Forests Don't Support Idle Goblins

"Why didn't you leave?" The old hag struggled to lift her head, her purple eyes staring intently at the goblin through her messy black hair.

"I'm just a little curious." Charles felt that the other party still had some goodwill, and did not kill him directly. Moreover, even his voice changed at the end. His anxiousness in sending him away was completely different from before. There must be something fishy going on.

"Help me, help me..." The old woman's voice was young and melodious, completely different from her appearance.

Xia Er immediately brought up the control panel.

Name: Agatha Sebastian

Race: Hag (Human)

[Danger Level: 9, Somewhat Dangerous]

[Personality: Curious and resilient]

[My own status: Basic Shapeshifting Curse (Negative)]

"This name..." A scene unfolded in Ciel's memory.

"Now, please welcome student representative Ms. Sebastian to deliver her graduation speech," the host announced from the podium.

A tall, intelligent woman with black hair and purple eyes walked onto the podium. After clearing her throat, she said in a loud voice, "Distinguished teachers, deans, guests, and students of the Royal College of Arts and Sciences, on behalf of all graduating students, I hereby make this declaration."

"Get me some medicine, some healing medicine, some healing..." The old hag's groans interrupted Charles's memories; her voice grew weaker and weaker.

The voice was indeed very familiar. Charles stared at the hunchbacked hag on the ground. He couldn't believe that this person was his former classmate, but the Elementary Transformation Curse was so glaring.

"Are you Agatha, the outstanding student representative from graduation?" Charles crouched down next to the witch's face.

"I am, no, I am not," the old hag immediately changed her story and buried her face in the ground.

"Are you Agatha Christie, the one who kept pressing the dean with historical questions and caused him to have a heart attack?" Charles pulled up the other person's hair and asked.

"No," the old woman answered decisively, but her voice betrayed her guilt.

"Since that's not the case, then I'm leaving." Charles stood up, preparing to push open the door.

"I am, I am, give me the medicine..." Before she could finish speaking, the old woman collapsed to the ground and stopped moving.

Charles stepped forward to check her breathing. "She's passed out."

He dragged a low stool to the shelf, stood on it, and began to examine the various medicines on it.

"Healing potion." Charles took a bottle from a shelf of 20-pack healing potions, then jumped off the stool, pinched the witch's mouth shut, and poured it in.

After a while, the witch was able to move again.

…………

"I never expected to see you here, Ciel."

"Yes, even though it's been so long since you graduated from the Royal Grammar School, my impression of you is still that of the student representative who gave the graduation speech."

"It's been almost two years. But you were quite the celebrity back in the academy. A lot of girls talked about you. Many girls said that if the Third Prince hadn't been of royal blood, you should have been the student council president back then."

"That poodle?"

"This nickname originated from the girls. They said that if the Third Prince hadn't replaced you in that debate before graduation, you would definitely have won."

"I'm not really interested in those things, I've always hung out with my friends, but I've heard of you, a history whiz who dared to point out the teacher's mistakes."

"It's nothing, I just enjoy studying history."

"Calder Mercedes once boasted to us that he was going to win over Agatha Christie, the jewel of the history department, and we were all ready to laugh at him."

"Uh, he did confess his feelings to me back then, but I didn't accept."

"It's a good thing you didn't agree. That guy's nickname is 'Seven Days,' which means that he only dates a girl for seven days."

"When he arrived, I noticed that someone had stuck a piece of paper on his back that said 'scumbag.' Later, people pointed at him and talked about him when he walked around the college."

"I am Qian, and I am not worthy of the title."

"Hahaha."

Beautiful memories are like a cup of fine tea; the more you savor them, the more you cherish them. Charles thought that it would be even better if he were chatting with his classmates in a high-end coffee shop in the capital, or if he were asking them to dance at a ball or salon.

At the long table in the wooden house, the two sat facing each other. The hunchbacked and withered old woman stared blankly at the green-skinned, sharp-toothed goblin, who was sitting in a chair with his legs not even touching the ground.

"So, how did you recognize me?" Agatha asked after a few seconds of silence, as if to say that she could still run into someone she knew even when she was hiding in the forest.

"I judged by the voice. Your speech amazed me back then." Charles shifted his body guiltily, changing the subject, "What happened to you just now?"

"The plague, everyone who knows magic has it." Agatha pursed her lips. "Then how did you become like this?"

"And you?"

After a few seconds of pause, they both said at the same time, "You go first."

"Okay, I'll go first." Charles jumped off the chair and started pacing back and forth in the room.

He first explained that after graduating, he stayed in the capital as a political assistant for more than half a year. Later, his father asked him to return to Torch City, which was Baron Mello's residence, under the pretext of assisting in the governance of the territory.

In Torch City, he assisted his father with many tax and trade matters, and this went on for a year.

One day, his father was summoned to the capital and instructed to purchase iron ore from the Earl of Valentine's territory before his departure.

After Charles and his guards arrived at the inn, he was surprised to receive his father's verdict for treason and his own arrest warrant the next day. He and his guards immediately set off to rescue his father, but when he woke up again, he was already lying in the Nightmare Forest.

"That's it." Charles shrugged. This was all the memories he had received after transmigrating.

"My..." Agatha's eyes followed Charles intently as he recounted his story, but now that it was her turn to speak, she hesitated, reluctant to recount her ordeal.

"Fine, if you don't want to talk about it, then don't." Seeing his old classmate's embarrassment, Charles waved his hand. "I just want to know what happened."

"The curse of transformation," Agatha sighed. "If I'm not mistaken, you're also under this curse."

"So, what exactly is this thing?" Charles stared intently into the other person's eyes and asked seriously.

"This is sorcery," Agatha said carefully, "It manipulates negative energy, using ourselves as a medium to alter our bodies."

"Stop." Charles raised his hand. "I just want to know if I can turn back."

"It's very difficult, extremely difficult." Agatha held up two long, pale fingers, her tone certain. "I've never heard of anyone succeeding."

"The transformation curse is very powerful. It's not like the arcane school's polymorph spells that can be dispelled after a while. This magic directly uses our body parts as casting materials, changing the body from the inside out, even altering the bloodline."

"So vicious?" Charles said, frowning.

"Yes, fingernails and hair can be used as materials. After the spell is performed, we eat them and we will transform."

"Is there really no way out?" Charles pressed, even feeling that finding his sister might be hopeless.

"Uh, I'm doing an experiment," Agatha said, getting up and taking a black notebook from the bookshelf on the wall. The cover was torn at the corners, and the pages inside were badly worn. "I'm trying to find a solution through alchemy."

She pushed her notebook onto the table. "Studying herbs and preparing potions, I wonder if I can change this magic."

"Alchemy?" Charles didn't pick up the notebook; he felt he wouldn't understand it even if he looked at it. He looked around the room. "Could it even work?"

He touched the glass jar and rummaged through the herbs until he saw a very familiar package.

"It's a long way off." Agatha thought for a moment and said, "But when I was studying history, I heard a legend."

"Legend?" Charles turned to look at her.

"Legend has it that before humans established civilization, magic was invented by an advanced race, who taught other races how to use it. If we can prove this legend to be true and find where they kept their magic books, maybe we can find a way."

"What is this race called?"

"I don't know," Agatha shook her head.

"Where are their magic books stored?"

That place is called the Tower of Babel.