She Is Not a Witch

After finishing her prayer, the girl felt waves of drowsiness and fell asleep leaning against the tree trunk. When she awoke, three days had passed. By then, the sky had long since returned to normal, showing no signs of anything unusual, leaving her unaware of the momentous events that had transpired.

How long did I sleep? Good thing no wild animals came by.

The girl leapt down from the tree, feeling a bit scared in retrospect, then returned to the cottage in the maple forest. She took a bath, ate something, and went back to sleep.

Life briefly returned to tranquility.

Over the next few days, Loranhil began to consider food storage. The wheat field she had cultivated in the maple forest was growing well, though she wasn’t sure of the exact yield. She planted a bit extra just in case it wasn’t enough later.

She also continued planting fruit trees, enough for her own consumption.

A new crop had also yielded results—an improved variety of cotton.

[Full Moon Cotton · Special] (Outstanding Silver grade): Improved from Moonlight Cotton, needs to grow in places with abundant moonlight and natural magic. Can be harvested to make moonlight cloth.

This Moonlight Cotton plant was originally in a corner of the maple forest, but its previous location was poor, with most of the moonlight blocked by tree shade. After improvement, Loranhil specifically transplanted it to an open area in the middle of the forest where it could receive ample moonlight.

[Moonlight Cloth] (Silver grade): According to historical records, this fabric was favored by many nobles in the upper echelons of the Mercury Dynasty. Originally moon-white in color, it could also be dyed other colors. It was exceptionally comfortable to wear, dust-resistant, water and oil-repellent, and didn’t hinder the perception and absorption of Mana or magic power. Thus, it was a luxury item in short supply at the time.

After Loranhil’s improvements, its quality rose another level, but this wasn’t the end. Her true goal was to use this cotton to weave [Twilight Cloth] (Pearl grade).

The harvested pure moon cotton was spun into yarn, then soaked in the juice of three-leaved purple heart grass, dyeing it a light purple. At sunset, the threads were removed from the dye and placed in the fading light of dusk. Using a special technique, she guided the Mana in the dye to mix with the magic of the setting sun, thoroughly infusing it into the threads.

Finally, these sun-dried threads were preserved and woven into twilight cloth according to recorded techniques. This was the most crucial step—each weaving motion formed tiny Mana magic arrays through the thread structure. In the end, millions of tiny magic arrays interconnected, creating the true Light of Twilight.

[Twilight Cloth] (Rare Pearl grade): Has great affinity for Mana and other magic powers, greatly aiding in magic absorption and recovery. Extremely tough with some self-repair ability. Highly beneficial for both combat and cultivation.

Since establishing the cottage in the maple forest, Loranhil spent a considerable amount of time making her own furniture.

Basic wooden beds, cabinets, tables, chairs, and boxes were all made from trees in the maple forest. She didn’t cut down trees directly, but rather used some of the thicker branches as raw materials. Fortunately, these maple trees had grown for ages, becoming towering and dense, so even their branches were more than sufficient for making furniture.

According to the system’s evaluation, these [Red Maple Woods] were generally Rare Silver grade, of very good quality.

Later, she scoured the Tisilan Forest, finding only clay but no suitable porcelain clay. Thus, the bowls, plates, pots, spoons, jars, and other items in her home were all pottery.

Pottery was quite nice, actually. The girl, with her keen discernment, removed impurities from the clay thoroughly, then mixed it with water. It was very fine when kneaded, and she began crafting on a small rotating wooden plate.

At first, the shapes were a bit strange due to unfamiliarity, but they improved over time. There was a joyful sense of accomplishment in shaping a beautiful jar from a lump of clay with one’s own hands.

Then, baking the shaped embryos with fire’s heat and finally firing them, holding them in hand brought a sense of natural achievement.

Because these were made by her own hands, there was a special satisfaction and fondness for them.

The clay bowls and pots in the cottage had a warm reddish-brown color. Loranhil stored them neatly in cabinets when not in use.

She also tried making a primitive small oven from clay for baking bread.

However, some things were still lacking in daily life, such as salt.

The Tisilan Mountain Range was in the south-central part of the continent, far from the sea, so sea salt was out of the question. There were no natural salt lakes nearby for lake salt either. The most direct method would be to exchange with nearby villages and other people.

This was the problem. According to Pullman’s description, heading west for 150-200 kilometers would reach the border of the Western Wind Kingdom. For someone of the girl’s speed, this wasn’t really far.

But for some reason, she didn’t want to directly contact outsiders now. As an experienced farming-style player, she believed in low-key farming, steady development, and then winning through overwhelming strength.

Her current strength couldn’t be called very powerful, and she was well aware that her current appearance would cause quite a stir if she went out.

No powerful protective measures…

No, wait, there actually was one. She touched the butterfly hairpin at the side of her bangs.

[Trina’s Butterfly Hairpin] (Quality 482, Rare Epic grade): Witch Trina imbued her unique magic into this hairpin before her death. Can be worn and used. (Uses remaining 3/3)

A very rare treasure, with azure crystal inlaid in chromium gold, exquisitely crafted and lifelike. Using it at full power would be equivalent to a full-strength attack from a Sequence 9 being.

But she was reluctant to use it. Whether playing Dark Souls or Sekiro, there’s always a group of players who are reluctant to use consumable items even until they complete the game. It’s like eating grapes—Loranhil was the type who liked to save the best for last.

Moreover, a perfect 3/3 becoming 2/3 just felt imperfect. Her mild OCD would always want to restore this to full.

So, after much hesitation, Loranhil decided to first explore other areas within the Tisilan Mountain Range, temporarily avoiding contact with humans from the Western Wind Kingdom. After all, this was a magical fantasy world; perhaps she would make some new discoveries.