Chapter 1057 – #251_After Death(3) – DeepL
#1051
1.
The day I saw Dorothy’s body, I was much comforted.
Late into the night, I took turns visiting Xiu, who sat quietly in Dorothy’s room, and we grieved together.
“I’m sorry, I still need to get my bearings.”
But they all pushed her away with excuses about wanting to be alone.
Not because they weren’t helpful, of course not.
If I had been alone, I would have lost my mind and it would have been much harder than it was.
But when you’re surrounded by so much willpower, so much kindness, so much love.
I felt lost.
My focus would be blurred.
Therefore, the next day, with one excuse or another, I sent the lovers back.
It’s too dangerous for you and Amelia.
If they attacked again, we could be in real trouble.
Linnaeus and Sharon will guard Linnaeus, who is still in bed.
She also half-heartedly lies to Leroy and Sharon that she won’t think of anything strange.
This will be the first and last lie she tells her lovers.
And perhaps neither the Master nor Amelia would believe it.
2.
The morgue the next night.
Xiu had guests from Gehenna.
It’s Gretel Nephthys, the spirit witch, the eccentric doctor who had checked him out earlier.
Sitting at the table, a heavy pouch full of gold coins rests on her thigh.
“Can I smoke that here?”
“Don’t look at me. I won’t smoke.”
She lifted the cigarette to her lips at his request.
Perhaps she was right for this job.
She might be a bit of a nerd, but she was certainly skilled enough for Yevin to recognize.
Plus, from what he’d seen so far, she’s got a big mouth.
Judging by the fact that she hasn’t divulged Xiu’s secret anywhere, she must have a calling as a doctor.
“So what’s the answer?”
Gretel sighed deeply and scratched the back of her head.
It’s an uncharacteristic gesture, but it suits Gretel, who has a dark side.
“That’s the second crazy thing you’ve suggested to me. You want me to build a bridge between the unconscious and the conscious that’s going to eat me one day, and now you want me to do it….”
“Conclusions only.”
“I don’t care, I’ve got the research samples, I’ve got the money. But I’m also a doctor, so I’m going to tell you right now…. I don’t recommend it.”
Gretel’s reaction was common sense.
In fact, even Xiu thought so.
“Out of respect for the deceased, I’ll put ethics aside. It’s only been a few days since the accident….”
“It wasn’t an accident, it was an attack.”
“…Right. I stand corrected. You’re letting me see your lover’s memories after only two days, and that’s from the day of the attack…. You’re out of your mind.”
“It’s necessary, it has to be done.”
Gretel grimaced and finally lit a cigarette.
With a flick of her fingers and a manipulation of the airflow, she reduced the smoke and odor to small puffs and dissipated them.
“I’m sorry for your situation, and I offer my deepest sympathies, but why don’t you give yourself some time to calm down? The human spirit is far more fragile than you realize.”
Gretel continues in an uncharacteristically childlike, impatient tone.
She knows.
She’s only trying to discourage Xiu’s reckless behavior in good faith.
But her outburst is unpredictable, and therefore uncontrollable.
“Enough with the advice, just do it.”
Like a beast rattling its bellows, threatening, an explosive response to the slightest provocation.
“I paid you to do it.”
Seeing Gretel pull back and frown, Xiu hastily apologized for his mistake.
“Don’t talk to me like that. You’re scaring me.”
“I’m sorry. I wasn’t very polite.”
“…Haha, never mind, you told me to do it, so don’t blame me later. Sit down.”
Gretel reached into her pocket and drew a magic circle around them, scattering white powder, and Xiu pulled up a chair next to Dorothy, who was covered in a white cloth.
The path was set.
A glimpse into Dorothy’s memories is also preparation for the road ahead.
Dorothy had said.
Of her first encounter with Gretel Nephthys, who was now preparing for the spell,
after she had so brilliantly repelled Gretel’s attempt to turn Xiu against her.
“Your kindness and gentleness certainly have a way of drawing people in, I know I did, as I was swept up in the harmless charms of the darling.
Dorothy called Xiu sweet, gentle, and harmless.
I think that’s because Dorothy only sees the good in him.
Xinxiu is flaky and weak.
“But you can’t be nice to everyone. You have to realize that you’re a witch, you’re special, and you have to let go of your human sensibilities.
I honestly couldn’t agree more.
I didn’t like being told that witches were special and needed to be unshackled.
Those were the words of Bianca, the woman who had kidnapped Takasho and brought him to the brink of death.
I felt an instinctive rejection of the advice, even though it meant something completely different to me than it did to Bianca.
‘I like the messy darlings I have now, but I do find them unsettling at times.
“It’s not good enough,” he said, “and one day your glazing will catch up with you.
I thought that was good.
If Dorothy’s flaws are what makes us human, I thought, then they have some value.
But she was wrong.
That flimsy definition.
That flawed definition.
And it cost my beloved Dorothy her life.
“I’m ready. One last thing. Try not to get eaten.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
But luckily for Xiu, she still has a chance to make amends.
There is a resurrection artifact that everyone who has ever lost a loved one has prayed for.
The Lotus, the artifact the Master acquired when he defeated Ea Sadalmelik.
Paola Sochitl had taken the lives of many humans and a few witches to fulfill her wish, but Ea proved that the Lotus could work with witch life as well.
“Here we go. Count backwards from three.”
Gretel’s magic flashed, and Xiu’s consciousness sank deeper.
2.
It’s not my field of study, so I don’t understand the details.
But according to Gretel’s words, it leaves a mark on the soul.
What Xiu and Gretel were trying to do was to trace those traces and read the memories and emotions.
It’s almost like mental self-mutilation.
It’s like poking at a wound before it’s healed.
“Hmph.”
Humming, Dorothy writes a business plan.
Dorothy was living a peaceful life, unaware of the tragedy that was about to happen.
She drinks coffee leisurely, fiddles with the necklace Xiu gave her, smokes a leisurely cigar, looks at photographs, and occasionally meets and talks with Linnaeus.
Not only the landscape, but also her mental state, emotions, and inner thoughts are transmitted to Xiu.
It’s almost like she’s been assimilated.
“I wonder what Darling is doing.”
How much she thinks about Xiu.
How much of her daily life is spent thinking about him.
It’s as if the information is imprinted on her cognition.
Her breath catches in her throat just looking at it.
The final sight of her dying in despair must be a hundred times more painful than this.
But the reason Xiu has summoned Gretel is not for some small atonement, or for her to condemn herself and gain some small measure of immunity.
“A raid?”
“Prepare.”
For a raid that lasted only five minutes, events moved quickly.
The raiders were, as she’d heard, the Lehar, a group of public mercenaries whose business is war and combat.
Though Dorothy was a powerful witch who specialized in defense, she was no match for such a large group.
At first she fights back fiercely, but then one by one, wound after wound is carved into her body, she collapses, and finally rolls on the ground in a mangled heap.
Like piranhas that bite at the sight of blood, they flocked to her in droves.
I feel sick to my stomach, even though I’m inside her mind.
Dorothy’s despair, combined with the helplessness of watching her loved ones die, burns her heart like poison.
But Xiu doesn’t close her eyes or turn away.
Instead, she watches intently.
The people involved in this raid, the magic they’re using, every little detail that could help.
It all sticks in his mind.
Dorothy, sensing the end, and the attack raining down on her.
“Darling, I’m sorry. For the last time….”
Dorothy’s last words, unheard.
“Kirk!”
Sioux jumped to his feet, bouncing off the chair and gagging.
Intense anger, grief, and despair would cause even a disciplined spiritual body to suffer from hyperventilation.
“Calm down, calm down, breathe slowly, breathe slowly.”
Gretel rushed to Xiu’s aid and guided his breathing.
Even in this cold morgue, Xiu’s whole body is drenched in sweat.
“Crazy asshole. Don’t make me do that.”
“Hey, it’s okay. How many minutes have passed?”
“Ten minutes.”
Xiu immediately turned on the cold water at the nearby sink to wash his face.
The ice-cold water seemed to wake him up a bit.
“Are you satisfied now?”
“…….”
“You’re one of a kind. How did you not shed a tear?”
I’m not throwing up because I’ve gotten a nice advance, but Gretel is ready to go home.
“If you’re done, can I leave?”
“Yes, Ms. Gretel.”
But not yet.
Dorothy’s memory had many shaky points.
Moreover, the nature of seeing memories through someone else’s eyes means that there is only so much information that can be analyzed from a single glimpse.
There’s no point in having information that’s just a glimpse when you’re going to be fighting a losing battle.
Xiu wants to be more thorough.
“I’ll ask you to do it three more times, five more times.”
Mistakes will be made.
The price will be the lives of everyone involved.
Sin will be held in these hands.
All Dorothy had to do was come back.
