novelraw Chapter 24
Chapter 24
Chapter 24: Who’s Slapping Random TAGs on Me?
Annie’s small mouth parted slightly into an O-shape as she looked at the old man in surprise, while the old man returned a faint smile.
“The last time I gave a doll away for free... was five years ago,” the old man turned around and waved his hand. “According to Yunque’s way of saying things... just take it as me thinking you have a connection with them.”
Annie thought for a moment, glanced around at the dazzling array of beautiful dolls in the room, and after some hesitation, still shook her head. “Sorry, Grandpa Howard, I don’t want to take them away.”
“Oh? Why?” The old man slowly turned his head, revealing a rather intrigued expression. “Do you know that my dolls are priceless treasures outside? Many famous nobles and wealthy people fight over them until their heads bleed. You really don’t want to take one? Is there something you’re dissatisfied with?”
“No, Grandpa Howard, these children are all very beautiful, very cute,” Annie pressed her index finger to her chin, showing a thoughtful expression. “But I always feel like... they seem to be missing something... how should I put it, they seem to be waiting... waiting... Sorry, Grandpa Howard, I can’t quite explain it, but I really can’t take any of them away.”
“I see...” The old man nodded thoughtfully, then smiled. “Then just have a look around. I need to go make clothes for the new little one. Annie, if you change your mind later, you can come back anytime and choose the doll you like.”
Annie smiled sweetly. “Thank you, Grandpa Howard.”
“Oh right, this black-haired girl, what’s your name?” The old man shifted his gaze to Lina, who was squatting on the ground staring wide-eyed at a doll.
“Me? Oh, I don’t have a family surname. You can just call me Lina,” Lina stood up and gave a slight nod to the old man.
“Lina... hmm, to be honest, I don’t have a doll here that suits you for now,” the old man paused for a moment, pulling down his sleeve to cover his wrist before continuing, “Next time, if there’s a chance, I’ll make one just for you.”
“Ah... then thank you.” Lina didn’t refuse. Although she didn’t have any special fondness for dolls, she accepted the goodwill calmly since it was kindly offered.
Just as Lina was about to leave, she suddenly felt a strange sense of discord.
She couldn’t help but glance back, her eyes landing on the old man’s forearm hidden beneath his sleeve.
Why did his movements... feel a bit strange, as if he were hiding something on his body?
---
After bidding farewell to Howard, the group found a nearby restaurant and simply settled lunch. By the time the sun tilted slightly westward, they finally arrived at the bustling marketplace.
The autumn wind had turned the plane trees along the road yellow, yet it could not disperse the teeming crowd. This place was always the most lively part of the town.
The aroma of food, the oily scent of alchemical furnaces, mixed with the smell of the afternoon sun, drifted into the nose, making Sibyl frown slightly.
As the young lady of a noble family, she had never been to a place like this.
But everything here also filled her with curiosity.
“Fresh apples! Apples from Stokuwa, not sweet, no charge!”
“Walnuts! Walnuts from the Rubis River! One silver lion per basket!”
“Shoes on clearance! Volgania’s largest leather factory has gone bankrupt, the boss owes 350 million and ran off with his sister-in-law! Shoes originally one gold dragon, now all just five silver lions!”
“Eh?” Sibyl asked in confusion, “Isn’t Volgania’s largest leather factory owned by the Lusankona Company? I remember their chairman is a woman, right?”
“So you really shouldn’t take what these market vendors say seriously,” Lina shrugged. “No matter what price they quote, just cut it in half first.”
“But... but...” Annie said softly from the side, “I’ve heard of women keeping mistresses too...”
Lina and Sibyl spoke in unison: “Don’t say anything more!”
“Oh.” Annie obediently shut her mouth.
“Customers! Three customers, please wait,” suddenly, a lean man squeezed out from the crowd. In two quick strides, he darted in front of Lina’s group and blocked their path.
His gaze swept over Lina’s standard-issue witch robe, lingered on Sibyl for a moment, and finally passed over the storage ring on Annie’s hand. He bent forward, rubbing his hands together as he said, “Three young ladies, do you like gemstones... the sparkly kind!”
The man spoke in a mysterious tone, “My brothers and I dug up a batch in the desert of Atum... possibly left behind by the royal family three hundred years ago!”
As he spoke, he pulled out several colorful “gemstones” from his pocket, waved them in front of the three, then quickly put them away again, narrowing his eyes as he smiled. “One hundred gold dragons each—interested?”
Lina rolled her eyes. She casually borrowed a sheet of magic imprint paper from Sibyl and swiftly sketched several obscure runes on it, then showed it to him.
“This is the structural diagram of the S-rank, super-tier magic ‘Mana Core Fusion’ left behind by the most powerful Great Witch fifty years ago. I’ll sell it to you for one thousand gold dragons—interested?”
The man’s expression changed at once. He spat on the ground, muttered a curse under his breath, and retreated back into the crowd.
Lina spread her hands. “Gave you a chance and you couldn’t handle it~”
“That man just now was a scammer?” Sibyl asked hesitantly. “But those gemstones he had...”
“Just alchemical waste stolen from a factory,” Lina shook her head. “To put it bluntly, it’s just colored glass. For one silver lion, I can get you a whole handful.”
“Then the rune structure diagram Lina just mentioned,” Annie stared unblinkingly at the rune diagram in Lina’s hand, “is that real?”
“You guess~” Lina made a face, then put the rune diagram into her storage ring. “Alright, alright, even if it were real, you wouldn’t be able to learn it. Let’s go, we’ll buy daily necessities over there.”
Along the way, Sibyl developed a strong interest in the various roadside vendors, and Lina had no choice but to let her buy a red bean paste pastry from an “Old Yunque Brand” stall.
“Is that thing good?” Lina couldn’t help asking as she watched Sibyl eating elegantly beside her.
Sibyl covered her mouth with one hand, her swan-like fair neck tilting slightly as she swallowed a small bite. “Mm, the taste is quite good.”
She casually handed the half-eaten pastry to Lina. “Here, you try some too?”
Lina lowered her head and took a bite from where Sibyl had already bitten.
The golden outer crust was crisp yet soft, the dough chewy and springy, and the red bean filling inside was fragrant, soft, and sweet.
It really did taste good!
But this thing... seemed a bit different from the kind of pastry she had imagined.
It made Lina recall the red bean paste deep-fried dough cakes she used to buy from breakfast stalls every day on her way to school in her previous life before the last.
Annie, standing to the side, looked at the two beautiful girls sharing food. Her little face flushed red, and who knew what she started imagining again.
“Lina, look, what are they selling over there?” Sibyl pointed curiously at a stall not far away that was packed so tightly with people it was almost impenetrable. Among the crowd were even a few witch apprentices.
“Who knows? Let’s go take a look,” Lina grabbed her two companions by the hand and walked toward the crowded stall.
“Stop pushing, stop pushing, there’s really none left!”
Even from a distance, Lina could hear the shop owner’s helpless yet excited voice. It sounded somewhat familiar?
“Is there really no more of that bread stick?” A witch apprentice finally squeezed her way to the front, her voice full of disappointment. “Sir, can I reserve some for tomorrow?”
“No, no, I can’t remember all your names!” the shop owner refused outright. “There’s only this much every day—once it’s sold out, it’s gone!”
The apprentice left the crowd dejectedly, and as soon as she looked up, she ran into Lina and her group who had come to join the commotion.
Her eyes widened as she exclaimed in a small voice, “I-is it Miss Lina?!”
Lina tilted her head, looking at her in confusion. “It’s me. Do you need something?”
The apprentice bounced lightly in place with excitement, her eyes shining as she looked at Lina. “Miss Lina, is it true that after eating bread from this shop, you defeated those cultists?!”
At the same time, two other apprentices who had been lining up for bread also noticed Lina and excitedly crowded over.
“Yeah, yeah! I still remember when I first saw Miss Lina holding that big black bread, I thought it was some kind of performance art... turns out I was just too shallow!”
“Huh?” Lina looked baffled. “What are you talking about... oh, the bread, I remember... well, if you really think about it, it does have a bit of a connection to the bread, but it’s probably not what you’re imagining...”
“So it’s true!” another witch apprentice said excitedly. “It’s said that after you took a bite of this shop’s bread, your magic power suddenly surged, and with a single bolt of heavenly lightning, you wiped out that terrifying cultist!”
“Wasn’t it that you suddenly transformed into a three-meter-tall giant of light and grabbed the cultist, refining them instantly?”
Lina slapped her palm against her forehead.
Who the hell is spreading this nonsense? They’ve turned me into some kind of Bread Hero?
No, wait... more like some mysterious sailor who grows super arms after eating spinach... since when did my whole style turn into this?
Annie and Sibyl beside her were already laughing uncontrollably, Sibyl laughing so hard she couldn’t even straighten her back.
Lina placed her hand on the little apprentice girl’s shoulder and said gently,
“There’s no necessary connection between me getting stronger and bread. Rather than believing eating bread will make you stronger, you might as well sign up for my tutoring class—guaranteed to teach you everything.”
“T-tutoring class?” one of the witch apprentices blinked. “What’s that?”
“Hehe, now that requires some explanation,” Lina curled her lips into a slight smile. “Ten gold dragons per person, thirty percent off for a group of three, half price for more than ten people, full refund if you fail the exam...”