Witch – Chapter 84 – A Hundred Year Reunion with the Witch (3)

Ŕẽ​ãd̈ ̂ón̂ ̈K̈äẗR̀é​â​d̀ín̈ǵ​Ćàf́ë​

The once noisy house was now enveloped in silence, pressing down heavily on my head.

I felt drowsy, my eyes drooping as if I were about to fall asleep, making it hard to tell whether this was a dream or reality.

To pass the boring time, I picked up a magic book.

The sound of flipping pages seemed unusually loud, and the ticking of the clock, announcing its presence every second, made it impossible to focus on reading.

Was the house always this cold?

I had set up a barrier around the house with temperature control, but my body kept shivering.

I put the magic book back in its place and wrapped my arms around myself.

I took a deep breath to see if my breath would fog, but instead of breath, the scent of strawberries I had eaten earlier wafted up, tickling my nose.

9 AM.

It was time for Josie to wake Leo, who was sleeping in.

But there was no sound of Josie’s shouting or Leo’s screams.

The house remained as quiet as it had been an hour ago. I wondered if I had misread the clock, but when I checked again,

It was 9 AM, and the clock had just passed 5 minutes. I realized the truth.

“Ah, right.”

Josie and Leo had gone on a trip.

It had already been a week since they left, but I kept forgetting.

After 12 years of a noisy household, the sudden silence made it hard for my mind to adjust.

They must be crossing the western continent by now, right?

Are they eating well?

Are they having trouble sleeping because they’re not used to camping?

Worries flooded my mind, and for a moment, I lost track of time. When I checked again, it was already past noon.

I didn’t care how or how much time passed. Like someone who had lost their purpose in life—or perhaps achieved it—I thought it wouldn’t be so bad to spend my days aimlessly, my heart turning ashen.

“I miss them…”

The image of Josie’s shy smile came to mind.

From when she first started smiling at 10 years old to how she looked now at 19.

‘I love you, Mom. I’ll be back.’

I recalled the look in Josie’s eyes as she shyly kissed my cheek and gazed up at me. Without realizing it, I touched my cheek.

I had sent her off with a proper farewell, so I didn’t want to embarrass myself by running after her and hugging her, saying I missed her.

I shook my head, trying to shake off the worries that had piled up.

Instead of worrying about Josie, who was already on her journey, I wanted to wish her nothing but good things.

Like meeting trustworthy companions and building friendships, being captivated by unforgettable scenery, or venturing into dungeons and rejoicing after obtaining treasures through perilous adventures….

I looked forward to the day when Josie and I could sit down, share tea, and laugh as she told me about her travels.

Even if she came back with a child out of nowhere… Wait, is that going too far?

If that happened… I might end up half-killing Leo.

There’s an order to things. First, there’s the formal meeting with the parents, then the wedding. Having a child right away is out of the question.

But if we were to have that formal meeting, would I have to dine with the high-ranking officials of the Holy Kingdom…?

…Let’s cancel the formal meeting.

I wasn’t confident I could sit there without turning red.

Worrying about something that hadn’t even happened made me feel like a fool.

“Ugh…!”

It’s time to stop being so sentimental after a week.

I stretched my stiff body and let out a big yawn.

Did Dorothy feel this way when I left on my journey?

I saw my past self in Josie and Dorothy’s reflection in the mirror.

I was also 19 when I left Dorothy’s care in the western witch’s domain to embark on my journey.

And it wasn’t until 100 years later, after a fight with my daughter, that I contacted Dorothy again… It made me feel like I was a failure of a daughter.

Should I visit her now? She wouldn’t chase me away, would she…?

The image of Dorothy, with her curly black hair, yelling at me and calling me a wretch, made me hesitate.

“…Should I go?”

Should I contact her and see how she reacts?

I paced in front of the witch’s mirror, fidgeting.

If Dorothy also saw me as her daughter… wouldn’t she feel the same way I did, missing Josie? Maybe even more intensely. Unlike me, who had only been apart for a week, Dorothy hadn’t seen me for over 100 years….

The memory of tears welling up in Dorothy’s eyes the last time I contacted her before leaving for Venetia came to mind.

Wow, I really am a failure of a daughter.

I should’ve contacted her more often. After returning from Venetia, I was so busy with Josie’s magic studies and Leo’s training that I didn’t have time to think about it. I resented myself for that.

She must be really angry, right?

I wanted to fly over on a Triceratops right away, but the thought of facing Dorothy’s pent-up anger made me shiver.

Should I bring a gift?

Maybe if I brought something Dorothy liked, her scolding or venting would ease a bit.

Dorothy, who had lived isolated from the world, probably didn’t care much for material gifts….

‘Oh, I’ll handle it myself. Aren’t you lonely living alone? Should I send you a homunculus that looks like me?’

A homunculus.

The words I had casually mentioned before leaving for Venetia came back to me. She had said she didn’t need one, but I knew she’d like it if I sent one. A smile crept onto my lips.

I decided to make a homunculus to keep Dorothy company. It would help ease her loneliness.

With the gift decided, my ashen heart ignited with enthusiasm, and motivation surged.

Alchemy wasn’t my specialty, but even if I failed, I could just keep trying until I succeeded.

“Hehe. Look forward to it, Mom. I’ll make you a second child.”

My body, which had felt heavy since Josie left, seemed to regain its vitality as I walked energetically toward the cavern.

I never imagined that the alchemy books I had scavenged from an alchemist’s hideout, thinking they might be useful someday, would come in handy now.

I pulled out all the dusty alchemy books and reignited my long-dormant academic fervor.

I thought my brain might have trouble learning after 100 years, but since my growth had stopped at 19, I had no trouble understanding the alchemy texts.

I remembered the days before I became a witch, holed up in Dorothy’s study, absorbing every book like a sponge to earn her favor….

The more I reminisced, the more I wanted to finish the homunculus and see Dorothy as soon as possible.

“It might be closer to a clone than a homunculus.”

Midway through, I realized the books couldn’t help me achieve what I wanted. I didn’t even need to finish reading them.

A simple homunculus, a tiny human living in a flask, wasn’t the gift I had in mind.

It needed emotions, to fill the void in my place as if it were alive. So, I decided to change my approach.

Using a piece of my soul embedded in blood and flesh to create an artificial body—a blasphemous act. But I was a witch who defied the laws of the gods.

I felt no guilt, no pang of conscience. Besides, cloning in a fantasy world? Somehow, it made my heart race.

I found a large glass jar big enough to hold a newborn in the storage room and placed it in the center of the cavern.

“The necessary materials are blood and flesh for the motif.”

I wrapped my right hand in crimson mana and sliced off my left arm in one swift motion.

“Ugh… I should’ve cut more gently.”

I winced in pain for a moment, then collected the blood gushing from the severed arm and the stump, filling the jar sufficiently. I pulled a potion from my inventory and drank it in one gulp.

My arm regenerated instantly—bones, muscles, fat, and skin—a sensation I could never get used to, no matter how many times I experienced it. I flexed my hand and shook my arm.

I should be glad Josie isn’t here….

The bloodbath in the cavern wouldn’t be good for her emotional well-being.

I vowed to clean the cavern once the clone was successfully made and began channeling mana.

Regeneration, reconstruction, healing, transformation.

One by one, different magic circles appeared, compressing into the jar as if being sucked in.

As the number of magic circles increased, the blood in the jar bubbled. The severed arm melted, mixing with the blood, and as the bones dissolved, the liquid turned into a black substance that could no longer be called blood.

When the black liquid turned red again, something resembling a fetus wriggled in the center of the jar. I couldn’t help but smile.

Success…?

I had expected it to take at least a month, but to succeed on the first try….

It looked a bit grotesque, but since it fed on mana, it would grow quickly. Besides, it wasn’t an ordinary human clone—it was made from my blood and flesh.

Soon, a petite Estelle would toddle over to Dorothy, showing off her charms.

“Hehe. Estelle No. 2. Take good care of Mom.”

I placed my hand on the jar and whispered a wish that couldn’t be heard.

Lucent