Chapter 1120 – #266_Ancient Tales – DeepL
#1114
1.
The efforts of three dukes and seven counts.
And the efforts of thirty-two witches who joined relatively late, the witch city of Gehenna was developing at a rapid pace.
The knighted witches, who were among the top powers of the time, were at the forefront of development, utilizing their abilities to the fullest.
“…Did I do well?”
The shy Opriel, one of the seven counts who were Gehenna’s wings, created artificial earth and water veins in the pocket dimension that Kether had pieced together.
The workmanship was superb, despite his shy demeanor as he showed me my results.
“If we build a merchant marine with a shipyard near the gate, we can establish a stable logistics network with the world, like the merchants on the Silk Road.”
True to her word, Adonai built a merchant marine.
The lavish mall now known as the Malkut Gallery, offering witches all manner of luxuries, was also her creation.
“Still, it’s a witch city with a reputation for magic, right?”
“Then I’ll use my estate to build a large-scale production plant to supply the raw materials. Duke Ketter, will you help me?”
The Zemernai twins created a magic shop and a latifunctium in the Spirit Mountain.
But they never finished the theater they had promised to host Nukelavi in one day.
“Oh ho ho,” he said, “alchemical research is cheap when you have a lot of heads.”
Cagliostro gathered witches who specialized in alchemy, built a small castle, and formed a guild of witches.
This guild became the predecessor to a society called the Emerald Tablet.
“What do you think? Isn’t that cool?”
Yesod built a bathhouse of truly absurd proportions.
So outrageous, in fact, that when it opened for the first time since its completion, many of his colleagues froze in their tracks.
Tiferet and Kohav loved it.
“Leave that to me.”
Tiferet oversaw the procurement of human citizens.
She brought in builders to erect beautiful buildings, and she brought in craftsmen of all kinds-tailors, watchmakers, jewelers, casters-to serve the witch.
The peasants, who had only changed hands in the lord’s possession, were at least protected from starvation, war, and plague.
Gremory built a large library, just as she had said she would, and Erelim also assisted Kether, creating the Society of Truth and Truthfulness and introducing the concept of a “scholarly society” to Gehenna.
Gehenna was transformed from day to day, with a year’s worth of prosperity followed by a decade’s worth.
Even without modern communication technology, Gehenna’s development attracted witches from all over the world.
Witches who were tired of living in solitary confinement, feeding on each other to climb the hierarchy.
To pacifist witches who wanted a safe place to live.
Witches who wanted to provide a safe environment for their apprentice witches.
Gehenna was a good choice, with no alternatives.
“It looks a bit like a city now. Thank you, Blanche, you’re the reason.”
“It’s for the witches, and I can’t take any credit for it.”
From her ivory tower in the center of the city she’d named Ars Magna Town, Kether looked down on the developing city and smiled with satisfaction.
Erelim was satisfied, too.
This was what she wanted, a witch’s utopia, a paradise, a city.
What Kether wished for was what Erelim wished for, and it brought her no small amount of joy that it was all getting closer to reality every day.
“I’ll take good care of you.”
“It doesn’t look right.”
“Is that so?”
Kether laughed and blinked one eye in confusion.
Erelim gave a small chuckle at the completely unlikeable behavior.
2.
So I’d be lying if I said the whole process of founding the city was ideal.
First, her longtime companion, Shalit Nukelavi, did not enter Gehenna.
She’d gotten into a big argument with Keter, and then sailed off to sea – no one knows exactly what the argument was about.
But we do know the gist of it.
Kether had long resented the over-involvement of witches in the affairs of men, and Nukelavi’s voracious appetite for conquest and ambition was probably contrary to her ideals.
Kether’s ideas also led to the shadowy fate of Psyche Teagarden, who still lurks in the shadows under the guise of “public service.
“Lilith will make contact with Clifford, and since she hates me, she’ll try to do something I don’t want her to do.”
Kether didn’t tell me much about herself.
But after spending hundreds of years with her, Erelim knew some of her secrets.
That Kether was the rightful heir to the Witch of Creation.
That she had renounced her former hierarchy, scraping away the unholy and the unholy, leaving only ‘order’ within her.
That this “pure evil and chaos” is Lilith, the Witch of Whispers, who has been wreaking havoc since time immemorial.
Lilith, so intent on denying all things Kether, could not possibly ignore Gehenna’s existence.
“We need a watcher. A watcher for Clifford, and a watcher for Lilith.”
And so, after the city was founded, it was decided that there would be someone who would stay in the present and keep tabs on Lilith and Clifford’s movements from the inside.
It was going to be a thorny road.
To be a spy, to infiltrate among the wild, fierce, brutal Clipports, to relay trends.
“I’ll do it.”
Erelim volunteered to wear the bridle without hesitation, but Kether shook her head.
“You can’t. This city can’t be without you.”
So it was Psyche Teagarden, a witch of Aries, who volunteered for the role.
“I, Psyche, would do anything to be Blanche’s strength.”
Psyche, a dear follower of Erelim, volunteered with a blunt expression for a duty that offered no glory or dignity, only sacrifice.
It was not for the city, and it was not for Kether.
“Psyche will be a sheepdog to watch for wolves.”
It was out of loyalty to Erelim alone.
It was a bitter memory, but Psyche’s sacrifice made Gehenna feel more at peace.
Erelim, who had led the loving Psyche, who was like a sister to her, through the thorns, could take some small comfort in her accomplishment.
The cause seemed to be winning.
Gehenna was thriving, and the world seemed to be coming into its own for witches.
Until then, what Kether wanted was what Erelim wanted.
Until then.
3.
With the expansion of the city, Kether clearly established the rules of exile and public service.
Exiles are those who disturb the peace of the city and forfeit their citizenship.
Among those who became outcasts, those who committed irredeemable crimes were targeted for extermination.
There are also some puzzling provisions in the civic code that must be followed in order to live as a Gehenna citizen.
No senseless killing of humans.
Do no harm to the citizens of Gehenna.
Do not use excessive mystical power to influence the world.
Not to reveal the existence of witches to humans.
The inclusion of these stipulations in a code that was to be enforced for generations after the sentence was handed down was resented by many witches.
Their main complaint was that it was unfair to cast them out for using humans as test subjects.
Even if the crime was against a fellow witch or apprentice witch.
Ketterer’s laws were too advanced and too human-friendly for witches, given the lack of universal values of “human rights” at the time.
Nevertheless, the Tree of Sephiroth, Gehenna’s governing body, stood firmly by its code.
Not everyone agreed with it, but they trusted Kether enough to follow her lead.
But not everyone agreed with Kether’s policies.
In the early 17th century, not long after Gehenna had begun to take hold.
A growing dissatisfaction with Kether and the city’s system was brewing in Gehenna.
“What can’t we do?”
“This is a city for witches, not a fence to protect humans? We can’t accept it.”
“Duke Ketter is no leader for witches.”
It was a rebellion of the Silver Maidens that is still often recounted.
The twelve witches of the Silver Dawn rebelled against Kether’s policies.
They fled to the surface, vowing to create a world ruled by witches, and founded their own kingdom.
Two days later.
They all died at Kether’s hands.
It was an instant execution without the usual warning.
“Kether! You…!”
“You’ve been waiting?”
It was the first time Erelim, who had obeyed Kether’s wishes, had raised her voice, and the first time the often incomprehensible Kether had become even more incomprehensible.
When Kether returned, reeking of blood, he looked at Erelim with a languid expression.
“What have you done?”
“I executed a criminal who broke the law.”
“They were witches, the only thing they did wrong was cause a brief disruption in human society, and summary execution was too much punishment.”
All they did was cause a temporary disruption to the world.
Even so, it was a harsh punishment, one that Erelim, who had been questioning Kether’s seemingly disoriented code, could not accept.
“No, Blanche, they broke the order, and the offense is not light.”
“Even if they were,….”
“Blanche. Do you know how a dam breaks? When the smallest brick at the bottom falls out, an unstoppable collapse begins, and I will not allow that to happen.”
Ketter’s golden eyes had none of the kindness, affection, or understanding he’d always shown her.
There was only an alien twist of self-assurance and self-righteousness.
“…….”
I founded the city because I didn’t want to see the tragedy of the witches’ cousin Sangjan.
My dearest companions fading away in solitary jars, eaten and devoured.
Their screams echoed in my ears, so I built Gehenna.
An ideal fulfilled by protecting humans and killing fellow witches.
Beyond that, what order is there for witches?
Erelim swallowed back the questions and the incoherence.
Instead, she turned to Kether, whom she trusted more than anyone, and asked her one question.
“We are…. a city, a world, for witches, weren’t we?”
Kether’s eyes, twisted in a strange way, rippled with familiarity.
It was the same Kether.
“It was necessary for Gehenna, for witches, can you understand that?”
Envy and longing had the power to make even the most disagreeable values acceptable.
Erelim nodded, though she felt an indescribable sense of unease and discomfort.
Since then, Kether had killed many, many witches in the name of the strict law.
Including her former colleague, Nukelavi.
