Chapter 819
Chapter 819
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 819
Chapter Title: Soul Witch (2)
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1.
I let my gaze slide down to Gretel Nephthys's hand, which she extended for a handshake.
Slender and delicate like silken threads, befitting a witch—exquisite jade fingers.
Even her nails were painted pitch-black with manicure.
It suddenly came back to me—Yebin Smirna mentioning in the letter of introduction that the Soul Witch was quite the eccentric.
But this outfit probably wasn't just a matter of taste.
She must have built her own kind of 'symbol' around it.
"Not gonna shake? You've been wandering around looking for me all this time."
I shouldn't shake this hand.
If Yebin had introduced her without much worry, she probably wasn't some outright malicious outcast.
But the inexplicable phenomenon happening to Master right now nagged at me, and the fact that this one was a male witch only made it worse.
Male witches had a way of turning "never in a million years" into "why not?" just by existing.
Even a handshake offered in greeting sparked paranoia.
"Kkulkkul, come here."
"Oink! Oink!"
As Siu finished deliberating and reached out to shake her hand...
Gretel pulled hers back with blunt decisiveness, as if repaying him for making her wait like a fool.
The pig with wings and horns came scampering over on its stubby legs and leaped into Gretel's arms.
She held the pig close and spoke.
"Just between us, I harbor no hostility toward you all. I only came out because Smirna sent the introduction."
"And yet problems cropped up anyway."
I shot her a sharp, guarded look.
Anything else, maybe—but this directly concerned Master's well-being.
Any whiff of suspicion, and I'd drop the treatment talk and throw down right here.
"As you can see, this one's my familiar, Happy Pig. Her name's Kkulkkul. Female."
The tension in the air was thick enough to cut.
Not just Siu—the five great witches were radiating subtle wariness too.
But the Soul Witch showed no sign of intimidation as she held the pig out toward them.
"You've experienced it yourselves, so you know—Kkulkkul here loves people a bit too much and shows them their ideal paradise with her 'Happy Time' spell. Everyone had sweet dreams, right?"
"Sorry, but skip the chit-chat and get to the point..."
"A human might waste away starving in eternal bliss, but witches? Nah. They might get trapped for a while, but most snap out of it on their own.
No matter how perfect, it's still just a dream. The longer it goes, the more dissonance creeps in.
Once they sense that, they can wake up at will."
Gretel turned her gaze to Master, lying amid the fallen leaves.
"But the Tiferet Duke seems to have sunk a little too deep."
"Sunk deep? More importantly, Tifer..."
"It'd be weirder if you didn't know she's the Tiferet Duke. No outcast wouldn't. Hey, mind not interrupting?"
"...Please continue."
I hadn't even cut her off that badly, yet she glared like I was some regular nuisance customer.
Maybe she was even more hysterical than she looked.
"Some people are like that occasionally. They realize the moment Happy Time activates, it binds to the target in a parasitic magic form, right?"
"Yes."
"For some, that dream feels too sweet. So sweet they never want to leave, no matter how much time passes. They squeeze every drop from memories and imagination to craft it, ignoring even the tiniest inconsistencies."
Gretel's hand pointed to Master's fading Autonomous Defense.
"That type deems their paradise 'ideal' and sees any interference as a 'threat.' They choose to lock themselves in that cradle and sleep forever."
Considering Master's situation and circumstances, it didn't sound like a lie.
No matter how much Siu loved her, he couldn't erase her past wounds.
All he could do was help her heal without too much pain.
His chest ached, but he swallowed hard and asked.
"What if we ignore the Autonomous Defense and force her awake?"
"I told you—better not."
Gretel shook her head firmly.
She took off her hat, scratched her head vigorously, and sighed.
"By force? Even Tiferet—you lot could probably manage. But if the bond's that tight, you need the proper separation ritual.
Otherwise, reality and the dream tangle up. Dreams shatter when you wake—you realize it was a dream and shake it off. But then you can't. Seen Inception?"
As if he hadn't.
The vague metaphor hit home intuitively, sending chills down spines.
Sharon—who'd watched it with him—gasped too.
The horror of the protagonist's wife mistaking reality for a dream, and dreams for reality...
He remembered it all too well.
"Soul Witch."
Linne jumped in first, gripping her drawn sword with a razor edge to her voice.
"In the end, it's your familiar's fault."
Siu, who'd once been her enemy, knew full well.
The overwhelming pressure Linne brought when she started radiating killing intent.
"No, you invaded my private property without permission."
"Then you must know how to wake her."
"Lady Linne, let's hear more from Nephthys first."
Linne had played the whip; now it was Siu's turn with the carrot.
Strong-arming wouldn't solve this.
Not that she'd shown any intimidation anyway.
"What do you want?"
"A male witch holding Smirna's letter of introduction. What do you want from me?"
"Two things. Master wakes up safe and sound, and a simple health checkup."
"Shall we move somewhere else first? And at this rate, time's flowing too fast in the dream. Need to dial it back a bit."
When Nephthys knelt unguarded by Master's head, Siu instinctively gripped his spear.
"Just so we're clear—if anything goes wrong, I won't let it slide."
"I'm a doctor, looks or not. I don't harm patients as long as they pay up. And you lot look loaded."
As Nephthys's fingertips approached Master's forehead, the precursor to Autonomous Defense stirred.
But it faded instantly when she gently tapped the brow.
Siu relaxed seeing Master's breathing even out.
"I'll guide you to my workshop."
2.
Gretel Nephthys's workshop stood tall in the heart of the larch grove clearing.
He'd expected shabby facilities in such an isolated spot—an island in the woods.
But the place greeting them was a grand mansion, no less.
A stone building exuding thick Nordic vibes.
The gloomy weather and bland conifer woods made the landscaping a bust, but even to Siu—used to the opulence of the genuine rich Jemernai estate—it screamed luxury.
Still cradling the sleeping Eloa, Siu followed Gretel into the drawing room.
As he took in the interior—white marble floors contrasting black curtains—the Soul Witch brought tea.
"Drink up. Nothing weird in it."
"......"
Her leisurely pace, bordering on carefree, sparked impatience.
Master's condition was precarious, one way or another.
Yet the Soul Witch offered no firm promise to wake her, let alone state her price.
Siu wasn't clueless.
This was deliberate silence to jack up her value.
Pulling it off so calmly in front of this many great witches... Bold? Reckless?
"We can have tea anytime. I'd like to get to the point."
"Tea first. I've adjusted the time dilation, so no rush. I tuned it myself—it's running at a 1:2 ratio now."
Siu had spent half a day in the dream, but only minutes passed here.
Assuming Gretel was truthful, a 1:2 ratio was top-notch emergency care.
"Bottom line—here's what I can offer."
He didn't want to dance to her tune any longer.
He pulled out his bargaining chip from his pocket.
A letter of recommendation stamped with the Jemernai Countess's seal.
Big sis-in-law had slipped it to him slyly before leaving.
Gehenna was pushing a citizenship lottery for outcasts to counter Hexennacht.
Still limited to select few, but expanding soon.
Given the Jemernai family's prestige, this letter was as good as citizenship.
"The mortal world lately is chaos, right? No safer spot for research than Gehenna."
Even with looser rules, Gehenna remained a dream home for many outcasts.
A ticket back should fetch a premium, no?
But contrary to expectations, Gretel's reaction was lukewarm.
"Not enough. You want Tiferet Duke woken and a checkup from me? Your original goal was the latter, and this letter's payoff for that. You'll need extra for the new treatment fee."
With the upper hand, she aimed to squeeze every drop.
Did he even need to hesitate?
Master's safety came first.
He was even open to aiding her research if push came to shove.
"We'll try to..."
"Hang on—can I talk to you alone for a sec?"
Dorothy finally stepped forward, unable to stand it.
She had more negotiation experience than anyone here.
She couldn't just stand by like a folding screen watching Siu's amateur moves.
"You know, you've been talking funny from the start. This mess happened partly because you sicced that pig on us, right?"
"And? I'm an outcast. Got to prepare when a horde shows up. I even gave emergency care to guests who might've drawn blades."
Dorothy's ever-slippery eyes curved even softer.
A smile that poured out suffocating pressure.
"Better answer straight. I know what you're banking on with your antics."
"Antics?"
What was that supposed to mean?
Before Siu could tilt his head, he caught Gretel faltering for the first time in their talk.
Just a flicker, but unmistakable.
"If anything happens to our darling Duke or the handsome witch, I'll definitely track down your main body."
"W-What are you talking about?"
"Really? I barely know what I'm saying myself. So if you want to stay clueless to the end..."
Dorothy leaned in, whispering low into Gretel's ear.
"...behave."
Gretel's lips twitched, her face frozen stiff.
Dorothy patted her shoulder with a beaming smile.
"Now~ shall we start a proper conversation?"
Dorothy had turned Gretel's face ashen with just a few words.
Siu recalled that the ever-smiley, coquettish Dorothy was a high-ranking public figure who'd survived among jackals, and the world's top arms dealer handling the biggest sums.