Chapter 122
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 122
Chapter Title: Seal Release (2)
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“Ah!”
Kang Yura jumped in surprise.
She let out a small scream without realizing it and took a step back.
“Th-this person is…?”
“Greet her, Yura. This is the Lady of the Swamp, Laupey Tennebrose de Kenbelm.”
Kang Miryung introduced her daughter while pressing a hand to her temple, looking faintly weary.
The golden-haired woman, Laupey, beamed with a girlish smile at the words.
“Hee hee, no need for such formality, Miryung. Not between you and me. ‘Lady’ feels so distant. You should call me ‘sister.’”
“With our age difference, you still want me to call you sister?”
“Of course! Hee hee, just look at this face. Who would take me for your grandmother?”
“...You seem especially excited today. The Laupey I knew was more composed and elegant.”
“Hee hee! It’s because today is such a joyous occasion!”
Indeed, the witch named Laupey seemed utterly thrilled.
Like a child who had finally received a precious gift she’d waited years for.
Laupey continued in an excited voice.
“And why wouldn’t I be? The child you raised has finally crafted my doll! Sure, his skills are still imperfect, so it doesn’t even reach half my original power… But look at it! Isn’t this impressive enough?”
“But.”
Kang Miryung replied calmly, undeterred by the witch’s enthusiasm.
“I doubt that alone would make you this happy.”
“Ho ho, sharp as ever… True, not everything is perfect. Strictly speaking, this doll isn’t the real Laupey.”
But she grinned.
“The key isn’t that, though. It’s the ‘summoning’ and ‘release.’ That’s the important part.”
At her words, Kang Miryung’s serene eyes widened as realization dawned.
“...You mean you can finally leave Nocturne Town?”
The witch’s sealing contract.
A curse placed by the first-generation heroes who had fought alongside her—and feared her—to bind her eternally to this mansion. Kang Miryung knew its details well.
The first seal was the mansion itself.
The second was this gloomy, decadent city, Nocturne Town.
Layer upon layer of powerful seals, the final safeguard to keep Witch Laupey from rampaging through Tartaros.
“Exactly! I’ve already slipped the mansion’s seal using this doll’s body. So escaping Nocturne Town’s seal should be entirely possible too!”
Her voice brimmed with the ecstasy and anticipation suppressed for centuries.
“The seal’s terms prevent the entity ‘Laupey’ from passing through sealed gates. But what if I’m already outside when the doll is made? And then resummon myself beyond Nocturne Town’s borders? The first part worked, so what do you think of the second?”
Only then did Kang Miryung and Kang Yura grasp the pure joy behind her words.
“My seal is finally useless!”
Kang Ihyeon, her son, had unwittingly pried open the world’s most dangerous Pandora’s box!
Kang Miryung figured her son hadn’t intended such a monumental outcome.
If he had, Laupey wouldn’t be this ecstatic. She clearly delighted in the unexpected gift.
“In any case, congratulations, Lady Laupey. Even if it’s just through the doll, you can finally leave this stifling place and see the outside world. Truly wonderful.”
Kang Miryung offered sincere congratulations.
Laupey smiled in satisfaction but smacked her lips with faint regret.
“Mm, yes. My true body’s still bound here, unable to fully share these new experiences… That’s a shame. Though that’s why I attached my real eyes and ears to the doll!”
“...So you came here in person to see our little brother?”
“Ahem, well, you could say that.”
Laupey cleared her throat, feigning nonchalance in response to Kang Yura’s question. Kang Miryung, already briefed on the rough situation, nodded silently and told her daughter.
“Yura. Under the circumstances, go fetch Ihyeon for us.”
“Ahem, do we really need to meet face-to-face? Seeing you two is enough for today.”
But before Kang Miryung could finish, Laupey shook her head vigorously, her face twisting in dismay.
“Pardon? But you just said…”
“Th-there’s an order to things. What if this body can’t escape Nocturne Town either?”
Laupey had planned to ditch her promise with Kang Ihyeon and dash off to revel in the outside world once the doll proved curse-free—but she kept that to herself.
“Ahem, so just pass on my regards for now.”
“But you came all this way…”
“How was I to know he’d be here? Pure coincidence! I just happened to drop by for a chat! And it’s awkward, okay? That guy’s like a horny monkey bursting with lust…!”
Kang Yura blinked in surprise at Laupey’s unexpected reaction.
The legendary great witch she’d only heard of was this shy? Was this her real personality?
Whatever had happened between them, Yura dismissed the lust excuse as flimsy.
As if this great witch could fall to her brother’s meager incubus skills?
Kang Yura eyed the flustered Laupey a moment longer, then stood.
“Then I’ll step out. Coffee alright with you, Lady Laupey?”
“Mm. Sure, sure.”
Laupey gave a tiny nod.
But soon, a familiar, tantalizing aroma wafted from Kang Yura’s coffee pot to Laupey’s nose.
The instant she caught it, Laupey recoiled in shock, staring at them like she’d seen a ghost.
“Y-you two as well…!”
Kang Miryung’s hand paused mid-sip.
“Pardon? What’s wrong?”
“N-no, nothing! I… I’ll skip the coffee! Bitter stuff’s not my thing!”
Laupey changed the subject in a rush, forcing a smile. Inside, though, she reeled in shock and confusion.
That smell—no mistaking it. That guy’s semen…!
A second whiff confirmed it beyond doubt.
To think this mother and daughter were mixing her son’s—her brother’s—seed into their coffee.
Okay, the excuse fits, but it really is awkward!
The humiliations she’d endured in that mansion.
To Laupey, Kang Ihyeon was a lust-crazed blob of sexual urges.
Blood or no, to think even these girls had fallen into such debauchery!
Laupey found their ‘free-spirited’ mindset hard to fathom.
Really…! Black Sun was bad enough, and now these kids too. Why do they let their skills control them like this?
Back when Earth was humanity’s last stronghold, she’d seen many return from rifts with new skills.
Just as monsters evolved to their environments, hunters gaining fitting skills seemed natural—common knowledge.
But over ten, twenty, fifty years.
As they shifted strongholds to great rifts and she watched it all, Laupey learned harsh truths.
Skills warp body and mind to suit themselves—the more you use them, the more they develop.
Nocturne Town, Tartaros’s most yin-charged place.
Locals inheriting rift demons’ skills wasn’t odd… but she sensed them growing irrational.
Half her old allies who yearned for Earth founded the Association to rule great rifts; of the rest, half turned Gray Ash, the others Black Sun.
Now it’s their kids and grandkids…
Laupey doubted opposing skill lineages would reconcile easily in this era of heirs.
“Pardon? Laupey—no, the witch—came by?”
Those were the first words I heard after days of intense lovemaking, finally escaping the Hallucination Room drenched in sweat.
“Yes.”
Kang Yura approached and poked my damp chest with her slender finger.
“What the hell have you been up to, little brother? Starting a guild now, too?”
“Ah, th-that’s…”
I fumbled under her sharp question, stammering before hastily changing the subject.
“But how’d she get out of the mansion?”
“I wasn’t clear. It was the doll you made that came.”
“R-right. Aira, then…”
But for her to avoid meeting me directly.
That was bizarre. Given her haughty, elegant personality as I remembered, it made no sense.
She’d even used formal speech with me, far her junior.
Did becoming a clone peel back a layer?
Clones didn’t perfectly copy the original. Otherwise, Yu Jeong’s clone wouldn’t have woken comatose.
Whatever. She’ll come find me later. Gotta ask Aira what happened during crafting.
Considering the conditions I’d set to keep her from abusing the clone, I felt awkward around Laupey too.
As those thoughts crossed my mind, Yura sidled close and whispered in my ear.
“Oh, the semen you gave me? It went down great.”
“Right, what were you even planning to use it for?”
She rolled her eyes thoughtfully at my question, then shrugged.
“Eh, no harm telling you now. I gave it to Mom, obviously.”
“...Pardon?”
I thought I’d misheard.
I was floored.
Whether gunning for Mom’s position or some other motive, I knew Yura targeted Mom and used me for it—even altering my fetishes in the Hallucination Room.
But this?
Yura ignored my stunned expression, licking her lips seductively as she added,
“Hee hee, think I only did it today? I slipped in the leftovers bit by bit before, then upped the dose with today’s batch… She took to it better than expected. Drank it right down—so delicious. All thanks to you.”
“......”
I was speechless.
My sister was certifiably insane.
As I shuddered in disgust, she drove the nail deeper like it was nothing.
“Told you before? Gotta supply regularly. Don’t forget.”
“Haa… You’re serious?”
“Of course. Mom knows I’m after her spot—it’s no secret. This is just how our family does things.”
I sighed deeply.
Mom was too kind and gentle—that was the problem. Strict on the surface, but always indulging Yura’s dangerous games like this.
After standing there dazed for a while, Yura spoke in a slightly different tone.
“Separate from that, go see Mom today. Give her a massage or something. She won’t say it, but I bet she’s hurt inside.”
“...You think?”
Now that she mentioned it, I couldn’t recall the last time Mom and I had a proper one-on-one talk—months ago?
I scratched my head and replied reluctantly.
“Alright, I will.”