Toyokawa Shoko doesn't want to become a witch

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The "big rats" that were blown away were not actually big rats; they were a "rat king" formed by countless rats gathered together, resembling a single, unified entity.

In reality, the "Rat King" is a phenomenon referring to a group of rats whose tails are tangled together and cannot be separated due to an accident. It usually consists of a few to a dozen rats, and it is said that the largest Rat King consists of as many as sixty rats. What Xiangzi and her friends are dealing with is far more than just a few dozen rats.

Hundreds and thousands of rats huddled together, forming an individual that resembled both a dwarf and a giant rat. The brain of this individual consisted of a rat that had eaten rat poison but survived by sheer luck. Driven by a strong will to survive and hatred for the humans who poisoned them, they received a response from the Holy Grail fragments and thus became a small monster—a goblin.

They are among the most common monsters in this land, and also the most dangerous monsters to farmland, barns, and other places.

Xiangzi and Aiyin are currently cleaning up these monsters.

"I saw it, it must be the last one."

"Correct!"

Xiangzi recreated turkey feathers in his palm, pinched the feathers, and made a strange gesture towards the fleeing goblin.

"Ignis!"

Whoosh-!

The turkey feather in his palm instantly turned to ashes, transforming into a flaming arrow that shot towards the goblin.

"Squeak—!"

The large rat was hit by the flaming arrow, and its whole body burst into flames. The little rats wriggling on its body let out a dense, miserable scream in the flames. The grease melted and charred in the flames, making crackling sounds and emitting a foul odor.

Ding--

Xiangzi felt that the barrier's restriction on his magic had decreased again.

"It's leveled up again," Xiangzi murmured. "It's level three now."

So far, she has been inside the barrier for a full five days and has leveled up to level three.

Aiyin said that from level three onwards, the experience gained in each subsequent level would increase dramatically.

The experience provided by small monsters like goblins should stop here. From now on, you'll probably need monsters like jack-o'-lanterns to provide enough experience for leveling up.

The first time I encountered Jack-o'-lantern, I just watched from the sidelines the whole time and didn't get to eat any of them. Thinking about it now, it's quite a loss.

"Little Master, all the requests for today have been completed." Aine sheathed her sword and strolled over leisurely. "Shall we go back for dinner?"

"Why are you only thinking about food?"

"Are you hungry?" Ai Yin scratched her head.

"Sigh." Xiangzi sighed helplessly, "Let's go, let's go. I've just made some progress on something."

The two walked along country lanes, basking in the midday sun.

Aiyin walked ahead of Xiangzi with cheerful steps. It seemed that this girl had adapted well to this world, and at least he didn't need to worry about the condition of her gems.

Xiangzi had checked it a few days ago and also cleaned up the filth for Aine. Aine's gem is in very good condition, much better than when she first met Su Shi.

But... Aine and I don't have anything to worry about in this regard. What about those magical girls who came here a long time ago?

This is a witch's barrier; there are only familiars inside, no witches. They have no source of lamentation seeds, so how are they supposed to replenish them?

They've only been outside for a few days, but inside the barrier, it's already past daylight. They might already be...

Xiangzi watched Aiyin's cheerful figure disappear into the distance, a worried expression on his face.

Xiangzi didn't tell Aiyin about this. It wasn't something she needed to worry about. It was good that the girl was happy like this.

The Tale of the Lost: The Lost Child: Chapter 324 Am I a Professional Dog Breeder? (Part 2)

squeak-

"Little Linlin, we're back!" Ai Yin pushed open the church door and shouted excitedly.

"I told you not to call me Xiao Linlin anymore." Lin Hai's head popped out from behind the spiral staircase. "Do you have to give everyone a tasteless nickname?"

"What? Is it so tasteless?" Aine crossed her arms. "You're obviously very cute, okay!"

Lin Hai's gaze drifted toward Xiangzi.

"I vote for Lin Hai," Xiangzi raised his hand.

“Even my little master is bullying me.” Ai Yin’s cheeks were bulging, making her look like a pufferfish.

"That's the truth," Xiangzi shrugged.

"Then why did you agree to let me call you Little Master?"

Did I agree to this?

"Obviously there is!"

"Whatever, whatever. It's stupid to dwell on this kind of issue."

"Listen to this, listen to this! That's exactly what you said last time!"

"Don't dwell on such trivial matters. It's obvious to everyone that your taste is terrible."

"Damn it!!!"

They bickered all the way to the kitchen, where Lin Hai brought out freshly baked bread, freshly squeezed milk, a plate of roasted potatoes, and fragrant, stringy mozzarella cheese.

This was already the best food available, but when it was placed in front of Xiangzi, she still showed a slightly troubled expression.

There's no way around it; I've been here for a whole week now, and even the best food gets tough if I eat the same thing every day.

Xiangzi held the cup of milk and ate a few pieces of bread with the cheese, considering himself full.

"You guys eat first," Xiangzi said, standing up.

She said goodbye to the two people at the table and left the kitchen first.

Go up the spiral staircase to the top floor of the church tower. There is a small, sunny room filled with many books. It is the second study in this small church—or rather, a storage room for books.

Xiangzi spends his free time here these days, reading books and thinking about things.

She straightened her clothes, sat down at the desk bathed in sunlight, spread out the papers, and dipped her quill pen into the ink bottle.

There's something I've been planning for a while now, and I'm going to put it into practice today.

Sunlight streamed in through the window, casting a quill-shaped shadow on the paper. The ink-stained tip of the quill overlapped with the shadow, leaving a series of delicate characters.

The only sounds in the room were Xiangzi's soft breathing and the rustling of the pen tip against the paper.

Xiangzi focused intently on writing, occasionally raising his head to think, resting his chin on his hand, and gazing at the scenery of the small town outside the window.

From the top of the tower, you can see the whole town—although Lin Hai always says that the people still living in the starting point are just the population of a village, Xiangzi always subconsciously regards it as an ancient town.

The Gothic buildings are arranged in neat rows, each small house is about two stories high, the roads are high-standard and paved with stone slabs, and flying buttresses hang above to support the buildings. These arch-like stone pillars not only provide support but also provide good lighting for the buildings.

Most importantly, they look good.

The reason Xiangzi chose to read and write at the very top was because of the good view, good lighting, and good scenery.

Almost all the residents live along the main road of the town, and most of the buildings are vacant. But it is precisely because everyone lives together that this empty town comes alive.

They support each other, share joys and sorrows, and are closely linked together.

Is this the kind of "home" Su Shi wants?

Xiangzi thought of it.

If I really had to stay in a place like this for the rest of my life...

knock --

There was a knock on the door behind me.

"Who?"

"It's me, little master." Ai Yin's voice came from behind the door.

"Wait a moment."

Xiangzi quickly picked up his pen, wrote the last few words, and then rolled up the paper.

"come in."

"Is it really possible?"

"When have I ever stopped you from coming in?" Xiangzi chuckled.

She hadn't even been here; she just ran off to play around like a little dog. Lately, because Deacon had taken the young people out, the village had accumulated a lot of chores like cleaning the fields, which Aine took care of one by one, quickly becoming one of the villagers.

On the contrary, Xiangzi, like Quasimodo, stayed at the top of the tower, doing his own thing.

"Then I'll really come in."

Ai Yin quietly pushed open the door and peeked in.

She tiptoed up behind Xiangzi and just saw him roll up the paper, put it in an envelope, drip a drop of melted wax onto it with a candle, and then take a stamp and press it onto the wax drop that was beginning to solidify.

The seal left a gear-shaped crescent emblem, which looked exceptionally beautiful.

"What is this?" Ai Yin asked.

"A letter." Xiangzi placed the envelope on the table. "It's to be mailed."

"No, I'm asking about the seal above. Did the young master get it from somewhere?"

Aren't you curious about what I wrote, or even who I sent it to? Why did you take a liking to this seal at first glance?

"..." Xiangzi's eyebrows twitched twice, but he finally answered, "I carved it myself."

She picked up the seal and handed it to Aiyin.

"It's so beautiful..." Ai Yin held the seal in her palm as if it were a precious treasure. "Is your little master so skillful?"

"well enough."

Although Xiangzi said he was fine, the corners of his mouth couldn't help but turn up slightly.

Although she is much more composed and mature than Aine, she is still just a sixteen-year-old girl and has little resistance to such praise.

"Practice more to control your magic, and you'll gradually find that the precision in all your delicate work will also improve," she said. "Practice what I teach you more, and you'll be able to do it sooner or later."

"But stitching is really hard..."

"Practice more, and you'll get it." Xiangzi raised his index finger and said, shaking his head like an elder.

Xiangzi's own magic is the type that requires precise control, so he is naturally good at this kind of meticulous operation.

As for Aine... right now it seems to be the same type of magic used in direct combat as Riki, but it only takes a little thought to realize that what Aine and Riki lack most right now is not firepower for direct combat, but rather control over their own abilities.

After arriving here, one of the tasks Xiangzi assigned to Aiyin was to sew clothes every night to temper her fickle, short-lived enthusiasm.

At first, Ai Yin was quite interested in this matter and tinkered with it enthusiastically until late at night. When Xiangzi got up in the middle of the night, he found that the kerosene lamp on her end was still lit, and the wick had already been replaced once.

As expected, on the third day, Aine realized she wasn't making any progress and subconsciously began to consider giving up.

Xiangzi said at the time that Ai Yin wasn't actually lacking in talent; on the contrary, she could achieve some results in a short period of time. However, it was precisely this so-called mediocre performance that made her prone to giving up when she encountered unavoidable bottlenecks. She would try to switch tracks, start over from somewhere else, and then repeat the above process until...

Until what?

Until they realized that there were fewer and fewer alternative tracks available, and eventually there was no way out at all.

Ai Yin was speechless, because every word Xiangzi said was absolutely correct, directly piercing through the mask she had put on herself.

"If you feel like you can't go on, think about why you insisted on becoming a magical girl in the first place. Take that determination you had when you stood in front of her and apply it to everything you do." Xiangzi tapped Aine on the head and told her this.

"And then?" Ai Yin asked.

Then, wait patiently. Waiting is also a very important step.

Once upon a time, Xiangzi was also a little kid who would sit in front of the piano and cry and make a fuss, until the daily practice wore her down and cultivated her patience.

She is the kind of person who believes that as long as you put in the effort, you will definitely be rewarded. It's not a reward from others, but a reward from yourself.

Call it psychological comfort or not, but without such comfort, she probably wouldn't have survived the most difficult period, facing unrewarded submissions, single-digit spending on beats, tiny internet cafes, instant noodles, and endless witch battles.

Back to the present.

When Ai Yin heard Xiangzi's familiar rhetoric, she showed an expression that said, "I knew it was the same old stuff." Xiangzi was like an old man who had experienced many storms; he could understand, but he found it hard to agree, and he always wanted to find a way to argue.

"Little Master is so old-fashioned, he speaks like an old master." She pouted.

Xiangzi's lectures were quite elaborate, which intimidated her quite a bit, making her, a good student in the class, truly experience the treatment of the bad students who were dragged to the teacher's office every day.

"Will... will it?" Xiangzi suddenly stammered.

She was quite concerned about Aine's evaluation. After all, this was her first time being a teacher, and it was inevitable that she would be hurt by being called old-fashioned, and she would reflect on what she had done wrong.