Double Weekend

She got out of bed in a daze.

Looking utterly lost, she covered her face and shuffled to the bathroom.

At last—the ecological time difference between normal Earth and Witch Earth had caught up with her. After spending nearly a month in this world, Jiang Han was finally feeling the effects of the shift in her body clock.

With dark circles under her eyes, Jiang Han stared at her haggard reflection and felt just how badly her body was struggling to adjust.

—"Witches are all night owls."

Ugh... Her eyelids stung a little. She almost closed her eyes and fell asleep right there, but she braced herself against the sink, trying to stay awake. Unfortunately, it was hard to stay conscious through sheer willpower alone.

Her gaze settled on the shower faucet. She looked at the blue knob marked "cold," and a few words came to mind:

"Unless you're ruthless, you won't get anywhere."

She reached out and turned the blue knob. Water sprayed from the showerhead with a hiss. She stripped off her clothes in a couple of quick movements, covered her mouth with both hands, and dashed into the shower.

"Waaahhh!!"

—She made an embarrassing noise as she took her early-morning cold shower.

The cold shower woke her right up. Back in her room, she slipped on her tights with practiced ease, dabbed on some lipstick in front of the mirror, then turned around and carefully fastened her bra. Facing forward again, she pulled on her black, ice-colored witch's robe, flashed a painfully lame peace sign, and put on a macho voice:

"I'm cute again."

Unfortunately, with her delicate features and cool coloring, she wasn't exactly suited to being called "cute."

I look like the second heroine who drops in out of nowhere, beats the blonde first heroine, then marries the male lead. A triumphant ending! Jiang Han silently mocked, slipped on her slippers, and walked outside.

No sound came from the room next door. It was as silent as an alley in the dead of night.

"Zhen Ling's still not up? That's strange. She usually gets up ten minutes early."

Jiang Han went to her younger sister's door, cleared her throat, curled her index and middle fingers, and gently knocked twice with her knuckles.

Knock, knock.

The room fell silent for a moment, then a few faint noises came from inside. After a little while, footsteps sounded, dragging closer to the door.

The door opened, and Jiang Zhenling stood behind it.

Her long black hair hung in a tangled mess around her. Her pale skin looked lifeless, and her bloodshot eyes fixed on Jiang Han as if she might hit her sister with a Fireball Spell or something even worse at any moment. Perhaps that description was too long. Put simply:

Her eyes were filled with murderous intent.

She said nothing, just stared at her sister.

Under her younger sister's gaze, Jiang Han kept her composure and said, "It's almost seven-thirty. We need to get to tutoring by eight."

When she finished, the air around them seemed to turn colder.

Jiang Zhenling expressionlessly clenched her fist. The corner of her mouth twitched, her molars seemed to grind together, and her facial muscles tensed. Her big eyes narrowed slightly as she stepped forward and turned Jiang Han around to face away from her.

Smack!

After the smack, Jiang Han felt a fiery pain in her butt and staggered forward a couple of steps. She turned around, felt a gust of wind, and saw the door slam shut! Her younger sister's voice came from inside, restrained but seething with murderous intent:

"Saturday and Sunday are both days off. The tutoring center's closed, too!"

Holding her aching butt, Jiang Han limped back to her room.

Sis, you put a few too many points into Strength for a mage build... Jiang Han sucked in a breath. She understood how infuriating it was to be woken up on a morning when you didn't have work, but her younger sister's slap had hurt way too much. It felt like she'd hit her with all her strength. Could she have a nasty temper when woken up, too?

Jiang Han had made a silly mistake. She'd meant to go back to sleep, too, but the cold shower had worked so well that she wasn't sleepy at all.

She left her room again and went downstairs. The house was quiet at this hour.

She spotted several letters by the front door.

Witches' mail was delivered at three in the morning, so for the mail carriers, it was a night shift. They were said to earn quite well, and the post office even had a unique points system to attract witches to apply. The perks included special spells and occasional bargains on rare materials.

Unfortunately, it was a job that required a Class G broomstick license... You had to be at least twenty-five to take the high-speed Class G broomstick test, so Jiang Han couldn't consider it. She was only eighteen.

Jiang Han walked over and gathered the letters.

"Pathfinder Association—For Ms. Jiang and Ms. Ye. Hmm, sounds like some kind of mountaineering club. Could be an organization for exploring Folded Space, too."

"South City Sixth Avenue Employee Office—For Ms. Jiang."

Several letters in a row were for her two mothers. Jiang Han had no intention of snooping through them; she simply sorted them and placed them on the shoe cabinet by the entrance.

"Du Xueqing—For Zhen Ling."

"Lin Xin—For my classmate, Zhen Ling."

There were several more letters for her younger sister. Jiang Han guessed Zhen Ling must be very popular at school.

There were two letters left, and they were for her.

"Dream Garden South City Elite Witch Academy—For Miss Jiang Han."

She opened it right away. It mostly went on about "welcoming her to join," "being absolutely delighted," and "considering it a tremendous honor"—a bunch of empty pleasantries.

Then came the good stuff: "free access to Dream Garden's ordinary spells from Levels 0 to 3," "a sixty percent discount on rare spells," "several rare spells provided free of charge during the course," and "two Level 4 spells and one Level 5 spell provided free each month." It was a substantial investment. Dream Garden thought highly of Jiang Han, a newly turned eighteen-year-old Archwitch with plenty of room left to grow her magic.

Unfortunately... witches' investments usually came in the form of "knowledge" and "spells," and rarely "money"...

Even many schools' scholarship programs rewarded students with "free tuition" or "a number of free spells," and seldom provided financial support. Needless to say, that was another unique custom of witch education in this country: if you wanted money, you had to earn it yourself.

There was also a small pendant inside the Dream Garden letter.

It consisted of a Mobius strip made of silver and a hooded, faceless witch figurine made of mithril. It was quite pretty and delicately crafted, with a faint trace of magic. The letter explained what it was:

"A pendant with fire-resistant properties."

"Pendents like this have been made since the founding of Dream Garden. They signify that their wearers are Dream Garden witches who actively participate in Dragon Hunt activities."

"Even an ordinary witch can use one to gain access to the knowledge she seeks in Dream Garden's library."

The magic Jiang Han sensed from the pendant suggested that its fire resistance probably wasn't very strong, but something was better than nothing. She put it on, and felt a mild magical warmth spread over her skin.

The second letter was from someone whose name she didn't recognize:

"Sang Haixin—For Miss Jiang Han."

After making sure she didn't know the name, Jiang Han hesitated for half a second, then opened the letter. It was addressed to her, after all.

The paper carried a faint, smoky fragrance, and the handwriting was quite elegant:

"Dear Miss Jiang Han,

I hope you have been well. I ran into you in downtown South City the other day and exchanged oranges for your contact information. Looking back, I fear I was rather forward.

I happened upon several pots of heart oranges today, and have prepared some fine tea. I hope you will join me in tasting them.

I await your reply.

Respectfully, Sang Haixin

P.S. If you would like to meet, I will await your arrival at the Appleton Hotel."

It was the witch who'd sold her oranges. Jiang Han's mouth twitched. If not for that last line, the letter would have been fine. With it, the letter could be "simply translated" at once.

The simple translation was: Hey, good girl. Wanna go out?

No, no! Good girls don't go out...

Jiang Han put the letter away and sighed. Just thinking about having to write back to this cultured female flirt made life seem a little less colorful.

After putting the letters away, she took out the Witch House business card and looked it over, falling into thought.