Witch House

Jiang Han wandered around the market for a while, then returned to the meeting place Cen Jing had mentioned before leaving. It was a tavern that stayed open during the day.

Looking at the sign above the tavern—"Witch House"—Jiang Han breathed in the strong scents of liquor and various perfumes in the air, and began to have her doubts about her mentor, Cen Jing:

You're having your student meet you in a place like this...

Jiang Han sighed, reached out with her left hand to push open the door, and walked inside.

But the scene inside wasn't at all like the sort of tavern Jiang Han had imagined.

The Witch House had a cylindrical interior. A quarter of it was occupied by the bar, half by curved bookshelves and reading tables, and the remaining quarter by a stage. Two beautiful, tall witches sat on high-backed sofas onstage, wearing slightly sheer blue and red cheongsams and playing erhu. Below them, the witches sat in small groups, chatting quietly with one another. Now and then, they stood to applaud when the music reached its climax.

Jiang Han stared for a moment, then looked at the erhu in the hands of the two beauties in cheongsams. They were using Spell Hand to play the instruments, too.

Spell Hand was a spell with programming functions. One could enter special sequences such as "fingerings" and "hand movements" in advance, modify them into a spell model, then pour the model into a potion and drink it. The modified Spell Hand would then be added to one's spell library. Her younger sister, Jiang Zhenling, had one such improved Spell Hand for chopping vegetables.

Although it was morning, there were unexpectedly many people in the Witch House. But when Jiang Han thought about it, it made sense:

"Morning for witches is like the middle of the night for humans—the perfect time to be at their liveliest."

Neither Li Li nor Cen Jing had shown up at the tavern yet. They were probably still shopping or taking care of their own business.

Jiang Han curiously surveyed the tavern and, without realizing it, wandered over to the bar. The servers there were also dressed in cheongsams, using sweet or sultry voices to entice the witches into buying drinks.

They looked like unprofessional salesgirls.

But there was also a side to them that craved culture and knowledge. While chatting with customers, they let slip their desire to learn more advanced subjects.

They might not be experts at selling drinks, but their cute, refined looks still made people happy to buy a few extra.

"Miss, would you like to buy a drink? We have everything from Drunken Immortal Brew to wine from Peach Blossom Land~" A witch in elegant clothes suddenly appeared beside her. She wore a hat with a brim much longer than those of ordinary witches, and a standard customer-service smile. In her hand, she held a European-style feather fan decorated with silver and blue gemstones.

Buy a drink? Jiang Han froze again, then pointed at herself in surprise. You want me—one meter forty-six tall, with everything but my chest looking like I'm in middle school—to buy alcohol? Are you trying to start something?

On neither Earth would anyone do something like this. At the very least, they wouldn't actively try to sell alcoholic drinks to a woman who looked more like a middle schooler than anything else, unless she was asking to buy them herself.

So she asked in a polite tone that meant Are you stupid?

"Buy a drink?"

The woman smiled primly.

"Then how about selling drinks? I think you'd be quite suited to it."

Sell drinks? Jiang Han's expression stiffened. She looked at the witches in cheongsams behind the bar, then turned back and pointed at herself in disbelief. Miss, I'm warning you. You're getting awfully close to committing a crime.

Having a girl who looked like she was in middle school sell alcohol was the sort of thing that perhaps only the French would do on either Earth.

So she took half a step back and looked at the woman as if she were about to call the police, then asked tentatively:

"Sell drinks?"

"Mm." The woman wore a criminal's smile. "I can see your desire, and I can tell you have the potential."

You don't mean you can tell I'm broke, do you? Jiang Han gave her a wary look and didn't answer. If Cen Jing hadn't told her to meet here, she would have turned around and left long ago.

"You'd start work at midnight every night. You can work just six hours a day. It's a Class A contract, and you only need to work thirty hours a week to get your weekly pay, which means you get two days off. The weekly salary is 1,000 yuan, with one meal included, and you get ten percent of the drink sales."

The woman continued her pitch without waiting for a response:

"You'd also earn points at the Witch House—fifty a week."

One thousand a week meant a base salary of 4,000 a month. That was pretty good. Add the ten-percent cut from drink sales, and she might make over 6,000 a month. That was almost enough to buy a rare, Level 2 spell... Jiang Han pretended not to care, but privately thought that the job sounded safe and easy.

Perhaps her expression had given the woman the wrong idea. She fluttered her fan and explained:

"Money is something witches can always earn, one way or another. Even in debt, they can still live just fine. But there are things money alone can't buy: points at the Witch House. We may only be part of the beverage service industry, but we've accumulated quite a bit of advanced magical knowledge and... rare spells. The Witch House's points let witches who crave such knowledge exchange them for the things they want to learn."

Rare spells, and unique knowledge.

Jiang Han immediately understood why the salesgirls behind the bar seemed so unprofessional. They were temporary workers. Beautiful witches who wanted to learn unique spells could work as salesgirls at this tavern or one of its branches and trade their labor for knowledge.

It was a bit like a game faction having unique equipment in its reputation rewards. The idea was bound to make players curious.

Besides, rare spells and unique magical knowledge were expensive to begin with.

Just as the witch had said, even the poorest witch could find a way to earn money, but knowledge was either incredibly precious or incredibly expensive.

It seemed these places were where one could find a way to obtain it.

Jiang Han also remembered an advertisement she'd seen earlier for a job at a potion shop. The pay was only 300 yuan a week, so she'd glanced at it and moved on. Looking back, perhaps the wages were so low because she could learn extra spells and knowledge from the witch who ran the shop.

Seeing the look of sudden understanding on her face, the witch nodded with a smile and took a business card from her pocket, placing it on the table.

"When you want the job, bring this card and come find me here... Oh, right, we pay weekly. If you don't want to work anymore, just let us know. You can take time off whenever you like, though you won't be paid for it. Thank you very much for your patience, Miss Witch."

The witch stood up, still holding her feather fan, and playfully ran it through Jiang Han's long hair.

What a show-off... Jiang Han lowered her head to look at the business card. It bore the woman's name, Qin Shunying. After hesitating for a while, she tucked it away.

Perhaps because Qin Shunying had come over to chat with her, one of the salesgirls behind the bar gave her a glass of juice for free...

Jiang Han got to experience what it was like to drink juice in a tavern, all while reading a magazine.

About half an hour later, Cen Jing arrived, carrying a bag of materials Jiang Han couldn't identify.

Jiang Han handed her the spatial bag of things she'd bought. "I've got everything. Do you need the receipts?"

"No need." The witch wore a charming smile. "Miss Jiang Han, you can go home first. Meet me in the cram school lobby at the same time tomorrow. We'll be starting our second lesson soon."

"...Huh?" Jiang Han glanced at the clock on the wall, her face full of shock.

Holy crap, it's already five in the afternoon? Where did all the time go?

Women, your shopping is a time spell! Jiang Han could clearly see the amusement in Cen Jing's eyes.

The witch affectionately put an arm around her shoulders and said, "I'm waiting here for Miss Li Li. I might as well have a drink."

Jiang Han nodded. I get it—you're having a drink here and waiting for Li Li on the side, right?

She finished off the rest of her juice and walked out of the tavern.

After leaving the Witch House, Jiang Han went to the passenger area first. She bought a box of lemon cake from a nearby dessert shop to share with her younger sister, then called a Griffin Taxi and headed back to the floating island where her home was.