City of Witches
chapter-288

1.

After the incident in Seoul had been resolved.

Siwoo sent a message through Eloa to the Gemini Household that he’d be visiting Gehenna soon.

He heard that Sharon, who was in a coma due to the Drowned Witch, had already recovered, so he wanted to see her face.

Of course he was also looking forward to the twins who had been itching to meet their dear Mr. Assistant.

He also planned to visit Takasho, who was surely drowning in his loneliness without his friend by his side.

And lastly…he had a few things he wanted to talk about with Amelia…

Though, there was an unexpected situation that he had to deal with, so his coming back to Gehenna was delayed for a little bit.

“Ugh… This is really a problem…”

On the desk in front of him was the ‘Red Branch’.

Around it, magic papers with extremely complex magic formulas written on it, were scattered around.

Recently, he had been putting all his efforts into controlling the Red Branch.

His body had turned into a spirit body, so he didn’t need to worry about dying of old age or anything, he also had become the first male witch.

But, he didn’t know what would happen to himself in the future, especially when his lifespan far exceeded that of a human.

Even if he were to not indulge in his sense of justice, he still needed to prepare himself for the future. Just like a young man who was making preparations for his retirement one day.

“Ugh… Does this even make any sense?”

Generally speaking, artifacts referred to an object that contained magic inside.

For example, the music box that was able to play the Song of Silence, or the Janissary that the twins carried for self-defense.

Meanwhile, a stronger artifact that contained magic on the level of self-essence magic or could be used as a catalyst for a ritual, just like Sharon’s staff or the Red Branch, was called Mystic Code.

To add more to the differences between the two, artifacts, even though they were rare, were still able to be mass reproduced given enough resources. Meanwhile Mystic Codes were pretty much the equivalent of a unique or a legendary item.

Like they had always said, nothing in this world was free.

Though he managed to obtain such a good item, Siwoo still couldn’t even touch it after a long time.

“I don’t even know where to start with this thing…”

Siwoo let out a sigh as he stared at the Red Branch that had been rolled up in his black ribbon, increasing its thickness to the level of a tree trunk instead of a branch.

The reason why his coming back to Gehenna was delayed was exactly because of this Red Branch.

Even though he had wrapped it thoroughly with the ribbons, its strong distortion field was still able to mess with the teleporter’s coordinates.

He didn’t want to imagine what kind of disaster that would come up if he were to go to Gehenna like this, so he gave up on going and stayed back home to analyze the situation properly.

“I wish I could use this guy…”

In short, the Red Branch was constantly emitting a distortion field, as if it was a nuclear rod.

He could use Maiden’s Loom, make adjustments to the ribbon so that he could somehow make the Red Branch ‘carryable’ but that was just a temporary solution.

Because, though the process was rather slow, the distortion field was corroding the ribbons, little by little.

That was why, even if he were to layer it up with a bunch of ribbons, he still needed to replace the ribbons at some point. Besides, there was a possibility that the distortion would leak through the ribbons.

Now, if he were to be able to master this thing, he’d be able to solve everything in an instant. Also, it would tremendously help his ‘retirement plan’.

That was why he willingly struggled to find out how to control the spear…

But of course, it wasn’t as easy as it sounded.

No matter how much he could see and observe the flow of mana, his knowledge about magic wasn’t up to par for the task.

Since the distortion field was on the level of self-essence magic, the difficulty of researching it was already sky high to begin with.

And so, he was feeling the kind of frustration that one would feel if they were to acquire a unique item, but was way off from the level requirements to use it.

“How is it? Still not good?”

At that moment, the door creaked open and Eloa stepped inside.

Her ponytail, with a prettier shade of pink than the blooming cherry blossom in spring, shook from side to side.

In her hand was a tray with coffee and some fruits.

“Thank you, Master. Also, this is a lot harder than I previously thought.”

Siwoo got up, took the tray from her hand, then sat back down on the sofa.

As he was busy occupying himself with his research, just like what was happening right now, Eloa was the one who’d carry some snacks for him to eat.

Eloa let out a warm smile as she looked at all the papers Siwoo had scribbled on.

“I wish I could help you, I really do. But anyway, why don’t you move your body around. Being stuck here all day long will get you stuck in the rut, don’t you think?”

She was an excellent witch, there was no doubt about that.

The problem here was that her expertise was in Physical Magic and Red Branch’s magic didn’t utilize any elements from her magic.

Also, if she were to actually try to do her research on the Red Branch, there was no way that Siwoo would be able to understand since she’d be basing her research on her own self-essence magic instead of his.

“No, you’ve already helped me a ton, Master. For now, can I skip on training for a while? I really want to go back to Gehenna as soon as possible.”

Siwoo let out a bitter smile as he expressed his rejection to Eloa’s offer.

While sparring with her would be beneficial for him, and he’d get some fun out of it, it’d leave him completely spent.

For now, he wanted to spend all his stamina on this research of his.

“Gehenna should have better quality materials and tools for research, so, I’ll change the way I weave the ribbons so that it’ll be enough for us to cross the portal with this thing.”

“How long do you think it’ll take?”

“Two or three days should be enough.”

Eloa raised one of her eyebrows in surprise.

His words clearly implied that he was already able to make a barrier to isolate the distortion field within a week of his research.

But instead of feeling proud of it, he complained instead.

For him to not be able to find joy in that achievement actually made her feel a little bit sad.

“I really thought you’re completely stuck, that's why you’ve been looking all frustrated. So you did find a way, after all. As expected of my disciple.”

“Ugh, please stop that.”

Enjoying the reaction he gave off when she praised him, Eloa let out a warm smile as her precious disciple scratched his head shyly.

Even if it was just a small thing, it brought her satisfaction to see her disciple grow.

But, what brought her even more satisfaction was when she got to tease him and watch him get flustered.

This was the perfect distance between the two of them, at least according to Eloa.

A harmonious relationship filled with trust in each other.

As she thought so, she placed an apple inside Siwoo’s mouth with a fork.

2.

While Siwoo was contemplating on how to cross over the portal to Gehenna while bringing the Red Branch…

Sharon was pacing back and forth in front of the twins’ study room.

She was trying to ease her mind by walking around on the red carpet that was enhanced by magic to prevent noises from outside the room to enter the study room during the twins’ study session.

“Haah…”

Last night, Sharon had met up with Albireo to accept her contract offer.

An easy scene to describe for sure, but it was a decision she chose to take after putting a lot of thoughts into it.

Her wish was that if she were to meet with Siwoo again, she wanted to be a lover who could stand toe-to-toe with him.

She wanted to change, from Sharon who’d always received something, to Sharon who’d always give something.

The problem here was, she really had thought that she was mentally prepared for this…

But, now that she arrived in front of the door, she could feel her stomach churn.

“It’ll be fine…it’ll all be okay…”

Thinking that she had been circling around like a puppy long enough, Sharon took a deep breath and opened the door to the study.

The first thing she saw afterward was a fireplace that occupied one side of the room and a window that overlooked a pretty-looking garden.

Then, a pair of desks, sitting side by side across another desk that was placed near a blackboard came to her view.

Sitting at those desks were the two identical-looking young ladies.

Their unrealistically shiny black hair and their half-bonnet instantly caught Sharon’s eyes the moment they came to her view.

Holding various teaching materials in her hand, Sharon pretended to be calm in front of the twins.

The moment she entered the classroom, her gut feelings that things wouldn’t go so well were immediately proven right.

“...”

“...”

The terrifying silence was real, it wasn’t just something she imagined.

It wasn’t like this was the first time that they met each other.

Back when the twins visited the Modern World with Countess Deneb, they watched various movies while eating some snacks together.

At that time, she was treating those two like her own cute little sisters.

The twins, too, were treating her like their older sister.

But…

Now, it was different.

“...”

“...”

Unknowingly, Sharon held her breath.

The twins were staring at her with calm, yet cold eyes.

Those eyes, prettier than even the prettiest jewels, were clearly locked into Sharon, as they followed her movements from the moment she opened the door to the moment she arrived at her table.

This was the exact same treatment they had given her back when they first found out that she was living together with Siwoo.

Vigilance.

Suspicions.

Along with those two, mischief and dissatisfaction were also mixed in their gazes.

Then again, this kind of treatment was something she had expected ever since Countess Albireo stated her intention to intervene in her heir’s love life.

If love was war, then Sharon was pretty much the twins’ ‘enemy’ right now.

Although the Countess didn’t say it herself, there was a huge chance that the reason why she intervened in this war was because the twins had asked for her intervention themselves.

But, she had nothing to be scared of anymore.

After all, the twins were just apprentice witches.

Meanwhile, Sharon had already reached the 20th rank after she completed her inheritance.

Besides, despite their status as rivals or enemies in love or whatever, class was still class.

She decided that she’d need to take the initiative to make sure that the twins knew their places in her class.

“Hello, my name is Sharon Evergreen. From today onwards, I’ll be in charge of teaching you the Elements Basics and the Applications of Elemental Magic.”

However, despite her bold determination and chilly exterior, she was a weak-hearted person.

Even now, her heart was pounding wildly and she couldn’t stop it from doing so.

“Hello, I’m glad you seem well.”

“Hello, it’s nice to see that you’re healthy.”

The twins greeted Sharon with a perfect manner, as if they had planned this out beforehand.

Their current attitude was completely different from the friendly pairs they were back in the Modern World.

The subtle change in attitude immediately drew a sense of distance between them three.

It made Sharon feel a little bit sad since she genuinely thought of them as close friends.

But, Sharon didn’t show it on her face as she grabbed the chalk and immediately started the class.

Before entering the class, she had already planned out what it was that she would be teaching them and what kind of preparation that she’d need to make.

For apprentice witches, the most important thing in magic study was to strengthen the basics.

Depending how far their mastery of the basics was, the speed of their understanding of magic when they inherited their brands from their masters would vary, that was why the basics were the most important thing.

“We’ll be dividing the materials into twelve and we’ll be covering everything for a year. Each week, I’ll give you assignments based on what you’ve learned for the day. Every month, I will hold an exam to see the depths of your understanding of the month’s materials.”

“Yes.”

“Yes.”

Instead of giving her a chance to continue the conversation, the twins only gave out short answers.

“Any questions?”

The twins exchanged their glances.

Without saying anything, they nodded to each other.

“No.”

“I don’t have any.”

“...Alright, let’s begin from the first chapter.”

Sharon said, referring to the textbook and wrote down an elemental magic formula on the blackboard.

First and foremost, she wanted to test the twins’ skills.

“Miss Odile, would you please solve this problem for me?”

“Yes.”

Odile sat up from her seat and walked toward the board.

The tense atmosphere, just like a negotiation table for a ceasefire, continued throughout the class.

Amelia!