Chapter 16 – #04_Border Town
#16
One.
Light stretching as soon as you wake up.
As uncomfortable as the bed is, if you don’t warm up properly as soon as you wake up, you will suffer all day long.
Siwoo relaxed for about 15 minutes.
It’s nice to sleep late thanks to Amelia’s call, but to be honest, going shopping with her picky girl is nerve-wracking.
“Oh right.”
Siu, who was loosening his waist, noticed something belatedly.
Amelia’s attitude yesterday was so significant that I had completely forgotten about it.
“I have to go to Taro Town today.”
I made an appointment with Amelia the day before.
Therefore, he could not give any words to Odile and Odette.
As usual, the twins will hide in the mansion in Taro Town and wait for Siu, who never comes.
“It’s a big deal…”
It would be pretty hard to deal with the backlash if you cheated on the twins who were expecting a lot.
However, he cannot ask for Amelia’s understanding and stop by Taro Town.
“Well, if I explain it well, they will understand.”
I have no choice but to move on thinking that.
The good news is that I’ve gotten quite close with Odile over the past few days.
Unlike Odette, who seemed friendly but had a strange sense of distance, Odile treated Siu as a person to person.
No one knows if that is out of simple curiosity or out of respect for humans who have reached some level of achievement through magic.
Even verbal threats have subsided.
Siwoo put on his clothes and went out of the barn.
2.
In order to explain ‘Border Town’, an additional explanation of Gehenna, the city of witches, is needed.
As time passed and science developed, the place where witches hid became narrower and narrower.
Did you say that science pushes out mysteries as it develops?
In the past, witches, who had melted into society with various occupations such as prophets, fortune-tellers, wizards, priests, priests, shamans, alchemists, and pharmacists, felt their position gradually diminishing.
Around the 14th century, when the persecution of the mysteries began in earnest, great witches with great magic began to build cities for witches.
A remote area that has become untouched by humans.
A large-scale barrier was created by collecting forgotten cities and other things like rags after a long time.
This is a space that clearly exists in this world but does not exist, a space that can be observed but cannot be observed,
This is the story behind the birth of Gehenna.
“It’s not too late this time.”
Colorful fountains.
Amelia stood like a model for a pictorial next to the sparkling water droplets.
A unique perfume smell that I had never smelled before stung my nose.
It was a perfume that suited Amelia, who was not at all disgusted with the smell.
Amelia dressed up as if she were a princess from the fantasy era.
She is beautiful no matter what kind of clothes she wears, but she is even more gorgeous today.
It was because he had come wearing clothes that were clearly piled with jewels that were not cubic.
Even if you go to a social church and dance right away, you won’t be able to find fault with it.
Are you going to Border Town dressed up like that?
Siwoo swallowed hard.
Instead, it was a bit of lip service.
“You look noble today.”
“Okay?”
According to Takasho, there is no woman who takes every compliment that she is pretty.
Siwoo awkwardly took the rhyme of praise.
Amelia stares at her without saying anything for some reason.
If it was usual, ‘Does I have to be acknowledged by you to become noble?’ She would have said the same thing.
“Yes, especially without those cramped-looking robes.”
She said it with the most refreshing smile, but how could it have been conveyed?
Contrary to expectations, Amelia’s armies slightly frowned.
According to Siwoo’s scout, that’s the expression Amelia makes when she feels a displeasure 75.
She took a nasty 75 at once.
It was a record breaking.
“I’m sorry. The memento Master left behind looks frustrating.”
Oh, that’s right shit.
She was so preoccupied with compliments that she missed the obvious.
Embarrassed Siwoo scrambled to say anything before Amelia jumped at him.
“Okay, I didn’t come dressed up to impress the janitor. Absolutely.”
As if it wasn’t worth talking about anymore, she turned around and headed for the west school building.
Her finely braided blonde hair slithered from side to side like her horse’s tail.
Also, people shouldn’t do things that don’t suit them.
Siwoo blamed himself for his grievous mistake and quietly followed Amelia.
Gehenna is quite large because the city was enlarged by gathering land from the first time it was created.
I don’t know the exact area, but it is said to be about the size of Jeju Island.
To get from the academy in the center of Gehenna to Border Town at the end of Gehenna, it would take a full day’s ride by car.
The witches installed a portal to and from Gehenna to get rid of this nuisance.
It was a magic device that applied the ‘door’ in Border Town.
“Hello, Associate Professor Amelia.”
“Round-trip tickets to Border Town, two.”
The receptionist wearing glasses stood up and nodded.
A researcher and portal management receptionist, she is a fairly young witch.
For a witch, the expression of being young means that she inherited the stigma she had just been created and hadn’t really become a witch yet.
Maybe that’s why the receptionist’s attitude was as polite as that of a commoner who met the princess.
After greeting her, the receptionist looks at Siwoo with a puzzled look.
“Are you going with me?”
“Okay.”
In fact, it is unusual.
Witches who usually live in upper towns rarely go directly to Border Town.
So, usually, Siwoo alone paid the fare and went back and forth.
Today, Amelia, who is said to be stuck only in the research building, accompanies him.
“Is there a problem?”
“Ah…! No! The fare is £2 per person.”
Also Amelia.
To make other witches squeak with just a little nervous voice.
Amelia reached out and placed four gold coins in her hand at her receptionist.
“You can go down the fourth stairway.”
Amelia and Siuman walked away without looking back, nodded and followed down.
This portal is a very interesting structure.
The stone steps that look like a path leading down to the wine cellar extend toward the basement, and when you go halfway down, water flows.
Of course, it’s not ordinary water, but very lightly diluted magic water, so it glows faintly, as if even luminous plankton were alive.
It is a mysterious water that does not interfere with breathing and does not wet clothes.
She walks slowly, looking at Amelia’s back, already submerged to her head.
When you go down like a V-shaped staircase, there is a staircase that goes up almost immediately, and that staircase becomes a portal to Border Town.
With a slight dizziness, Siu stepped her foot into her Border Town.
3.
Amelia looked at Siwoo, who was gagging from her portal sickness, with pitiful eyes.
She’s only ridden three times, so she can’t quite get used to this sensation.
“Manager, you’d better vomit.”
“Oh, no… I’m fine now.”
Amelia brushed off a few drops of magical energy rolling over her clothes and climbed her stairs.
Compared to the academy’s platform, which had at least assortment, Border Town’s platform was shabby.
“Wow…..”
As soon as I came out of the platform that looked like a half-collapsed temple, I couldn’t help but admire.
Border Town is a cascading gorge facing the harbor.
Cliffs full of moss form huge layers and provide a place for people to live.
The weather in Border Town is always cloudy or drizzly as the smog and sea fog obscure the sun.
The work raincoat, which Siwoo hates so much, is also a must here.
The place where the portal platform was located was the highest hill in Border Town, so Siu could look down on all the scenery.
The cliffs that surround the harbor in the shape of horseshoes and the people who build and live on them are spectacular, but what overwhelms Siwoo the most is the huge circle hanging over the sea with a diameter of 2km.
‘Moon’ by another name.
Inside, smugglers’ ships, large and small, were moving supplies.
Some ships will have items airlifted from Hyundai, and some ships will have slaves captured like Siwoo.
Another ship will be loaded with various food materials that will be supplied to the citizens of the town.
It is because the crops produced in Gehenna cannot be self-sufficient.
Yes.
Border Town means ‘border’.
It was a town that connected Gehenna, the underworld, with the modern world.
“By the way, Associate Professor, what are you buying today?”
Seeing people coming and going like ants at the port far away, Siu asked.
“Cigarettes, and perfume.”
There was nothing more than I thought.
If it was that much, it would have been enough for Siwoo to be alone.
I don’t think this was a real date.
“I have to go to the Blue Snake Reception, so follow me.”
“Yep.”
As soon as Amelia started walking, Siwoo put her large umbrella on her.
Of course, it doesn’t look like a sweet couple sharing an umbrella.
Siwoo was exposed to all the rain and had to listen only to Amelia.
“Come to think of it, Associate Professor.”
If it were her, she wouldn’t have to go round and round along the road on the cliff.
It would be possible to use magic to jump down and land in the middle of the harbor.
Or you can use flight magic.
“If you go first, I’ll jump right in and follow you.”
In fact, it was a suggestion because I wanted to get away from this scary lady even for a moment.
It shouldn’t have been difficult, but Amelia put on a blank expression for a moment.
She added quickly, wondering if she had made a mistake again.
“Isn’t that beautiful dress you’ve been wearing all along getting wet in the rain?”
“…….”
Even so, Amelia only made a knowing expression on her face, but she didn’t answer.
It’s been over five years since she’s been rolled around by her, and it’s the first time I’ve seen her face like that again.
Amelia sighed lightly as cold sweat ran down her spine.
“Ha….”
“Sorry.”
I don’t know what.
Sorry for once
“Don’t keep throwing up. It’s annoying.”
“Yep.”
Siwoo kept her mouth shut and covered Amelia with an umbrella and walked behind her.
There were few people on the highlands, but when you come down to the middle stairway, there are quite a few people.
A tough, muscular man who wears a jacket instead of a raincoat.
A skinny young man with an impression that would make you believe he was a pirate as long asheheld an AK rifle.
An old woman who looks somewhat gloomy.
Maybe it’s because people live without sunlight, they all look gloomy and sinister.
In fact, it was a bit intimidating to walk around Border Town, which fits the term dystopian fantasy, with the body of a slave.
So, when Siu came alone, he finished his business at the fastest pace and returned.
Without even having time to look around.
But at least for now, there are no worries.
When our Professor Amelia Marigold passes by like her lantern, everyone bows their heads and turns away, so there is no such strong bodyguard.
“Concierge.”
Seeing Amelia’s bleak voice, Siwoo looked back and was taken aback.
While she was distracted by her surroundings for a moment, water droplets formed on the tip of the umbrella and dripped onto the top of Amelia’s head.
Siwoo was nervous about what kind of evil command would fall this time.
“Hold the umbrella upright.”
Fortunately, today’s Amelia was oddly generous.
Evaporated with her magic, she passed without a murmur.
