Miss Witch’s Devotion Has Gone… Twisted-Chapter 31: Eternal Watcher

Luna's steps were noticeably lighter as she walked out of Loren's office. Looking at her completely unharmed fingers, she felt warmth spreading through her heart.
"How did it go?"
The girl who had been sitting next to Luna earlier had been waiting outside for her. Seeing the smile on Luna's face, she finally relaxed.
"Master Mentor is... a gentle person..."
The girl immediately understood and gently nudged Luna with her elbow:
"Are you smitten?"
"No..."
Luna tried to deny it, but her cheeks grew increasingly red. At that moment, the girl beside her sighed:
"Don't even think about it. Did you see how he treated Sylvia in class? Sylvia, who usually struts around so arrogantly, didn't even dare to lift her head in front of him. His status is no lower than the King's. The gap between your positions is too vast. Someone of that magnitude is destined to be a star we can only gaze at from afar, forever out of reach."
"And your ages aren't suitable either. You're only seventeen. I don't think one could accumulate that much knowledge without a few hundred years..."
"Mhm, mhm!"
Luna gave a perfunctory response. In the end, the girl could only sigh again. She knew Luna wasn't really listening.
Right now, Luna's mind was completely filled with the words Loren had spoken to her. Before she left, Loren had even told her she could come find him anytime, that he would always welcome her, and he had even given Luna his home address.
Loren's thinking was simple: he hoped that if one day Luna's identity as a witch was truly exposed, she could come to him.
After school ended, Loren had no real reason to stay at the academy. The Tear of Condensed Wishes would only arrive in his hands tomorrow, and the potion brewing would officially begin then. Loren simply took Nightingale and headed home.
"Greetings, Master Mentor."
"Hello."
"Your bird is so well-kept."
"Indeed. It's just that it was almost killed by a cat before, which really scared me to death."
...
All the teachers and academy higher-ups Loren passed on the way would greet him. While replying, Loren would also emphasize the matter about Nightingale, continuously putting pressure on Simone. The effect was quite noticeable. Today was Loren's first day teaching, and Simone had taken leave.
Loren believed that before long, Simone would have no place left for her in the entire Royal Capital. Many people were racking their brains trying to curry favor with Loren. Once the news that he could brew Ember Radiance spread, even more people would want to win his favor. And punishing Simone was an excellent way to show goodwill toward Loren.
As Loren walked home, Gwen, who was placed in Loren's bedroom, donned a black robe and phased through the wall to leave.
The ability of the Tower had been displayed once on a follower of an Outer God, but no one knew it was the power of the Tarot cards. Most people considered it a blessing from the Outer Gods.
So now, it was perfectly normal for Gwen, appearing as a follower of an Outer God, to possess the Void-walking ability. Loren had no intention of hiding the Void-walking ability. Displaying it openly would actually help draw a clearer line between him and Gwen. After all, Loren was someone who didn't hesitate to offend so many people to destroy the stronghold of Outer God followers. With his faith in the God of Bountiful Harvest being so firm, how could he possibly have any connection to the Outer Gods?
By the time Loren returned home, Mirrorheart had already prepared dinner, the timing just perfect. Even Anna hadn't had a chance to pick up her chopsticks yet.
However, Loren didn't think too much about it, just treating it as a coincidence. Even if she timed it based on when school ended, Mirrorheart couldn't have guessed he had also pulled Luna aside for a conversation.
It couldn't be that Mirrorheart had a way to monitor him, could it?
"Master Mentor, why do you smell like another woman?"
This time, Anna wasn't in a hurry to eat. Instead, she sniffed Loren's body.
"Are you a dog? Can you actually smell that?" Loren retorted, but he didn't plan to hide it: "Yes, there's a student in the class who might be a witch. I made contact with her."
"My sense of smell is very strong. I've always remembered your scent. It's normal for me to notice some changes now."
"..."
Loren had no rebuttal for that. Witches' attributes were much higher than humans'. Having a powerful sense of smell was normal.
"I've lived for eighteen years and never seen a second witch. How come you encounter two as soon as you show up?"
Scarlett also stopped her eating motions. Witches weren't like Pikachu, as numerous as stray dogs on the roadside. How could Loren possibly encounter so many witches?
"Such is fate."
Back when he played the game, Loren had always liked witches. Not just the ones in the storylines, but he also enjoyed searching for hidden witches among the common folk. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say Loren knew every witch. Perhaps this obsession of his had led to the current situation.
However, Loren immediately thought of something else. He didn't recognize Luna. There were two possibilities: either in his previous life, despite playing the game so many times, he had never discovered Luna, or she had already died by the time the game's story began. The second possibility was the most likely.
Just like Naclis. She was confirmed dead in the game. That was the fate of most witches. Witches did not age. Even at the moment of their natural death, they would maintain the most beautiful appearance of their entire lives. So, this favor from the Creator also sowed the seeds of disaster for witches' deaths. Once a witch stayed in one place for too long, she was bound to slip up.
Therefore, Loren brewing life-extending magical potions for the King was also providing cover for the witches at home. Since Loren himself had a method for immortality, it was normal for him to bring along those closest to him.
"Need to think of a way to save Luna."
Luna was among the fortunate batch of witches. Actually, the number of witches wasn't that small, but most witches didn't live to adulthood. Many witches died when they were very young. That was also when they were most likely to reveal their abnormalities. Anna and Naclis were living examples. After Naclis's father learned of her identity, he began hunting down her and her mother. Anna was somewhat better off; she was just abandoned, leaving her a sliver of hope.
"I'm going back to my room first. Call me if there's anything."
After eating a few bites casually, Loren left the dining table. Right now, he still needed to control Gwen to spread the word about the God of Hatred. Moreover, Loren had other matters to attend to.
Loren took out a piece of paper and wrote three titles on it: [The Primal Songstress], [The Perpetual Observer], and [The Final Singer]. These three titles had all appeared in the game, but the descriptions were sparse. The one Loren understood best was The Perpetual Observer, that mysterious existence who created the Tarot cards. The descriptions of It in the game were relatively more abundant.
The only thing Loren could confirm was that Their status was extremely high, perhaps even higher than the Outer Gods. Loren had found some literature containing research on the Outer Gods. One crucial piece of information within was that the reason the Outer Gods couldn't directly devour this world was because of the Singers. And after the gods appeared, the Singers vanished.
However, Loren hadn't found any connection between these three. The reason Loren thought these three were connected was simply because of their titles. They represented the beginning, the continuation, and the end respectively. The format of their titles was quite similar. It was for this simple reason that Loren linked them together.
His intuition told Loren that if he could find the honorifics pointing to Them, it would be of great use.