Antagonist Protection Service-Chapter 160 - City of Witches (4)

160: City of Witches (4)

160: City of Witches (4)

Straight white hair and an expressionless face, the girl bore extreme similarities to Aradine, the White Witch Queen from before.

Of course, that’s not to say that everything was one-to-one.

She did not wear a blindfold, nor did she a robe or a big witch’s hat, but rather a simpler outfit of matching tone to her pristine hair.

Most of all, her skin was unnaturally pale, as if she had never seen a lick of sunlight in her life.

Although, thinking back to Aradine’s skin, I guess she didn’t appear much different.

‘I guess, if they spend all their time up at night like this, it makes sense…

Anyway, she must be her daughter, right…?’

That also meant she was most likely the one I was intended to be tutoring.

‘Then, is she the Protagonist…?’

Just as I thought that, the girl turned her head towards me, her hands coming to a gentle halt atop the keyboard.

“…”

“…”

Silence flowed for a few moments, and while I contemplated how to introduce myself, eventually, she was the first one to talk.

“Are you my new tutor…?”

Hearing her voice, which was barely audible with how small it was, I took a few, slow steps forward.

“I am.

My name’s Enki.”

Stopping just beside the piano seat she was sitting on, I crouched down to her height, which appeared about the same as the Librarian’s.

“What’s your name?”

Putting on a softer voice in an attempt not to intimidate her, I asked, to which she subtly nodded, responding similarly.

“My name’s Aella.

It’s nice to meet you.”

‘I thought so.’

Immediately, I recognised the name which matched that of the Protagonist.

Part of me was relieved to have found her quicker than I expected, but on the other hand, I was also partially irritated.

Because I knew I would have to wait, simply biding my time for an opportunity, or at the very least, until the moment I uncover what the secret is this time.

“It’s nice to meet you too, Aella.”

So, I took to my disguise, embracing it fully as I smiled and took out the scroll with my schedule on it.

“Our lesson doesn’t start for a while, but do you know what it’ll be about?”

Of course, I already skimmed through the thing just before, so I should have already known what it was, but the thing is, the schedule didn’t actually specify what it was that I was to be teaching.

I wasn’t quite certain how I would go about teaching something when I wasn’t told what it was I was here to teach, but I was sure I’d manage somehow…

Well, I’d have to.

That’s why I had hoped that she might know, as the student, but that was quickly dashed.

“…I don’t know.”

“Right…

This might sound strange, but does your mother even know?”

“Mother…?”

As I watched her avert her gaze down towards the ground, the girl appeared forlorn in that moment.

Naturally, I couldn’t allow myself to begin to feel bad for her, regardless of the circumstances, but…

“…I don’t know.

Mother teaches me everything before.”

“I see.”

‘She mistakenly said ‘teaches’ instead of ‘taught’, but am I supposed to correct her on that or not?

Is that even the kind of thing I’m here to teach…?’

Straightening my back as I stood back up, I briefly turned my head to look around the garden again, not knowing where to go from there.

“Do you have any idea what your mother might’ve brought me here to teach?”

Returning my attention to her, I found her body having swivelled around to face me, staring up at me from the piano chair with her legs dangling off the side, not even touching the ground.

“…”

Receiving my question, she seemed to ponder silently, turning her head from left to right, right to left as her gaze brushed over the surrounding violet flower bushes and amethyst wisps of lights.

After a minute or so of that sort of peaceful, contemplative quiet, she finally looked back to me, meeting her eyes with mine again, which I only just noticed were heterochromatic.

One a dull purple, and the other, a colourful mix of various tones, including ruby, gold, emerald and sapphire.

“…Life?”

Peering into those unmatching eyes, which certainly reflected the light of life back at me, the girl mentioned something I never would’ve expected to flow from her mouth. ƒгeewёbnovel.com

“…Excuse me?

What do you mean?”

She asked it in a questioning tone, so she probably didn’t know the answer either, but her guess was only as good as, or even better than mine, so I would respect it all the same.

“I don’t know…

I am curious too.”

“…Alright, well, I’ll ask her to be sure, so why don’t you get going and make sure you’re all ready for class, yeah?”

“Okay.”

Nodding her head, she seemed to do what I said and hopped off the piano chair, turning to exit the vast flower garden.

‘Wait, does she even have a…?’

Glancing down for a second as I watched her back turn a corner and leave, I realised she might not have had one of these pins to ‘traverse the illusory barrier’ as Aradine put it.

‘No, well, she probably doesn’t need one in the first place.

Nevermind.’

The second thing to belatedly occur to me was that the flower on the pin belonged to a different breed than the ones in this garden.

I didn’t know what either of the breeds were, or if they had any meaning behind them, but I thought it was curious.

“Anyway…

Now I’ve gotta go and find that lady, don’t I…”

I had no idea how I was going to do that, considering this whole place was like one unconnected labyrinth, but I thought I should at least give it a shot before the lesson starts.

‘Ahh, well…

It’s not as bad as shitting myself ’cause of a dragon, at least…’

Stretching my limbs just a little first, I pushed bad thoughts to the back of my mind and started walking.