Sorcerer’s Handbook

“Ah!”

In the instant the chandelier fell, the Substitute yanked Lise back. The square chandelier in the hallway crashed to the ground in front of Lise, and shards of glass cut her little foot encased in white stockings.

Ignoring the small injury, Lise anxiously looked at the Substitute. “Are you okay?”

Unlike her, the Substitute would immediately dissipate with even minor damage. If the current Lise was a helpless doll, then the Substitute was a true bubble.

The Substitute didn’t respond, simply carrying Lise over the shattered glass, silently and loyally fleeing down the corridor.

Behind them, the aloof Black Knight pursued their backs at a leisurely pace.

Clad in dense scale armor, with an ebony helmet extending into a plume of raven feathers, the Black Knight’s dark silver steel boots made a muffled thud on the carpet, moving like a stroke of ink on parchment.

It wasn’t particularly tall, nor was it especially burly even with the armor, but its silent oppression was enough to leave all prey gasping for breath. It wielded no weapon, holding only a black-silver-covered book-the Gospel Book.

As the Substitute and Lise passed by a window, the Black Knight lightly flicked its fingers, shattering the glass into countless fragments. If not for the Substitute’s timely dive forward with Lise, they would have been showered with glass shards.

This was the 13th time Lise had encountered such an ‘accident.’

The moment Lise saw the Black Knight in her bedroom, the Substitute had immediately scooped her up and rushed out. Surprisingly, the Black Knight did not attack right away, even allowing them to run a few more steps, as if a doctor assessing a patient’s condition.

When they had fled a certain distance, and Lise nearly thought the Black Knight had entered the wrong room, the ‘accidents’ began.

Falling chandeliers, exploding fire extinguishers, shattering windows, crumbling plaster, splintering doors… The building, home to the core members of the Senhaeser family, suddenly turned into a danger zone, filled with startling surprises at every corner.

Just now, when Lise tried to run towards the stairwell fire exit, she watched in disbelief as the solid, thick wall collapsed into rubble, blocking the fire exit and turning it into the biggest fire hazard. Compared to the fire exit, the elevator shaft fared slightly better—it merely started smoking and prematurely retired.

Clearly, the Black Knight did not intend to kill her, but neither did it intend to let her escape this floor. Lise had two choices: hide in another room and play hide-and-seek with the Black Knight, or jump out of the window.

Not to mention, the Black Knight had just demonstrated its exceptional hide-and-seek skills. Lise had experienced what it was like to play hide-and-seek with someone holding the Gospel Book a few days ago—Ashe was terribly unfair, using Gospel points to cheat even in a game with children.

Lise didn’t know what to do now. Although she wanted to discuss it with her sisters, they hadn’t appeared in the mirror when the Black Knight showed up; at that moment, the Little Witch understood what her sisters meant.

If she guessed correctly, this Black Knight was after her sisters, and they couldn’t show up easily!

Now it was her turn to protect her sisters!

“Why are you chasing me!?” Lise climbed onto the Substitute’s shoulder and shouted at the Black Knight, “I don’t even know you, and I haven’t done anything wrong, so why are you doing this?”

“My foot got cut, and it hurts, and I hurt my hand just now too, it hurts so much, boo…”

As she spoke, tears started rolling down Lise’s cheeks. She bit her lip in grievance, rubbing her eyes messily and smearing her face. Her hairband was pulled off while running, and her snow-white, pure hair fell onto her trembling shoulders. Her nose tingled—she felt more and more wronged the more she spoke, even shaking her fist at the Black Knight from afar in defiance.

She had to act utterly innocent—this was indeed a task only she could accomplish, something her sisters couldn’t do!

In response to Lise’s questioning and crying, the Black Knight paused for a moment, then pulled out a pen from the spine of the Gospel Book and began writing in it.

Suddenly, the speaker in the corner of the hallway emitted a flat mechanical voice: “The white mist has dissipated; you have not been affected.”

Lise was stunned. She turned her head to look outside the window and realized that the white mist that had entangled Vamora for hundreds of years had quietly hidden away at some point. The playful night was trying to find it.

Although they had been focused on researching the Gospel Incarnation these days, this was Vamora after all, and they inevitably gathered a lot of information about it.

Lise didn’t bother to remember the various social changes caused by the Beauty Mist. She only remembered one thing-staying in Vamora for more than 6 hours required special treatment to leave the dense mist area; otherwise, it would trigger severe withdrawal symptoms. Note, this wasn’t about leaving Vamora, just leaving the dense mist area. For example, the developing intercity new district was a thin mist forbidden zone that Vamora citizens couldn’t enter.

Conversely, even if you didn’t leave Vamora, as long as the white mist concentration decreased, you would still be choked by withdrawal symptoms!

Lise thought it was terrifying when she read the information. Those ordinary people who fell into withdrawal symptoms almost all became dazed, their eyes hollow, consciousness dissipating, and some even losing control of their bowels. She had asked Ashe how to solve this problem, and Ashe’s solution was to prepare diapers. That was when Lise deeply realized the limitations of a single-parent family, and that a stepmother had to be arranged as soon as possible.

At that moment, Lise suddenly remembered seeing a few maids lying on the ground in the corridor. She had thought they were beaten by the Black Knight, but there were no wounds on them, and they all had vacant eyes and drool, fitting the symptoms of withdrawal perfectly!

No wonder Senhaeser was so quiet. Perhaps everyone besides her had already lost control, hopefully with diapers prepared.

…So, why was she unaffected?

“So what!” The Little Witch stiffened her neck and said, “Can’t I be healthy and not affected? Is it wrong to be healthy!? You aren’t affected either!”

The Black Knight continued to write in the Gospel Book, using the corridor’s speaker to speak: “You said you were hurt and in pain just now, is that true?”

“Of course, it’s true!” Lise angrily waved her fist. “My hand is still bleeding!”

Boom!

The Black Knight suddenly pointed from a distance, and the ceiling above Lise and the Substitute cracked and collapsed instantly. Stones and dust fell together, threatening to crush Lise and shatter the Substitute!

“Get down!”

The Substitute couldn’t speak; it only followed orders.

It immediately curled up into a ball on the ground. Countless debris clattered onto the floor around it, but not a single stone touched it.

However, it wasn’t entirely unscathed.

Drops of blood fell onto its face, mingling with the dust to form a dirty, sticky mixture. It turned its head upward to see a small, delicate figure.

Lise had spread her arms to shield the Substitute. A stone larger than her had struck her back. Her head seemed to have been injured, as red droplets slid down by gravity, carving a path through the dusty white hair, soaking her delicate brows, and falling onto the Substitute’s face like dewdrops. Her knees were slightly bent, her white stockings torn and tattered, with rust-colored stains spreading from the wounds, resembling roses blooming in the snow.

This fragile and seemingly breakable crystal child now stood like an unyielding fortress, bearing all the damage alone to protect a bubble.

“Take me away,” she said.

The Substitute immediately hugged Lise and fled, narrowly avoiding the secondary collapse of debris. Lise clung tightly to the Substitute, glaring at the Black Knight with hatred.

“You actually don’t feel any pain. With your current injuries, you should have passed out.”

Hatred overwhelmed rational thought at that moment. Lise screamed, “Die, die, die! I’m not afraid of you! I won’t pass out! Waaa, I’ll call Dad to come and kill you!”

The Black Knight ignored Lise, continuing to speak methodically, “Originally, I was just suspicious, but now I’m almost certain. Your so-called pain is just a sensation you’ve imagined. Hormones and neurons can’t truly affect you.”

“Why aren’t you affected by the white mist? Because you can’t imagine the effects of withdrawal symptoms.”

“Why don’t you pass out from severe injuries? Because you don’t want to.”

“As long as you don’t care or think about it, nothing exists.”

For some reason, listening to the Black Knight’s meticulous analysis of her situation, an indescribable panic surged within Lise. She resisted the urge to take out her hand mirror, gripping the Substitute’s neck so tightly that her nails nearly pierced its skin, as if fearing that the Black Knight’s next words would strip her of everything.

“What… exactly are you trying to say?!”

Crash!

Another window shattered nearby, and the Substitute hugged Lise, dodging the shower of glass shards.

In the chaotic rain curtain of fragments, Lise saw the Black Knight write something in the Gospel Book. The speaker above echoed a cold declaration:

“You are not the master of this body, so this body cannot affect you.”

“You are not even human.”

“You are merely a spirit.”

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