Secrets of the Atelier: Nights of Magic and Command
In the town of Kieferly, Coco runs a magical atelier. She's a kind but clumsy witch who finally achieves her dream of becoming the apprentice of the master she's admired for so long, Kiefer.
But that very night, Coco learns the truth. The 'special magic' Kiefer teaches requires a deep, physical and mental bond through a ritual of dominance and submission. She's terrified, yet her body burns with an unfamiliar heat as she's ordered to reveal her adult self.
Kiefer has a hidden agenda: to collec
Secrets of the Atelier: Nights of Magic and Command - A carved back, aching magical power
Morning light filtered thinly through the gaps in the curtains.
Koko woke in her bed and stared at the ceiling for a while. Old wooden beams stretched across it, light spilling faintly between them. This was her room now.
Three days since she'd come to the atelier. And yet, every morning, she still found herself thinking, *I really am allowed to be here.*
She got up and peered into the small mirror on her desk. She smoothed down her slightly bed-mussed black bob with her fingers. Her deep brown eyes blinked back at her.
(*Let's do my best today, too.*)
She left her room and descended the old staircase. Each step groaned underfoot.
When she reached the workshop on the first floor, Keefree was already there.
His tall frame stood before a high shelf. His silvery hair was slightly disheveled again today. His gray eyes were fixed intently on the pages of an old book he'd taken from the shelf. Cold eyes. But Koko already knew that something burned behind them.
"Good morning, Professor."
Keefree slowly raised his head.
"You've come."
His voice was as flat as ever. Devoid of much emotion, yet somehow it lingered clearly in the ear.
"We shall begin the morning's training. First, a review of the fundamental formulas."
Keefree closed the thick book and walked toward the worktable. The hem of his worn robe dragged faintly across the stone floor.
"To what extent have you trained in drawing upon formula paper?"
Koko thought for a moment.
"Um... basic ignition formulas, and maybe simple levitation formulas..."
"Understood. Then first, attempt the ignition formula."
Keefree held out a well-used stack of formula paper and a small crystal plate for regulating magical power.
Koko took a single sheet. It was the usual training. She could do this.
She took a deep breath.
She spread the paper on the desk and picked up a quill. When she opened the inkpot's lid, a faint herbal scent drifted up. Keefree's special magical ink.
She began to draw the formula circle in the ancient language. Each time the nib moved in fine strokes across the paper, the ink lines glowed faintly blue-white.
(*Focus...*)
Carefully, so as not to make a mistake with the lines.
Soon, a small fire formula circle was complete.
"...It's done."
Keefree nodded silently.
Koko placed her finger on the edge of the paper and slowly channeled her magical power.
In that instant.
*FWOOOOSH!!*
"Eek!"
A fireball, easily three times the normal size, erupted above the paper.
The orb of flame rose nearly to the workshop ceiling, then scattered into crackling sparks and vanished. The air turned hot in an instant.
Koko dropped her quill and frantically gripped the crystal plate. Her fingertips were trembling.
(*Wha... what was that just now...?!*)
Keefree didn't move.
He simply grasped her wrist smoothly, measuring the flow of her magical power through the crystal plate. His fingertips were cold.
After a moment, Keefree spoke.
"Your magical power is too pure."
"P... pure?"
"Ordinary formula magic is easily influenced by the caster's emotions and environment. But your magical power has almost none of that contamination. It is undifferentiated, pure magical power."
Keefree's gray eyes glinted for just an instant.
The same as that night. The same look he'd had when he grasped my wrist on the first day of my apprenticeship.
I couldn't tell if he was pleased, or if I should be afraid.
"...Is there something wrong with my magical power?"
"There is nothing wrong. On the contrary—it is extremely precious."
Keefree released her wrist.
"From now, we shall conduct different training today. Follow me."
From then until past noon, Koko was made to attempt one advanced formula after another. All of them were things one would normally tackle only after much more training.
And yet, somehow, she could do them. She failed some, too, but each one had a *feeling* that she could succeed.
Throughout it all, Keefree silently took notes on the state of her magical power.
His eyes were those of an observer.
Not sparkling with curiosity, or the joy of teaching. Nothing like that.
(*It's almost like... he's researching me.*)
Koko tucked that small sense of unease deep into her heart.
After all, Professor Keefree was the person she admired.
She was being acknowledged. Wasn't that enough?
Early afternoon.
"I have an errand for you. At the Grimoire Trading Company, one gram each of moonlight moss and star-frost herb."
Handed a memo by Keefree, Koko headed into town.
The trade district was bustling again today.
Cargo wagons rattled over the cobblestones, and merchants shouted in vigorous voices. The scent of spices drifted from somewhere, almost making her sneeze.
The Grimoire Trading Company was located a little way back in the trade district.
Bottles of magical materials lined the storefront, and the sign read "Grimoire Trading - Quality You Can Trust."
When she pushed open the wooden door, a bell jangled.
The shop interior was dim, mingling the smells of herbs and old paper. Shelves were crowded with colorful bottles of magical ingredients.
"Welcome."
The person who emerged from the back was an old man streaked with white hair.
His back was slightly bent, but his eyes alone were extremely sharp. The eyes of a merchant.
"Um, I've come on an errand for Professor Keefree. One gram each of moonlight moss and star-frost herb..."
When Koko held out the memo, the old man's—Balthazar's—hand stopped for a moment.
"You're Keefree's new apprentice, eh."
"Yes, my name is Koko."
Balthazar looked at Koko in silence for a while.
His gaze stung, just a little.
"...Be careful of that professor."
His voice suddenly dropped low.
"Huh...?"
"He's had apprentices before. Several of them. But—they all suddenly vanished."
Something thumped deep in Koko's chest.
"Vanished...?"
"I can't say any more. Just—a warning. Be careful."
Balthazar closed his mouth firmly after that, swiftly wrapped the materials, and handed them over.
Koko paid and left the shop in a daze.
The sunlight outside was dazzling.
(*The previous apprentices all vanished...?*)
Professor Keefree's cold, observing eyes surfaced in her mind.
But—no.
Surely it was some kind of mistake.
After all, the professor was teaching her so many things. He told her she was special.
"...It's fine."
She told herself that, and hurried back toward the atelier.
Pretending not to notice the small thorn still lodged deep in her heart.
Night came.
Outside the atelier's windows, the light of pale magical lamps flickered.
Koko had just finished gnawing on her dinner bread in her room.
Then, there was a knock at the door.
"Koko, come to the workshop."
It was Keefree's voice. It felt a little lower than usual.
The sound of her footsteps descending the stairs seemed to overlap with the beat of her own heart.
She opened the workshop door.
In the center of the room, a thick tome of ancient language was spread open. The pages were yellowed, torn in places.
Beside it—a single brush.
The brush tip glowed faintly gold. It was no ordinary brush. A special brush, imbued with magical power.
And, a cold stone treatment table.
"Tonight is your first true lesson."
Keefree spoke without looking up from the tome.
"Remove your outer garment and lie face down on the treatment table."
"...Huh?"
"We shall perform the blessing art engraving. Bare your back."
The blessing art. A forbidden art that carved formulas directly into the body.
Koko caught her breath.
She had to do it. If the professor said so.
Because—she had chosen to come here.
With trembling fingers, she slipped her robe off her shoulders. Each time she unbuttoned her white shirt, her fingertips wouldn't move properly.
Her top fell to the floor.
Cold air touched her skin, raising goosebumps.
Koko slowly approached the treatment table and lay face down. The cold of the stone seeped into her chest and stomach.
"I shall begin."
Keefree's long fingers touched the space between her shoulder blades.
Cold.
Then—the moment the brush tip made contact.
"—Nngh!!"
It felt as if a heated needle had been driven into her.
Each time the brush moved, a sharp pain raced across her skin. From the center of her back, up around her shoulder blades. Some kind of pattern was being drawn. An ancient formula circle, directly onto her body.
"Nn... ah...!"
She clenched her teeth. But her voice leaked out anyway.
Tears welled up, blurring her vision. It hurt. It hurt so much.
But—.
After a while, the pain began to change.
The burning pain transformed into a spreading warmth.
That warmth slowly expanded from her back to her hips, deep into her stomach.
As if something warm was seeping into the deepest part of her body.
"Ah... what is... this..."
Her own voice was trembling slightly. From the pain? Or—.
Keefree's brush didn't stop.
From between her shoulder blades, along her spine, down to above her hips. A complex pattern was being carved.
Each time, the magical power within Koko pulsed violently. Throbbing, rampaging, independent of her will.
And then—.
"Nn... aah...!"
The pain vanished.
In its place, an electric-like pleasure shot through her entire body from her back.
She desperately fought to keep her hips from lifting. Her fingers scratched at the stone of the treatment table. Her breathing grew ragged.
(*No... this is wrong, this is...*)
She thought so in her head.
Yet her body craved more and more of this sensation.
"This is the path you desired."
Keefree's low voice sounded near her ear.
"The blessing art is only complete through a deep union of mind and body. Your magical power is resonating with my formula."
His finger traced over the engraving.
"Hyah...!"
Her back arched with a jolt.
In that instant, a golden light shot through from between her shoulder blades.
The engraving was complete.
All strength left her body, and Koko collapsed limply onto the treatment table.
She couldn't breathe properly. Tears spilled from the corners of her eyes, falling onto the cold stone.
"...That is all for today. The engraving is still shallow. Next time, we shall carve it deeper."
Keefree set down the brush and closed the ancient tome.
"Your magical power is special. With that purity, even the lost blessing arts of antiquity could be recreated."
Koko couldn't answer.
Only, the core of her body was still hot, the area around her shoulder blades pulsing independently of her will.
She felt herself being dominated by Professor Keefree.
Even though it was frightening.
Even though she hated it.
Her body had already memorized the pleasure from moments ago.
(*What's... going to happen to me?*)
The next morning.
Koko was desperately peering into the small mirror in her room.
She aimed a hand mirror at her back, looking at the reflection of her back in the mirror on the wall.
Between her shoulder blades—a complex golden formula pattern glowed faintly.
Lines intertwined in layers, circles and straight lines intersecting. Small ancient characters were embedded within the pattern, flickering softly, gently, in time with her breathing.
"...It's beautiful."
She murmured it without thinking.
But immediately, an intense embarrassment surged up.
The sounds she'd made last night. How her body had reacted.
Just remembering it made her face burn.
She touched the engraving gently with a fingertip.
She thought it would be cold, but it wasn't. It was faintly warm. At her touch, her magical power resonated, sending a small, tingling numbness through her fingertip.
Her pure magical power was connected to something through this engraving. To the professor's magical power—surely.
(*So this is... the blessing art.*)
She knew it was a forbidden art. Something that shouldn't be used.
But—it had already begun.
She couldn't escape.
No... maybe she didn't want to escape.
That pleasure, again.
"...What am I thinking."
Koko turned the mirror face down.
Just then, there was a knock at the door.
"K
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