1.
The sailors had put Amelia and Siwoo in a vulnerable state where neither of them would be able to leave the situation alive; however, when the witch Baroness Avenega interfered, the issue was soon resolved.
Due to Siwoo's magic spell, everyone was made aware that such an incident had occurred. Even though it was late at night, the guards were able to close the sea route leading toward the gate to the modern world in less than ten minutes, preventing the criminals from fleeing to the modern world.
All of the Naga crew members, who had been organized for the mission, were dragged by the coast guards when they arrived on the scene.
Larissa tried to say something to him while she was being dragged away, but the chaotic situation made it impossible for him to understand her.
Despite his exhaustion, Siwoo knew he had to give Sophia a clear account of the events that had just transpired, even though not much time had passed since the incident took place.
He had to mention using Amelia as a tool at one point in the explanation when he was describing how he generated mana. There was no getting away from the fact that he had sucked Amelia's breast, even if it was inevitable.
Even though Sophia had forgiven him, Siwoo still felt that his actions were shameful.
The consequences would be dire if Amelia ever found out about this.
"Well… I see."
They moved into a different guest room as the one they were in before was messed up due to the earlier ruckus.
Sophia, who was sitting next to the bed where Amelia was sleeping, gently nodded her head after hearing Siwoo's report.
"The janitor's course of action is truly peculiar. In a situation like this, the first thing anyone would think of is running away."
"No, my Lady. I would never do that."
"That's a compliment. You really should be happy for your bravery."
It was hard for Siwoo to accept the compliment freely and after much consideration, he decided to ask Sophia a question regarding the situation.
"Well, it's a bit late, but don't you need to directly interrogate the crew members about who was the mastermind behind this incident?"
The mastermind behind this work was an outcast witch, one who had been banished from the city.
In reality, it meant that all the Naga crew members, including Larissa, who were captured were pawns used by the witch.
"I heard Amelia fell asleep right after a drink. Obviously, among the outcasts, there's the "Witch of Aquarius," who is proficient enough to put Amelia to sleep using her alchemy. Well, either way, it's not anything you should be concerned about."
He couldn't even leave Gehenna if he wanted to let alone intervene in disputes between witches in this realm. Siwoo simply lacked any power to do so.
"Oh and regarding Amelia, there's nothing to be worried about. She'll have a headache in the morning when she wakes up for sure. In fact, if it was poisonous enough to cause an issue in the first place, the autonomous defense spell would have taken care of it."
"I see."
Fortunately, she was in better shape than he had anticipated.
Despite his dislike for Amelia, the thought of her being in danger caused a pain in his heart.
"Anyway, I'll have to finish what I was talking about. I cherish and love Amelia like a little sister. Therefore, I want to reward you for risking your life to protect Amelia."
Sophia stretched out her arm and patted Siwoo gently on the head.
When she stretched her arm, he unintentionally caught sight of her swaying, partially exposed symbol of motherhood, which was as large as a pair of melons.
"What do you want as a reward?"
In an alluring voice, she asked him.
Even though her tone was soft, Siwoo could detect a seductive tone in her voice that made him feel a bit uncomfortable.
"…Can you get me out of here?"
"I apologize for declaring so boldly that you can request a reward from me. But the request you've made is quite difficult."
He had made the request on the spur of the moment, and got rejected.
Sending Siwoo outside of Gehenna would have been a simple task for either Sophia or Amelia.
"It's natural for you to ask for your freedom, but I want you to stay with Amelia a little longer."
He may have been able to flee Gehenna if he had a better understanding of the city's legal system. He wasn't quite sure of the city's legislation, so he believed that the procedure would be a little complicated. Sophia had wanted to repay him for saving Amelia. As a result, he intended to seek Sophia's aid in fleeing this place. This was easier than going through a complicated process and meddling with Gehenna's authority.
However, Sophia was unable to accept such a request, so he had to come up with another.
"Then can you pretend that nothing happened today?"
Sophia's reaction to his new request was hilarious.
She stared at him with her mouth agape,her eyes wide open; she was more shocked now than she had been when Siwoo had requested her not to kill Clarissa.
"Janitor, are you certain? You saved the life of a witch. Your good deed is enough to grant you citizenship in Gehenna."
"I'd appreciate it if you'd let the matter go without asking me any further questions."
Witches were familiar with how magic operated and the amount of mana needed to cast certain spells.
He could be assured about his secret because Sophia didn't care enough to go into details about how he generated mana. But if someone other than her wanted to dig up information about the incident, they would learn that the mana capacity in the magic lamp was insufficient to cast the 'Skyboard' spell.
They would naturally be suspicious as to how a mere slave had managed to gather enough mana to cast such a spell.
It was difficult to predict how much information could be dug up if more thorough examinations were done in this manner.
In this case, the best thing to do was just to bury the information about this incident.
In any case, if he accepted Amelia's previous offer to become her assistant, and had access to better quality magical materials, he could complete the magic circle he was creating to escape from Gehenna more quickly.
However, it would only be possible if Sophia agreed with his request and covered up the incident.
"Well, do you want me to hide the kidnapping thing and the fact that you can use magic?"
"Yes,"
"I understand that there may be a valid reason for your request, but does it also mean that I should not ask for an explanation?"
"Of course, I beg you."
Despite his absurd request, Sophia smiled and nodded.
Her agreeing to the majority of his requests surprised him. Sophia seemed to have given him more than he had anticipated in terms of compensation for saving Amelia's life.
"If so, I'll have to make up an excuse for why I imprisoned the sailors. All right, I'll do it for you."
"I really appreciate it."
After thanking her, Siwoo put his palm on his chest and breathed a sigh of relief.
It was an eventful day.
He could feel the fatigue set in as soon as the case was settled.
Siwoo felt that it would've been better had he not witnessed the sight of Sophia turning Fyodor. The experience left him tense and uneasy.
He still couldn't let his guard down around her and pondered when she would leave.
"?"
Siwoo stared back at Sophia, who cocked her head and seemed to be confused. She appeared as though she wasn't even considering getting up from the bed's side.
"Do you have anything to say?"
"Sorry, it's nothing."
He wanted to ask, "Why are you staring at me like that?" but he swallowed back his words.
Slaves weren't supposed to ask witches for anything in the beginning. But he kept forgetting that since he spent time with reasonable witches like Amelia and the twins, who were likely to heed his request should he make one.
"I am allowing you because of your great personality and good looks."
Sophia looked at Siwoo while licking her lips.
It seemed that Takasho had been recently asked by Sophia to spend every holiday at her home.
She was a witch who relished in having sexual interactions with handsome slaves. Given that she was admiring his appearance and demeanor, it seemed likely that she had been thinking of inviting him in a similar manner to how she invited Takasho.
"Could I also ask a favor of you?"
"Please give me whatever commands you have."
Siwoo politely bowed his head.
He was about to kneel on the ground, but he refrained from doing so, lest it was deemed inappropriate.
"Take care of Amelia. She may appear grumpy on the surface, but she is a lovely girl."
"Pardon?"
However, the words that came from Sophia's mouth was something that Siwoo would never have expected.
He had thought that she would ask him to serve her at night.
"How could I, as a slave…"
"Isn't it because you despise her since she's a terrible witch who delights in torturing?"
"No, I never thought like that."
"What a hassle for you it must have been. You have my sincere gratitude for not hating Amelia."
Siwoo bowed his head, subtly agreeing to carry out the favor
He didn't want to give the impression that he hated Amelia by denying her request.
It wasn't impossible for Sophia to be using a psychological trick and subtly influence Siwoo's answers to get the answer she wants to hear from him.
"She's lonely, despondent, and foolish. It's all because she lacks experience. It's not because she hates you."
"Who… are you talking about?"
"Amelia."
No way.
Despite the fact that he didn't say the words, it appeared as though his expression of disbelief conveyed it to her.
Sophia smiled slightly while covering her mouth.
"Just take a look at the state she's in today. At the inn, she drank the wrong drink and passed out. She appears to be stern, but she is actually quite clumsy and doesn't know how to handle people."
Sophia was bringing up all of Amelia's inadequacies in an effort to get Siwoo to agree to take care of the clumsy witch. He had assumed that Sophia's reasoning to support Amelia would continue, but she abruptly stopped.
"But if I say too much, it won't be fun. I'll let it go for the fun in the future."
"I'm sorry, but I don't quite understand what you're saying. But I'll try my best to take good care of Lady Amelia."
Siwoo, responding to Sophia's question, reassured her that he would take good care of her daughter, just as a devoted son-in-law would. He then attempted to leave the room.
"Janitor Shin Siwoo."
Sophia called out to Siwoo once more as he reached for the doorknob to leave and enter another room where he planned to take a quick nap.
"Your decision today was a wise choice."
"I just did what I was supposed to do."
"No, not that, but the rest."
There was something ominous about Sophia's amber eyes as they flickered in the dimly lighted room like the glow of a candle.
Because it seemed to demonstrate unequivocally that she was not human.
"If you had handed Amelia to them and gone over to the modern world, you would have died."
Sophia's usually calm voice now held a menacing tone, causing a shiver to run down Siwoo's core.
"The Witch of Aquarius is famous for grinding humans into experimental materials. Perhaps if they gave Amelia to her, she would use them as well in certain… experiments."
Ironically, Siwoo's earlier action also saved the crew members of the ship.
"Even if that wasn't the case, I don't think I would've forgiven you for betraying Amelia."
Sophia smiled subtly at Siwoo, whose body tensed in nervousness after realizing he had unknowingly passed two death flags.
"Anyway, go rest now. I've taken up too much of your time."
2.
Siwoo said goodnight and entered the neighboring room, all the while feeling a sense of unease.
As the sailors of the Naga, who were supposed to stay in the rooms today, were captured, the rooms were all empty, so he could choose to rest anywhere in the inn.
Was it around 4 o'clock?
It was uncertain when Amelia would wake up, but it was clear that Siwoo would not be able to sleep much.
However, no matter how hard he tried, Siwoo was unable to fall asleep.
When he was in a dangerous situation, his heart might occasionally race, but that was a fairly minor issue in comparison to another thing that had been occupying his mind for quite a while.
The question of why didn't Amelia's autonomous-defense spell activate for Siwoo.
The autonomous defense was an extremely high degree of magic, as was evident from the fact that it wouldn't appear in a witch's body until she reached 15 tiers or above.
A significant amount of poison had been detoxified as soon as it entered the body thanks to the magic's effectiveness, and even if she were to trod on a mine, the hem of her clothing would be left unscathed.
That wasn't the only thing.
The adaptability of the triggering conditions was what made autonomous defense unique.
Unlike physical shocks, it was activated by detecting 'malice,' a type of emotion, and occasionally its activation was stopped by concluding that the individuals who were present had no malice.
Siwoo both hated and disliked Amelia.
Although he thought she was attractive, she was also dull, arrogant, and stuffy.
Didn't that make him someone who harbored ill will against her?
Why was he unable to trigger her autonomous defense?
The questions didn't stop there.
Thinking back, Siwoo had obviously undressed Amelia, who was sleeping.
It was a necessary course of action in order to stimulate his libido.
Heck, he had even sucked on her nipple.
However, even after committing such vile acts, the autonomous defense did not activate.
"Why?"
That confused Siwoo the most.
It was not just the opponents' feelings that determined how responsive autonomous defense was.
Depending on how the party who owned the brand was feeling, the circumstances under which the autonomous defense may be invoked were changed.
No matter how innocent the opponent looked, the autonomous defense would still function if the parties desired so.
There was a saying, 'Don't wake the sleeping witch.'
"That means…"
Did that imply that Amelia didn't feel anything awkward or weird when Siwoo sucked her breasts?
That was impossible.
He couldn't comprehend the concept of it since it wasn't the expected reaction to his behavior.
While Siwoo was tossing and turning, the door creaked and opened.
Siwoo got up in a panic.
He looked to be suffering from mental instability after a day in which he came dangerously close to dying.
The person who entered his room was none other than Sophia who was holding a lamp in one hand.
"Ms. Professor, what brings you here?"
He quickly got out of bed.
Sophia entered the room with a gentle smile.
"Come to think of it, I don't think you've been rewarded enough yet."
"No, I really am grateful to you for covering this matter quietly."
"It is, but this is a personal gift that I want to give you."
Like a crow, Sophia used her long, slender fingers to release the strings of the black robe.
She then loosened her collar just a little to reveal her breasts.
What was vividly seen in the light of the faint mana lamp was a symbol of maternal love that only existed in women.
In other words, it was her breasts.
"With Amelia, you did this and that. Wouldn't it be hard for a man to go to bed right away?"
Siwoo opened his mouth wide and looked at her breasts without saying a word, and it took a moment for the meaning of Sophia's words to sink in.
Wait a minute.
What did she mean when she said that he had done this and that to Amelia?
"I'll make you feel comfortable."
Sophia knew about it.
The "skyboard" spell, infamous for wasting mana, couldn't be cast with just the mana in the lamp.
"Take your little friend out and sleep comfortably."
Sophia licked her lips habitually.
E/N: "I don't think you've been rewarded enough yet", just say you want a taste of my boy Siwoo..