Chapter 99 – The Headmistress’s Lounge

Chapter 99: The Headmistress’s Lounge

After the first exam, the first-year little witches maintained an unprecedentedly high enthusiasm for learning over the entire following month.

They paid closer attention in class, completed their workbooks more diligently, and spent more time studying after school.

This was reflected in the second monthly exam, where everyone’s grades had improved.

This time, aside from Mo Lan who scored perfect marks as usual, Cheryl also maintained her previous results, continuing to score above 95 in two subjects and earning a reward of 2 Magic Gold Coins.

Additionally, several little witches including Sylph, Vasida, Iris, and Alba each broke through the 95-point mark in one subject, earning 1 Magic Gold Coin as a reward.

Although the other little witches still hadn’t broken through the 95-point threshold, they were getting closer to earning rewards.

The learning momentum among the first-years was looking excellent across the board.

On Friday, Mo Lan finally finished proofreading the second-year theory course workbooks.

“Headmistress, how should I give you the workbooks from my Grimoire?” Mo Lan asked.

“Come to the Headmistress’s Lounge on Saturday morning, and bring your Grimoire,” Amisha said.

On the way down the mountain, Mo Lan flipped through the Academy map and asked Vasida and Sylph, “Do you two know where the Headmistress’s Lounge is?”

“I know! It’s underground!” Vasida said. “Any staircase in the Castle—just keep going down until you reach the very bottom, and you’ll find the Headmistress’s Lounge. The Headmistresses who don’t have anything going on usually hang out there.”

Mo Lan searched for “Headmistress’s Lounge” on the map and, sure enough, found the marker Vasida had described on the very lowest level of the Castle.

“How did you know about it?”

Mo Lan had previously searched for the Headmistress’s office but hadn’t found one. She had assumed the Headmistress didn’t have an office and lived somewhere else in the Academy. After all, the black-robed Lady Amisha always arrived on a broomstick.

So there was a Headmistress’s Lounge all along. It was so hidden—who would normally comb through the map that thoroughly?

“When Sylph and I came to the Castle before to work on our Grimoires, we went to the low-level magic storeroom in the West Tower and found a stairwell leading underground in one of the corners. We got curious and went down to have a look, and that’s how we discovered the Headmistress’s Lounge,” Vasida said.

Sylph’s eyes took on a reminiscent look. “That day, the two of us clearly went to the storeroom together, but the moment I turned around, Vasida had vanished. I called out to her but got no response. I nearly thought something had happened to her. In my panic, I used the method you told us about to call the Headmistress. The Headmistress did respond—she told me not to worry, that Vasida was safe and would be back soon. And then… she came back from outside the storeroom!”

“I took the stairs from the West Tower storeroom down to the underground and found the Headmistress’s Lounge. But the moment I walked in, the Headmistress asked me if I’d finished my essay. Without a second word, I bolted!

I ran so fast that I didn’t take the same corridor I’d come from. I took a wrong turn and ended up coming out through the main staircase in the Castle’s great hall. When I went back to the West Tower, I gave Sylph quite a scare!” Vasida said with a cheerful laugh.

“How come you never mentioned this before?” Mo Lan asked.

“The Headmistress said it was a reserved exploration project for the little witches in the Castle, and told us to keep it a secret. That’s why we didn’t say anything,” Vasida said.

Before Mo Lan could ask why they were telling her so readily this time, Sylph said, “You’re going to the Headmistress’s Lounge on actual business this time!”

“Exactly! It’s all so the upperclassmen can enjoy the pleasures of workbooks and exams sooner!” Vasida said. “Besides, we’re not the ones who leaked it first!”

The one who revealed the existence of the Headmistress’s Lounge was the Headmistress herself!

Mo Lan: “…”

That was actually a fair point.

“But if the Headmistresses are all underground, how come the Lady Amisha who teaches us always arrived at the West Tower on a broomstick before?

And on the first day of classes, the purple-robed Amisha who teaches third-years also came down from upstairs. Isn’t that strange?”

Neither Vasida nor Sylph had ever thought about it that deeply, but now that they heard it, they found it odd too.

“Could it be… she was deliberately trying to scare us?” Vasida speculated boldly.

“Would she really go that far?” Sylph could hardly believe it.

Vasida and Mo Lan recalled the Headmistress’s various deeds and nodded in unison: “Absolutely!”

Sylph: “…”

Saturday morning, Mo Lan climbed Mount Sanqing alone.

When she reached the Castle, she headed straight for the nearest staircase and kept going down.

The same steps, the same walls, the same wall sconces—it felt as if there were no end. She didn’t know how many flights she had descended, but just as Mo Lan was about to lose her patience, she finally reached the bottom.

Passing through a doorway, she entered a deep, long corridor.

The silence around her was so complete she could hear her own breathing. The tap-tap-tap of her shoes on the floor echoed through the corridor. A vague sense of unease crept over her, and Mo Lan rubbed her arms.

The corridor wasn’t a straight line either—it curved left and right, and at times she could clearly feel it sloping upward and downward.

But there wasn’t a single fork in the path.

After walking for about ten minutes, the space suddenly opened up, and she stepped into a vast hemispherical chamber.

Before her stood an enormous door, and behind her, in addition to the passageway she had come from, there were many other tunnel exits.

They were all roughly the same size and appearance—nearly identical. No wonder Vasida had taken the wrong one on her way out!

Mo Lan quietly memorized the position of the passage she had emerged from, then went to knock on the door.

She had just raised her hand, not yet touching the door, when it swung open.

Mo Lan: (!)!!!

It was huge! And there were so many Lady Amishas!

The entire space was filled with tables, chairs, bookshelves, and sofas.

They were arranged in tasteful variety, yet nothing felt rigid or stiff.

“One, two, three, four, five! Five Lady Amishas!” It was Mo Lan’s first time seeing so many Amishas at once.

Some Amishas were lying on sofas with their eyes closed, resting. Others seemed to be staring off into space. Still others sat at large desks, looking at something.

The one in the black robe snapped her fingers at Mo Lan. “Moira, come here!”

Mo Lan jogged over.

“Sit!” Amisha motioned for her to sit down.

Mo Lan sat across from the black-robed Amisha and looked down at what she had just been examining on the desk—it was this month’s exam results.

Amisha noticed her gaze and sighed with feeling. “Exams really are a wonderful thing!”

“It’s the Magic Gold Coins that are too tempting!” Mo Lan said, curiously looking around.

Now that she was inside, she had a much better view than she’d had from the doorway.

Only then did she notice that the curving walls around her had four tall doors similar to the one she had entered through.

In addition, there were many smaller doors of varying colors, patterns, and designs—at least a hundred of them.

“Creak~” ×4

At one spot, four adjacent small doors suddenly opened simultaneously.

A blue-robed Amisha, a purple-robed Amisha, a red-robed Amisha, and a green-robed Amisha stepped out from different doors.

“Has Moira arrived?”