Chapter 17 – #04_Border Town (2)
1.
I walked along the zigzagging cliff path.
Ahead of me was the round back of Amelia’s head.
The fragrant perfume filling the umbrella mingled with her scent, tickling my heart.
While Gehenna, with its conservative witches, had a thoroughly medieval feel, the Border Town was a bit different.
It was a place where modern goods smuggled in were overflowing, and because it was cut off from other towns, there were many things that looked like they came from the modern era.
Just looking at the laborers carrying goods at the docks, they were wearing overalls, and the roof of a small street vendor selling chicken skewers in a corner of the market was made of blue panels used in factories.
Speaking of chicken skewers…
Chicken skewers were one of Siwoo’s favorite foods.
He especially liked Japanese-style chicken skewers grilled over charcoal with scallions.
But I couldn’t go buy them while attending to Amelia, so I had to be satisfied with the smell.
Then, Amelia spoke to me.
“Attendant.”
“Yes?”
“Go buy two.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
I wondered if I should be this excited about food at my age, but I couldn’t help it.
After living a life of eating things that didn’t even resemble food all day, even the most refined person would cry and laugh over a piece of meat.
I took the pennies from her and ran to the street vendor.
“Two, please.”
“Okay~”
The kind-looking middle-aged woman placed the skewers on the charcoal-heated pebbles.
The chicken began to sizzle and turn golden brown.
A good smell wafted through the air.
“I haven’t seen your face around here. Where are you from?”
“Pardon?”
Come to think of it, I was a rare sight in Gehenna, being an East Asian.
I was so focused on the chicken skewers that I hadn’t noticed, but she seemed to be Korean.
“Ah, Korea.”
“Oh my, really? I thought so. A slave?”
“For now, yes.”
The woman’s eyes lit up with joy at meeting a fellow countryman.
“Are you serving the witch behind you?”
“It’s similar, but I’m not directly under her; I’m with the city hall.”
“Well, being with the city hall is better than nothing. The slaves who end up in the labor camps suffer a lot.”
“Ahaha…”
“It’s a pleasure to meet someone from home, so I’ll give you one more.”
“Thank you.”
After a rather uninformative conversation, Siwoo returned to Amelia, listening to the woman’s well wishes to stay healthy.
“Thank you, Associate Professor.”
“Why are there three?”
Amelia, who had been holding the umbrella alone, took the chicken skewers.
“It turns out she’s from the same hometown, so she gave me one extra.”
“…We can’t eat standing in the middle of the street, so let’s go over there.”
She pointed to a building with a long eaves that could provide shelter from the rain.
We folded the umbrella and stood side by side, leaning against the wall.
Siwoo watched Amelia take a bite of her chicken skewer and then bit into his own, the sauce dripping down.
The juices and oil seeping from under the chicken skin, along with the sweet and savory soy sauce-based sauce, danced with the fragrant charcoal scent.
For Siwoo, who hadn’t eaten anything since morning, it was a heavenly meal.
“Caregiver.”
“Yes?”
“Do you miss your hometown?”
Amelia, who had been quietly munching on the meat, suddenly opened her mouth.
It felt like I’d been hearing a lot of these pointless questions lately.
Did something change in her mind?
Or maybe, as Takasho said, this was Amelia’s way of approaching me.
“It would be a lie to say no.”
Siwoo said, stuffing a well-cooked scallion into his mouth.
Gehenna is structured to exploit everyone who isn’t a witch for the sake of the witches.
It’s not overt oppression, but it’s clear that it curtails individual freedom.
“I suppose so.”
It’s strange that she suddenly started talking to me, but what’s even stranger is what happens after.
A conversation is supposed to be a back-and-forth, but Amelia throws out a few words and then shuts her mouth.
“……..”
“…….Chomp chomp.”
Even though they’re quite big, they’re still just chicken skewers.
Even if Siwoo ate two, it would only be enough to whet his appetite.
“Um….”
-CRASH!
The moment Siwoo finished the chicken skewers and Amelia was about to speak again.
Was it because the rainwater had accumulated too heavily?
The eaves where the two of them were taking shelter collapsed.
In that fleeting moment, before he could even react.
Amelia’s face, with her mouth and eyes wide open in surprise, appeared in slow motion.
Siwoo reflexively reached out his arm to shield Amelia’s head.
The falling debris hit his back, head, and arm.
Was it that his body moved before his head?
As soon as he felt something was dangerous, Siwoo covered Amelia.
The water that had been pooled on the eaves poured down with the debris, soaking his clothes.
It felt like a rotten piece of wood had fallen right on the top of his head.
It was so painful and dizzy that Siwoo felt tears welling up.
“…Ah.”
Siwoo opened his eyes at Amelia’s voice, which was cutely catching her breath.
The situation when Siwoo overcame his dizziness and regained his senses.
Siwoo was stretching out both arms next to Amelia’s head as if doing a wall slam.
Amelia was tucked under his shadow.
In the midst of all that, he wondered if he instinctively remembered that he shouldn’t touch a witch carelessly, as he hadn’t made direct contact with her, and he let out a bitter laugh.
“….Uh.”
“……..”
Anyway, our faces are too close.
If Siwoo stretched his tongue out as far as he could, he could lick her round forehead.
Her mouth was closed, but Amelia’s eyes were still wide open, and her eyelashes were fluttering.
Even her lips, as she breathed in and out, were too clearly visible.
The situation and the composition were like a scene straight out of a cliché romantic comedy.
While both Siwoo and Amelia were frozen stiff, it was Amelia who spoke first.
“Caregiver, you’re too close.”
“Ah, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to, I mean, it’s not like I was going to do anything weird…”
Siwoo, rambling, jerked his upper body back, then swallowed again.
Siwoo could block the falling pieces of wood, but it was impossible to stop all the accumulated water.
As a result, Amelia’s clothes were soaked as if a bucket had been poured on her.
“Um…”
To make matters worse, Amelia’s dress today was very thin and light in color.
When rainwater was poured on it, the fabric clung to her body, revealing the subtle curves of her figure.
And the bra visible through the translucent dress.
The black bra, barely covering her breasts, which would fit perfectly in one hand, was clearly visible as if she were wearing a see-through top.
“……?”
Amelia, seeing Siwoo suddenly turn around, slowly examined her own appearance.
And then, like a computer with a glitch, she froze solid.
“Caregiver.”
At her call, Siwoo hesitantly turned back.
Indeed, Amelia.
Even in this state, she doesn’t bat an eye.
Or so he thought for a fleeting moment.
If you looked closely, her lips were trembling.
Her usually pale cheeks were also flushed with a rosy hue.
“Are you hurt anywhere?”
Amelia, slightly raising her arm to cover herself, asked about Siwoo’s well-being.
Amelia, who usually acted so nasty, was worried about the condition of a mere slave.
Perhaps it was because his slave mentality was ingrained in him, but he was even moved by such a common-sense action.
“Ah, yes. I’m fine.”
“Then, that’s good. I’ll overlook today’s mistake.”
If this world were a romantic comedy, they would have gone straight to a motel under the guise of drying clothes and washing off the rainwater.
They would have created a sweet or embarrassing scene, but unfortunately, this was Gehenna, the city of witches.
-Snap!
The moment Amelia snapped her fingers, all the rainwater on Siwoo and Amelia’s bodies evaporated cleanly.
Amelia’s dress, which was embarrassing to look at up close, became as fluffy as if it had just been taken out of a dryer.
The earthy smell from the stagnant rainwater disappeared, and instead, a subtle peppermint scent lingered in the air.
“Let’s go now.”
Amelia began to walk with a graceful gait, as if nothing had happened.
Each step was as elegant as walking on a runway.
“Excuse me, Vice Professor.”
“It’s fine, it was just that my clothes got a little see-through from being wet with rainwater. I won’t make an issue of anything else inappropriate.”
Amelia’s unusually fast speech proved that she was a little embarrassed.
But that wasn’t the important thing.
“Yes, I’m very grateful for that. But…”
“Then what’s the problem?”
“The Blue Serpent contact point is in the opposite direction?”
“……..”
Amelia, with her usual haughty and aloof chin held high.
She spoke calmly, as if she knew everything.
“I am Amelia Merigold. Do you think I wouldn’t know such a simple fact? I just wanted to look around the pier a little more.”
She tried to pass it off as nonchalantly as possible, but it seemed that Amelia was very embarrassed.
It was quite refreshing to see her flustered, and more than anything.
She looked a little cute.
He never imagined he would feel this way about Amelia.
It wasn’t a waste at all to have thrown himself to catch the debris falling on her head.
“I apologize for the unnecessary comment. I will assist you.”
Siwoo opened his umbrella and stood next to Amelia.
An awkward silence fell, and the scene from earlier came to mind.
It was quite unexpected.
He never thought Amelia would be the type to wear such suggestive underwear.
The bra that barely covered half of her breasts kept coming to mind.
2.
A contact point was a wholesale and retail store where smugglers sold goods they had brought from the modern world.
Some contact points only dealt with kidnapped slaves like Siwoo, while others only dealt with grains.
Among them, the Blue Serpent contact point was a place that sold high-end goods to be sold to witches.
For reference, it was also a place where a very charismatic and sexy older sister was the manager.
“Welcome.”
A narrow contact point where goods were piled up in boxes.
Expensive furs and taxidermied animals used for decoration were the first things that caught his eye, and various pieces of furniture were displayed wrapped in plastic.
They were items that seemed too expensive to be illuminated by old, rusty oil lamps.
“It’s been a while.”
“I haven’t been here that many times. You remember me.”
“I never forget a cute guy.”
The female owner, sitting on the counter and puffing on an e-cigarette, winked lightly at Siwoo.
An Adidas tracksuit.
It was something he used to wear often when he was in the modern world, so he felt a sense of familiarity.
Only after exchanging greetings with Siwoo did the female owner speak to Amelia.
“What brings such a noble witch to this shabby place?”
There were only two reasons why someone could act so nonchalantly even knowing that the person in front of them was a witch.
They were either a fool or someone with a lot of guts.
This older sister probably belonged to the latter.
Meanwhile, Amelia, who seemed to be in a bad mood for some reason, glanced back and forth between Siwoo and the female owner.
“Caregiver, this is in return for what happened earlier. Pick out whatever you want.”
“Thank you!”
There was no point in asking if she was serious.
Since he had done a good deed, it was important to make the most of it before Amelia changed her mind.
And so, Amelia and Siwoo’s shopping began.
