Chapter 775
Chapter 775
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 775
Chapter Title: Seoul and the Witch (2)
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With Si-woo and Eloa off to fetch Linne, they had anywhere from a day to two days of free time.
The lovers made use of the gap to follow their Seoul guide, Sharon, toward Gwanghwamun.
For the twins, Lurye, Amelia, and the present world might as well have been another realm entirely, so they were able to enjoy themselves to the fullest.
They even stopped by a duty-free department store and lugged back armfuls of books from an enormous bookstore.
There was a reason they had chosen a bookstore out of all the tourist spots available.
Gehenna, deliberately cut off from the present world, preserved its own unique culture.
When it came to the most enriching form of entertainment there, reading was undoubtedly at the top of the list.
Books were even useful references for magical research, serving witches much like smartphones, YouTube, computers, tablets, and more for modern people.
It was only natural to pick up books from the local area while traveling.
Amelia, who especially loved books, had gone so far as to buy an extra suitcase just to stuff it full.
As they unpacked the heaps of books they had hauled back, the twins and Lurye started bickering.
"Ah, seriously annoying. You've been saying weird stuff since earlier."
"Right? What's so pretty about you? That guy asked for our numbers because he liked us."
"Nonsense. He was drawn to my charm and came over. You two were just the tiny cereal boxes attached to the big one."
"Sigh..."
Sharon let out a secret sigh.
Even her sturdy spirit body felt like its joints were aching.
Today's tour itinerary had been Gwanghwamun Square, the bookstore, the department store, and grocery shopping.
She had anticipated a fair amount of hassle and braced herself for it.
She knew there would be plenty to explain, and keeping an eye on the twins—who bolted toward any new point of interest the moment she looked away—would require the vigilance of a herding dog.
But she truly hadn't realized that adding Lurye to the mix would double the difficulty.
"What? Lurye, you done talking?"
"If we're the little cereal, then you're the wooden chopsticks that come with a cup of instant ramen."
"Hmm, not a very fitting metaphor. Chopsticks are precious. What, you planning to eat hot ramen with your hands?"
"I can just use telekinesis."
That was how it had been all day.
Nonstop petty squabbles, one after another.
The twins fought among themselves when it was just the two of them, but when an outsider appeared, they banded together with heightened aggression instead of uniting against a common foe.
Topped with the endlessly provocative Lurye, it was a recipe for total chaos.
"What do you think, Sharon sis?"
"Sharon sis agrees the chopsticks are more useless, right?"
"Green-hair, behave yourself and answer properly."
In the end, the debate somehow veered off-topic, with the fight itself becoming the goal.
And Sharon had to play referee.
"Ugh... Kids, can't you cut it out for a bit?"
"Sharon sis must be tired. How about we settle it by majority vote? Whichever side gets the majority wins."
"Whoa, Odet, you're a genius? So democratic and fair."
"How dare you! Speaking of democracy before me, the sovereign of the Nukelabi Dynasty?"
Lurye bristled indignantly.
"Democracy's the trend these days."
"All the countries that stuck to monarchies ended up ruined."
The twins sniped back.
And the slightest spark from them sent Lurye up in flames like methane hydrate.
"Foolish! That was merely because a dimwitted monarch ascended the throne mid-lineage! But I am an immortal, undying being! The eternal rule of a philosopher king—that absolute monarchy—is the most perfect and ideal system!"
Lurye was a witch, through and through.
Her charisma, as she crossed her arms and declared it, brimmed with overwhelming intensity that would cow any ordinary person.
Just as she seemed poised to launch into a full speech, Sharon cut in at the perfect moment.
She was getting the hang of it, at least.
"No more fighting. Let's get ready to eat. We bought pork belly, remember?"
Stuff something in their mouths, and the three would quiet down for a bit.
"Oh! Pork belly! That was delicious!"
"Slurp! Awesome!"
That was how Sharon kept the trio's leashes in check.
Meanwhile, Amelia glanced around cautiously before swiftly moving the suitcase stuffed with books to a corner of the room.
"...Phew."
While Lurye browsed war history books.
While the twins picked out all sorts of miscellaneous nonfiction.
And while Sharon managed the three who vanished the instant she looked away.
Amelia had hung back a step and discovered her secret weapons, stockpiling them.
-Zzzip!
Amelia carefully unzipped the suitcase, like a drug dealer smuggling heaps of Philopon.
The dim gap revealed it packed tight with books still in their plastic wraps.
These books, shoved into an out-of-the-way corner where few feet tread, had practically revealed themselves to Amelia by fate.
She had been utterly shocked when she first found them.
Truly, this was the present world.
Finding books like these back in Gehenna was next to impossible.
These were rare treasures only available in a world where free and equal romance flourished.
The colorful book covers bore titles like this:
'How to Become a Beloved Partner,' 'The Art of Conversation,' 'Flowers Need Tending to Bloom Beautifully,' 'A Beginner's Guide to Romance,' and thirteen more.
"With these, even I..."
Amelia was keenly aware of her own limitations.
Ever since becoming a witch, she had spent an incredibly long time alone.
She had shoved everything else to the periphery, pursuing only magic.
Among the fragments of life Amelia had pushed away were human relationships.
The result, after so much time? A sharp tone that repelled others' approaches, impoverished expressions, an instinctive aversion to social bonds, and more.
These were like ingrained body odor—things she couldn't just set aside and change at will.
Without realizing it, she built walls around others.
Look at Sharon and Lurye—they got along great with the twins.
Compared to them, Amelia wasn't blending in well.
Even Si-woo was still treating her with kid gloves.
This was her ace in the hole to overcome that handicap.
Knowledge forged through countless trial and error, refined and conceptualized by authors who had been through it all.
It was bound to help her grow closer to Si-woo.
And Amelia's secret weapons didn't end there.
-Zzzip!
Unzipping the suitcase a bit further revealed more books hidden in the deepest compartment.
'Sex and the Kamasutra,' 'Easy SM Guide for Beginners,' 'The Devil Sheds Her Prada,' 'Why I Had to Toss the Sheets from Last Night,' and fifteen more.
Unlike the previous batch, these were filled with rather explicit content.
Some even had covers so lasciviously provocative they dazzled the eyes.
Her face had burned like fire while sneaking them to the checkout counter.
Yet Amelia had braved the embarrassment for this reason:
To truly meet Si-woo's gaze on equal footing, like Sharon and the others.
If she lacked experience or know-how, she could stack these books as her stepping stool and look him in the eye!
The wisdom of sages contained within would surely transform her into Brand New Amelia.
Amelia zipped the bag shut again and meticulously changed the lock code.
"...This time, I'll aim a little higher."
This was, after all, a war of love.
Sharing a rare game-changer like this would be foolish.
Hadn't Sharon openly admitted to her own nighttime escapades with Si-woo?
Amelia stowed the books away, pushing down pangs of conscience.
"Lady Amelia! Help set the table!"
"Coming!"
She headed to the kitchen to assist Sharon with dinner prep.
After Shin Si-woo's escape, Hexennacht had been seething with fervor day after day.
The betrayal by the 22nd Hierarchy's great witches—the Sword Witch and the Void Witch—who would have been reliable assets in wartime.
Not content with invading Hexennacht, the Gehenna witches had even laid traps beyond its borders.
It was tantamount to a preemptive strike amid a cold war.
Gehenna had issued a statement claiming the incident had nothing to do with the city's collective will, but they took no further actions.
This tepid response bolstered the hardliners' voices and legitimacy, while cracks formed even among the moderates bound by shared interests.
Hexennacht buzzed like a wasp nest under assault, with whispers of bloody vengeance leaking out.
"In light of this incident, the Solidus Merchant Group's board of directors strips Gold Witch Lydia Magnus of her CEO position and delegates it to 'Aries Witch Psyche Tigarden.'"
With evidence surfacing that Solidus's leader, Lydia Magnus, was involved in the affair, punishment was inevitable.
There was no hard proof, but suspicions mounted: that Lydia had made contact with Gehenna for personal gain, and that she had known of Linne's betrayal yet covered it up.
"......"
Lydia bit her lip in humiliated fury.
Any other witch might have lost her life over this, but Lydia had the accumulated power and influence to fall back on.
Otherwise, there wouldn't have been talk of preferential treatment—she'd have been erased without a trace.
That didn't make the resentment any less bitter.
Nom nom.
Her venomous glare turned toward Psyche, who was placidly unwrapping and eating chocolate.
She never should have trusted her to begin with.
Even if she hadn't anticipated such a brazen about-face, Lydia had remained wary.
But Psyche had struck her vitals at the perfect moment with the perfect intel.
In the end, Psyche reaped the sweetest fruits of all Lydia's hard labor.
And no one believed that the ancient witch—renowned for fighting the most battles in history—would meekly stay within the moderates' fold.
The preemptive strike had rendered Hexennacht's 'moderates' a hollow shell.
Even the established moderate factions now craved a strong, aggressive leader at this very moment.
"Just one word, is it?"
Psyche, having taken over from the board conductor, licked chocolate from her lips and stepped up to the podium.
"First off, let me praise your keen insight in electing me as your representative. I know exactly what you all want."
"......"
"It's been boring as hell up till now, hasn't it?"
Bathed in cold stares devoid of applause or goodwill, Psyche continued calmly.
"Now, let's shock the world together. Let's reclaim the glory witches were meant to have. Make witches great again."
She tried to hype them up, but the stale slogan drew only tepid reactions.
Psyche showed no sign of caring as she spoke again.
"Alright, everyone on your feet. Time to show the world who owns it. Let the war games begin."