City ​​of Witches 336

Chapter 336 – #74_The Lazy Witch

#334

1.
“I want to go home….”

Diana Yesod was depressed.
It had been a week since Count Yesod had given her the punishment of going out in the morning and returning in the evening.
The energy that had been draining away like crazy had finally reached rock bottom.

“Sigh….”

Diana wasn’t an unfilial daughter.
If her mother was so worried.
If she was even tearing up, shouldn’t a child be able to meet her small expectations?

At first, Diana had put in some effort.
For the first week, she had wandered around Tarot Town and Ars Magna Town, trying to be as diligent as possible.
That is, she didn’t just sit in a cafe drinking coffee or take naps under sunny trees.

Instead, she spent her time diligently with walks, theater viewings, and studying magic in the library.
When she returned in the evening and shared her experiences over dinner, the Count’s face, looking at Diana with a happy and proud expression, was a source of motivation.

But that had its limits.
Diana wasn’t the type to become interested in something just because she was forced to do it.
She had a congenital lack of energy.
She was a natural homebody type with no passion or perseverance.

“I want to go home….”

With a sigh, Diana let out a long breath, along with a complaint she had made countless times today, and hundreds of times if counted by the week.

“What should I do to pass the time….”

Yesterday, she had wandered around the Tarot Town market, looking at the daily necessities of the common people.
The day before yesterday, she had watched a boring and tedious play at the theater district.
Speaking of plays, to be honest, all the plays in Gehenna were boring and uninteresting.
They were just reconstructions of famous books that had been passed down for hundreds of years, with no fresh attempts.

Diana felt the parasol on her shoulder was particularly heavy.
The terrifying truth that she had to wander outside for a full six hours weighed heavily on her heart.

If necessary, she could find a place out of sight and just take a nap before returning.
Moreover, Count Yesod had given her a credit certificate with no spending limit, despite having harshly kicked her daughter out.
Renting a room and lazing around before returning was also an option.

But that would also make her mother sad.
Just as Lucy Yesod loved Diana, Diana also loved her mother.
She had made up her mind to meet her mother’s expectations for once, but if she went back to square one like this….

“Just for today…? Haa….”

She tried to pull herself together, but her resolve kept weakening.
The conflict followed her like a tail.

Isn’t there anything fun to do?
It would be great if there was some exciting or tempting event to make the time pass quickly.
As she wandered, Diana entered the Malkuth Gallery, which she had decided would be her exploration destination for the day.
As the largest shopping district in Gehenna, there were many good cafes and many things that could attract a witch’s interest.

“Okay….”

In order not to disappoint her mother.
She would return today after having a variety of experiences!

A fancy cafe caught Diana’s eye as she made her bold resolution.
Diana usually tried not to sit down if she could help it.
If she sat down in a comfortable place, she knew she wouldn’t be able to overcome her own laziness and would end up sitting there all day.

Go into a cafe and rest.
Or,
Work hard to make her mother happy.

An internal conflict between two choices.
But Diana’s rolling crimson gaze was focused on a menu that a certain witch was eating.

“Hmm, should I just eat that?”

Diana sat down and tucked her beautiful gray hair behind her ear.
Her ears perked up during the happy sugar rush.

2.
Time passed faster than she thought.
This place was really nice.
She could watch the people and witches passing by, and the ice cream with the liqueur-flavored sherbet on top was truly excellent.
It was enough to make her feel the reward of wandering around after all the trouble.

However, that didn’t mean she didn’t miss home.
Diana’s mentor, Lucy Yesod, was a noble and witch who looked like she had stepped out of a painting.
She was a strict witch who did not tolerate any behavior or disarray that would damage her dignity.

Diana, who had grown up under such a mother, also valued etiquette and grace.
As the young lady of the Yesod family, Diana couldn’t show a disheveled appearance, even in a quiet cafe where other people’s eyes rarely reached.

To do so, she had to sit up straight and eat in a neat posture, which was a chore in itself, and one of the reasons why Diana disliked being outside.
At home, she could walk around naked or float on the water like a drifting leaf.
Just as Diana was wondering if she should give up, she overheard a conversation between two witches next to her.

“Hey, did you hear about that?”
“What happened?”
“The male witch.”
“A male witch?”

Prick up.
Diana’s attention was completely focused on the interesting topic.

A male witch.
It was a strangely odd term, but Diana had heard about it before.
It was rumored that a man possessed a mark.

Most witches dismissed this rumor as nonsense when they first heard it.
Even if it wasn’t, they didn’t pay much attention to it.

A witch’s self-generating magic was something that was created over several or even dozens of generations.
It might be a little special because a man created it, but the level was obvious without even looking.

Moreover, since the person who had become the hot topic had gone out into the world, there were only a handful of witches who had actually seen him.
Naturally, interest waned, and Diana was one of those who didn’t pay much attention.

But soon after, the situation changed.
For the first time in Gehenna, a man was issued an official pass and citizenship.

And there were three people who vouched for him.
Sua Agatha, the branch manager of the Witch Point’s Gwanghwamun branch.
Count Geminai, a powerful noble of Gehenna.
Duke Tiferet, a public hunter who was revered.

Each one was a very famous person.

If such powerful witches were interested and vouched for him, wouldn’t that mean that his value had been proven?
That made people wonder.
Along with that, various rumors followed like a snowball.

He was a weapon created by Count Geminai for the Great Witch Hunt.
A male witch would be impossible without that level of financial support.

No, he was Duke Tiferet’s lover.
Someone saw them sharing a room at an inn in Border Town.

No, he was an experimental subject that Duke Keter was personally taking care of.
There was also a rumor that Keter had personally taken him as a disciple.

No, no, no.
A series of speculative “no’s” followed.
Diana didn’t know what to believe, but the important thing was that she was now deeply interested in the conversation of the witches next to her.

“Really? He has self-generating magic? And at least a 10th level or higher?”
“That’s right~ My friend met him recently.”
“Where can I meet him?”
“There’s a host bar that opened at the end of Malkuth Gallery, and he’s working there.”

Host bar?
What’s a host bar?
The conversation continued without waiting for Diana, who was bewildered.

“If you order drinks and use the bar, you can have a 15-minute face-to-face meeting. Should we go?”
“That’s interesting.”
“It only costs a few gold coins, so let’s go. When else would we get an opportunity like this? The reservations are so long that we have to meet quickly.”
“Let’s go right now.”

The witches who had been chatting got up from their seats.
Diana also quickly ate the rest of her ice cream, but without losing her grace.

“A male witch, huh….”

There had been a few men in history who had used magic.
There were even three impudent swindlers who claimed to have created self-generating magic.
Their lies were exposed before they even underwent a rigorous examination, and they paid the price.

But if the rumors were true.
If he was the first male witch.
It might be worth meeting him.
They said there was a horse with horns on its forehead, which was considered a mythical creature, and it was also near this gallery, so there was no reason not to go see it.

“Hmm….”

Diana frowned.
It wasn’t because she was annoyed.
As soon as she thought of the witch she didn’t know, a strange sense of rejection scratched at her heart.

The source of that rejection could be summarized in one sentence.
A man using magic?

Magic was a sacred and noble realm.
Diana understood its beauty and subtle mysteries.
She felt that the more she delved into the study of magic, the more profound and vast the unknown became.
But a man was doing it?

Her mother had always said.

At her bedside before going to bed.

‘Men are all incompetent and foolish creatures, so don’t go near them! They’ll try to deceive you with lies as soon as they open their mouths!’

When they ate together.

‘Men are all wolves! They’ll only think about taking advantage of my daughter’s beautiful appearance! You’re so pretty and lovely!’

When they took a bath together.

‘There might be good men in the world! But the moment they approach you, they won’t be good men! If a man talks to you, tell me!’

Besides that, she constantly said things like she should marry a fellow witch, not someone she loved, and that men were inferior beings who couldn’t even use magic.
As far as Diana knew, her mother had a human male lover when she was young.

Anyway, because of that biased education, Diana thought that men turned into wolves at night and ate women until she was 11 years old.
And even after she was old enough to realize that her mother’s education stemmed from her concern for her daughter, she still had some prejudice.

For such a shady and cunning man to use sacred magic….
It violated the stereotypes that had been ingrained in her for so long.

Therefore, Diana couldn’t accept the existence of a male witch.
She didn’t want to accept it.
She knew that such discriminatory thinking was bad, so she didn’t express it outwardly.
That’s why she felt even more uncomfortable.

“I’ll know once I check it out.”

Diana, who had reached the peak of laziness, possessed the most basic qualities required of an apprentice witch.
The curiosity to raise questions and try to verify them.
If she hadn’t had that, Diana wouldn’t have been able to advance her succession preparation by three years, no matter how talented she was.

Diana left the cafe and immediately knocked on the door of the host bar.