Jihyo was starting to rethink her choice of neighborhood. Sure, she was just down the path from her bestie Jeongyeon, whom she fought alongside during the insurrection, and alright she might have some powers, but she wasn’t a practicing witch, her friend was. Just because Jeongyeon’s place was a lively little cottage, all white and moss on the roof, with the front lawn perfectly trimmed and filled with daisies, and Jihyo opted for the classier choice (as she claims) and had her property surrounded by a little gray stone wall, her house was black wood and her front door was blood red, and fine, maybe the red rose bushes that never withered (courtesy of said friend) might give her place a certain “vibe”, but come on! It’s obvious that the witch doesn’t live there.

Now, nobody really has the heart to tell Jihyo her home looks like somewhere a coven lived, and not a single soul would actually go for the lively little house down the path if they were looking for some magical fix. Jeongyeon, in turn, was a bit of an airhead. Don’t get me wrong, she was the best at what she did, but a little blind to social cues, so she didn’t really understand why people kept going to her friend’s house when looking for her either. In truth, Jihyo was just a huge goth. Yeah, underwhelming, I know, but that’s really just it. 

Sure, she was a paladin and fought against the nobles and for the magical creatures back in the day, but she did get into a lot of trouble for dyeing her mantle red and painting her armor black, as opposed to the blue and white her fellow paladins wear. A knock on the door breaks Jihyo away from her contemplative thoughts, she grumbles all the way to the door, already knowing it’s someone looking for Jeongyeon and her potions, not herself. She even placed a sign pointing to the witch’s hut that seems to disappear as many times as she puts it up. It was Jeongyeon, forcing her friend to interact with other beings for, at least, a couple of seconds, otherwise Jihyo would be reduced to the one interaction a month between both of them, whenever the witch stopped by.

“Yes?” Jihyo asked grumpily as she opened the door.

“I’m looking for the witch?” A small, jumpy woman says.

“See the house a little further down?” The paladin is more tired than she sounds, really.

“The white one with the moss roof and the daisies?” The woman sounds doubtful.

“Yeah, it’s over there.”

And Jihyo shuts the door before the woman can answer. This has been happening since the moment Jeongyeon decided she would start selling potions and amulets to adventurers. It’s been a little over fifty years now. But the madness never stops, and Jihyo was preparing lunch when another knock resounded through the house. She drags her feet, pondering about throwing her sword through the door and just finishing whomever is outside, but then she’d stop being a paladin and the trials to become one were too hard for her to lose it like this.

“Witch?” She asks bluntly.

“Yes? It’s you, right?” A young man with a bright smile stands there.

“Down the path, white house with little daisies. Good day.”

Jihyo makes it back to the kitchen before she burns her steak. One more day without her killing Jeongyeon, she can do this. Maybe Jihyo should just move? Then again, she has the sneaky suspicion that Jeongyeon might be interfering, because every time she finds somewhere new, the realtors tell her either someone else made a better offer, or that the owners gave up on selling. This could only happen so many times through some external intervention, but again, paladin. There were also some regulars, they knew where to go, but Jeongyeon told them to drop by and say hi to Jihyo regardless, and all did. Everyone got a kick out of annoying the grumpy paladin and seeing her trying to control herself not to knock them upside the head.

“It’s the next house.” Jihyo says as she opens the door.

“Hey Jyo!” Sana chirps.

“I thought we already talked about not bothering me when you already know this is not Jeong’s place?”

“No, you scolded me.” The succubus bounces inside behind her grumpy friend. “I just listened and promised nothing.”

“Chamomile or jasmine?” Jihyo knew this one would take a while.

“Jasmine!” Sana gushes and makes herself comfortable on one of the sofas. “And your chocolate cookies too!”

“Why do you keep knocking here if you know, for a fact, that Jeongyeon is just down the path?”
 

“I like to spend time with you whenever I come over, of course. Don’t look at me like that, you grump, friends should accompany each other from time to time.” Sana dismisses and reaches for the cookies.

Despite everything, Jihyo was an excellent baker. She spent a lot of time by herself, 

and baking was one of her coping mechanisms. It might not be expected, but Jihyo still remembers each and every face she sliced with her sword, every noise they made, every scream. When the ghosts of wars past came to haunt her, baking helped a lot, among other activities, it was mindless and she could just turn her brain off and do something until she was feeling more in control of herself. Working with her hands always helped a lot, it kept her busy and worked out the bad energy that never failed to build up.

Sana stayed for a couple of hours, being forced to go get the door for lost adventurers that were looking for the witch. The succubus could admit it was annoying at best, and figured she might have to talk to Jeongyeon at some point about not stealing the signs Jihyo puts outside. By the fourth knock, Sana just gives up and decides to go and visit the witch already. Jihyo just laughs humorlessly and bids the succubus goodbye, proceeding to clean the living room and wash the tea set they used. The paladin opted to go up to the forest line behind her house and look for some herbs, she did have a nice ham she’d been meaning to roast for a while now, might as well get some kindle and a few herbs for that.

As their trials granted them, paladins did have enhanced senses, Jihyo heard about two or three people knocking on her door while she was out, but opted to ignore them and keep on with the task at hand. The next morning, once again, comes with the grumpy loner carving on her front door that the witch’s house was down the path, in golden letters and very visible to anyone who came closer intending on knocking. The problem was, Jeongyeon always seemed to just know whenever she put that up and wasted no time on taking it down. Maybe she asked the adventurers? Who knows. (Jeongyeon. Jeongyeon knows)

Next morning, as expected, the first knock of the day came bright and early. Jihyo wasn’t even bothered to remove her fluffy robe nor to leave her coffee mug on the table, opting to just get this over with already.

“The witch is down the pa-”

“I know.” A tall, sharp looking and rather cute woman smiles cheekily.

“Hey, Tzu.” Jihyo says and gestures for the necromancer to come inside. “I didn’t know you knew where I lived.”

“I asked Jeong. I’m here to declare my undying love and ask for your hand.” 

“You. What?” The paladin is certainly surprised.

Tzuyu giggles and grabs the mug before it spills. “Your sign is still up. I’m here for you, not Jeong.”

Seeing that the grumpy woman won’t respond anytime soon, Tzuyu guides her to sit down and proceeds to get some breakfast for herself too. Everyone knew Jihyo made the best breakfasts and she certainly wouldn’t be missing out on that. Jihyo was just trying to make sense of this, Tzuyu might be a necromancer, but she is as lively and giddy as Jeongyeon is, maybe that’s the reason those two have been friends for so long. The shorter woman does go and checks her door, and her warning was still there, as bright as when she placed it, looking up, she sees that damned witch giving her the most annoying grin she’s ever seen and two thumbs up. Jihyo can go over and smack her later, right now the pretty girl our paladin always had a bit of a crush on was calling her and she’s not about to be rude to a “guest”.