Witch Training Manual: My Water Magic Is Wrong

the next day.

It was still dark.

Wayne was awakened by the singing.

No, to be precise, I was woken up by howling.

Jenny's voice came from the direction of the backyard storage room, penetrating the walls, passing through the windows, and drilling straight into Wayne's ears.

"Ahhhhhh, the northern grasslands... how green you are!"

Wayne opened his eyes.

The cracks in the ceiling were faintly visible in the morning light.

"Ahhhhhh, girl from the North, how red your cheeks are!"

Wayne rolled over and sat up.

Babaka's voice came from the storage room, carrying the irritability of someone just woken up from a dream.

"Could you please stop singing?"

"I am expressing my feelings."

"What nonsense are you spouting?"

"What's wrong with me singing? Nobody said singing is illegal."

"You sing terribly."

"So what if it sounds bad? Does that mean you can't sing? What kind of logic is that? I may not sing well, but I love to sing. That's called passion, don't you understand?"

Babaka remained silent for two breaths.

"Sing one more line, and I'll sew your mouth shut."

Jenny sang another line.

Babacar didn't sew his mouth shut.

A muffled thud came from the storage room, sounding like someone struggling or being beaten.

Mimi's voice came from outside the storage room.

"Can't you be quiet this early in the morning?"

Jenny's voice stopped.

Babacar stopped panting.

Wayne got dressed, pushed open the door, and went out.

Vera was standing in the yard, holding a basin of water, about to fetch some when she saw Wayne come out and stopped.

"Sir, you heard that too?"

"Um."

"That person started humming before dawn," Vera shook her head. "I don't know if he couldn't sleep or didn't want to sleep."

Mimi stood at the door.

She had already changed into a maid's outfit, her apron was neatly tied, and her hair was combed sleekly.

"grown ups."

"Is the door open?"

"not yet."

Wayne took the key from his waist and pushed open the door.

Babaka looked up, and the instant he saw Wayne, his eyes lit up: "Your Excellency! You've finally arrived! When can we leave?"

Wayne did not answer.

He took out two porcelain bottles from his waist.

The bottle is brown, about the size of a thumb, and the opening is sealed with wax. It's exactly the same as the one I gave Mimi yesterday.

"Vera."

Vera walked up from behind.

"grown ups."

"Give this potion to both of them."

Babaka's gaze fell on the porcelain vase.

"What is this?"

You'll know once you drink it.

Babaka hesitated.

"I won't drink it unless you tell me."

Wayne looked at him for a couple of breaths.

"You don't have to drink it. Then you can stay here. I'll let you out whenever I remember you. Maybe three days, maybe three months, maybe thirty years. I'm not in a hurry."

Babaka swallowed.

Jenny stood up from the corner, walked to Vera, took the porcelain bottle, uncorked it, and drank it all in one gulp.

Their movements were so smooth, as if they had been rehearsed.

Babaka's eyes widened.

"You...how could you drink it?"

Jenny turned the porcelain bottle upside down; it was empty.

He wiped his mouth.

"Boss, haven't you figured it out yet? If His Holiness the Bishop wanted to harm us, he would have done it last night. Why would he wait until now? He just wants us to behave. Let's drink it, it's not poison."

Babaka opened his mouth.

He couldn't utter a word.

Vera handed him the porcelain bottle.

Babaka took it, glanced down at it, looked up at Wayne, then glanced down again. Finally, he uncorked the bottle, pinched his nose, tilted his head back, and gulped it down.

It doesn't taste bitter.

It has a faint herbal scent.

There was also a hint of sweetness that was hard to describe.

Babaka handed the porcelain bottle to Vera.

"Alright, we've finished drinking. Can you let us out now?"

Wayne didn't move.

"Vera, tell them."

Vera put the porcelain bottle into her apron pocket, cleared her throat, and looked at Babacar and Jenny.

"His Holiness the bishop said that if you don't want to be interested in men in the future, you'd better behave yourselves. And from now on, you need to do volunteer work for the church for three months. After three months, you will be allowed to leave."

Babaka's face turned ashen in an instant.

"What...what did you say? You're interested in men?"

Babaka looked down at his chest.

Flat.

He glanced down at his crotch again.

Still.

He breathed a sigh of relief, but then tensed up again. He'd heard of potions before; the alchemists of the Northern Continent could concoct all sorts of strange and wonderful things. Potions that turned people into women were rare, but not nonexistent.

"Your Excellency, you're lying, aren't you?"

"You can believe me or not. But if you run away and end up as a woman, I will not be responsible for anything."

Babaka's throat moved.

He didn't want to try.

To be precise, he didn't dare to gamble.

Jenny's eyes lit up.

He leaped out from behind the wall, sidled up to Wayne, bent over at a ninety-degree angle, and plastered a smile on his face: "Your Excellency! Rest assured! I, Jenny, swear to God, I will do my job well! If you tell me to go east, I will never go west! If you tell me to beat a dog, I will never chase a chicken! If you tell me to…"

Babaka's mouth opened and closed.

"Fine." His voice was muffled. "Three months. We'll work for you for three months, and you give me the antidote. Then we're even."

Vera took two sets of keys out of her pocket and unlocked the shackles on Babacar and Jenny's feet.

Babaka stretched his ankle, looked down at the red marks on his wrist, and remained silent for a moment.

What are we doing now?

Wayne tilted his head slightly to the west side of the courtyard.

"The firewood piled up against the west wall has been there for half a month, let's chop it up."

Babaka's lips twitched.

He, a dignified fourth-tier warrior and the number one iron fist in the Northern Continent, has unexpectedly fallen to the point of chopping wood for the church.

"OK."

Before he could finish speaking, Jenny had already run to the west wall, bent down, picked up a bundle of firewood, placed it on a wooden stump, grabbed an axe, and chopped it down.

Click.

The firewood split in the middle.

Babaka looked at Jenny with disdain.

Is it really necessary to be so attentive?

Jenny turned around and met Babacar's gaze. The axe paused in mid-air.

"What are you looking at?" Jenny's voice wasn't loud, but it was righteously assertive. "Don't you have any sense at all? His Excellency the Bishop gave us a chance, so shouldn't we do our best? If we do well, three months will be up, we'll get the antidote, and we'll be free. If we don't do well, we'll be locked up for another three months. Are you going to take responsibility?"

Babaka's lips twitched.

He wanted to beat Jenny up.

With his fist raised in mid-air, he looked at Wayne with a puzzled expression.

"Your Excellency, our strength..."

Wayne leaned against a pillar in the corridor.

"The effects of the potion."

"Didn't you say we should be interested in men?"

"What I said was, 'If you don't want to be interested in men in the future, then behave yourselves.' But I didn't say that the potion only had that effect; there might be other poisons in it as well."

Baba immediately understood the situation.

His back immediately bent down.

"Your Majesty Bishop."

"Um."

"Don't worry, I'll do my job well. Chopping wood, carrying water, sweeping, feeding the horses, I'll do anything you ask."

Wayne looked at him.

"Didn't you just want to beat up Jenny?"

Babaka's expression froze for a moment.

"That's...that's a personal matter between us. It has nothing to do with the church. I promise, it won't affect my work."

A smile appeared on Jenny's face.

He muttered to himself: What? You want to compete with me in being the number one lackey? Boss, do you even know what you're doing?

Jenny immediately turned to Wayne, bowing even lower, his expression changing from obsequious to aggrieved—the change of expression was faster than turning the pages of a book.

"Your Excellency, this Babacar has ulterior motives; he actually wants to beat someone who serves you loyally. Look at him, look at him! How can we keep such a person alive? In my opinion, he should be locked up in the storeroom for a few months to reflect on his actions."

Babacar's fists clenched so tightly they cracked.

"Jenny, you!"

"What's wrong with you?" Jenny looked up, feigning innocence. "I'm telling the truth. Were you trying to hit me just now? Weren't you? Your fist was raised, everyone saw it, you can't deny it, can you?"

Babaka stared at his fist with his mouth agape, then at Jenny's smug face.

His lips twitched twice.

Row.

He remembered it.

Jenny! You traitor!

You better not fall into my hands again!