Chapter 1235 – #289_The Continuing Story (2)
#1229
1.
Many witches were busy after the war, but the Geminai family, which had been deeply involved with the mortal realm since ancient times, had to work many times harder.
Thanks to the chaos that engulfed the world, several export lines were destroyed, and the global stock market was still reeling.
Many high-ranking officials from various countries died like flies, and the human intelligence they had painstakingly built up largely evaporated.
Therefore, Albireo Geminai had been struggling in a work hell no less than Siwoo’s recently.
Deneb hadn’t returned to Gehenna at all since the war, and was touring the mortal realm, and Albireo barely managed to get some time off after three months.
However, the dignity of a noble comes from leisure.
Albireo Geminai walked down the hallway with a haughty stride.
Her dignity flowed just from walking.
Her steps, which didn’t falter even in high heels, elicited admiration from the surrounding witches.
Of course, she couldn’t help but have a slightly furrowed brow due to excessive stress, but Albireo was originally a bit stern-looking.
“Hello, Countess Geminai.”
A basic science researcher she encountered in the hallway.
In Albireo’s memory, she was a witch who had been with them since the very beginning. Was her name Daphne?
“Good afternoon, Daphne. Where is the Head of the Hessed Society right now?”
While exchanging greetings, she asked about Siwoo’s whereabouts.
“……”
The silence was strangely prolonged.
“Ms. Daphne?”
“Well, I’m not sure either… He’s usually in the Society Head’s office around this time.”
“Is that so? Thank you.”
Daphne quietly sighed as she watched Albireo’s retreating figure.
“Oh dear. The Society Head is in big trouble again.”
Everyone in Gehenna knew that the Society Head, who had already been writing down legends, had become a true demon king comparable to Keter after this war.
Now, the proud witches of Gehenna praised his achievements, and their hearts ached with longing to have even a short conversation with him.
In fact, if you only looked at his achievements, he was absolutely not inferior to Keter.
He was simply a god.
A god of witches.
The God Project had created a real god.
But all the basic science researchers who had been with him for a long time knew.
That, apart from his mythical achievements, the Society Head Shin Siwoo himself was a very human person.
That, except during work, he had the scent of a clumsy younger nerd (there was much debate about whether it was okay to express it this way).
Everyone knew that the person he feared the most was his big mother-in-law.
And now, Countess Geminai, with her brow furrowed like that, was going to find him.
“Please be safe, Society Head.”
All Daphne could do was pray for the Society Head’s safe return.
2.
Albireo didn’t particularly intend to scold Siwoo.
She was a bit tired, but there was an urgent matter, so she was looking for him without delay.
It was a discussion about a new variant succession method that couldn’t be postponed even though she was so busy.
Siwoo had lost the ability of ‘brand replication’ and ‘magic amplification’ that originally enabled variant succession.
She couldn’t describe how surprised she was when she first heard this news.
“You know, people’s hearts are so fickle.”
Originally, it was natural for a witch to fulfill her duty, inherit the brand, and disappear.
Back when they could easily do variant succession, they made all sorts of excuses and put it off.
The process was embarrassing, to say the least, and this variant succession was ultimately no different from an incomplete succession that was passed down while giving up one level of hierarchy.
Fortunately, her troublemaker son-in-law had a Plan B.
In the end, if it was possible to precisely cut out and paste the brand, there was no need to borrow the power of the subconscious.
Moreover, since Siwoo had reached a level so high that he could be called a completely different person from the past, this variant succession research was progressing smoothly.
The reason she was meeting Siwoo today was also to discuss sample collection.
Since the methodology had completely changed, the samples from the previous method had been discarded.
It was already embarrassing to have to do that shameful thing again and again, but what could she do?
“I’m going in.”
Anyway, Albireo, the most sensible person in Siwoo’s family, calmed her troubled mind and entered the Society Head’s office.
And then she froze, dumbfounded.
Because an unexpected person was sitting at a table in the corner of the Society Head’s office.
“…Duke Erelim?”
But Shin Siwoo was nowhere to be found.
“I am no longer a duke. Good afternoon, Countess Geminai.”
Albireo almost checked to see if this was really the Hessed Society.
No, strictly speaking, that wasn’t such a stupid thing to do.
She was a person who was like the symbol of the Truth and True Name Academic Society.
She had heard rumors that she had recently resigned from her title and retired, but the formula ‘Blanche Erelim = Duke = Head of the Truth and True Name Academic Society’ was still engraved in her mind.
Why was this person doing office work in the Hessed Society Head’s office as if she was his personal secretary?
“What, no, wait, wait a minute. What are you doing here?”
“I am handling the tasks given to me as the servant of Duke Hessed.”
“……?”
Albireo felt a cosmic being collapsing language.
It must have been that ‘system’ at work.
That system must have stepped in to destroy the existing language system and mix it up.
Otherwise, there was no way that the words ‘servant of Duke Hessed’ would come out of that stubborn witch’s mouth.
“The Society Head is currently out. Shall I tell him that you came? If you’d like to wait, I’ll bring you some tea.”
In fact, the fact that Erelim was volunteering as Siwoo’s servant was not widely known.
To begin with, it hadn’t been long since this had happened, and the basic science researchers who often visited the Society Head’s office were as tight-lipped as their bond with Siwoo.
Also, rather than idly indulging in gossip, everyone was busy dealing with the heavy workload that had fallen on them in the rapidly changing world.
Even Albireo, who was a big mother-in-law, had only learned about it for the first time today.
Albireo, who was half out of her body, was caught up in a complex and subtle premonition, like a teenage girl, as she tried to gather her confusion, felt a terrible anxiety, and denied it, saying, ‘No way’.
-Clink
Blanche, who had placed tea in front of Albireo, returned to her seat and began typing away on her keyboard.
“Servant? You said? May I ask what’s going on?”
“This heart and soul are all his. After he showed me the light, I vowed to dedicate the rest of my life to him.”
It was even a very familiar trope!!!
Albireo felt her neck stiffen.
She wanted to shout right away, but she couldn’t.
This was the inertia of perception.
Since Albireo was a naive apprentice witch, Erelim had already been revered as a great sage of Gehenna.
The social distribution that Erelim had held and the awe towards her could not be washed away with just one word, ‘retirement’.
Wait a minute.
But the mother-in-law is older than the son-in-law.
Then, isn’t the former Duke Erelim, who claims to be the son-in-law’s servant, lower in distribution?
No, even so, she’s a great sage of Gehenna, and a meritorious person who hid her cause and led the reversal in this war… It’s not right to treat her badly.
This was the flow of thought that was swirling around.
The distribution and discipline of Gehenna, which had a long history, was being shaken by one man’s machinations again today.
“So… you’re just helping him?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“This may be a very rude question… but is there any other feeling besides that?”
“What do you mean by other feelings?”
“Something like… affection?”
It was a question that could be considered rude, and if it had been the old Erelim, even Albireo would have been intimidated by her unique terrifying atmosphere.
But Erelim smiled softly at the roundabout question and shook her head.
Albireo was startled.
Duke Erelim was smiling!
“This lowly servant is not a witch shameless enough to desire the master’s affection as a reward. And I have Yvonne. Please don’t worry too much.”
“Then… that’s a relief. By any chance, what did Siwoo, no, Duke Hessed, say?”
“He is truly an upright person. That’s why he can shine so brightly.”
“……”
Summary of the conversation.
A romantic relationship? She wouldn’t even dream of it.
Siwoo’s response? He was putting up a good iron wall.
But Albireo couldn’t be relieved by that.
It was true that there had been frequent friction between Erelim and Siwoo.
However, looking at the lineup of her son-in-law’s past lovers, who were like ghosts at seducing women, that level of trouble felt like a build-up for a solid and passionate romance.
Let’s think about it.
Twins that she wouldn’t trade for the world?
Siwoo was just an academy caretaker and teaching assistant.
Amelia? She was Siwoo’s boss who used to torment him, but she became a mother recently.
Sharon? She sent her to the mortal realm for a while so that she wouldn’t touch the twins, but she made a girlfriend in the meantime.
Duke Tiferet? She was the most upright witch in the world, and Siwoo was her disciple.
But he still seduced her.
The arrogant brat, Lulue Nukelavi? She was a kidnapper. But he kidnapped her back.
The witch of the path? She was a failed kidnapper and a public figure.
The witch of the sword? She was kidnapper number 2. She was also a natural disaster that boasted considerable ferocity in the witch society.
Periwinkle? She thought they were just close as siblings, but he even seduced her.
Her younger sister, whom she believed to be sharp, forgot her dignity and suffered from a long-term lovesickness, and Lucy Yesod became an accomplice in a hot affair.
For this reason, Albireo was not relieved at all by Erelim’s assertion.
Rather, she was afraid that he might even bring Count Kohab and say, ‘This is my new girlfriend, former Duke Erelim, as you know. And this is a free gift.’
Albireo turned pale and jumped up from her seat.
She thought that this was something that needed to be addressed.
