City of Witches

The path leading to the Gemini Mansion’s grounds were filled with oak and birch trees.

Amidst the falling leaves from the trees that were preparing for their hibernation, a jet black spear cut through the air with piercing sounds.

It was a 2.45 m long spear made of shadows.

Both its shape and length were similar to that of the Red Branch.

“Heuk…!”

The one who had been swinging such a spear was Siwoo, and the one facing him directly was none other than Eloa.

With her pink-colored hair tied to a ponytail, she easily deflected the spear tip that had risen to her chin.

When he saw that happen, Siwoo spun his body around.

Then, in the midst of that rotation, he dished out three quick thrusts in quick succession.

Each thrust was aimed at different points, but Eloa managed to dodge every one of them with ease. She even managed to close the gap between them using the momentum.

The tip of her sword, which had been kissing the ground before she lifted it up, reached right in front of Siwoo’s neck in an instant.

At that moment, their eyes met and after a while, Siwoo raised both of his hands in defeat.

“Good job.”

“Haaa… You too, Master… I just can’t beat you, can I?”

“Of course. What made you think that you can do that already, hm?”

The two of them then drank some water from the same bottle while sitting down on a bench near the trees.

Siwoo had asked Eloa to teach him something again.

Originally, his weapon of choice was always a sword paired with a shield, but this time, he changed it into a spear.

He was planning to change his main weapon into a spear so that he could immediately use the Red Branch in combat the moment he managed to control the weapon properly.

Although Myriad Weapons Mastery Covenant allowed him to skillfully use all kinds of weapons, there was still a big difference when he was using weapons that he was used to and the ones he wasn’t.

Case on point, he was defeated significantly quicker while he was wielding the spear compared to when he was wielding a sword.

“So, what is it that I need to pay attention to this time?”

“Spacing. Basically, your body is trying to adjust to a different distance compared to what it used to. That’s why you ended up stepping forward when you were supposed to back down and backing down when you were supposed to be stepping forward. Well, as long as you keep on practicing, you’ll get used to the distance eventually.”

Leaning her head slightly to the side, Eloa wiped the sweat that had formed on her forehead.

Looking at how thin and fragile her neck and body looked, it seemed unthinkable that she could unleash such great strength during the sparring.

Siwoo knew that it was because of magic, but even after knowing that, it still didn’t make much sense to him.

“It’s been a long time since the last time we sparred like this.”

A bright smile bloomed in Eloa’s lips, as if she was extremely happy because of that alone.

“Ah, turn your face this way for a moment.”

She stared at Siwoo for a moment before suddenly saying that and leaned her face closer to his.

Because of that, the distance between them instantly narrowed.

It was so close that Siwoo thought they were about to kiss; his body became frozen stiff at the thought.

Of course, Eloa wouldn’t just kiss him like that. Instead, she wiped his face with the handkerchief in her hand.

It was a pure white handkerchief with a light floral pattern embroidered on it.

“I-I can do that by myself.”

“C’mon, why are you being so shy all of a sudden, hm?”

As she wiped his sweat off his face like that, a strangely sweet scent tickled his nose.

It was as if she had sprayed a bunch of perfume on her.

Feeling a little awkward due to his reaction, Eloa placed the handkerchief back in her bosom.

“By the way, I haven’t seen you for a while… Busy?”

“Yeah, but not anymore. I want to focus on training for the time being, so… Will you help me with it, Master?”

“Of course. Since it’s you who’s asking me, even if I don’t have the time to, I’ll make some for you. You just need to ask.”

“Thank you, Master, I appreciate it.”

“So, do you have any plans after this?”

“I’ll probably continue my research next… I’m still stuck…”

Prior to this research, Siwoo had thought that he had a natural talent in magic or something.

Now, he realized how arrogant he had been.

He had been trying to sample formulas from here and there, but the result was nothing but disastrous.

Maybe trying to break a rock with eggs would be more fruitful than what he had been doing.

“You’ll get there, I believe in you.”

“Thank you… Well, I guess I shouldn’t waste any time so that I could get some results quicker. See you at dinner, Master.”

“See you.”

Siwoo bowed his head before going back to his room.

Meanwhile, Eloa stared at his departing back.

The happy smile that was engraved in her lips turned into a sad one before she realized it. For some reason, a feeling of regret and annoyance filled her heart.

She muttered under her breath, to no one in particular.

“…Guess this will do.”

Ever since the time when she spent the night with Siwoo inside the Gemini’s carriage and erased his memories afterwards…

Eloa had plenty of time to settle her emotions properly.

She even went to Sharon to apologize for what she had done.

In a way, the relationship between him and Siwoo had returned to that of a proper master-student relationship.

But, there was something that she had just noticed, maybe because they had been together for so long.

It was the fact that Siwoo had also been conscious about what had happened back in the rainway tunnel. If she hadn’t erased his memories, she wouldn’t have noticed this at all.

Compared to back when he still had his memories, he barely stole any glances at her during their spar.

The awkward silence that occasionally fell between them had also gone.

While she could appreciate this outcome…

She couldn’t help but feel frustrated by it for some reason.

“Haa…”

Before her mind could wander in a strange direction, Eloa pulled her body up.

She was still paying the price for her Covenant.

But, it wasn’t as bad as back when it was hard for her to even move around.

To clear one’s mind off distracting thoughts, one has to move one’s body…

With that, she began dancing with a sword in her hand, all while trying to calm her troubled mind.

2.

Even until this point in time, Amelia was still wandering around the desert, trying to clean up the kill list.

While Clara was still accompanying her in her journey, guiding her while helping her out with trivial tasks.

Today’s hunt was pretty much finished, so the two of them were sitting around a campfire in front of a shabbily made tent.

The opponent that Amelia had to face today was a 21st rank Criminal Exile.

She was an absurdly strong witch that even Clara couldn’t tell if she herself could win against the witch or not.

The witch herself was notorious to be brutal and ruthless. She was extremely proficient in elemental magic and was known for mercilessly pouring out cold fire and piping hot ice against her enemies.

But, the thing here was, the now-experienced Amelia was extremely strong.

Even Clara who was watching the battle from the side couldn’t believe her eyes. The difference between their power was that overwhelming.

Light drizzle fell over the desert.

Endless field of nameless wildflowers appeared all over the place, nullifying all magic that was cast around them.

It was such an overwhelming sight that would make the spectator wonder, ‘Is there anything that could stand up against such a thing?’.

“You worked hard today too.”

“…”

“If it’s still tough on you, you can talk to me. I’ll help you out the best I can!”

“…”

While brewing some tea for Amelia, Clara tried to make small talk to her, as she knew that the former’s heart was currently hurting.

Though it didn’t seem much, this was an important task that she had to do.

Because this was the thing that prevented Amelia from having a complete meltdown.

Though it seemed like she was shining so brightly and proudly, her current state was like a gold dust that could be blown away by the wind if one were to take their eyes off it for a moment.

There was no way that Clara had the heart to leave her alone in that state.

Even though she had made the effort to talk to her, Amelia kept her mouth clenched shut.

This was normal, so Clara just dismissed it as her not wanting to answer her. At that moment, something caught her eyes.

“You… Are you okay…?”

“…Yes…”

“You…”

When she took a closer look at Amelia’s state, Clara let out an inward sigh.

Both her face and lips were pale.

Her long eyelashes fluttered uncontrollably.

Though she had the same expressionless face as usual, her skin was glistening due to the cold sweat that flowed endlessly.

Clara noticed what was wrong with Amelia just by glancing at her for a moment.

Mana exhaustion.

Those were the symptoms that appeared whenever a witch forcefully drew mana from her empty brand.

“If your condition is this bad, you should’ve said something!”

“No, really… I’m fine… Just a short rest…”

In contrast to her words, it was clear that she was struggling just to keep her eyes open.

The breaths that she let out each time were as hot as the desert heat.

Her words weren’t wrong or anything, mana exhaustion wasn’t exactly a major problem for a witch.

It was something similar to a regular exhaustion, a proper rest would fix the problem easily.

But, the thing was, she had been driven into mana exhaustion several times already.

Since she had been forcing herself to fight in such a condition, she had reached the level of exhaustion where a simple rest wouldn’t be enough to fix it.

“Follow me!”

Clara threw down the teapot she had been boiling and picked up Amelia’s small body.

Even through her clothes, she could feel that her entire body was burning hot.

Her hair fell on her cheeks, clinging to it due to sweat as she stared at Clara with a blank gaze.

“Amelia, listen to me.”

“…”

“I’m going to cure you now, so I need you to turn off your autonomous defense for a moment.”

“…”

“I’m gonna give you some of my mana.”

Without hesitation, Clara offered to give her mana to Amelia.

This was a taboo act among the witches.

Because it was an extremely dangerous act.

To a witch whose body was made of spirit, mana was no different than blood.

Since each witch possessed different self-essence magic, each witch also had a different kind of mana.

That was why, transfusing one’s mana to another was just as dangerous as transfusing blood of different types as it would cause pretty much the same side effect as that. There was also the possibility that the one doing the transfusing held a malicious intent against the one receiving. It went without saying that such a thing would be life-threatening for the latter.

“Do you trust me?”

“…”

Though her body was in such a poor state, Amelia’s expressionless eyes looked the same as always, giving off an eerie impression, but Clara could see the slight tremble on them.

The slight tremble on her pretty blue eyes reminded her of a ripple on a calm lake’s surface.

When Amelia gave her a small nod, Clara instantly started her work.

Without hesitation, she pulled out the mana she stored in her brand.

It was bright red in color, just like a bursting red flame.

Of course, she wouldn’t just give Amelia the mana while it was still in this state.

She had to separate her self-essence magic from it as much as possible first before she could give it to Amelia.

Clara’s mana reserves were great, she could hold several times more mana than the average witches on the same rank as her.

But, even if that was the case, separating self-essence magic from mana was an inefficient process, and it would create more waste than it would create pure mana.

For example, if she were to separate a bottle worth of her mana, she’d only get a few drops of pure mana at most.

“Hang in there, I’ll heal you soon.”

During the process, Clara’s forehead was also covered in sweat.

Not long after she started, the red mana in her hand turned white and transparent.

Though there was still some of her self-essence magic remaining there, this was as pure as it could get.

“Haa…”

Then, she passed her mana over to Amelia, and the latter’s face finally began to regain its color.

Not long after, Amelia’s body began to relax as she started to fall asleep and that was when Clara could finally let out a sigh of relief.

“…That was dangerous.”

Even though they had become closer lately, Amelia was still putting up a thick wall between her and Clara.

Though Clara was disappointed by this, she understood that was just how the girl was like.

In contrast to her lofty status as a 23rd rank witch, Amelia Marigold was still an extremely immature, weak, and clumsy witch.

A fool who was afraid to show her wound to others.

Clara stroked Amelia’s lustrous blond hair as she let her lay down on her lap.

Her thin yet fluffy blond hair was like melted gold woven on an angel’s loom, it flowed comfortably between her fingertips.

Amelia’s cheeks were drenched in sweat.

Her lips slightly parted as her breath came in and out of the gap.

Even though she looked extremely haggard and weak, she still exuded a strangely sensual aura around her.

After staring at the sight for a good while, as if possessed, Clara’s eyes caught the glimpse of Amelia’s kill list which was nestled in her arms.

The same kill list that was filled with the names of the Criminal Exiles that Duchess Keter tasked Amelia to kill.

It went without saying that this wasn’t something that Clara could just look at without Amelia’s permission.

But, she knew more than anyone, if things were to continue like this, Amelia’s condition would only get worse.

Since she decided that she’d help Amelia out anyway, she figured that it would be a good idea to at least find out who her next target would be.

And so, she opened the kill list.

After finding the name of the witch that Amelia just hunted today, she quickly found the next target that Amelia needed to hunt.

“This…is one hell of a tricky one to face off against…”

Her target was a member of Qlipoth.

A 22nd rank grand witch.

She was notorious for her feat of killing countless witches who stood in her way, the one who held the moniker of the Witch of Desire.

Bianca Belleli.