Chapter 39 A series of snores "I'm going to practice magic and turn you into a dog!..."
Sanova recounted in a hasty manner that long, long ago, before the dark witch Cynthia stirred up trouble and divided the continent, it had a unified name: Etherion. No one calls it that anymore. Back then, Dias was merely an insignificant human city-state within Etherion, one of its many city-states. That era was known as the Golden Age; the relationship between humans and magical creatures wasn't so distant, and Dias enjoyed prosperous trade and cultural exchanges with the Elf Valley, the Orc Tribes, and the Dwarven Mining City.
Magic, on the other hand, is the strongest bond for communication between different races.
As a child, Ashlin didn't think she was "gifted." She always felt that she was no different from other children, and that the magic she possessed was learned from Sanova's herbalist notes.
Those suddenly sprouting plants seemed more like useless accidents than a burst of talent from a descendant of the gods. Sanova never claimed to have any talent, there were no other wizards in River Bend, the children at the parish school didn't like magic, and she herself never cared about those long treatises on magic, so she never paid any attention to them.
Although Sanova was a descendant of Santoris and renowned for his exceptional healing skills, he was not a court mage because he preferred the scenery of Foxtail Bend.
"Court magicians are all manipulators and magicians who play tricks on people's hearts," he once commented. "In the end, they just want to squeeze into the royal council and become one of the flies buzzing in the ears of the lord or even the king."
Ashlin might not be considered a top student, but under Sanovana's unreliable tutelage, she understood that the magical traits of different races were not entirely the same. For example, human magic was based on the four elements, relatively balanced, without a strong elemental or divine inclination; elves were recognized as a race with high magical talent, their magic inseparable from art; dwarven magic was rooted in minerals and the earth, integrated with machinery, but as atheists, their magic was not powerful, and there were few famous dwarven mages; orcs, who revered strength, had the weakest magical abilities, with only orc priests possessing magic, while ordinary orcs did not. Their magic primarily stemmed from their worship of the primeval forest.
This is why Ashlin is so excited about their upcoming journey.
The elves already deeply loved the forest goddess, but the orcs' fervor for the forest ran even deeper. Ashlin had never thought about this much before, but now she was a child of the forest, with the true magical blood of the forest flowing in her veins. Getting along well with the furry orcs shouldn't be too difficult.
Thinking about it this way, she felt a little elated. Imagine all the orcs wagging their tails and circling around her!
The orc tribe's location is quite obvious on the map, but it is divided into many areas, probably belonging to different tribes.
This time, Ashlin and Lucas didn't have a dragon as a cheat-like mode of transportation, and they had no idea where Aisusa and Zak had gotten off their world tour. Even on horseback, it would take at least a week to travel from Ilovena to the Orc Forest.
Just as they were pondering how to ask Melia for two ponies ("or unicorns," Lucas suggested), an elven knight appeared leading two very familiar horses, one golden brown and the other pure white.
"Chocolate and cream!" Ashlind excitedly rushed over, stroking the little brown horse's nose. Chocolate responded eagerly, "Oh, I've missed you so much!"
She pulled two dried apples out of her bag, and the ponies happily ate them.
"How did you find them?" Lucas asked, rubbing the little white horse's cream.
She turned to Ashley.
"I'm afraid it's more than just an elven cloak. In fact, it's a cloak that combines elven weaving magic with dwarven materials, which I think is why it saved your life."
"It was originally created by elves and dwarves in cooperation to fight against dragons. Somehow it ended up in the hands of human dragon warriors, and now it has come into the possession of the Children of the Forest. It saved your life and also saved Ilovia. It can be said that without it, Elf Valley would probably have been corrupted by my foolish brother and dark magic by working together. Fate is so magical."
Ashlyn wanted to say that her brother was more than just "muddled," but the occasion wasn't quite right.
She looked down at her green cloak, then made up her mind to take it off and hand it to Melia.
“Now it belongs to the elves again,” Ashlin said earnestly. “Consider it… for Tara. If monsters like Cerberus appear again in the future, the cloak will save your lives.”
Melia's eyes widened, but she still took the cloak.
“This is a generous gesture, Ashlyn Bailey. The cloak may help you in the future. Are you sure you want to do this?”
"I'm pretty sure. I think we can succeed even without magic clothes."
“I won’t eat these,” he said dismissively at first.
But Ashlin noticed that he ate heartily as soon as they set off, and finished all the shrimp before noon.
Lucas nearly fell off his horse.
"Say that again?!"
“I say, the weather is really nice today.” Ashlin shielded her eyes from the sun with her hand, pretending to admire the blue sky.
“Insulting a prince is a crime of treason,” Lucas warned.
“I’m looking forward to it, Your Highness.”
On their first night, they randomly picked an inn by the roadside to stay. Lucas had been hoping that he would transform back into human form as night fell, but nothing happened.
The inn was relatively clean and not crowded, with a diverse mix of races, and there were no objections to the witch's entry. Several human merchants were discussing business behind a beer stand, while a group of orcs sat at the outermost edge arm wrestling, including a werewolf, a leopard-man, and a deer-headed child.
The boss was a dwarf who had left the mining town, with breadcrumbs stuffed into his reddish-brown beard.
"You're going to the North, little witch?" the dwarf asked, wiping his wine glass.
“Yes.” Ashlind pulled out the gold coins. “Any suggestions, sir?”
The dwarf burst into laughter, and a few crumbs fell from his beard.
"Advice? My advice is not to go! Especially these days... the Cold Claw Forest is in complete chaos."
"Hanzhao Forest?"
"It's a tribal region in the Orcish Forest, the most famous one. You've heard of it, right?"
Ashlin shook her head. Compared to the magical and beautiful Elf Valley, the Orc tribe was far too distant for her.
“Winterclaw Forest is the largest gathering place for orc tribes,” Lucas explained in cat language. “The trials are held there because the priests who make wreaths also live in Winterclaw Forest.”
“You’ve never even heard of Coldclaw Forest, yet you dream of going to the North. What a delusional little girl,” the dwarf mocked. “I’ve heard that a monster has appeared nearby recently, and everyone calls it the ‘Yeti’.”
Lucas laughed, which sounded a bit odd to a cat, so he quickly turned it into a cough.
Ashlin has some vague memories of the Yeti, probably from fairy tales.
"It is said that the Yeti is as tall as four adult men, with feet as wide as sailboats and a body as hard as a rock. Now it is ravaging the northern lands, and even the orc chieftain cannot defeat it! You must be careful, child."
Lucas rolled his eyes.
"It's just a folk tale; only country bumpkins would believe it. The Yeti doesn't exist at all."
The dwarf squinted: "What's your kitten purring about?"
“He’s hungry,” Ashlin said quickly, thankfully the dwarf boss couldn’t understand cat language. “I’ll be careful… um… avoid the Yeti’s footprints.”
"So, shall we book a room?"
“Two rooms,” Ashlind said habitually.
The dwarf raised his eyebrows.
"You mean, your cat needs its own room?"
"Why can't a cat have its own room?" Lucas asked angrily.
In order to save money and avoid arousing suspicion, they ultimately only booked one room.
"It went very smoothly." Ashlin patted the black cat's head contentedly.
She said that far too soon.
The latter looked disgusted, and its tail slapped so hard the bed was shaking.
Although it wasn't exactly enjoyable, he didn't shy away from it at all.
Ashlyn flipped through Sanova's notes while quietly tossing him around for a while, after all, she didn't know when he might change his mind. She suspected that he only allowed her to touch him now because of their argument a couple of days ago.
Until she heard a series of snoring sounds.
The sound was very rhythmic, reminding Ashlin of a series of unrelated things: dried blankets, toast, mint.
"You're snoring?!"
"Uh, no?" The lie was utterly weak. He was clearly snoring, like the mechanical dwarves in the book.
Ashlin curled her lips into a smile: "You like this."
"Meow, how could that be?" the black cat scoffed. "After you pet me, I have to lick my fur all over again! Do you know how annoying that is?"
That's what they say, but he's still lying there perfectly fine.
Ashlin laughed heartily, giving his soft neck a few hard rubs, enjoying the warm, fluffy texture.
“I’m going to practice magic and turn you into a dog!” Lucas said angrily.
She stroked the cat's fur: "No problem."
"And you can't choose the varieties yourself."
"sounds good."
Ashlin raised her hand and blew away the cat hair.
The cat was purring while simultaneously slapping its tail in dissatisfaction, which greatly distracted Ashlin from studying the teacher's notes.
She put down her notebook completely, and traced a circle with her fingers around his tail, like a small archway. When his tail lifted up and met her hand, it stopped angrily.
What are you doing?
Stop slapping the bed!
"Then stop touching me! Have you touched me enough now?" The black cat got up and left her palm.
Ashlin felt empty.
"Why can't I touch you?" she asked, bewildered.
Lucas breathed on her in a somewhat fierce manner.
"Obviously, it's because human hands are too dirty. Stay away from me with those filthy hands! I only let you touch me earlier to make up for our argument; it won't happen again."
Ashlin rolled her eyes and decided not to point out that he was also human.
It's alright, she'll be content with what she has and won't push her luck. She closed her eyes, feeling that her journey was finally on a new and bright track.
She returned to Foxtail Bay.
Her home is a very small wooden house with a very large sloping roof, located in front of an ash forest.
The grass, green tinged with yellow, covered the surface, adorned with pale purple and milky white flowers, reminiscent of grape-flavored toffee.
In the herb garden in front of the cabin, the scents of mint, lavender, basil, artemisia, and rosemary mingled together, while the emerald laurel trees gleamed golden in the sunlight.
Sanova held a notebook and carefully observed the growth of the plants. Next to her was a brown-skinned girl with two shiny black braids.
Ashlin threw herself into her arms. Mia's body was as warm as she remembered, as if she had been baked by the sun. As the baker's daughter, she always smelled of buttered bread.
They've known each other since they were little.
On the first day of school at the parish school in Foxtail Bend, Mia was the only girl who didn't laugh at her.
"That's her, the orphan adopted by the healing mage." The children whispered, pointing at her. "They say she's the devil's child. Watch out! She might curse you into a toad!"
The ban on magic hadn't been lifted for very long, and people still harbored prejudice against wizards, let alone an orphan adopted by a wizard. Even though Lord Maurice of Foxtail Bay was considered relatively open-minded about magic compared to other lords, ten-year-old Ashlin was still completely unpopular at the parish school.
If it weren't for Mia, she wouldn't know how she would have survived life at the parish school. Later, the children gradually became willing to play with her after realizing that Ashline wasn't as dark and evil as the legendary witch. But only Mia remained steadfast in her devotion.
“I have absolutely no sympathy for Hugo’s teeth.” Ashlin chuckled as she played with Mia’s braids. “Remember what he used to say about me? That I was an evil witch he picked up from the forest, a child of the devil! Turns out I’m actually a descendant of God. What a slap in the face, isn’t it?”
Mia took a few steps back.
"Descendants of God? Ashlin, what are you talking about?"
Ashlinn then realized that she probably didn't know these things.
She looked at Mia, her best friend since birth, who was like a sister to her, and knew the exact location of every single freckle.
At this moment, she seemed so dreamlike, so distant, as if she would vanish with the slightest touch.
It was a dream, she finally realized.
"It's nothing," she said.
"Oh my god!" Mia suddenly exclaimed, "What's going on?"
Ashlin frowned.
Even in her dreams, Mia's voice shouldn't sound like a boy... like a particular boy.
Then she opened her eyes and found that the human Lucas's eyelashes were only three inches away from her.
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