Witch Training Manual: My Water Magic Is Wrong

The sunlight was setting in the west.

Wayne walked back along the main street and bought two sesame seed cakes from a stall as he passed by, eating them as he walked.

When he returned to the city lord's mansion, the gatekeeper merely raised his eyelids, didn't ask a single question, and let him in as usual.

Reika was waiting near the courtyard, and as soon as she saw Wayne, she quickly went to greet him.

"Young Master, are you alright?"

Wayne handed her the remaining half of the sesame seed cake: "It's nothing, I just went for a walk over there and familiarized myself with the way."

Reika took the sesame seed cake, still looking nervous: "That's good..."

After finishing his afternoon meal, Wayne sat in his room and reviewed the day's events.

Ophina carries the thread of the Divine Servant Team, the information about the Divine Tomb given by Celia, and the rules told to him by Rein and Agatha. The amount of information is considerable, but it has not yet been pieced together into a complete story.

Suddenly there was a knock on the door.

A servant from the manor brought in a letter, saying it was from the tailor shop on West Agatha Street.

Wayne opened the letter; inside was only one line, written in hasty handwriting, as if rushed:

"The purple-haired girl in the portrait was taken into the underground city as a slave early this morning. She was at the north entrance of the city, dressed in gray, and the buyer's identity is unknown."

He read the line twice.

Emily was assigned the status of a slave and had already been sold into the dungeon. That place was a melting pot of all sorts of people, and no one could say for sure what would happen to a slave once she went in.

We need to go down and find her as soon as possible.

Wayne folded the letter and put it in his pocket. Just as he was about to get up, he caught a glimpse of Reika clearing the dishes at the table.

As she bent over, her brows furrowed, her fingers holding the rag curled slightly, and she stood there frozen for several seconds.

Wayne looked up: "Reika, are you feeling unwell?"

Reika paused in her work, a hint of embarrassment on her face: "It's alright, young master, it's just... my period started, it's an old problem, just bear with it."

As she spoke, she bent down again to pick up the plate.

Wayne walked over and held her hand.

"Sister Reika, don't move."

Reika was taken aback: "Young Master?"

"I have some knowledge of healing techniques."

A layer of pale blue light rose from his right palm, which he gently placed on Reka's lower abdomen. The warmth seeped through the fabric, and Reka trembled as if she had been burned, but she bit her lip and remained silent.

The tight, dull pain gradually dissipated with the warmth, her furrowed brows loosened, and her stiff back softened. She leaned back in the chair and let out a long breath.

After about half a minute, Wayne withdrew his hand.

"How are you feeling?"

Reika lowered her head, her ears burning red, and whispered, "No...it doesn't hurt anymore."

She paused, then quickly looked up at Wayne and added, "Thank you, young master."

"If something like this happens again, don't force yourself to keep working; take a break when you need to."

Reika nodded obediently.

Wayne stood up and casually folded the letter into his pocket: "Sister Reika, I'm going out for a bit. Don't wait for me tonight."

Reika opened her mouth as if to ask a question, but in the end she didn't. She just stood up and said, "Then come back soon."

When Wayne returned to the dungeon, the sun had just set.

He descended the steps familiarly, crossed the passage, and just as he reached the edge of the square, he saw a crowd gathered in front of him.

In the middle of the crowd, a burly man was grabbing Bill by the collar and half-lifting her up.

Bill's feet left the ground, her face flushed red, and she tried to pry the man's wrists apart with her fists, but she was too weak to move them.

"Run? Go ahead and run again!" The burly man shook her, lifting her like a chick. "You haven't paid a single penny of protection money in two months. Do you think I'm doing charity? If you don't pay today, I'll sell you to the mines down there to settle the debt."

Bill struggled to shout, "I just paid it last month! You collected it yourself!"

"Last month?" The burly man grinned. "The rules changed. Prices went up."

A crowd had gathered around, but no one made a sound. Some people simply turned their heads away, pretending not to see anything.

Wayne stepped out of the crowd.

"Let her go."

The burly man turned his gaze over.

He stared at Wayne for a while. A little boy, wearing an old cloak, stood a few steps away, barely reaching his chest.

He laughed.

"Who the hell are you? Get out of here, this is none of your business."

Bill then recognized who it was. She paused for a moment, then panicked, "Big brother, why did you come down here? Don't worry about me, let's go!"

Before she could finish speaking, the burly man threw her to the ground, where she groaned as she fell.

The burly man took two steps, stood in front of Wayne, and looked down at him, bowing his head: "Don't meddle in things that are none of your business, understand?"

"She is my friend."

The burly man paused, then chuckled, "Look at your frail skin, you probably can't even hold a knife properly, can you?"

Someone nearby couldn't stand it anymore and muttered, "Forget it, Iron Fist, he's just a kid. Let's just chase him away."

The burly man ignored the other man and stared down at Wayne: "I'll give you three counts, now get lost, I'll pretend I didn't see anything."

Wayne didn't move.

"one."

Wayne stood still.

"two."

Wayne still didn't move.

"three."

The burly man cursed "You're asking for it!" and threw a punch at Wayne's face—the punch carried a gust of wind and was quite powerful.

Wayne tilted his head, and the wind from the punch grazed his ear. He took a step forward, reached out from the burly man's chest, grabbed his wrist, pressed down, twisted his wrist, and used the force of the man's forward momentum to pull him to the side.

The burly man lost his balance and stumbled a step. He reacted quickly, immediately clenching his free left hand into a fist and sweeping it horizontally, trying to force Wayne to let go.

Wayne didn't loosen up.

He ducked to avoid the swing, then twisted his fingers, and a dull cracking sound came from the burly man's wrist that he had gripped.

The burly man's face immediately changed, and he cursed under his breath, clenching his other fist and swinging it at him again. Wayne used the man's arm as leverage to push off, launching himself into the air and landing precisely on the man's shoulder.

The burly man was stunned.

Before he could react, Wayne had already used his shoulder as leverage to leap up, his right elbow slamming down hard on the back of his head.

With a bang.

The burly man's legs gave way, and he collapsed to the ground with a thud.

He lay on the ground struggling to get up, but Wayne had already landed beside him, stepping on the back of his neck and pressing him back to the ground.

The dungeon fell silent for a moment.

The onlookers looked at each other in bewilderment.

This kid took down Iron Fist Heros?

Wayne released his foot, and the burly man got up and ran.

He clutched the back of his neck and glanced back. Seeing that Wayne didn't seem to be chasing him, he ran while cursing.

"You fucking wait... this isn't over..."

The crowd fell silent for a moment, then gradually dispersed.

Wayne turned to look at Bill.

At that moment, she was being helped to her feet by Mary, the owner of the traveler's inn.

Mary looked up at Wayne, hesitated for a moment, but finally said, "Young man, you shouldn't be getting involved in this."

Wayne asked, "How so?"

Mary lowered her voice: "That guy's name is Herlos, he's from the Iron Fist Gang. His boss is none other than the one ranked eighth on the points monument, named Hogan. That guy is notoriously protective of his own, and since you beat up his underling today, he'll definitely come after you."

Wayne nodded after listening.

"understood."

Mary sighed at his reaction.

She looked down at Bill and asked again.

Are you alright?

Bill shook his head, his voice muffled: "It's nothing."

"Alright, I'll head back now. The shop's still open." Mary released Bill's arm, glanced at Wayne, and added, "Well... you two be careful."