City Of Witches 558

Chapter 558 – #115_Survival Report (2)

#558

One.
“Ha….”

Deneb Zemanai let out a long sigh.
Unusually, the small head of the county of Jemonai, whose twins inherit the same brand.

Instead of pens and contracts, wine glasses and empty bottles were scattered on the table in the office, where business processes in this world were usually handled.

The one who stares at him with a worried expression is Albireo Zemonai.
She is the eldest head of the county of Myrnai and Deneb’s older sister.

“Black, black….”

Deneb, who had been blankly gazing at the sky, sighing, drinking once, and repeating, took out the third handkerchief and applied it with tears.

“Deneb.”
“Yes, sister…. When did you come?”
“What are you talking about. You have been here all along.”

It was there an hour ago.

“Ah, it was…. It was. You also comforted me. Sorry.”

The combination of heartache and drunkenness has made Deneb, who is in some ways even smarter than her sister, into a drunkard.
Albireo anxiously grabbed Deneb by the wrist as he poured more of her drink.

“Stop drinking.”

I don’t know how many bottles it is already.
In fact, the spiritual body is not weak enough to leave aftereffects from acute alcohol poisoning, but alcohol eats away at the mind anyway.
If I could forget all the worries in the world just by drinking alcohol, the world would be many times happier.

“Only one bottle…. I will drink more.”
“Do you know how many times you’ve talked about that?”

Albireo, who couldn’t stand it any longer, confiscated her bottle from her sister.
Deneb, who doesn’t resist and is swaying, gets his bottle stolen.

Six weeks have passed since Shin Si-woo was kidnapped by the witch of the deep sea and no news was lost.
In fact, everyone just didn’t say it, but even the fact that they were kidnapped was something they hoped for.
If the Witch of the Deep was going to kill him, she would have enough time to kill him again and again.

Therefore, there was a heavy air flow like a funeral hall in the always lively count house.

He is also the twin’s son-in-law.
How much the twins cried and cried after the news of their disappearance was announced….

Albireo, who had to soothe the twins by himself during the beating period while fighting for his short sleep after stopping the riot to follow the search for the world, had to suffer from headaches for a while.

“Sister…. Sorry, because of me…. What do we do… ?”
“Why is it because of you?”
“However…. I don’t even look at the twins….”

Albireo listens to Deneb’s repeated complaints for weeks and pats Deneb on the back.

As you can see, as time went on, Albireo managed to keep his composure somewhat.

There’s nothing better than worrying about it anyway.
I just put all my energy into supporting the witches who are on the hunt.

However, in the case of Deneb, he could not easily forget his guilt.
Deneb was able to escape from the Witch of the Deep because he chose to remain instead.

And if you think about the hypothesis that Deneb doesn’t show at the moment….
Maybe it’s just to recharge mana, but since they’ve mixed their bodies several times, maybe the naive little sister started to see Shin Si-woo as a man rather than a son-in-law…. It was her, she thought a little.

The difference in concern between simply disappearing son-in-law and the disappearance of the man who gave her heart would be huge.
And though he would like to deny it, Albireo’s sister’s heartache seemed more like the latter.

“Sister…. It’s okay now. Go to work.”
“Are you okay? Are you going to let me go and drink again?”
“No, to sleep. I should take a nap or go to sleep I’m sorry that you’re always tied down because of me….”

Hopefully not.
Albireo cut off my pitiful delusion by shaking his head.

It doesn’t make sense to build up such absurd hypotheses for a son-in-law who doesn’t even know if he’s alive or dead right now, and to have a prickly feeling.
Also, no matter how immature Deneb was, even if he really had feelings for Shin Si-woo, I had no doubts that he would respond well.

The moment Albireo put on the gloves he had taken off for a while and stood up, the door to his office burst open.

“Master! Master!”
“Master! Master! Master! Master! Master!”

A pair of identical dolls rushed in with the momentum to almost smash the door.
No, it was not a doll, but Odile and Odette Zemyon who were as cute as dolls.

Albireo would have told him to come back quietly and not be frivolous as usual, but he couldn’t do that this time.

This is because I could only think of one case where the twins, who had turned yellow like dry moss after Shin Si-woo’s disappearance, regained their vitality like a lively flower.

“Sister…. My head is ringing…. Twins, please be quiet….”

The twins hop and run and Deneb lies on the table and covers his head.

“Master! It’s a telegram! Telegram! My assistant says she is doing well!”
“Because I knew it! Where is your assistant going to die?”

At the same time, the twins are embraced by Albireo.
The tears welling up in his eyes reminded him of his heartache.

“What… !”

Deneb shakes off his hangover and alcohol all at once and jumps up from his seat.
He bit his lip and trembled, then hugged the twins and shared their joy.

2.
Fast forward a bit to New Zealand’s largest city and former capital, Auckland.

Recently, an unusual object was discovered off the coast of Auckland.
From the looks of it, it was one of the many and many marine debris, but it was an item that periodically spreads magic waves, so the Auckland branch manager immediately set out to retrieve it.

What was found there was a number of letters, photos in an envelope, and several cassette tapes.

At first, it was an unknown object, but the branch manager soon realized its identity.
This is because the picture of the male witch scattered at location points in each country by Duke Tiphareth’s special order and the person in the picture enclosed in the box exactly matched.

The branch manager immediately contacted Duke Tiphareth through the hotline, and within a day after contacting Amelia, Eloa, and Sharon received a box containing a message.

The three immediately grabbed a hotel room and put their heads together.
I opened the box with trembling hands.

Inside were several letters written in Siu’s handwriting.

It was a letter informing Amelia, the twins, Sharon, and Eloa, as well as many people who were worried about the circumstances of not being able to contact her Mutal.

The following is an approximate summary of the contents of the 10-page, densely written letter per person.

He was kidnapped by the witch of the deep sea, but he builds a good relationship and leads a comfortable life.
Due to Lerue’s extreme reluctance to communicate with the outside world, he could not contact him.
I can go back after overcoming the ordeal, so please don’t worry too much.
I’m sorry for worrying you.

In fact, this alone did not clear the doubts of the three people.
My worries were not light enough to trust the contents of the letter as it was and to go over it with ease.

“It could have been used under duress.”
“I am of the same opinion. It must have been a letter written under the censorship of the Witch of the Deep in the first place. Or it could be a deception to thwart the search.”
“Besides, you don’t even know when the picture was taken.”

Despite the anxiety of this and that, the three couldn’t hide the color on their faces.
A lover whose life and death were unclear.
Finding even a clue that he was alive was a good news like a sweet rain when he was losing hope.

-How are you all doing?

The three of them read each letter with tears in their eyes as if stroking each letter, and the moment they heard Siwoo’s voice through the old cassette player, they shed tears they had been holding back.

“Listen carefully. If there’s anything odd about it, can you tell me right away?”

Elroa, on the other hand, listened to Siwoo’s voice.
Even if the message was written as a threat, there is a time spent together.

It was because there might have been hidden an emergency sign that only those who knew Siwoo could understand, a code that notified of a crisis.

However, as she listened to the almost hour-long recording with a sense of nervousness, she felt somewhat relieved.
First of all, the length of the recording is very long.

If the witch of the deep sea is to induce vigilance by confirming the safety of the hostage and disturb the search, the shorter the length, the less information the better.

However, Shin Si-woo laid out his life in the submarine in detail in a very comfortable way, and even if I thought it was embarrassing, his voice full of apologetics was very peaceful.

It’s hard to imagine what Eloah did of hers that she wouldn’t have done as a Witch of the Deeps.
In other words, it is highly likely that the recording was recorded in a state in which safety was guaranteed without any lies or falsehoods.

-So…. Please don’t worry too much and wait. Once we have completed the ordeal, we will return soon. And I have something else to tell you…. Oh this, I’d better go back and talk about it. Sorry for worrying you once again. How are you.

When the tape ended and the voice message ended, the three of them let out a long sigh.

“That’s fortunate…. I’m really glad.”
“Siwoo seemed to be doing well wherever he went.”
“Then, whose apprentice are you?”

While he was living a more comfortable life than he could have imagined, he didn’t even feel the slightest bit regretful about the hardships his heart suffered.
What could be more good news than seeing a loved one whose life and death were unknown get along without any harm?

“The search will have to continue.”
“Absolutely.”
“Let’s move the search base to the shore near Auckland.”

Of course, I had no intention of waiting until he returned, sucking my fingers.
There could be any number of one-in-a-kind situations, and it might be that they were seduced by mental magic.

The search could be narrowed down by analyzing the surrounding ocean currents, so the three of them tried to move immediately.

“What is this?”

Eloah and Sharon, who were about to get up to resume the search, found an additional cassette tape embedded in one side of the cushioning material of the box.
If the letters, photos, and the recordings I had just heard were packed rather neatly, it looked like someone hadtily picked them up.

“Looks like there’s some tape left. Let’s check.”

Lovers who put their heads together again.

-Click!

Rewind the tape to the end and play it.

-Crush rustle

The sound heard afterwards was somewhat different from Siwoo’s recording.
Unlike the previous recording, where the microphone was recorded right in front of the mouth, the sound quality was poor but clear, but this one feels distant as if it was recorded secretly.

-Are you still writing letters?

From there came a woman’s voice, a high-pitched voice that rivaled that of her twin.
That unfamiliar voice probably belonged to the witch of the deep sea.

-Yes, I have a lot of letters to deliver.

Seeing that Siu’s voice could be heard a little farther away, I could guess that it was the witch of the deep sea who recorded this.
The three of them sensed something unusual and quietly met their eyes.
And I listened to the sound coming from inside.