She Is Not a Witch

The next day, in a restaurant in Hopland, several merchant association employees were enjoying a hearty lunch.

“Did you see it? That starlight yesterday.”

“I saw it. It was beautiful. Was it new fireworks made by the alchemists? They love making those flashy things,” the tall, thin employee said casually.

“No way, fireworks can’t fly that high,” the slightly plump employee retorted.

“I’ve been to Ruluna. Even their airships can’t fly that high.”

“Perhaps it was a high-sequence mage?” the shortest employee guessed.

“It’s hard to say. The high-altitude air currents are chaotic, and the air is thin. Many mages wouldn’t dare to fly that high.”

“If you ask me, it must have been an angel!” the plump employee said with certainty.

“It must have been an angel fallen to the mortal world, releasing its radiance as it returned to the heavenly realm.” He was lost in his own imagination.

“Haha, there you go again. If you like angels so much, why don’t you go to the Holy Land? They say real angels descend there.”

The plump employee looked at his own portly figure and sighed, “Never mind. Mount Calenriel is too high. I’d probably lose half my life climbing it.”

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Emenas Academy, the Tower of All-Seeing.

The white stone tower stood on the peak of the world’s summit, its upper half already reaching above the clouds.

From the tower above the sea of clouds, one could overlook the vast landscape of this world: undulating green peaks, meandering great rivers, and steep, enormous valleys.

As dusk approached, senior students leaving class emerged from the tower’s observation deck. In twos and threes, they jumped into the sea of clouds, rising with the wind amidst laughter and jokes, returning to their dormitories in various colleges like tired birds to their nests.

Some were students of the Magic Sequence, directly manipulating their own gravity to float down from the high altitude.

Some were students of the Dragon Sequence, spreading a pair of giant dragon wings on their backs, soaring freely in the sky.

There were also a few students of the Angel Sequence and Demon Sequence, with semi-transparent wings woven from magical power appearing behind them, catching up with their companions ahead.

The more reserved Wind Sequence students wrapped themselves in air currents, scattering from the sky like bubbles.

There were also War Sequence and Ocean Sequence students who weren’t as good at flying. They could only watch their classmates enviously before rushing down the long staircase, not much slower in speed.

The most comfortable were some Original Sequence students, sitting on the soft feathers of magical beasts—some on griffins, some on giant god-hawks, and so on—leisurely enjoying the sunset scenery.

A tall teacher walked out of the classroom, her sea-blue curly hair draped over her shoulders. Some students bid her farewell.

“Elira, see you tomorrow~”

She smiled at these joyful students, then walked towards the top of the tower.

The spiral staircase around the tower had a sheer drop on the outer side. The atmosphere and valleys were all below, and the mountain peak and tower were so steep that it made one’s heart tremble with fear just looking at it.

But this mature, big-sister-like teacher didn’t change color at all, seemingly long accustomed to it. She ascended the stairs, then stopped in front of an exquisite stone door. She placed her hand on the central gem of the stone door, and a faint light glowed before the door opened, revealing the scene behind it.

The sky’s wind constantly lifted the curtains as thin as fine gauze. The sunset outside filled the room with golden light. Inside were towering bookshelves holding all kinds of books. Some were extremely old, seemingly written by elves in the First Era, while others were very new, like poetry collections published just this year.

Several windows in the room were open, with wind passing through, flipping the pages of books, making rustling sounds, yet it felt very quiet.

A black-haired girl sat upright on a tall wooden chair. She wore a black Western-style dress, her pale, bluish skin contrasting with the black clothing. Her delicate collarbone was topped by a face like a porcelain doll’s, as if she were a small, exquisite figurine.

The teacher with sea-blue curly hair approached this doll-like girl, bowed slightly, then asked,

“Lady Night, do you know anything about that beautiful sky and starlight last night?”

The black-haired girl, flipping through a huge book on her lap, didn’t answer immediately. After a long silence, she finally spoke.

“Don’t worry, this matter doesn’t require intervention.”

The mature female teacher seemed to have some doubts and concerns she couldn’t release.

“Are you sure we shouldn’t intervene? That starlight will likely change the current world’s structure forever.”

“After Western Wind’s downfall, the Snow Flower Seven Countries might be invaded by Verdant when they’re vulnerable, destroyed in one fell swoop.”

“That is also its destined fate. One can only say that Yalin has finally surpassed Roland by one move,” the black-haired girl said, her tone even, without fluctuation.

“The thousand-year-old dispute ends here with a final note. Isn’t that good too?”

“But weren’t you most fond of Roland back then? Wasn’t he your proudest student? Why aren’t you sad at all?” The curly-haired teacher’s tone was somewhat agitated, as she was from the Snow Flower Seven Countries.

“Why should I be sad? And what could you understand about me?”

Although she said this, the black-haired girl didn’t mind the teacher’s rudeness. Perhaps having experienced too much time and too many years, she no longer cared about such minor offenses.

“Roland and Yalin were both my students. I understand the origin of their initial thoughts better than you do. Undeniably, I prefer Roland’s viewpoint, but Yalin’s ideas also have their merits.”

“Back when they were at the academy, the two were rivals. They were like mirrors, reflecting each other, discovering their own shortcomings through constant debate and collision, mutually stimulating each other to progress.”

“Even before graduation, many students rallied around the two, seeing them as leaders. In the end, one went east, one went west, each establishing a country. The nations inheriting their ideas, just like back then, became entangled in mutual killing.”

“It may sound cruel, but life and civilization have inertia. If not for these years of mutual opposition and competition, the humans of the Western Continent would have long since become complacent and degenerate. I wouldn’t be surprised if one day the fleet of the Golden Oriole Dynasty crossed the sea and unified the continent.”

“But if Verdant unifies now, there will be no more variables in the future, and the world will fall into stagnation. This can’t be what you want to see, can it, Lady Night?”

“Elira, you’re speaking too absolutely,” the black-haired girl closed her book, letting it slowly float back to the bookshelf.

“Why are you so certain that the Snow Flower Seven Countries will fail?”

“Without Western Wind’s leadership, won’t the other countries save themselves? Will the southern Strawberry Kingdom just watch as the continent is unified by Verdant, allowing itself to be isolated? Don’t forget, they are also descendants of the Oz Kingdom.”

“Moreover, who wins and who loses is really hard to say.”

“After all, she is a newborn great witch.”