Chapter 529: Arcane, the Realm of Witches.2
Chapter 529: Arcane, the Realm of Witches. 2
June was speechless, what she was seeing now could be categorized as an 'invasion', but it really wasn't an invasion that was happening.
"...." She narrowed her eyes, and looked around, and with just one glance, she realized that her sisters who were in contact with the other Factions were also acting strange.
'Something that's happening-.' Before her thought could even finish, she heard an irritating voice:
"Judy, how long~?"
"...It's not Judy, how many times do I have to say tell you, Yue?" She turned her gaze and saw a woman.
She was 165 CM tall, with long green hair that, as she walked, began to change to violet pink.
She had a thin body, not too full, and not too thin.
She was a Witch that many would consider beautiful, and with an aura of youth.
She was dressed like a modern woman, wearing black pants, a white shirt that showed off her shoulders and belly, and she sported two earrings.
Her eccentricity was displayed in her long hair that changes color according to the Witch's will, a simple Magic Spell for Witches and one that this woman mastered because she thought:
'Isn't it convenient to change your hair color whenever you want?'
Because of that thought, she managed to master the Magic, allowing her to cast it with casual gestures.
Yue, Codename SmileWitch, an old friend of June's, and like June, a Witch who earned her Title from the Queen herself, but unlike June, she was a Master Witch.
"Hahaha, I'm sorry, my memories are bad these days, Jonas."
"That's not even a female name!"
"Don't worry about small details, Julieta."
A vein bulged in June's head: "The number of characters in that name doesn't even match mine!"
"Mah, Mah, don't worry about it, come here, give your big sister a hug."
Hugging June, who was 5 CM shorter than her, Yue raised her eyebrow:
"Have you gotten fatter?"
Another vein bulged in June's head:
"Impossible, I use Health Magic all the time, you know? Now stop grabbing me!"
"Hmm, so it's just me."
"Let go of me."
"Hmm, good to know you came, I was worried about you when I heard that the Arcane Realm was being shut down."
"…Eh?" June stopped struggling and looked at Yue with confused eyes.
Yue, with her same characteristic smile that more resembled a fox than a normal human, spoke in an amused tone of voice that contained a seriousness that only June knew.
"How about we talk? Catch up on the conversation? I hear you got a great job, tell me more about it, hahaha!" Yue started dragging June to a location.
June just let herself be dragged along while some Witches looked at her in amusement.
Most were ignoring it as they looked at the giant sphere in the lobby.
...
At Yue's house, in the living room.
June and Yue were in front of each other while Yue was having tea.
"As you may have noticed, the Witch Queen is cooperating with the Demon's in the war."
"…is she crazy? With that attitude, we'll lose our neutrality."
"And I'm sure she knows that, she's not stupid."
"..." June nodded.
"What do you mean the Arcane Realm is closed?"
"That's exactly what I meant, currently the Queen has closed the space of the Arcane Realm, no one can leave, only the Queen and her daughters."
"You can try if you want."
"..." June narrowed her eyes, she took another crystal from her pocket that could only be used by Witches, and broke the crystal. The Magic Circle appeared under her, but it didn't disappear.
"…See?" Yue sipped her tea again while maintaining the same smile from which she won her Title.
"... Yue, do you know what's going on?"
"..." Yue looked at June for a few seconds, and then went back to drinking her tea.
"What are you going to do if you know what's going on?"
"Get ready, I don't like to be uninformed." June was honest.
"...I see, that's a good mindset, for a moment I thought you would try to help your contractors."
"I won't, they don't need my help either," she commented lightly, a simple Witch helping the vampire King? Hah! She might be arrogant, but she wasn't stupid, the King didn't need her help.
"And all we have is a contract. I value my life and the money they give me, but that's it. And even though this place is sometimes bad, when you gain a certain level of authority, it is much better than living elsewhere." June commented in a neutral tone.
'As expected from the Witch of Greed, I think.' Yue chuckled internally.
"So, what's going on?" June asked again.
"Unfortunately, I don't even know what's going on." Yue spoke.
"...the Master Witches weren't notified?"
"No, the Queen's moves are only known to her daughters."
"That's bold... She's not even counting on the Master Witches."
"Well, she's the Witch Queen for a reason, and I'm sure she doesn't need our help, if she did, she would order us." Yue commented.
"Hmm..." June just nodded as she thought about it.
Setting the tea cup on the table, Yue's smile grew a little, and she commented:
"That's not to say there aren't any rumors, and I don't know anything."
"Oh?"
"Can you tell me then?"
"Of course, how much are you willing to pay for the information?"
"..." June's brow twitched slightly.
"Don't look at me like that, you would do the same in my place."
"That's true, but it's still annoying."
"Fufufufu."
Despite worrying about June's safety, the moment she knew her friend wasn't going to get in trouble and that she had her head on straight, Yue didn't worry anymore. She knew June, she knew the woman would always value her life over others.
Something that was quite common in all Witches.
"This time, I won't charge anything, I'll be fair; after all, the information I have is something you could get with minimal effort."
"..." June raised a curious eyebrow, and commented:
"Looks like the Queen kept all this a secret, huh."
"The fewer people who know the better, I think. That's one of the reasons she's closing Arcane, I assume." June spoke as she leaned back in her chair.
"For the protection of the Witches, and to prevent information leaks, huh."
'The Queen knows her people well. Despite being concerned about the women, she knows how these women are. If given a chance, they would sell this information in exchange for some perks from the other Factions, something the Queen wants to avoid.' June could understand the Queen's movements now.
"Indeed."
"Even if only the high-ranking and Titled Witches knew what was going on, the possibility of this information leaking out is not low."
"And since it's something that threatens our neutrality towards the other Factions, she wants to avoid too much noise."
"...And I'm sure the Witches' involvement with the Demons is over. I don't know what she helped Diablos with, but her service is over, and she's already received her payment."
"What do you mean? You seem pretty sure it happened." June narrowed her eyes.
"..." Yue remained silent, and soon she spun her hands around, and various Magic Circles appeared all over the house.
"Look at this." Taking an orb from her pocket, she placed it on the table.
And soon a hologram appeared in the air.
"...That's..." June opened her eyes in shock when she saw the video.
"There's no audio, but a Witch I keep in touch with got the footage through a new form of espionage we're developing."
June saw in the video thousands if not hundreds of artifacts, pills, rare items lying around in a warehouse.
"I don't know what place this is, and I don't even know if this is in Arcane or not, my contact didn't want to say, probably out of fear.." Yue gestured with her hand, and zoomed in on one location.
"Look at this."
"Divine Artifacts!" Weapons, clothing, techniques, everything containing Divinity were scattered throughout the image.
"Is that… from the Chinese pantheon? Was that payment for her services?"
'Some artifacts are contaminated with Miasma, it would take time to remove completely.'
"Divine Artifacts, so yes, that was her payment." Yue commented with slight envy, only the Queen could make such a big deal with such a juicy payout.
"Just what did the Queen help the Demon with to achieve all this?"
"I don't know, and I don't care." Yue made a gesture with her hand, and the hologram disappeared.
"This is a big players game."
"We must not meddle in this, or we suffer the consequences."
"..." June internally agreed, this escalated out of her reach.
"One thing is for certain, the Witch Queen will always move with Arcane in mind, even if she has her own goals behind her, I can guarantee that."
Getting over her shock, June asked in a low tone:
"…why did you show me this?"
"You said it yourself, you wanted to understand the situation, and I showed you what I know."
"...And if I share this information, you'll fuck me over, huh."
"That too." She smiled with her signature smile.
'This bitch!' June now regretted her curiosity, she should have kept quiet in her corner.
"Hahaha, don't look at me like that, just remain silent, and make preparations in case things go wrong, That's how we act, right?"
"Always thinking of a plan B, and the worst possible outcome."
'In a way, this is a sad life to live…' June commented, but when she thought about the past, she quickly changed her mind.
'Wrong, it is the only way; after all, everyone wants to exploit Witches.'
"Indeed."
Yue got up from her chair, and spoke:
"I don't know what great game the Queen is playing, and I don't know why she needs so many Divine Items. Even if we could use them, the load on our bodies would be too great. They are called Divine for a reason."
"Only Gods can use them effectively; mortals will only self-destruct by touching it."
"But there's one thing, I can be sure of."
"...." June looked at Yue with serious eyes.
Yue smiled slightly, and spoke:
"The strength of the Arcane Realm will increase substantially now that she is in possession of those items, even if she doesn't have all the Divine Items from the destroyed Pantheon…"
'After all, not even the Queen would be stupid to take so many items. It would just be painting a giant target on her back. Most likely, these items would be spread among Diablo's collaborators, and she will use the excuse that she provided some services to Diablo in exchange for some items from that Pantheon.' This was a tactic all Master Witches used to divert attention and blame from the Arcane Realm.
"I'll bet my virginity that what she has now could make us rival some existing Pantheons. She took a big piece of the cake called Earth before the invasion even started." Yue couldn't help but feel in awe of the Queen now.
"..."
"Who knows? Perhaps in the future, just like Vampires and Werewolves, we will have our own planet where we can live in peace… Real peace."
"...Arcane's oldest dream, huh..."
"..." Yue just smiled softly as she walked towards the fridge and grabbed a pitcher of orange juice. Bringing the pitcher of juice to the table, she spoke in an amused tone:
"Oh, I heard that the new Count of Vampires was very handsome~, a beauty that could rival even the most handsome Gods~."
"...." June's thought process was interrupted and a ridiculously pretty face popped into her mind, and it made her blush a little.
"From your reaction, that seems to be true. Tell me a little about him."
"... No, you must pay me before then." She was adamant about it.
"Bitch please, I gave you vital information, you could tell me about him, right?"
"You put a target on my back!"
"This is still vital information."
"Ugh, you-...AHH!"
"Fufufufufu~."
"Now, tell me about the new Count, I'm quite curious."
"Fine, but I'm only going to tell you about the man himself, not the people around him."
"Fine with me, I'm just interested in him."
"...." June narrowed her eyes.
"Don't tell me you want to steal one of my contractors!?"
"Who knows~?"
"YUE!"
"Stop being mean! Maybe he can pay me well, after all, I'm a Master Witch, and I have a Title too. Maybe my Magic would be useful to him, and maybe we'd work together. This is all a 'maybe', we can't read the future, stop being a prude, and spill what you know!"
"...I swear by Magic that if you weren't my friend, I would personally throw you into a nest of giant bugs."
Yue's body trembled slightly, but her smiling face didn't change:
"...Stop joking, insects are creatures of the Demons, those pests must be eradicated! Especially those damn spiders! Fuck, and the Queen's 6th daughter has bug Magic!? Fuck! I hate her!"
"...Oh, I forgot about your fear-."
"Tell me about the new Count, June." She spoke in a stronger tone.
"...Fine." When June was about to start talking about Victor, the two heard an announcement that ran through the entire Witch Kingdom.
"Queen Evie Moriarthy has returned from the meeting of Supernatural Beings!"
"..." The two were silent for a few seconds.
"Continue."
"...Are you going to ignore this?"
"It's not like we can do anything. We're stuck here, and acting normal is the best choice we can make right now."
"...Ugh..."
"Stop mumbling and tell me about the new Count! Being as handsome as he is, and with a reputation for being surrounded by women, he must have laid his hand on you, and taken your virginity, right?"
Blushing a little at Yue's tone, June said:
"He's not a Playboy... Let's just say he has peculiar taste."
"Oh? What kind of woman does he like." She picked up a pen and a notepad.
June took on a lifeless face, not-so-pleasant memories of her time with Victor flashing through her mind.
"..." Yue raised a curious eyebrow.
Soon June began to speak.
"Simple and easy to understand, he likes battle maniacs who take pleasure in fighting, sadistic and possibly sociopathic women who enjoy torturing their enemies, Yandere pursuers who could possibly stab him."
"...." Yue just opened her mouth and eyes in shock.
"Oh." June seemed to have remembered something, and said:
"He likes older women too, possibly those who already have female children. Milfs in a nutshell."
"And if this woman has any of those characteristics that I mentioned before, it will be even better for him, after all, he can relate to the mother and daughter, and do threesome or as the weebs of Japan say: Oyakodon."
"...."
After a long and gigantic silence, Yue just spoke:
"You suffered, huh."
With the same lifeless face, she spoke:
"You get used to it."
"...."
"Tell me more about him..." It was worth mentioning that Yue wasn't normal, and her curiosity was piqued even more now.
June just took a long breath:
"Give me some juice, the conversation will be long."
"Sure~."
.....