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1.

After he started his work as Diana’s tutor and taking private lessons from Countess Yesod…

Siwoo just stopped sleeping altogether.

He simply had too many things to do, as he had to juggle between studying the rapidly progressing distortion field control method and sparring with his master.

It was currently late at night.

He was locking himself in his lab, organizing and compiling everything he had learned so far.

Under the desk lamp, with a cigarette in one hand and a pen in the other, he worked on refining his new theories.

Inspirations and ideas could come and go in a second. If he didn’t write them down the moment they came to his mind, they’d just end up being buried and forgotten inside his subconscious.

Now that he had a spirit body, he didn’t need to worry about lung cancer anymore.

Also, he had more than enough money.

So, even though his ashtray was overflowing with cigarette butts, nearly stacked like a shrimp cocktail—he went through all these cigs in six hours, which was how long his research usually lasted—it wouldn’t cause him any problem whatsover.

Currently, he was enjoying the silence of the night, inhaling the air that was mixed with morning dew.

Suddenly, he sensed that someone was coming his way.

The twins were already asleep at this hour.

His master would sometimes drink with him, but she had been avoiding drinking too much lately.

She tried to hide it, but even he could tell that something was up with her. After all, hiding her feelings wasn’t something that she was particularly good at.

Siwoo didn’t pry though. He just acted normal, as always.

That left one person, the only person who’d visit him at this late hour.

-Knock, knock

She was a woman with deep green hair, so deep that it almost looked black under this dim light.

Her mysterious green eyes gave off a refreshing vibe.

Though her waist was slim and her frame looked delicate, her hips were curvy, while her bosom was plump.

She was none other than Sharon Evergreen, who was standing in the door, leaning slightly with her hands behind her back.

Siwoo just had seen her the other day, but it felt like he hadn’t met her for far longer than that. Perhaps it was because a lot of things had happened today.

“What’s up?”

“I just wanted to see you.”

Maybe because of the first time they met, whenever he looked at Sharon, an image of a tame stray cat always came to his mind.

The way she often wandered into the lab just to hang out for no reason just strengthened this image.

He reached out to greet her, and she immediately rubbed her cheek against his palm, as if she had been waiting for that moment.

Her usual soft expression softened as she closed her eyes playfully.

Just look at her…

It’s hard not to think of her as a clingy cat.

“Sniff… Cigarettes?”

She sniffed his palm before slowly working her way up his arm and buried her nose in the collar of his shirt. There, she took a deep whiff of his scent.

“You know, I never really liked the smell of cigarettes, but… When it mixes with your scent like this… I kinda like it.”

“There you go, saying embarrassing stuff like that again.”

“I was just telling the truth.”

He let her take in his scent for a while, opening his arms wide.

According to her, this was a small ritual to ‘recharge her Siwoo energy’ or whatever.

“Ahhh… I’m charged up for the day!”

After saying that, she plopped down on the desk with a big, satisfied smile on her face.

“How was class? Is Ms. Diana still refusing to listen to you?”

Siwoo was busy, but so was Sharon.

Ever since she had overcome the problems with her incomplete inheritance, she had been putting in the work to master her inherited self-essence magic, which required a lot of fine-tuning on her part.

Having the same brand as her predecessor didn’t mean that she’d be able to use it immediately. She had to adjust it to fit a few factors, like her body size and mental image.

To put it simply, it was like adjusting herself to a set of clothes she inherited.

This was why apprentice witches would spend at least five to ten years in closed-door training the moment they inherited their brands.

Sharon was already busy enough with that, add her duty to tutor the twins in Elemental Magic, it wasn’t a wonder that she was more busy than ever.

Because of that, she hadn’t heard about the incident in the Border Town yet.

In fact, if the incident was actually dangerous, Siwoo wouldn’t have told her at all.

“What?! A Homunculus?! It had seventeen eyes?!”

“Don’t worry, it was nothing. I just beat it up like a dog and it gave up pretty quickly.”

“You didn’t get hurt, right?”

“Of course not.”

Siwoo didn’t want her to unnecessarily worry about him. Since the whole thing ended rather anticlimactically anyway, he figured that it would be okay to tell her.

And so, with a hint of pride he told her about today’s adventure.

“So yeah, I just wielded my spear and beat it like a dog.”

“Woah, really? What happened next?”

Her reaction to his story was as enthusiastic as ever.

She widened her sparkling eyes while listening to his story.

Just like a child listening to a fairy tail that their grandmother told them.

As for Siwoo… Well, everyone knew that men liked to be praised by women.

Even him, who didn’t think much of this incident, found himself puffing up his chest a little when he heard those reactions coming from her.

“Anyway, that’s how it went.”

“You did a good job, but… I’m still going to scold you anyway!”

Sharon pretended to be angry as she narrowed her eyes and put her hands on her hips.

“Sure, you were awesome, but why were you fighting recklessly like that, hm? What if you got hurt?”

“C’mon, we were in Border Town. Even if I was struggling, other witches would have come to help.”

“Are you talking back to me, Mister?”

She reached out and pinched his cheek.

Since the atmosphere wasn’t very serious, laughter immediately broke out between the two of them.

As the laughter died down, Sharon scooted closer and asked…

“So, did you get anything good?”

“Ah, I got this thing. Want to see it?”

The spoils he got from the Homunculus weren’t anything special.

There weren’t any notable drops except the Homunculus crystal that was embedded in Jack’s arm.

Aside from that, he also recovered one of the items that Jack had used.

A frilly headband that was decorated with frills.

According to Diana, the moment she put it on, she became unable to channel her magic, and was forced to listen to the commands of a specific person (presumably the owner of the artifact).

“An artifact? What is it for?”

“Apparently when you wear it you can’t disobey the owner’s commands. Also, you’d be unable to use any magic.”

“Huh, really?”

Judging by its pretty design, the artifact seemed to be made for women to wear.

That was probably why Sharon intently examined the headband, turning it around while staring at it with an interested look.

“Should I try it on? Do you think it’ll look good on me?”

“What are you saying? Everything will look good on you.”

Artifacts came in different levels.

Things like Dagon’s Flute or the Red Branch were obviously among the more dangerous and complex ones.

But in the case of this headband, Siwoo could tell that it was something that could be mass-produced with enough time and money, just like the music box.

“It’s trying to break through my autonomous defense.”

“You think it’ll get through?”

“Nope.”

“Knew it.”

The fact that it wouldn’t get through was the reason why Sharon spoke in such a calm tone.

To put it simply, for a witch above the 15th rank, this headband was about as dangerous as an SM handcuff.

The kind of handcuff that was covered with soft fur so one’s wrists wouldn’t get bruised.

In fact, Siwoo had tried it on himself. Despite him not having an autonomous defense system, he could easily shake off the headband’s effects.

Sharon went silent for a moment before suddenly speaking out, as if she had just remembered something.

“Right, Siwoo, did you know that the Harvest Festival is coming up soon?”

“The Harvest Festival? Huh, is it that time of the year already?”

Harvest Festival.

It was a big annual festival that happened for three days starting the third Monday of December. Basically, it was Gehenna’s version of Thanksgiving.

In the modern world, they’d hold Thanksgiving around October or November, but in Gehenna, they held it a little later. To be exact, after they finished planting the winter barley.

As for why they did it this way…

Witches had been in conflict with various religious groups since ancient times—although they were no match for witches in terms of power. Their conflict with Christians in particular, was extremely deep.

This was why back when Gehenna was first established, the witches banned the citizens from doing all kinds of religious events.

But, the first settlers of Gehenna were medieval folks who deeply believed in superstitious beliefs such as connecting diseases with divine punishment.

Religion was ingrained in their way of life, and their worldview was closely related to their faith.

Before long, frustration started to bubble under the surface, and the witches realized that they couldn’t control these people through oppression alone. From then on, they promised them religious freedom.

Even so, without churches or any formal religious institutions, there was no way their faith would last.

On top of that, they interacted regularly with a group of people who possessed mystical power and were openly against their faith. If anything, it would be strange if their faith remained intact.

Within a century, most religious people just disappeared. Christmas was renamed to Harvest Festival, while all religious aspects of it were erased, keeping only the festive atmosphere.

Siwoo had experienced five Harvest Festivals in Gehenna.

Every year, they’d put up a huge fir tree next to the clock tower in the main square of Border Town.

The citizens of Gehenna knew nothing about Christmas Trees, but they’d bring along candlesticks and decorations to adorn the huge fir tree. They’d also light a big bonfire nearby and dance to lively music with their arms around each other.

Women of Gehenna would prepare large batches of food at home and bring them outside, filling the streets with the rich aroma of warm meals. No matter which part of the town one went to, they’d be greeted by the delicious scent of food. Of course, when it came to festivals, one couldn’t just forget beers. During the Harvest Festival, the City Hall would provide an endless amount of beer to the citizens.

Also, this was something that Siwoo only heard, but, apparently they’d hold grand balls in Lenomond Town and Ars Magna Town to celebrate the festival. Even witches who usually stayed locked away at their labs would come out to join the fun.

Back when Siwoo was still a slave, the festival was one of the few events he actually enjoyed.

“Mhm! It’s less than three weeks away! Wanna go there together?”

That was basically like an invitation to spend Christmas together.

Siwoo had no reason to turn her down.

“Sure, let’s go.”

“Also, can the twins come along too?”

Siwoo was actually planning to ask her that, but she brought up the matter before he could, which surprised him a little.

“Are you sure?”

She liked him, and so were the twins.

He was stuck in a dilemma between the three and decided to just go out with all three of them in the end. While he had more or less gotten the three’s approval…

It would be a lie if he were to say that he wasn’t afraid the three got jealous of each other while they were in this kind of relationship. Surprisingly, Sharon suggested to include the twins in their Christmas date.

“Of course! It’ll be fun if we all get along, no?”

If only I were more straightforward, could I have handled this matter better than I did?

Siwoo silently sent his gratitude to Sharon for stepping up to smooth things over with the twins; something he would’ve struggled to do himself.

And she did it so smoothly, as if it wasn’t a big deal. She also wasn’t acting as if she was doing him a favor.

“Ah, I think it’s stuck.”

Siwoo was about to thank her for that, but she had already changed the subject.

She tapped at the headband that was sitting on her head.

It seemed like she was trying to take it off, but it was clear that she was just pretending to, as if she was acting out some kind of pantomime.

“I turned off my autonomous defense.”

“Huh?”

Sharon let out a sly smile and moved closer to Siwoo.

“It feels so weird… Like I’ve gone back to when I was a kid. I can’t move my mana at all.”

“…”

For a witch, their autonomous defense system was like their final lifeline.

And yet, Sharon easily turned it off right in front of Siwoo.

That was how much she trusted him.

“Now I guess I can’t fight back against what you’re trying to tell me to do anymore…”

If there was a difference between the current Sharon and the Sharon he met for the first time…

It was that the current Sharon had developed this playful, teasing side.

The way she handed over ‘control’ so casually to him…

Made it impossible for him to resist.

Siwoo lifted Sharon with his arms and carried her toward the sofa.