After breakfast, Jiang Han didn't head straight to the Witch Market. Instead, she changed back into her nightgown and cheerfully ran off to Ice Bear Den to cuddle the bear. She even fell asleep on Ice Bear again. Would the tavern be open in the morning? Of course not!
She enjoyed a comfortable lie-in until the afternoon, when her younger sister woke her and took her to lunch. Afterward, she went back to the den, cuddling the bear as she read.
It wasn't until after eight that evening that she and her sister, the garden-loving old-timer Jiang Xuan, sat down to eat fish noodles. After dinner, she changed into casual robes, put on her wide-brimmed witch's hat, and left home in a lighthearted, cheerful mood.
Witches' family lives were fairly relaxed. Unless the family had made plans to spend time together, everyone went their own way on weekends.
After putting on her shoes in the entryway, Jiang Han climbed onto her broom. She had already gotten the hang of flying.
Brooms were divided into G-class and A-class. A-class brooms were the ordinary kind, with the usual flying speed. A-class brooms already seemed fast to Jiang Han, but G-class brooms were actually three to five times faster—true high-speed brooms. Besides being expensive, G-class brooms also required a license to use.
Since the country had many Sky Islands, the aerial routes were complicated, so getting a G-class license here was harder than abroad. But because the license was internationally recognized, some witches went to Southeast Asia to get theirs and then used them back home. Incidentally, the Eastern Isles also had plenty of Sky Islands, and their exams were so rigorous they were hard to believe!
After flying for a while, she spotted the Floating Mountain Market, half of which had been hollowed out. It was even busier than last time, since it was the weekend. She hadn't paid much attention on her previous visit, but there were several smaller Sky Islands near the market, with restaurants, amusement facilities, and the like built on them.
Quite a few ordinary people rode witches' Griffin Carriages to those islands, enjoying the witches' way of life on the weekend.
After smoothly leaving her broom at the storage counter and collecting her numbered tag, Jiang Han followed the route she'd taken the day before yesterday.
The market was chaotic, but orderly.
Vegetable and fruit stalls stood beside flower shops, followed by a liquor trading post, and then row after row of taverns.
Bookstores were always next to magic-item shops, antique shops, and Enchantment shops.
Alchemy shops and the like could be found near the herbal medicine vendors.
Following that pattern, she made her way to the tavern street and soon found the place called Witch House.
It was easy to recognize. A kind of bamboo called Wine Bamboo grew by the entrance. Its stalks were a deep brown and gave off the fragrance of ale. If you went closer, you could even hear the faint sound of liquid sloshing inside the hollow joints...
With bamboo planted at the entrance and a charming little bridge over a stream, Witch House looked like a quaint little inn nestled in a bamboo grove. It had a distinctive charm.
Jiang Han pushed open the door and stepped inside. Witch House had a distinctive interior design, like a library.
There weren't many customers in the tavern yet, and most seemed to be regulars. They sipped from small cups as they read magazines, or gathered together to play cards.
Jiang Han wandered over to see what they were playing.
Four people sat around a round table, each holding a stack of cards. They took turns drawing and discarding.
What card game involved drawing cards and then playing them? Hearthstone? Jiang Han went over to take a look.
A witch dressed in red and black played a card.
A witch dressed in green and black gave a little cry of "Pong!" She picked up the card the red-and-black witch had played, took two matching cards from her own stack, and laid all three out in front of her. Then she played another card. "Three of Bamboo."
...Wasn't this just mahjong?
...They'd even turned it into a card game... Jiang Han was at a loss for words. She guessed witches probably didn't like making a racket, so they'd turned the original mahjong into a card game.
She glanced at the round table. The witches' discards were neatly arranged in rows in front of them, and a Six of Characters lay in the center. There was even a "dora indicator" on the table.
And it was Japanese mahjong, no less...
Jiang Han left the table and went to the bar.
As it happened, the witch who'd recruited her the day before yesterday, Qin Shunying, was sitting there, fiddling with something.
"You? Just a moment." Qin Shunying looked delighted to see her and turned around.
She was holding a spherical black cat that looked seriously overweight. The witch held a piece of bamboo strung with a bowstring. After fiddling with it for a dozen seconds or so, she tied the bamboo onto the Black Cat. Then she held one end of the bamboo in one hand and picked up a wineglass with the other, placing it on the Black Cat's belly.
"Ahem. Will you still remember~ the diary you wrote yesterday..." Qin Shunying cleared her throat and began to sing. She rubbed the wineglass against the cat's belly, making the Black Cat produce the sound of a musical instrument in a way that made absolutely no sense.
What the hell, a shamisen... Jiang Han was at a loss for words again.
When the elegantly dressed witch finished her song, the Black Cat meowed and wriggled free of the bamboo, hopping down to the floor.
Thump! Smack!
The two sounds rang out at the same time. The Black Cat landed flat on her belly, apparently making the wooden floor creak, then limped off behind the bar...
"Hahaha!" Qin Shunying burst out laughing, quite unladylike. She wiped away her laughter-induced tears, picked up the pipe on the bar, lit it, and took a puff. Smiling, she said, "Music is an important part of our lives. But perhaps it's a cat's whole life."
This woman was a little unhinged... Jiang Han gave her a wary look.
"We met the day before yesterday." Qin Shunying tapped her pipe, then gave an apologetic gesture to the witches quietly reading and drinking nearby. She looked at Jiang Han with interest. "Have you decided you want the job?"
Jiang Han hesitated for a moment, then sat down at the bar. "Could I take a look at the special spells you have first?"
"No problem. Every witch interested in working here asks to look first, and after they do, they all want to stay." Qin Shunying took a list from her robe pocket. She seemed to have it ready at all times.
The list contained quite a few spells, most of which Jiang Han had never heard of in her schoolbooks. They were mainly abjuration spells, with evocation as a secondary specialty—completely at odds with her impression of Witch House. She'd thought an organization like this would focus on the Illusion School or Enchantment School. (In the version after 3R, it was translated as the School of Enchantment.)
Abjuration and evocation were straightforward schools. They didn't fit the image of a woman who sold liquor... Jiang Han nodded, acknowledging the value of these spells. Some of their names sounded explosive enough just to hear them: "Skyfire Skyfire."
"Then let's talk about the part you're most interested in."
Qin Shunying pulled out another document. This time, it was a contract.
"Witch House guarantees that the points required to exchange for spells won't be raised or lowered. The points required to exchange for potion ingredients may fluctuate by no more than 15%, and those for magic items by no more than 10%."
The contract listed the terms Qin Shunying had mentioned earlier:
Class A employment (5% tax, state insurance), thirty hours of work per week, a weekly salary of 1,000 yuan, one meal included, a 10% share of liquor sales, and 50 Witch House points per week... There were also various clauses about earning points by selling certain drinks, with more points awarded for more expensive liquor...
There was also a share of the pay for playing cards with customers.
And a share of the pay for singing on request.
There was even a line at the very bottom of the contract that read "crosstalk pay share." So not only did they recruit pretty witches, they also hired witches who could tell crosstalk...
Jiang Han read through it again carefully. After confirming that there were no "sexual services" listed, she nodded.
"No problem. Do I sign here?"
"Yes, but after you sign, you'll need to wait here a bit. Our contracts have to be notarized." Qin Shunying smiled. "We might look like we work in a somewhat dubious profession, but it's officially recognized. We have insurance, labor agreements, oversight from the workers' union, and we pay taxes."
If not for all that, I wouldn't have taken this job... Jiang Han took the pen attached to the contract and signed her name in the designated places. The contract was rather long, and she had to sign it in more than a dozen places.
After she finished signing, Qin Shunying took out a badge and a silver box about the size of a matchbox. She pressed the badge into the ink pad inside the box, then took it out and stamped the contract with a smack.
Then she waved over a witch in a black cheongsam. When the witch came closer, Qin Shunying handed her the contract and instructed her:
"Take it to the Witch Association for notarization."
Once she'd given the instruction, she stood up and held out her hand to Jiang Han.
"Welcome to Witch House."
Jiang Han stood and shook her hand, replying politely, "It's my pleasure."
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