Chapter 166: Agapeite
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 166: Agapeite
It was possible in theory.
It sounded good in theory.
The biggest problem with any action described that way was that it was never realistic.
“So, how do we do it?”
At Linna’s question, Yohan clamped his mouth shut. There was no way he would know. He’d never done it before. It was nothing more than a delusion that existed only in his head.
The problem, of course, was that magic was the power to turn such delusions into reality, and this particular problem wasn’t theoretically impossible.
“I feel like it should work somehow… but just trying it blindly probably isn’t a good idea, right?”
“What if you make a mistake? I can’t even begin to imagine how something like that is possible.”
“…Then for now, should I call Margaret and talk to her?”
Yohan went to his room, woke Margaret, who had been sleeping there, and brought her back with him.
Margaret, rubbing her sleepy eyes, belatedly realized she had returned to the past and looked at Yohan with sparkling eyes.
“—So you really intend to save me.”
“What, did you think I was lying?”
“Yes. To be honest, it was hard to believe.”
Margaret was well aware of what she had done. She knew there was a chance Yohan had lied simply to return to the past.
But she had granted his request simply because—she loved him.
“But as I thought—you love me too, Yohan.”
“Yeah, yeah, I love you. So you can—do me a favor, right?”
Yohan explained his theory to Margaret. To split her into two: the Witch of Space and the Witch of Time.
It sounded plausible enough that Margaret, too, accepted that Yohan’s idea had some potential.
The only problem was…
“First, I would need to stop being me. Is that what you’re saying?”
She would have to return the body she had worked so hard to steal to the current Margaret. After doing so, there was no guarantee that the original Margaret would ever give her the body or mind back.
If the Margaret who had her body stolen once were to get it back, she would surely take measures to prevent it from being stolen again—and it would be impossible to take the body from a Margaret who had taken such precautions.
And if the original Margaret did reclaim her body, what then? She had no loyalty or obligation to return it to the current her. The two of them here could just keep their mouths shut and forget she ever existed.
“I can’t do it.”
“…Even if I’m the one asking?”
“Even if it’s your request, Yohan—I can’t do what I can’t do. If I just give the body back and can never return, it’s a loss for me in the end.”
Yohan knew that. If he were in Margaret’s shoes, he wouldn’t have given the body back either.
That left only one option: find another way. A method he could use to save Margaret…
“Then how about trying this?”
Just then, Regina, who had been quietly scribbling something, spoke up with a suggestion.
“What? What are you suggesting?”
“It seems you’re suggesting we move the consciousness and then create a body… Instead, we create the body first, and then move the consciousness.”
“…What?”
It was similar to what the future Makina had done: create a machine body and paste a copy of her consciousness into it.
She seemed to consider the copied version of herself to be her true self, but Yohan didn’t know if that was really a good thing.
However, he knew this was the only remaining option.
“Margaret. Are you going to refuse this method too?”
“…I can’t, can I.”
Margaret obediently nodded. Thinking the matter settled, Yohan was about to ask Linne to create a body for Margaret when Margaret stopped Linne and called out to him.
“Before that, I have a favor to ask.”
“What is it?”
“…I want to have sex. Just the two of us.”
It was Margaret’s long-held wish. In the future she came from, she had never once had Yohan all to herself.
From her perspective, it wasn’t that it had never happened, but it had been at least several hundred years.
Yohan sighed at her wish. It wasn’t a difficult request to grant—so he immediately took her hand and helped her up.
“We’re going to do it now. Linne—it’ll take a few hours, so have the body for Margaret ready before we come out.”
“I-I’m so jealous…”
“What?”
“N-No… Have a good time…”
With Linne seeing them off, Yohan immediately took Margaret into his room. And there, they made passionate love.
Passion felt for the first time in hundreds of years—Margaret felt a pleasure so intense it felt like she would lose her mind, and she entered a state of post-nut clarity.
After their intense morning sex, Yohan flinched in surprise at the sight of Margaret in the living room.
Lying naked in the middle of the living room was Margaret—or rather, on closer inspection, it was a doll of her, made in her likeness.
The quality was so realistic that it looked as if she herself were lying there naked, startling not only Yohan but every witch who came into the living room.
“I-I made it…”
Linne proudly showed off the Margaret she had created, asking Yohan for praise. After praising her by stroking her chest, Yohan immediately took the fake body she had made and went back into his room.
Margaret, who was still reeling from the physical and mental pleasure of being held by Yohan for the first time in centuries, tilted her head in confusion as he entered the room carrying a doll.
“…What’s that?”
“Your body.”
“Ah, ahaha. It looks exactly like me.”
Glancing at the doll, Margaret wondered how she was supposed to transfer her consciousness.
And that part was very simple. Regina could do it.
The records of the Skull Collector, a necromancer who could handle souls, were written in her book. It was the ability of a legendary monster that had recently appeared—but Regina’s magic could replicate anything, as long as it was recorded.
“Shall we begin?”
“Yes.”
“Then—Miss Margaret. Please do not resist.”
Regina immediately extracted Margaret’s soul and transferred it to the doll beside her. The flesh resisted, trying to hold on to the departing soul, but Linna completely annihilated that resistance with her magic.
Having successfully transferred the soul, Regina immediately used other spells to ensure Margaret’s soul would settle properly into the doll.
As the new Margaret, awakened by magic, shot up and began moving her body around, the eyes of the original Margaret, which had been closed, began to open on their own.
“…Where am I?”
“Are you awake?”
“Yohan?”
The soul-less body began to receive a soul that suited it, and thus, the Margaret who had been sent hundreds of years into the future had crossed time once more to settle back into her own flesh.
Yohan opened his arms to the real Margaret, whom he hadn’t seen in a very long time. The real Margaret, who had felt immense fear at being separated from Yohan, even for a short while, immediately threw herself into his arms and burst into tears.
“Waaaaaah—! Yohaaaaan—!”
As she bawled her eyes out, Yohan realized it was time to sort things out.
Above all—he couldn’t call them both Margaret, could he?
“Miss Margaret, and this one is…”
“Give me a name, Yohan.”
“Me?”
At the fake Margaret’s request for a name, Yohan thought for a moment, considering her abilities and original name, before one came to mind.
“Agapeite.”
Fated to love all things.
Since she loved every part of herself, it was a fitting name.
Agapeite seemed to quite like her name, as she smiled brightly at Yohan.
“Please take care of me, Yohan.”
“—No, no, no. Yohan, who is this bitch? Why does she look exactly like me?”
“Ah, about that.”
Watching Margaret hide behind him and point an accusing finger at Agapeite, Yohan realized a long explanation was in order.
And it wasn’t something he should only explain to her.
In the end, Yohan took the two of them out to the living room, gathered the witches, and called a morning meeting.
“Wha-Whaaat—!?”
The one most surprised to hear about Agapeite was his Teacher.
She was shocked that Agapeite had been the original Margaret—and that she hadn’t noticed until now.
“I mean, I thought her hair got shorter…”
“…Don’t tell me you really didn’t know?”
“I-I knew! Of course I knew!”
Watching Evangeline make excuses, Yohan realized she truly hadn’t known. How was that even possible?
He glanced at the other witches just in case, and they all nodded with expressions that said they’d suspected as much.
“Hmm, she was acting strange.”
“Right. Margaret can’t cook, but Agapeite is a good cook.”
Realizing she was the only one who had been in the dark, Evangeline broke into a cold sweat.
“…Was I really the only one who didn’t know?”
“Yep.”
“You’re lying, right?”
No matter how much she denied it, reality wouldn’t change.