City of Witches Chapter 89

Amelia's day began with visiting Siwoo's room.

She pulled back the blanket and wiped his arms and legs with a lukewarm wet cloth.

She changed the gauze over his still hollow eye sockets and used magic to maintain cleanliness for the rest.

Truthfully, this wasn't strictly necessary work.

Siwoo's body was in a state where time had nearly stopped, and there were essentially no secretions from metabolic processes.

In the end, this too was just a part of her atonement, something done more for its own sake than for necessity.

For about 15 minutes, she sat by his bedside where he lay as if dead, talking to herself.

It was nothing special.

Just empty grumbling, as always.

After that, she headed to her laboratory to begin researching new magic.

Truthfully, healing magic isn't a field where particularly active research takes place.

Witches or Apprentice Witches are all Spirit Bodies.

Their bodies, formed of magic power and thoughts centered around the Brand, are considerably easier to restore compared to the delicate mechanisms of a human body.

Even if an arm is severed, it can be regenerated on the spot without much difficulty, and even if an organ falls out, as long as there is sufficient magic power, 'somehow it can be managed'.

Things like various tumors or infections caused by viruses weren't even issues worth worrying about.

In such a situation, who would devote themselves to healing magic merely to perfectly heal a human?

Recovery magic for Witches is at the 10th Hierarchy.

That's about the level where it needed to exist.

If there is an area even a Witch's Spirit Body cannot easily heal, it is the 'brain'.

The cluster of human intellect, reason, thought, concepts, and cognition.

The most complex organ that humanity, which has expanded the horizons of science enough to travel to the moon and back, still hasn't perfectly verified.

The electrical signals and chemical reactions occurring in hundreds of millions of nerve cells cannot be handled by mere 10th Hierarchy recovery magic, so even for Witches, brain damage meant death.

Let alone the fragile body of a human...

She didn't even know to what level she needed to raise her skills to make him open his eyes.

A daunting sense of helplessness as endless, towering barriers blocked her path one after another.

Even amidst the immediate desire to hesitate, Amelia did not consider giving up.

"........"

Compared to that time when she could do nothing.

Compared to the day her Master left, this level of despair is nothing.

Unlike when she had to helplessly accept fate, now she has means to struggle.

There is still a way to somehow make amends.

How arduous and painful that path might be is not a consideration.

-Clatter!

"Amelia!"

She thought she heard hurried footsteps, and then the door to the research wing swung open.

The person who appeared, fluttering her long, flowing purple hair, was Sophia.

She was Amelia's longtime friend and advisor.

"What's the matter?"

"I found it!"

Sophia couldn't hide her excitement and was practically bouncing around.

Although Sophia could seem frivolous compared to a typical Witch, Amelia had never seen her lose her composure and act so wildly before.

Amelia's pupils shook.

"What did you find?"

"I found a Witch who might be able to treat Assistant Siwoo!"

"R-really?"

A sudden surge of hope swelled in Amelia's chest, and she clutched it tightly.

But it was too early to rejoice.

As if pressed for time, Sophia pulled out two bundles of paper from her embrace.

"I was rummaging through the discarded archives and found a Witch who wrote a thesis on brain regeneration."

One was the thesis.

Amelia quickly took the thesis from Sophia and read the title.

Title: 'Brain Regeneration through Human Body Sculpting: Interpretation of Multiverse Mental Images and Entropy Restoration'.

Even Amelia couldn't understand it deeply, but a quick skim of the content showed it was exactly what Siwoo needed now.

"The thesis author is 'Smyrna'. A 19th Hierarchy Witch proficient in human body sculpting arts. But there's a slight problem..."

"I think I understand."

Amelia sensed it as soon as Sophia spoke.

The very fact that this thesis was in the discarded archives.

That meant the thesis author was an Exile.

"What was the reason for exile?"

"I've never met her myself... but I think she directly intervened with about 10 citizens during an experiment. It was so long ago that no precise records remain."

Amelia, who had been buoyed by joy, calmly clenched the hem of her clothes.

Originally, Amelia held no ill feelings towards Exiles.

After all, she had no points of contact with them.

But Ea Sadalmelik, whom she had clashed with not long ago.

Having realized her cruelty and danger, for Amelia, the three letters 'Exile' now evoked disgust along with anxiety.

Knowing this, Sophia spoke first.

"Don't worry too much. Not all Exiles are as evil as the 'public enemy'. The Witch of Aquarius was a notorious psychopath even among Exiles."

"Do you know her location?"

"I found her workshop in Northeast Greenland National Park. I bestowed 'Thousand-League Eyes' upon migratory birds worldwide."

The feeling of her heart swelling with anticipation shrank.

Amelia asked cautiously.

"But still, isn't it too dangerous?"

Amelia couldn't hide her concern.

Entrusting Siwoo, of all people.

The task of restoring his brain, of all things.

To the hands of another Witch.

And an Exile at that.

"Amelia, I understand you're trying hard... but you might not make it in time that way. You know this too, right? Assistant Siwoo's condition is worsening, little by little. Even if you master magic capable of healing his current level of injuries, by that time it might not be enough."

Sophia was right.

What Amelia was attempting was akin to an astrophysicist suddenly entering medical school and studying until they gained the skill to perform the world's most difficult brain surgery.

No one could guarantee the patient would remain alive in their current state until then.

"Duke Keter... is there still no way to contact her? She should be able to heal something like this."

"Amelia... you know this too, but it's been 82 years this year since she last showed herself."

Duke Keter, who secluded herself in the Ivory Tower.

The oldest Witch, who alone reached the 30th Hierarchy without ever inheriting or passing on a Brand.

An object of reverence before whom all Witches bow their heads.

If it were her, who could twist ideology and natural law, she could probably restore Siwoo to his original state.

After all, the place Amelia went immediately after the incident was Duke Keter's Ivory Tower.However, Duke Keter is famously indifferent to worldly affairs.

Despite requesting an audience every single day for a month, the only people Amelia met were a handful of Witches camping out in front of the Ivory Tower, hoping for even a passing word of advice.

The conceptual barrier laid over the Ivory Tower rejected the footsteps of the uninvited, and Amelia had no choice but to return each time, lonely and empty-handed.

Even after that, she diligently sent a pigeon every single day, but there was no reply.

"We need to make a decision. What's certain is that the longer we delay, the lower Shin Siwoo's chances of recovery become."

Sophia isn't unaware of what Amelia is worried about.

For Amelia, who carries the trauma of losing a precious person, entrusting the life of another precious person to the hands of a different Witch must be a frightening and difficult decision.

But earnest desire and caution don't always hand you the best choice.

Now was a time for decisiveness.

Amelia's silence was long.

To ensure this choice left no regrets.

Weighing her options over and over, she searched through every possibility.

Amelia finally opened her mouth with difficulty.

"Did the contact... go through?"

"It came through this morning. I also asked Countess Gemernai about issuing a temporary pass. She said she'd help proactively, and within two hours she was already pushing for the reinstatement of his citizenship rights."

For the treatment, it was necessary to bring the Witch named Smirna directly to Gehenna.

After all, Siwoo in his current state wasn't fit to travel to the Mortal Realm through a Portal.

For an Exile to legally set foot in Gehenna was an unprecedented event.

The one who helped in this matter was Countess Gemernai, who owed the Apprentice Witch her life twice over.

She was even arranging the extraordinary compensation of reinstating an Exile's citizenship rights to treat Siwoo.

"I'll have her do a preliminary examination first. I need to see with my own eyes what level of skill this Witch possesses."

"Of course you should. So, what shall we do?"

"Bring her in right now."

The 'Gate' that connects the boundary between the Mortal Realm and Gehenna.

Three things are needed to pass through the 'Gate'.

Uncontaminated, clean river water, or the sea.

Citizenship of Gehenna.

Powerful telepathy.

With these three, one can enter Gehenna from anywhere in the world via the Gate, and conversely, travel to any location worldwide through the Gate.

In the special lounge of the immigration office, Amelia waited with her hands tightly clasped for the one person who would come through the Gate.

The appointed time had already passed by three hours, but there was no sign of 'Smirna'.

Sophia had restored and developed footage obtained through clairvoyance, so they roughly knew her appearance.

Although the quality was very poor since it was footage borrowed from a migratory bird's eyes.

"........"

But even as several Witches came and went, her figure still hadn't appeared.

Could she have grown suspicious of the sudden invitation and simply vanished?

Even in her Spirit Body, she felt her throat parched and tight.

Unable to hide her anxiety, Amelia bit her lip.

Would it have been better to go find her and bring her back directly?

Had she ruined things again with a hasty judgment?

Amidst the anxiety multiplying like mold, the gate at the checkpoint opened.

"Ah...."

Amelia let out an involuntary gasp.

Because the person she had been waiting for so long was timidly stepping into the lounge.

As seen in the footage, she was East Asian, but possessed skin as white as snow, making the racial classification of 'yellow' seem meaningless.

Her flowing black hair was tied up in a chignon style that clearly revealed her nape, and her dark, sparkling eyes, unable to hide their unease, darted around surveying the surroundings.

A checkered, rustic skirt, a rustic sweater with a floral pattern, and white boots.

An outrageous fashion sense that would be hard for anyone to pull off, and on her back, she carried a backpack larger than her own torso, packed full of who-knows-what.

Is that... Mortal Realm fashion?

As Amelia stood bewildered by the incomprehensible, esoteric fashion sense, Yebin spoke first.

"Um, since it's my first time in Gehenna... Are you... Baroness Amelia Marigold?"

"That's right, nice to meet you."

"Ah! I see...! I'm Yebin Smirna. Since it's my first time seeing a Witch other than my Master... should we shake hands?"

With an awkward smile, she wiped her palms on her clothes and then offered her hand.

Amelia took her hand and shook it just as awkwardly.

"Thank you for inviting me. I came because I heard there's a patient... which way is it?"

"First, we need to travel by Portal."

"Yes, yep! Then this way? Or this way?"

"This way."

Taking the arm of the flustered and bumbling Yebin, Amelia returned with her to the lodging.

Author's Note (Author's Afterword)

I don't have anything particular to say today, so I'll just express my thanks for the support.

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