Chapter 255 – #58_All Darkness Comes From The East
#253
1.
As planned, I bought the clothes.
The next item on the agenda was to buy groceries at the department store’s food section.
Eloa was surprisingly skilled at cooking, and after training, she would invite Siwoo and treat him to some dishes.
Today, she planned to prepare a nice meal for Siwoo, who had bought her clothes.
“Hmm… hmm hmm…”
Eloa, wearing a fluttering shirt dress and tapping her shoes, hummed a tune.
Next to her, Siwoo was pushing the shopping cart, trying to hold back a laugh.
Eloa was basically a person with a rather rigid personality.
Whether it was because she was not good at expressing herself or because not revealing her emotions was part of a martial artist’s training, I didn’t know.
Most of the time, she didn’t show her likes or dislikes very well.
Seeing her express her good mood to this extent, I could tell that today’s shopping was quite successful.
After wandering around the grocery section with a very excited gait for a while, Eloa suddenly realized something and subtly glanced at Siwoo.
Then, she stopped humming.
It was because Siwoo’s expression, with a gentle smile, came into view.
“Why are you looking at me like that? Smiling foolishly.”
Actually, it was because Eloa, who was happy like a puppy out for a spring stroll, was cute, but it was a bit much to say that to her face.
Therefore, I praised the clothes that Eloa seemed to like the most.
“It seems like the clothes suit you well. And the shoes are pretty too.”
I had said it several times when we were buying clothes, but Eloa showed a similar reaction every time she was complimented on how well the clothes suited her.
Regardless of her doubtful mind that kept thinking, ‘Really?’, she couldn’t help but loosen her lips.
“I don’t know. It’s my first time wearing shoes with heels like this… I feel a bit taller… but isn’t it too flashy?”
“Everything suits you well.”
“…Is that so.”
“They really do suit you.”
“Don’t tease me.”
Eloa would nod her head as if it were natural when praised with things like, ‘Master, your magic is amazing!’ or ‘Master, your martial arts are amazing!’, but when complimented on her clothes, she would repeat things like, ‘Don’t tease me,’ and get very embarrassed.
Even that reaction was cute, so it was fun to keep complimenting her.
“I forgot something.”
“What is it?”
“Thank you for buying me nice clothes. It’s also my first time experiencing buying clothes at a department store like this.”
“Strictly speaking, it wasn’t my money that bought them. And I’ve received a lot from you, Master.”
To Siwoo, who was being modest, Eloa spoke clearly.
“The Jemanae Count is a witch and a skilled businesswoman. A great businesswoman doesn’t waste money, no matter how much she has. If the Count gave you material support, it’s not a light favor or pity, but because you are a person worthy of receiving it.”
“Hmm…”
I felt like I understood how Eloa felt when she received compliments about her clothes.
It was awkward and embarrassing for no reason.
In the first place, if you look at the reason why Siwoo can enjoy this abundance in the present world, it’s because he faced Ea Sadalmelik with the determination to give up his life.
I don’t know what he was thinking when he faced that terrifying Ea when he couldn’t even use a proper combat magic…
Honestly, I didn’t think it was a big deal.
Wouldn’t anyone else have made a similar choice if they were in that situation?
“Have a little more pride.”
Eloa playfully patted Siwoo on the back and walked ahead.
Siwoo and Eloa, who had bought so many ingredients that the cart was almost full, got into the car.
The hypercar received from Periwinkle.
Actually, when I first received it, I thought I would just leave it parked in the parking lot and hardly ever drive it.
First of all, Siwoo himself wasn’t very interested in cars, and it attracted so much attention that it couldn’t be compared to Ferraris or Lamborghinis that could often be seen in Seoul.
But Siwoo, who had taken the wheel and driven around the road, had already fallen deeply in love with this car’s charm.
The dignified exhaust sound that wasn’t flashy and the sense of unity as if the car and I were one.
I was captivated by the well-made mechanical device that felt like a living creature.
Siwoo smoothly exited the underground parking lot.
Eloa was in the passenger seat, examining her outfit from various angles.
Eloa seemed to be in a good mood now, and it was about time to talk about the story I had heard from Periwinkle.
The story I had heard from Periwinkle wasn’t just about Siwoo’s safety.
“Master, I have something to tell you.”
“Is there anything so difficult to say? Tell me anything comfortably.”
Eloa, leaning comfortably against the backrest and suppressing the smile that kept trying to surface.
All it took was one word to make her expression stiffen.
“Do you happen to know about the witch Periwinkle?”
The moment the name Periwinkle came out of Siwoo’s mouth.
Eloa involuntarily turned her head to look out the window.
Periwinkle?
Why is her name suddenly coming up?
Eloa, who had been forgetting about her feelings about the VR porn she had watched for the past two days, thanks to the pleasant atmosphere.
The embarrassing happenings that she could never tell anyone, like how she had spied on sex for 36 hours and how her body had heated up while watching it.
These things came to her mind.
Could it be that Siwoo had already noticed what Eloa knew?
Or was he subtly testing her, having sensed something?
“I, I, I don’t know. I don’t know anything.”
Eloa, whose mind had gone blank, answered in a fluster.
Siwoo tilted his head at her almost terrified reaction.
If he hadn’t been holding the steering wheel, he would have been able to see that her ears, which were slightly visible through her hair, were red.
“I really don’t know. It’s not a lie, it’s the truth.”
“I didn’t think it was a lie…”
It was a suspicious reaction, but I didn’t think it was a big problem.
“When I was away from home the other day. I had a chance to talk to her personally. According to her divination, she said that I would soon be in danger. Um, maybe… I would die…”
I left out the sensational content about having my arm cut off and dying, and I also added that it was already half resolved.
I could guess how Siwoo’s words would come across to Eloa, who already had the memory of losing a precious person.
Siwoo had started cautiously, but Eloa’s reaction was fierce.
She turned to Siwoo and looked at him with an almost panicked gaze.
“…What did you just say…?”
Her trembling eyes and the creaking atmosphere.
Siwoo quickly added, seeing her breathing become rapid as if she had been triggered by a trauma.
“Oh, of course, thanks to her kindness, I also received a solution. She said it was a charm that could save my life no matter what danger I was in.”
“Tell me more details.”
Eloa was emitting a fighting spirit that made my skin tingle.
It was a fierce fighting spirit that would cut down any enemy that threatened Siwoo.
I was reminded of Eloa when she had landed a Bungkwan on me during our first meeting.
It seemed like I needed to calm her down first.
“Don’t worry too much. It won’t be that big of a deal.”
“How can you say this isn’t a big deal? The Fortune Witch is a witch skilled in astrology. Her divinations are almost never wrong!”
For someone who claimed to know nothing about Periwinkle, she seemed to know quite a lot.
“If I lose again… what am I supposed to do if I lose even you. I, I… I…”
Eloa, who had already assumed the worst outcome, began to shout in a fragile voice as if she would break.
Siwoo was flustered and pulled the car over to the side of the road.
“Who is it? Why? What did you hear about why the crisis is coming?”
Eloa grabbed Siwoo’s sleeve and clung to it.
Siwoo calmly comforted her and laid out his thoughts.
“Periwinkle-nim also said that she would be leaving Korea for a while. She saw a future in her divination that a crisis would come within a month.
Considering the actions of the Cowardly Witch recently, perhaps she will cause an incident within a month, and maybe I will get caught up in it…”
“Did she say that?”
“Yes, she had the same thought as me.”
After the Cowardly Witch’s attack a while ago, a power vacuum occurred not only in Seoul but throughout Korea.
The witches, feeling a sense of crisis from the series of incidents, had either returned to Gehenna or left the country one after another.
Branch Manager Sua had requested support from Gehenna and other location point branches, but most of them were lukewarm in their response.
In the first place, the purpose of witches is not to save people.
Their purpose is to raise their self-magic to a higher level.
Also, most of them tried to protect themselves rather than take risks.
For a witch, death is not just the end of an individual, but the extinction of a ‘generation’, so they didn’t want to get involved in an incident that seemed unstable and didn’t seem to have any merit.
“The reason I told you not to worry too much is because of this.”
Siwoo took out two four-leaf clovers that he had put in his cigarette case.
One was light green, and the other was pink.
It was a gift from Periwinkle, who said it would save my life.
“She said that even if I am destined to die, they will help me avoid it once.”
Only then did a glimmer of relief appear on Eloa’s face, who had seemed cornered.
The Fortune Witch was a celebrity among witches, and she had heard several times about what kind of efficacy her clovers had.
“I’m sorry, I was too pathetic.”
“No, Master, I brought it up too suddenly.”
“So, what are you going to do?”
“That… I don’t know yet.”
In fact, I had already guessed that some kind of incident would occur due to the Cowardly Witch.
But I couldn’t leave Sharon behind, and above all, I didn’t like the option of running away twice in a row, so I was postponing my decision.
But should I stay and fight until the moment I am destined to die?
If even the 20th-tier Periwinkle is in danger of dying, wouldn’t it be better to take Sharon and flee?
That was what I was thinking.
“Run away.”
Eloa said as if there was nothing to think about.
“Go into Gehenna and don’t come back until the situation calms down. It will be safer there than here.”
“But the branch manager said that it would take time to discuss bringing Sharon into Gehenna.”
“I will help with that.”
The review of the exemption for exiles in Gehenna is very strict.
Also, Gehenna’s administrative work is very, very slow, so it was the norm that it would take a long time if you went through the formal procedure.
However, if a witch like Tiferet pushed with her name and authority, there was nothing she couldn’t do.
Even though she had lost her property and her right to speak, and her title was only nominal, she was still one of the only three dukes in Gehenna.
“Can you do that?”
Siwoo let out a sigh of relief.
If so, then the burden would be lessened.
More than anything else, it was most fortunate that Sharon, who was unconscious, could escape from the eye of the storm.
“I’ll take care of it within two days, so you too, with Evergreen-yang…”
One thing flashed through Eloa’s mind as she was about to say, ‘stay in Gehenna’.
“……”
“Master?”
Siwoo looked at Eloa, who was blank for a while, with a puzzled expression.
Eloa pulled Siwoo’s sleeve with a very earnest hand.
“Evergreen-yang will be evacuated to Gehenna. But you…”
She said, holding Siwoo’s hand tightly as if she would never let go.
“…Don’t go anywhere. Stay by my side.”
Yandere alert?