Chapter 293 – #65_Return
#291
1.
The sensation of moving through a portal could be likened to the nausea one feels when experiencing turbulence on a plane.
Even Siwoo, who could survive a plane crash if he kept his wits about him, couldn’t withstand the dizziness that hit him the moment he stepped through the door, and he collapsed onto the floor.
“Ugh…”
A groan escaped him, and at the same time, Elroa gently patted Siwoo’s back.
“Siwoo, are you alright?”
“This… I really can’t get used to it.”
“It’s said that the stronger your magical sensitivity, the more dizziness you feel.”
“Master is perfectly fine, though?”
“Huhu, I wouldn’t be so lax as to show such a sorry state in front of my disciple.”
Siwoo took the hand Elroa offered and stood up.
Her hand was surprisingly soft, considering her martial prowess.
He looked around and saw a familiar scene.
The lounge of the immigration office.
It was a platform connected by doors that allowed passage between the mortal realm and Gehenna.
Was this his second time coming here?
He never thought he’d see this place again.
He took a breath, filled with a strange sense of nostalgia, and the unique smell of Gehenna, which he had been sick of for five years, filled his nostrils.
There was no smog or fine dust, and the cool air was slightly damp, as if it had just rained.
As he regained his senses, he noticed the witches who had stopped what they were doing and were staring intently at him.
It was incredibly unnerving.
If they were just looking, he could have ignored it, but they were all covering their mouths with fans or the backs of their hands, their eyes wide as saucers.
Well, if the famous Tiferet Duchess appeared at the immigration office with a man, it was understandable that they would react like that.
“…Should we move somewhere else quickly?”
“That would probably be best.”
Elroa, with a wry smile, headed towards the exit of the immigration office with Siwoo.
And so, they were greeted by a landscape that he didn’t particularly miss.
Beyond the coastline, past the huge gate, were the cargo ships coming in and out of the harbor.
As expected, men in rain gear were busily moving cargo through the scattering drizzle.
The sight of containers being unloaded from cargo ships, clearly built in the modern world, using magic, and then being transferred to carriages was quite a spectacle.
“Hurry up! You slowpokes!”
Meanwhile, a sharp whip cracked behind the slaves, who were almost naked, as they moved cargo.
Seeing that brought back old memories.
He had intervened when Amelia had tried to kill a slave.
But those same slaves were all death row inmates sent to Gehenna under agreements with various countries…
Since most countries didn’t impose the death penalty for minor offenses, it might be a clean punishment system.
Many developed countries often ended up wasting tax money by not executing those they had sentenced to death.
“I need to meet with the immigration director for a moment. Would you mind looking around?”
“Understood. Please take your time.”
“If any unfamiliar witches approach you, don’t follow them carelessly. And don’t snack too much. I plan to cook something special to celebrate our return to Gehenna.”
Siwoo, who had pinky-promised with Elroa as usual, walked through the middle of the pier.
He didn’t receive as much attention as he had expected at the immigration office.
They only glanced at the large object Siwoo was carrying on his back—a red branch wrapped in a black ribbon.
Well, Larisa, who had betrayed Siwoo, and Fyodor, who had turned into a mackerel, also preferred comfortable and practical modern clothes, as ‘smugglers’ did.
Siwoo’s current attire wasn’t out of place in this border town, and with the eyepatch, he might even look like someone who worked in that field.
“It’s still the same here…”
The sight of smugglers gathering to smoke, the houses with panels on their roofs huddled together in the distance, the merchants grabbing each other by the collar after a fight over a deal at the contact point, and the witches walking with their chins held high were all the same.
“Oh? That.”
In the distance, he could vaguely see the Cloud Mushroom Village that Sharon had destroyed by growing acorns all at once.
He had almost spent a night with Amelia at Sophia’s villa there.
The Slumbering Serpent Shelter, where Larisa’s gang had tried to kidnap Amelia, was also thriving in the distance…
As his chaotic escape from Gehenna came to mind, he felt a strange mix of emotions.
He was the type to focus on the present, so he hadn’t thought much about Gehenna while he was in the mortal realm.
But looking back, it had been quite a difficult time.
Aside from the discomfort of not having proper food, clothing, and shelter, the mental stress of knowing that he could lose his life if he offended someone was the greatest.
Five years.
He had to endure it with grit and determination, even though he hadn’t chosen to go to Gehenna, a time when he should have been shining the brightest in his youth.
And that wasn’t all.
What had tormented Siwoo for five years was Amelia’s harassment.
Until Amelia changed in her later years, she was like a boss who would berate him whenever she saw him.
So, did he only have bad feelings left?
That wasn’t quite true either.
Perhaps it was because he had come to realize that Amelia’s capriciousness, which he had never understood at the time, was just her clumsiness in expressing her emotions.
“I wonder if the chicken skewer lady is doing well?”
The lady who had given him a 2+1 deal.
He was told not to snack, but he wondered if he should at least see if she was doing well, so Siwoo wandered through the narrow alleys.
-Thud!
Perhaps due to a moment of carelessness, someone bumped into his shoulder.
Well, this alley, with all sorts of boxes piled up, was too narrow for two people to pass comfortably.
“Where the hell are your eyes, you bastard?”
According to traffic laws, a head-on collision was a mutual fault, but the other party immediately cursed without hesitation.
Siwoo looked at the other person’s face.
His eyes were white and shiny, like a drug addict’s.
He had a scar that diagonally crossed the center of his face and a shaved head.
And he was a slave with bulging muscles, just like Siwoo, the spirit doping user.
“Ah, I’m sorry.”
He was the kind of back alley thug that would have made him tremble just by making eye contact in the past, but now he was a laughable opponent.
He could easily beat him without using magic.
“Look at this punk?”
But perhaps Siwoo’s calm reaction was seen as a provocation, the thug slave twisted his lips and tried to grab Siwoo by the collar.
He didn’t really want to get into a fight…
But he figured that even if he slammed him down on this muddy ground, he wouldn’t die, so he was about to retaliate.
“Hey! Jack! Stop slacking off and come here!”
A voice, probably belonging to a slave manager, was heard.
The man called Jack glared at Siwoo as if he wanted to kill him and said one thing.
“I’ll remember your face.”
And then he left the alley without any regrets.
“What a moron.”
It was quite a pathetic threat.
He probably wouldn’t meet him again.
And even if he did meet him again and he attacked, it was the kind of threat that he could laugh off while yawning.
“I feel at peace.”
He wished other public enemies and homunculi were like this.
Siwoo looked around the town for a while and then joined Elroa, who had finished her business.
He didn’t bother mentioning the altercation with the thug.
2.
Siwoo’s entry into Gehenna had been postponed until he could shield the distortion field with the ribbon.
He wasn’t sure how long it would take, so he hadn’t told the Jemenae family or Sharon.
He didn’t want them to wait in vain or make a wasted trip.
So, as soon as the shielding ceremony was completed, he had made a surprise visit, but it turned out that the timing wasn’t so good.
“Master, the portal is under maintenance.”
“Maintenance?”
They had climbed the zigzagging cliff path and stairs to reach the platform of the border town.
Unfortunately, the scheduled maintenance wouldn’t be finished until the afternoon of the next day.
The receptionist even lamented, “The maintenance has been frequent lately,” and told them about a few decent accommodations.
She said that if they mentioned her name, they would get a discount.
She was probably getting a kickback from the accommodations.
“Yes, should we arrange a carriage?”
“Is that really necessary? Let’s book a room at a nearby inn. Ah, if you have any urgent matters, we can go right away, but… I’d like to look around a bit more.”
“Hmm, that sounds fine.”
If there was something urgent, they could just run there without arranging a carriage.
But there was nothing so urgent that he had to ignore his master’s request to look around a bit more.
Although she didn’t show it much, Elroa was still recovering from the aftereffects of the reckless battle she had fought that day.
The two of them walked through the drizzling rain towards the largest inn in the area, the “Slumbering Serpent Shelter.”
It was the largest accommodation in the area, but he didn’t have good memories of the place, so he wanted to avoid it…
But, despite the receptionist’s sales pitch, the other inns were all full.
The border town’s lodging village was still thriving.
“It seems like many people have stayed because the portal is out of order.”
“I heard a few things from the immigration director. Many witches have returned to Gehenna recently to escape the chaos in the mortal realm.”
“No wonder there are so many witches…”
It had been a while since he had seen the inn, but its exterior was the same as ever.
It was a three-story building with a brick frame and a wooden interior.
The first floor was a pub that sold drinks and food, and the second floor and above were used as accommodations.
“There’s no other option… I don’t remember it being such a great place.”
“Don’t worry. When I was hunting, I often slept outdoors. Having a bed is a luxury.”
He hesitated, as it wasn’t a place he had good memories of, and then opened the creaking wooden door.
A cacophony of noise poured out, like turning up the speaker volume while watching a movie.
The thick cigarette smoke and the smell of alcohol were a bonus.
“Are you just going to die all night?”
“Whether I die or not is my business. When did you ever give me condolence money?”
He could see gamblers, who were naturally part of the drinking scene, engaging in subtle psychological warfare.
“Oh my, what a mess.”
“It seems like it will be difficult to bring in alcohol again.”
“Who’s bringing in mediocre alcohol like Dom Perignon these days?”
“I heard a new bar opened in Lenormand Town?”
He could also see merchants seriously discussing matters while looking at the ‘canards,’ which served as newspapers in the border town.
“Try this! It’s a very sweet and delicious tropical fruit!”
He could see a boy with pineapples hanging from his waist, offering a piece to each customer.
…The last one looked familiar.
Anyway, it was similar to when he had come before.
The difference was that there were about six witches sitting in the corners of the pub.
With this level of noise, they would normally give a glare or get angry, but they were all doing their own thing without giving any attention to their surroundings.
It seemed that there were definitely more witches in Gehenna.
If even this shabby (by witch standards) inn was full, that was saying something.
“…Oh.”
But the moment Siwoo and Tiferet entered, the situation changed completely.
Unlike the ordinary citizens who only glanced at Elroa without much interest, the witches who were sitting down all fixed their gazes on Siwoo and Tiferet.
There was no longer any sign of boredom or annoyance.
Instead, there was a strong sense of shock, curiosity, and inquisitiveness.
It was like a sasaeng fan discovering their idol in private.
“Don’t mind them. I’m here by your side, aren’t I?”
“Yes, well. I don’t really mind.”
Elroa gently stroked Siwoo’s back.
Elroa handed money to the innkeeper, paid for a night’s stay including breakfast, and went up to the second-floor room with Siwoo.
The witches followed the two of them with their eyes as they went upstairs.
The witches who had been sitting in their respective places got up and began to gather.
They couldn’t possibly bear to not discuss this chaotic situation.
“W-what did I just see?”
“The witch was the Tiferet Duchess, and the man next to her was that famous male witch?”
“They came to an inn together?”
“It seems like they only booked one room.”
“Oh my, could it be?”
The witches chattered for a long time, trying to interpret the scene that they couldn’t believe even after seeing it with their own eyes.
