City of Witches

Basically, the concepts of running water or indoor plumbing don’t exist here.

After peeling off his grimy work uniform, Siwoo squatted down right by the nearby well and began to pour ice-cold groundwater all over his body.

Each time a dry lump of mud melted, his body would begin to shiver as more of his flesh was exposed to the chilly breeze.

If only he wasn’t on such a tight schedule, he would have at least taken the time to boil some hot water.

Once he realized that Amelia was the one behind this suffering, Siwoo clenched his teeth in fury.

“It’s cold as fuck!”

It’s been 5 years since he was kidnapped to Gehenna and became a slave.

In order to fully explain how absurd this city was, first it was essential to describe what witches were.

After reading about them from books he found in the library and living together with them for 5 years, Siwoo already had a deep understanding of what kind of existences they were.

Witches were all arrogant, dangerous, selfish, and insane people.

However, this was simply Siwoo’s impression that he got from spending 5 years with them and was far from the actual definition or concept of witches.

Personal feelings aside, a Witch was anyone with a ‘brand’ engraved somewhere on their body and had the ability to cast magic.

Siwoo had first gotten this information from the slave trader who had kidnapped him and taken him to Gehenna.

That slave trader with a scar on his face had given Siwoo some ‘advice that couldn’t really be considered advice’.

‘Unless you’re feeling suicidal, then you should never oppose a Witch.’

Now that he thought back on it, he got a bit pissed.

Siwoo was just living life normally when he suddenly got kidnapped. Then after getting kidnapped, the guy who was going to sell him had the balls to give him such shitty advice?

Even then, the look of instinctual horror on that slave trader’s face was still engraved in Siwoo’s memory.

Now, 5 years later after being sold to a City Hall Official at a slave auction and then being assigned as a Janitor of Trinity Academy.

Siwoo finally understood the slave trader’s advice back then, after listening in on Amelia’s lectures or reading the books kept in the library.

The fear of witches did not just stem from their ability to wield magic.

What was actually frightening was their purpose and how they went about achieving it.

The purpose of all witches was to achieve the great magic used by the ‘Witch of Creation’.

For witches who are always pursuing higher paths of witchhood, pushing the limits of ethics and morality were common.

In fact, it was said that being a private slave was more dangerous than being a common slave. Some private slaves even end up dying during secret human experiments.

Well, that explanation might be a bit hard to understand.

So, in a nutshell, witches were crazy magic wielding bitches.

The insane cravings of a middle-aged menopausal woman was nothing compared to a witch’s obsession with magic.

“They’re really crazy bitches…”

What would have happened to him if somebody other than the City Official had been the one to buy Siwoo at the slave auction?

Every time he thought of that possibility, chills would run down his spine.

Anyways, he had to hurry before he ran out of time.

After drying himself off with a hole-filled towel, he put on some loose white clothing, choosing to go without underwear.

The white uniform was a stiff material without any synthetic fibers, and resembled a dress that barely covered the body.

This garment, called a ‘lab coat’ within the Trinity Academy, was more worthy of being called a ‘cleaning rag’ than ‘clothes’.

If you looked closely enough at the skirt-like hem, Siwoo’s national treasure would be revealed in its full glory.

After finally putting on the lab coat that he would never get used to, despite the many times he had already worn them, Siwoo headed straight towards the 2nd school building.

2.

Trinity Academy was located within a place known as Lenomond Town.

This was a place where apprentice witches were trained, and fully fledged Witches could perform their research.

The academy’s campus was built in the shape of a cross, perfectly aligned with the four cardinal directions: East, West, North, and South. All of the buildings were made of stone, in a mix of Gehenna’s unique architectural style and the 17th century Baroque style.

Among them, the most recently renovated 2nd academy building in the North was reminiscent of the Palace of Versailles on Earth. It could be because of how luxurious and lavishly decorated it appeared.

Although Gehenna’s class-based society, system, and origins left a bad taste in Siwoo’s mouth, even he couldn’t help but admire how amazing the architecture was.

As he entered the 2nd academy building through a corridor that was connected to all rooms; Siwoo was greeted by the sight of crystal chandeliers, candles lit with a soothing light, and a ceiling painting portraying the wonders and beauty of magic.

In front of him stood Amelia Marigold, who was looking down with a troubled expression on her face.

Sometimes she would get lost in her thoughts like this.

She wore poulaines, those shoes with pointed tips witches always wore in fiction, a mermaid dress which accentuated her figure, and a cloak that wrapped around her shoulders.

Her overall color-scheme was themed around dark colors.

Seeing how it was a class for instructing apprentice witches, she had dressed formally.

Each piece of clothing that Amelia inherited from her predecessor ‘Marigold’ was a size larger than what would normally fit her.

Thanks to that, along with the fact that she was currently holding a book half her size, the frowning Amelia appeared very small.

“……”

Siwoo’s mind went blank for a moment as he stared at her side profile as if he were possessed.

Even he must admit, although he hated witches, they were indeed beautiful.

Her luscious blonde hair freely draped over her cloak, her red lips that were akin to the forbidden fruit, and her soft curves that showed through her clothes…

She was so dazzling that her beauty could no longer be considered to be within the realm of humanity.

Amelia, who appeared to be perfectly sculpted like a statue, was able to easily blend into the scene of this gorgeous and luxurious hall.

“Associate Professor.”

Amelia slowly blinked at Siwoo’s call.

Less than 5 seconds later, she looked up at Siwoo with a cold expression.

She then pulled out a pocket watch from her cloak and checked the time.

“It’s three minutes past noon. Does it look like I have the time to idly stand by?”

“I had arrived on time, but I didn’t want to disturb the Associate Professor. You seemed to be deeply contemplating something about the secrets of magic.”

Actually, he was spying on her side profile, but this was best left unsaid.

“Wrong. You should have called out to me instead of just standing there. The confirmed arrival time of Janitor is three minutes after the appointed time. Meaning that you are late. Unless I’m aware of it, there’s no way to tell if you’re on time or not, correct?”

“I apologize.”

Siwoo was quick to apologize. It wasn’t his first time being in such a situation.

Amelia always looked like she was about to chew him out, but she didn’t scold him too much if he immediately apologized.

She seemed to think that it was beneath her to let a mere slave criticize her.

“Never mind. I would rather teach a lab rat magic than to expect wise judgment from you.”

“I deeply apologize.”

But today, Amelia’s admonishments ended up being long winded.

Amelia’s scolding session continued as Siwoo kept his head bowed.

“I think I have pretty much overlooked Janitor’s mistakes so far. Since you weren’t properly punished, you’re still repeating the same obvious mistakes.”

Siwoo suddenly felt a sense of foreboding.

“For the next week, after you finish your afternoon work, clean up my lab.”

“I beg your pardon?”

This was outright harassment.

If she used her magic, she could easily clean up her lab in 3 minutes. Meanwhile, Siwoo, who was not a witch, would need more than 3 hours to clean such a complex lab.

Siwoo was already working more than 12 hours a day, and Amelia had just given him 3 hours of overtime just because he was three minutes ‘late’.

“Are you not going to do it? You didn’t arrive at the appointed time.”

Siwoo couldn’t talk back.

Amelia ended the conversation by saying that she would not accept any objections or complaints.

Then she threw the large book towards Siwoo’s chest, before walking up the stairs.

Siwoo almost couldn’t hold back the curses he was about to start spewing out of his mouth.

He could see Amelia’s back as she climbed the stairs, and the long cloak that was dragging on the floor, which was too long for someone of her stature.

Siwoo really wanted to step on it and make her trip.

However, he didn’t have the confidence to deal with the consequences.

In the end, feeling even more burdened than before, Siwoo began to follow Amelia.

3.

“Sit down.”

Amelia entered the classroom and began the lecture without any sort of greeting.

The classroom, with colors which did not fade even in gloomy weather, exuded a certain type of elegance. It had a structure similar to a terrace with a desk centered behind a large blackboard.

Compared to common lecture halls which are built to accommodate a large number of people, this space could only fit 20 people.

That wasn’t a problem, however, as there were only two apprentice witches attending this class.

The two girls were clinging to each other, as if they shared one body. They were grinning at Siwoo from behind their desks.

The atmosphere became a bit tense, probably because they had been chattering up until now.

Siwoo put the heavy book down on the table and stood next to Amelia.

Once he turned around, he got startled by the two pairs of purple eyes staring at him.

The girls were identical twins, to the point where it appeared as if they were clones of each other. They had been paying attention to Siwoo from the moment he and Amelia had entered the classroom.

Odette and Odile.

They were currently the only apprentice witches who had been taking classes at Trinity Academy since 2 years ago.

Their hair was dark and they had bright violet eyes.

They were sitting there innocently, as if they didn’t know anything about the world, but Siwoo already knew.

Just because someone was innocent didn’t mean they were good.

As an example, think of a child stomping an ant to death with an innocent look on their face.

It could be argued that the innocence of these twins was similar to that kind of ferocity.

“Professor Amelia! Is today’s class with Assistant Shin Siwoo?”

“Professor Amelia! Is today’s class with the assistant?”

They spoke at almost the same time. Their voices were clear and high, akin to the chirping of a small bird.

Even their voices sounded similar. Unless you looked closely at their mouths, it would be impossible to know which one was currently speaking.

“Yes.”

Amelia secretly sighed, as if she was already tired. At the same time, Odile and Odette faced each other. It almost looked like there was a mirror between them, giving off some sort of uncanny feeling.

““What kind of experiment are we doing today?””

Amelia, the 15th Witch of the Marigold line, was an Associate Professor at Trinity Academy and had already achieved a high realm of 22 Paths.

She was a ‘Baroness’, an extremely rare noble within the Witch society.

In other words, the twins, who were just apprentice witches, couldn’t just talk to Amelia however they wanted.

Not that Amelia was sensitive enough to care too much about that kind of thing.

“Men’s bodily fluids and…”

“Kyaa! It’s so indecent.”

“Kyaa! How can you be so obscene!”

Odile and Odette had already begun to make a fuss before Amelia could even finish speaking.

Seeing Amelia biting her lips, Siwoo felt extremely satisfied.

It was almost only when she was dealing with the twins that Amelia ever looked this frustrated.

Siwoo had no idea how Odile and Odette, who were only green apprentice witches, were able to get such a reaction out of Amelia.

But still, this rare sight of Amelia finally gave Siwoo some satisfaction for the troubles she had given him.

“…its relationship with magic.”

“Is he going to strip?”

“He’s going to strip, right?”

“That’s right.”

But alas, he could only feel satisfied for so long.

Amelia might have been left frustrated by the twins but Siwoo must be careful around them no matter what.

Else, he would be forcefully humiliated in front of the twins yesterday, today, and probably tomorrow as well.

A fact that would never change until he could escape this wretched city.

“But before the actual experiment, we need to check how well Ms. Odette and Ms. Odile are following the class.”

“But theories aren’t interesting.”

“That’s right, that’s right. Witch Gemini said that magic theory without practice is meaningless.”

However, Amelia couldn’t be toyed with by the twins forever.

She had the dignity of an Associate Professor. Once she sets a serious tone, the twins would be forced to follow suit.

Amelia slammed down onto the desk, now completely ignoring the twins’ complaints.

“Please submit the last assignment I gave you.”

“Yes!”

“Yes! Professor.”

The twins glanced at each other, suddenly turning into obedient children, and submitted their bundles of paper.

They may be young and immature, but they were still Apprentice Witches.

Looking down at the papers, they seemed to be filled with complicated magic formulas.

Siwoo, who was interested and tried to peek at the contents of the assignment, suddenly became startled.

He could feel that the eyes of the twins were fixated on him.