Chapter 3 – Independent and Free

Though witches evolved from the awakening of human women, their beliefs and values were entirely different from those of humans.

Human virtues like devotion and self-sacrifice held no currency among witches.

What witches believed in was individual independence and freedom.

So long as it did not harm the interests of other witches, an individual witch’s personal will reigned supreme.

This was plainly evident in their views on reproduction alone.

Every witch would bear only one child in her lifetime, and regardless of which race the father belonged to, the offspring was always a witch.

Not every witch managed to leave behind a successor before her time was up.

Because of this, the witch population had never experienced explosive growth.

Were it not for human women continuing to awaken and evolve into witches under adversity, the witch race would likely have gone extinct long ago.

Given these circumstances, the Witch Council had only ever enacted various childbearing benefits to improve the survival rate of young witches.

Never once had the Council mandated that witches bear offspring on account of population concerns.

After the Sorceress descended upon the world and claimed the Wilds as witch territory, only those of other races who had signed the Wilds Covenant—pledging their very lives as guarantee that they would never betray the witches or the Wilds—were permitted to enter.

Violating the Wilds Covenant meant certain death, so few outsiders were willing to sign it.

As a result, most pregnant witches chose to return to the Wilds and raise their children alone.

Young witches like Mo Lan—with only a mother and no father—were extremely common in the Wilds.

Rarely did a young witch grow up under the care of both parents.

Yet even with only a mother and the Council’s childbearing subsidies, virtually no young witch ever died in infancy.

Still, under these conditions, the total witch population held steady at only around thirty thousand.

Witches doted on their daughters, but they would not forever regard their daughters as their responsibility.

A witch was responsible only for herself.

Generally, only young witches under the age of thirteen had their witch mothers constantly at their side.

The Witch Council also regularly distributed stipends to every witch mother caring for a young witch, along with childcare assistance.

The 《Young Witch’s Primer》 in their home, for instance, had been a gift from the Council.

Enrolling in the Witch Academy at thirteen marked the beginning of a young witch’s journey toward independence.

It was at this point that a witch mother would let go and allow her young witch to leave home.

For the next five years, the young witch would study magic and survival skills at the Witch Academy.

All expenses during a young witch’s time at the Academy were borne by the Witch Council.

After her young witch left for school, a witch mother could also collect a one-time rearing reward from the Council and begin a new chapter of her own life.

Upon graduating at eighteen, a witch became an adult expected to stand on her own two feet.

Everything needed for survival had to be managed by herself.

One could say that regardless of whether they had an outsider father willing to sign the Wilds Covenant, every young witch shared a common “father”—the Council.

In witch families, the Council was often even more important than an outsider father.

Every cost of a young witch’s upbringing and education from birth through age eighteen was covered by the Council.

After graduating from the Witch Academy at eighteen, a witch had to take responsibility for her own life.

There was no obligation to support her witch mother, no duty to repay the Council as a surrogate father, and certainly no need to devote her entire life to a future daughter.

Always free and equal, unbound by any obligation.

Even if it meant the extinction of her race, a witch would never allow anything to supersede her own will.

Such were witches—awakened from adversity and hardship, with freedom and independence as lifelong pursuits!

All of this was laid out clearly in the very first chapter of the first volume of the 《Young Witch’s Primer》.

And so Mo Lan understood in her heart that Mama Shana would not wait forever in the little cabin on Emerald Creek Plains.

She was not only a mother—she was also herself.

Besides, the home on Emerald Creek Plains had only ever been a temporary dwelling that Mama Shana had prepared for raising her after becoming pregnant. It was not a true witch’s home in any real sense.

The cabin had sat abandoned for who knew how many years before Shana had moved in after making simple repairs with magic.

Every year, she had to hire a witch to reinforce it with magic just to keep it from collapsing.

Even the cost of reinforcing the cabin was paid with the Council’s “Young Witch Rearing Allowance.” Once Mo Lan started school, that subsidy would end, and since Mama Shana didn’t know construction magic, the house wouldn’t last much longer anyway.

Mama Shana was still very young.

For witches with an average lifespan of five hundred years and above, these thirteen years of raising a child were merely a brief interlude in life.

After this, Mama Shana’s life would get back on track.

The house might be old, but many of the things inside had been collected piece by piece during Mama Shana’s travels, intended to furnish her future witch’s home.

They had been well maintained—despite years of use, they were still in excellent condition.

Mama Shana planned to take them all with her.

The things she still liked, she would keep using. The things she no longer cared for but that still held some value, she would sell at a secondhand market in exchange for gold coins.

Then she would continue her journey, build up her fortune, and when she was ready to settle down, find a place that suited her and build a true witch’s home of her own…

And the little cabin on Emerald Creek Plains would be abandoned once more.

The house had gradually emptied out, leaving behind only some battered tables and chairs. The atmosphere of farewell grew ever thicker.

Even though Mo Lan knew that Mama Shana deserved to have her own life, her heart still ached.

After all, this was the first time in two lifetimes that she had ever had a home—had ever had a mother.

Perhaps this was the downside of transmigrating with one’s memories intact. Deep down she was still human, without a shred of a witch’s carefree spirit.

Not wanting her emotions to weigh on Mama Shana, Mo Lan went outside instead.

She lay down on the grass beneath the shade of a tree and closed her eyes to rest.

Inside the house, Shana watched the scene and gave a gentle tap of her wand.

Mo Lan’s breathing became deep and steady.

…

“Moira! Wake up!”

Having fallen asleep without realizing it, Mo Lan snapped her eyes open. The sun was already setting behind the mountains.

“Oh no! Mama, what time is it?”

“Seven o’clock. I’ve already heated the water for you—go take a bath! The ceremony is about to begin.” Shana spoke in her usual unhurried manner.

Mo Lan dashed to the bathroom.

The water temperature was just right. Her Academy robes were already hanging on the bathroom rack.

She washed herself quickly and changed into the robes.

When she came out, her hair was still dripping wet.

A glance at the time showed there were only ten minutes left before eight o’clock.

“Watch this!” Shana used magic to dry her hair.

Then, from somewhere, she produced a black satin hair ribbon adorned with a purple gemstone and placed it on Mo Lan’s head.

“Hmm… hairstyle number two!”

The two ends of the ribbon unfurled like a pair of tiny hands, combing through Mo Lan’s long hair. In less than three minutes, it had braided her hair into a half-up style, with the ribbon tied neatly among the strands.

“What is this…?” Mo Lan touched the ribbon’s tassels curiously.

“A classic magical hair ribbon by a hairstyling witch. It can create eighteen classic hairstyles—simple and beautiful. Moira, congratulations on your enrollment!” Shana said with a smile.

A bittersweet ache rose in Mo Lan’s heart. “Thank you, Mama!”

Mama Shana’s finances had never been generous. She had always lived frugally, budgeting carefully—and magical witch items were far from cheap.

The only magical clock in the house that hadn’t been packed away chimed.

“Dong, dong, dong!”

Eight o’clock.

Mo Lan immediately felt a faint burning sensation on her hand. Looking down, she saw the enrollment notice mark had begun to glow.

She barely had time to remind Mama Shana to remember to write to her before the mark whisked her away in a flash.

Shana had deliberately used magic to keep her daughter asleep until now—precisely so she wouldn’t have to linger in the melancholy of farewell.

Her daughter was gone. It was time for her to continue her own journey.