Chapter 833 – #173_Diagnosis(6)
#827
1.
When I came to, my body was a mess.
Blood was pouring from both nostrils like a waterfall.
The blood vessels in my brain felt like they were all swollen and about to burst.
The pulse pounding roughly between my temples throbbed hotly through my skull.
I reflexively checked my spirit form and determined that I hadn’t been attacked.
It was just a temporary overload from glimpsing wisdom that a human shouldn’t have.
“Ptooey.”
Shiwoo spat out a glob of bright red phlegm that had been bubbling in his throat, realizing that he was now alone in the prophecy chamber.
The Witch of Revelation had vanished as if she had been a phantom from the start.
“What the hell is this…”
The witch I saw in the past.
She was too blurry and fast to properly identify.
If I had lost focus for even a moment, I would have been thrown back into reality.
“That was… Keter, wasn’t it?”
Duke Keter, who had saved Shiwoo’s life but at the same time had pulled off some strange trick.
Was her mother the Witch of Creation?
She had realized her limits after repeated failures and filtered out the impurities.
The being that was born from that was Lilith Keter, the ‘Witch of Whispers’.
‘I shall heal you. Bring the child to me.’
But that wasn’t enough, so she did something else.
She healed someone.
I didn’t see exactly who she healed.
But circumstantially, she healed Shiwoo and, like when he was examined by the Witch of Souls, she must have pulled off various tricks.
I shook my dizzy head.
I had taken in too much information in one day.
But one thing was certain.
The problem was too big to keep secret under the guise of not worrying my lovers.
2.
When Shiwoo reappeared in the corridor.
His lovers, who had been waiting in front, were all startled.
Shiwoo, who had reappeared, was half out of it and looked much more haggard than before he had gone in.
“Shiwoo, what happened?”
“No, no, something did happen…”
Sharon asked, her eyes welling up with tears, looking worried.
He, who would usually at least pretend to say not to worry, trailed off, making everyone even more worried.
“Is there a place where we can sit down and talk? It might take a while.”
Eventually, they moved to a nearby empty log cabin and sat in a circle around the table.
“I don’t know where to start…”
Shiwoo first brought up the past of Duke Keter that he had learned a little while ago.
That Duke Keter was closely related to the Witch of Creation, calling her mother.
That the true name of the Witch of Whispers was Lilith Keter, and that she was originally a being separated from Duke Keter.
That she, having realized her limits, was dreaming of transcendence through Shiwoo as a medium.
“That can’t be… Is that really true?”
“I can’t say for sure… but I think it’s probably true. The Witch of Revelation specifically showed me that past.”
The facts that Shiwoo revealed were all shocking truths that would cause a great stir in the witch society.
Each one was a story that made sense when you thought about it.
That Lilith had repeatedly disrupted Keter’s order.
That Keter had not killed Lilith despite that.
That she had shown an unusual amount of interest in Shiwoo and had made many arrangements.
These circumstances alone couldn’t determine the truth.
If he had told this to a complete stranger, they would have dismissed it as nonsense.
But all the witches gathered here trusted Shiwoo implicitly.
“Why the hell would Keter…”
“Is it because she was a male witch?”
“Our Shiwoo is an existence that didn’t exist before~ If she’s trying to find the answer she couldn’t find for thousands of years elsewhere, it makes sense.”
Among them, the topic that drew the most attention was ‘What does Keter want from Shiwoo?’
Lilith’s identity was shocking enough, but the most important thing right now was Shiwoo, wasn’t it?
“There’s still more to tell you about that part.”
Next, he conveyed Shiwoo’s current condition, which he had been diagnosed with by the Witch of Souls today.
With each word he uttered in the already heavy atmosphere, the mood sank even lower.
Everyone looked deeply shocked.
“Amelia, you don’t have to feel sorry. My arm is already healed, and thanks to you, I was able to get diagnosed quickly.”
“But, but…”
“Amelia, calm down.”
Sharon and Shiwoo comforted Amelia, who was sobbing and shedding tears.
In fact, if it had been just this, Shiwoo would have just brushed it off as another happening.
Wasn’t his life always full of all sorts of incidents without a day of peace?
If the replication of the brand was the reason why the Black Knight was getting stronger, then he just wouldn’t increase the number of people he had sex with.
Now that he knew that he could produce a performance that could rival his teacher just by developing the magic he currently possessed, he just had to be careful and hone his own martial prowess.
However, what he saw in the prophecy was a problem that gave him a sense of urgency about the future.
In other words, this is where the main point begins.
“From now on, I’ll tell you about the future I saw. Before that, Teacher, may I ask you one thing?”
“Ask me anything.”
“What is the probability of the prophecies of the prophecy chamber coming true?”
After much deliberation, Eloa barely opened her mouth.
Her voice was very fearful.
“…The timing is inaccurate, but you can assume that they almost always come true.”
Her fear stemmed from the assumption that if the prophecy was good news, he wouldn’t have asked such a question.
“If you see two prophecies, is there any correlation between the order in which the prophecies are shown and the actual timeline?”
“…I don’t think so.”
“I see.”
“Shiwoo, what did you see…”
Even Luluye, who was always bursting with energy, asked in a gloomy voice.
Her eyebrows, which were always proudly raised, were pitifully gathered in the middle.
Shiwoo told them about the prophecies.
The future where he was eventually deprived of his body by his subconscious and revered as the King of Witches.
Perhaps his future where he was holding a novice witch, looking at her lovingly and coaxing her.
The Shiwoo in the latter was at least happy, but it was difficult to think of a good scenario at this point.
Either way, the one who inherits must die.
Shiwoo would raise the novice witch with love and leave someday after entrusting her with the brand.
He had lived longer as a human than as a witch.
As such, Shiwoo thought of the ‘inheritance’ between witches as a sad farewell rather than a noble sacrifice.
He couldn’t currently answer the question of ‘Why would he decide to inherit?’
Perhaps he had seen a future that was far, far away.
The reactions of his lovers to this were clear.
“We need to meet Keter right away.”
“Is Keter the root of all evil? I will severely punish her for messing with my royal consort.”
“……”
Eloa, Luluye, and Rinne were angry.
It was a sharp hostility towards Keter, who was trying to take their lover away at will.
“No…! How can this be! And a novice witch…”
“Could it be, could it be that I asked Duke Keter to take care of Shiwoo…”
Sharon and Amelia were already crying as if Shiwoo had already died.
“……”
Dorothy was a bit of an exception.
Even she, who would usually calm others down and make appropriate jokes, was biting her finger, unable to hide her anxiety.
“It’s okay. Calm down. It’s not like anything is set in stone yet.”
Actually, it’s not okay at all.
Both sides were hinting at an ominous future.
He had struggled and survived through all sorts of ordeals, and now he had to worry about how he would die because of an unknown declaration called fate.
It made him feel nauseous, and when he thought about how sad his remaining lovers would be, tears welled up in his eyes.
But there was a resolution that straightened his mind.
The resolution to become a great man as much as he received excessive love.
“It might be a story from hundreds of years from now, and you all know, right? I’m damn strong against bad luck.”
The commotion subsided a lot at the calm voice of the person involved.
His words weren’t without credibility either.
He had encountered more achievements in less than 10 years than other witches would in their entire lives.
Every time he was in a life-or-death crisis, he had risked his life and survived.
He was still just a novice as a witch, but he had gained something akin to experience.
“And I don’t have any evidence, but something feels strange.”
“What do you mean?”
“The Witch of Prophecy said she was waiting for me. If it was just to show me an unchangeable past and an unavoidable future, would she have needed to say she was waiting for me, or give me a dream revelation?”
It could be that he was just saying what he wanted in a desperate situation.
But Shiwoo had no intention of giving up if there was even the slightest bit of hope left.
Even for the sake of his lovers who would be sad.
“Let’s come up with a plan.”
3.
Unfortunately, the trip was over.
Eloa, Rinne, and Dorothy would head to the Tokyo branch of the Location Point as planned.
As planned, they had decided to lend their strength to ensuring the stability of the present world under the guise of a penal unit.
That wasn’t their only purpose.
It was true that a lot of information was gathered in Gehenna.
But the present world was tens of thousands of times larger than Gehenna.
If they used the Location Point’s information network, they might encounter a witch or homunculus who could overcome the current situation.
The rest of the group planned to search for various information in the secret library within Gehenna.
Since their destinations were different, they prepared to say goodbye to the two teachers and Dorothy, who were preparing to leave first.
“My husband.”
Rinne hugged Shiwoo tightly, opening her arms wide.
“I will definitely save my husband. Just like my husband did.”
“Don’t overdo it.”
Eloa subtly squeezed in between them.
“Shiwoo, I’ll send Teacher Sua soon. I’m sorry I can’t be with you at a time like this.”
“It’s okay. But, Branch Manager Sua?”
“She will definitely be a great help.”
Finally, Dorothy approached quietly.
She hugged him so suddenly that the soft pressure pressed down on his upper body.
“Dorothy?”
“Don’t get hurt. I’ll be really sad if something happens to you.”
A calm, low, yet moist voice.
“Dorothy…”
Just as he was thinking that asking if she was crying would be too uncool.
Dorothy, who had lightly pushed Shiwoo’s chest, turned her back in a cool manner.
“Anyway~ Just wait quietly. Your older sisters will bring a great solution.”
“Yes, Dorothy, please take care of yourself too. I’ll see you soon.”
Shiwoo, Amelia, Sharon, and Luluye, who had said their goodbyes, immediately jumped into the lake.
“You can use it.”
Eloa handed a handkerchief to Dorothy, who was standing with her back turned.
