Green

"I got too much blood on my face this time."

I wiped my face with a towel before glancing down, seeing the streets illuminated by the moonlight. It's Saturday, so there are still people in the streets despite the hour, though of course, no one is stupid enough to wander away from the main streets—Otherwise, they would be devoured in an instant.

"Uwahh, your battles always end so gruesomely, Blue-san!"

Coming up from a hole that had suddenly appeared on the rooftop, a cute girl dressed in a frilly green dress yelled in a panic at the sight of blood and bodies just a few meters from where she emerged. Her face was similar to mine in appearance, but contrary to me, she couldn't avoid showing her emotions.

With brown hair tied in a ponytail and flowers intertwined in her dress, Green Alice finally arrived.

"...you've been a witch for as long as I, and you're still not used to seeing blood? That's why the others think you are pathetic."

She looked at me angrily and tried to grab me by the collar of my dress, but stopped before her fingers could touch me.

"Do you have any idea how dangerous devil blood is for plants?! I can't come in contact with it or my precious babies will die!"

Ah, so she didn't grab me because I'm covered in blood, good to know. Anyway, this is precisely why I say that Green has a loose screw. She is a total maniac when it comes to plants, to the point of covering herself in vines and flowers to better connect with nature, and causing all kinds of incidents around her territory because of reckless behavior. I still remember the time she publicly tried to execute a bystander who made fun of her crying face when a devil destroyed one of the flowers she adorned herself with; it appeared on the news!

"Stop talking nonsense and get to work already."

Green clicked her tongue, but didn't waste any more time. As she extended her hand upward, greenish smoke began to gather around, condensing and changing into a different shape—a giant smoking pipe adorned with flowery patterns. Green swung it downward, making the ground tremble beneath us.

More greenish smoke began to pour out from the pipe, taking the shape of countless flying caterpillars that dispersed in all directions. Just like my Mirror Knife has the innate ability to cut through space independent of my mirror magic, Green's Flower Pipe can control hallucinogenic smoke, completely independent of her garden magic.

My mirror magic is perfect for surveillance, but pretty much useless for exploration, and it's not particularly cheap on my magic reserves. Green's garden magic is pretty much the same, but her smoke is perfect for exploration; if it's her, it won't take long for us to find the nest.

Honestly, I'm envious of her weapon; my Mirror Knife is good in combat, but the Flower Pipe is much more useful in many ways.

"Now that I think about it, how large is your territory? I never cared enough to ask, but I need to know."

"Pretty much all of Roppongi"

"What?! So you are in charge of the Tokyo Tower?!"

Green looked at me in disbelief. I looked back at her like she was an idiot, because she must be.

"No, Weed girl, Tokyo Tower is in Shiba, Roppongi is close to the tower but is part of Azabu, both are different districts of Minato."

"Oh...Wait a minute, who are you calling Weed girl?!"

"You, now shut up and focus on your smoke. Roppongi is not as small as your territory."

She grumbled something under her breath and kept on sending more caterpillars to explore.

There are many witches in Japan with territories they protect. Compared to the truly powerful witches, like Verdeluna, who protects Tohoku by herself, weak witches like us just have small territories, often a few blocks, and that's it. I have a larger territory than average, but not by much. Green, on the other hand, just protects a few neighborhoods along the Kanda River in Chūō.

After a few hours, Green swung her pipe upwards and recalled the smoke. Streaks of green smoke that were once caterpillars flew from all directions and were sucked into her weapon almost instantly.

"I found it, it's right below Roppongi Hills."

"The skyscraper? That's new, I expected them to be on the subway."

"Well, it's not too different, they're on the sewers below the complex...I don't wanna go in there..."

I grabbed her by the neck before she could run away.

***

"Ugh, this smell...I can't-"

I walked behind Green, who was guiding me through the sewers while trying her best not to puke. For someone who had to fight devils on a regular basis, her nose was too weak, but I guess that's because she always surrounds herself with flowers.

Green walked while covering her feet with a thin layer of magic to avoid getting filth on her clothes. I didn't care about it; my magical abilities consumed too much magic for me to waste it like that, and my clothes were already stained with blood anyway.

"Get over it, weed girl, like you haven't smelled worse things before."

Admittedly, sewers have become much more filthy every year. Since sewers are great hunting grounds for devils, any worker who tries to enter faces a high risk of getting killed by a lone Skin Hound, tooth fairy, frogmen, or, in some rare cases, even Malagamas or the much more dangerous Empty Snake. Naturally, people would avoid such jobs if they could.

"We should have left some mirrors here before, Blue-sama."

"There was no point, most entrances are blocked or are too small for Skin hounds to get in, and neither Tooth Fairies nor Frogmen appear here...until now that is"

I had some mirror shards in my pocket, but I couldn't place them in here. I need them to fight when we get to the nest. Without means to move between mirrors, I would become almost useless in combat, only able to flee.

"Girls, stop talking."

The blue caterpillar perched on Green's shoulders shushed Mary and me as we walked into an intersection. Just like I had her as my familiar, Green had Absolem as hers. The usually quiet bug was the complete opposite of the chatterbox that bothered me every day, but when it spoke, it was usually to issue warnings.

A flash of light emanated from my hand as my mirror knife materialized. I put away my hand mirror as Green readied her pipe, holding it low and pointing down.

The sound of splashing water caught our attention, coming from left and right. Without time to think, I turned right and swung my knife, sending a slash through the air that cut cleanly through the throat of a frogman who was running at me. The decapitated body fell into the water moments before the head did as well.

I turned around with my knife ready, only to briefly see another frogman, caught by dozens of vines that sprouted from under the water, just before Green swung her smoking pipe upward. The upper body of the devil disappeared, turning into a shower of blood and entrails.

"Ack, I swung too hard!"

Green jumped backwards as she screamed with a panicked expression, barely managing to avoid getting drenched in blood.

"Poor Absolem is stuck with such a foolish witch; at least mine is competent, even if she is a weirdo~"

My ribbon twitched in anger as I looked at Mary, who was watching everything while inside the mirror knife. This insufferable little brat. I would love to play a prank on her, but I don't have the time. I could hear footsteeps and splashing water coming closer.

"Weed girl, get your shit together, we have to fight."

I brandished my knife at the sewer passages multiple times. The sound of croaking and bodies hitting the water reached my ears, but it didn't seem like they were stopping.

'This is going to take a while...'

I could only sigh in resignation as I prepared for combat.