Chapter 1051 – Mo Lan’s Travel Diary 4

“Hssss!” Just hearing the words “Breadfruit” made Vasida’s back molars ache, as if she could taste that tooth-achingly sour flavor from years past all over again.

Lilith also recalled her own school-day memories: “I suddenly feel like going to the Witch Academy to be Headmistress… I really want to see with my own eyes what kind of expression Dorella makes when she moves into that run-down Dormitory and has to gnaw on sour Breadfruit…”

“Hey! Now that you mention it, so do I!” Vasida casually opened her communication bracelet. “Who’s the current Headmistress again? I’ll send word ahead right now…”

“Ahem.”

A soft cough cut her off.

The three turned to see Mo Lan holding her wine glass, her gaze drifting toward the distant stream. “Um… about the Headmistress position — I’ve already applied.”

“???”

Lilith, Vasida, and Sylph all turned to stare at her in unison, their faces painted with shock: “You already applied? When did this happen?!”

“The year Sylvia was born,” Mo Lan touched her nose, looking slightly guilty. “She was just too adorable. I couldn’t bear the thought of her leaving home for school in thirteen years, and I didn’t want to miss the very beginning of her formal Magic education… So I contacted the current Headmistress, Lady Celia, and made an arrangement with her — that when the children enroll, I would take over as Headmistress…”

“You sneaky thing! Something this important, and you only tell us now!”

Lilith narrowed her eyes and leaned in close to Mo Lan with mischievous intent, lowering her voice to “threaten”: “Once you become Headmistress, you’d better reserve me a private room in the Headmistress’s Lounge — I’m moving in permanently! Otherwise… I’ll tell Sylvia ahead of time that you’ll be her Headmistress when she enrolls!”

“I want a room too!” Vasida immediately raised her hand. “I can’t miss seeing what Little Tessa is like at the Academy.”

“Then… count me in as well!” Sylph chimed in gently, her smile tinged with faint nostalgia. “I served as Headmistress for so many years, yet I never got to see my own child’s school days with my own eyes.”

“Why bother with rooms?” Mo Lan raised an eyebrow and smiled, tapping her fingertip lightly against the rim of her glass. “Why not just come be Headmistress together?”

“???”

Lilith blinked. “Together? Hasn’t the Witch Academy always had only one Headmistress?”

“That’s because there was only one Headmistress’s Golden Chalice.” Mo Lan flicked her wrist, and a dark purple card materialized in her palm. “But now, I can make new Chalices whenever I want!”

{Headmistress’s Golden Chalice}

【Function: The user may expend Mana to split off Headmistress avatars with different appearances. Avatars can inherit the original’s knowledge and abilities — the higher the degree of inheritance, the greater the consumption. Avatars are restricted to operating within the Witch Academy Semi-Plane. Upon recalling an avatar, the original gains all of the avatar’s memories and experiences.】

“You turned the Headmistress’s Golden Chalice into a card?” Vasida said in astonishment.

Sylph noticed the words “different appearances”: “It seems somewhat different from the original Headmistress’s Golden Chalice? Does ‘different appearances’ mean the avatar’s form can be changed?”

Mo Lan smiled and nodded. “That’s a new function I added to the Headmistress’s Golden Chalice — the avatar’s appearance can be set to anything. As long as we all use the same appearance, no little Witch will ever discover how many Headmistresses are behind the avatar! The Witch Council’s funding won’t increase, but I think… none of you really care about that bit of Mana consumption, right?”

Maintaining a single Teaching Headmistress avatar at the Peak-level Witch standard required ten thousand Mana per day.

Most Witches who served as Headmistress had to rely on ordinary magic power crystals funded by the Witch Council to sustain their many avatars.

But for these Advanced Sorceresses whose total Mana reserves had each surpassed the trillions, their own Mana alone was more than enough to sustain over a hundred million Peak-level Witch avatars.

“Then it’s settled,” Lilith raised her wine glass. “The day the children enroll — we all become Headmistress together.”

Four glasses clinked softly in the air, producing a crisp, lingering echo.

One night passed, and the mobile castle had quietly traveled from Emerald Creek Plains deep into Starlight Forest, coming to rest on a soft patch of grass among the trees.

Morning light filtered through the castle’s glass windows, gently falling into the room.

Tessa was the first to wake, and out of habit, she did a roll.

“Ow!”

“That hurts…”

“Tessa!” Pained cries rang out from beside her one after another.

Dorella clutched her head, Sylvia rubbed her bottom, and Evelyn held her arm — three pairs of eyes all glaring at the culprit.

“Sorry, sorry!” Tessa quickly sat up, scratching her head sheepishly. “When I wake up, I always roll around a couple times out of habit…”

“Hmph!” Sylvia’s eyes darted, and she suddenly pounced. “Sisters, get her!”

Dorella and Evelyn exchanged a glance, then laughingly joined the “battle.”

“Help me—” Tessa didn’t dare use any real strength, afraid her power might hurt her little companions, and could only dodge left and right around the room.

The four little ones chased and played, circling the spacious room a full three times.

Just then, a voice came from outside the castle:

“Sylvia, if you’re awake, bring Tessa, Dorella, and Evelyn out for breakfast! We still have to get back on the road after eating.”

“It’s Mama!” Sylvia immediately stopped in her tracks.

Evelyn looked toward the spiraling vine ladder against the wall. “Should we go out and see?”

The four little Witches scrambled up the vine ladder on all fours, pushed open the glass door at the top, and the cool morning air of the forest rushed over them.

“Wow… where are we?” Dorella held onto the railing, curiously gazing at the unfamiliar forest scenery all around.

Evelyn blinked her sleepy eyes, finding it somewhat familiar. “It looks like… Starlight Forest?”

“It really is!” Tessa excitedly pointed into the distance. “I’ve been here before when Mama and I went hunting!”

“That’s right — those are Starnight Trees, unique to Starlight Forest!” Sylvia had spent these past few years studying maps most diligently and recognized them at a glance. “We really are in Starlight Forest!”

Four little heads crowded against the railing, full of wonder.

“We went to sleep and traveled all the way from Emerald Creek Plains to here?”

“Did the castle fly here, or walk here?”

“If I’d known, I would’ve stayed up last night to watch how it moves…”

“Look! Our mamas are down there!” Tessa, ever sharp-eyed, pointed to the grassy area by the castle entrance.

Mo Lan heard the commotion and looked up, giving a light snap of her fingers.

In an instant, the railing at the edge of the terrace extended outward, curved, and folded, transforming into a winding, graceful staircase that connected the terrace securely to the grass below.

“Come on down,” she called with a smile, beckoning. “Breakfast is ready.”

The little Witches pattered down the staircase and threw themselves into their respective mothers’ arms.

“Mama! Mama! Did the castle run here all the way from Emerald Creek Plains?”

“How come it didn’t leave big footprints along the way?”

“When did we get here?”

“Where are we going next?”

… (End of Chapter)