Reborn as a witch in another world [slice of life, isekai] (ch. 89)
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 89. Trust
“Rise and shine, Inspector Wilkerson,” I said as the officer came awake.
He groaned and blinked in the dimness of the basement. His eyes went wide with fear and shock when he saw me sitting in the chair, Pearl standing next to me with her fangs bared and Lily standing behind me. Smokewell was in my lap, casting her contemptuous red gaze at him.
The man swallowed hard. “You…you don't know what you are getting yourself into,” he said.
“You do know your fellow armed criminals are all dead, right?” I said.
He paused. “Impossible…” he mumbled.
“All of them, Inspector,” I said again. “Everyone that you brought here at least. And if there are more we will stomp them too. It's an evening's job for us, as you may have noticed.”
I could hear his ragged breath in the dead silence of the basement. And I could hear his abyss. She is just trying to intimidate me. Those men were just thugs. They were going to die sooner or later. I'm still one of the Internal Police. She can't just–
“You aren't fooling yourself into thinking that your badge or your uniform can save you, right?” I said, idly stroking Smokewell's back and gestured at the direwolf. “Pearl over here can have you for dinner and crap you on the sidewalk and no one would notice. On top of that, you were corrupt and ran with a bunch of thugs. Not like anyone would miss someone like you.”
This bitch…who does she think she is?
“I'm the girl who buried twenty of your criminal friends. And my friends handled the rest, Inspector,” I said. “I'm the person you shouldn't cross.”
He let out another ragged breath. “So now what? You are going to kill me too?” he said.
“Depends.” I shrugged and leaned back in my chair. “What do you have to offer?”
What the fuck am I supposed to offer this chick? That freak friend of hers snapped my bones with bare hands. They don't even seem afraid of the law.
I smirked at him. “Let me make things easier for you,” I said. “For starters, you can give me some information.”
I held my hand out towards Lily. She dropped something in my palm. I held it up between two fingers for the man to see.
It was a bullet. But not any regular bullet. It had strange markings on it that I had never seen before. And when I had asked Lily to infuse the bullet with her malice of wrath, the marks glowed, making the bullet turn warm. And on top of that, I couldn't extract an abyss out of it either.
“This is a bullet from the gun of one of your dead friends,” I said and tossed the bullet towards him. It bounced off his shoulder and plinked on the floor in front of him. “It’s a special kind of bullet. It has those etchings on it. It is some kind of magic. I know you or your friends couldn’t have made those. If they were that smart, they wouldn’t be dead right now. And you are just a police officer. That bullet is the work of some kind of dark magic user. Someone who was under your protection, just like those men I just killed. So, tell me the source of this bullet, where did they get it?” I was even more intrigued by the bullet because I hadn’t been able to extract an abyss from it for some reason.
Wilkerson was silent. Both inside and out.
“Myrtle,” he said. “That's her name. She is an alchemist. Someone reported her for practicing dark magic. I was the one who went to arrest her. I saw what she was capable of crafting. The Iron Snakes were still a rising faction in Ironwatch. I was already letting them get away with a bit of commission from what they made from their crimes. I saw an opportunity with Myrtle's skills. She was living hand to mouth anyway. I introduced her to the gang. And I suggested we go after Cuthbert. He was one of those rare few wealthy businessmen that were good people. And good people are afraid of the law. It was easy to squeeze him for money. And then you all showed up.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Wow, inspector. I don't know if I'm shocked or impressed.”
“It's definitely impressive,” Lily added.
“May I ask why you felt the need to do what you did?” I said. “Was it really just greed?”
“I did it because I could,” he said. “I had this uniform which meant that the law thought I was on its side while the people couldn't do anything to stop me. But I didn't want to do this forever. I wanted to retire early and live in luxury. I wanted a good life. Better than the life I'd lived.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. I didn't sympathize with him even though I understood his reason. But I had to commend him for being honest. “So it was indeed greed. Extra money to retire early and live like a king? Understandable. I don't respect your methods but I respect your commitment.”
“I'm flattered.” He scoffed. “Now go ahead and kill me. That's what you are going to do anyway.”
I laughed at his statement to reconsider his judgement of me. “You think I'm here to kill you, inspector?” I said. “No. You are more useful to me while you are alive.”
“Useful?” the man said warily.
“Yes,” I said. “Think of this like a soft transfer. You now work for me. I'm your boss. You report to me about anything important that happens in the Internal Police office.”
Wilkerson looked at me, stunned. “What?”
“Also, you are going to give up your corrupt ways for good now,” I said. “You won’t be exploiting innocent people for money anymore. You will arrest the criminals in this city and protect and serve the civilians diligently.”
“What?!”
“And you don't have a choice,” I said. “Refusing to comply doesn't mean freedom. Refusal means we will have Pearl tear you apart, limb from limb. And we'll resurrect you with our magic. And we'll have her kill you again. And again. And again.” I smiled. “But we won't kill you even after that. We'll let you go. You will live your life like a walking corpse. You will be alive but you'll be haunted by death. And we will do it to you even if we find out that you've gone back to your corrupt ways. We will make you live, Wilkerson. We won't free you with death. We find out that you tried to kill yourself, we will bring you back and make you live again.”
The inspector looked at me as if his soul had just left his body. Then he said, “No, I'll work for you. I'll do what you say.”
“I don't think that's how you answer your boss,” I said, looking at him with contempt.
“I'm sorry, boss!” he bowed his head. “It won't happen again, boss.”
“Good.” I smiled. “Cinderella, heal our subordinate's wounds.”
Lily nodded and stepped forth with a healing potion. She came and stood behind me after she was done.
“Mr. Subordinate, ready to fulfill your first duty?” I said.
“Yes boss,” the inspector said, rising to his feet but keeping his head bowed.
“Take me to this alchemist named Myrtle,” I said.
--
Wilkerson and the constable got into their Internal Police steam carriage. We followed him in Eugene's carriage with him behind the wheel.
“Do you really trust him, Miss White?” Eugene asked as he drove. “I may be biased in a way but now that my problems have been solved I wouldn't want a snake like that Wilkerson anywhere around me.”
“If I hadn't made him a subordinate, it would've been more of a problem,” I said. “He would've gone back to his corrupt ways. And most importantly he would've tried exacting revenge on you again. Men like him don't really know how to live and let live. They need to be afraid of something to do the right thing.”
“We could've just killed him,” Lily suggested.
“That would've caused other problems,” I said. “That man wears a uniform. He doesn't show up to work, other men in uniform are going to start asking questions. And eventually, everything would circle back to our dear Mr. Cuthbert.”
The carriage went silent for a minute. Then Eugene said, “Thanks, Miss Snow White. I really appreciate your concern.”
“No need to thank me, Mr. Cuthbert. We are allies now,” I said. “I always look out for my allies. Make sure you emphasize that to your other friends when you tell them about me.”
“I will.” The man nodded.
We came to a halt when Wilkerson stopped his own carriage. He stepped out of his vehicle and walked back to ours. He leaned down to look at us. Lily rolled down the window.
“I would suggest the three bosses to ride in my carriage the rest of the way,” he said. “Mr. Cuthbert shouldn't let himself be seen in a place like this.” He gestured at the seedy neighborhood we were parked in.
“That sounds like he plans on ambushing us,” Lily said.
I kept my gaze trained on Wilkerson. Can't believe my plan failed and I'm working for these bitches now. Ugh.
“No,” I said. “If he tries to ambush us he knows it won't do him any good. Mr. Cuthbert, you should stay here. Wilkerson, make your constable stay with Mr. Cuthbert for his safety. Let's get going, Cinderella.”
Lily and I got out of the car. Smokewell was on my shoulder as we made our way to Wilkerson's car and got in. He drove us away while Cuthbert and the constable stayed behind. The rest of the ride lasted another couple of blocks before Wilkerson hit the brakes outside a cheap inn.
Past the entrance door, in a corner was a table. Behind the table an old woman sat perusing a magazine. On the wall behind her hung a couple of keys. The plaque on the table in front of her said, ‘reception.’
Wilkerson led us past the woman and up a flight of creaky stairs. We stopped outside a room that had the fading number 27 painted on it. Wilkerson knocked.
“Who is it?” a woman asked from the other side.
The inspector scoffed. “Who do you think? Room service? It's me, open up.”
A bolt slid, a chain rattled. The door swung open to let us in.
The room wasn't what one expected to see at an inn. There was a forge in the corner with a bellows and an anvil sitting next to it. A work desk cluttered with tools. Diagrams and illustrations were pasted on the walls. Some of these illustrations had markings similar to the ones I'd seen on the bullet. And the air smelled of coal and grease.
The only evidence of someone living here was the bed against the wall opposite to the forge.
“Wait a minute. I don't see anyone,” Lily said. “Who opened the door?”
“I'm here,” a woman said from behind us.
Lily and I started a bit before turning around to find a short, stocky lady with dirty blonde hair and a freckled face. She had arms and shoulders that looked powerful and she was dressed in a dark stained shirt and trousers with a pair of rubber boots.
“How many times should I tell you? Stop sneaking up on visitors, Myrtle,” Wilkerson said. Then he turned to me. “She's the one, boss. She made those markings on the bullets.”
Myrtle frowned at me. “Boss?”
“Yes,” Wilkerson said. “That's Lady Snow White, Lady Cinderella and…Miss Baba Yaga. My new boss**.** Which means they are also your boss.”
I smiled at the dwarf girl. “We killed the Iron Snakes,” I said.
Myrtle's mouth fell open. Her eyes swirled with intense emotion. “I-I'm sorry…” She stumbled backwards. “P-Please don't hurt me…I-I'm just an alchemist. I didn't hurt anyone…I-I made those bullets because Wilkerson told me to–”
“Shut it!” Wilkerson snapped at her. “Bosses haven't said anything to you yet. Listen to what they have to say first. Don't disrespect them by yapping off without permission.”
I held back a scoff at the inspector's exaggerated subservience. I looked at Myrtle and smiled. “You thought we were here to hurt you?” I said, running my eyes over the tools and instruments set up in the room.
“Um…it's just…just an old habit, ma'am,” Myrtle said with a nervous chuckle. “I'm just an anxious type of person.”
“Not surprising,” I said. “I would be anxious too if I was in the business of making magical ammunition. You never know who might come knocking at your door seeking revenge for a fallen loved one. Right?”
I didn't look at Myrtle. But I heard her suck in a quick breath. “I-I'm only an alchemist, ma’am.”
“I know. You already said that,” I said, turning to her. “And you are very lucky I’m not someone seeking revenge. Because it is very possible that that person might show up at your door. Maybe shoot you with a bullet you made yourself. Wouldn't that be tragic in a poetic way?”
Myrtle didn't say anything. Because her abyss was doing all the talking. Why is she here? What does she want? What is she gonna do to me? What is going on?
I smiled. “I'm the person who is going to save your life from that angry avenger who might come here to put that vengeful bullet in you. I'm your second chance at life,” I said. “Pack your stuff and put on something more presentable, Myrtle. We are leaving Ironwatch. Because you work for me now.”
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Posted Dec 31, 2025, 6:35 PM UTC