City of Witches Chapter 387

Diana, using a handkerchief placed atop a tower of stacked books as a chair.

She swung her legs and dredged up a rather old memory.

“You once asked me why I was being lazy, remember?”

“Ah, you mean when we went fishing.”

Diana nodded slightly, hugging her knees.

Even though she seemed to have already decided to speak, she hesitated as if revealing a complex.

“Do you know what status quo bias is?”

The term Diana had once trotted out as a sophistry in response to Siwoo’s question about why she was always so lazy.

“It’s a bias toward avoiding change. The wish that tomorrow will be like today, and the day after tomorrow will be like tomorrow, and that things will just continue. I don’t like things changing. I don’t want to become a Witch. And I don’t want Mother to disappear because of that…”

Diana slightly turned her head toward the window outside the bookstore.

“…I really don’t want that.”

Her voice, finishing the paused sentence, seemed slightly choked.

“It wouldn’t be hard to show Mother a daughter who’s become diligent. I just need to put in a little more effort.”

“…….”

“But if I do that, Mother will disappear, right? I’ll be left all alone.”

“…….”

“So… I wish we could stay like this together forever.”

At least in witch society, ‘succession’ is considered a proud thing.

Succession is the honor of inheriting a legacy passed down for hundreds or even thousands of years.

Being afraid to pass on the Brand to an Apprentice Witch, even when one’s own achievements have plateaued.

Or conversely, avoiding it for fear of losing one’s mentor, even when fully qualified to inherit.

It’s foolish and shameful.

It would have been better to be called unqualified.

She couldn’t bear to look at his face.

She was afraid of seeing his expression, likely one of looking at something bizarre.

A belated regret, wondering if she shouldn’t have brought it up, washed over her.

“It’s strange, isn’t it?”

“A little.”

“…I know it’s pathetic.”

Just as expected.

She hadn’t thought he would understand her comfortably.

She just suddenly wanted to tell him about this worry she had been holding alone.

“No, not that part…. You are the Apprentice Witch of House Yesod, Miss Diana. I had the impression you were quite a stereotypical Witch.”

Diana swiftly turned to look at Siwoo.

There was none of the ‘hard to understand’ voice or expression she had anticipated.

Just his usual gentle face, blinking one eye.

“This… isn’t strange?”

“What’s strange about a child thinking of their parents? I used to wish my parents would live forever too, you know.”

“Why? I’m an Apprentice Witch.”

No matter how she thought about it, she couldn’t understand such a calm reaction.

Wondering if it was part of social maneuvering, pretending to be indifferent, Diana stared at his face and asked.

“Aren’t Witches people too?”

At his shrug, Diana turned her head away.

She had finally spilled a secret she couldn’t tell anyone until now, yet for some reason, all that remained were her burning cheeks.

It was strange.

Revealing Diana’s secret complex to Shin Siwoo, who was practically an outsider.

And the moment she saw him trying to understand, and seeming to understand, she felt so happy.

Actually, things had been strange since the day they returned from Border Town.

Even when she was about to have a nightmare, his back would pop out and protect her.

She began to resent the mother she loved more than anyone, for no reason.

Using ‘finding a weakness’ as a pretext, she did the absurd act of a surprise kiss…

Looking back.

Diana Yesod might have been strange for quite some time now.

Because of that, it wasn’t easy to bring up the next words either.

It felt repulsive, like having to forcibly fabricate words she didn’t want to say.

But because Mother is precious too.

She had to say it.

“If you make Mother fall deeply for you…. Perhaps Mother will remain in this world longer. Without passing her Brand to me.”

“So that’s how it connects…”

Diana handed Siwoo a book she had personally selected.

“Here, these are books Mother likes.”

“I haven’t decided yet.”

“Just take them for now.”

Books piled neatly into Siwoo’s arms.

“Are you saying I should read these, find common interests, and talk about them? To get closer?”

“In a broad sense, yes. You’ll probably like them too?”

Siwoo could probably guess what Diana was thinking.

But there were too many problems to say he understood right away.

First, an Apprentice Witch is a Half-Spirit Body.

Unlike a Witch’s Spirit Body, it grows, though very slowly compared to a human, and aging also progresses.

Meaning, even if Countess Yesod kept postponing the succession, it wouldn’t mean maintaining the status quo.

Moreover, it wasn’t easy to think the Countess would agree with Diana’s idea.

A Witch’s Mangdallite is powerful.

Even the Twins, who respect and love their mentor, showed no reluctance toward succession.

So would a Countess who has lived as an Orthodox Witch for over a hundred years wish for Diana to die without becoming a Witch?

He didn’t think so.

Second, this is manipulating the Countess’s feelings anyway.

Even granting, for argument’s sake, that the Countess also likes this relationship so it’s okay to woo her,

making a move solely because of Diana’s request, without any love or anything?

He wasn’t keen on it.

Combining these two points.

Ultimately, this matter needed to be resolved through a sincere conversation between mother and daughter.

With Siwoo stuck in the middle, they would just spin their wheels without understanding each other’s hearts.

“I don’t intend to ask this favor empty-handed.”

Diana hopped down from the books she was perched on.

“If you succeed in seducing Mother…”

Diana’s moist eyes turned toward Siwoo.

This time, she was looking directly at him without avoiding his gaze.

The Sensual Aura that wafted over momentarily—could it truly be called like mother, like daughter?

“Then I’ll really… even from behind… Ouch!”

“You shouldn’t say such things carelessly.”

But what returned to Diana’s fully exposed, rounded forehead was Siwoo’s flick.

He put considerable force into it, so Diana’s head snapped back with a tick.

“You…! You hit me?!”

Diana jumped like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.

For Diana, who had never been slapped even once in her life, a flick was an unbelievable corporal punishment.

“Shall we head back for now?”

“What about my proposal?”

“I think it would be better to calm down a bit and have a conversation. You seem a bit agitated right now.”

“Th-that’s…! I said it with great difficulty!”"I know, I know."

Anyway.

A daughter offering her body as payment for seducing her own mother...

This isn't some trashy erotic novel.

But he wasn't entirely bewildered.

Siwoo had already noticed Diana's tendency to overthink things alone until she spiraled.

Given a little time, she'd probably mull it over and realize how absurd it was.

Leading Diana, who was rubbing her forehead, Siwoo purchased the book and returned to the mansion.

The passionate tryst with Shin Siwoo, which had restored her vitality from last night through this morning, had softened the Countess's usual sharp demeanor.

However, the moment she passed through the portal and entered Border Town, her expression shifted completely.

Maintaining the dignified appearance of a noblewoman was secondary; the primary reason was that she currently lacked the mental leisure for relaxed contemplation or indulgence.

The moment she inhaled the misty air of Border Town, the anger she had been suppressing began to boil over.

Descending the winding cliff path, she headed towards Cloud Mushroom Village, dense with oak trees.

'The rebellion of Jack the Knife'—where a perfectly normal human mutated into a Homunculus.

That former death row inmate, unaware of the subject, had attacked Diana, and his custody was transferred from the Border Town guard to the Countess.

And the Countess had, in turn, handed him over to a Witch.

In one corner of the village, transformed literally into a witch's forest, was the workshop of the Witch who had avoided the worst of the accident.

The Countess opened the door without a moment's hesitation.

"Countess Yesod. You've come."

"I'm in a hurry."

Greeting the Countess was Shuriya Sitala, an 18th Hierarchy Witch proficient in necromancy and mental magic.

As much as she wanted to interrogate this 'Jack' character herself, the more important the matter, the more it should be entrusted to an expert.

Shuriya had already resolved several crimes within Gehenna, making her all the more trustworthy.

"This way, please."

They passed through the cluttered workshop and descended the stairs leading to the basement.

It might be rude to Shuriya, but it looked incredibly gloomy and desolate.

Opening the iron door revealed a Caucasian man sitting in a restraint chair.

Limbs that looked flabby, as if all his muscles had atrophied.

A gag in his mouth to prevent self-harm, and eyeballs bulging out as if they might pop at any moment.

He was clearly not normal.

Even with the Countess's entrance, he showed no reaction, just staring blankly at the ceiling like a vegetable.

"I mention this lest you misunderstand, but I did not torture him."

"I see. I wouldn't have held it against you even if you had."

The Countess circled the chair, examining his condition.

"His brain began deteriorating the moment the interrogation started. It took less than 15 seconds from the cerebral cortex to the limbic system, and immediately after, his muscles and joints started melting."

"Hmm..."

It's not entirely unheard of for a human to become a Homunculus.

Countless Homunculi have existed in the world, and some still lie dormant, unawakened, in Dimensional Rifts.

Among them, there were, of course, Homunculi that took over human bodies.

However, a human body cannot withstand the physical demands of a Homunculus.

Their fate lasts only until the Homunculus draws out the host body's potential.

If the Homunculus leaves upon realizing the host body has reached its limit, the best outcome is becoming a cripple; usually, death follows.

Therefore, Jack ending up in this state wasn't particularly strange.

"Couldn't get a single word out of him... That's odd. Possibility of a prohibition?"

"To examine more closely, I'd have to open his skull, but at least for now, I can't detect one. However, my suspicions are clear."

"The probability?"

"Over 90%."

But until just before the interrogation began, Jack had been conscious.

He was trembling in fear of what was to come.

The fact that his condition deteriorated rapidly the moment the interrogation started, and that it took only 15 seconds, is extremely unnatural.

In other words, it's highly likely there was intentional Witch intervention in this attack.

"Can we gather more clues?"

"I'm currently reviewing the smugglers' manifests and questioning witnesses from around the time of the incident."

The immobile Duke Keter.

The Mortal Realm, stirring with the suspicious movements of public enemies.

Two intrusions into Gehenna within the past year alone.

While this incident itself might be something that could be brushed aside lightly, Yesod felt unease from this series of events.

It was a businesswoman's intuition.

"What shall we do with this?"

Shuriya pointed with her fingertip at Jack, now in a state little different from a vegetable.

"Is there really a need to ask?"

"Then, as you command, I shall use him for evidence collection, leaving not a single scrap of flesh behind."

"My, my. Someone might misunderstand hearing that."

The Countess walked out without looking back.

She held not a shred of mercy for the criminal who had nearly killed Diana.

Author's Note (Afterword)

Today's scheduled update might be slightly delayed.