novelraw Chapter 2
Chapter 2
Chapter 2: The Black Bread Witch
When she arrived at the entrance of the Witch Association, Lina suddenly felt that something about the atmosphere seemed off.
This was clearly a border town, yet outside the association stood three high-ranking B-rank witches, and even two male wizards from the Wizard Association, with both of them having brought their own apprentices.
Although she was somewhat puzzled, Lina did not go up to ask.
If she could avoid trouble, she would avoid trouble. In this life, she had already made up her mind to be an ordinary, steady background NPC.
She lowered her head and quickly walked toward the main entrance.
However, many times, even if you did not look for trouble, trouble would come looking for you on its own.
“Oh? What a coincidence.” Just as Lina stepped through the gate, a familiar voice rang out behind her. “What, don’t recognize me anymore?”
Lina turned and glanced over. A young man dressed as a wizard apprentice, with short black hair, was looking at her with a mocking expression.
Lina tilted her head and thought for a long time, but could not remember. “The kind who sells houses, runs pyramid schemes, or peddles courses? If there’s nothing important, don’t bother me. I’m in a hurry.”
“Big sis, you’re doing this on purpose?” The young man narrowed his eyes. He looked Lina up and down, his gaze finally landing on that black bread stick. “Or was it... the coarse bread that made you stupid?”
“Who the f**k are you calling stupid? Didn’t your motherf**ker teach you any manners? Where the hell did this stray b**tard come from? Wait, what did you call me?” Only after cursing did Lina suddenly realize something was off. She examined the young man again, and in the original owner’s memories, the figure of a boy gradually overlapped with him.
Oh, so it was that little brother whom the original owner’s mother had taken away. Not only had he left me with a whole pile of rotten messes, now he was actually coming to pick a fight with me?
The young man was a little stunned as well. In his memory, his older sister had always been timid and submissive. When his mother and he beat and cursed her, she had always curled herself into a ball. Even on the day they left her behind, she had only hidden in the corner of the broken shack and cried in secret.
And now she actually dared to curse at me?
“Lina, I think you really don’t know what’s good for you!” The young man suddenly raised his arm, and the staff in his hand shone with a faint red light!
Lina’s eyes sharpened, and magic quietly gathered at her fingertips as well.
Suddenly, a powerful sense of danger shot up the young man’s spine, as if the one who would fall would be himself the moment he launched an attack.
How could that be?!
The young man gritted his teeth, on the verge of using attack magic!
“Stop, Tal!” A wizard who had been speaking with a witch nearby suddenly turned around and grabbed the young man’s hand, glaring at him angrily. “What are you doing?!”
Tal shrank his neck, and the unfinished magic immediately dissipated, but the fury in his eyes still had not subsided. “Teacher... she provoked me!”
The corner of Lina’s mouth twitched. She waved the black bread stick in her hand. “Damn right I was cursing you! What about it, want to fight?”
“You think I won’t hit you with a Fireball—”
"Enough!" the wizard roared, yanking Tal by the collar and saying to him word by word, “When we get back today, write a three-thousand-word self-criticism!”
He turned to Lina again and squeezed out a smile. “Sorry, little girl... it seems there’s some misunderstanding between you two. After we go back, I’ll make sure to educate him properly.”
Everyone outside the door had their attention drawn over by the sound of the argument. The other wizard and his apprentice, as well as the three witches, all looked toward Lina, Tal, and Tal’s teacher.
“Tal, apologize to her.” The wizard said coldly, “No matter what happened between you two, you were the one who first tried to use magic to attack her. That makes it your fault.”
Tal gritted his teeth, but still lowered his head and muttered in a tiny, extremely unwilling voice, “Sorry.”
Lina let out a cold snort, turned around, and left the square.
She did not have the slightest bit of goodwill toward this younger brother who had often bullied the original owner.
After their father died, her younger brother and mother had not only dumped all the housework and chores onto her and left her to eat only leftovers, they had also beaten her at the slightest displeasure.
Lina felt that their departure had even been a kind of salvation for the original owner.
But those were grudges between them and the original owner, and she had no obligation to understand them... yet if they bit at her, Lina would not show the slightest mercy either.
“Bastard... just you wait, this isn’t over!” Tal ground his teeth as he stared at Lina’s retreating back.
“Heh, I actually think you’d better not go picking trouble with her again in the future,” another wizard apprentice walked over. A trace of an indistinct smile hung on the handsome blond young man’s face. “You’re obviously siblings... yet the gap between you is actually this huge...”
"Of course. Otherwise Mother wouldn’t have abandoned her back then!" Tal let out a cold snort. “That piece of trash actually wants to take the witch qualification exam? Is she worthy? If Master hadn’t stopped me just now...”
“Hehe...” The blond young man shook his head. “If your master hadn’t stopped you, you’d already be lining up in the underworld by now.”
“Lannia, that’s not a funny joke.” Tal glared at him. “I’m already an E-rank wizard now, while she’s just an apprentice!”
“Is that so?” Lannia smiled faintly. “If it were me, I wouldn’t be her match either... no, even your teacher might not necessarily be able to beat her.”
The corner of Tal’s mouth twitched. He felt the other person was simply being unreasonable on purpose. His teacher was a B-rank wizard, a top-tier powerhouse even within the Wizard Association.
Although Lannia was a once-in-ten-years genius in the Wizard Association and had reached C-rank at a young age, Tal’s own talent was not bad either, and he would soon obtain D-rank certification.
As for his sister, her talent had been poor to begin with, and she did not even have her own personal mentor. There was no guarantee she would even pass this E-rank test.
This matter could not just be left at that.
A vicious glint flashed through Tal’s eyes.
He was definitely going to make this older sister understand that even if she had learned a bit of magic power, she would never be able to speak to him with her head held high!
......
Lina held that hard black bread stick in her arms and stared blankly at the noisy square in front of the Witch Association, her mind completely empty.
“This... what the hell?”
The scene before her was completely different from the deserted examination venue she had imagined.
That stone-paved square in front of the association, which was usually empty, was bustling today, packed full of young girls around her age.
Most of them also wore witch hats and robes of all kinds. Their faces were full of excitement and curiosity, and their chirping discussions filled the entire square.
There were many people, but most of them looked like ordinary witch apprentices.
Only one corner was especially eye-catching—a young girl surrounded by three or four followers. The material of her robe was quite luxurious, seemingly made from the fur of some kind of high-level magical beast. Delicate dark patterns were embroidered along the collar and cuffs, and a magic wand inlaid with tiny gemstones was tucked at her waist.
With her chin slightly raised, she listened somewhat reservedly to her companions’ chatter, clearly enjoying the feeling of being the center of attention.
An apprentice was already using emerald magic stones? Damn, what a filthy rich dog... This thing had to be worth at least seventy or eighty gold dragons, right!
Lina hugged the bread in her arms a little more tightly, feeling sour.
No, something was wrong. How could an E-rank certification exam in a border town draw this many people?
She really could not hold back the confusion in her heart anymore. Spotting a little twin-tailed apprentice beside her who was standing on tiptoe and craning her neck for a better look, she moved closer and asked in a low voice, “Um... excuse me, what day is it today? Why are there so many people?”
The twin-tailed girl turned around, the excited flush still not faded from her face. She looked Lina up and down in surprise. “You don’t know? Today, one of the Ten Great Witches, the S-rank Witch, Her Excellency the Witch of the Moon, is personally coming to proctor the exam! Aren’t you one of her fans?”
The official ranks recognized by the Witch Association usually went from low to high as E, D, C, B, A.
S-rank witches, meanwhile, were a special rank above A-rank, and they were also called “Great Witches.”
The Witch Association held one S-rank selection every ten years. However, according to Lina’s memories, the positions of the top ten had only changed once in the past three hundred years, and that was when she, after reincarnating, had become the “Witch of the Stars.”
The Witch of the Moon... looks like she was a newcomer who got selected after I died.
Let me see just who it was that had eaten my blood-soaked steamed bun!
Before she could think further, the square suddenly erupted.
The crowd surged forward all at once.
“She’s here! It’s Lady Witch of the Moon!”
“My god, she really came!”
Almost all the young witches stretched their necks and cried out in excitement.
Lina was shoved along by the flow of people and nearly had her bread squeezed out of her hands.
Good lord... did I accidentally walk into a fan meet-and-greet? How come I never had this many little fangirls back in my day?
On the high platform, a figure quietly appeared.
It was a tall witch, dressed in a carefully tailored gray robe, with dark patterns embroidered at the hem so subtly they were hard to notice. Her long silver hair was fastidiously tied behind her head.
Taking the chance, Lina stood on tiptoe and finally saw her face clearly.
Saw those pale gray eyes, like a frozen lake in winter.
Lina’s breathing suddenly halted.
She remembered.
She remembered that little girl who had always timidly followed behind Lavinia.
The only disciple she had in her previous life.
Lilia Fennis.