Chapter 377 – Leaving the Academy

Chapter 377 – Leaving the Academy

“Congratulations, you’ve all come of age!” Amisha said with a smile, blessing them. “I hope that in your lives ahead, you’ll possess the ability to survive independently, and live forever free, following your own hearts’ desires!”

At this point, the corners of her mouth suddenly curled upward. “Goodbye~”

“Hm?”

The witches had been dreaming of the future along with Madam Amisha’s blessings when that meaningful “goodbye” suddenly put them on alert.

But before they could react, they felt a forceful shove against their backsides.

They had been standing facing the long table, with the high-backed chairs moved slightly away behind them — who would guard against an attack from behind!

Mo Lan hastily turned to look and saw, on her chair, one of the Amisha copies smiling as she withdrew her hand. “Goodbye! Moira!”

That was the Guardian Headmistress who had watched over her for a full five years.

Seriously, who would want this kind of farewell!

But Mo Lan had no time to protest. A black hole portal had already appeared before her and every other witch, catching them with perfect accuracy.

At the head of the table, Amisha dusted off nonexistent dirt from her hands. “Another batch of little witches safely sent off! I’m one step closer to retirement!”

“Zhi?” A little silver-furred monkey crawled out from under the table.

“Hm? You got left behind?” Madam Amisha looked to her left. “No. 69!”

No. 69 Amisha grabbed Zhizhi and tossed her into the portal.

The other Guardian Headmistresses also dragged out beast-hide bundles of various sizes from under the table and behind the chairs, throwing them into the portals by the table.

“Alright! That’s a job well done! I’m going back to sleep. The rest of you take a break and get ready to welcome the next batch of little witches!” Madam Amisha at the head of the table shut down the outbound portals and vanished in a flash.

Meanwhile, the witches who had been pushed into the portals were experiencing that familiar sensation once again — like being turned into a sheet of paper, crumpled and squeezed, tumbling around inside a “waste paper basket”!

Before they could think too much, they felt themselves spat out.

Mo Lan silently cursed Madam Amisha’s unreliability while immediately casting Featherfall on herself to slow her descent.

Knowing Madam Amisha’s temperament, there was absolutely no way she’d let them land smoothly.

The Featherfall took effect, and Mo Lan had time to steady herself during the fall.

Once she could see the surroundings clearly, she couldn’t help but look up at the teleportation black hole above, which hadn’t yet disappeared.

Right now, she genuinely had the urge to pull out her broomstick immediately and fly right back into that hole!

“Moira!” From the crowd, a red-haired witch waved excitedly at her.

“Hahaha! So that’s Lady Moira! How cute! She doesn’t look anything like a Goblin Sorceress at all!”

“Shh! The Witch Council hasn’t lifted the Sorceress protection order yet. You can’t reveal a Sorceress’s name! Calling her ‘Lady’ risks exposing her identity — just call her Little Moira!”

“You’re this tiny yourself and you want to call her Little Moira? Besides, there aren’t any outsiders on Spring View Island! Why worry about leaks?”

“Hey hey hey! I’m not that short!”

“What do you think — if I go hug Lady Moira right now, would my luck explode and I’d draw a super valuable card?”

……

Mo Lan looked down at the small island teeming with people below. Witches were everywhere on the island — only this patch of cushion grass where the teleportation black holes had appeared was empty.

Around the grass clearing, spectating witches were packed together, several hundred at the very least.

Obviously, this area had been cleared specifically for them.

Even if Mo Lan wanted to teleport away and escape this impending social catastrophe, there was nowhere to run. She cursed Madam Amisha another hundred times in her heart.

The newly graduated witches were being spat out of the black hole like dumplings being dropped into a pot. Though it wasn’t as uncomfortable as their first teleportation five years ago, their landing poses still couldn’t be called graceful.

After seeing the awkward landings of her companions, Mo Lan suddenly felt much better.

As a fellow member of the spectated group, her reaction had been fast enough — at least she had landed steadily, slowly, and on both feet.

She wasn’t the only one dying of embarrassment, and that made her feel at ease.

Perhaps this was the power of crowd dynamics!

Just as Mo Lan was nodding graciously at the unfamiliar witches in the crowd who kept waving and greeting her, maintaining her dignified Sorceress composure, a sudden “zhi” came from above her head.

Mo Lan finally remembered Zhizhi, who had been drinking under the table in the Academy’s Great Hall, and looked up.

Only to be bear-hugged on the head by the plump, round little monkey she had raised with her own hands, knocking her hat askew.

“Zhi zhi zhi zhi zhi!” Mistress, how could you leave me behind!

Mo Lan hurriedly pulled Zhizhi down and soothed her with Heart Speech: “I didn’t leave you behind on purpose. It was all the Headmistress — she pushed me too suddenly!”

“What? Your Headmistress pushed you with her hands? Was it only that dreadful Madam Garcia who used to kick?” A senior witch in dark-gothic-style witch robes, holding a crystal skull crystal ball, cursed from within the crowd.

“Madam Fatima, how many years has it been since you last came back? You probably don’t know yet! After Madam Yulia brought back the Life Weaving Art from another world, graduating young witches now receive deceased witch robes gifted by departed witches. Since then, the Headmistresses stopped using kicks!” another witch explained.

Mo Lan: “……”

So this was also a witch tradition all along?

Why did witches have so many bizarre and mortifying traditions?

She touched the robes she was wearing. Thanks to them, she’d been spared from getting kicked right before graduation!

After Zhizhi’s disruption, Mo Lan’s hat was crooked, and the Sorceress image she had worked so hard to maintain was shattered. Paradoxically, this made her relax.

As all the witches touched down, the spectating witches gradually dispersed. “See you at the bonfire market!”

Mo Lan spotted the certain red-haired senior who had been very dutifully (and with wicked intentions) shouting out witches’ names in the crowd, grabbed her, and clamped a hand over her mouth. “Shut it!”

“Mmph mmph!” Lilith struggled to pry her hand off but found she couldn’t budge it. She mumbled indistinctly, “Moira! We haven’t seen each other for a year and you’ve gotten even stronger! You must have been using plenty of Vasida’s Dietary Fortification Cards!”

“If I didn’t keep building up my strength, how could I keep you under control, Senior?” Mo Lan said.

Ever since Vasida’s Dietary Fortification Card went on sale, she hadn’t missed a single meal.

Her physical fitness couldn’t match Vasida’s, but it far surpassed any witch who used the Dietary Fortification Card less frequently than she did.

“Okay okay okay! I was wrong, happy now?” Lilith surrendered.

Only then did Mo Lan let go and release her.

“I’m not the only one in the crowd who knows you all. Quite a few witches who graduated in recent years are still in Witch’s Town making preparations, and they all came today. Even if I didn’t shout, they would have — after all, everyone went through the same thing,” Lilith said.

Mo Lan knew her senior wasn’t lying, but what could she do? Lilith was the only one she’d managed to catch!