Chapter 291: To Think the Witch Was a Good Person...

"Boohoo... I didn't expect the Tower Witch to actually be so considerate of us."

"She's so kind, I'm crying my eyes out."

"Who says otherwise? I thought witches were incredibly evil before, but I never expected her to be such a good person..."

"I really am a piece of trash for doubting her!"

"Yeah! If anyone speaks ill of Lan Qingyou from now on, I'll kill them myself."

"Right, right, exactly!"

After thinking they understood Lan Qingyou's intentions, a bunch of vicious, fierce-looking grown men began shedding tears of repentance one after another.

Anyone who saw this would feel a profound sense of dissonance.

Hovering in the sky, Lan Qingyou's eyes twitched as she watched the scene unfold below.

Since Shang Chuan had stated during their contact that he could bring a construction team over tomorrow to begin work, Lan Qingyou had decided to hand all these men over to him.

After all, building houses required manpower, didn't it?

As for the arrows, they were merely a guidance system Lan Qingyou had created by adding a few minor commands to the magic array earlier.

Their sole purpose was to warn these guys that they were being watched.

And to make sure they remembered exactly whose territory they were standing in.

After all, some people had a tendency to take advantage of a situation and then smugly assume they were entitled to such benefits forever.

The next day.

After sleeping until she naturally woke up, Lan Qingyou freshened up and headed out with her two little companions.

Although she planned to visit the Cursed Corridor today, she needed to meet up with Shang Chuan first.

They had agreed yesterday to meet at the Teleportation Array in the Witches' Forest, so upon leaving, she flew directly toward it.

Before she even got close, she noticed a crowd had already gathered around the Teleportation Array.

"Is that the Tower Witch? This is my first time seeing her."

"She really is a witch. That outfit screams classic witch."

"She's even riding a broom."

"I'm so jealous. If only I could fly in the sky too."

"What's that on her shoulder? An owl? A magic beast?"

"I don't know, but isn't it a given for a witch to have a pet?"

"Now that you mention it, you're right. It doesn't look out of place at all."

The people standing by the Teleportation Array broke into excited chatter the moment they saw Lan Qingyou leisurely flying over on her Magic Broom.

This caused Lan Qingyou to frown involuntarily.

Shang Chuan's subordinates shouldn't have been this rowdy. As a seasoned merchant, he surely would have briefed them beforehand.

That meant these people could only be the unauthorized squatters who had moved in from District 666.

"You're here."

Seeing Lan Qingyou drift down, Shang Chuan, who had been waiting at the entrance of the Teleportation Array, immediately stepped forward to greet her.

"You've seen the place. How do you plan to proceed?"

Lan Qingyou nodded in acknowledgment.

"First, we'll map out the streets, then settle on an architectural style, and after that, the actual construction can begin."

"Mm, let's start from the outer perimeter then."

"Why the outer perimeter?"

"I have other plans for the inner circle later. Hold off on that area for a few days to see how things develop. It shouldn't take more than ten days at the latest."

"Ten days? That's acceptable; it won't delay things too much. But why the wait?"

Shang Chuan asked, clearly puzzled.

After all, Lan Qingyou had seemed in quite a hurry when they previously spoke, yet now she wanted to postpone the inner circle's construction.

"During the tea party last night, one of the witches proposed an excellent magic technique. We plan to discuss it in a few days. If all goes well, we won't need to construct nearly as many buildings."

'A new technique?'

Hearing this, Shang Chuan generally understood the situation.

Technology—he had heard about and witnessed its applications countless times within Tarot Manor. Naturally, he knew exactly what gave people like Lan Qingyou their absolute advantage over others.

As for waiting a few days, barring any surprises, it likely had to do with her heading to the Cursed Corridor to set up a magic barrier.

In that case, there really was no need to rush.

"Oh, by the way, you can use those arrows as a rough outline for the streets. That should make construction a bit easier for you."

Seeing that Shang Chuan had largely grasped her intentions, Lan Qingyou offered this additional tip.

"I was actually meaning to ask about that. It's great that these arrows point toward the Teleportation Array, but your setup here is much larger than the magic arrays built by the Adventurer's Guild. I have a feeling a single Teleportation Array won't be enough."

Reminded of the arrows, Shang Chuan recalled the crucial issue he had wanted to bring up earlier.

Thus, he voiced his concern to Lan Qingyou.

Lan Qingyou, however, simply ignored his rather mindless question.

It was pure nonsense.

The area here was five kilometers in diameter, roughly the size of a mid-tier city. How could the measly one-kilometer towns barely scraped together by the apprentice witches of the Adventurer's Guild possibly compare to the authentic original?

That being said, Shang Chuan wasn't wrong about the Teleportation Array.

Yet, Lan Qingyou couldn't care less.

"It's fine. I still have some composite steel plates on hand. I'll just build more when the time comes. It's not like I lack the technical know-how."

Exactly. When one possessed both the technology and the materials, they had the luxury of being this extravagant.

Never mind that in other regions, a town had to be built around an Adventurer's Guild, and they would only have a single Teleportation Array.

Things were different here in Lan Qingyou's territory.

Counting the one at the center of the habitat, Lan Qingyou could toss out five Teleportation Arrays without even batting an eyelid.

It was simply a piece of cake for her.

"If you ask me, it would be best to have one in each of the four cardinal directions. How about I just move my Teleportation Array over here too?"

"You can move it over, sure, but keep it for your own personal use. I'm not so destitute that I need to borrow yours."

Facing Shang Chuan's goodwill, Lan Qingyou curled her lip and flatly rejected the idea.

You must be joking.

Whether it was the core witch habitat or the outer Witches' Forest, this was all her own turf.

How utterly humiliating would it be to use someone else's Teleportation Array on her own territory?

She was the grand and dignified Clan Head of the Witch Clan, after all.

"Alright then. In that case, I'll just drop my Teleportation Array over in the Abandoned Ruins. That area is undergoing major renovations right now anyway. Word is that the Supreme Council's Adventurer's Guild wants to establish a presence in the Abandoned Land."

"Oh ho, that's quite a valuable piece of intel. I can't believe Judgment didn't mention it."

Hearing that the Supreme Council actually planned to enter the Abandoned Land, Lan Qingyou couldn't help but inwardly complain about Chu Yuan.

After all, he served as Tarot Manor's bridge of communication with the Supreme Council.

Not disclosing something of this magnitude was more than a little unjustifiable.

"Didn't you check the group chat? He only found out himself when he was called in for a morning meeting today."

"Oh, I just woke up. I haven't even washed my face yet."

Lan Qingyou gave a nonchalant reply and pulled out her Card to check the chat logs. Discovering that it was indeed true, she offered a brief, silent apology in her heart for wrongfully blaming Chu Yuan.

Tower: "@Judgment, the branch master for the Adventurer's Guild in the Abandoned Land will be assumed by Susi, the branch master of the Golden Plains Adventurer's Guild."

Judgment: "Huh!?"

Lan Qingyou's sudden bombshell nearly threw Chu Yuan's back out from sheer shock.