She Is Not a Witch

Southern Hopland.

Although it had experienced recent chaos, after the establishment of the New Vegar Alliance, this place became even more prosperous than before. After separating from the Frost Rose, it became a trading hub for both sides, with more ships coming and going.

As the initiator of the new alliance, the Carithes Merchant Association gained more seats and benefits within the alliance. At the same time, due to Loranhil’s suggestion, the alliance would use more of its income for basic public welfare projects, such as building schools, roads, and hospitals.

Initially, following Loranhil’s detailed plans, they could basically follow the instructions. But inevitably, they encountered some problems in daily operations. When these problems needed to be solved by themselves, they also had to bear great responsibilities. At such times, everyone began to miss that young lady, but there was no help for it; they could only slowly learn to solve problems themselves.

Although commercial issues could be explored and negotiated on their own, the lack of high-level strength and a central figure caused the Carithes Merchant Association’s influence to decrease slightly after Loranhil’s departure. The association’s overall strength was indeed very strong, but it lacked someone who could control the big picture and unify it.

Ceres was retiring in the Southern Islands, and although Chelsea had seniority, she wasn’t suitable as a leader. Among other high-level members, the three fleet leaders were often away, and many other managers and workshop leaders were recently promoted by Loranhil. They were all capable people, somewhat resentful of those with mediocre abilities but long tenure, yet also feeling that everyone was about the same, so why should one stand above the others.

To truly manage this group of talents, only Loranhil could make them willingly obey when she was present.

Thus, for major events, the association’s high-level members had to resort to a voting system, and sometimes even had to ask Chelsea to write to Loranhil for final decisions.

At the port in the early morning, the snow had slowly melted, with only small amounts of snow remaining on the ropes entwined around the dock. Ships were docked at the port, some unloading cargo, others preparing to set sail.

At the port, passengers preparing to board were queuing up. Due to recent unrest, entering and leaving the port required identity verification and registration.

“Name?” asked a recorder wearing a warm hat in a small cabin by the port. He held a pen, with a stack of forms in front of him. The room was well-heated, with many people waiting outside.

“Bard,” replied a short young man. His skin was a bit dark, and though not old, his hands had many calluses from labor. He looked like someone who could endure hardship, though not particularly handsome.

“Where are you going?” the recorder looked up and asked, fulfilling his official duties.

“Nid County in Western Wind,” the young man said, using a somewhat unfamiliar term.

“It’s not called Western Wind now, it’s Cransia. That’s quite far, you know. Even if you take a ship to a northern port, you still have to cross the Wind Rest Wilderness and some forests,” the recorder asked suspiciously.

“Yes, I’ve prepared food and money,” the young man replied honestly, shaking his heavy bag.

“That’s not the point I’m making. Well, never mind. Do you have a guarantee certificate?”

“I do,” the young man carefully took out an envelope from his bosom. The elegant envelope seemed quite incongruous with his worn-out clothes.

“You’re treating it like a treasure,” the recorder said, taking it and opening it. He pulled out the paper inside, revealing the pattern on it.

“The emblem of the Carithes Merchant Association, impressive. Let’s see which important person is guaranteeing you… Lo… Lady Loranhil.”

The recorder looked up in shock. He had recorded thousands of people traveling by ship this month, but this was the first time he had seen a personal guarantee letter from this young lady. How could this seemingly poor fellow possibly be connected to such an important person?

He was truly puzzled, but the seal and text on the guarantee letter couldn’t be fake. He had previously worked in the Alliance Guild and was naturally very familiar with the authenticity of such things.

“I really couldn’t tell,” he sighed, now setting aside his previous casual attitude and carefully filling out the form. Then he asked Bard if there was anything he needed help with, as the north was quite chaotic now and it wasn’t safe to go there. He suggested perhaps joining a large merchant caravan for the journey.

Bard said it wasn’t necessary; he wasn’t worried about his safety. He then took the token given by the recorder and headed to the port to prepare for boarding.

The port was bustling with activity. Some ships were unloading cargo, others were loading, and some were being repaired and inspected. Some passengers were sitting by the port, waiting.

The ship Bard was to board was still loading cargo and wouldn’t be ready for boarding for a while. He found an old stump, wiped off the snow, and sat down. The little moisture wouldn’t wet his thick trousers, and his body was robust enough not to catch a cold.

“Is that Bard?” a voice came from beside him. The young man turned his head to see a youth carrying a long case on his back.

“It really is you, I almost didn’t recognize you. I’m Lavoisier, the apprentice from the alchemy workshop near the restaurant where you used to work. I often ate there before.”

“Oh, it’s you,” Bard finally remembered. This alchemy apprentice was quite well-off, always ordering white bread and eating well.

“You quit later, right? Haven’t seen you in a long time.”

“Yes, I went to work at a brewery for a while after that.”

“I see. Sigh, a lot has happened recently,” Lavoisier sighed, then asked,

“Are you going back to your hometown?”

“No, I’m going to visit a friend’s hometown.”

“Visiting a friend, that’s nice. I can’t do that, I don’t have many friends, and my teacher is gone now.”

“If you don’t have friends, spend time with family. It’s good to be together for a while,” Bard said, feeling emotional.

“But I don’t have family either. I was an orphan since childhood, almost starved to death on the street. If it weren’t for my mentor saving me, I probably wouldn’t even be considered a person.”

Saying this, he seemed to open up, continuing to express some of his recent emotions.

“Our mentor treated us apprentices very well. Most of us came from poor backgrounds, but the mentor rarely let us suffer. He said suffering isn’t a good thing, too much of it makes people feel inferior.”

“Then your mentor was quite good.”

“Good?…”

At this point, the young man showed a bitter smile. For the final experiment to succeed, the mentor had used the apprentices as materials, extracting their souls to modify golems, just to improve the golems’ efficiency and autonomy.

If it hadn’t been his turn when the golem was already completed, he probably would have died too.

“Actually, our mentor’s kindness wasn’t pure,” he paused for a moment before continuing.

“But I can’t bring myself to hate him. After all, he raised me and kept me alive.”

“Well, let the past be the past.”

The two chatted briefly, but Bard wasn’t very talkative, and soon it was time to board.

Lavoisier watched as the deck of his ship opened and walked over.

As he approached the deck, a staff member asked,

“What are you carrying on your back?”

“This? This is an alchemical creation my mentor left me,” he replied after a moment’s thought.

“Can you open it for us to see?”

“Sure.” Lavoisier opened the long wooden box, revealing a golden sword with intricate magical patterns on its blade, allowing it to fly in the air and be extremely sharp.

“This is a weapon, you can’t bring it on board.”

The staff member shook his head in refusal and looked at him warily.

“This is really a treasure my teacher left me. I want to keep it with me.”

Lavoisier was troubled and kept pleading, but the staff member wouldn’t allow it. The two reached an impasse on the deck in front of the ship.

“What’s going on? Why the delay?” a sharp, knife-like voice came from the ship.

“Lord Gerald, I’m sorry, this passenger wants to bring a weapon on board,” the staff member replied anxiously.

“Let me see.” Gerald, his hand on his sword, came down from the ship and looked over Lavoisier and the sword for a while before speaking.

“Do you still want to bring this thing?” he seemed to imply something.

“Yes,” Lavoisier nodded, looking at this important figure from the Helis family.

“Don’t you hate it?”

“I hate my own weakness more, I guess. There are many things I can’t do anything about.”

“The creator of this sword has already failed. Why do you still want to go down this path? Wouldn’t it be better to research other things?”

“Although my mentor failed, it doesn’t mean everything is worthless. I believe there’s still some value in it.”

“My mentor relied too much on external things, and the person who defeated him also made me clearly realize that instead of spreading my efforts, it’s better to focus on one thing.”

“Such as?”

“Such as this sword. It was the only thing that wounded that great person. If only the sword could be faster, sharper, more durable.”

“Is this your philosophy?”

“Yes, as long as my sword is fast and sharp enough, it can ignore all those side paths.”

“I see.” Gerald seemed to empathize somewhat, then said,

“Let him on board.”

“Thank you, sir,” Lavoisier said gratefully before boarding.

After the young man boarded, the staff member carefully asked,

“Sir, that sword should be a creation of that Ruluna alchemist. Given our current relationship with Frost Rose, shouldn’t we be more cautious about letting him board?”

“It’s fine, he’s just a pitiful person too,” Gerald shook his head, recalling the materials and items later found in the search of that alchemy workshop. He indicated there was no need to worry, then boarded the ship.

“Hoist the sails, set sail!”

With the shout of the order, the sails of the entire fleet were raised, along with the yellow and green camellia emblem of the Helis family.

They would sail south, resupply in the southern islands, then follow the ocean currents eastward to another distant continent in the east, docking at Dragon Spring Bay. There lay the dragon-affiliated country that occupied the entire eastern continent, the Golden Daffodil Dynasty.