City ​​of Witches 127

Chapter 127 – #28_Comfort(3)

#125

1.
Shiwoo felt a warmth enveloping his back.
Odile’s body, much smaller than his, wrapped around him like a soft cushion.
His mind, which had been as chaotic as a bouncing ball, calmed down a little.
The vector of his wandering heart seemed to have settled somewhat.

“Feeling better?”

Shiwoo slowly pulled away from Odile.
Odile, who had been holding him like a large teddy bear, also gently released his shoulders.

He knew it was a temporary anesthetic.
If Amelia’s conflicting image came to mind later, Shiwoo would surely be in pain.
Nevertheless, Shiwoo wiped away the remaining tears from his eyes and smiled.

“It feels like it’s been a long time since I’ve seen you, Odile.”
“What, are you just saying hello now?”

Odile smiled as Shiwoo smiled.
Somehow, the tip of her nose was also flushed red.
As if she was about to burst into tears.
Odile sniffed and pulled Shiwoo’s wrist, plopping down on the sofa.

“Here, sit down.”
“Don’t you need to sleep? It’s already late.”

The grandfather clock next to the fireplace was already pointing to 3 a.m.
It was the dead of night when even the plants were asleep, but Odile was quite energetic.
Shiwoo belatedly remembered a fact he hadn’t thought of in his confusion.

“Wait a minute. Is this the villa right now?”
“Yeah.”
“Don’t you have to go back to the mansion?”
“I got permission to stay out for one day. Don’t worry, Assistant.”

Only then did Shiwoo breathe a sigh of relief.
He would have been very concerned if she had stayed out without permission to take care of him because he had sneaked in.
Odile, who had been staring at his face, said,

“It seems like you had a lot to say when Assistant came back. But seeing you like this, it feels like I saw you yesterday. It’s strange.”
“Is that so? I feel like I saw you a long time ago.”
“Where does your memory start? Do you remember us visiting you every week? Do you remember us going to the public bath together?”

As soon as he heard the word “public bath,” Shiwoo froze.
Come to think of it, he had a memory of following the twins to the public bath when he was young (though he wasn’t sure if that was the right expression).
Perhaps because it was such an impressive experience, the memory was clearly etched in Shiwoo’s mind.
For example, the time Odile tried to wash Shiwoo’s penis thoroughly…

“I have memories from when I became younger. But I don’t have any memories after I collapsed. Thank you for visiting me every week.”
“Of course, I had to visit! You got hurt because of who, Assistant?”

Odile, swinging her legs on the sofa, spoke.
She was frowning slightly as if she felt a little sorry, so he gently stroked her head.
He didn’t have any particular thought.
He just wanted to do it.

“………”

Odile, who had been subtly excited until just now, calmed down as soon as Shiwoo stroked her head.
She put her hands neatly on her lap with a strange expression.
Only after Shiwoo, who wondered if he had done something wrong, took his hand away did Odile finally open her mouth.

“This is the only time I’ll let you stroke my head without permission.”
“Yes, I know.”

Her behavior was quite cute.
It was probably thanks to Odile’s innate positive energy that he could suppress his sad memories for a while just by having a conversation.

“But Assistant, is your eye not healed? You’re still wearing an eye patch.”
“Ah, that’s…”

Shiwoo hesitated whether to speak or not.
He didn’t know why, but his left eye was currently acting as a ‘brand’ for a witch.
It was absorbing the surrounding magic power, making it his own, and containing his self-magic.

If Shiwoo had to calculate from 1 to 100 to use magic before, now it felt like he was starting with 50 to 70 already calculated.

If the three most basic elements of magic are creation, change, and deployment, the brand automatically takes care of some of the creation and deployment parts.
Shiwoo only had to slightly change the variables in the change part, and it would automatically manifest.
He could also decide how many paths to take at that time, so the speed at which he used magic was incomparable.

The problem was that, aside from self-magic, there was no precedent in history for a man to have a brand.
He had heard that there were witches who had created their own brands while searching through past records in the library, but there were no cases of ‘men.’
That meant it was a research topic that any witch would chase after with their eyes wide open.

“Sorry, I asked something unnecessary…”
“No, it’s okay.”

While Shiwoo was hesitating whether to tell Odile or not, she apologized first.
She probably thought he hadn’t overcome this disability.

“………”
“………”

It was Odile who first broke the silence that hung in the air.

“Assistant, shall we go up and sleep now? It’s late.”

Odile got up from the sofa and patted her bottom.
However, despite being the one who suggested going up first, she was lingering near Shiwoo, acting suspiciously.
What did she want…
Shiwoo tilted his head.

“Shall we?”
“No, are you very tired, Assistant?”

Odile suddenly changed her mind.
Honestly, he wasn’t very tired.
Perhaps because he had collapsed from the alcohol in the evening and fallen asleep, he was as alert as if it were morning.

“No, I’m not tired, but…”
“Then, would you like to go for a night walk with me?”
“A night walk?”
“I’ve never been to Tarot Town at this time. I’m also curious.”

A walk.
It was obvious that if he went to bed now, he would toss and turn with a restless feeling.
It wouldn’t be bad to take a walk and get some fresh night air.

“Okay.”
“Great! Then I’ll go get ready!”
“Ah, what about Odette?”
“Odette is sleeping, so let’s leave her be.”

Odile, who had a cheerful smile as if she had never yawned, ran off somewhere.
She returned shortly after, wearing a large hooded cloak over her clothes and holding beer bottles in both hands.

“Ta-da! I prepared a box of these to celebrate when you woke up, Assistant.”
“Th-this is…”

Shiwoo trembled as he held the cold beer bottle in his hand.
The familiar brown bottle, the logo with the cool font, and even the aluminum bottle cap with the pointy teeth.
It was such a familiar shape.
KASS.

“I got it because it’s the most famous beer in your hometown, Assistant. It’s also in the carriage, so tell me if you want to drink it later.”
“Odile…”
“I’ll decline any excessive expressions of gratitude.”

He thought he had cried all his tears, but another overwhelming emotion came over him.
Odile, who seemed to think he would hug her tightly again, was slowly backing away.
Even so, she was smiling, looking pleased that he liked the gift she had prepared.

“Thank you so much.”
“It’s nothing.”

Shiwoo followed Odile, who was walking lightly like a cat with a high nose, out of the villa.

2.
It was also the first time for Shiwoo to take a walk at such a late hour.
Tarot Town, which was always full of bustling activity, was also quietly holding its breath under the night dew.
The buildings lined up along the road were all dark, casting only shadows.
It was so quiet that it felt like everything would collapse if Odile shouted “Ah!” once.

“Hmm~ It feels like I’m in another world.”

Odile walked with a bouncy gait, holding a beer bottle in one hand.
Shiwoo, who was leisurely following behind her, was also getting excited by the cheap beer.
Compared to the draft beer sold at the White Whale Tavern, it was a terrible taste that could only be described as piss, but that made it all the more endearing.
It was a taste he had missed so much.

“Assistant, is that really delicious? I honestly don’t like it, so I’ll give you mine if you want.”

Odile, who was walking on the road under the moonlight like a singer on stage, smiled as if she had seen something strange when she saw Shiwoo savoring the taste of the beer as if he were drinking holy water.
Indeed, factory beer with lots of additives would not suit Odile, who had only drunk the finest craft beer.

“Yes, I like it because it’s a taste I miss. It would be perfect if there was chicken with it.”
“Chicken? A chicken?”
“It’s when you salt a chicken, then coat it in batter and fry it in oil. It’s eaten a lot in the modern world, regardless of the country.”
“There’s such a thing too.”

Odile and Shiwoo were talking almost in whispers because it was so quiet.
As the cool night air filled their lungs and they repeated silly stories, they arrived at the fountain square of Tarot Town.

There were no stalls selling goods, and no touts soliciting customers.
The sound of horses’ hooves and cartwheels clattering on the uneven road had also disappeared.
A large fountain in the middle of the square was fluttering a silver cloth, overlooking the quiet street.

“It’s pretty.”
“Yes.”

The two stood in front of the fountain and stared at the water gushing out for a long time.
The sound of the water splashing on the surface seemed to have a calming effect on the heart.

“Do you want to see it closer? Some water droplets might splash.”
“Sure.”

Odile took Shiwoo’s hand and led him near the fountain.
They could see the coins scattered on the ground, shining brightly.

“Did you know? The lucky coins thrown into the fountain are collected by the city hall and used for the fountain’s maintenance costs?”
“I didn’t know that.”
“Oh? But isn’t that a gold coin?”
“A gold coin?”

According to Shiwoo’s calculations, the value of one gold coin was roughly 800,000 won in Korean currency.
This was considering that daily necessities were significantly cheaper than luxury goods in Gehenna, but anyway, one gold coin was quite a lot of money.
Was there a crazy person who would throw that into a fountain?
There were a lot of merchants, but was it a kind of Gehenna-style bad luck charm?

While Shiwoo was thinking all sorts of things and looking at the fountain, Odile pushed his back.
It seemed that the reason she had told him to look at the gold coin in the first place was for this.

“Gah!”
“Eek!”

Shiwoo, who suddenly lost his balance, grabbed Odile’s cloak in a hurry, and the two of them fell into the fountain together.

-Splash!

The sound of water spreading coolly.
It was only waist-deep, so there was no need to struggle, but since they had entered the water as spectacularly as if they had thrown themselves into the Indang Sea, it was natural that their hair was completely soaked.
He wasn’t particularly angry, and he let out a hollow laugh.
He never thought she would just push him into the fountain.

“What are you doing all of a sudden?”
“Ugh, Assistant! You’re quite quick-witted, aren’t you? I didn’t think you’d choose to go down with me.”
“I just grabbed you because I was scared, okay?”
“Anyway.”

Odile, who was also soaked and looked like a wet squirrel, couldn’t hide her resentment and shook her head like a puppy.
Then she smiled and said,

“I’ve always wanted to go into this fountain whenever I saw it. There’s no time to go in except when there are no people like now.”
“What about my opinion?”
“I thought you looked so depressed, so I was going to have you swim with me.”

But there was something Odile hadn’t expected.
The water temperature was colder than she had imagined because the fountain used groundwater directly.
To make matters worse, even though it was spring when the weather had warmed up a lot, the nights were still chilly.

“But it’s damn cold. And freezing.”
“Right? Don’t waste your energy, let’s get out. I’ll help you up.”

There was no ladder or anything, so it seemed difficult for Odile to climb out alone.
Well, the fountain wasn’t made to be entered, so it was natural.

“Wait a minute before that.”

Odile, who had briefly stopped Shiwoo from becoming a footstool, walked towards Shiwoo, parting the waist-deep water.

“Assistant, do you remember our contract?”
“Contract?”
“Yeah, the one we made in exchange for giving you the music box.”
“Ah.”

Thanks to recalling his memories just a while ago, he remembered it clearly even though quite some time had passed.
It was what Odile had suddenly proposed when she visited Shiwoo’s room.

One was to go to Yeongsan together.
One was to prove that touching Odile’s backdoor made her feel good.
And the last one was probably…

“You were going to teach me about love, right?”

Love.
For Shiwoo, who had gone through so many things today, it was an emotion that was hateful just to hear.
He was thinking to himself, ‘If this is love, I don’t need it!’ and was even thinking that he had done well to live as a solo his whole life.

Odile’s face came closer.
It was close enough that he could see her large eyes, her sparkling purple pupils, and even the strands of hair that were stuck to her cheeks.

“After you collapsed, Assistant, I read some books about love, and the men and women who fell in love all did silly things. I thought maybe I’d understand if I followed them.”
“Silly things?”
“Yeah, like this.”

Odile, who had slowly approached, grabbed Shiwoo’s collar and kissed him.
Honestly, even before he kissed her, he thought he should refuse.
Because his emotions weren’t sorted out to that extent yet.

However, the moment Odile’s rough tongue forced its way between Shiwoo’s lips.
He felt something explode.
As if his confused emotions were being drawn to a gentle kindness that he could lean on, Shiwoo tightly hugged Odile’s waist and deeply mingled his tongue with hers.

“Puhah!”

The kiss itself wasn’t very long.
Odile, with a flushed face, quickly pulled away because of Shiwoo’s active response.
Odile, who had been looking at Shiwoo with trembling eyes for a while, had a faint smile on her lips.
Then, she covered her mouth shyly and chuckled.

Wouldn’t it be a great discourtesy to Odile if the person who overlapped with her in his mind was Amelia?
Without knowing that Shiwoo was feeling guilty inside, Odile smiled brightly and said,

“Kissing while being completely soaked in the fountain. Doesn’t it look incredibly stupid?”

The illusion of Amelia that had been faintly overlaid on Odile disappeared.
It was Odile who was smiling in front of him.
Only then was Shiwoo able to smile as well.

“It does.”