Training Institution

The cram school was located in a fishing village near the sea, on the ground—

Witches often treated flying as part of their lives, but even so, there were still many witch-built structures on the ground. As the witches' proverb went: We fell from the trees and spread the wings of our dreams; but never forget that trees grew from the earth, and people were born upon it.

The proverb came from a famous witch three hundred years ago. No one knew whether it was true or not. After all, half of all famous quotes were fake, while the other half had only quoted half the sentence.

The fishing village had been built within a bay, complete with every facility. From the sky, they could see many witches riding broomsticks low over the surrounding area, waving their wands or boldly reaching out to blast apart the earth, trees, and rocks below as they carved out a new path. Though the land beyond the bay counted as a natural scenic area, whatever it was—even if it were Yellowstone Park in the United States—had to make way for urbanization!

—Though it was best not to make an active volcano move aside. It had a bad temper.

Places that had been difficult to develop in her previous life had all become considerably more prosperous in this one. Even cram schools had been set up in fishing villages like this, because the scenery was beautiful and witch students from South City could get here by broomstick in under half an hour.

The cram school looked like a library from the outside, the rather Western kind. Part of a small hill beside the fishing village had been hollowed out, reinforced inside, and built into the structure.

There were mountain springs, streams, rice paddies, and seedlings at its entrance. It was as picturesque as a huge library suddenly built in the countryside in a game.

"Our teaching plans include one-to-three, one-to-five, and one-to-ten instruction. The one-to-three package includes one one-to-one lesson with a premium witch instructor each week, while the other two packages each offer one opportunity per semester. The one-to-three package also includes one one-to-one lecture from an Archwitch every month. Since Archwitch schedules are difficult to arrange, the one-to-three package only gets one per month, the one-to-five package gets one per semester, and the one-to-ten package gets none."

The eloquent witch talked like a machine gun that could not stop. She was not tall, with a slightly babyish roundness to her face and a sweet smile. Her employee badge, hanging from her witch robe, fairly displayed the name "Emily Joe." Employee badges like these were generally not official; the names on them were stage names.

Jiang Han and her younger sister followed her. Along the way, they ran into quite a few employees. Emily Joe greeted them using English names—Amy, Mira, Cheryl, Claire... Common and uncommon English names were everywhere. There were even names like Wordmagic, which forcibly mashed two English words together and came off as rather uneducated...

They stopped in an office. It was a private office, with many photographs hanging on the walls, seemingly all group pictures.

Seeing Jiang Han's gaze settle on the photo wall, Emily Joe took the initiative to introduce it. "These are outstanding students from our cram school, and some are honorary club members. An excellent witch club always sponsors many witch training institutions in order to gain better members or befriend future friends."

She smiled brilliantly. "Witches as outstanding as you, for example."

Jiang Zhenling quietly tugged at Jiang Han's skirt and whispered in an extremely low voice, "I didn't get this treatment when I came to enroll."

Silly little sister, of course you didn't. Jiang Han silently mocked her.

That was the benefit of possessing powerful magic. Once any witch had talent visible to the naked eye, she would receive preferential treatment no matter what she did.

Based on the characteristics of this era, Emily Joe would next introduce the famous people on the wall... uh, famous witches?

Then she would waive my training fees.

And offer me all kinds of conveniences.

Finally, she would introduce that "Archwitch whose schedule was difficult to arrange" and have her help me get familiar with things.

After Jiang Han had mentally "arranged" her upcoming itinerary, she heard Miss Emily Joe point at a photograph of herself shaking hands with a foreign witch and say:

"Nora Snowdilla, an expert witch from the United States. She has reached the quarterfinals of the International Transmutation School Exchange Tournament six times and made the finals three times. She is a recognized Transmutation School expert and also one of our premium instructors."

Three finals, hmm. If she had won, they would definitely have mentioned how many championships she had. Since they did not, that meant... three-time runner-up? Jiang Han nodded with a well-behaved smile.

Emily Joe pointed at another photograph—one showing a tall witch and another witch who looked gentle at first glance.

"The tall one on the left is our club president, Ji Haijun. She reached the round of sixteen in the National Unlimited Witch Exchange Tournament nineteen times, the quarterfinals twice, and won one championship in the International Evocation School Exchange Tournament as well as one in the International Illusion School Exchange Tournament. A dual-school champion... achievements our club can be proud of for a lifetime."

The training manager spoke with great emotion. Jiang Han did not know whether that had anything to do with the high salary the woman was paid.

She had been stopped at the round of sixteen nineteen times domestically, and on the only two occasions she made it past the round of sixteen, she had fallen in the quarterfinals... Jiang Han continued nodding obediently, looking genuinely well-behaved.

"And the one on the right is expert witch Kitajima Rumiko from the Eastern Isles, an internationally recognized master of both the Illusion School and the Necromancy School. She was the champion of last year's International Unlimited Exchange Tournament."

After that string of introductions, Jiang Han could only conclude that they were very professional... This cram school was professional beyond belief. It had experts from the United States and the Eastern Isles, as well as all kinds of commendations and banners of appreciation from the city, plus exchange certificates from foreign training institutions. Its level of professionalism was outrageous.

"Miss Jiang Han, you will also become part of this wall of honor in the future. I guarantee it." Emily Joe flattered her first, then picked up a completed contract from the desk. "Since you have chosen our institution, it is an immense honor for this training center and for the club behind us. Therefore... we have decided to provide you with training services free of charge."

Here it came.

Jiang Han calmly concealed her true feelings and put on an expression of surprise. That surprise satisfied Emily Joe greatly. At the same time, the witch with the common foreign name did not forget the younger sister standing behind Jiang Han. "We will also provide Student Zhen Ling with a brand-new, free contract..."

Emily Joe laughed, spread her hands, and gave a very Western shrug.

"Let's be frank. I won't claim that we changed our minds because of your outstanding grades, Student Zhen Ling. Although you truly are excellent, and although your achievements were almost moving enough to touch us, our decision to offer this generous one-to-one training contract is also based on your sister's contract, Miss Jiang Han's. A training contract for a future Archwitch... that is both immensely significant and immensely important."

To be honest, by laying it all out and speaking with such sincerity, she made it easier for others to accept.

—At the very least, Jiang Han felt that her sister had already shown an accepting expression. Or perhaps she had not; perhaps she was merely making a face and would ridicule this training institution with Jiang Han once they got home.

Jiang Han opened the contract in her hands and studied it together with Zhen Ling, then raised the points she had questions about.

"One-to-one classes?" Zhen Ling asked.

"A future Archwitch is not well suited to training alongside other witches." Emily Joe explained this service that the cram school did not normally offer. "A tailored curriculum, from simple to complex. I believe Miss Han has already felt it: Archwitches barely need casting gestures, spiritual words, spell charms, or even casting time when they cast spells. This kind of instruction needs to be taught through personal guidance. It requires..."

A light, airy voice interrupted Emily Joe. "...more professional advice."

Jiang Han and Zhen Ling looked toward the door. An unfamiliar witch stood there.

Her hair was as long as the black cloak draped over her body, and she had a pair of dark red eyes, light red eye shadow, and deep red lipstick.

Her skin was snow-white, making the black and red especially striking upon her. She was exceptionally tall, probably over two meters.

She wore a collarless black short dress, a black cloak reaching her knees, reddish-brown tights over those long legs, and black knee-high boots.

An exceedingly witch-like outfit.

She looked at Jiang Han and smiled politely, placing her right hand before her waist and inclining her upper body slightly forward.

"Hello, Witch. Hello, Emily. Am I interrupting you?"