City of Witches
chapter-302

1.

Needless to say, the town where Siwoo spent most of his life in Gehenna was none other than the ‘Lenomond Town’ where the Trinity Academy was located.

This was the second rich town in Gehenna, the place where witches who weren’t part of the nobility, yet possessed the wealth comparable to one, lived.

One could say that if Ars Magna Town was like Seocho-dong in Gangnam, Lenomond Town was like Gangdong-gu in Yongsan.

In Tarot Town, there were more ordinary citizens than witches, while in Lenomond Town, the witches’ population doubled that of the ordinary citizens.

After Siwoo came out of the Gate, he found himself at the northern part of the Trinity Academy’s main building, which was spread in the shape of a cross.

The grandeur of the interior matched that of the Palace of Versailles, more specifically the Hall of Mirrors.

No matter where he looked, he was greeted by the magnificent glitter of gold that was blended in the flickering flames that came out of the numerous candles.

Its beauty served to strengthen the notion of ‘such a beauty wouldn’t change even if a thousand years had passed’ in the heart of its believers.

“Nothing changed at all here, huh…?”

The moment he walked into the corridor, the memories of his past struggle rushed through his mind like a panorama.

He thought that he’d experience something close to PTSD, but…

Instead, he only felt a slight prick in his heart, it felt like a vague and distant memory, something nostalgic.

“Alright…”

I should start looking for Takasho.

Around this time, he should be either cleaning the hallway or lounging around inside a professor’s room…

Siwoo walked leisurely while looking around to check out his old workplace.

One would think that such a grand-looking building would be noisy with people, but it wasn’t the case at all.

The school building, perhaps influenced by the silence brought by the dawn, was eerily quiet that it felt genuinely discomforting.

He had grown used to it in the past and now the feeling gave him quite the nostalgic vibe.

The difference was that, now he was experiencing that feeling while walking leisurely instead of rushing to wipe through all the chandeliers in the hallway.

He passed through a well, the same well that he used to wash his body with cold water after his work was done.

The memories of him digging through the ditch on rainy days came rushing to him.

He then took a quick look at the library where he used to sneakily study magic, but throughout all this, he hadn’t seen Takasho anywhere.

An hour had passed since he started going around in the Academy.

“Seriously, where is he?”

Suspecting that they must have missed each other, he headed to a certain place.

The administrative office that was located in the southeast of the building.

As its name suggested, it was an office in charge of administrative tasks.

-Knock, knock

The office looked older than the library where he used to work.

When he knocked and entered the door, he saw a woman, shuffling through a stack of paper, this early in the morning.

He knew her.

Though he never got to know her personally, he used to receive all his tasks from this woman.

“Hello.”

“Yes?”

The woman, fiddling with her pen, turned her hazy, sleepy eyes towards Siwoo when she heard him calling out to her.

“H-Huh?! J-Janitor Shin Siwoo?”

“Yes, though I’m not a janitor anymore.”

“H-Hello!”

The woman stood up from her seat and bowed her head like a soldier bowing to someone that was higher ranked than her.

Staff working in the administrative office weren’t witches but ordinary citizens and this woman wasn’t an exception to that.

Now that Siwoo had officially become a ‘witch’, his status naturally became higher than hers.

But…

“...U-Um…”

He looked at the trembling woman with a concerned expression.

Since this was his old workplace, it wasn’t strange that the news about him becoming a witch spread faster than anywhere else, and he knew that, but…

Why does she look so scared…?

“A-About your accommodation from last time, I… I-I’m truly sorry…!”

Ah…

That’s why.

The reason why Siwoo was kicked out of his relatively decent lodgings and had to live in that rundown barn was due to the administrative office’s influence.

She probably thought that now he had a higher rank than her, he was out for revenge or something.

“Uh, don’t worry about that, I’m just here to ask a few questions.”

“Y-Yesh–!”

“First of all, why don’t you sit down first? I really didn’t come here to do anything bad.”

“S-Sorry!”

Before doing anything else, he tried to reassure the woman that he wasn’t here to do anything to her and comforted her.

This was how fearsome the image of a witch was in the eyes of a normal citizen. Being subjected to this left a bitter taste in his mouth.

After he spent around ten minutes reassuring her, they could finally talk to each other properly.

They both sat down in front of the tea table that the woman meticulously prepared, despite all his effort of dissuading her from doing so, and started their conversation.

“I-I’m truly sorry for what I have done…”

“Like I said, I don’t care about it anymore. Anyway, do you know Mimaya Takasho? The one guy who used to work here with me?”

“M-Mr. Takasho?”

As soon as his name came up, a bright pink shade appeared on her face.

The fuck?

He even flirted with her?

What a guy.

“Yes. I’m here to meet him, but I can’t find him for some reason.”

“Mr. Takasho’s six-years-contract has been fulfilled a few months ago…”

Ah, right.

I forgot about that.

Like Siwoo, Takasho was also a slave that belonged to Gehenna’s City Hall.

Once a City Hall’s slave fulfilled their six-years-contract, they’d be transferred somewhere else.

“Then, can I know where he got assigned to?”

“He didn’t get assigned anywhere.”

“Huh?”

Hearing those words, Siwoo’s face hardened.

He…didn’t get assigned anywhere…?

Did he fuck up somehow?

Surely he didn’t fuck someone’s apprentice and got executed because of it, right?

Thousands of ominous thoughts came rushing to his mind all at once.

After all, this place was still the City of Witches.

No matter how clever Takasho was, at the end of the day, he was still a slave.

“Countess Adonai had bought him to become her private slave.”

“...What?”

2.

After that, Siwoo managed to dig out more information from the woman.

He even managed to get his workplace’s address.

“That was quite the surprise…”

When he heard that Takasho didn’t get assigned anywhere, he genuinely thought that he got executed or got into some kind of major trouble.

Then again, after he thought about it a little more, Takasho was the kind of person who’d fuck a cactus to survive even if he was stranded in a middle of a desert, so there was no need for him to worry about the guy.

His workplace wasn’t too far away from the Academy.

It was still located in Lenomond Town.

In the Border Town, there was the ‘Contact Point’ and in the Ars Magna Town, there was the ‘Market Square’, the Lenomond Town had the arcade-styled¹ marketplace, the ‘Malkuth Gallery’.

Border Town barely dealt with retails to begin with while Ars Magna Town didn’t have any other large-scale marketplace, making the Malkuth Gallery the busiest marketplace in Gehenna.

The street was wide enough for four horse-drawn carriages to be drawn and have a race there. An arched ceiling made of glass covered the marketplace, making it feel like they were indoors.

As a side note, this arcade-styled marketplace was something that became popular during the 19th century; One could even see such marketplaces in modern days.

Since Malkuth Gallery had existed since the 17th, they could be said as a trend setter.

The 400 m long lined-up shops provided various kinds of items.

From magic-related items such as magic tools, artifacts, materials for alchemy and reagents.

To luxury goods such as jewelry, furs, alcohol, hookahs, herbs, carpets, paintings, furniture and so on.

There were also shops that provided services and entertainment like beauty salons, theaters, boutiques, bookstores and bars.

This was the first time Siwoo had ever entered this place, because back when he was a slave, even a handkerchief here would cost him all his lifetime savings.

Standing on the polished floor that seemed to be as good as new, Siwoo looked around, confused.

“He’s working…here…?”

Since it was only seven in the morning, most of the shops were closed.

He couldn’t see any witches around, just ordinary citizens busily preparing to open up their shops.

A fortunate thing for him, since those witches would follow him around like baby chicks the moment they set their eyes on him.

“Hm…”

After looking around for a bit more, he finally dragged his feet to the supposedly Takasho’s workplace.

“Is this really the right place?”

Siwoo arrived at the far end of the street.

In front of him was a building without a sign, located in a corner that made it difficult to find.

The building looked clean and neat, though. It even got a red carpet laid on its stairs.

Still, what kind of job would a slave need to do in such a place? At least, Siwoo couldn’t think of any.

He decided to stop thinking about it, walked up the door, and knocked it.

-Knock, knock!

“...”

A loud sound echoed.

Since he couldn’t hear any sound coming from inside, he decided to knock on it once again.

“What is… Who are you?”

The one who came out of the door was a man with blonde hair, he looked younger than Siwoo.

Just like his shaggy, messy hair, he wore rather loose clothes.

If there was something noteworthy about him, it was that he was quite the looker.

His friendly, but clearly forced smile, was wiped off his lips as soon as he found out that the person who knocked on the door was a man.

“I’m here to meet someone.”

“Who?”

“Mimaya Takasho. Is he inside?”

When Takasho’s name came out of Siwoo’s mouth, the man’s expression changed again.

His annoyance disappeared as his expression turned bright.

In a somewhat cautious manner, he then asked a question.

“Are you a close friend of Takasho hyung?

“Mhm.”

The man then took a quick glance at Siwoo.

He scanned through the rather expensive looking eyepatch and clothes that he wore before glancing towards the ring in his hand.

Then, the man ascertained that his outfit was not something that an ordinary slave could wear.

“Ah, then please come in and wait— Liam! Get over here! There’s a guest here! Um… May I know your name…?”

“Shin Siwoo.”

“Tell Takasho hyung that Shin Siwoo is here for a visit!”

Siwoo then followed him inside with a brave stride.

After he went through the front door and passed through a rather thick door inside, he was greeted by a fancy looking bar.

Well, actually, it probably wasn’t actually a bar, but the room’s layout was similar to one.

Although some of the tables were scattered around and there were wooden boxes piled up in one of the corners, it still didn’t make the interior of this place any less sophisticated looking.

The murals, statues, and even the pool tables looked extremely expensive.

Overall, the place gave off a very bar-esque atmosphere, but for some reason, the place was really dark even though the sun had risen already.

“Please wait a minute, Hyung will come down soon.”

“What is this place? A bar?”

“Uh, something like that, I suppose.”

Siwoo’s confusion due to that answer was cut short by the deep voice that was accompanied by the trudging sound of footsteps.

“Shin Siwoo!”

Although his voice sounded deeper than the one he was familiar with, Siwoo could immediately tell who the voice belonged to.

But, when he turned around, to his surprise, the man who called out to him wasn’t the Takasho he remembered.

“It’s been a while! I’ve missed you!”

The Japanese man was dressed in a stylish Italian suit, his hair slicked back with hard pomade, his beard was trimmed nicely to complement his face, and on his waist, there was a shiny Patek Philippe.

In this rather dark room, his confident smile that was amplified by his cheekbones, brightened up the room.

“T-Takasho, is that really you?”

“Of course!”

Siwoo awkwardly shook Takasho’s stretched hand, but he still stood frozen in front of him.

Seemingly anticipating his reaction, Takasho gave him his business card while giving off a bold smile.

“Nice to meet you, I am the President and Madame of the one and only host club in Gehenna, ‘Rose Glass’, Mimaya Takasho!”