City of Witches

It wasn’t that Suwoo had no worries at all.

It was just that they were all minor concerns.

Diana was the first one who challenged him to play Witch Board back when he was working at the host club.

When Countess Yesod told him how lazy she was, he figured that if he were to invite her to a game or two nicely, she’d gladly take up on it.

As long as he could appeal to her competitive nature and offer something in return for winning, she’d probably be more willing to cooperate with him. It should be a pretty effective tactic even if it was a little shallow.

After all, even the twins—who were just like her, both apprentice witches—could be controlled with this tactic, so he figured that Diana wouldn’t be much different.

But, contrary to his expectations, the girl was as unyielding as a fortress.

She showed zero interest in him whatsoever and was only focused on getting away from him.

Deep down, he was shaken.

“Who said that I was scared—?! Haa…! Haa…! Seriously…! Unbelievable…!”

But in the end, his slightly over-the-line remark managed to prompt such a reaction from her.

She was ready to enter her room, but after hearing that, she immediately turned around, rushed to the living room table, and sat down.

With lightning speed, she grabbed the Witch Board, setting it up while grumbling.

Seeing her like that, it was hard to associate her with her nickname ‘Lazy Diana’.

She finished setting the board up in the blink of an eye and glared at Siwoo with fierce eyes filled with hostility.

“You.”

“Yes?”

“You know what you’re getting into, right?”

“I’m not quite sure what you mean.”

Diana exuded an intense aura.

A rare aura that was crafted by her frustration of being constantly hounded and challenged by an infuriating pursuer…

The aura of anger.

“You dared to provoke me, with such a ridiculous insult, no less. Accusing me of running away and whatnot.”

Her voice sounded calm, but she said all those words quickly, as if mumbling.

“I wanted to take a nap, to rest my head on my warm, fluffy feather pillow and lounge around in my comfy pajamas. But now I can’t. Because of you, everything’s gone awry.

“Do you know how badly I wanted to wrap myself in a blanket and take a nap in a sunny spot?!

“Once winter fully sets in, I won’t be able to do that anymore!

“In other words, everything has been ruined because of you, and yet you still dared to barge in here, taunting me with your petty provocation, knowing that it would hurt my pride if I were to ignore you—”

She said all those words in one breath.

The sheer volume of her speech was like a full workout in itself for her.

“I swear, if you lose to me, don’t think that you’d walk away unscathed. I’ll give you a fitting punish…ment…”

Suddenly, in the midst of her rage, her words were cut off like a broken record.

In her mind, she…

A fitting punishment…

Punishment…?

A palm slap…?

The Devil’s Delivery Service…

Tickling… Feathers…

She recalled how the delivery man in that novel had pinned down the witch’s body as she writhed, teasing her mercilessly before thrusting his rigid shaft into her…

“A-A-A-Anyway…!”

Seeing Diana’s face suddenly flushed red after saying all those words quickly like a burst dam, Siwoo could just stare at her in confusion.

Meanwhile, she couldn’t even look at his face properly before mumbling out her next words.

“A-Anyway, let’s start. I’m going to crush you.”

“If you say so.”

Seeing his smug grin, Diana clenched her teeth in frustration.

Why did that particular scene come to my mind right now of all time…?!

I hadn’t even finished everything I was going to say!

Thinking back, they hadn’t actually finished their last game.

Back then, when she returned to the club for that showdown, full of determination after much practice, the twins—the apprentice witches of the Gemini Family, hurled her with mental attacks, causing her to lose promptly.

And when she was about to challenge him again, she fled the place after seeing him casually kissing those twins.

This prompted her to try and look at this matter positively; at least she had another chance to settle the score with him properly.

She took a deep breath to calm her boiling frustration, though it was just like pouring cold water on hot oil more than anything.

“It’s been a while since the last time we’ve played together.”

Meanwhile, the annoying man was grinning happily. She understood that he was hired as a tutor because of the goodwill of her beloved and respected mother.

That was why she had been tolerating him up to this point.

Though she threatened to fire him by tonight, as long as he didn’t cross the line, she was prepared to let anything slide.

But he didn’t, so she decided to not just let him off so easily.

“Listen.”

“Yes?”

“If I win, you’ll quit from that ridiculous position as a tutor or whatever without a word.”

“Well, that would be difficult… Honestly, I only agreed to be your tutor in exchange for assistance in my research. If I get dismissed after just one day, I won’t get any of that.”

For the first time, a look of concern appeared on the impassive face that he wore ever since the first time he followed her behind.

She originally thought that he was here to earn a bit of extra money from the Yesod Family, but it turned out he was involved in some kind of magic research.

It seems he has that witchly trait in him.

But so what?

To Diana, seeing the troubled face of someone that she disliked was a source of pleasure.

It also gave her the opportunity to retaliate at him.

“Ha…! Scared?”

“Considering that I’m up against you, Ms. Diana, it’s hard for me to guarantee a win.”

“Don’t even think about changing the terms. This is payback for tormenting me by following around for thirty minutes when I clearly told you that I’m not interested in playing with you.”

With that, their game began.

Following her habit, Diana set up her three mana orbs.

As it was the case with even the most abstract strategy games, the first move was always a standard and unremarkable one.

Though, it wasn’t the case with the man in front of her.

“…What?”

Seeing Siwoo’s mana orbs’ placement, Diana let out a frown.

Even if they were to use unconventional strategies, after playing against someone several times, generally one would be able to get a sense of their approach.

It applied to Diana too, as she understood Siwoo’s playstyle at this point. In fact, in their last game, it was because of the twins’ interference that she lost to him. She actually was in the lead the whole game.

“You’re pulling something strange again.”

But this time, his mana orbs’ placement was completely different from last time.

It wasn’t a standard placement by any means.

He arranged them in an equilateral triangle, but kept them far apart.

This time, instead of clustering them tightly, he spread them widely like scattered egg’s yolk.

The unfamiliar strategy made her feel uneasy as she remembered his unpredictable plays. She sensed an ominous feeling.

But, she dismissed it with a sharp retort.

“I won’t fall for your crude tricks anymore.”

“Crude? This is a strategy I’ve carefully prepared, though.”

Her opponent was a one-trick pony when it came to surprising tactics.

His approach was basically just hitting with what it seemed to be like a clever tactic and depended on it to win the whole game.

Diana calmed her nerves and cleared her thoughts.

Clustering mana orbs to closely make expanding one’s spells inefficient.

But if inefficiency was the only issue, Diana wouldn’t have lost to the same strategy in the past.

There was also the advantage of that method, it gave one a brief moment of burst power.

If one could call it an advantage, at least.

But what about his strategy this time?

His mana orbs were close enough to resonate with each other, but it would lower both his defense and offense.

No matter how hard she looked, she couldn’t find any advantage in this setup.

Still, Diana didn’t let her guard down.

Because she was already used to his tendencies on relying on bizarre strategies.

As long as she stayed calm and didn’t get flustered, she could definitely handle whatever it was that he would be throwing at her.

Besides, this was the chance for her to not only avenge her past defeats, but also get rid of this annoying man for good.

And soon enough, Diana figured out what he was up to.

“Ugh…!”

As usual, Diana was playing by the book.

She preferred a textbook playstyle of seizing useful runes through small-scale skirmishes to bolster her spells before naturally dominating in a power struggle.

In short, she excelled at ’games she wouldn’t lose’ or rather, ’games she wouldn’t lose if she knew how to play them’.

Meanwhile, the strategy that Siwoo was using today was chaotic compared to hers.

A frantic guerilla warfare style of strategy.

With his mana orbs scattered around like that, he engaged in countless skirmishes.

Since the placement of his mana orbs wasn’t concentrated, his pushing force was weak, but his harassments were much messier and disruptive.

This was a very challenging strategy to face for Diana, and it triggered her trauma.

She recalled the fifth game she had played against this man.

Back then, they were also engaged in chaotic skirmishes like this.

Looking at the mid-game results back then, the outcome was clear enough.

After that exhausting tug-of-war, the equivalent of them pulling each other’s hair, she found herself losing the game.

But, from that moment on, Siwoo just yielded and gave her the victory.

A victory that could never be called as one.

Tainted with humiliation and arrogance.

Her act of accepting that victory and letting it get to her head back then became the driving force behind her dedication to her magic studies.

“If you think you can beat me with the same tactic… You’re just being arrogant.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it.”

Diana’s eyes lit up.

She hadn’t forgotten the humiliation she felt when she realized what had happened back then, back when she was reviewing everything by herself, thinking that it was just a game of entertainment.

He had focused her studies specifically for situations like this, where the battle turned chaotic.

What followed was an intense and furious duel.

The level of the game was significantly higher than before.

The skirmishes’ intensity was also significantly more fierce.

Before long, Diana had no leniency to speak anymore and was completely absorbed in the game.

At this moment, her anger, frustration, and even thoughts of The Devil’s Delivery Service were gone.

She was completely focused on this battle of pure intellect and calculation.

Drowned in the deep strategic maneuvers within this dodecahedron battlefield, filled with traps and bluffs.

They had exchanged over a hundred moves without speaking or even making eye contact.

But suddenly, her focus broke.

“Ah….”

A sigh slipped out before she could stop it.

He’s strong.

As frustrating as it was, she had to admit it once again.

This man had an extraordinary intellect that was in no way inferior to hers.

But in the end, it was her who emerged victorious.

“I won.”

A total of 27 skirmishes ensued, and it was her who won by a hair’s breadth.

It was similar to winning by half a point in Go, but in the end, she had secured 25 out of the 27 runes.

At this point, there was no need for them to engage in chaotic battles anymore.

“I’ll acknowledge your skill. I really mean that.”

Because she had secured so many runes, there was no need for her to entertain in the skirmishes that he initiated anymore.

All she needed to do was to destroy his mana orbs by force, just like a bull charging forward, carrying a spear-wielding knight in its back.

“I’ve been noticing it since our first game, but…”

When she thought that her victory had been pretty much secured, a faint voice reached Diana’s ears.

There was an unexpected hint of amusement in that voice.

“You really need to broaden your perspective a little, Ms. Diana.”

-Clack!

At that moment, a move that was able to overturn the entire situation on the board was played.

A move that was unthinkable even to Diana.

A divine move that completely deviated from common sense.

“Ah….”

That was when she saw it.

Amidst the fierce battle, the final piece of the puzzle that he had been preparing, finally fell into place.

With that one move, the two runes he had occupied began to glow.

The glowing runes formed the shape of a sharp dagger.

With that one move, a mana path was connected to the shape of the dagger.

That move turned the scattered, meaningless abandoned moves into a guiding tunnel.

With that one move, the dagger shot forward, smashing all of Diana’s mana orbs that had been drained from all the fierce battles.

Just like toppling a perfectly stacked row of dominoes, leaving no gap at all…

The flawless chain reaction of magic caused Diana to lose in the blink of an eye.

“…”

She couldn’t comprehend it.

How did she lose exactly?

It took her a while to figure out the answer to that question.

When did he start planning this grand strategy?

Perhaps that question was the spark that made her awe in the face of his overwhelming talent.

At that moment, she realized that her arms were covered in goosebumps.

She felt like she was facing an immense wall of talent, its shadow enveloped her completely. It was the first time she had ever felt like this.

“So, uh… Does this mean you won’t tell the countess to fire me anymore?”

The male witch, the first in witch history, pleaded with a cute expression while clasping his hands.

His name is… Shin Siwoo, right…?

I want to know a little more about him…