Chapter 705
Chapter 705
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 705
Chapter Title: The Witch of the Gold Coin
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The sound of applause came to a halt.
Amid the shadows stretching like blackout curtains from the crack in the open door.
The first thing that caught the eye was a pair of golden irises gleaming brightly, like those of a feline predator.
The identity of the figure who appeared, her rippling golden hair scattering around her shoulders, was the Witch of the Gold Coin, Lydia Magnus.
The somewhat muffled applause earlier must have been because she was wearing white gloves that reached her elbows.
"Ha..."
He'd had a hunch from her voice, but seeing her in the flesh left him at a loss.
The strength drained loosely from the hand gripping his spear.
If she were even a middling witch, he would have thrown everything he had to create some variable, but the opponent before him was someone whose hierarchy Si-woo couldn't even gauge with his own eyes.
In other words, at minimum, a Grand Witch or higher...
According to Dorothy, the Witch of the Gold Coin was the leader of the massive organization known as the Solidus Merchant Guild.
To lead such a group in the wilds of Hexennacht meant she was backed by commensurate skill as a witch.
He hadn't expected things to go smoothly, but to run into the worst possible opponent in just three minutes...
Si-woo inwardly swallowed the words, 'This matchmaking is rigged as fuck.'
Unlike Si-woo, who was already mentally on the battlefield regardless of his condition,
Lydia calmly walked past him toward Logi's mutilated corpse.
She approached close enough that the blood pooling outward in a radial pattern dampened the tips of her shoes, then simply gazed at it.
Her rear was completely exposed.
His only remaining chance of escape now was to pray for miracle upon miracle and strike that defenseless back.
Yet Si-woo couldn't thrust his spear forward.
After participating in the Elmack Club auction with Linne and winning Alice,
While waiting for Linne in the reception room, Si-woo had met Lydia.
And he remembered the meaningful words she'd left him.
'Swing by sometime when you have time. There's a lot more I'd like to talk about. Our interests might align. Of course, keep it secret from Linne.'
He still had the business card she'd handed him along with those words; he hadn't discarded it.
Even if the other party was an enemy with unknown intentions, in the worst situations, such a connection could become desperately vital.
After quickly weighing the situation, Si-woo dispersed his spear.
The odds of inflicting an injury via ambush that would halt her pursuit, then having Linne—who knew none of the circumstances—protect him.
Versus the odds of resolving things through conversation with safety guaranteed.
Both were astronomically slim, but the latter at least showed some sliver of possibility.
He mustn't forget.
Even if he'd spent considerable time with Linne and glimpsed sides of her others hadn't—her embarrassed moments—their relationship wouldn't change.
Si-woo was a temporary disciple and performance enhancer.
Linne was his temporary master and the warden confining and surveilling him.
That was all there was to it.
He hadn't stirred up this mess with the intention of leaning on her in the first place.
If the violent act in Hexennacht—killing the Grand Witch Logi, no less—became official trouble, how likely was it that Linne would cover for him?
And above all, what gnawed at him was none other than the relationship between Logi and Linne.
Linne and Logi had known each other beforehand.
Back when Linne had tried to abduct him in the labyrinth, Logi had been right there beside her.
If Linne had known about this atrocity, it would mean she'd let it all slide despite knowing, and even maintained a close relationship on top of that.
He could overlook everything else, but that was hard to accept.
"No damage to the brand. Mind if I take her? Oh, and for the record, I was genuinely impressed by the fight. No flattery."
Lydia, who had been crouching and prodding Logi's corpse, stood up.
In her hand was a single gold coin, appearing out of nowhere.
It wasn't the refined anti-counterfeit design or ornate piece used in Gehenna transactions.
It was crude, like something an archaeologist had unearthed—reminiscent more of brass than gold, as if from the BC era.
Even with his magic power fully depleted, Si-woo's eyes functioned normally.
He could easily tell that the gold coin rolling magically over Lydia's knuckles contained a tremendous power that sent chills down his spine.
-Ting
Lydia flicked the coin with her thumb, producing a clear, ringing sound.
At the same moment, golden magic power enveloped the space.
Logi's corpse, drawn by the dazzling radiance, shattered into pieces.
Not in a grotesque way, but as if disassembled at the elemental level, swept up in light and glow.
The golden particles swirled like pollen caught in a whirlwind, eventually coalescing into another gold coin before settling.
Now in Lydia's hand was a larger, shinier unmarked gold coin instead of the shabby one.
"Mm, turned out beautifully. Very satisfied."
Having cleaned up the crime scene like a specialist, Lydia turned her still-gleaming eyes toward Si-woo and gave a soft smile.
"No need for such a stiff face. First off, I'm not here to scold you or put you in a bind. Meaning, I'm not your enemy."
"Why?"
Si-woo had just seen a depth of power in that gold coin similar to what he'd witnessed from his master, Amelia, and Lurye.
Fitting for the representative of a merchant guild uniting numerous enemies and exiles, she wielded the power of the 23rd Hierarchy.
It was fortunate that there seemed to be an opening for talking it out.
Even at full strength, he couldn't guarantee even 1% odds of victory against her.
"The Silence Witch and I don't see eye to eye. She has such wide connections that I had no choice but to deal with her, but if she exits so cleanly like this, I'm grateful. The brand's a bonus."
"Our interests align, then? Can I take it that way?"
"Exactly. For you, who pulled this off without any countermeasures, it's nothing short of luck."
Lydia drew a long engraving knife from her bosom.
Gripping the smooth, well-worn wooden handle delicately, she began carving something into the unmarked gold coin, which bore no designs.
Scratch-scratch, occasionally blowing on it to scatter gold dust.
Apparently, Si-woo was the only one maintaining tension in this place.
"What happens to me now?"
In that brief interval,
Lydia, having meticulously engraved even the serrated edges on both faces and the rim, held the coin up to the ceiling light before speaking.
"Sorry for the wait. Had to process it right away, or the quality drops."
"...If you're done, I'd appreciate an answer on what happens to me."
"You'll come with me. Got any other options? Linne doesn't have the power to cover this up. But I do. If I let this incident hand you over to another faction, that's a headache in itself."
Lydia's response wasn't particularly kind.
Another faction? A headache?
Just as he tried piecing together the fragments of clues from the conversation into a bigger picture,
"Oopsie."
Lydia let out an archaic exclamation, her face showing genuine dismay.
"I wanted to explain in more detail, but I got too relaxed."
"Yeah, busy engraving that gold coin too."
"A scary someone's headed here, so we need to get out fast."
"Scary someone?"
The first thought was Linne.
But after that heated night, things had grown awkward between them, and she'd even received a message via Yebin—so why would she come all the way here?
As Si-woo furrowed his brows in confusion, Lydia raised her magic power.
"Persuasion and explanations later. Don't take it too badly?"
With Lydia's wink, a powerful sleep spell enveloped Si-woo.
2.
A long wait.
Even past midnight, there was no sign of her disciple—and prospective husband—Shin Si-woo returning.
"......"
In truth, she just needed to wait.
As Linne understood it, a wise wife shouldn't criticize her husband's failings but cover for them.
Jealousy was one of the seven grounds for divorce, so even if he was tangled up with three women, overlooking it would make it as if it never happened.
Yet the growing anxiety and unease kept making Linne fidget in her seat.
Having opened and closed the homemade eel rice bento box countless times, she could bear it no longer and stood up.
She even had a plausible excuse ready.
Dedication doesn't take just one form.
Chasing after a wandering husband and nagging him was undoubtedly frivolous.
But what if it was a wife personally making a bento for her hungry husband and gently offering it?
Who could point fingers at such virtue?
As the saying went: A house with a wise wife means the husband avoids calamity.
Though his debauched behavior was the issue now, a virtuous wife would ensure the husband mended his ways.
Conveniently, the food in the lunchbox required no extra packaging hassle.
Packing enough to break the table would be overkill.
On that thought, Linne grabbed only the eel rice and kimosui she'd made herself from the bento and left the Fragrant Moon Tower, heading for Logi's mansion.
The grand mansion, wide open as always.
There were traces of someone in the reception room, but no signs of life.
From the fountain garden where guests could come and go freely to more private areas, she scurried about with the bento in hand, yet saw not a single shadow.
Surely such a vast mansion had more than one bedroom, but even the ones she found during her search stood empty.
Eventually, Linne spread her senses to search for Si-woo and Logi.
But even with her senses sharpened to the utmost, the unbroken silence suggested the place was deserted.
Linne's instincts were exceptional.
More than mere instinct—it was a transcendent sixth sense honed traversing battlefields.
And that instinct was now blaring a red alert.
Something felt off, refusing to settle.
"......"
During her search, something interfered with Linne's senses.
A dome-shaped structure wrapped in layer upon layer of barriers on the mansion's top floor: the workshop.
Unless they were very close, entering each other's workshops was taboo, so she'd passed it by during the search.
-Creak!
Linne ascended the stairs and opened the workshop door without hesitation.
She immediately frowned.
A gaudy, childish playroom design greeted her.
Yet even this place, which didn't seem like a hiding spot, showed no sign of Logi or Si-woo.
No doors or traces connecting to other rooms, so no need to search further.
Just as she turned to leave without regret,
Linne didn't miss the scent brushing past her nose.
"...This is."
The fresh blood smell had traces of being covered by magic.
But like cleaning magic, purging every scent particle already dispersed in the air was difficult.
More precisely, there was no need to prepare so flawlessly.
No reason to erase even subtle odors undetectable without a hound's nose.
And Linne was a witch boasting a sense of smell surpassing any hound, in exchange for lacking taste.
Linne closed her eyes and inhaled deeply.
When her eyelids opened, her black pupils swept over the workshop.
Linne murmured softly.
"Shin Si-woo."
The owner of this scent—Linne's prospective disciple.
And soon-to-be prospective groom's name.