At the Witch Academy.
“Plum! Plum!”
Medeili, who had been staring blankly with her chin resting in her hand, snapped back to reality. She looked confusedly at the roommate calling her name.
Winnie’s small face was flushed, her eyes sparkling with excitement. “A Lantern-Bearer is here to see you! Do you know him? It’s Bizlu of the Crows!”
Medeili nodded expressionlessly and stood up to head toward the door.
Her gait was quite distinctive; her calves kicked back slightly with each step before falling, giving her a leisurely, carefree air. The hem of her pitch-black school uniform brushed against her shapely calves, her slender ankles peeking through thin, white stockings that faintly revealed her delicate skin.
As she descended the stairs to the first floor, fragments of hushed conversation drifted into her ears.
“Another Lantern-Bearer…”
“That’s two of those lords in a row! I’m so excited!”
“Lord Cold Swan isn’t the Lantern-Bearer stationed here. What is he doing in our neck of the woods?”
“Maybe he’s looking for someone?”
Walking out of the dormitory, Medeili saw the old servant who had been absent for many days. He stood bowed at the bottom of the steps. Medeili’s face, which usually looked a bit dazed from sleepiness, broke into a small smile.
“Master…” The crow-faced Lantern-Bearer began to speak, but the young girl’s fingertip cut him off.
Medeili pressed a finger to her cherry-red lips, signaling him to stop. “That title isn’t great. I don’t want to cause a scene.”
“My apologies. I have caused you trouble.”
The two walked together toward a lounge. A long Sealing Box was placed on the table.
“My Lady, I have brought the materials for your wand.”
The man’s large hand, encased in a black latex glove, turned a crank. The surface of the long box rippled and unfolded in segments, revealing variegated pieces of knotted burl wood secured with fine ties, coils of dark blue metal wire, and several chunks of rough raw ore of unknown composition.
It felt as if something transparent was shattering; supernatural forces of different natures pressed against one another, their fields overlapping to manifest strange, transparent layers and mysterious patterns of light.
“These materials are enough to craft two or three top-tier wands,” Bizlu said.
Medeili tilted her head, seemingly remembering something, and a smile touched her lips.
Following that, Bizlu produced a black ring flickering with tiny points of light and a crystal shoe with interlocking teeth, placing them on the table.
The orange-haired girl’s eyes widened slightly in surprise, and she tilted her head the other way.
“I once swore to protect your safety. However, before that, I am first and foremost a Lantern-Bearer. People trapped in the darkness need saving. I can never forget that day…”
His voice grew distant. “The darkness was like a virus, like a tide, writhing and surging. It eroded my skin, poured into my chest, stifled my breath, and stripped away my sanity. I felt the boundaries of my consciousness blurring, melting, as if I were about to become part of the darkness itself… Just as my mind neared collapse, a blade of light clove through the ravenous dark, and a hand pulled me up. That was your father.”
“Later, I became a Light-Seeker and followed in his footsteps until the day he departed for his mission. I am sorry, but now, I must go to complete my own mission as well.”
“Go then…” Medeili stood on her tiptoes, her fingertip lightly brushing Lord Cold Swan’s rough brow. “You are just as brave as my papa.”
“Glacier Breaker and Star Annihilator—these two Special Grade Relics originally belonged to your father. I inherited them later, and now I pass them to you. Do not worry for me; this operation has no room for baggage. I must even discard most of my physical body, so I won’t have any use for them. As for my personal treasury, it will be turned into beacons and given to you for you to open at your leisure.”
Bizlu took hold of the black feathered cloak draped over his shoulders and continued, “And then there is this one. Even among Special Grade Relics, it belongs to a high-ranking sequence—the top-tier detection relic, ‘Crow Raiment’.”
Suddenly, Medeili stood on her tiptoes again and whispered a few words into his ear.
Bizlu nodded slowly. “I understand. As it happens, she is also someone I intend to meet on this trip.”
***
Wang Yue was lying on a soft, fluffy bearskin.
The skin was massive, completely enveloping the small bed and trailing down to the floor on both sides. The bear’s head rested on the ground at the foot of the bed, its teeth bared in a terrifying snarl. It was said that sleeping on a bearskin would grant one dreams that prophesied the future. To get this skin, she had specifically returned to the Secret Window Society’s swamp stronghold.
Lilith knelt by the bed, her thighs and calves pressing together to form an enticing curve.
“I really want to eat grapes right now.”
“Want me to feed you?”
“No!”
“Back then, when I saw you, I thought you were angry. It was scary.”
“Ah, I was super angry back then… In the future, no matter what you do, you have to take me with you, do you hear? Don’t leave me behind alone again!”
“Alright, alright.”
The two were chatting intimately when Dorothy suddenly came stumbling in and whispered a few words.
Wang Yue’s expression turned solemn as she rose and headed downstairs.
It was another Lantern-Bearer.
Bizlu of the Crows.
This was the first teammate Lord Aurora had found.
After exchanging greetings, she followed him to a lounge. This was the third Lantern-Bearer Wang Yue had met, and she noticed that, without exception, they were all incredibly tall.
Lord Cold Swan stood nearly two meters tall, draped in a heavy cloak. The bone and muscle of his face did not look human; it seemed to be a mixture of crushed bone, feathers, and resin, topped with a massive, heavy crow skull where the distance from the beak to the crown was over two feet long.
The cloak particularly drew Wang Yue’s attention. Occasionally, in the gaps between the downy feathers and the metallic-lustered quills, a sharp, blood-red eye would snap open, or a partial wing would flutter. It looked as if a literal murder of crows was roosting on his body.
“Lord Aurora will brief you on the details of the operation. I came to see you for a meeting, and for some private business,” Bizlu said in a refined, elegant voice.
Private business again… Don’t tell me you have a daughter in school too… Hahaha… Wang Yue laughed inwardly.
“A daughter of an old friend of mine is a student here,” Lord Cold Swan elaborated, placing his hands on the table.
“Uh…”
“She is your classmate, Medeili. Do you know her?”
“Oh, Plum,” Wang Yue said with a smile.
“I would like to ask you to look after her. My old friend—her father—entrusted her to me, but I expect to be gone for a very long time. Therefore, I want to ask this of you. The payment is—”
“Don’t say that,” Wang Yue waved her hand. “Plum is very capable, and she’s not a child anymore. Isn’t it a bit ridiculous to ask a peer to look after her?”
After a long silence, Bizlu asked bluntly, “Do you want to earn a Special Grade Relic?”
“I do,” Wang Yue nodded vigorously.
The crow-man flicked his wrist and plucked at his cloak. Like a magic trick, he held up a complete, large crow. The crow tilted its head, its blood-red eyes staring at Wang Yue.
“You should be able to tell; this is the Special Grade Relic ‘Crow Raiment’. It can separate into a total of three hundred crows, providing real-time monitoring over a radius of about five kilometers. They are unaffected by pollution, and their grip and carrying capacity exceed that of an average adult…” Lord Cold Swan detailed the relic’s functions.
Wang Yue was incredibly tempted. Isn’t this just a drone swarm? Putting aside combat utility, it would be extremely convenient for daily life—picking up clothes, handing over a spoon, pouring water… It was a Lazy Dog’s dream. She could finally retire her little maid.
“What do I have to do to earn it? Um… I won’t do anything too risky or beyond my capabilities,” Wang Yue said seriously, then added, “And I’m not selling my body.”
“Provide Medeili with help equivalent in value to this Special Grade Relic,” Bizlu stated his true goal.
Wang Yue thought about it. This was likely an attempt to form the core of a team for Medeili. Ah, it’s nice to have connections.
“It sounds very tempting, and it’s not that difficult, but… I refuse,” she said, spreading her hands.
Lord Cold Swan was stunned into silence.
“Earning this kind of money from a friend… isn’t that a bit too mercenary?” Wang Yue asked in return.
