Chapter 152: Illusion
Chapter 152: Illusion
Kerry entered the familiar white bedroom.
Everything, everywhere he looked, was pure white. Usually, when he came here, the Witch would be reading a book or looking out the window, and she would greet him with a smile.
But for some reason, she was nowhere to be seen.
The lace on the bed was torn to shreds. The furniture was in disarray, nothing in its proper place.
“My lady?”
Had someone broken in? But Kerry was the one holding the seal. There was no way anyone else could have entered.
Just then, the sound of sobbing reached Kerry’s ears.
“Hic... sob... sniffle...”
“?”
Kerry followed the sound and rounded the side of the bed. Only then did he see the White Witch, crouched on the floor.
She was crying, her face buried in her knees.
“My lady?”
Kerry called out to her cautiously. The White Witch lifted her head from her knees.
Tears streamed down her face as she wept sorrowfully.
“Kerry? Is it… is it really you?”
“Well, do I look like someone else?”
“An illusion… It wasn’t an illusion!”
“?”
The White Witch burst into tears and threw herself into his arms. It was a rather fierce hug.
“Waaaah! Why did you take so long! Why only now! Do you have any idea… any idea how scared I was!”
“What were you scared of? There’s no one here but you.”
“Are you asking because you truly do not know? You did not come for over two days!”
Hmm. He admitted he hadn't had time to see the White Witch after getting the Dimensional Veil.
He hadn't even had a spare moment to pop in for a visit. He’d had to deal with Arein and persuade Titania.
There was simply no time.
Even his party members, who were staying in the same lodging, had barely seen him.
But still, it had only been two days.
“…You would not know, Kerry. With what heart I wait for you… hic…”
“…First, why don’t you wipe your tears and your nose before you speak.”
Such a waste of a pretty face, crying and sniffling like that.
Kerry took out a handkerchief and wiped the White Witch’s face. She quieted down, seeming to enjoy the gesture even as she tried to speak.
The White Witch took a few deep breaths, composing herself.
Ironically, even like this, she just looked beautiful. Being too pretty was a problem in itself.
“Now, please tell me what’s going on, my lady. A moment ago, you said I wasn’t an illusion.”
“What was that all of a sudden?”
“…”
“You have to tell me something.”
The White Witch seemed hesitant.
But just looking at the state of the room, Kerry could tell she was not in her right mind.
The lace on the bed was a shredded mess, and the desk and chair were not in their places but were instead overturned on the floor.
At first, he’d thought someone had broken in.
But that wasn’t it. The White Witch had done all this herself.
“I can’t help you if you don’t tell me what’s wrong.”
“…”
“Just as you’ve helped me all this time, please let me help you now.”
At that, the White Witch seemed to make up her mind and finally opened her mouth.
“You must promise… you must promise… not to get angry when you hear this, alright?”
“Why would I get angry?”
“Promise me first. That you will not get angry.”
“Alright. I won’t get angry.”
Only then did the Witch seem relieved enough to begin her story.
The White Witch had lived here alone for a hundred years. It was not by anyone else’s will, but her own.
She had made the choice herself, fearing the aging and death that would rob her of her beauty.
At first, she felt a little lonely, but eventually, she grew numb to it.
The White Witch was not naturally a person who felt much loneliness, and as she said, it had been her own choice.
Every day, she would look at the sky and read books.
It was a monotonous life, like a hamster on a wheel, but it wasn't bad. It was the life she had prepared herself for.
Then, one day, Kerry appeared.
A lot had happened with Kerry. At first, of course, she could not tolerate this intruder.
But as they continued to meet, a fondness grew, to the point where she could call him the first friend she had ever made in her life.
Of course, her true feelings were closer to those of a lover, but there was no way the White Witch could confess that to Kerry.
The White Witch waited for Kerry in her bedroom every single day.
Kerry would appear suddenly out of thin air. There was no entrance connecting this place to the outside world.
It was the same when he left. Kerry appeared like a shadow and vanished like a shadow.
Watching this, a small doubt began to sprout in the White Witch’s mind.
What if Kerry was, in fact, an ‘illusion’ she had created out of her own profound loneliness?
Hearing this, Kerry let out an incredulous remark.
“You thought I was an illusion?”
“No, I mean! I was overcome with the fear that you might be.”
Kerry decided to hear the rest of the story.
The fear that Kerry might be an illusion she had created herself. It made the White Witch obsessed with him.
Whenever Kerry said he had to go attend to matters outside, she would hold him back. She didn't want to let him go. She was afraid he would disappear forever and never return.
The White Witch suspected Kerry might be an illusion, but at the same time, she simply wanted him to stay by her side.
And then came the last few days. Kerry, who had recently been visiting in his spare moments, stopped coming.
No matter how busy he was, he had always made time to stop by, even for a moment.
“I was so frightened. I was afraid you would stop coming. I was afraid that you were, in fact, an illusion I had created.
I was terrified. So… so I was crying.”
“…”
Kerry had felt it too.
The Witch’s obsession was growing more intense. But he had never imagined it was this severe.
“…Are you angry, Kerry?”
“Yes. I’m furious!”
“…Huh?”
The White Witch’s eyes widened like a startled rabbit’s, as if she never expected him to say that.
He didn’t seem to be joking. It wasn’t the right atmosphere for jokes, and Kerry truly looked angry.
Angrier than ever before.
“I… I am sorry… Kerry… I am so sorry. It was my fault…”
The petite Witch, small enough to fit perfectly in his arms, apologized with tears welling in her eyes. Normally, she would have retorted with her own burst of anger.
But right now, the Witch was weakened.
He had always thought of her as the strong Witch who always helped him.
The Witch who would solve any problem Kerry had without breaking a sweat. Yet she had been shouldering her own troubles all alone.
“I am furious! Why didn't you tell me sooner? If you were struggling this much, you should have told me.
Why did you let it get this bad!”
Kerry was genuinely angry.
He had thought she was fine because she always acted so nonchalant in front of him.
“The more… obsessed I became with you… I was afraid you would find me a burden… so I could not say anything… hic… I’m sorry. It was my fault. Please do not abandon me, Kerry. Sniffle…”
In the end, startled by Kerry’s anger, the White Witch even started to hiccup. He couldn’t even get properly angry at her.
Kerry pulled the White Witch into a hug.
“…Kerry. Were you not angry?”
“Is that what’s important right now?”
“It is important to me.”
“I am not an illusion, my lady.”
“…I know that in my head, but when you are not here, I cannot help but feel anxious. Please forgive me for being this way.”
“Don’t be anxious.”
“How can you tell me not to be anxious about something that makes me anxious?”
“Because I’m real. How could an illusion learn magic from you or bring you news from the outside world?”
“The news from outside could also be a delusion I concocted in my head. I have no way of knowing what happens out there.”
“…”
“And would it not be the same for learning magic?”
“…”
“I am just speaking my thoughts. Do not look at me with that expression. For now… for now, I know you are real.”
Kerry stared intently at the Witch.
She was right. No matter what Kerry said here, he couldn’t offer any proof that he wasn’t an illusion.
There was only one way to solve this.
“My lady.”
“What is it?”
“You should come outside with me. How can a person stay sane after living alone in a place like this for a hundred years?
It’s a miracle you’ve been sane this long!”
“…”
“I had a bad feeling about this place from the moment I first came here!
It’s absurd to think someone wouldn’t go crazy in a room that’s nothing but white!”
“D-don’t you dare subtly insult my aesthetic sense! There is nothing wrong with my interior design.”
“Setting the interior design aside, let’s go out together. You said you’re here because you’re afraid of growing old and dying, right?”
Kerry fumbled in his pocket and pulled out a small glass vial.
It was the Elixir he had planned to take today. The Tears of a High Elf. Drinking it would extend one’s lifespan by fifty years.
“I’ll give this to you. I was going to take it myself, but you should have it, my lady. Drink this, get healthy, and let’s go outside together.”
He felt bad for Titania, but it couldn’t be helped.
Besides, in this absurd otherworld, it was unlikely this was the only life-extending elixir in existence. He’d just find another one for himself later.
He was confident enough now to seize that much for himself.
The White Witch’s eyes widened as she saw the Tears of a High Elf. It seemed she recognized what it was.
“Are these not the Tears of a High Elf? Something only the royalty among High Elves can possess?
And even then, there should be none left… Is this an illusion, too?”
“…”
“That was a jest.”
Kerry placed the Tears of a High Elf in the White Witch’s hand. It was a precious elixir, but he didn’t feel it was a waste to give it to her.
She had done far more for Kerry than any elixir was worth.
“…”
The White Witch stared intently at the Tears of a High Elf in her palm.
While not a perfect solution, it was clearly one of the elixirs she had longed for from the outside world.
But the White Witch shook her head.
“…I cannot accept this.”
“…”
Why won’t you take it when I’m giving it to you!
“I, too, have a sense of shame. How could I accept something so precious? This is yours, Kerry.
If a High Elf gave this to you, then that elf must surely… In any case, I cannot accept this.”
“…”
It seemed that because the Witch knew so much, she had pieced together the general situation. She was too damn sharp.
“Anyway, let’s go outside, my lady.”
“That is also difficult.”
“And why is that?”
“The reason I have been here for a hundred years… is also because I cannot leave on my own.
My seal is not a convenient item that allows one to come and go as if on a stroll.”
The White Witch’s Seal. The name was indeed ‘seal.’ The status window had explained that she had sealed herself.
It was exactly as the name implied!
“What! So you can’t leave! And you can’t believe I’m not an illusion! Then what the hell are we supposed to do!”
“…”
The White Witch pouted and muttered to herself.
“What was that? If you have something to say, say it louder.”
“W-well, you could live here with me, could you not? Without leaving…”
“That’s not happening.”
“Why?”
“What’s the point of living here for a hundred, a thousand years! We’d both just end up going crazy and losing our minds in the end!”
“…”
Most importantly, his beloved companions were waiting for him outside. He couldn’t abandon them.
“…”
A silence fell between Kerry and the White Witch. There was no apparent solution.
No matter what Kerry said, it couldn’t serve as proof that he wasn’t an illusion.
And yet, he couldn’t take the White Witch outside with him.
Kerry let out a deep sigh.
“I suppose there’s no choice. I really didn’t want to resort to this method…”
“Kerry? Do you have a good idea?”
Kerry stood up, pulling the White Witch into his arms. She let herself be held docilely in his embrace.
A question mark appeared on the White Witch’s face.
No matter how she thought about it, the problem seemed unsolvable.
But Kerry moved as if he could resolve the issue with confidence.
Kerry laid the White Witch on the bed.
“Kerry?”
The White Witch was puzzled. His atmosphere was far too serious for him to be trying to pounce on her.
“To be honest, I still can’t believe it, my lady.”
“Believe what?”
“After all the time we’ve spent together… you think I’m an illusion?”
“That is… I am sorry, Kerry. But… when you disappear, I cannot help but feel anxious.”
“I’m not the one who deserves an apology.”
“Then to whom must I apologize?”
“To my little guy, who has been deeply wounded!”
Kerry dropped his pants. His furious little guy raised its head.
“!”
“Right now, my little guy is furious. He’s asking if his presence means so little to you.
How could you possibly mistake the pleasure he gave you for an illusion!”
“Th-that is… First… first, calm down, Kerry!”
“I suppose one little guy just wasn’t enough.”
As he said that, Kerry created a mana dildo in the air. It was a dildo shaped exactly like his own cock.
“If two go in at the same time, the idea that I… no, that my little guy is an illusion…!”
Kerry took aim with the two cocks, one at the White Witch’s pussy and the other at her asshole.
“You will never be able to think that again! Isn’t that right, my lady!”
The White Witch’s eyes flew open as she shouted.
“Kerry! Why must you try to solve everything with sex!
No! Wait! I said wait a moment! Two is too much—aaahhh!”
As always, Kerry paid no mind to the White Witch’s words. An illusion, she said.
To think she could mistake his cock for an illusion. He had clearly been too gentle with the White Witch until now.
“Two at once is too much, Kerryyyy!”