Chapter 288

Chapter 288: Flame Witch

As Lolan Hill spread her wings and soared into the sky, a woman standing under the shade of the trees lifted her head. Her gray, transparent eyes watched the figure slowly ascending. She wore a black dress, with a wide-brimmed hat on her head that had a pointed top. The bottom of the hat and the hem of her dress were light purple. Her face was covered by a lace veil and black sheer gloves.

She held a purple parasol with colorful tassels hanging from its edges. She walked slowly across the snow-covered grass, occasionally a bird would drop from a tree to search for food in the bushes, but they seemed oblivious to her presence, as if she did not exist at all.

The woman holding the parasol looked up at Lolan Hill in the sky and began calling forth the winds. Her face, hidden behind the veil, seemed somewhat helpless. She sighed lightly, and even this slight sigh was filled with allure and enchantment. If anyone else had heard it, they might have instantly fallen madly in love with her.

She raised her right hand and gently rubbed it, and an invisible ripple spread out silently, seemingly without any change, dissipating without a trace.

Meanwhile, Lolan Hill, high in the sky, fell into deep thought. The information gleaned from the gentle breeze indicated that various parts of the Emanas Academy were secretive, but everything appeared normal. There was nothing twisted or nauseating.

Could last night’s experience have been an illusion?

She harbored some doubts, but her memory felt so real, it couldn’t be fake. Perhaps those ‘Chaos Soul Shadows’ were still lingering in the river.

As a soul educated in modern times, faced with a problem she couldn’t solve, Lolan Hill decided to report it first. So she turned around again and flew towards the northern high tower.

Watching the distant dot in the sky fly north, the woman under the tree no longer looked up, but continued walking through the mountainous area.

“What an unlovable little one.”

She murmured softly, then her figure turned deeper into the forest.

—

The silver-haired girl arrived at the high tower at the peak of the mountain for the third time. The stone steps above the clouds were very cold, stepping on them felt like walking on ice, the chill spreading from her feet.

Lolan Hill pressed the gemstone on the stone door. As magic flowed, the door slowly opened, and she entered the star-gazing room at the top of the tower.

The star-gazing room was dim, the windows usually open were now closed, not because the owner inside was cold, but to prevent the books from freezing. A celestial instrument-like alchemical creation floated in the air, slowly rotating, revealing a red core inside, emitting waves of heat.

As Lolan Hill walked into the room, a warm current flowed down from above, surrounding her, dispelling the external chill. Then, one by one, bright torches lit up along the corridor leading to the deepest part of the star-gazing room, where a small girl sat on a high wooden chair.

“Did you encounter something unpleasant last night?” Night Mistress seemed to already know why Lolan Hill had come, and asked before Lolan Hill could speak.

“Yes, that feeling was very strong, it was hard to bear,” Lolan Hill recalled the scene and recounted it again.

After a moment of silence, Night Mistress responded.

“I understand.”

“Focus on your studies at school, try to avoid conflicts and strange occurrences. We and the sages will handle the rest. It probably wasn’t targeting you specifically.”

Night Mistress, looking at the curious Lolan Hill, thought it best to explain a bit.

“The Chaos Phantoms wouldn’t behave this way. Once could be an accident, but twice suggests someone else is involved. Only a Sequence 9 can withstand the corruption of Chaos Phantoms. This isn’t something you can get involved in yet.”

Seeming to have spoken too much, the latter few sentences were rushed, making Lolan Hill feel that Night Mistress was a bit nervous.

It seemed Night Mistress, the dean, didn’t want her to get involved.

With such a response, Lolan Hill had no choice but to leave again. But it was also a relief; the matter of Chaos Phantoms would be handled by the sages. Although she was a witch, she hadn’t fully matured yet. In their eyes, she was probably still just a little child learning to walk.

It wasn’t about being angry at others’ disregard, but she had long passed the rebellious phase. With her current strength, she needed to be careful. The hairpin left by Trinasha could only save her life twice. If a Sequence 9 witch was determined to deal with her, she wouldn’t stand a chance.

Just like a tiny airship, it’s better not to participate in Titan-class starship battles to avoid collateral damage. When she could build a battleship someday, she could then explore the truth of things.

After leaving the tower, she put on her white fur hood again, shielding herself from the cold wind as she flew toward the central school building.

—

After Lolan Hill left, the empty star-gazing room remained brightly lit.

Suddenly, a mirror lit up, and Chris, wearing a pink and white interwoven long dress, stepped out, bringing a gust of cold wind as if she had returned from a distant, icy place. But what was more surprising was the girl she carried in her arms. This girl looked to be around 17-18 years old, with crimson hair that emitted a faint glow of life. She wore simple coarse cloth clothes, and her fair and beautiful face was currently asleep.

“Night Mistress, I’m back, it’s really cold!”

Chris pulled out a long sofa from a nearby mirror, placed the sleeping girl on it, then quickly ran behind Night Mistress, slipping her cold hand into her armpit and lifting her up high.

“Night Mistress, quickly praise me, it was really hard. Tewa really doesn’t make sense. It took me three days to snatch Keti back from her in the Antarctic ice plain.”

Night Mistress, caught by the cold hand, didn’t say anything and immediately picked up a book, swatting it at Chris behind her, hitting her on the head.

“Put me down, you fool!”

The two girls wrestled and played for a while before stopping.

Then, Night Mistress jumped off the wooden chair and walked to the sofa, looking at the sleeping red-haired girl.

“Is this the current generation of Keti?” She seemed somewhat moved, wanting to touch the girl’s red hair, but was a bit afraid.

“Haha, is Night Mistress still wary?” Chris laughed as she came over and held the red-haired girl on her knees.

“Don’t worry, this should be the eighth generation of Keti. The one who burned your books was the sixth generation, which is history.”

“Carefully nurture and educate her like a blank slate. In time, she will surely become one of our faction’s key trump cards.”

Chris’s fingertips gently brushed over the warm red hair, her eyes gleaming mysteriously.

Night Mistress didn’t respond immediately, but stood quietly aside, her short stature allowing her to look at the sleeping girl without bending down.

“Is she still asleep in the dream given by Tewa?” Night Mistress asked curiously.

“Mm, as a Dream Witch, Tewa wants to use dreams to train this generation of Keti. After all, a newly born Keti has no memories and is easy to control.”

“Our faction doesn’t have such convenient powers. Do you want to personally teach her, Night Mistress?”

“No,” Night Mistress shook her head and continued.

“I’m not good at taking care of naive children. Let someone else do it.”

“Oh? You don’t want such a good opportunity? This is the Flame Witch – Keti who destroyed an entire nation, burned millions of enemies, turned tens of thousands of hectares of land into scorched earth, burning the world, constantly reborn in flames…”

Thank you to Cloud LonelyDream, Reader 161109024604136, Lingyi Qi, Hua Mu, Bing Shen Junmingxue, Jianwenxin Shen, and Shimie Ri Shi for your support.

(End of Chapter)