Sorcerer’s Handbook

“I’m quite disappointed too!”

The girl sat cross-legged on the bed, her face full of dissatisfaction: “You’re not as cold, cruel, and evil as I imagined.”

“So my portrait gives off that kind of impression?” Ashe scratched his head in shock: “Well… nice to meet you for the first time, I’m Ashe, the apocalypse observer.”

“I’m the Black-and-White Witch.” She swayed on the bed: “Just call me Witch.”

“Good evening, Witch, have you had dinner?”

“Stop, let’s end the unnecessary pleasantries here.” She held up three fingers: “I’ve come to establish three principles with you first.”

“Oh?”

“First, unless I speak of it first, you are not to inquire about my life.”

“Second, unless I ask first, you shall not reveal details about your life.”

“Third,” the Witch raised her third finger, “I want the same treatment as the Swordswoman.”

Ashe thought for a moment, then asked: “Is this about the Hidden Treasure?”

The Witch responded noncommittally: “You could say that.”

The Black-and-White Witch’s Silver Blessing Hidden Treasure allowed her to gain strength by concealing her information, so her insistence on privacy was only natural. But why did she also demand that Ashe not disclose his own information?

Nevertheless, Ashe couldn’t reveal much anyway—Annan had just ordered them not to leak any information to non-firm personnel, and even if Ashe wanted to vent about his new boss in the virtual realm chats, the Contract would silence him.

As for the treatment of the Swordswoman, Ashe reflected carefully: endless Training, the vanguard shield in the Exploration in Virtual Realm, the test subject for various incident cards…

“No problem!” Ashe clapped his hands: “I’ll do my best to fulfill your wishes!”

“Now that we’ve established the principles for our interaction, if there’s nothing else, I’ll be—”

“Hold on, do you know the Swordswoman?” Ashe called out to her: “Haven’t seen her for days, is she… um… is she too busy on her side, not even able to spare a moment to see me?”

The Witch looked at him with interest: “Are you asking about that slightly scheming but adorable Swordswoman, who says one thing and means another, yet has a kind heart, and often admires herself in the mirror?”

“…Probably?”

“Sorry, I don’t know a Swordswoman like that.” The Black-and-White Witch spread her hands. “I just know that apart from you, there’s a teammate called Swordswoman.”

“How do you know so much about her then?”

“From the Portrait.”

Ashe was puzzled, a storm of question marks over his head. Could a Portrait really reveal that much information?

Damn it, if only he hadn’t lost his high-definition Holographic Screen, he would definitely use a magnifying glass to study every single detail of the Black-and-White Witch and Swordswoman’s Portraits worth scrutinizing day and night.

“I’m actually curious why you think the Swordswoman would come to see you.”

The Witch propped her chin, smiling: “If it weren’t for establishing rules with you before the official Exploration in Virtual Realm, I wouldn’t bother to see you at all. After all, the only thing we share is the Exploration in Virtual Realm. Beyond that, we are strangers who will never meet again. Not interfering with each other is the most logical relationship.”

“What’s your relationship with the Swordswoman, and why would she care about you?”

Ashe replied without hesitation: “Because we’re not strangers, but companions with a Bond. I know she would definitely care about me, just as I care about her in my heart.”

The Black-and-White Witch quietly watched Ashe, silent for a moment.

For some reason, Ashe felt her attitude seemed to have softened slightly. Although the Witch appeared very natural and lively from the start, she had always sat on the bed, maintaining a significant distance from him, polite but aloof.

Now, although she was still sitting on the bed, she leaned forward slightly, as if curious about Ashe, and her demeanor became gentler.

“It’s not up to us to decide whether we can appear before you like this, but it’s determined by the Bond between us,” the Witch suddenly explained. “The deeper the Bond, the harder it is for us to appear before you. If the Swordswoman really cares about you, then you might find it very difficult to see her longing for you.”

“So it’s not the Swordswoman’s fault for not coming to see you. She’s also waiting for you to appear before her, maybe in the Virtual Realm or perhaps somewhere else…”

The Witch paused: “In short, if you hope to see the Swordswoman often, you might as well wish that you and the Swordswoman could stay together in the Virtual Realm forever.”

“That’s a strange rule,” Ashe frowned. “Shouldn’t it be that the deeper the Bond, the easier it is to meet?”

“Absence makes the heart grow fonder, and after all, in this state, we’re not physical beings, but manifestations of longing,” the Witch shrugged. “Longing is something you don’t cherish when it’s there, but you desperately yearn for when it’s absent.”

“But to miss the Swordswoman so much after just a few days…”

The Witch’s eyes sparkled with curiosity.

” o(*≧▽≦)ツ Could it be that you like her?”

“I do like her.”

Hearing such a decisive and straightforward declaration of love, the Witch’s eyes went wide. She lightly patted her face and asked, “Can you say that again?”

“I like the Swordswoman,” Ashe stated matter-of-factly. “She’s so strong, so adorable, so beautiful, of course I like her.”

Wow!

Wow!

Wow!

The Witch almost wished she could broadcast this news to everyone right away, but then she noticed Ashe was openly looking at her black-and-white stockings.

She hesitated for a moment, stretched out her legs, and pulled her skirt above her knees. “So, do you like me?”

“If you wore a super short skirt like the one in the Portrait, and if you were strong enough during Exploration in Virtual Realm, with a good growth rate in everyday situations, I probably would like you too,” Ashe earnestly assessed the allure of the black-and-white stockings.

“…That’s a pretty cheap form of affection.”

Ashe was puzzled. “How expensive does your love need to be? Should I write your name as the beneficiary on my insurance?”

Right, the Witch thought, after all, in Ashe’s eyes, they were not completely real. Just like no one falls in love with a piece of paper, Ashe’s feelings for them were naturally limited to ‘cheap affection.’

“But I think it would be hard for you to surpass the Swordswoman in my heart unless your strength is really high.”

“Oh?” The Witch raised her eyebrows. “Why? Do you think the Swordswoman is more beautiful than me?”

“It’s not just about the Portrait,” Ashe explained. “The main reason is that the Swordswoman was the first companion I could trust when I came to this world, the first comrade-in-arms to fight alongside me. We’ve explored the Sea of Knowledge together, entered the Whirlpool together, looked at the Sorcerer Handbook together, and participated in Destiny’s Inquiry together… My life in this world all started with the Swordswoman.”

“To me, she’s like the sun rising over a graveyard.”

“Just this shared experience of adversity makes me feel that no one can shake her position in my heart.”

He added, “Unless your strength is really high.”

josei