"Oh dear, what a show! I hadn't seen a fight like that in a long while." (???)

  Looking around, I saw a tall woman casually standing nearby. She was wearing a rge pointy hat and a long bck dress. She also had two fox ears poking out of holes in her hat and a long, red and fluffy fox tail. As for how she got there? I had no clue. No, seriously, when had she shown up?

  "Oh, I startled you. I should apologise. I won't tho, your expression looked too funny. Anyways, as you might have guessed, I am the one known as the Witch of Camity." (Witch of Camity)

  She seemed to find all of my reactions extremely funny. I also couldn't quite tell what her intentions were. However, I was absolutely certain that I had no way to go against her. She was a legendary witch, after all.

  "What do you want?" (Dragonfly)

  "Oh, no need to be so scared, little dragon. I am a nice witch. My title is ill-fitting, truly. I mean, seriously, you pull a couple harmless pranks once or twice and everyone starts thinking that you want to destroy the world." (Witch of Camity)

  She looked annoyed, but I just had to know more.

  "What sort of pranks?" (Dragonfly)

  "Oh, nothing big. Stuff like putting massive ammounts of magical xative in a city's water supply. Ok, maybe not the best example, but I was bored. I mean, what else is an immortal witch supposed to do?" (Witch of Camity)

  That wasn't exactly a harmless prank. It wasn't the worst, but still. This witch seemed a bit insane. If she acted like this because of her age, how old was she?

  "Immortal? How old are you? You don't look any older than 30." (Dragonfly)

  She feigned being insulted when I asked that. I could tell that she wasn't serious because of the amused smirk she had the entire time...

  "Tsk, tsk, don't you know it's rude to ask a dy her age? Ah, right, I forgot to ask. What's your name, little dragon?" (Witch of Camity)

  "My name is Dragonfly. What do you want to be called? You mentionned not liking your usual title earlier." (Dragonfly)

  "Dragonfly? A peculiar name indeed. Oh, you can call me Camity." (Camity)

  I was extremely confused now. She didn't like the name and still wanted me to use it?

  "Now, now, don't look so perplexed, dear. I merely said that it was ill-fitting, not that I disliked it. After all, it is quite funny and I never pass up on a good joke." (Camity)

  That's it, I was completely lost. What was up with this woman? Did she see everything as a joke? It sure did feel like it. I had heard that fox beastfolk were often pranksters, but this was on a whole other level...

  "Ah, right, let's get back to the point. To be fair, I completely forgot what it was. Let's see. There's a dead knight on the ground. Oh, I remember now, I was congratuting you on your victory!" (Camity)

  "Can I know what you want?" (Dragonfly)

  "Truly, that battle was impressive. Defeating an imperial knight without knowing any proper technique is quite the accomplishment, even if he was extremely overconfident. You should probably put all of those swords back to where they came from, however." (Camity)

  Why was she dodging my question? It was starting to get annoying. Still, I listened to her advice and pced the swords back into my storage. It was a good idea anyways. The sword that I had used at the end was chipped in a couple spots, but it could still be used. I also took the knight's sword since I had no reason not to.

  "Can I know what you want now?" (Dragonfly)

  "Oh, you are quite persistent with asking that, aren't you? If I said that I was trying to help you out of the goodness of my heart, would you believe me?" (Camity)

  "No, I would not." (Dragonfly)

  If there was one thing I'd learnt during my time spent in that b, it's that no one does anything for free. Even the other test subjects would sell each other out if they could get better food or avoid some experiments in exchange. I couldn't see how this witch could be any different.

  "Ah, well then, I need to come up with a good excuse. Um... Oh, I know! I acquired a daughter a couple years back, but I heard that children need to socialise with other children their age to grow up properly. So, if you could help with that, I would ensure your safety from all the other pesky knights searching for you. What do you say? Wanna come along?" (Camity)

  She had "acquired a daughter"? Did she kidnap her? Well, her offer seemed nice enough. Having a safe pce to sleep without being attacked did seem pretty good. The Empire also clearly disliked her too, which was a good sign. Plus, I was fully aware that this witch was far stronger than me. If she was hostile for a reason or another, she wouldn't have needed to scheme at all.

  "Sure, I'll come with you." (Dragonfly)

  "Ohhh, this is going to be so much fun!" (Camity)

  Hopefully I wouldn't come to regret this. My hopes weren't high, however.