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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Mod7
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Johan brought the two shivering witches inside. The long-haired witch, whose name he didn’t know, groaned and tried to lift her bloodied twin, but she stumbled and nearly collapsed, her body seemingly unaccustomed to physical exertion. Johan, seeing this, gently pushed her aside and lifted the unconscious witch himself.
“Th-thank you…”
“Let’s get you inside. It’s cold.”
He carried them inside, and the other witches, curious, emerged from their rooms.
The long-haired witch flinched, intimidated by the sheer number of witches present. Johan guided her to the sofa and gently laid her twin down beside her.
“Hot chocolate?”
“Y-yes?”
“Okay.”
As Johan went to prepare the drinks, he heard Evangeline’s grumpy voice behind him.
“You don’t have to be so nice to them…”
“What if they die out there? Am I supposed to dispose of the bodies?”
“I’ll take care of it with magic!”
“Please, don’t be absurd, Master.”
Evangeline pouted, and Johan, to appease her, gave her a quick kiss, then served the hot chocolate to the long-haired witch.
Her hand, brushing against his, was icy cold. Even her winter clothes hadn’t been enough to protect her from the harsh mountain winter.
“Thank you…”
She warmed her hands with the cup, then took a sip, a small smile appearing on her face as the warmth and sweetness spread through her body.
Johan, seeing this, realized she was surprisingly naive. Smiling in the enemy’s lair?
‘If I can win her over, the other one will follow.’
He pulled up a chair and sat down before her.
“You recognize me, right?”
“Y-yes…”
“We met at the Adventurers’ Guild.”
“Mm-hmm…”
“What’s your name?”
“L-Lynne… and this is… Linna…”
“Why are you here?”
“…To see… you.”
A loud cracking sound echoed from behind him. Evangeline. He ignored her outburst and continued his questioning.
“Why did you want to see me?”
“…Saw you… with witches…”
“And you were intrigued?”
“…Mm.”
Lynne’s responses were short, monosyllabic. Either she was naturally timid, or she had difficulty speaking.
Johan wasn’t the only one who found her speech pattern frustrating. Hecaterina, who had been listening quietly, suddenly approached and kicked the sofa, startling Lynne.
“What’s with your speech, you fucking retard? Is that all you can say?”
“I-it’s… because of… magic…”
“What? Speak clearly!”
“…Sniffle…”
Lynne started crying, intimidated by the smaller Hecaterina.
Even Beatrice hadn’t been this timid. She was simply lonely, not inherently shy.
Johan calmed Hecaterina and waited patiently for Lynne to compose herself. After a while, she spoke, her voice barely above a whisper.
“Magic… makes it hard… to talk…”
“You can’t talk because of magic?”
“Y-yes…”
“What kind of magic?”
Lynne, instead of answering, held out her hand. A beam of white light erupted from her palm, and a cup, identical to the one she was holding, appeared.
Johan wondered if it was some kind of duplication magic, then the empty cup began to fill with hot chocolate.
“…What…?”
“Creation… magic…”
“…So, if you talk too much, you create things you don’t want?”
He summarized his understanding of her situation, and Lynne, seemingly relieved that he understood, nodded vigorously.
But Johan was still trying to process this creation magic.
‘What the… what’s next? The Witch of the Universe? The Witch of Parallel Worlds? The Witch of the Big Bang?’
He chuckled at the absurdity of it all when Linna suddenly woke up.
She assessed the situation in an instant, then grabbed Johan, holding him hostage.
“Don’t fucking move! Move and he dies—!”
Linna’s hand, reaching for his throat, suddenly froze, her body stiffening.
Johan, rubbing his neck, turned around. Linna was frozen in place, her arm outstretched.
Beatrice, standing behind Linna, whispered,
“What are you doing?”
“Y-you…!”
And then—Linna’s body erupted with magical energy. The threads binding her snapped, and the magic restraining her vanished.
The other witches glared at her, their hostility palpable, but Johan calmly approached Linna. She trembled, seeing him approach despite her display of power.
“W-wait—don’t come any closer—”
“Behave yourself in my house.”
“H-huh?”
Johan grabbed her by the hair and slammed her head against the floor.
Linna, knocked unconscious, lay on the ground, bleeding. Johan looked at the unconscious Linna, then at the trembling Lynne.
“You can heal this, right?”
“Y-yes…”
Lynne rushed to Linna’s side and… recreated her nose. The broken nose reformed, the bleeding stopped.
Johan, wiping the blood from his hand, went to the bathroom.
As he left, the other witches, their hostility still simmering, surrounded the twins.
Johan, sensing their impending doom, offered a silent prayer for them.
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Linna woke up in a small, dark room.
She remembered what had happened.
Johan, unfazed by her annihilation magic, had grabbed her, slammed her head against the floor, and knocked her unconscious.
But there was something more important than figuring out how he had done that. She frantically looked around for her twin sister.
“Lynne? Lynne? Are you here? It’s so dark… answer me…”
She called out, but there was no response, not even the sound of breathing.
A wave of terror washed over her. Not because of the darkness, not because of the confined space.
Something far worse. Her curse.
“Lynne, please—please—!”
Annihilation magic. As powerful as it was, it came at a price. Linna’s body was constantly disintegrating.
It was the reason she couldn’t fully utilize her power, the reason she always stayed close to Lynne, despite often finding her annoying.
She could feel her body fading. The human body was fragile. Though complete disintegration took time, losing even ten percent of her body would be fatal.
“I don’t want to die, please—Lynne, Lynne—!”
She tried to channel her mana, to use her magic. It didn’t work.
Her magic was sealed. The fear, growing within her, gnawed at her, a primal terror amplified by centuries of survival instinct.
Despite having lived for so long, the desire to live, to continue existing, consumed her. And with that desire came an equally powerful fear.
If she could just see Lynne, she would do anything. Linna, driven by this desperation, crawled towards the wall.
She scratched at the wall, unsure of what it was made of, perhaps concrete or brick. Her nails broke, blood trickled down her fingers, but she didn’t stop.
Creak—
“Ly—nne…!”
The door opened. Linna, like a moth drawn to a flame, scrambled towards the light.
Johan, standing in the doorway, easily subdued her and spoke.
“Behave.”
“No, I don’t want to die. I don’t want to die… Lynne, Lynne—!”
“You’re being loud.”
Calming a hysterical witch wasn’t easy. So Johan chose the simplest method.
He punched her in the gut, knocking the wind out of her, then laid her down and removed her pants.
“Ugh—what are you—?”
“I’m not going to rape you. Stay still.”
Johan took a long, thin syringe, prepared by Evangeline, and inserted it into Linna’s vagina.
It contained Evangeline’s curse nullification potion.
Made from his semen, of course.
A tool created to prevent him from forming deeper connections with other witches.
Linna struggled as she felt the liquid entering her, but she couldn’t break free from Johan’s grip.
Johan, having injected the entire dose, casually tossed her aside and left the room. Linna, alone again, touched herself, trying to understand what he had done.
“What…?”
Then she realized her body was no longer disintegrating.
Her curse was gone.
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