Chapter 89
Chapter 89
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 89
Chapter Title: Dead Silence (2)
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1.
Amelia's day began with visiting Siwoo's room.
She pulled back the covers and wiped down his arms and legs with a lukewarm wet cloth.
She changed the gauze over his still hollow eye sockets and used magic to keep the rest of his body clean.
In truth, none of this was strictly necessary.
Siwoo's body was in a state akin to suspended animation, with virtually no metabolic byproducts or secretions.
Ultimately, this was just one small act of atonement—something, even if barely.
For about fifteen minutes, she sat by the head of the bed where he lay motionless like the dead, murmuring to herself.
Nothing of substance.
As always, it was just empty rambling into the void.
Afterward, she headed to her lab to begin research on a new spell.
In fact, healing magic wasn't a field that saw much active research.
Witches and apprentice witches were all ethereal beings.
Bodies formed from mana and thought, centered around their stigmas, were far easier to restore than the intricate mechanisms of a human form.
Even a severed arm could be regenerated on the spot without much trouble, and if an organ was lost, as long as sufficient mana was available, it could be managed somehow.
Things like tumors or viral infections weren't even worth worrying about.
In such circumstances, who would devote themselves to perfecting healing magic just for humans?
Recovery spells for witches topped out at the 10th hierarchy.
That was all that was needed.
Even for a witch's ethereal body, one area that couldn't be easily healed was the 'brain'.
The nexus of human intellect, reason, ideology, concepts, and cognition.
The most complex organ, one that humanity—with all its advances in science, enough to travel back and forth to the moon—still hadn't fully unraveled.
The electrical signals and chemical reactions from billions of neurons couldn't be handled by mere 10th-hierarchy recovery spells, so even for witches, brain damage meant death.
How much more fragile was the human body...
No one could say how far she needed to advance to wake him.
An endless series of towering, insurmountable walls loomed ahead.
Even as hesitation gnawed at her, Amelia didn't entertain the thought of giving up.
"........"
Compared to that time when she could do nothing.
Compared to the day her master departed.
This level of despair was nothing.
Unlike then, when she had to accept fate helplessly, now she had means to struggle.
There was still a way to make things right.
Whether that path was arduous or painful didn't matter.
-Clang!
"Amelia!"
She'd heard frantic footsteps approaching, and sure enough, the lab building's door burst open.
The one who appeared, her flowing lavender hair whipping behind her, was Sophia.
Amelia's longtime friend and advisor.
"What's going on?"
"I found her!"
Sophia couldn't hide her excitement, practically bouncing in place.
Even for Sophia, who came off as a bit flighty compared to most witches, Amelia had never seen her lose composure like this.
Amelia's eyes wavered.
"Found what?"
"A witch who might be able to heal Assistant Siwoo!"
"R-Really?"
Hope suddenly swelling in her chest, Amelia clutched it tightly.
But it was too soon to celebrate.
Sophia urgently pulled two bundles of papers from her bosom.
"I was digging through the discarded archives and found a paper written by a witch on brain regeneration."
One was a thesis.
Amelia quickly took it from Sophia and read the title: Brain Regeneration via Human Body Casting: Multiverse Imagery Interpretation and Entropy Restoration.
Amelia didn't fully grasp the depths, but even skimming it, she could tell it held exactly what Siwoo needed.
"The author is 'Smirna.' A 19th-hierarchy witch expert in human body casting. But there's a slight issue..."
"I think I know."
Amelia sensed it the moment Sophia spoke.
This paper had been in the discarded archives.
That meant its author was an exile.
"What's the reason for exile?"
"I've never met her personally, but... seems she experimented directly on about ten civilians. It was so long ago, exact records are gone."
Her elation cooling, Amelia gripped the hem of her dress tightly.
She'd never harbored ill will toward exiles.
She'd had no dealings with them to begin with.
But after clashing with Eah Sadalmelik recently.
Having witnessed that woman's cruelty and danger, the very word 'exile' now stirred disgust and unease in Amelia.
Sophia, aware of this, spoke first.
"Don't worry too much. Not all exiles are monsters like 'Public Enemy.' Aquarius Witch was a notorious psychopath even among them."
"Do you know her location?"
"Found her workshop in Northeast Greenland National Park. Gave 'clairvoyance' to migratory birds worldwide."
The hopeful anticipation deflated.
Amelia asked cautiously.
"Still... isn't it too dangerous?"
Amelia couldn't hide her concern.
Entrusting Siwoo—not just any part, but his brain—to another witch's hands.
An exile, no less.
"Amelia, I know you're trying your best, but... you might not make it in time. You know it too—Assistant Siwoo's condition is deteriorating bit by bit. Even if you develop a spell to heal his current wounds, it might not be enough by then."
Sophia was right.
What Amelia aimed for was like an astrophysicist suddenly entering med school to master the world's most complex brain surgery.
No one could guarantee the patient would hold on that long.
"What about Duke Keter...? Still no contact?"
"Amelia... you know she's been unseen for 82 years now."
Duke Keter, secluded in her Ivory Tower.
The eldest witch, who reached the 30th hierarchy alone without passing or receiving a stigma.
An object of awe for all witches.
If she, who could twist ideologies and principles, took it on, restoring Siwoo would be possible.
Right after the incident, the first place Amelia had gone was Duke Keter's Ivory Tower.
But Duke Keter was infamous for her indifference to worldly affairs.
For a full month, requesting audiences daily without fail, Amelia only encountered the double-digit number of witches camping out front, hoping for even a casual word of advice.
The ideological barrier over the Ivory Tower repelled uninvited guests, leaving Amelia to return empty-handed and forlorn.
Even after, sending pigeons daily brought no reply.
"We need to decide. One thing's certain: the longer we delay, the lower Shin Siwoo's chances of recovery."
Sophia understood Amelia's fears.
Having lost someone precious before, the trauma lingered.
Staking another loved one's life on a stranger witch's hands was terrifying and agonizing.
But desperate wishes and caution didn't always yield the best choices.
Now called for bold action.
Amelia's silence stretched long.
This choice, to leave no regrets.
Weighing every possibility meticulously, she finally spoke.
"Has... contact been made?"
"Reached her this morning. Asked Countess Gemernai about the temporary pass too. She said she'd help actively—pushing for citizenship reinstatement within two hours."
To treat him, they needed to bring Smirna into Gehenna directly.
Siwoo wasn't in any state to travel to the present world via portal.
An exile legally entering Gehenna was unprecedented.
The help came from Countess Gemernai, who owed an apprentice witch's life twice over.
Even arranging the extraordinary reward of reinstating an exile's citizenship to heal Siwoo.
"Let's at least get a consultation. I need to see her skills with my own eyes."
"Of course. So, what now?"
"Bring her here right away."
2.
The 'gate' connecting the present world and Gehenna.
Three things were needed to pass through the 'gate'.
Pristine, unpolluted river water or sea.
Gehenna citizenship.
Strong telepathic waves.
With these, one could enter Gehenna from anywhere in the world via the gate, or travel to anywhere from there.
In the express lounge of the immigration office, Amelia waited with clasped hands for the one crossing via the gate.
The appointed time had passed by three hours, yet no sign of 'Smirna'.
Sophia had restored and printed footage from clairvoyance, so Amelia roughly knew her appearance.
Though the bird's-eye view made the quality poor.
"........"
Even as a few witches came and went, she still hadn't appeared.
Had sudden invitation aroused suspicion, causing her to vanish?
Despite her ethereal body, Amelia felt her throat parching.
Unable to hide her anxiety, she bit her lip.
Should she have gone herself to fetch her?
Had hasty judgment ruined everything again?
As unease proliferated like mold, the ticket gate door opened.
"Ah...."
Amelia let out an involuntary gasp.
The person she'd waited so long for had timidly entered the lounge.
East Asian as in the footage, but with skin white as snow, defying racial categories.
Her swaying black hair was tied in a low ponytail exposing her nape, and her dark, gleaming eyes darted around anxiously, unable to hide her unease.
A tacky checkered skirt, fur clothes patterned with gaudy flowers, and white boots.
Fashion so outlandish no one could pull it off, and on her back, a backpack larger than her torso, packed to bursting.
Is that... present-world fashion?
As Amelia stared in bewilderment at the incomprehensible sense of style, Yebin spoke first.
"Um, this is my first time in Gehenna, so... are you Baroness Amelia Merrygold...?"
"Yes, nice to meet you."
"Ah! I see...! I'm Yebin Smirna. This is my first time seeing a witch besides my master, so... should we shake hands?"
Offering an awkward smile, Yebin wiped her palms on her clothes and extended her hand.
Amelia shook it, equally awkwardly.
"Thank you for inviting me. I came because of a patient... which way?"
"We need to take a portal first."
"Yes, yep! This way? Or this?"
"This way."
Grabbing the arm of the flustered, bumbling Yebin, Amelia returned with her to the lodging.