Inside the prefab house, Axel and Teruria sat before each other, with the small coffee table between them.
Behind Axel, Arianne stood on guard as if to protect him, while in the kitchen, Maria and Cherry were preparing food and refreshments for the two—of course, all of which came from the shop and were passed to the girls for "setting."
After a while, the two maids brought the tea and teacakes to the table, arranging them carefully before taking their leave immediately, returning outside the room.
"So..."
Just as the princess was picking up her cup and a slice of cake, Axel finally broke the silence and asked once more.
"What do you mean by [came here to play]?"
"Mm~! This tastes amazing...!" But the woman prioritized food over replying.
She took a hearty bite, overjoyed by the sweetness and tang of the cake, before taking a whiff of the tea. After enjoying its scent for a while, she then took a sip before letting out a pleased hum.
"Coming here really is a genius idea on my part...!"
She whispered to herself, but loud enough that Axel and Arianne heard her.
"Anyway, what I meant was it?" She fixed her posture as she sipped the tea once more. "It's as I said. I've come here to play. Don't you know how boring it is in Witcheria? Witch training day in, day out... Ugh..."
Hearing her grumble, Axel raised a brow.
Teruria was the daughter of his first-ever business partner.
As such, it would be quite rude to just send her off immediately.
However, it's not like they had excess resources to let her stay here comfortably either.
"Sorry, Princess Teruria," in the end, Axel apologized. "But right now, we do not have much leeway. I don't think we can cater to your wishes for the entire duration of your stay... Speaking of... how long do you plan to stay here?"
"Me?"
In the short moment Axel was talking, she had already finished her cake and half of her cup of tea.
"I'm not sure either." She shrugged lightly. "I did tamper with the teleporter, so it should take Mother and her elite witches at least a week before they can come here..."
"One week..."
Axel's temples twitched.
He was quite sure everyone would be troubled if they had to watch out for this little princess for that long. Not to mention the fact that every night they'd have to fight against zombies.
"And is there any way you can go home on your own...?" he asked, trying to indirectly shoo her home.
Teruria smiled sweetly in response. "I didn't bring a Return Scroll with me, so I'm stuck here until my mother's subordinates come for me~!"
She literally burned the bridge behind her and even threw her map away, metaphorically!
Long story short, she had no way of returning unless the "Elite Witches" of Queen Wisteria came for her! And since she tampered with the teleporter, telling WitchyGura about her daughter's excursion would literally change nothing!
"What'd you do if nobody comes to get you..." Axel sighed.
It was clear that Teruria was going nowhere. As such, he had no choice but to drag her into their "business" too.
"Anyway, as I've told you, we don't have any leeway to keep you entertained. Rather, if you can't contribute anything to our camp, then I'm afraid the others would find that unfair," he explained. "If you want to stay here, then you need to work for the camp at least."
"I see..."
She nodded obediently before emptying her cup and pouring another with grace and poise. "Then, what if I say I can be of help? Will you accept me as a temporary member of the camp?"
"Depending on what you can do, I might reconsider."
"Great! Then let's go!"
"Huh...?"
Seeing Teruria jump to her feet all of a sudden, Axel felt confused.
"You need to build the rest of these buildings, right?" she spoke, as if clarifying her intentions. "And to do that, you need more hands, right?"
"Well, yeah..."
"Then that's what I'll give you!"
The little princess's lips curled up into an impish grin. "A lot of extra hands!"
...
After leaving the prefab house, Axel, Arianne, and Teruria took a short walk.
Their destination wasn't that far, only the northern edge of the camp. The part where a new enclosed section was just made.
"So this is where you keep your prisoners..."
As they stood on top of the wall, Teruria let out a voice filled with awe. "It's an amazing structure... I wonder how you made it?"
Of course, Axel had no intention of answering. There's no point in telling her, after all. Rather, he had no time to think about such things. What puzzled him at the moment was a simple question.
'How did she know there were people held in captivity here?'
Axel knew that she was a witch, true.
However, his common sense didn't really equate witches with detecting human presences over a hundred or so meters away.
Ignoring him, Teruria walked over the slanted "roof" and peeked at the opening in the middle. As she did...
"Come down here, motherfucker! I'll beat you to death!"
"Let me go! How dare you lock me down here!"
"Ragh! Hagh!"
The men down below started cursing at the shadow from above.
Some were even futilely hitting the walls in hopes of breaking them.
But with the light above her and the height of the structure, it's not like they could figure out who was peeking.
Axel, too, peeked down as he explained.
"These are the bandits we captured. We're planning on keeping them in line for now, but we might dispose of them after they've lost their purpose. What do you think?"
Teruria hummed as she scanned the bandits' faces before smiling once more, nodding firmly. "It's perfect! They're aligned to evil, so my curse should be super effective on them!"
"..."
Right.
The reason they came here was that, as per the little princess's words, she would use her curse to convert these brash men into obedient workers!
What method will she use?
Of course, it's through a curse and nothing else!
Teruria put her hand into the middle of her chest, deep into her cleavage. Axel couldn't help but watch as she did this—pulling out a straw doll.
Axel was familiar with it. After all, he was the one who made it—a Voodoo Doll!
"Alright, now... all I need is a strand of hair from each of them!"
As she spoke, Princess Teruria waved the staff in her hand. As she did, the men below cried out in pain for a moment, scratching their heads. Without them noticing, the little witch got a strand of hair from all of them without even taking a step!
Of course, she didn't dare touch the oily, grimy hair strands and instead controlled all of them to go inside the Voodoo Doll.
"Nach Pract Selum Grati..."
To finish it off, she began chaining words that Axel could not understand. A chant of sorts, long and repetitive. Faint orbs of blue light floated around her, making for a mystic sight. In the end, it took her a full minute before completing this process, and...
"DONE!"
She raised her voice, wiping the cold sweat from concentrating so hard off her forehead.
"With this, they should now be as obedient as sheep in a herd~!"
"Really...?"
Axel, of course, didn't believe her one bit.
After all, nothing seemed to have changed... at least, nothing "visible."