Chapter 16: The Fairy in the Farmland

Chapter 16: The Fairy in the Farmland

The next day, Moran was awakened by the sound of bells.

Starting from six o'clock, a bell would ring every hour.

At first, the extremely drowsy Moran could manage to ignore the sound, but by the time the bell struck nine, she finally couldn't help but open her eyes.

She was wide awake.

Rubbing her dry eyes and shaking her weary head, she went downstairs to wash up.

There was a little water left from what she had brought back yesterday; after brushing her teeth and washing her face, not a single drop remained.

She didn't even have water to drink.

Resigned to her fate, Moran took a bucket and went out. The doors to the dormitories on either side were closed; both Vasida and Sylph had not yet gotten up.

"Moran! Morning!"

"Morning, Senior Lilith!"

On the water tower in the backyard of the dormitory ahead, Lilith was filling it up. "Going to fetch water?"

"Mhm!" Moran watched the thin stream flowing from the tip of the senior's staff and remained silent.

Was she envious? Definitely.

But using the same amount of magic, last night's *Light* spell was huge and bright, yet this *Clear Spring* spell produced such a tiny trickle—was that really normal?

"How did you sleep last night?" Lilith asked.

Moran nodded, sporting two dark circles under her eyes. "Not bad! It's just that the morning bells are too noisy!"

"Haha! It'll be fine once you all learn the *Silence* spell!" Lilith said with a laugh.

Moran: "..."

Great, another mandatory spell for freshmen.

The academy was truly full of pitfalls; if one didn't study magic properly, one couldn't even live a decent life!

Moran walked toward the well.

This morning seemed like a good time to cast *Clear Spring*.

The seniors living in the front row of dormitories were all in their yards, filling their water towers.

The more proficient a senior was in water magic, the finer the stream of their *Clear Spring* spell became.

If Moran hadn't seen her own mother, Shana, who was not skilled in water magic, casting *Clear Spring*, she might have thought that the spell's purpose was to produce the thinnest stream possible.

She trudged back and forth between the well and the dormitory three or four times, yet the seniors' *Clear Spring* spells were still flowing.

Fortunately, she wasn't the only first-year little witch fetching water in the morning; everyone was receiving the watchful gaze of the seniors together.

The seniors were all warm and friendly, showing twelve-thousand percent concern for their manual labor, yet not a single one offered to help them fill their water with magic, strictly adhering to the principle of "doing one's own work."

Moran lost track of how many trips she had made, only stopping when the academy bells struck twelve, her arms so tired she couldn't straighten them.

The water in her tower was only half full.

She hadn't eaten breakfast and was both hungry and thirsty.

She sliced a small piece of breadfruit and chewed it through with a frown the entire time; it was so sour she couldn't control her facial expressions.

Feeling somewhat full, she immediately stopped eating.

With that level of acidity, even if it was harmless to her teeth and stomach, she couldn't stand eating it as a staple every day.

However, it was quite refreshing; after eating the breadfruit, the discomfort from her lack of sleep last night completely dissipated.

Not wanting to keep gnawing on breadfruit at night, Moran found a vegetable basket and headed out.

Vasida passed by her dormitory with a bucket in each hand, her steps light and steady. Hearing the door open, she looked over

"Moran! Is your water tower full? I'll help you! The seniors said the academy forbids them from providing us with casual life assistance, but it's perfectly fine for us to help each other!"

Moran shook her head. "I fetched some this morning; it'll last a few days."

Although fetching water was tiring, she figured it was better to do what she could herself.

After all, this was considered a form of tempering by the academy.

"Then it's not full yet..." Vasida said.

Hearing the noise, Sylph also opened her door and came out, currently gnawing on a breadfruit.

Vasida asked Sylph if she wanted to help fetch water, but Sylph declined.

She had woken up only slightly later than Moran and had already fetched several buckets.

Moran asked them, "Do you want to go collect ingredients together?"

"Sure!" Sylph had eaten breadfruit for both breakfast and lunch today. Her stomach was full, but just thinking about it made her mouth water with acidity.

"You guys go ahead, I won't. I ate too much last night and I'm still not hungry!" Vasida said.

To her, breadfruit provided much more satiety than regular ingredients.

She could just shove it into her stomach—it was convenient, fast, and she didn't even have to endure the sourness.

It was simply too perfect for her.

Sylph also went back to the dormitory to grab a vegetable basket.

"The ingredient collection point is near the planting area; we have to walk that way!" Moran said, looking at the map in the *Freshman Guide*.

"Let's go!" Sylph waved her small hand, basket in tow.

The two walked out along the road beside the dormitory area and turned left at the intersection.

After passing through the breadfruit grove, the view suddenly opened up.

Low fences enclosed a vast field.

In the foreground were large stretches of farmland; further away stood a row of houses, behind which were enclosed by continuous high hedges, with treetops peeking over the walls.

The planting area was divided into farmland and herb gardens; the herb gardens lay behind the hedges.

The ingredient collection point was located at that row of houses outside the herb garden.

"Moran! Look, quick!" Sylph said, pointing excitedly toward the farmland.

Moran looked in the direction of her finger, confused.

Exceptionally vibrant crops, large butterflies fluttering about—there was nothing special. Compared to the farmland, she was more curious about what was planted in the herb garden, but the hedge wall blocked the view.

"Look in the middle of that group of large butterflies, isn't there a fairy?" Sylph couldn't hide her excitement. "A tiny person with wings who raises and commands insects and tends to plants—it's exactly like what's described in the *Little Witch Series*!"

Hearing this, Moran hurriedly looked. She widened her eyes and stared for a long while before she could barely distinguish the one butterfly that stood out from the rest. Her excitement was no less than Sylph's: "It really does look like a fairy!"

"Wearing a little dress made of green leaves... it must be a Leaf Fairy, skilled at cultivating and caring for greenery! It looks so cute!"

Moran, who could only barely make out that the "butterfly" seemed to have hands and feet and was directing the movements of the other butterflies: "..."

Her eyes were nearly popping out of her head, and she still couldn't see clearly what the fairy looked like, let alone identify which kind it was.

Remembering that Sylph's father was an elf, Moran found it less strange.

Although a witch's offspring is bound to be a witch regardless of the father's race, witches sometimes inherited racial advantages and specific traits from their paternal bloodline.

The elves' superior vision and hearing were among them.

Without hesitation, the two followed the small paths between the fields, heading deep into the farmland, completely forgetting about the ingredient collection point.

The collection point was right there and wouldn't run away, but a cute and magical little fairy was not something one saw every day!