She Is Not a Witch

Hopland had quieted down recently. The events surrounding the Helis and Nisos families had gradually subsided, and life seemed to return to normal.

An observant person would notice that young Master Fernelton of the Nisos family had visited the Tisphone family more frequently lately. Though the two families were related by marriage, this frequency was noticeably higher than usual. The Nisos family had recently lost many orders, and their only fleet had been sent far away, reportedly to import some rare brewing ingredients to break the impasse and re-establish their reputation.

That night, at the ‘Blooming Beach’ cold drink shop.

Though night had fallen, some customers remained under the amber lights. Perhaps some people simply enjoyed the candlelit dinner atmosphere.

Two or three couples could be seen sitting across from each other, speaking softly. In the dim candlelight, their faces seemed to become more beautiful. They whispered sweet nothings, with occasional bursts of laughter.

Loranhil pushed open the door and approached the bar. She wore a black hooded robe, two strands of golden hair peeking out from the hood. Her face was hidden in the hood’s shadow, only her fair, delicate chin visible.

Laniel, sitting inside the shop, waved to signal her to come over directly.

After interacting for a few days, the two had become quite familiar. Loranhil walked over with slight curiosity.

“Lacey, you finally came. I thought you weren’t coming,” Laniel said, a bit dramatically.

“I wouldn’t. If I said I’d come, I would. I should be on time, right?”

“You’re on time, but the journey might not be so smooth. If the carriage gets stuck in traffic, we’ll have to run.”

“Alright, enough talk. Let’s set off now.” With that, Laniel pulled Loranhil out of the shop, turned two corners, and arrived at an alley.

A black carriage waited in the small alley. Its decorations looked quite nice, with rubber wheels and shock absorbers at the bottom.

Laniel pulled the young lady into the carriage. The coachman, who had been waiting for a while, asked no questions and immediately set the horses in motion, the wheels turning.

In the carriage, Laniel looked curiously at Loranhil across from her and asked,

“Lacey, did you accept the teacher’s invitation? She told me to wait for you tonight and go to the theater together.”

“Not yet, but I want to try it first.” Loranhil was still curious about this world and wanted to try many things. Wasn’t that interesting?

“Ah~ You got my hopes up for nothing. I thought we’d be able to perform on stage together in the future.” Laniel pretended to be annoyed, propping her cheeks with her hands and pouting slightly.

“Does Laniel really like performing?”

“I love it. Besides alchemy, my favorite thing is to stand on stage in colorful clothes, listening to the audience’s cheers, seeing them go wild for me, seeing them fall for me, seeing them shout and cheer for me.”

Laniel pointed her index finger at her brow, closing her right eye and looking at Loranhil with her left. Then her finger rotated with her wrist, pointing forward and tracing a 90° arc in the air. A small golden star flew from her fingertip, blooming in the air before dissipating.

“Ta-da~ The great star Laniel makes her entrance.”

Seeing this playful scene, Loranhil couldn’t help but smile.

The two chatted for a while longer, and then Loranhil familiarized herself again with the script and score. Before they knew it, the carriage had arrived at the theater’s back door.

“Eina and the others should have arrived early. We need to hurry.” Laniel led the way for Loranhil.

The backstage corridor of the theater was bustling with people. Some were carrying props, some wore strange clothes, and some actors had their faces fully painted, each looking unique. The two finally entered a dressing room filled with many girls. Many were doing makeup in front of mirrors, while others were helping companions arrange headdresses and check performance costumes.

“Laniel, you’re finally here. I thought you were going to be late.”

“Not at all. I went to pick up a new companion. She’ll be doing backstage singing for us today.”

“Oh… Is this lady also performing today? We’ve often seen her in the shop lately, but unfortunately don’t know her name.”

“Her talent is really good. Last time I heard her sing on the second floor, I thought it was some famous songstress.”

“I heard from Teacher Philia that she might become the lead singer for the next festival.”

“Really? I heard only continent-renowned songstresses are qualified to perform at each festival.”

“It must be true because I think her voice is even more moving than Floris who came to Hopland before.”

“I think so too. That time I was late practicing dance, I almost cried alone in the changing room listening to her.”

“I can’t believe Lika would cry too. Didn’t you always think you had quite a talent for singing?”

“Can’t help it, the gap is too big. I can’t help but be envious. If Teacher Philia said this was the level of the Azure Songstress, I’d believe it.”

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“Enough, if you have time to gossip, why not help me arrange the iris on my head? This is so troublesome.” A girl in a white dress, struggling with a complex headdress, finally couldn’t bear her companions’ gossip and spoke up.

“Who told you to be the female lead today? Of course, you have more clothes and decorations.” Two girls chattered as they helped the white-dressed girl arrange her headdress.

Laniel led Loranhil into a quiet small dressing room next door.

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One day earlier, Western Wind Kingdom, Wind Rest Plains.

As the kingdom’s core area and Western Wind’s place of origin, this land was very fertile.

Under the mirror-like azure sky, lush pastures rippled in waves in the breeze, spreading endlessly to the distant horizon.

Suddenly, a horse’s hoof stepped on the green grass, with faint electric light flashing above it. After the hoof lifted, the trampled grass bore a scorched yellow mark.

A group of knights in bright armor came from the west. Their pure white and sharp lances pointed uniformly towards the sky like flagpoles, and their silver shields bore intertwined patterns of lightning and swords.

This group of knights was not large, only about 700 strong. They wore uniform bright silver armor and rode black warhorses with deep blue manes, through which electric light flowed.

They galloped across the land at extreme speed. Occasionally, rabbits from grass burrows would emerge, unable to dodge in time before the knights had already thundered past, leaving only scorched hoofprints.

Crossing a distance of a thousand kilometers required only a day. Their sound was like swift thunder, their momentum like lightning.