City of Witches Chapter 285

The kitchen, which the cooks had left neatly organized, was now in a state of utter chaos, as if a major earthquake had struck.

A large chunk of cheese, looking as if it had been gnawed by rats, lay rolling on the floor, and crushed oyster shells were scattered about.

“Since the contents have increased beyond the recipe… hmm… I think it needs to cook for about twenty more minutes.”

Odil, who had freely adjusted the recipe until the very end, gathered the clutter with telekinesis and tossed it into the trash bin, then glanced at the clock.

Odette, who had been crouching in front of the oven with its red flames leaping, also stood up, patting the hem of her skirt.

“Cooking is fun.”

“Right, it felt like we were having an alchemy class.”

“Exactly, it’s much more fun than alchemy! Alchemy can explode if the measurements are wrong, but cooking doesn’t.”

The Twins, having pulled chairs in front of the oven, swung their legs as they watched the horned chicken roasting to a golden brown.

Finding it too boring to just wait idly, they brought out some wine.

The Twins clinked glasses, treating it as an aperitif.

“Sister.”

“What? Odette.”

“You know. There’s something bothering me.”

“What is it?”

“Sister Sharon.”

“What about Sister Sharon?”

Tonight, they had received news from Head Maid Galina that Sharon had regained consciousness.

Sharon Evergreen, who had been staying in one of the mansion’s guest rooms for some time now.

When she had been in the Mortal Realm, she had been quite fond of the Twins, and the Twins, in turn, didn’t dislike her.

She seemed a bit naive in a way that made her fun to tease, and aside from that, she was an incredibly kind person, unlike a typical Witch.

The bored Twins would often visit her after their duties ended, half-worried and half-curious, wondering, ‘Is she awake today?’

If she were awake, they thought it would be nice to greet her warmly and ask about their assistant’s recent well-being.

“What do you think about Sister Sharon?”

“She’s a pretty and kind Witch. She even played well with our assistant when he was bored.”

“Right? And she has big breasts too.”

“Huge. As big as our Master’s.”

Odette, having started with trivial chatter, broached the main topic.

“I was wondering… if the assistant and Sister Sharon… might have become lovers.”

“Huh? What are you suddenly talking about?”

Odil’s eyes, which had assumed this was just their usual idle chatter, widened like lanterns.

“That can’t be. When we asked Sister Sharon directly, she clearly said they were friends.”

“Right, she said she was teaching him Magic in exchange for room and board. But don’t you remember that time?”

“What time? How would I know? Explain in more detail.”

“When the assistant was hugging and comforting Sister Sharon, and I tried to intervene, you stopped me, remember?”

“…Ah!”

That time when Duke Tiferet had attacked him due to some misunderstanding.

Seeing the two embracing, Odil had quietly stepped aside.

Honestly, she had wanted to intervene, but she felt that ‘the person the assistant needs right now is her.’

She was the only one who could be a friend by his side and someone he could rely on.

However, after Sharon’s declaration of friendship, Odil had firmly believed their relationship would remain just that.

It could be said that the Twins were too ignorant about romance to fully understand the intricate and complex affairs between men and women.

And the first to raise this doubt was Odette.

The cause was none other than Pecha, one of Odette’s two personal maids.

“Maybe… they slept together?”

“You have no filter! We saw they had separate rooms and beds back then!”

Unlike before, they now understood what it meant for a man and woman to share a bed.

At Odette’s bold and startling remark, Odil jumped.

Struck in an entirely unexpected spot, Odil shook her head vigorously as if to say that was impossible.

“No! Sister! Calm down and listen. I asked Pecha, and she said a man and woman living together is something that can’t happen between just friends.”

“What? Why?”

Odil’s fine eyebrows twisted seriously.

It looked so much like she was interrogating with anger that Odette’s voice trailed off timidly.

“Think about it. How would you feel if you lived in the same room as the assistant every day?”

“That would be absolutely wonderful!”

“No, not that. I mean, why would it be wonderful?”

“Why?”

Puff, puff.

Odil’s imagination began to unfold.

The assistant, completely naked with only a towel around his waist, and Odile, enjoying a bath in a large tub filled with bath additive.

For some reason, they were both naked from the very start of the imagination.

‘Lady Odil, allow me to assist you with your bath.’

‘Good. If it’s you, assistant, you may thoroughly wash every nook and cranny of my body.’

Siwoo, bowing respectfully as he attended to her, and Odil, giggling and playing pranks.

As Siwoo covered her soft skin with smooth soap suds, he suddenly threw off his towel.

‘…Assistant, what are you doing?’

‘I am preparing to faithfully carry out your order to thoroughly wash every nook and cranny.’

In her imagination, Siwoo generously applied oil to an impossibly large object.

And then…

‘A-Assistant…! You don’t have to wash that far???’

‘That cannot be! I am a servant of Lady Odil! I cannot neglect even the most trivial command! Present that mischievous buttocks over here at once!’

‘Y-You really, assistant… have a talent for putting people in difficult situations… Haaah…!’

Their bodies overlapping.

Odil, becoming cleaner and cleaner even in the deepest places…

And after the heated act, being dirtied again with white fluid…

“Sister?”

Odette tilted her head, seeing Odil’s face turn bright red.

Heat radiated from her as if a teapot had been placed on her crown, capable of keeping something warm for a long time.

“A-Anyway! So, maybe the assistant might have washed every nook and cranny, even the deepest parts of Sister’s body!”

“What are you talking about?”

Odil, having blurted out fragments of her inadvertent fantasy, shook her head vigorously as if it were nothing.

Though time had been wasted on unnecessary imagination, she thought she understood what Odette meant.

“…That seems plausible.”Men and women who constantly share living spaces can catch glimpses of each other's unclothed bodies in a moment of carelessness.

Moreover, when thinking of officetels, it's a distance where you could cross over to each other's beds in just five steps.

It was a laboratory so filled with the risk of all kinds of chemical reactions between young men and women exploding that it was practically overflowing!

"Right?"

Odette, as if confirming her guess was correct with her sister's agreement, clapped her hands, then soon realized this wasn't something to be happy about and her expression turned serious.

"This requires in-depth discussion. After the Cooking Research Club disbands today, we should go to our room and open the 'Shin Siwoo Assistant Special Protection Headquarters.'"

"Really? Then I'll be the head!"

"You were appointed as the Cooking Research Club president. It's my turn to be the representative this time."

"Why do you always get to be the head of all the worthwhile groups? I get things like the Equestrian Club, Oyster Research Club, Tea Party Manager! You get the Magic Mysterious Potion Lab, Ancient Texts Management Room, and now even the Assistant Special Protection Headquarters? Isn't that too much? And I was the one who discovered this danger first!"

Actually, all these clubs and manager positions were just extensions of the twins' role-playing games with no real authority, but Odette was still displeased anyway.

With her temper flaring, she questioned Odil as if demanding an explanation.

But when it comes to sophistry, Odil is a level above Odette.

Just as Odil was planning to grill Odette as usual this time too, a strange sound suddenly reached her ears.

-Pop!

"Huh?"

"Hmm?"

-Pop! Bloop! Pop!

A sound like fireworks exploding underwater creating bubbles.

Hearing this unfamiliar sound for the first time in their lives, the twins looked around and simultaneously bent down to locate the source.

The oven that had been warmly heating their shins at their feet was the starting point.

The poor horned chicken, stuffed to its limit.

The moisture from the oysters and various other miscellaneous ingredients began thermal expansion, explosively releasing steam through the seams that had been tightly sealed.

Somehow, it also sounded like the death throes of the horned chicken from the underworld.

"Uh, what do we do?"

"Odette, how much time is left?"

"Thank goodness! It's exactly time to take it out!"

Odette hurriedly turned off the oven and waited for the sounds to subside.

As the intermittent explosive sounds died down, she carefully opened the lid to check the results.

"......"

"......"

The horned chicken dish where the twins' creativity had been fully displayed miraculously retained its form, but in a rather miserable state that would be hard to describe as appetizing even as a lie.

Oysters that should have been properly sealed were sizzling and sticking out from between the thighs, pressed flat against the bottom, looking like they deserved the name 'Twisted Underworld Oysters Wrapped in Horned Chicken.'

Moreover, the cheese and vegetable pieces mixed in between added to the grotesqueness.

Could the fact that the smell wasn't too bad be any consolation?

"Then...."

"Then...."

The twins simultaneously looked at each other and deployed the 'older sister first, younger sister first' tactic.

"I'll let you eat it first, unnie."

"I'll let you eat it first."

Obviously, this couldn't be an expression of affectionate sisterly love.

Because neither wanted to be the first test subject for this dish masquerading as food.

"No, unnie. You worked so hard. Leading the special headquarters meeting later will be tough too, so you need solid nutrition."

"No, Odette. What hard work did I do? Besides, it's only natural for the Cooking Research Club president to take on the most important first tasting."

"No no, unnie. I decided to resign as Cooking Research Club president starting today. I've come to realize the emptiness of mere honorary titles. I'm even holding a press conference in our room tonight."

"No no, Odette. Honor doesn't stem from substance and authority. It's called honor because it's worthy of respect in itself."

In a verbal battle where if they veered slightly off course, they'd deliver fatal blows to each other.

The sound of the kitchen door opening was heard.

-Tap tap tap

Footsteps echoed in the kitchen.

The twins, who had frozen stiffly even stopping their argument, breathed sighs of relief.

The person emerging from the shadows was fortunately Lena, who had cooperated in all this.

"Lena!"

"You scared me! You could have knocked! I thought it was Head Maid Galina..."

Odil's face, who had been continuing to speak, turned deathly pale.

Because the person she least wanted to encounter was there.

"You recognized me well, Miss Odil."

Head Maid Galina, who despite being past sixty boasted a stout build and sharp gaze.

She showed her experience by positioning Lena in front to eliminate any chance for the twins to escape.

"I'm, I'm sorry... I tried to hide it too..."

"I allowed use of the mansion's public facilities because you said you were making jam to take home... Lena, were you lying?"

"I'm sorry... Head Maid Galina..."

"I'll inquire about responsibility for this matter tomorrow. Please go upstairs first."

"Yes... I'm truly sorry."

Lena sent an apologetic glance to Odil and Odette before scurrying upstairs.

Through Galina's round glasses as she crossed her arms, the kitchen that had become a mess was reflected.

Though Odil had roughly cleaned up, it was still chaos itself.

The twins' shoulders trembled like aspen leaves.

"Shall we go through this one by one then?"

"Hiccup!"

In the murderous aura like that of a viper, the twins simultaneously started hiccupping.

Author's Note (Afterword)

I'm back from a good rest

Though my body was a bit tired, it was a fruitful time where I could organize my thoughts very comfortably

Thanks to the support readers left on the hiatus and return notices, I was able to tidy up my mind even more cleanly

I also came up with many interesting episodes

I'm simply very grateful to those who trusted and waited for me

The reason I suddenly decided to go on hiatus was not so much due to mental issues but because I wasn't satisfied with my own writing

Truly capable authors might be able to entertain readers even if they themselves aren't enjoying the writing

But I found I don't have that ability

Handling such a large-scale work was my first time as Hako, an author only known to those in the know, and I became greedy

As such, both the burden and the pressure to satisfy everyone grew

I had somewhat identified what the problem with Witch's City was

To fix it, I would have to distort the situation I'd set up so far and intervene unnaturally, and I lacked confidence to execute it smoothly

In this dilemma, I judged that finding the connecting points to the plot would require considerable time, and decided to go on hiatusOriginally, I had planned to take a break of several months, generously estimated.

The reason I decided to return somewhat earlier than planned is that I have firmly made up my own mind.

In web novels, the wall between the author and readers is thinner than in the traditional book market, but ultimately, the author must speak through their work.

Readers' criticisms ultimately stem from affection.

There are more people who grieve for me than those who applaud my collapse.

There are still things I have not shown you.

Lastly, I am still an incomplete author who must continue to learn and learn. I was.

I may stagger slightly under the weight of a crown heavier than my abilities.

Perhaps I may fail again in controlling the story or pacing and face bitter disappointment.

But each time, I will remember:

That I am still an author whose studies are not yet finished.

Although I may have disappointed you with many failures, mistakes, and careless remarks, I will strive not to repeat the same errors.

Even if I cannot satisfy every reader, I will not be the one who cannot gather my own heart and break.

Moving forward, rather than overexerting myself, I plan to maintain a calm pace for more substantial writing that the author themselves can also enjoy.

I will write not to end with the Witch's city, but with the mindset of using this experience as a foundation for study.

Once again, I extend my gratitude to everyone who has waited during this time.

The full-scale serialization is scheduled to begin from Sunday at midnight.