In the inaccessible forest, there are often many strange things hidden.

For example: man-eating beasts, weeping spirits, or ugly witches...... Witches, in particular, are always said to be the origin of all weirdness.

Legend has it that witches are described as having toad-like pustules on their old faces, with an exaggeratedly long and drooping nose that resembles some unknown object, and a large mouth coated with grease and balm that occasionally emits maniacal laughter, piercing like the claws of wild beasts cutting through glass, and they will throw all sorts of strange things into a large pot to boil soups of unknown meaning that may spread disease or curses, and some witches will even abduct children with candy at night to make them the ingredients of evil soups。

According to legend, in addition to a staff that doubles as a walking stick and a soup spoon, the witches also had broomsticks and a... Mysterious Kasbah.

On the edge of a small town called Loka, in the southwestern part of the human realm, there is a dense and inaccessible forest, and one can follow a path that hunters and farmers have taken to see an ancient castle in a clearing.

The silhouette of the castle in the sunlight reveals the heaviness of history, and the missing spire resembles the severed limbs of the undead.

But then, no matter how you move in the direction of the castle, you'll lose your bearings and eventually get farther and farther away from the castle.

Residents living near the forest say:

"You need an invitation from the owner of the castle to enter this castle, otherwise you won't be able to get there even if you're a bird. ”

Yes, that seemingly deserted castle has an owner.

And the inhabitants say that the owner of the castle was a witch, a young witch who looked like a maiden......

Of course, there are other theories, some people say that the owner of the castle is an old witch, and some people say that "she" is actually a dry skeleton that can speak.

In fact, the so-called witch and witch both refer to the same kind of existence.

Apparently because of the lord of the castle... The witch in the form of a young girl was so far removed from the terrible witch of legend that the inhabitants who had seen her insisted that she was a witch, and some even called her a witch.

However, the other claims do not seem to be unfounded, after all, they come from servants who have been hired by the castle's owner.

This gives the already mysterious castle another veil of mystery.

Now let's take a look at the true faces of the inhabitants of the castle behind this veil......

Lanyell Castle, in the underground training room.

"Dolma, how much has my magic increased today?"

The stone door of the cultivation room engraved with runes cracked in half from the middle with a dull roar, and when a young girl walked out, the two stone doors closed automatically.

The magic puppet standing outside the door of the cultivation room said in a female voice with no change in emotion:

"Miss, your magic growth today is zero, compared to yesterday's zero growth, an increase of zero times, summing up your test data in recent months, you have been playing steadily, and your magic has increased to zero. ”

The words of the magic puppet were like the ice blade of the archwizard stabbing the heart of the girl in front of it.

The girl trembled and asked:

"In other words, I—I haven't improved my magic at all in the past month?"

Without hesitation, the magic puppet replied, "Yes." ”

The black-haired girl, who was only fourteen years old, was dressed in a wrinkled gray witch's robe, with long hair that was slightly curled, and a face that was originally pretty was now covered with dirt, and the two clear and deep dark circles around her eyes made it even more decadent.

"Damn!"

The disgruntled girl kicked the uneven stone brick beneath her feet with the heel of her right foot.

I've obviously drunk the enchantment, why hasn't the magic changed?

Don't... Field's damn profiteers are selling me fakes again?!

Chrissy thought inwardly in her heart.

Chrissy's brow twitched at the thought of the bottle of black and muddy enhancer that she had just drunk with her nose pinched, and she felt that her stomach was turning upside down, no wonder the profiteer's expression was so strange when she bought it.

But Chrissy endured the abdominal pain and continued to ask the magic golem:

"What about the level of mental power? I've been meditating and practicing for three days, so I should have increased by one level, right?"

"Analyzing and calculating ......"

The magic golem raised two stone and wood arms engraved with runes, and the rusty metal joints made a "clucking" sound.

The two trap palms rested on top of Chrissy's head after opening and straightening, and Chrissy closed her eyes and fed her spiritual power into the crystal of the puppet's palm.

"Ding!

After the glimmer of light in the palm of the palm faded, the magic golem emitted a dull beep.

"How's that! How much has it improved?"

Under Chrissy's expectant gaze, the magic golem said:

"Your mental power level has increased from 34.08 to 34.11, congratulations. ”

After saying that, it clapped its hands, and its hard knuckles made a "click" sound.

Chrissy, who was staring at her amber eyes, stood on her tiptoes, grabbed the magic puppet's shoulders, and asked with a look of disbelief:

"Dolma! I only improve by 0.01 a day on average?!Your test device is broken, right?"

The magic puppet's eyes moved, and it continued to say without emotion: "Miss, Dolma's test device is a built-in three-star advanced test crystal, produced by Wall's alchemy workshop, with a service life of 500 years, and it can still be used for 291 years. ”

"Uhhhhh

Completely devastated, Chrissy let go of the puppet and grabbed her long, fluffy and slightly curly hair instead.

"My grandmothers, how do they like to spend their money so much on strange things, is it necessary to buy such a good test crystal?"

And the magic puppet said unhurriedly: "Miss, Dolma thinks that Dolma's maker, Master Prama, is very far-sighted. After all, at your current level of progress, you can't measure the sensitivity of a low-level test crystal. ”

"Hmm, are you trying to say I'm making too slow progress?"

The cold knife was stabbing her in the heart again, and Chrissy felt even more uncomfortable, so she grabbed her hair and squatted on the ground.

Dolma wanted to put it in euphemism, but it was. ”

Seeing that the girl in front of her was so lost, the magic golem's tone finally changed, and it also crouched down and stiffly stretched out its hands to straighten Chrissy's messy hair.

"At your current rate of progress, it will take about forty years to pass the Junior Witch Exam. ”

"But the Witches' Conference will be held in five years' time, and if I haven't passed the Intermediate Witch Exam by then, I'll ...... Hmm, Dolma, your fingers are stuck in my hair again!"

"I'm sorry, miss. ”

Dolma was about to remove her hand from the girl's head, but the girl's hair was wrapped around Dolma's knuckles, and as it moved, Chrissy remembered the little rabbits who plucked the turnips.

In order to save her hair, Chrissy hurriedly shouted, "Ahhh

"Yes, Miss. ”

Dolma immediately stopped like a statue, while Chrissy silently untied the strands of hair.

"Miss?"

Then in Zhuoma's puzzled sight, Chrissy, who had just untied the silk, suddenly hugged Zhuoma's cold and slender waist, and the girl said with a sad face:

"If only I hadn't broken your faux skin, blame me for making you look dead now, and it's inconvenient to do anything. ”

The original Dolma had a crumpled human female skin, and although it still looked very different from ordinary humans, she had the appearance of a human.

Now that Dolma has lost its skin, it has also become a humanoid mechanical skeleton, and although its shell is made of various alloys and precious wood and rare gems, its appearance is still very hideous and terrifying, like a metallic dried corpse.

The servants in the castle would always turn pale when they saw it during the day, and when they ran into it at night, they would scream in fright, and even faint to death if they were more timid.

But Dolma still said flatly:

"Sixty-three years have passed since the artificial skin was fitted, and the elasticity and self-recovery effect of the skin have been lost, and even if they are not destroyed by the strong acids you have formulated, they will be damaged by other natural causes. ”

"And the appearance or this body is not a big thing for Dolma, a magical puppet. ”

Dolma used her opal-made eyeballs to scan back and forth at its decaying and aging body.

Although the lifeless body was indeed rusted, it did not feel any discomfort of its own, or rather the discomfort itself was something it could not perceive.

"Miss, you are the most important master of Zhuoma, your life safety has always been the best thing, and you can deal with Zhuoma at will, let alone blame yourself for such a trivial matter. ”

In the end, Dolma's gaze stayed on the still young and immature girl, who knew very well that taking care of this girl was the mission it had been made in this world, and did not hesitate to sacrifice everything for it.

"Besides, Dolma's physical function is enough until the day when you can be completely independent, and then Dolma will be ......"

"Dolma, what are you talking about?"

Chrissy had a sour nose and a cry in her voice.

"You are my most important family, if you dare to leave me, I will be angry!"

Dolma damaged her outer skin in order to save herself from an experimental accident.

Chrissy has been haunted by this. And due to the damage to the outer skin, the aging rate of Dolma's parts has also accelerated significantly.

Although Chrissy doesn't know when Dolma will be completely inoperable, looking at Dolma's current situation, it may not be too far away from this day.

And this seemingly cold magical creature may be the only existence in the world that will cherish herself, and Chrissy has never imagined life without Dolma's company. She didn't treat Dolma as a dead thing, but as her adoptive mother or sister-like existence.

However, Chrissy had asked many alchemists, but they didn't have any holsters that could protect Dolma's internal components, and they didn't even understand why this kind of magic golem, which was already broken and lost, had to be repaired and put on expensive leather holsters that resembled living people.

Thinking of this, Chrissy's moist eyes were full of determination, and she hugged Zhuoma tightly and said:

"When I become a junior witch, I'll open my grandmother's lab and get you a brand new and best faux skin. ”

Dolma blinked and said, "The target is expected to be achieved in forty years, and the remaining life of Dolma's alloy shell is estimated to be fourteen years, and the chance of you achieving it before Dolma's structure is still capable of being assembled is zero." ”

"Ahhhhh

Whistling, Chrissy swung a pair of delicate fists and smacked Dolma in the back a few times, apparently not really angry.

"I'm sorry, miss. ”

Dolma carefully and clumsily stretched out her arms to hug Chrissy, but the crooks of her arms were still some distance away from her, so as not to hurt the girl with her already uncontrollable limbs.

Chrissy, who felt Dolma's subtle movements, hugged Dolma tighter, and even Dolma's cold body was warmed in the girl's tight embrace.

"Eat, miss, you should be hungry. ”

Dolma helped Chrissy, who had been making trouble for a while, to get up.

"Okay, but ......"

Chrissy clutched her stomach, her face already blue.

"I need to go to the toilet first. ”

A moment later, Chrissy, still cursing an unscrupulous profiteer and vowing to settle the score, arrives at the dining room, while Dolma, with a white napkin, is already standing at the table waiting.

"It's weird. ”

In the huge dining room, Chrissy, who had already tidied up her appearance, only saw Zhuoma, which seemed very empty.

"Dolma, what about the other servants, didn't I tell them that they could come to the table and dine together?"

Dolma reported:

"During the three days of your retreat, Miss, six of your newly hired servants attempted to steal the gilded portrait of the fourth generation of the head of the castle and caused irreversible damage to the two stone statues of the maid in the garden, as well as acts of passive sabotage. ”

"Considering their low reputation and the fact that they would threaten the castle and your safety if they continue to leave it alone, Dolma banished them. ”

Dolma bowed her head and apologized to Chriss, who looked lost.

"This is Dolma's unauthorized action, if you are dissatisfied, Miss, Dolma can invite them back again. ”

It's hard to hire a servant in the castle now, and even if Chrissy hasn't passed the exam, she's a witch. Although witches are feared, ordinary people fear witches far more than they respect.

There are a lot of bad rumors about them, and many civilians shy away from things related to witches, let alone working in the witches' dilapidated castles.

"Hmph, it's okay, Dolma, those thieves and lazy worms can go! ”

An upset Chrissy let out a nonchalant snort, and then sat down on the main seat of the rectangular table, and the chair, which had been a few years old, immediately made a "clucking" sound.

"And what are we eating today?"

Chrissy frowned as she looked at the odd dish in front of her.

"Goulash with potatoes, fruit salad, white bread slices and vegetable soup. ”

Dolma reported a list of very normal dish names, but Chrissy stared at the table for a long time, and still didn't understand much.

Chrissy pointed to a plate and asked, "Uh, this lump of mud is ......?"

"It's a goulash with potatoes, miss. ”

Chrissy's brow twitched, and then her fingers shifted over a target.

"And what about all these lumps of paste and fish bones?"

"Fruit salad, miss. ”

With that said, Dolma continued:

"Considering that Miss, you have not taken enough nutrients and consumed too much energy recently, so Zhuoma specially added the fresh fish caught this morning to it. ”

"Uh?!No, first of all, I hate fish, and it's too much to put minced fish in a salad, right?"

What kind of genius is that? And the fish is completely mashed into the fruit sauce.

Is this for people to eat?

Chrissy felt her stomach ache again just by looking at it.

According to a recipe written by the 6th generation of the family, this method preserves the nutrients of the fish and blends perfectly with the flavors of fruits and vegetables. ”

After the introduction, Zhuoma also reminded seriously:

"And picky eating isn't a good habit, miss. ”

"Uh, I remember she's known for her ability to make alchemical potions, right? don't you always use her recipes!"

After hesitating, Chrissy chose to put the spoon on the vegetable soup, which looked normal, only to find that there was too much salt, to what extent? about half a spoonful of salt in the soup, to the point that it was impossible to swallow at all.

In this way, the so-called three dishes and one soup, and the white bread slices bought from the bakery in the town, are still in the food range.

Oh my god, it looks like the chef still has to ask for one, I can't just chew slices of bread for every meal.

Chrissy muttered bitterly as she spread blueberry jam on the bread slices.

In fact, in the past, the food made by Dolma could still be swallowed, but as Dolma's mobility deteriorated, the taste of the food she made also took a sharp turn for the worse, and gradually developed into non-human cuisine.

As Chrissy looked distressed, Dolma noticed some clues, and she asked, "Miss, are you not satisfied with Dolma's cooking?"

"Alas... It's not that I'm not dissatisfied, anyway, I'll cook it myself in the future. ”

Chrissy sighed, knowing in her heart that Dolma was a magic puppet, who didn't eat human food, and asked her to prepare meals only according to the recipe, and now her limb control ability was far less than before, of course, she couldn't make any really delicious food.

"Uh, are you sure?"

Hearing this, Dolma's tone that had been incomparably flat in the second half suddenly fluctuated.

Chrissy got up from her seat, put her hands on her waist, and said confidently:

"Oh! I am the famous Chrissy Lanyer, the witch of wisdom known to everyone in the continent, the current 12th head of the Lanyeer family, and the greatest witch of the future, how could I be stumped by simple cooking?"

"Okay, miss, do you remember the way to the kitchen?"

"Uh, you, you lead the way!"

Chrissy was underwhelmed......