Chapter 24: Dorothy, Who Is Mentally Tired

At night, Dorothy was packing her luggage in her room.

If it were her previous life, this would be a very painful physical job, but now, it must be said that magic is really a good civilization.

The lazy witch just lay lazily on the soft bed thinking about things, while two self-disciplined mage hands in the room were conscientiously packing the items needed for the trip carefully, and finally stuffed them into the open small leather suitcase, which also had a space extension spell cast on its interior.

The interior of this storage suitcase was also divided into multiple folding layers. After the space was expanded, each layer had its own independent partition, such as a special potion layer, library layer, clothing and hat area, equipment room, miscellaneous area, etc., which was simply a small warehouse.

Even if the suitcase was upgraded again, enchanted with living creature storage, and equipped with a living area, this thing could actually be used as a mobile house. That way, when adventuring in the wild, if you couldn't find a place to live, you could live directly in this box, which was very convenient.

Therefore, this thing was quite popular in the Witch World and belonged to the essential item that everyone had.

Dorothy's suitcase was a birthday gift from her father a few years ago. It was an out-of-print limited edition handmade by a famous alchemy master, a proper high-end product. Not only could it store living creatures, but the internal storage space was also quite huge, with a total of thirteen expansion layers, which could be arranged according to the customer's preferences.

Even the appearance of the suitcase, besides the initial shape of a carry-on suitcase, had dozens of different skins such as backpacks, shoulder bags, office bags, handbags, etc., which could be switched to adapt to different clothing combinations for different occasions. It belonged to the "dream suitcase" that every little witch dreamed of.

Of course, the price of such a beautiful creation must also be very beautiful. Even though her father was a high-tier mage and had a high salary in Haiyue City, which could be considered middle-class treatment even by witch standards, this suitcase directly drained almost all of his income for about a year and a half, and he was severely scolded by his stepmother because of it.

Even though Dorothy, a homebody who didn't like to go out and had no need for a suitcase, was very happy after receiving this gift, after all, she could use this box as a secret base.

No boy could refuse the temptation of such a secret base that belonged only to himself, even if he was just a "former boy," that wouldn't work either.

Nowadays, the space inside the magic box had been arranged by Dorothy. The top layer was the living area as a mobile house, and then downward, in order, were the library, alchemy room, potion room, equipment warehouse, training ground, breeding area, plantation, and the various storage areas of the last five layers.

If you stood in front of this open suitcase and looked inside now, it was almost like looking at an exquisitely reduced-scale children's toy house. Although the sparrow is small, it has all the internal organs. You could not only see various furniture, instruments, and collectibles inside, but you could also see rare birds and beasts living in the micro-ecosystem in the breeding area, and the miniature flower garden filled with various flowers and exotic trees in the plantation.

Even though Dorothy had owned this magic box for many years, every time she saw such a scene, besides the pride in the box-world she had spent years building, it was the longing and admiration for the great power of those Peak Witches.

Such a treasure, similar to "cave heaven in a pot" or "world in the palm," which might be blown to the sky in other worlds, was a toy that could be bought at will as long as you had a little money in the Witch World.

Witch craftsmanship is truly shocking.

It is no wonder that many indigenous people in worlds conquered by witches would worship witches like gods. In the eyes of those weak races, what is the difference between witches with such great power and the gods in myths?

It's just that when she thought that this magic suitcase was a gift from her father, Dorothy's expression immediately became a bit painful, although she couldn't feel pain now.

The farce during the day hadn't ended yet. Facing her own outrageous life experience, Dorothy couldn't make up her mind for a while. She needed some time to be quiet.

Her parents didn't force her to make a choice on the spot. The overbearing dragon witch finally stood up and said goodbye politely. She said she would come to visit again tomorrow, and Dorothy could calm down and make a choice tonight.

It's just that how to choose this? How could it be so easy to choose?

Originally, she thought it was her "scum" mother who abandoned her husband and daughter, so she had always harbored resentment toward her mother. But now that the misunderstanding was cleared up, she found that the "scum" one was actually the biological father who raised her. But Dorothy really couldn't hate her father.

After all, more than ten years of family affection were here. How could she hate him just because she said so? Besides the concealment and deception regarding her mother, Adam was a qualified or even perfect father in other aspects, satisfying all of Dorothy's fantasies about the father role as an orphan in her previous life. The father-daughter relationship had always been quite good.

Besides, Dorothy, who was also a human in her previous life, could understand her father's thoughts a little bit. Ask yourself, which human parents in the world would hope that their children would become murderous invaders and war-crazed monsters in the future?

In this regard, Dorothy's thoughts were actually quite consistent with her father's. Besides her mother's influence, her resistance to becoming an Armed Witch was also because she didn't like killing. She was just an ordinary "homebody man" in her previous life, not some retired soldier king. She hadn't even killed a chicken in her previous life. It was impossible for her to become decisive in killing now.

It's just that the cruelty of witches is engraved in their genes. As a war race that has been fighting for tens of thousands of years, the race characteristic of being combative, valuing martial arts, and being accustomed to killing and destruction is already engraved in the genes of witches.

Dorothy, who inherited the blood of a witch, would occasionally be startled by her own witch instincts. For example, she could now dissect some experimental creatures without changing her expression. Not only was she not disgusted by those bloody scenes, but she would gradually become excited because of the smell of blood. Another thing was her fanaticism for fighting. Even if she was still unwilling to be an Armed Witch in her heart, as soon as she heard that someone was dueling, she would immediately run over to eat melon and watch the show.

Maybe it was just as her father said, witch nature is like this, not to mention that the blood she inherited was the blood of the Dragon Witch, which is the most combative breed among witches.

Dorothy lay on the bed, reached out to the ceiling, and looked at her seemingly fair and delicate hands, then exerted a little force.

The next moment, layers of illusory scales appeared on her fair and smooth arms, like natural arm guards. The exquisite, slender fingers, which looked very suitable for playing the piano, instantly mutated into five sharp and fierce dragon claws, and the tips of the claws flashed with chilling cold light.

She seemed to be born for killing and conquest. This was her innate talent.

Looking at these ferocious and terrifying natural weapons, Dorothy fell into deep thought.

In the past, out of resentment for her mother, she had always deliberately ignored her talent in this regard. But in the future? Now that the misunderstanding was cleared up, she seemed to have no reason to continue wasting her talent.

"Meow?"

Beside the troubled witch, the kitten, who had been born not long ago, opened its eyes, looked at its owner with some doubt, and sensed the owner's trouble. It climbed onto the owner's chest intimately and then licked the owner's face.

"Hehe, Buster, it's so itchy, don't mess around."

Dorothy, whose face was licked itchy by the kitten's tongue with barbs, dispersed the abnormality on her hands. She reached out and picked up the tiny kitten and held it high.

"Buster, you say, how should I choose?"

"Meow?"

The tiny kitten, whose spiritual intelligence was still low, tilted its head and looked at its owner in a daze.

"Tsk, you really are a little useless thing that can't be used."

Reaching out to scratch the kitten's chin, making the kitten make a purring sound, Dorothy's trouble dissipated a lot.

Cats are indeed creatures that bring happiness to people.

"Come in, don't stand stupidly at the door. You've been standing for half an hour, Alice."

Holding the kitten, Dorothy sat up straight from the bed and shouted toward the door.

Thus, the door opened, and the little witch appeared at the door with a cautious look. She looked at the mage hands that were packing things into the suitcase, and tears immediately flowed down.

"Sister, don't go, I can't bear to part with you."

The little witch threw herself into Dorothy's arms. The impact of the "steel plate" hit the kitten in the owner's arms quite hard. Fortunately, the soft buffer pad in the owner's arms saved its cat life.

"Meow...."

After a scream, the kitten struggled to break free in the deep canyon that had become narrow due to the collision between the steel plate and the mountain range.

It's just that the ruthless little witch clearly didn't bother to pay attention to the weak, pitiful, and helpless kitten. She just hugged her sister in front of her tightly, fearing that her sister would disappear if she let go.

Regarding this, Dorothy was also a bit helpless. She reached out and touched her sister's head, rubbing her smooth blonde hair into a bird's nest.

"What are you thinking? Why would I go? This is just preparing for reporting to school tomorrow."

She had already made a choice in her heart. ===== CHAPTER 26 =====

Adam found it impossible to accept all of this no matter what; at the mere thought that his own bloodline, his own daughter, would one day become one of those terrifying creatures who laughed while sowing destruction and death on the battlefield, the human mage was on the verge of a breakdown, waking up from nightmares countless times.

And at the thought of that future, Adam discovered that the power he had once been fanatical about, the knowledge he had been obsessed with, and so on, no longer held any appeal; if he could, he would rather travel back to the past and die than agree to that deal back then.

But reality was cruel; the great power of time was not a force that a human mage like him could touch, and facing that even more powerful Dragon Witch, Yufiliya, Adam had no choice; he knew it was impossible for him to persuade that terrifying Dragon Witch to give up on raising their daughter into that kind of war maniac.

Because Dragon Witches are born to be the most excellent Armed Witches; the cruelty of the dragon kind is engraved in their genes, and their instinctual calls guide them to rush to the battlefield.

Fortunately, just as Adam was almost in despair, he was pleasantly surprised to find that Yufiliya, that terrifying witch, did not seem to care about his frailty, nor did she have any thoughts of banishing such a weakling as him; that witch seemed to want to give her daughter a complete home, so she did not want Adam, the father, to disappear, and instead unexpectedly trusted him.

Yufiliya even told him bluntly that after the child was born, she would need him, the father, to take care of her, because she herself might have to rush to the battlefield and would not have that much time to accompany the child; she might not be a qualified mother, so she hoped the child could have enough fatherly love.

At that moment, Adam realized that this terrifying witch, who was as cruel as the Grim Reaper on the battlefield and as powerful as a god in his own heart, was probably, perhaps, unexpectedly low in emotional intelligence; this simpleton of hers simply did not understand the human heart.

This was the weakness of this terrifying witch, and also the only opportunity his weak self could exploit.

Thus, Adam agreed, and he even specifically recounted various parenting techniques—which he had actually just learned—in front of Yufiliya, fooling this witch, who was powerful in strength but seemed exceptionally simple-minded, into thinking he was an incredible parenting master.

Adam's plan was ultimately successful; five years after the pregnancy, Yufiliya gave birth to a healthy daughter, and the Dragon Witch, a first-time mother, was very excited to call for Adam, the father, to come and welcome their daughter's arrival together, and generously allowed Adam to participate in their daughter's naming ceremony.

At that time, the Witch Territory was facing a critical great battle; if they won this campaign, the family could successfully rank among the upper echelons of the Dragon Kingdom, and Yufiliya, who was already weak after giving birth, would soon have to rush to the battlefield.

But in her excitement, the Dragon Witch still spent a massive amount of mana to bestow a True Name upon her daughter at the first opportunity, and only then did she rest assured in handing her daughter over to Adam, the "parenting master," to take care of, before leaving for the battlefield with peace of mind.

Before leaving, this Dragon Witch, who had always been emotionally detached, even played happily with her daughter, who was fast asleep in Adam's arms.

"Be good and wait for me at home; once I finish this battle, I will come back and stay with you as you grow up."

The Dragon Witch, a first-time mother, promised as much.

And then...

And then there was no "then."

When Yufiliya returned after a great victory, she discovered that her home had been stolen; her newborn baby daughter and that despicable human mage had disappeared together, and no one knew where they had run off to.

That damned human had even specifically taken a top-tier anti-divination secret treasure from her treasury, which made it impossible for Yufiliya to find them even if she wanted to use omnipotent divination.

The furious Dragon Witch was helpless; she could only turn her grief and indignation into strength and began to crazily expand the scale of her territory so that she would have enough manpower to search the whole world for the whereabouts of her daughter.

But the Witch World was simply too big, and the probability of success for this "needle in a haystack" approach was theoretically almost zero.

It was just that, who said this was a mind-only world? A believing heart is the greatest magic, and the obsession of a powerful witch always turns into miracles at times.

Just today, sixteen years later, after carpet-tracking countless suspects, Yufiliya finally sensed that similar mana, which originated from the same source as her own, in this remote, eighteenth-tier small city.

Regarding this, Dorothy: "..."

She rolled her eyes like a dead fish; regarding her own bizarre life story, she was truly numb now.

Life is not easy, the witch sighs.

Sigh, I didn't commit any sins in my past life, so what virtue or ability do I have to be stuck with you two as parents?

Don't ask; asking just means mental exhaustion.