SHK CH 355 (Patreon)

[Medea's World]

While Sol was lamenting about the inevitability of fate, Medea was walking around and fidgeting under the amused gazes of Ambrosia and Freya.

Once she savored her tea and inwardly wondered if they should try out a new brand one of these days, she asked the question that had been burning on her lips,

“So dear daughter of mine, what are you doing here instead of being by his side?"

"I panicked, Okay?"

Freya chortled as she heard her words but waved her hand in surrender under the resentful gaze of her sister nailing down on her,

“Sorry, sorry, don’t mind me. Pretend that I do not exist.”

The three witches were as colorful as always. Monochrome, pristine white, lively pink, different colors, and personalities clashing and yet residing in harmony.

“What else?”

Ambrosia knew that this shouldn’t be the only reason for her to be hesitating to meet him, Her love for Sol was far too strong and her longing just that great for her to not meet him even when she has the chance to. There was another reason, and she had an inkling to what it may be…

Medea hesitated slightly before releasing a defeated sigh as she confided in her mother, “I… I think I am a bit ashamed as well. I was so sure that when he came back I would be there…welcoming him with good news. Now though, I don’t even know anymore…”

“Is the council still being stubborn?”

Freya asked. The four witches generally didn’t interfere in each other’s sphere of influence. There were no particular rules related to this decision of theirs. It was just a matter of respect and not wishing to be swamped with even more work.

The council was the most tiresome of the four since it was the only one where the commanding witch didn’t have absolute power and was left with a semblance of democracy. Since none of them wanted that job, they had to play rock-paper-scissors.

Medea won all three times by using her powers but was then disqualified for cheating. Freya chortled once again when she remembered the harrowing face Medea made back then.

“Freya!”

“I said I am sorry. Pfft!”

She stood up and began walking away, distancing herself from Medea, knowing that she would not be able to stay serious longer than this.

Once Freya left, Medea sighed, before sitting down and banging her head against the table,

“I know I am being foolish. But ugh…”

“Well, you already did a good job convincing them to have a hearing.”

“But…”

“But Sol will be heavily scrutinized.”

Indeed, there lay the real problem, No. 1  asked that Sol should apologize publicly for what Lustburg had done to them as well as to promise them numerous amendments, big and small, and support that would heavily favor the witches.

Medea gritted her teeth every time she remembered some of the words and conditions that were proposed by the council. Asking Sol to apologize wasn’t a problem per se. But she thought it was useless. Many of the current witches weren’t even alive back then and neither was Sol.

But so be it. She knew that Sol wouldn’t mind doing this. But the more they asked the more Medea began to bristle.

In a way, what they were trying to do was no different than trying to recreate the era of the puppet king. Only this time, rather than the nobles controlling the King, it would be the witches.

They took a few steps back when they learned that Sol was now called the ‘Dragon Emperor’ in the Astral Realm but it didn’t change much of anything really.

The witches were not inferior to any divine beasts and Ambrosia was one of the most powerful demigods in existence. Even though she wasn’t a false god yet, she was no less dangerous than any of the divine beasts. After all, she had the combined knowledge of hundreds of thousands of witches, be they dead or alive.

She was not called the All-knowing for nothing.

Furthermore, the witches also had the support of Asmodeus, the beast of lust. One of the very first divine beasts to ever exist.

No matter from what perspective you looked at this scenario, the witches feared no one in the Astral Realm. Not even the Dragon Empress— Tiamat herself.

After all, Tiamat would not attack them for no reason and even if she did, they would not be completely helpless before her.

This was their pride, their belief in themselves. The conviction to not bow to any entity…

But that pride was destroyed in the Mortal realm because there, someone reigned and they could do absolutely nothing about that person.

The ruler of Lustburg. The blessed of Luxuria. The being with the ultimate backing.

It didn’t matter how strong they were or how strong Asmodeus or Ambrosia was, they were absolutely helpless when facing the King or Queen.

“Do you blame them?”

Medea shook her head, “Once bitten twice shy. They were betrayed by Lustburg because of my stupidity. I understand why they want more initiative this time. But I cannot accept this.”

“And they do not care.”

This was the problem that Medea was facing. If Sol refused their demands, they simply had to ignore Lustburg like they already did for thousands of years. Nothing would change for them.

“Ugh… Mother…”

“I will not order them to do anything against their will. The choice is theirs. Try convincing them and succeed or fail. This is your path, Medea, and you must walk it alone.”

Ambrosia was entirely neutral on this matter. She refused to take a side again like last time. After all, she simply did not know Sol well enough to really take a side in this matter.

Ideally, she would like to observe him for one or two hundred more years, but she wondered if he would even survive that long.

Outside of a few exceptions, Blesseds weren’t really known for their longevity.

“Still, if you are so worried about this… You should go and talk to him about it rather than worrying about it on your own.”

It was when they reached that part that the two of them stopped.

Even though they had been speaking, they were also observing the situation in Lilith’s bedroom. Embarrassed she might be, but Medea had the duty to care for Lilith. There was no way she would not observe her continuously until she was healed or met her demise, as unfortunate and heartbreaking as that might be.

They heard their discussion about how they would need the help of a witch as well as perhaps the entire library causing Medea to leak a disgruntled groan.

“Why…?”

Ambrosia also frowned, but for different reasons. She was very old and knew very well how Fate worked.

As long as a Blessed was in their Heyday, the world itself would bend to whatever shape that was required to help them realize their dreams and aspirations.

A thousand years ago, when Jupiter wished to become King, by some ‘chance’ he found Medea. The one woman who had enough influence and power to help him become King but at the same time didn’t have enough experience to feel his duplicity and insidiousness.

If Jupiter had not stupidly discarded Medea, his end would have been very different.

In the far past, when Echidna wished to create the perfect life, by some ‘chance’ she became friends with both herself and Anubis— the only mortals in the entire world who specialized in exactly what Echidna lacked to complete her goal.

Now, like back then, all the pieces were slowly fitting in place for Sol to reach out to the witches.

But this time, not only Medea, but all the four witches were one way or another related to him.

If before she had wanted to stay absolutely neutral and observe the situation as the observant bystander that she was, now she was wondering if she should change her stance.

But then, what would be the right choice?

‘I hate dealing with these damn Blessed.’

Ambrosia swore under her breath, deciding that she might just need to write a law about fleeing the very moment they meet a Blessed for the witches to follow in the future. This way, there shouldn’t be any more problems to arise that may shake the very foundation of Salem and implicate her dear children.

“Mother, what should we do?”

Medea asked. It wasn’t impossible for witches to roam the mortal world if they wished. They didn’t need to move the council for this, they could simply ask for La Befana to come out.

It might involve some compensation, but this was not a problem.

Ambrosia gave a bitter chuckle and looked up at the sky, “La Befana is the current No. 1 of the council, isn’t she?”

“Fuck!!!”

“Indeed.”

Even Medea could not stop herself from cursing and Ambrosia did not stop her from doing that.

After all, they were indeed in one fucked up situation.

Freya, who had come back after calming her laughing fit was startled when she heard her sister curse like this.

It was rare to see her use such crude language. Much less their mother not even reprimanding her for doing that.

Curious about what happened, she asked and Medea did not argue as she gloomily explained the situation. After all, Freya was as much concerned about this situation as all of them.

When Medea finished her explanation, Freya tilted her head,

“Where is the problem exactly?”

Medea tilted her head too hearing that unexpected question coming from Freya, “La Befana is one of the staunchest voices for isolationism or having Lustburg under our control. The chances that she accepts to help Sol are pretty low and even if she did accept, it would be with a price.”

“And this is why I said that there is no problem.”

Medea was becoming irritated but she did not lose her calm. Freya was generally the most rational out of the four of them. There had to be a reason for her to utter such words.

Once she was asked to explain, Freya shrugged,

“You two thought so much but you forget one simple solution. We opened the gate once because Medea got bewitched by Jupiter, right? So all we have to do is to have Sol bewitch La Befana.”

Ambrosia quite literally face-palmed after hearing that remark. She didn’t know what was worse in this situation.

The fact that her daughter had such a stupid idea— or the fact that this stupid idea had a very high chance of succeeding.

———

AN: (Welp. What do you think of Freya’s Idea?)

My goal is to reach the top 25 in trending (All time/monthly). I know we can do it. If you want to read my other works, join me on P@treon: https://www.p@treon.com/HikaruGenji (Replace the @ with a for those who don’t know about the site)

Changed the gift-to-chapter ratio for a new month because of the changes on WN.

Bonus for Gifts:

A Castle =  2 BC

A golden Gachapon = 5 BC (Spread over a week, otherwise I would die)

Bonus for Priv unlock

10K = 3 BC (Spread over four days)

25K = 8 BC (Spread over a week, otherwise I would die)

Bonus for Golden Tickets

1500 GT = 1 BC