Ch. 43 The Two Witches (23)
by Afuhfuihgs
Witch – Chapter 43- The Two Witches (23)
Beryl, as usual, put a lot of effort into opening her shop early in the morning.
Her tasks were simple, cleaning the thin layer of dust that had settled overnight and arranging the potions from the storage onto the display shelves, but she poured her heart into these small, mundane tasks.
For example, she meticulously spaced out the potions with precision, almost obsessively. Yet, these little details were what brought Beryl joy.
It had been over 60 years since she opened her modest little shop in a corner of the market, but… customers were almost nonexistent.
The high prices she initially set for her potions had driven most customers away, and by the time she realized her mistake and adjusted the prices, rumors had already spread that her shop was a rip-off.
Now, her shop was treated more like a dusty souvenir store, with only the occasional curious adventurer stopping by.
Still, she wasn’t completely without regulars.
One of her regulars was an adventurer who would drop by occasionally to deliver monster byproducts from quests or personal requests…
But lately, they hadn’t shown up, as if they had stopped adventuring altogether. It was hard not to worry.
‘He’s… He’s not dead, is he?’
Unlike with ordinary adventurers, Beryl had secretly slipped them some high-quality potions without him noticing, so he shouldn’t have died easily.
But adventuring was a dangerous profession, and it was hard not to worry.
‘What if he’s badly injured and can’t move on his own? Is he waiting for me to come find them…? Or worse, is he already dead and wandering the afterlife?’
Negative thoughts swirled through Beryl’s mind, but she shook her head to clear them away.
Overthinking and delusions were among Beryl’s bad habits. Especially with the Demon Eye embedded in her, which had completely altered her personality… she wanted to be free from such things now.
She had settled in Venetia with the help of her only friend to live a peaceful life, free from the burdens of being a witch.
She no longer wanted to be hated or to curse others.
‘I wonder how Estelle is doing…’
Lately, she had sensed Estelle’s overwhelming mana twice, and while sitting idly at the counter, she often found herself lost in old memories.
Estelle was breathtakingly beautiful, even to another woman. She was like a perfectly ripe fruit, tempting you to take a bite…
‘What am I even thinking…!’
Beryl shook her head even more vigorously this time, her face turning bright red as she covered it with her hands.
Still… Estelle’s chest was so big.
The memory of that one time she had grabbed Estelle’s chest with all her strength still lingered. It was soft, squishy, and indescribably… something.
She was jealous.
Beryl’s own chest was as flat and stiff as the walls of Venetia, more hard than soft.
She had thought about making a potion to increase her chest size, but that wasn’t her specialty, and for Beryl, who only made recovery potions for her shop, it was nearly impossible.
“I’m sorry, my chest, for having such a useless owner.”
Talking to her nonexistent chest wouldn’t elicit a response, but…
Even though it lacked presence, Beryl gently caressed her chest, which was more precious to her than anyone else’s, and tried to calm her tearful heart.
“Umm… What are you doing…?”
“Eek!!!!”
Startled by the sudden voice, Beryl hurriedly flipped the hood of her robe over her head. She couldn’t let anyone see her hideous face. After confirming that the perception-blocking magic on her robe had activated, she cautiously looked for the source of the voice.
‘Since when were they here? I didn’t sense anyone coming in… Did my senses fail? What if they saw me? If rumors spread, I’d be too embarrassed to keep running this shop…’
It was still an hour before opening time, but she needed to figure out who had entered her shop without permission and how much they had seen.
She absolutely didn’t want the label of “that crazy woman who talks to her flat chest”.
“It’s not open yet… Estelle?”
Even with her eyes closed, she could sense it through her mana.
There was only one person she knew with such vibrant pink hair. And the chest that exuded presence even under the robe… it was unmistakable.
She had sensed Estelle’s overwhelming mana when she arrived in Venetia, but… she hadn’t expected their reunion to go like this.
“D-did you see!?”
“Should I come back later…?”
Estelle, scratching her cheek and avoiding eye contact, made to leave the shop, but Beryl quickly blocked her path.
“It’s not that… Kehek!?”
Well, she tried to block her, but her legs got tangled, and she ended up falling flat on the floor. Whether it was fortunate or unfortunate, she managed to grab Estelle’s ankle in the process.
“Beryl, if you don’t let go, I can’t leave…”
“You’re going to spread rumors all over town, aren’t you!? I can’t let you go!!!”
The reunion with her old friend was going horribly.
“Can you stop crying and talk to me calmly?”
“Sniff… I-I’m not crying! Hic…!”
Beryl’s loud sobbing forced Estelle to stop teasing her. She hadn’t realized Beryl’s complex was this severe. Talking to her flat chest like that…
After blowing her nose loudly into the handkerchief Estelle handed her, Beryl finally stopped crying.
Her reaction was so extreme that Estelle felt more guilty than amused.
“You’re going to keep your hood on even while meeting your friend after so long?”
The hood was so heavily enchanted that even sitting face-to-face, Estelle couldn’t see inside.
It had been 60 years since they last met. Was it too much to ask to see her pretty face?
“N-no, it’s just… I’m really ugly…”
Beryl’s flustered response left Estelle speechless.
If Beryl was ugly, then there were fewer than ten good-looking people in the entire world.
The Beryl who used to proudly claim that everyone but herself was ugly was nowhere to be found. Instead, she sat there, radiating the aura of a fragile, insecure mess.
“How could that be? I came all this way because I wanted to see your beautiful face. If I leave without seeing you, I’ll be so sad that I’ll tell everyone about what I saw today.”
Estelle used blackmail attack.
It was super effective!
Beryl’s body trembled so violently that it almost seemed criminal to tease her further. She quickly brought up the incident from earlier.
“O-okay, fine…! Just don’t spread rumors about me being some creepy pervert who talks to her chest! I have nowhere else to go but here…!!”
Estelle hadn’t thought that far, but…
This was getting way out of hand.
Hearing such a dramatic line from her friend, something you’d expect from the depths of an abyss, left Estelle momentarily stunned.
“I t-told you…! I’m ugly!! You’re the one who said you wanted to see me. You better not regret it!”
Beryl forcefully pulled back her hood, revealing a gem as beautiful as her name.
Her slightly curly hair was messy from being pressed under the hood, but it couldn’t hide Beryl’s beauty. If anything, it added a touch of decadence.
The secret two-tone green hidden behind her black hair only added to her allure.
Even with her eyes closed, her long, delicate eyelashes were captivating…
“…….”
But when Estelle’s gaze reached her eyes, she understood why Beryl had been so reluctant.
Both eyes were sewn shut with green thread.
As if she had vowed never to open them again.
“I told you… I’m ugly…”
Beryl fumbled to pull her hood back on and shivered slightly.
The Demon Eye was practically Beryl’s identity, yet she had sewn her eyes shut…?
In the original story, most of Beryl’s feats were tied to her Demon Eye. The image of her effortlessly defeating enemies the protagonist couldn’t handle with just a glance overlapped in Estelle’s mind.
Did she sew them shut herself?
Estelle couldn’t imagine Beryl being forced into this by someone else.
“There’s no way you’re ugly. You’re as beautiful as the first time I saw you. But what happened to your eyes?”
There were more people who coveted the Demon Eye than one might think.
Even among witches, many had eyed Beryl’s Demon Eye with envy.
When they first met, Beryl had been fighting a witch who wanted her eyes.
Beryl, cheered up by the compliment, proudly explained.
“I’m not using the Demon Eye anymore. My dream is to live peacefully, day by day. When I open my eyes, I become someone else, so I sewed them shut.”
“I… see.”
Was this really agreed upon by Beryl’s open-eyed counterpart…?
Estelle wasn’t sure whether to admire Beryl for making such an extreme choice.
She hoped she wouldn’t run into that ruthless and violent open-eyed Beryl later.
Seeing Beryl fidgeting, clearly not wanting to talk about her eyes anymore, Estelle sighed inwardly.
“How’s business?”
“Hehehe… well…”
It was past 10 a.m., and the “Closed” sign was still up. Not a single customer had shown up, so Estelle could guess how things were going.
If anything, Beryl might be happy about the lack of customers.
Estelle began to worry if Beryl was making enough money to live a decent life.
Lucent
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