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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Mod7
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The witch’s name was Adelheid.
Johan, having introduced himself, continued their conversation.
“So, these are tights.”
“Mm…”
“Aren’t they uncomfortable?”
“They are. But if I don’t wear them, my curse…”
“Ah, right. But is it okay to leave your face exposed?”
“The air has a high mana density. So its mana conductivity is low.”
The clothes she wore were a kind of bodysuit. Made of a latex-like material, it clung to her entire body.
Johan glanced at her lower half. He had thought it strange that she was wearing stockings on a beach, but now he understood why.
“How do you… go to the bathroom in this?”
“…There’s a zipper.”
“A zipper?”
Johan’s interest was piqued. A zipper on a one-piece suit? He wondered where it was located.
To his disappointment, it wasn’t on her crotch. Adelheid lifted her shirt slightly, revealing a zipper at her waist.
“If I open this, I can take off the pants separately.”
“I see…”
“…You seem a little disappointed.”
“No, I’m not.”
Johan chuckled and changed the subject, making a mental note to suggest a crotch zipper for the next version.
Adelheid, seemingly happy to have someone to talk to, just smiled and went along with his strange conversation.
As they were chatting, someone approached, their footsteps crunching in the sand.
Johan looked up and saw his master. He stood up abruptly.
“Master!”
“—Johan.”
She wore a one-piece swimsuit, white as snow, that clung to her curves. Her pale skin, usually hidden from view, was now on display, a work of art.
Johan stared at her, mesmerized.
“Wow… you’re beautiful.”
“Really? Thank you.”
“…Master? Why are you suddenly so—”
“Who is she?”
The temperature around them seemed to drop several degrees. For a moment, Johan wondered if his master had somehow become the Witch of Ice.
But that wasn’t the case. He casually pointed at Adelheid.
“This is Adelheid. She’s a witch, as you can see… she was just sitting here alone, so I started talking to her.”
“Hmm, I see. So our Johan… hits on women who are alone on the beach.”
“No, that’s not why I was talking to her…”
Johan scratched his cheek and glanced at Adelheid. He didn’t want to say this in front of her, but he had no choice.
It was better than angering his master. He explained his reasoning.
“Well… she was wearing… a very… sexy outfit… and I thought… you might like to wear it sometime…”
“H-huh?”
“S-sexy?”
Evangeline and Adelheid both gasped. Johan nodded nonchalantly.
Evangeline, looking at Adelheid, crossed her arms and sighed.
“Hmph, well, if it’s for me… it’s my duty as your master to wear what you want me to wear.”
“That’s… not a duty you’ll find in any book.”
“Anyway, if that was your reason, then I suppose it’s fine. …But you were the one who hit on her, so don’t ask me for any points or anything later.”
Johan, seeing his master’s obsession with free semen even in this situation, just laughed and nodded.
As he and his master were having this friendly exchange, Adelheid spoke up.
“…Excuse me.”
“What. Don’t talk to me.”
“…Are you and him… a couple?”
“A couple? No. We’re master and disciple.”
Not a fleeting romantic relationship that would fade in a few years, but a lifelong, unbreakable bond.
Evangeline emphasized this. Adelheid, hearing this, nodded, a look of understanding on her face, and turned to Johan.
“Then… there’s no problem if I date him, right?”
“…What?”
“You’re master and disciple, not lovers. So he’s available, right?”
Adelheid said this, then looked at Johan.
“Your name is Johan, right? …If you don’t mind, would you be my boyfriend?”
A confession of love, a fated encounter she had never experienced in her centuries-long life. Adelheid blushed, waiting for his answer.
But Johan just scratched his cheek.
“I’m sorry. I’m not interested…”
“H-huh?”
Adelheid, shocked by his rejection, stared at him, her face a mask of disbelief.
“Hahaha—! Serves you right! How dare you try to steal my disciple!?”
Johan, seeing Evangeline pointing and laughing at Adelheid, quickly grabbed her hand and started to leave.
He had a feeling a fight was about to break out.
He glanced back and saw Adelheid, still reeling from the rejection, her head hung low.
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Adelheid, her head hung low, slowly lifted her gaze.
She saw Johan, walking away, leaving her behind. This wasn’t good. Not good at all.
‘Is this… what heartbreak feels like?’
Her chest ached. Even when a monster had ripped out a third of her chest, it hadn’t hurt this much.
Her heart felt like it was on fire. Overwhelmed, Adelheid ripped open the front of her bodysuit, tearing the fabric.
She wasn’t wearing anything underneath, and her bare breasts were exposed to the world, but she didn’t care.
No one would come to the beach used by the witch commander. No one would see her.
“It hurts.”
Her exposed chest was still burning. The air wasn’t enough to cool it. Adelheid walked towards the sea.
Unlike the air, which had a high mana density and prevented her curse from spreading, the sea instantly began to freeze.
Ice pillars formed around her as she walked.
She froze the water around her, again and again.
And with each act of freezing, the fire in her chest grew hotter.
“Hah, hah…”
Even in the near-freezing water, the heat didn’t subside. It only intensified.
A vicious cycle. Just as entropy never decreased, the heat within her wouldn’t dissipate.
Adelheid submerged herself completely, and finally, she found a moment of peace. The suffocating pressure of the water, the crashing waves, it calmed her.
‘I just have to… forget. Forget everything…’
She would pretend none of this had happened. She had never met a man named Johan. He didn’t exist.
Then everything would be fine.
As she was about to let go, she felt something pulling her.
She thought it was a sea monster, but then she saw him.
“Are you crazy!?”
“H-huh…? Why are you here…?”
“Why do you think!? To save some crazy woman who tried to drown herself because she got rejected!”
It was Johan.
He pulled her out of the water, and her heart began to pound again.
No, she had just cooled down…
“Um, could you let go…?”
“You were just trying to kill yourself—”
“I-I wasn’t trying to kill myself, I was swimming…”
“…Huh?”
Johan stared at her, speechless. Ah, how cute.
“Besides, witches can’t drown. And I’m not so weak-minded that I’d kill myself over some human…”
Wasn’t he being a bit self-centered? Johan blushed as she pointed this out.
“…You really weren’t trying to kill yourself?”
“No. So can you let go now?”
“Ah, yes…”
A moment ago, Adelheid had been the one blushing, but now it was Johan.
Adelheid chuckled, seeing Johan’s beet-red face. He looked like he wanted to die of embarrassment.
She would probably feel the same if she had tried to rescue someone who was just swimming.
‘He’s cute…’
The fire in her heart, which she had thought extinguished, began to burn again.
This man, this love. She couldn’t let it go.
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