Chapter 10 – #02_The Twins’ Witch (4)
#010
1.
The tavern owner brought out splendid appetizers several times.
The terribly unfortunate fact was that Siwoo didn’t have the mental capacity to savor them.
Odile only took a bite or two from each dish, leaving most of the food untouched, so even after the meal, the table was piled high with food.
“Assistant, shall we get going?”
“…Yes.”
There was no way to refuse.
He had already given Odile a significant weakness.
Even if it were just about using magic, as Odile said, it might not be a big deal, but the fact that he was planning an escape through it was a secret he had to keep no matter what.
It was all because of the magic that had been cast so naturally that Siwoo hadn’t noticed.
Even after spilling all his secrets to Odile against his will, Siwoo continued to ramble for a while.
“Surely, these thoughts aren’t coming out as words, are they? No, damn it! They are!”
“I thought I’d gotten away with it… that sly bitch!”
“Amelia too, why are all witches like this?”
No matter how hard he tried to cover his mouth, all his true feelings spilled out.
Odile laughed until her face turned red, watching Siwoo’s monologue show for 15 minutes.
Should he take solace in the fact that she didn’t burn him at the stake for being blasphemous?
Siwoo seriously considered it.
“Odile.”
When Odile didn’t respond, he called out again.
“Odile.”
“Huh? Oh, sorry. Were you calling me? Didn’t you call me a stuck-up twin bitch with a pretty face earlier?”
Odile giggled, but Siwoo’s face instantly turned ashen.
He had never known that having his inner thoughts revealed could be so dangerous.
Nor did he know that magic existed that could manipulate human behavior in this way.
“Isn’t that because you cast some terrible magic on me, Odile? Like mind control or something…”
“But, Assistant, you said in your monologue, ‘Why are my inner thoughts coming out like this?'”
“That was, that was…”
Siwoo sighed deeply and gave up.
“I don’t know. Now, do whatever you want, grill me or boil me.”
“Really? If you were to be served at a banquet, would you prefer to be medium or well-done?”
Odile made a gruesome joke and then laughed for a long time.
“You want to know what kind of magic I used, right?”
“Yes.”
He hadn’t felt any particular magical energy or spell formula.
Although he hadn’t formally learned magic, and his achievements were meager, he never thought he wouldn’t feel even the slightest sign.
It was only natural that he felt curiosity and a thirst for knowledge about magic he had never heard of or seen.
“♪ ♫ ~”
Odile opened her mouth and began to sing.
Her tone was closer to the melody of a beautiful stringed instrument than a human voice.
Before Siwoo could be amazed, he sensed a faint magical energy wriggling in sync with her melody, something he wouldn’t have noticed if he hadn’t been concentrating.
“Did you catch it?”
“Could it be…”
Siwoo recalled the earlier situation.
The humming Odile had done while fiddling with the food.
What if it wasn’t just a casual hum?
“You’re right, this is the Geomancer Witch’s magnetic magic. The magic is naturally manifested through the pitch, rhythm, intensity, and breath of the sound. What I cast on you was the ‘Confession Aria.’
I couldn’t sing it perfectly without Odette, but it wasn’t too bad, was it?”
“…I fell into a trap.”
“Yep, you did.”
Right now, Odile was navigating the complex alleys of Tarot Town without any guidance.
And not just wandering aimlessly, but moving precisely towards a destination.
That meant…
“So, the part about it being your first time in Tarot Town was also a lie.”
“Yeah, it’s true that my teacher is strict, so I only sneak out once a week.”
He felt a sense of betrayal.
He regretted thinking that Odile and Odette were a bit pitiful, that Odile was like a bird in a cage.
“So, why are you going to such lengths? I’m just a slave, and you can order me around with a flick of your chin for most things.”
“Shall we save that for later? It’s not polite to ask a lady about her shoe size.”
Lady, my ass.
After walking through the dark alleys for a while, Odile stopped abruptly.
Among the shabby buildings huddled together, there was a five-story mansion that looked like it had been built recently.
It felt as out of place as a skyscraper in a shantytown.
Odile smiled as she opened the door.
“Let me introduce you. This is Odette’s and my villa. It’s our outpost for learning everything we’re curious about in the world.”
“I’m sure it is.”
Siwoo closed the door with a look of complete resignation and followed Odile.
2.
As soon as they entered the mansion, there were no butlers or maids to greet them.
Instead, candelabras decorated with dazzling gold leaf simultaneously lit up, flickering with flames.
He had thought the exterior of the mansion didn’t fit in with the shabby alleyways.
But the interior decoration was on another level.
He seriously wondered if he was allowed to step on the marble floor, which was so shiny that he could see his reflection, with his shoes on.
“Odette!”
Odile’s triumphant voice, announcing her return, echoed, and the sound of slippers hitting the floor could be heard.
Soon after, Odette poked her head out from the second-floor staircase railing.
Unlike at the academy, their hairstyles, accessories, and even clothes were different.
“You don’t do the switcheroo outside?”
“Huh?”
“Why don’t you sometimes play pranks on the professors? Like Odile pretending to be Odette, and Odette pretending to be Odile.”
Odile’s lips formed a circle.
She looked like a criminal who had just been caught after committing a perfect crime they thought would never be discovered.
“Wait, how did you know? Our magical energy patterns are perfectly identical.”
“Who doesn’t know that? Professor Amelia probably noticed too, she just doesn’t say anything.”
While Odile was stiffening at Siwoo’s indifferent reaction, Odette came running down the stairs.
“Hello, Assistant Siwoo! It’s so refreshing to see you outside the academy like this!”
Odette, who had stopped abruptly in front of the stairs, politely bowed, slightly spreading the hem of her voluminous dress.
Still, Odette was slightly less of a tomboy than her older sister, Odile.
She had a bright smile and didn’t forget to use honorifics even with a slave.
Or so he thought, for about a second.
“How did you capture him? You actually brought him here?”
Is it even right to use the word ‘capture’ for a person?
Odette, like a scholar who had discovered a rare animal, circled Siwoo, her eyes sparkling.
“What did I tell you? I said if you trust me, everything would go according to plan. And that’s not all. I even found his weakness to make sure he cooperates with our experiment.”
“Weakness?”
“Actually…”
Whisper, whisper, whisper.
Siwoo felt a chill run down his spine at the word ‘experiment.’ Meanwhile, Odette, having heard the whole story from Odile, began to shine twice as brightly.
“You broke through my sister’s barrier? You’re researching magic to open the door? And he’s a slave?”
“That doesn’t matter, does it? It’s amazing, but it’s not like it’s something that concerns us.”
“I guess you’re right.”
Odette nodded obediently.
“Anyway, follow us. You know you don’t have a choice, right?”
“I’m sorry, Assistant. But I was just so, so curious, I couldn’t help it.”
“Just a moment.”
Whatever else, this was something he had to make clear.
“If I survive this so-called experiment… what then?”
The twins started a chorus of laughter as he spoke, which annoyed Siwoo.
This could be a matter of life and death for him, and he was scared to death.
“Do you really think we would harm you, Assistant?”
“Do you really think we would harm you, Assistant?”
“If not, I’d be grateful.”
“Absolutely not!”
“Absolutely not!”
“Of course, that’s if you cooperate.”
“Of course, that’s if you cooperate!”
Odile and Odette’s fantastic teamwork.
Except for the last “yo,” they started and finished at almost the exact same time, a strange twin way of speaking that strangely reassured him.
It wasn’t a harmful experiment, and they were saying they’d guarantee his safety if he cooperated.
“So, me using magic and preparing to escape is also…”
“We’ll keep it a secret!” “Yo!”
“…I’ll trust you.”
Some of the tension seemed to dissipate.
He started to think it was a less serious problem than he had worried about.
The twins led him to what looked like a comfortable bedroom.
There were two pillows and only one large bed, so it seemed like it was probably the bed they slept in together.
Siwoo was taken aback.
He had expected a workshop full of magical potions, given the talk of experiments, but instead, it was a bedroom?
A chill ran down his spine.
“Take it off.”
“Excuse me?”
“You said you’d help with the experiment, right? You have to take it off.”
It was then that Siwoo realized.
Under the guise of being an assistant, when it came to inducing mana generation through circumstances, Odile and Odette showed incredible focus.
It was clearly not just curiosity about magic.
Ninety percent of that focus was probably curiosity about the male body.
“This is the reference book for the experiment you’ll be helping with today, Siwoo.”
Odette, her face flushed, brought over a thin book.
The title of the book was ‘A Guide to the First Night for Ladies.’
“I stole it from the maids who were reading it. Apparently, it’s a must-read for becoming a true lady.”
Odette smiled brightly.
“Hurry up and take it off!”
“W-wait a minute.”
“If you don’t take it off now, I’ll tell Professor Amelia right away.”
“You said you’d cooperate, right? Please.”
The twins, who had popped up on either side of him, grabbed at Siwoo’s collar.
They looked like they wanted to rip his clothes off right away, so Siwoo held onto them tightly.
“No! No, I can’t!”
It’s not like Siwoo was a eunuch.
The temptation to sample the sister-duo, Odile and Odette, who were more beautiful than any model he had ever seen on Earth, was something any man would be tempted by.
But no one! Absolutely no one! Should have sex with an apprentice witch.
The mark of a witch is placed on the lower abdomen where the uterus is located.
The uterus is where the mark stores mana.
This is the ultimate reason why men cannot become witches.
If an apprentice witch, whose uterus is not yet fully developed, receives the mana generated when a man ejaculates (or during an erection), she will never be able to bear the mark.
What would a witch do if her precious apprentice witch got involved with some good-for-nothing and could no longer inherit the mark?
Just hearing the story of them being together in this bedroom would probably make the twins’ teacher, Jemena, burn Siwoo alive.
“This won’t do, Odette.”
“I know! Sister.”
The twins began to sing at the same time.
Intertwined melodies.
Although they had each inherited only about 10% of the mark, it was enough.
A magic of such a distant realm that Siwoo could neither understand nor resist unfolded.
“No, I’m telling you, it’s not just me, you guys are screwed too, really!”
“Do you think we wouldn’t know that?” “Yo?”
His clothes were stripped off on their own, and Siwoo, now in his underwear, fell onto the bed.
No matter how hard he tried to move, he couldn’t budge.
It was an absurdly powerful magic.
“We’re just satisfying a little curiosity. You have to stay still, okay?”
“—-! —-!”
Somehow, he couldn’t even make a sound.
“Odette, come up here.”
“….Huh? Okay, Sister.”
A sturdy physique, honed by hard labor and forced dieting.
Odette, who had always only been able to watch the male body from Amelia’s classes, covered her mouth and sat demurely on the bed.
“Let’s start from chapter one.”
Odile was seen licking her lips slightly.
