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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Mod7
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Johan woke up in an Imperial hotel room.
Having a hole blasted through your abdomen wasn’t a pleasant experience. His mind was still foggy, struggling to recall what had happened.
He took a deep breath and looked around.
‘Scented sheets, a comfortable bed, fluffy pillows, ornate wallpaper, a mirror, a spacious room. A hotel? Why am I here…?’
As his surroundings came into focus, so did his memories.
He had taken a vacation, traveling to the Empire. He had been enjoying his time, spending money freely, when the witches, having tracked him down, appeared.
He learned that Evangeline was wandering the streets, distraught, and after ditching Marguerite, he searched for her, finally finding her in the middle of a fight.
And then, something had flown towards him, piercing his stomach.
“Ugh—!”
Phantom pain, triggered by the memory. Johan touched his abdomen and winced. A wound like that should have been life-threatening. He was lucky to be alive. He pulled up his shirt.
‘…It’s gone?’
Such a large wound couldn’t have healed in just a few days, even with medicine and bandages. It should have taken months to heal, leaving a nasty scar. How…?
As he was examining his miraculously healed abdomen, the door opened, and Lynne entered.
“…!!”
She froze, her eyes widening in surprise, then quickly backed out of the room. Johan wondered if he’d even seen Lynne.
‘What the… did she lose weight…?’
Lynne looked even thinner than before, as if he’d been unconscious for months. Though her breasts seemed larger.
“Where am I…?”
Unable to stay in bed any longer, Johan slowly got up.
Despite Lynne’s appearance suggesting he’d been bedridden for months, his muscles hadn’t atrophied.
In fact, they felt stronger than before. Muscles didn’t lie. Unused muscles, magic or no magic, would weaken. This was strange.
“—Johaaan!”
As he carefully took his first steps, the door burst open, and a silver-haired beauty rushed towards him.
Johan caught her and fell back onto the bed. Evangeline clung to him, burying her face in his chest, and Johan chuckled, stroking her hair.
“Master, are you alright?”
“Sniffle— Johan… why… why did you run away…? I’ll… I’ll be good, I promise…”
“Run away? What are you talking about…?”
Johan remembered Marguerite’s words. She had said Evangeline didn’t understand the concept of a vacation. He thought she’d been joking.
He was slightly taken aback by his master’s lack of common sense, making a mental note to educate her later, then gently pushed her away and sat up.
“Kyaah!?”
“We can do that later… let’s eat first.”
“Mm, eat? Already…?”
“…Already?”
Evangeline pointed at Lynne, who was standing awkwardly by the door.
“Lynne said you already ate together.”
“What…? That’s…”
Johan, his confusion growing, asked how long he had been unconscious.
“…Master, how long was I out?”
“About three hours?”
“Three… hours?”
He had expected to be unconscious for days, maybe weeks, after losing so much blood—three hours?
That was just a nap.
‘…No wonder she wasn’t that worried…’
He would have reacted the same way if someone with a life-threatening injury woke up after three hours. Johan smiled wryly and followed Evangeline to the dining room.
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Clatter—!
The sound of empty plates clattering against each other echoed as dishes were rapidly replaced on Johan’s table.
Evangeline, watching him devour everything, kept ordering more food, tipping the waiters generously.
Each plate they carried was worth a day’s wages. Even the highly trained hotel staff couldn’t maintain their composure, receiving a day’s pay every few seconds.
They tried to prolong the experience, arranging the food sparsely on large plates, hoping to slow Johan down.
“—That’s enough. I’m full.”
Johan, finally refusing more food, heard the waiters sigh, their lucrative opportunity ending.
But not everyone was disappointed. Some had earned a month’s wages in just a few minutes. Johan ordered a drink.
“Impérial-Chateau, sir.”
The waiter, exceedingly polite after receiving such a generous tip, poured the wine, and Johan, downing it in one gulp, burped.
‘That should be enough…’
He flexed his fingers, testing his strength, making sure his blood was circulating properly.
He’d lost several vital organs. Even if the wounds were healed, there could be complications.
“Johan? Are you alright?”
“Yes… I don’t feel any pain…”
“Of course you don’t. You have to be alright…”
Evangeline glared at Lynne, who, having lost a considerable amount of weight, was now trying to regain it, devouring food at a pace almost rivaling Johan’s.
Lynne, noticing their stares, swallowed her mouthful of food and spoke hesitantly.
“C-created… with the same specifications… as the original…”
“Ah, I know, I know. I wasn’t blaming you.”
Lynne, relieved, resumed her feast. Johan, watching her, realized someone was missing.
“Speaking of which… where’s Beatrice?”
“…Ah, right. Beatrice?”
“Yes, she was with us when we found you…”
Johan noticed Evangeline and Lynne avoiding his gaze. He distinctly remembered Beatrice being there. Why were they acting like this?
A disturbing thought crossed his mind. He didn’t know how the fight with the witch had ended.
What if someone had died? Beatrice, though powerful in her own right, was the weakest of the witches, at least in terms of raw power.
She was the most vulnerable.
“Don’t tell me… she…?”
“She’s sleeping. In another room.”
“…That’s a relief.”
But something felt off.
If she was simply sleeping, why were they so hesitant to tell him?
Johan narrowed his eyes, looking at Evangeline. She looked away.
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Beatrice was asleep.
Peacefully, in her room.
But the moment Johan saw her, he understood why Evangeline had avoided his gaze, why she’d been so hesitant.
‘She looks… dead…’
Beatrice resembled a corpse. She was breathing, her heart was beating, and her skin was a healthy color.
But her mana, the essence of a witch, was gone. Could she even be considered alive?
Could a flightless bird still be called a bird?
Could a brain-dead human still be called human?
Could a witch without mana still be called a witch?
“…Beatrice.”
Johan gently caressed her forehead. She didn’t react.
“…How did this happen?”
“I… don’t know. She… ‘did something.’ Then she just… collapsed…”
An unknown awakening. Evangeline hadn’t realized what had happened.
She only knew that Beatrice had somehow expelled all her mana, leaving her in this lifeless state.
“Is there a way to wake her up?”
“I don’t know… she’ll wake up eventually…? Or maybe not…”
“…What do you mean?”
“But… I’ve never seen anything like this! A witch depleting all her mana!? It’s like an athlete using up every last ounce of their energy!”
Of course, even athletes, pushed to their limits, didn’t actually use up all their energy.
Even when they collapsed, their hearts still beat, their muscles still twitched. Complete depletion was impossible.
Yet the impossible had happened to Beatrice, and there was no known solution.
As Johan stared at Beatrice’s face, his expression grim, Lynne hesitantly spoke.
“…Um.”
“—What?”
“Mana… infusion…”
“…What does that mean?”
Johan turned to Lynne.
Lynne, flinching under his gaze, made a circle with her fingers, then inserted and removed another finger from the circle.
“Sex… mana infusion…”
Johan stared at her, speechless. He had never heard of such a thing.
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