Chapter 1012: Compensation for Psychological Damage

The chosen plain lay a few dozen kilometers from Asgard’s main walls, close enough to be integrated into the kingdom’s railway routes and defenses, but far enough that no one would have to wake up with a three-thousand-year-old tower floating over their house.

Monica stood before an enormous territorial projection suspended in the air, analyzing lines, measurements, and connection points while Selene walked around her with her staff resting over one shoulder. The terrain was almost completely flat, surrounded by small hills and crossed by a river a few kilometers to the north, which would make both physical expansion and transportation easier. To Monica, it still seemed too little considering everything Selene had shown Strax and Frieren.

"So that’s really all?" Monica asked, pointing toward the area marked on the map. "One main territory of this size and access to the mana network? You’re talking about transferring an entire organization, Selene. I can offer additional land to the north, rights over some crystal mines, and even an exclusive commercial corridor while you’re establishing yourselves. I’d rather spend more now and guarantee an agreement that still works two hundred years from now."

Selene tilted her head, studying Asgard’s administrator as though she were still getting used to the idea of a ruler offering more than she had asked for.

"Fortunately, space has never exactly been a problem for Witches. With spatial magic, we can compress interiors without greatly altering the exterior area. A tower fifty meters wide can contain kilometers of corridors, laboratories, storage rooms, and dormitories, as long as there is enough mana to sustain the spatial difference. As long as we have magical crystals and a stable energy source, we can continue expanding inward instead of outward."

Monica frowned.

"I’m not talking only about physical space."

Selene smiled.

Monica narrowed her eyes.

"You understood perfectly well what I meant."

"I did." Selene dismissed the projection with a lazy movement of one hand. "And yet that’s the only thing that truly matters to us right now. The Congregation doesn’t need its own farmland, exclusive mines, or entire regions handed over by Asgard just to make the treaty more attractive. Fortunately, Witches have practically everything they need. Libraries, techniques, accumulated materials, artifacts, production systems, and enough money to buy whatever is missing."

Strangely enough, that made Monica more uneasy than if Selene had demanded half the territory.

She crossed her arms and looked at the plain again.

"You understand why that’s strange to me, right? Everyone wants something. Territory, resources, privileges, influence, tax exemptions. You’re offering barriers, knowledge, hundreds of specialists, and absurd infrastructure in exchange for a place to live and freedom to research."

"We also want stability."

"That still sounds cheap."

Selene laughed quietly.

"You’re so used to negotiating with people trying to tear something away from Asgard that now you’re suspicious when someone genuinely wants exactly what they’re asking for."

"That’s how I avoid losing Asgard to stupid contracts."

"An admirable quality."

Monica gave her a dry look.

Selene kept smiling.

"Don’t worry so much. When we move, I’ll keep all the Witches on a leash so they don’t cause problems for your kingdom."

Monica stared at her for a few seconds.

"You do realize saying that does not make me feel better."

"It should."

"You just admitted that you need to put hundreds of extremely powerful and curious women on a leash."

"Metaphorically."

"I hope so."

Selene laughed and began walking across the plain, making small marks in the ground with the tip of her staff. Each touch created a temporary rune indicating possible spatial anchoring points.

"In practice, I don’t think we’ll have major problems. The Congregation has very strict internal rules when it comes to interfering with external territories. Researching something dangerous is one thing. Releasing some experimental creature in Asgard’s market is something completely different."

Monica stopped.

"That comparison was far too specific."

"It didn’t happen."

"Selene."

"Not in Asgard."

Monica closed her eyes.

The Great Witch decided to continue before another question appeared.

"Anyway, the Witches know this move is important. Most are tired of the decay of the old cores and understand that remaining isolated is not sustainable forever. I honestly think the integration will go more smoothly than you imagine."

It was at exactly that moment that the space beside Selene opened.

A small oval portal suddenly appeared, wrapped in a bluish layer of mana. A young mage stumbled through it, nearly tripping over her own feet, holding her hat with one hand and a communication crystal in the other. She looked first at Monica, then at Selene, and immediately straightened her posture.

"Boss, we have a problem."

Selene closed her eyes.

Monica noticed immediately.

"Don’t say anything," Selene muttered.

The subordinate hesitated.

Selene opened her eyes again and asked with a completely exhausted expression:

"What happened?"

"One of ours is..." The mage carefully searched for the word. "Well... freaking out about the move."

Selene remained silent for two seconds.

Then sighed.

"Let me guess. Evangeline?"

The young woman swallowed.

"Y-Yes..."

Selene raised two fingers to her forehead and slowly massaged her temple.

"Ah... having idiot subordinates gets tiring sometimes."

Monica raised an eyebrow.

"Is that one of the Witches you plan to keep on a leash?"

"One of the reasons I invented the expression."

The subordinate tried to hide a small smile and failed miserably.

Selene noticed.

"You’re on the list too."

The woman immediately became serious again.

"Yes, boss."

Monica discreetly exhaled through her nose, fighting the urge to laugh. There was something comforting about discovering that even a millennia-old organization full of women capable of distorting space suffered from exactly the same problem as any ordinary administration: subordinates causing trouble while their superiors were busy.

Selene raised her staff and opened another portal, this time much more stable. On the other side, Monica immediately recognized her own office, including the mountain of documents she had left on the desk before coming there.

"I’d better deal with this before something explodes."

Monica looked at the portal.

"You can open a passage directly into my office without a prepared anchor?"

"I can now."

Monica slowly turned her head.

Selene smiled.

"You authorized access to city hall yesterday."

"I authorized entry into city hall."

"Technical details."

"We’re adding rules about internal teleportation to the contract."

"I figured you would."

Monica walked toward the portal, but stopped before crossing.

"When you finish dealing with your Witch having a breakdown, send me the final measurements and estimated core consumption. I also want a list of the structures that will be teleported and an estimate of how many people are actually coming in the first transfer."

"I’ll send it today."

"And Selene?"

"Hmm?"

Monica looked at the plain again.

"I still think it’s strange that you’re asking for so little."

The Great Witch’s smile faded slightly, becoming more sincere.

"Then wait until you get to know them better. Maybe you’ll discover that the price of living with us is patience."

Monica let out a short laugh.

"I have that."

"You’ll need more."

"Great."

She stepped through the portal.

The passage closed immediately behind her.

Selene’s smile disappeared.

Not slowly.

It simply vanished.

The lightness in her eyes gave way to such sudden coldness that the subordinate in front of her straightened her posture even more. Selene planted her staff against the ground and turned fully toward her.

"Now."

The young woman froze.

Selene narrowed her eyes.

"What did Evangeline do?"

The mage took a deep breath.

"Technically... nothing yet."

Selene became more worried.

"That sentence always means something worse is coming."

"She found out about the transfer."

"Naturally. The entire Congregation should already know."

"That’s the problem."

Selene waited.

The young woman looked away for a moment.

"She’s upset because no one personally told her that we’re moving."

Silence.

Selene blinked.

"That’s it?"

"Not exactly."

"Continue."

"She said she’s lived in the same tower for six hundred and twenty years, that no one asked for her opinion, and that she won’t allow ’an orange Great Witch with main-character syndrome to take her house and throw it onto some random plot of land because she found a pretty dragon.’"

Selene went completely still.

The subordinate swallowed.

"Her words."

"Naturally."

"And then she locked down her sector."

Selene took a deep breath.

"How many barriers?"

"All of them."

"How many is all of them?"

"Forty-three."

Selene’s eye twitched.

"Evangeline installed forty-three barriers in her own laboratory?"

"Apparently there were fifty-one, but eight are broken."

"Why?"

"She forgot how to turn them off."

Selene slowly dragged one hand down her face.

The young woman continued, because clearly she had already gone too far to stop now.

"She also transformed the stairs of the West Tower into some kind of dimensional labyrinth and put a message at the entrance saying that anyone sent to convince her will be turned into a frog."

Selene lowered her hand.

"Can she turn people into frogs?"

"No."

"Good."

"But she’s been trying for four hundred years."

Selene stared at the subordinate.

"That does not improve the situation."

"I know."

"How many people are trapped in the labyrinth?"

The young woman made a complicated expression.

"Twenty-seven."

"Witches?"

"Twenty-five."

"And the other two?"

"Delivery people."

Selene closed her eyes again.

"How did delivery people get into a restricted area of the Congregation?"

"Evangeline ordered food."

"Of course."

The mana around the Great Witch began to grow heavier.

The subordinate discreetly took one step back.

Selene opened her eyes.

"Open the portal."

"To the West Tower?"

"To inside her laboratory."

The young woman’s eyes widened.

"She blocked teleportation."

Selene smiled.

It was not a pleasant smile.

"She blocked her teleportation."

The subordinate understood.

She quickly raised her hands and began forming a passage, but Selene made an impatient gesture and simply tore space open with her staff. A portal appeared before them, revealing a corridor on the other side completely covered in red symbols and handwritten signs.

One of them read:

I AM NOT MOVING.

Another:

SELENE IS A DICTATOR.

And a third, considerably larger one:

IF THE DRAGON IS THAT GREAT, MARRY HIM AND LEAVE MY TOWER ALONE.

Selene stared at the last sign.

The subordinate did not dare make a sound.

Finally, Selene took a deep breath.

"I changed my mind."

"Boss?"

"Monica was right."

"About what?"

Selene walked through the portal with a dangerously calm expression.

"I need to offer Asgard much more."

The young woman followed behind her, confused.

"More territory?"

Selene gripped her staff with both hands.

"Compensation for psychological damage."