A few days later. The witch's house.
The same dirty living room with its black sofa. Herbal tea on the table.
This time, the cup was different—a luxurious black teacup trimmed in gold.
"............"
Something was reflected in my herbal tea this time.
A room. Of course, I had no idea whose room it was.
It was a stylish room lined with expensive furniture, and right in the middle of it was a corpse.
And I was the one looking down at it.
This was clearly a murder scene.
"And it looks like a knife did the job."
A blood-soaked knife was embedded in the body, so that must be the weapon.
The victim was... a woman wearing an extravagant dress. She looked high-class.
"Oh, someone's coming in."
Four people entered.
A maid. A knight. A delver. And an old man in opulent clothing.
The four of them talked while looking at the corpse, but I couldn't hear them.
But I got it. This was a mystery.
The detective role probably belonged to that delver. He looked kind of disheveled, so that fit.
Huh? Wait a minute. The maid was... no way. *She* was the detective?
That's just like that thing. The housekeeper from the popular drama in my past life memories.
"Oh my, oh my, Young Wof. Sorry to keep you waiting."
The witch arrived and sat down on the red sofa across from me.
I looked up from my herbal tea and leaned back a bit.
"No, it really wasn't that long."
It did kill some time, I suppose, but to think I'd finally picked up a trick like this.
A quick glance showed the mystery show in my cup was still running.
More characters had appeared. Was that a nun?
I was a little curious, but the witch came first.
The witch placed a small bottle on the table.
A rather stylish little bottle.
It held a liquid that glowed with a faint red phosphorescence.
"Hee hee, hee hee. This is the soul-thinning medicine."
"So it's finished."
"Quite, quite. It was a real struggle this time. The testing was a complete unknown, you see. If it hadn't been a request from my dear apprentice, I'd have turned it down long ago."
As she grumbled, the witch wore a faintly satisfied smile.
"Sorry for all the trouble. How did you go about testing it?"
"Well now, I used ghost-type undead for that."
"Ah."
"That's right. Ghosts are wandering souls, after all. I captured a few of them. Made multiple test samples and soaked the ghosts in them. Then I checked at regular intervals to see if the volume had decreased. If it had, by how much. Over what time span. Just endlessly doing that sort of painfully mundane work."
"……"
Indeed, ghosts are said to be wandering souls.
However, in this world, undead are dungeon monsters only.
They appear exclusively within dungeons.
Ghosts are no exception, but are those truly real, wandering souls?
When I'd been creating monsters in the dungeon, ghosts were the only ones I couldn't make for some reason.
I could create skeletons and the like without issue, but ghosts were impossible.
Is it because a real human soul is required?
Or do monsters like ghosts simply not exist?
"So, so — weigh Dagaa's current weight, assume the difference from her previous weight equals the amount of soul to shed, that is, the amount to reduce, and once she drinks it, she should lose exactly that much and return to the original Dagaa, you know."
"You knew her previous weight quite well."
"Well now, I measured it just in case something came up, you know."
"If I give this to Dagaa to drink... she'll go back to normal?"
"Mhm, mhm. But administering it all at once is dangerous. A sudden reduction can actually cause an increase, you see."
Rebound, huh.
Souls can have that too...?
"Understood."
"Little by little, once a day, seven times. Spread it over one week, and it should work out just right. And, and — I'm sorry about that. Kon's Relic caused you trouble. I apologize, you know."
"......Well, Dagaa was partly to blame too."
Then, from my shadow, a black widow appeared.
It was the Witch's Relic, Widow Suthadu.
Once she appeared, she looked down at the Witch.
"Oh dear. Still planning to linger in young Wof's shadow, are we?"
The Witch gazed up with a sigh and spoke.
Widow Suthadu gave me a courteous bow, then slipped into the Witch's shadow.
"...Ah, right. Witch, about this knife."
I pulled the snake-headed knife from my belt.
"Hmm, hmm. Looks like a knife that might carry poison, doesn't it."
"Yes. This knife. It's coated in poison."
"Oh my, oh my. In that case, let me have a look... This knife. Kon knows about it, you see."
"Really?"
"Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. That knife is a Snake Knife. The poison on it is paralytic. It's an OOPArt."
"An OOPArt?"
"That's right. It belongs to the Snake series, you see. There are knives, sabers, lances, axes — various types, and every last one of them has poison coated on it."
"Huh..."
"Well, well, but honestly, it's not all that rare as OOPArt go. Still, the handling should be quite nice."
The Witch handed the knife back to me.
"Since it's paralytic poison, after all."
I tucked the Snake Knife back into my belt.
Paralytic poison, huh. I should test out how long it lasts sometime.
Receiving a soul-thinning potion from the witch.
"Oh, oh, that's right. Young Wof. If anything happens, contact me right away, okay?"
"Yes."
"And also, also, it's a bother, but after you give Dagaa the potion, could you please report back to me every time?"
"Understood."
Today happened to be Monday. If I gave it once a day starting today, seven times should return Dagaa to normal.
I went home and, after dinner, gave the soul-thinning potion to Debugaa.
"Na."
"Guh, defiant."
First dose. Contact the witch.
Tuesday.
Give the dose after dinner.
"Na."
"Guh, defiant..."
This is the second time. Contact the witch.
Wednesday.
Give the dose after dinner.
"Na."
"Defiant. Still doesn't look any different, huh."
Third time. Contact the witch.
Thursday.
Give it the potion after dinner.
"Na."
"Is that the slimming potion?"
"Yes. I've been giving it once a day."
"Still can make pearls, huh."
"Na."
"What a cheeky little thing."
Fourth time. Report to the witch.
Friday.
Give it the potion after dinner.
"Na."
"So that red one really does reduce souls, eh."
"Yeah… it's… basically… sorcery…"
"Hey. Wof, can the witch make slimming potions?"
"Yeah, she said she could."
"…I see."
"What, did you get fat?"
"I didn't get fat. It's just my abs…"
"The young lady is worried that her abs are too defined."
"Kalum!"
"Mm... so jealous... Riv... won't burst... no matter how much I eat, I don't get fat..."
"Riv. Are you looking for a fight?"
"You lot..."
They seem to be having fun.
Fifth time. Reporting to the witch.
Saturday.
Feed after dinner.
"Nagh"
"Dagaa's gotten thinner, hasn't he?"
"Woof, woof. I think so too!"
"Why did you bark just now?"
"Waf"
"Still pretty defiant, though."
Sixth time. Reporting to the witch.
Sunday.
Feed after dinner.
The bottle was empty.
"Na"
"His voice is back. Actually, his whole appearance is back too!"
"Na?"
"Got it. Finally."
Daga was finally back to normal.
Phew. Diet: a success.
Not that he actually did anything himself.
"Na?"
Daga looked up with a blank expression.
"......"
Even when he's slim... he still looks kind of cheeky, doesn't he?