Meili stayed here with Gloria, freeloading meals, freeloading drinks, even freeloading classes, and for several days in a row she did not see Mrs. Freese come to catch her. The tension in her heart eased a lot.
But the witches’ gathering lasted seven days in total, and would end eventually.
When the time came, the witches who attended the gathering left one after another.
The hostess here, Gloria, stood at the door to see them off, and Meili stood beside her to help. She held a big armful of purple iris flowers, and when someone left, she would hand them one.
These were iris flowers that Gloria had cast blessing magic on.
The witches who received the purple iris flowers all had different personalities. The gentle ones would greet Gloria and then greet Meili as well, saying to her, “Meili, goodbye, I hope we can meet again next time.”
The colder ones only nodded and left. And some who were even more solitary left early and did not even want a flower.
“The witches’ gathering is over. Freese will definitely come looking for you, you must be more careful. Study magic well from now on, if there’s anything you don’t understand, you can write to ask me.” The one who said this was that very serious witch who looked like one of her former math teachers.
Meili accepted the small colored stone she gave her, feeling a bit flattered. Her hand shook and she sent out two iris flowers at once.
Gloria felt a little distressed, but didn’t say anything, and she explained to her, “Laila is a mountain witch who lives far away in the Leos Mountains. She is often alone, and although she is a little serious, she is a good witch.”
Meili nodded cautiously. This serious Witch Laila always reminded her of the fear of being dominated by mathematics back then, but here, this “math teacher” also made her feel very close.
When all the witches had left, and the fairies also dispersed, the gigantic world constructed by Gloria’s magic dissipated, and her house turned into an ordinary wooden cabin.
Her wooden cabin was warm everywhere, various knitted items covered the furniture, the room was decorated with some cute handmade crafts and fresh flowers… it had the feeling of home.
Arseny fulfilled her promise and temporarily did not leave. She flopped down boldly to stay here with Gloria, hugging some kind of golden fruit wine she traded for at the market, drinking until she was tipsy, lying on the sofa like a lord.
Meili crouched by the water near the small cabin. This was the “garden” where Gloria grew iris flowers. She especially liked purple irises, even her witch’s seal was made with the iris flower.
“Yes, just like that.” Gloria looked at the iris flowers growing under Meili’s hands and nodded with a satisfied smile.
In these few days her “garden” expanded a lot, which made her very happy.
Meili was always pulled over by the old lady to this side, under the pretext of practicing magic, but in fact it was just to plant flowers.
“You continue practicing magic, I’ll go bake some small cookies for you. Later we’ll go have afternoon tea.” Gloria patted her hair and walked away with the demeanor of an old grandmother.
The amount of feeding these days also matched the grandmother image very well. Maybe elderly grandmothers just like to see young children eat.
Seeing the grandmother leave, Meili lifted her skirt and ran to the other side, where the water was shallow and only a few purple irises grew sparsely. The swamp monster was quietly resting there.
He was still in that posture with his head buried in the mud, his back hunched up.
Meili skipped self-study class to come see her boyfriend. Seeing that he seemed to be sleeping, she reached out to touch his waist. When she got no response for a long time, her eyes rolled, and she took off her shoes and climbed onto him directly.
Lying on the swamp monster’s back, she rolled up her sleeves and reached her arm into the mud to grope around, wanting to pull his head out.
“Cute? Cute? Wake up.” She called softly, and the swamp monster slowly poked his head out.
By that sudden movement of his, Meili nearly fell into the water, and she grabbed a nearby iris. A thought crossed her mind, and that iris instantly shot up tall, growing to three meters high, with strong stems and leaves.
Grabbing the leaf to steady herself, Meili saw the calm water’s surface suddenly ripple — it was raining.
Gloria, who was baking small cookies in the house, heard the sound of rain, and seeing that Meili hadn’t come back yet, took an umbrella and prepared to go out to fetch her.
She walked to the water’s edge and saw Meili and the swamp monster. A few enormous iris flowers, their leaves overlapped together, formed a small shelter that could block the rain. The swamp monster curled up beneath that little roof, letting Meili sit on his arm.
Meili held a few blades of wild grass in her hand, doing something with them, and the swamp monster lowered his head to watch her make that little thing, very serious.
The rain was light, pattering softly on the green leaves and the water’s surface. It was a scene that, at a glance, made one feel peaceful.
A gentle smile slowly unfolded on Gloria’s age-marked face. Holding the umbrella, she turned back into the house, not going over to disturb them.
But she remembered those few enormous irises, and couldn’t help sighing in her heart. This child was truly deeply loved by the swamp; even the flowers growing by the water especially favored her for it.
───♡───
In the Senhai Territory, in the manor restored by magic, another guest arrived.
Alex merely saw her suddenly appear and then suddenly disappear again, and knew that she must also be a witch.
These two days, several witches had already come here.
“Freese, I heard some things about you at Gloria’s place…” The witch who came this time, although she was also a sea witch like Arseni, actually had a good relationship with Freese.
“I heard you’ve found a way to maintain youth and vitality. How come you never revealed anything before? Aren’t we friends?”
Freese’s expression was cold and stunning. “Would a friend come at a time like this to mock me?”
The witch sat by the window and laughed. “I’m not mocking you, I’m here to learn from you. Do you really know a way to seize that little girl’s body and maintain magic power?”
Freese knew clearly what she was thinking, and directly shattered her delusion. “It requires a close blood relation. What did you think—just anyone would do?”
“Sigh, then it seems I can’t fight you for it.” The witch said regretfully, “Too bad all my relatives are already dead, otherwise I’d also be interested in trying your method.”
After sending off another witch who had come with roundabout questions, Freese slammed the table hard with her lace-gloved hand.
Meili! That bold Meili! And that hateful Arseni!
She actually just exposed all of this. What should have been a very simple matter had become so complicated it gave her a headache.
Thinking that Meili was now hiding at Gloria’s, Freese didn’t dare act rashly.
Gloria was an old witch. She possessed very strong magical power. Freese had always been quite friendly with her, but now that goodwill had been ruined by Meili. Leaving Meili there was clearly to protect her.
Before being forced to the limit, Freese did not want to become enemies with Gloria.
What should she do?
Her fingers tapped the desk unconsciously.
The owl Bole standing on the shelf, because it had failed to stop Meili’s escape, didn’t dare draw the attention of the furious Mrs. Freese, shrinking to the side like a statue.
Alex walked in bearing the heavy atmosphere, leaned on the table in front of Freese. “Freese, perhaps you don’t need to worry so much.”
Freese glanced at him, and Alex, as if encouraged, continued speaking: “We don’t need to go and ask for her openly. We just need to think of a way to sneak over, lure Meili out, and when the time comes we’ll hold a simple ritual to switch your soul into her body. Once it’s done, even if that witch Gloria gets angry, she shouldn’t kill you, right? Didn’t you say she’s soft-hearted?”
Freese’s expression shifted, thoughtful.
Alex continued eloquently, “They might be cautious for now, but given time they’ll relax. We can wait for a while, then find the opportunity — we’ll definitely succeed!”
Freese’s expression finally eased. She brushed his face lightly with her fingers. “You’re right. I was thinking too complicated.”
Alex held her hand, face proud. “Freese, don’t worry. When the time comes, I’ll protect you well and won’t let a single thing happen to you.”
When her soul left her body, it was when she was most vulnerable and needed someone to protect her. The one she chose was Alex, this young man who was obsessed with her and always thinking about marrying her.
In the corner, the owl Bole opened one eye, then quickly closed it again.
A whole month passed, and the Freese who was expected to come never appeared.
Arseni, the witch who liked adventure and lively places, couldn’t sit still anymore. She sat on a chair, her leg shaking. “That’s strange. Why hasn’t Freese come looking for you? Could it be she knows Gloria and I are protecting you, so she’s scared and gave up?”
Seeing that she really couldn’t sit still, Gloria said, “If you want to go out and have fun, then go. I will watch over Meili.”
Arseni had been waiting for this. She immediately stood up, patting Meili on the shoulder. “Then you stay here and behave. I’ll go check what’s going on with Freese!”
She finished speaking and whirled out like a gust of wind.
As soon as she left, Gloria carried the chair she had been sitting in outside to repair it. “Sigh, even a good chair of mine is shaken loose by her.”
After Arseni left, she never returned. She only had a messenger send a letter back, saying Freese was obediently staying in the manor of the Senhai Territory, and probably wouldn’t be causing trouble again for a while.
Meili had stayed here for a long time, and inevitably she had some concerns. She had been eating and drinking for free, and there didn’t seem to be an end to it. If Freese really gave up, was she supposed to live here for several years?
Gloria saw through her thoughts, stroked her hair, and said, “Aren’t you helping me grow flowers? Thanks to you, my irises grow more and more, and bloom so well. I even hope you could stay here forever.”
Meili felt a little embarrassed. “Then I will continue to trouble you.”
Gloria showed that grandmotherly gentle smile again, and brought her a plate of small cookies. “Try my newly made cookies. Come, eat more.”
Meili quietly felt her own stomach. She thought she seemed to have gotten fatter.
Holding the cookies Gloria insisted she take, Meili ran to the water’s edge and fed one to the swamp monster, letting him share the burden a little.
Ever since she fed him one raspberry, which resulted in raspberry bushes growing on him, Meili no longer dared feed him anything. But these cookies were different, surely he couldn’t grow a cookie tree.
She curiously pried open the swamp monster’s mouth and stuffed a small cookie inside. She didn’t see him chew, but when she looked again after a while, the cookie in his mouth was gone.
Curious, she fed a few more.
Meili: “….” This felt like dropping coins into a piggy bank.
Before long, Meili saw two tiny swamp sprites climb out of the mud, holding small cookies bigger than their own bodies, looking at her with great distress.
“Please, stop feeding him those. They’re crashing into our house.”
Meili was shocked. “You guys live inside his stomach?!”
Swamp sprites: “Of course not.”
Meili looked at the swamp monster’s mouth, then at his belly. So where exactly did his stomach connect to???
___
Author’s Note: Some people are still worried about that kind of life… emmmm you’re all too young. It’s exactly because he’s not human that there are even more ways to explore and discover endlessly~
Since I can’t write it, everyone feel free to imagine it yourselves~
