City ​​of Witches 674

Chapter 674 – #136_Dual!(2)

#674

1.
Last night.

“The Silent Witch is… well, she’s a crazy bitch on the position board.”

Dorothy spoke with an unnecessarily serious tone.

It was Siwoo who had requested detailed information about Rosie Alouette in order to retrieve Malicia and Manya, but that was a bizarre explanation to consider appropriate.

Normally, shouldn’t they tell you what kind of magic she uses, what rank she is, and what her position is among her achievements?

“Is that it?”
“Oh, she mainly uses curse-based magnetic magic. She’s a 20th rank and works with quite a few witches. After all, curse-based magic really shines in support.”

Dorothy was adding what she should have said first, but seeing Rosie, Siwoo understood why Dorothy had mentioned the position board first.

“Let’s go to the playroom. It’s there. Do you like alcohol? Should I give you some? I have some good brandy.”
“Ah, yes, yes.”

Rosie grabbed Siwoo’s wrist and quickly walked down the hallway.

Her tone wasn’t particularly distant to begin with, but now she was very affectionate. It was the kind of delight you’d show to a childhood friend you hadn’t seen in ten years.

Rosie must have had many questions.

For example, why Siwoo had come to the mansion alone.
Why Linne had allowed him to roam freely without any explanation.
How he became a witch as a man.
How he became Linne’s disciple when he was known to be in a master-disciple relationship with Duke Tiferet, and so on.

There were many topics of conversation that would be difficult to resolve in one sitting.

And yet, she was turning her back on all of that, trying to set up a board game.

At this point, it felt foolish to have worried about her reacting indifferently, saying things like, ‘Hmm, I’m not really in the mood right now? There’s a male witch right in front of me.’

Good.

It was a sub-quest that didn’t directly affect the escape, so the plan wasn’t very detailed, but he had clearly cleared the first step.

“This way, this way.”

The room they arrived at after going up two floors from the first-floor reception room.
Her playroom was firmly blocked by a soundproof door made of material that looked like it belonged in a theater.

However, Siwoo, who had taken off his blindfold, immediately made a judgment.

This was not an ordinary room.

There were hundreds of layers of barriers, densely woven with gloomy magical power, like wisps of miasma rising from the scorching earth.
A dark, suffocating prison naturally formed in his mind, and from a magical perspective, it was as sturdy as a bunker.

He didn’t know why, but this sudden change wasn’t welcome.
Moreover, this place had an unpleasantness that grated on his nerves.

So, before going in, he asked directly.

“By the way, this place is a bit strange? Are you up to something?”

Rosie, who had been as excited as a cheerful heroine on a first date, stopped abruptly.

Rosie, who had been standing still with her hand on the doorknob, turned around.
She didn’t look like she had been caught in a hidden scheme, but rather like she was unexpectedly very embarrassed.

“I’ll invite you in, but I’ll get mad if you make fun of me.”
“Huh?”
“Don’t laugh when you see it. Okay?”

That wasn’t a proper answer.

“No, that’s not it, the barrier is so dense? What is this?”
“It’s the first time I’ve brought a man in… I kind of want to show it off.”
“……”

Again, the conversation was off.

When he asked if she was up to something, she told him not to laugh, and when he asked about the purpose of the barrier, she said it was the first time she’d brought a man in but wanted to show it off.

It was harder to find a witch who wasn’t a maverick, but this felt like the conversation itself was just skimming the surface.

“Promise me.”
“What promise?”
“I told you earlier, not to laugh.”

In the end, Rosie was determined to go in without a proper answer.

Was she that desperate to play the position board?
Or did she want to show off her workshop?

“……”

The opponent was a 20th rank.

Even without the Red Branch, he could manage somehow if he used the ring.
Even if this room was a trap and Rosie had set up some tricks beforehand, he was confident to some extent.

Surely, with Linne’s protection, she wouldn’t try to pull any tricks rashly? That was his safety net.

“Well, I promise.”
“Kyaa! I’m so nervous!”

Rosie, who was making a fuss all by herself, flung the door open.

Siwoo, who had been wondering what kind of room it was that made her so dramatic, was greeted by a space that was much larger than it looked.
Perhaps about half of this barrier was a magical formula for spatial distortion.

The shape of the room could be defined in one word.
It was a dome shape with a diameter of about 20 meters.
However, to explain why Rosie had been so hesitant and embarrassed, a little more explanation was needed.

“Oh my, I’m so embarrassed. I guess it’s because I didn’t receive much love when I was little, but I like this kind of childlike thing. How is it?”
“It’s pretty.”

First of all, the floor was covered with a soft wool carpet that was laid out seamlessly along the round walls.
The wallpaper was a fairy-tale style with white fluffy clouds on a sky-blue background, and star-shaped stickers were attached here and there.

The furniture, such as the bed with lots of frills and the cute little table, gave the impression of a dollhouse that little girls would play with.
Normal witches didn’t paint their furniture in colorful pastel shades.

It was a design that was considered pretty only when you were a child, focusing on visual stimulation rather than aesthetic sense.

“Isn’t it childish?”
“Not at all.”
“Hehe, I’m glad you said that.”

He had to put a little effort into managing his expression.
He felt a sense of strangeness rather than amusement at the interior that seemed out of place for her age.

“I call it a playroom, but this is my workshop. I do my magic research here too.”
“I see.”

He nodded involuntarily.
The barrier, which he had thought was excessive for a playroom, made sense if it was a ‘workshop’.

It was common for a witch’s laboratory to boast the best facilities for various experimental equipment and security.

“More importantly, what are those doors?”

He was late to notice because the space was so chaotic.
If the door that Siwoo and Rosie had entered was at 6 o’clock, there were three other doors at 9 o’clock, 12 o’clock, and 3 o’clock.

“Oh, those? They’re where I keep my precious collections.”

Manya and Malicia must be there.
He had a tingling intuition without anyone telling him.

Since he had brought up the position board to bring them both, it was natural to look around.
He could create a situation like, ‘I like those two. Let’s bet,’ and so on.

“Can I take a look?”
“Look? Eh, there’s not much to see. Okay.”

There was no need to ask again.
Rosie was hopping with excitement, as if she had been waiting for those words.
She seemed more eager to show off.

Adding the chaotic Rosie to the already chaotic room was making him feel like he was going crazy.

“Now, let’s unveil the first collection!”

-Squeak!

The door to the leftmost room opened.
The atmosphere of the room, which had been reminiscent of an autistic child’s innocence, suddenly changed with a single door.

“How is it?”

There was a prison made of red bricks and iron bars.
However, the facilities were quite luxurious for a place that was supposed to imprison victims.

In the space beyond the iron bars, there was a separate bathroom where one could wash, and the bed and sofa were also high-end.
Except for the fact that the entrance was tightly blocked and the room lighting was an eerie red, it didn’t have the same impact as the playroom.

“Rosie, is that you?”

As soon as the door opened, there was a rustling sound from the bed, and a black-haired woman with a languid expression got up.
She was a witch.

“Yes, Mama. I’m here!”
“It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”

Rosie put the key in and removed the bars, then ran to the bare witch and hugged her tightly.
The witch hugged Rosie tightly and slowly stroked her head.

“Did you miss me?”
“Of course, Mama loves Rosie so much.”
“How much?”
“As much as the sky and the earth?”

What on earth was this scene?
Siwoo couldn’t help but be dumbfounded.

He knew that there were cases where apprentice witches and their masters formed pseudo-mother-daughter relationships and called each other mother and daughter.

However, Rosie was a Great Witch.
She was naturally an existence who had completed her succession.
According to the common sense of witches, her master should not exist in the world.

Who was the witch that Rosie called ‘Mama’, and why was she a ‘collection’ in this prison?

The subtle unpleasantness that had been lingering since a while ago was being stimulated again.
It felt like a discordant duet of string instruments was playing loudly, making his nerves on edge.

“……”

Suddenly, he made eye contact with the witch who was hugging Rosie.
Her eyes were trembling, filled with fear and dread.
He clearly noticed that the trembling didn’t stop there, but reached her fingertips.

At that moment.

“Is that all you love me?”

Rosie’s sharp rebuke, like flipping her palm.

“Ah, no! I love you much more than the sky and the earth!”
“Really?”
“Of course!”

With just that, the witch foamed at the mouth and shouted as if a knife was digging into her chin.
Her hysterical reaction seemed to prove how much Rosie had been pushing her.

“Kiss me as much as Mama loves Rosie.”

Rosie stuck out her tongue with metal pieces embedded in it.

Then, the witch slowly sucked and caressed her tongue as if worshipping it.

The witch’s half-exposed chest and the lascivious kiss of the two beauties were a picture that wouldn’t be strange to feel lust for.
But Siwoo’s lust didn’t budge.

“Rosie, what is this…”
“Chuuup, oh right. You were here too? Sorry, sorry.”

Rosie lightly pushed Mama’s cheek, ended the kiss, looked at Siwoo, and smiled brightly.
It was a smile as clear as glass.

“This is Mama. Mama, say hello, this is Shin Siwoo, he’s a male witch.”
“Ah… hello.”
“Ah, yes. Hello.”

He gave a greeting because he had received a polite greeting.

But….

It was like finding a suitcase in a dark alley.

It was placed near a street lamp, soaked with an unidentified liquid.
It was unusually infested with bugs and full of stench.
A suitcase big enough for a person to fit inside.