Chapter 179: Witch of Batomata (4)

"Correct. The Central can't have a King. But it's not because there are big overlords that have almost the same power and prestige. It's because it already has a King." The magician said in a soft voice.

"What? A King in Central? Are you serious? Who is it?" Koshikawa was shocked at the revelation.

"What if I tell you that the Central itself is the King?"

"How…" Koshikawa paused, then laughed out loud for some reason. "It has been interesting to have a conversation with you. I'll be sleeping now." He closed his eyes.

The magician shook his head, then looked out of the window as if remembering some things. A while later, he sighed. 'No point in thinking about it, what's done is done.' He reached out to the light switch and turned it off.

***

Next morning.

Aya woke up. Raising her upper body, she looked at her left and saw Asuka sleeping soundly. They had been in a different room for the night. 'I wonder if the others are up yet. Should I wake her up?'

She looked at her wrist-watch. "9:50." Seeing that it's late morning, she hurriedly got out of the bed and shook Asuka's body. "Asuka, wake up."

A few seconds later, Asuka rubbed her eyes and got up. Yawning, she asked, "Are the others up yet?"

"I was wondering the same thing. Let's go and check."

Both of them exited the room and went to the room where the boys were at.

*Knock*

*Knock*

"Imada? It's us."

"Oh wait, let me open it." Imada's voice came from the other side.

The door opened.

Imada was holding the door. Sakai was yawning sitting on his bed. The magician was stretching. The only one asleep was Koyami.

"Did you see anyone while coming here?" Imada asked.

Aya shook her head.

"What's with that guy? Does he think that this is his home?" Asuka complained looking at Koyami sleeping soundly, just like her a while ago.

"Haha!" Sakai laughed. "A kick at his rear is enough to wake him up, wanna see?" 

The moment Sakai said that, Koyami's eyes trembled and he immediately got up. "I'm up! Let's go!"

Everyone laughed. A moment later, the beautiful woman from last night came and respectfully bowed. "I'm Alanine El Hamadore. Forgive me for being able to introduce myself last night."

The magician stepped forward and extended his hand. "It's of no major issue. Nice to meet you. Thanks for letting us visit the witch. As an [Sealing] type illusionary Gruer User, it would be my extreme pleasure to be able to see the Legendary Witch in person." Back in the days, the witch was one of the greatest illusionary masters. She invented several patents and skills that are being used till this day.

Alanine El Hamadore too extended her hand and shook it.

Imada also stepped forward. "Nice to meet you, I'm Imada."

"I'm Koyami."

"Aya."

"Koshikawa."

"Sakai."

"Asuka."

Just like that, everyone introduced themselves.

"Now that the introductions are over, please follow behind me."

***

The witch was sitting on the sofa of a large room. When she saw several people entering the room, her eyebrows furrowed but she calmly remained seated. Wearing a thin veil and blue floral dress, she got up. 

"Welcome to my humble abode. If there's something you want, tell it as directly as possible. I don't like people who mince words." Her voice was gentle but it was enough to make the teens feel a chill.

'She's certainly got an attitude.' The magician mused. This time, he didn't step forward. He looked at the teens, seeing what they would do. 

Alanine respectfully bowed and went to the side of the witch.

Sakai, Aya, Koshikawa, Asuka and Imada all had a difficult look on their faces. The witch didn't threaten them, yet they felt threatened. The words they had prepared before coming here got stuck on their throat.

Imada let out a deep breath. "We want to go to Central." As soon as he said that, he felt that the psychological pressure on him had been loosened.

The witch sat down on the sofa. "I see… where exactly in the Central?"

Imada looked at others, then looked at the witch again. "Anywhere." Everyone lived in Central but they lived in different parts of Central. He can't be selfish and name the place he lived in.

The witch didn't reply for a long time. 

Every second tightened the hearts of the teens even more.

"I can send you people back but I have got a condition." The witch finally said.

The answer lit the teens' eyes but at the same time, they also became cautious. What if the condition was something unreasonable. Therefore, Imada carefully said, "Please state it. As long as it's within our capabilities, we'll try to do it."

The witch nodded, then gestured to Alanine who was standing beside her. 

Alanine understood the gesture and brought her ears closer to the witch. The latter whispered some words into her ear after which Alanine nodded and then left the room.

A while later, she returned with a white chalk in her hand. Next, standing at a distance of a meter from the witch, she circled around her with the chalk touching the floor. As soon as a complete circle was made, she got up and threw the chalk into the nearby dustbin.

Everyone except for the witch and Alanine was confused by this action.

The witch nodded. "Alright. This is a game. I will send you people back as long as any one of you can reach and touch me. I won't go beyond the circle. After entering the cycle, you have three minutes. If I remain untouched throughout the time period, the condition would fail."

"A game?" Imada had predicted all kinds of different scenarios but this wasn't something he could expect. He looked at his friends and found that they similarly have a strange look.

Koshikawa came to him and patted his shoulders. "This makes it simple and hard at the same time. Simple because the goal is simple. Harder because she is Gold-ranked Gruer User while we aren't even Bronze. She isn't someone we could just touch even if we want to. Do you have a plan?"

Imada thought about how to corner her. "I think the best method would be for us to cover her from all sides."

"I don't have a better idea. Let's try it." Koshikawa said before turning to the others. "Are you just going to stand there dumbly? Mister Magician, you too. In this game, you would play a huge part so please don't continue to admire the beauty of the witch."

The magician rubbed his nose, then coughed. "Idiot. I was only finding weak spots." 

Imada and the others slowly walked towards the witch and stood behind the line.

Koshikawa raised his hand and showed three fingers. "In the count of three, we'll enter the circle."

The others nodded in agreement.

"Three."

Koshikawa closed his ring finger. The others surrounding the witch readied themselves and took a stance.

"Two…" 

Out of everyone's expectations, Koshikawa hurried to the circle and tried to touch the witch.