Chapter 65: The Caged Bird and the Hero

On the bustling club square, Dorothy and Audrey walked through the dense crowd, surrounded by many people, yet no one noticed the two little witches—almost everyone treated them as invisible, transparent figures.

Though this lack of attention was somewhat pleasant, it wasn’t entirely an advantage—it sometimes brought minor annoyances, like...

“Watch out, don’t let anyone bump into you.”

Dorothy reached out and tugged at her sidekick, the fox junior, who had become utterly entranced by the colorful, chaotic club displays, like a country girl awestruck by the wonders of the city.

Because their presence was so low, no one noticed them, and naturally, no one made way for them—so it was easy to get bumped if they weren’t careful.

Just moments ago, Audrey had nearly been knocked over by a towering giant witch.

“Mm, thank you, senior sister.”

The dazed little fox blushed slightly as she thanked her, yet she still couldn’t suppress the excitement of being in such a lively place for the first time in her life.

Though social anxiety fears social interaction, it doesn’t mean they truly enjoy solitude—witches evolved from humans, and the human instinct for group living still lingers in witches to some degree.

Audrey didn’t truly dislike socializing; she merely feared others’ desires for her and thus avoided it. If she could, she wished she could be like ordinary witches—make good friends, enjoy meals and outings together, shop and travel, and spend each day peacefully.

Unfortunately, this simple wish had become unattainable because of her extraordinary beauty.

Sigh, she saw others as friends, but they rarely saw her that way—most people, after seeing her face, no longer wanted to be just friends.

Someone as beautiful as her had essentially bid farewell to pure friendship.

Thus, this was Audrey’s very first experience in her life of going out and shopping with peers.

At home, her family had protected her too much—her mothers and sisters loved her dearly, but because they loved her so much, they feared she’d be hurt, so they never brought her to crowded places like this. They refused to let her take such risks.

“Are you alright? If you can’t handle it, you can go back first—I can handle the rest alone.”

Dorothy glanced at her junior, whose face was flushed with excitement, and asked with concern.

Based on her own experience with social anxiety, she knew that children who had long been isolated were like caged birds—always curious and yearning for the outside world, yet unable to break free from the cage that confined them due to various reasons. At such moments, they needed a little external force—a hero—to lead them across that first step.

The cage that bound Dorothy herself was called laziness—she truly was too lazy to go out, too lazy to socialize, and found all that stuff meaningless and annoying.

So, pulling her out of her cage wasn’t hard—just someone needed to drag her out. In the past, her younger sister Alice had taken on this “hero” role, often dragging her reluctant older sister out for a stroll.

Now, however, she had unusually become the hero herself—this junior’s social anxiety was far more severe than her own.

Dorothy’s own social anxiety merely disliked the hassle of socializing but wasn’t afraid of people; this junior, however, seemed genuinely afraid of them.

So now, bringing this junior to this packed club square, Dorothy wasn’t sure if she was doing the right thing. She thought it would benefit the junior to get out more, meet more people, and effectively ease her symptoms.

But seeing Audrey’s now rosy, delicate face, Dorothy worried she might have overdone it—this was like taking a timid person to challenge the scariest haunted house. Instead of building courage, she might scare the poor girl into illness.

Perhaps she should go slower, take smaller steps.

“Ah, no, senior sister, I feel fine—just a little excited. Really, I’m okay.”

Rarely given such a chance to shop with peers, Audrey had no intention of giving it up.

Her cage was the fear of others’ desires—but now, since no one noticed her, no one desired her, so she truly felt good, not afraid at all, instead feeling a rare freedom and joy.

Mm, for the first time in her life, she’d met a peer who had no desire for her, and for the first time, she was shopping with a peer’s company. Two wonderful things combined would surely breed even more happiness—how could she possibly give this up?

Besides, she still hadn’t asked about the puppet’s secret—she needed a way to draw closer to this senior sister.

“Alright, I’ll slightly reduce the spell’s effect—just from no presence to weak presence.”

After carefully studying her junior’s face and confirming she was truly fine, Dorothy nodded, snapped her fingers, and the spell’s effect on both of them began to weaken.

Now, they were like ordinary passersby—others could notice them, yet due to their faint presence, they’d immediately overlook them.

This way, they wouldn’t draw too much attention, nor would they be ignored so completely that people bumped into them.

But the little fox beside her, upon seeing this effect, immediately widened her eyes.

As a die-hard fan of the Forest Witch, Audrey had naturally purchased and studied the “Forest Witch’s Arakarin Spell.” When she bought it, she’d once fantasized about using this spell to sneak out and wander the city as an invisible person.

But ideals were full, reality was thin.

Currently, the Forest Witch’s spell series only ranged from 0 to 9th circle—no forbidden spells above 9th circle existed.

This spell was among the more difficult types in the witch series, with a difficulty coefficient of 8th circle, classified as a high-tier spell. The official recommended threshold for learning it was a Grand Witch or an elite witch with exceptionally high precision talent.

As an auxiliary spell, this one didn’t consume much mana—even a little witch with only a few thousand mana could afford it. The real difficulty lay entirely in mana control—the finer one’s control, the better the spell’s effect. Theoretically, only a Grand Witch’s level of mana precision could fully unleash its power.

Audrey had always been confident in her mana control—her talent panel rated her precision as A. After all, both succubus dream invasion and nine-tailed fox illusion were delicate arts—without precision, they were impossible.

Yet even as an elite witch, Audrey had struggled to learn this spell. She eventually mastered it, but manipulating it was still awkward.

She could completely nullify her presence to achieve invisibility, but she couldn’t finely adjust the strength of her presence to reach that subtle state where one was noticed yet unremarkable.

No way—because of her annoying beauty. If her presence was too weak, no one noticed her; if it was too strong, everyone immediately couldn’t ignore her charm—this directly nullified the spell. So, finding the precise balance between presence and invisibility was currently beyond her—she’d probably only manage it after becoming a Grand Witch.

But now, watching this cheap senior sister casually snap her fingers and accomplish what Audrey had long dreamed of, the little fox was utterly stunned.

Wow, how high must this senior sister’s precision talent be to pull this off? And it’s not just precision—her spell mastery is far beyond mine too.

Senior sister! You still say you’re not a Forest Witch fan? If you didn’t love it, how could your spell mastery possibly surpass mine?

Never expected she’d lose even in idol worship to this senior sister—Audrey’s emotions turned complicated.

Mm, this one thing she couldn’t accept—Audrey, Audrey, when you get back, you’ll train harder. If you keep this up, how will you ever hold onto your position as president of the Witch Fan Club?

The little fox clenched her tiny fists, encouraging herself.

“Come on, let’s finish quickly and head home.”

Ahead, Dorothy turned and called to her junior, who had suddenly ignited with energy.

“Oh, oh, coming, coming!”

The little fox hurried to catch up.

......The two witches are shopping......