City of Witches Chapter 185

Raphi, the apprentice witch who inherited the Vessel from Duke Tiferet and was meant to inherit the Brand.

Raphi was a child worthy of being loved.

Everyone loved Raphi, regardless of age or gender.

Even birds, livestock, and wild beasts willingly gathered around her, and when she walked through the fields, stray dogs or birds would swarm her, vying for her affection.

Thus, Raphi was always bright, cheerful, and a lovely child who brought happy smiles to everyone.

With her charming personality, she often managed to sneak a smile onto the usually stern Eloa's lips.

One day, she said:

"Master! I want to go to the Mortal Realm!"

Considering Raphi's curiosity and strong initiative—fitting for an apprentice witch—it was a request Eloa had anticipated she would make someday.

To that question, Eloa smiled bitterly and asked:

"What sudden whim is this?"

"I merely thought that an apprentice witch destined to inherit the name of the great Duke Tiferet must learn about a wider world to broaden her horizons!"

"Well, you certainly have a silver tongue."

Raphi answered spiritedly, and Eloa laughed brightly at the sight.

The age difference between the two didn't seem great, so to an unknowing observer, they might look like a pair of sisters enjoying a pleasant chat.

"The Mortal Realm is dangerous. There are plenty of vile creatures who target apprentice witches like you, Raphi."

"I'm confident about that! I can handle the Magic you taught me skillfully!"

True to her bold claim, Raphi was an outstanding apprentice witch.

Though she had received only a single stroke of a Vessel from Eloa, she had attained combat prowess that could easily allow her to escape even against most ordinary witches.

The 'Contract of the King of All Weapons'—the ability to perceive and execute the optimal method for wielding any weapon.

Her innate combat sense had fully made the Contract contained within the Vessel her own.

It could be confidently said that in terms of pure martial prowess, few witches could match Raphi.

Of course, Magic was never absent from witches' battles, making such a debate meaningless.

"Masteeeer... Please? Pretty please!"

Seeing Eloa seemingly lost in thought, Raphi seized the moment and unleashed a barrage of charm.

She hopped over, planted a kiss on her cheek, and swung their clasped hands back and forth, acting spoiled.

Stop.

Eloa's lament, steeped in sorrow as she watched the scene, ultimately never became a voice.

It merely bubbled into static, dissolved into foam, and scattered powerlessly.

She must stop this.

She must not permit it.

Eloa truly thought so.

Yet no matter how much she screamed, pleaded, or prayed, the dream, like a film with a predetermined script, did not change.

Because this dream was a memory of the past, an event whose conclusion was already set.

"Hmm, I happen to have business in the Mortal Realm. Shall we go together?"

"Really? Huh? Really?"

"Of course. Have I ever spoken nonsense to you?"

Thus, Eloa had no choice but to repeat, hundreds, thousands of times, the choice that led to tragedy.

"Wahhh!!!"

At the sight of Raphi's delighted expression—one she could no longer see—Eloa also wore a contented smile.

No matter how dangerous the Mortal Realm was, Raphi could surely buy time and handle it.

If she herself were by her side, no public enemy would dare target her.

That was the reasoning behind her decision.

"However."

"Yes! I'm all ears, Master!"

"Do not neglect your Magic training in your excitement before we go. Can you promise that?"

"Of course! I'll do twice as much as usual!"

"That sounds like you won't sleep at all."

"Ehehehe, it's just a figure of speech. Just a figure of speech."

The image of Raphi, jumping for joy, distorts.

Like damaged, torn film playing through a projector.

The sight of Raphi's beaming smile, and Eloa gazing at her with affection, both contorted.

The crumpled, scattered fragments of a happy past turned into a metallic scent that stabbed at her nostrils, seeming to dye her very vision red.

Eloa looked down.

Below her was Raphi.

Slightly lighter.

Much colder.

No longer moving.

Raphi was there.

Futilely clutching Raphi's body, drenched in blood, her Womb excised—

Having lost her most precious thing in a moment of carelessness—

There stood the foolish, arrogant, reckless, and prideful Eloa.

Foolish Tiferet Eloa.

Did you think that because you cherished it, it would last forever?

Did you truly not foresee that your arrogance and carelessness would bring about such tragedy?

A voice that seemed to cackle mockingly rang in her ears like an Epithet.

Cold rain struck her skin, and streams of blood flowing down formed a red pool on the concrete.

A scream like a beast's howl echoed through the abandoned factory.

The Witch of Aquarius, Ea Sadalmelik.

I swear upon my name.

I will kill you.

I will tear you into a thousand, ten thousand pieces, leaving you neither dead nor alive, and bury you in suffering and despair.

When I grow weary of your noisy screams, I will burn that vile body of yours.

When your limbs burn and you writhe in agony, begging for your life, I will pour oil upon you and finally laugh.

Remember me.

For I will not forget you either.

Amidst the deafening screams and roars, Duke Tiferet awoke.

Drenched in cold sweat as if pressed down by a nightmare, with ragged breath.

Forcing down the nausea that surged up her throat, Eloa fumbled and reached for a liquor bottle.

Only after gulping down the lukewarm liquor could she finally exhale the breath that had been stuck in her throat as if choked.

"Haa... haa..."

Eloa's Magic generally placed an immense burden on her body.

Condensing power enough to cleave mountains and part seas into that small frame meant that even a Spirit Body required rest and recovery.

Thus, Eloa's body, though a Spirit Body, always demanded about four hours of sleep.

And that was like a curse.

Whenever her sleep deepened, the same loathsome nightmare always visited, accompanied by a bloodstench that not even a downpour could wash away.

For a hundred years, she had faced and confirmed her past mistake without missing a single day.

"........"

Eloa steadied her dizzy head, got out of bed, and slipped on her slippers.

One window in the dim room was filled entirely with the nightscape.It was a hotel room that Teacher Sua had gladly provided for Eloa, who was not exactly flush with cash.

A splendid view that could easily captivate one's gaze, if only for a moment.

Yet Eloa didn't even glance sideways at it, heading straight for the bathroom instead.

As she flung off the thin nightgown clinging stickily to her body, her eyes suddenly met the mirror's reflection.

Eyes bloodshot as if terrified, with wandering magenta pupils at their center.

Peach-colored hair as tangled as her complicated thoughts.

"Hah..."

A laugh escapes her at the sight of her own utterly hollow appearance, though she doesn't know why.

An empty laugh, with no target and no reason for its emergence, echoes dryly within the bathroom.

If only she could have torn Ea Sadalmelik to death with her own hands.

Would this nightly, loathsome curse have finally ended?

A futile question, now forever unanswered, similarly drifts pointlessly through her mind before vanishing.

Eloa washed away the sticky sweat with cold water.

Under the stream flowing down her body like icy rain, a thought suddenly occurs.

In this world, literary works preaching the futility of revenge are overflowing.

Whenever she saw works that purported to deliver a message about the emptiness and frustration after completing revenge, Eloa would scoff.

Who wouldn't know such an obvious thing?

It's a notion anyone could come up with if they used just a little imagination.

Of course it would feel empty once the object of revenge is dead.

But now is the time to stop.

You should no longer be obsessed with the past, but instead strive for the world, for society, so that others don't suffer the same pain.

She whispers to herself.

Eloa shook her head ruthlessly.

But revenge is not an emotion that can be rationally judged.

Revenge is like fire.

It is a race toward destruction, achieved only after burning not just the enemy, but one's own body as well.

Then, what should she do, now that the target meant to burn alongside her has disappeared?

Left alone, having undergone incomplete combustion?

Seized by a pointless, eerie feeling, Eloa slowly sank down and compulsively muttered.

"He must be alive... There's no way he died so easily. He must have escaped that place by some method I haven't grasped, perhaps using an Artifact or something."

Otherwise, it would be troublesome.

She hopes that's the case.

More than living powerlessly in this emptied-out void, she wanted to burn together in agony akin to hell.

She desired it fervently.

"Master! We have a request!"

"Master! We have a request!"

Albireo, who had been reviewing official duties, blinked at the sudden commotion.

Talk of meeting the assistant, vowing to receive the Brand succession at the earliest possible date...

Odil and Odette, who had been immersed in their magic studies with more enthusiasm than ever before, had burst through the door and appeared.

They even had their eyes wide open, as if they had come with a great resolve.

"How rude is that? Go back out and come in again. Knock too."

However, the twins, who had entered with such vigor, quietly closed the door and went back out upon hearing Albireo's reprimand.

-Knock knock

""Master, may we come in?""

"Come in."

After knocking and receiving permission, they opened the door and entered again.

It was a repeat of earlier.

""Master! We have a request!""

Albireo, unconsciously hiding a smile at the sight of the twins acting like obedient puppies yet determined to state their case, scratched his forehead with the tip of his quill pen before briefly placing the pen back in the inkwell.

"Well, my scatterbrained twins. What brings you here today in such a manner? Even kicking the door open."

"We didn't kick the door, Master..."

"That's right! We just opened it with a bit of force, that's all!"

For once, Odil and Odette were of one mind, earnestly asserting that they hadn't been rude.

"Alright, alright, be more careful from now on. So, what's this request?"

Finding their appearance quite cute and feeling unusually healed, Albireo asked, having decided to grant any reasonable request.

But unlike their initial vigor, the twins just fidgeted, neither opening their mouth.

Odil poked Odette's side, who was standing next to her.

It seemed Odil was the one who had won rock-paper-scissors.

"M-Master... Do you know what day tomorrow is?"

"Of course I know, it's my darlings' birthday, right? I've even commissioned a splendid cake from the Kifushi bakery and had it prepared."

Normally, the twins would scream with excitement just hearing about a special cake from Kifushi, but their reaction was oddly calm.

Albireo sensed something.

About what request the twins had come to make so late at night.

"Yes! That's right! But, um... there's a gift we want to receive for our birthday..."

"Is that so? Let's hear it."

"Well... you see..."

As Odette hesitated excessively, Odil, unable to bear the frustration, stepped forward boldly.

"Master! For our birthday gift this time, we want to go play in the Mortal Realm!"

The request the twins had prepared was exactly as Albireo had anticipated.

Coming at this hour was probably also a calculated move to negotiate alone with the relatively lenient Albireo, rather than the stricter Deneb.

After all, Deneb would lock herself in her laboratory past midnight for Magic Research.

Attacking the weaker side in negotiations first... He could see traces of them putting their heads together.

Albireo asked nonchalantly, crossing his arms.

"Do you want to go to the Mortal Realm? Or do you want to meet Assistant Shin Siwoo?"

"...Assistant Shin Siwoo."

"Sorry for asking, but either way, it's a no."

The answer was firm, as expected.

The Mortal Realm is dangerous.

Even Witches themselves get attacked and drop dead left and right by public enemies and Homunculi whenever they're bored, let alone Apprentice Witches like the twins.

Didn't even Duke Tiferet lose his own Apprentice Witch due to a moment of carelessness?

"Please... Master... We promise we won't do anything strange! It's fine even if you supervise us from the side!"

"That's right! Not being able to see Assistant for five years is too cruel... It's only been 141 days, but it's already this hard."

"He's a friend! A friend!"

Clearly, the twins hadn't expected permission to be granted easily either, as they continued to plead despite Albireo's firm refusal.

As if they had prepared earnestly in advance, a flood of words poured out to persuade Albireo.

Rather than leaving these distracting thoughts unresolved, it would be better to see his face and resolve them for sure.Rather, seeing the Assistant just once might serve as motivation.

I've always been curious about the Mortal Realm, and new knowledge will fuel my academic passion.

If not on my birthday, if Master happens to visit Korea, I'll accompany you then.

How lonely must the Assistant be all alone in the Mortal Realm?

And so on.

They passionately argued nearly fifty reasons for "why we must meet the Assistant."

"Please, Master... We've been really obedient lately, haven't we?"

"That's right! If you grant us this one request, we'll work twice, three times as hard as we do now!"

"Hmm..."

Albireo stroked his slender chin.

"Go back for now. I need to think about it a bit more."

"Really?"

"Yes, it's not a decision I can make alone. I'll likely need to discuss it with Deneb as well."

Odette and Odil widened their eyes in surprise, as if they hadn't expected their plea to even be reconsidered.

"It's getting late, so go back and rest. I'll let you know the result before your birthday ends."

"Yes! Thank you!"

"Thank you so much, Master!"

Odil and Odette were flushed with satisfaction at the promising outcome.

Like job applicants leaving an interview, they bowed politely and left the office.

"Hmm..."

Truthfully, allowing the Twins a brief trip to the Mortal Realm was something she had also been contemplating.

Though they didn't show it openly, she had noticed the Twins becoming rapidly depressed, and above all, she felt a twinge of guilt for having half-forced Siwoo, the benefactor of the Jemernai Count Family, into a lonely world.

It was just too dangerous to simply nod in agreement.

"Well, if I watch over them from the side, would it be alright?"

Given the Twins' personalities, they might even attempt to run away without a word.

In that case, giving them a little break under supervision wouldn't be so bad...

Albireo's contemplation deepened.

A Word from the Author (Author's Note)

Goodnight!