunch of thugs,” I said. “Plus, she will be in the basement anyway. She won't see anything. If it is so bad, we'll give her a sleeping potion. She'll wake up tomorrow and all the problems will have vanished.”
“Not a bad idea. But that depends on whether the thugs decide to break into the house tonight,” Smokewell said.
That's when little Carla came from the hallway leading to the kitchen. “Excuse me,” she said. “Mama told me to come and call you for dinner.”
“Splendid!” Lily said. “We were famished. Lead the way, young miss.”
Carla suppressed the small smile at Lily's antics and led us to the dining room.
Cuthbert was the one cooking. And he seemed to be good at it too. He'd even made separate meals for the adults as well as little Carla. The kid was served a portion of roast duck with orange glaze while the rest of us had braised duck with peas. As Carla got her plate, she pouted a bit. “I want to eat the same as Mama,” she said.
“No, Carla, that has wine in it. You know the rules,” Cuthbert said as he laid the plates on the table.
“It's okay, Eugene,” Enola said gently, “I used to have food with wine in it when I was young. It won't hurt to let Carla have a taste.”
Eugene looked at his wife with a frown. Then he sighed in defeat. “A bite is fine, I guess.”
Enola smiled and put a piece from her own portion in Carla’s plate.
“The meal looks delicious, Mr. Cuthbert,” I said as the man finally settled at the table.
“Thank you,” he said curtly.
Carla was about to dig into the food right away when Enola said gently but sternly, “Carla, did you forget your manners?”
“Let her eat,” Cuthbert said. Something about his voice sounded like he was trying to not snap. “It's not like it means anything.”
“Eugene, don't say that,” Enola said. “I know we aren't in the most ideal situation right now. But it doesn't mean that God hates us.”
Cuthbert set his jaw and sighed in defeat again. “Say your prayer, Carla.”
The little girl joined her hands and closed her eyes. She began to pray. “O Breath of Steam, who warms our bread. Who turns the wheels and keeps us fed. Bless these hands that made our meal. Bless our hearts with strength and steel. In smoke, in heat, in clinking gears. We thank You now with humble cheer.”
As the little girl said her prayers, I stole glances of her father. And I couldn't help but feel bad for the man. I'd done some digging on him after I'd met him for the first time. He came from a family of farmers, studied hard and became an engineer in a world where engineers were considered the new wizards. He had made a name for himself. Until he gathered enough wealth to move to Ironwatch and start his own business. He had remained humble throughout his ascent in wealth. It was visible in the house he had built and the meals that he cooked for his family and there he sat now, his lips sealed and his forehead scrunched, because that same humility he had worn like a badge of honor was now weighing down on his shoulders. And he had to act like God somehow cared for him. But Eugene didn't snap. Didn't flip the table. Didn't storm away. I admired him for that.
After Carla was done with the prayer, we were about to start eating. But the door bell rang.
Eugene looked at me and Lily as if he had seen the Death Reaper standing behind us with a scythe.
“I'll check the door,” Enola said hesitantly.
“No.” Eugene grabbed her wrist.
“I won't open it, dear,” she said reassuringly. “I'll just see through the peephole.”
“I'll come with you, Miss Cuthbert,” Lily said, getting up from her chair.
Eugene looked at me. “You don’t have anything to worry about. We are here,” I said. He hesitantly let go of his wife's hand.
Lily and Enola left to go and check the door. They came after a minute. Enola was frowning in worry. “It's the Internal Police, dear,” she said.
I looked at Eugene. “Didn't you say the police are working with those guys?” I asked.
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Posted Dec 22, 2025, 6:27 PM UTC