Toyokawa Shoko doesn't want to become a witch

"Huh?!" Ai Yin opened her mouth wide, revealing her cute little tiger teeth.

So this is what I've been wanting to say for so long?! It's made her worry for so long!

It's like a student who's been inexplicably called to the podium by their homeroom teacher during self-study, trembling as they wait for the teacher to speak, only to have the teacher immediately say, "Happy birthday, xxx!"

That was terrifying!

"Yes...yes..." Aine breathed a sigh of relief. "Mashin Hero Wataru is really good. I suddenly remembered this line and just shouted it out unconsciously."

"Hmm... I don't have the habit of shouting out names."

"Wow, little master, now that you mention it, I feel like I'm going to dig my toes into the floor and build up a three-bedroom, two-living-room house." Ai Yin covered her face. "I was just playing around. Don't tell anyone. I still have my pride."

"But it does have a lot of presence, it feels pretty good." Xiangzi nodded seriously, seemingly really considering Ai Yin's suggestion to shout out the names of the singers.

"Eh......"

Aine hadn't expected that Shoko would be so serious in certain aspects...

Gulu gulu——

Just then, a sound of liquid gushing came from beside them, drawing their attention.

"Little Master, look, that pumpkin lantern."

After being killed by Aine, the Pumpkin Lantern was covered in black pus, similar to that of the familiar of the Water Spirit. The pus, which emitted a strong, foul odor, melted the Pumpkin Lantern's body and flowed outwards with the help of gravity.

A moment later, a man dressed in red appeared where the pumpkin lantern had been.

He knelt on the ground, muttering things like, "I want to live, I can still fight, I will fight for the Red Queen."

"Still alive?" Xiangzi stepped forward and casually picked up the broken sword from the ground.

She held the broken sword to the man's neck.

"Who are you, and why are you attacking us? What is your relationship with the Red Queen?"

“Fight for the Red Queen… no…” the man said dejectedly, “…the Queen has been… I have to fight for everyone in the village…”

"I'm asking you a question!" Xiangzi thrust the broken sword forward further. "Tell me, who are you!"

The broken sword, riddled with nicks and chips, left a shallow bloodstain on the man's neck. The blood flowing from it—yes, it was also black pus, but it didn't look as viscous; it looked more like blood.

This man... although he looks like a normal person now, he is still a familiar at heart.

These black liquids must be their blood—the familiars living in the world of "Fairy Tale Town," which are the blood of the residents here.

“Little Master, I think I know him,” Ai Yin said, tugging at Xiangzi’s sleeve.

"Ok?"

"He's an NPC in the game, and also the first boss," Ai Yin said. "He's..."

Aiyin gave a brief introduction to this NPC.

His name is Deacon, a knight commander under the Red Queen. He serves as a guide for new players in the starting village, which is Xiangzi and her friends' destination. After players complete a series of tasks, they will have a knight duel with him.

After the duel, Deacon says, "You are now capable of exploring on your own," and gives the player a detailed map of the eight worlds. Only then will the game's map system be enabled.

"He shouldn't be here," Ai Yin murmured. "There are so many differences between this barrier and the game. What happened?"

In the original game, the player's goal was to "travel" around the world, simply to play and experience the world. All battles were fairytale-like sparring and exchanges, and most battles could even be avoided through dialogue. There were no bloody special effects, nor were there battlefield ruins littered with corpses.

Otherwise, how could this game attract so many girls to play?

“No matter what, he is a familiar,” Xiangzi said. “He doesn’t look like he can communicate with anyone right now. If he stays here… he might turn back into that pumpkin lantern like a witch’s assimilation clone.”

"What can we do? We can't just kill him."

"I just want to kill him."

“Little Master, you don’t play games much, so you don’t know. You can’t just let these named NPCs die. If they die, you might lose a lot of key information or even rewards. Besides…” Ai Yin looked at the dazed man with a pained expression, “He looks too human. I can’t bring myself to do it.”

"...makes sense."

Xiangzi thought for a moment.

Putting aside the fact that the familiars here look stranger than ever before, and can actually resemble humans so much, I would indeed feel a bit guilty if I really killed such a lost and defenseless person.

Not to mention that Aine was watching right beside her; she couldn't set a bad example.

Magical girls must maintain physical and mental health and be positive and optimistic in order to live longer. If they fight and kill every day, their hearts will quickly become dirty, and it will become increasingly difficult for them to stay true to themselves.

Even if we take a step back, she can't just kill her only source of intelligence so easily. Ai Yin said he would give the players a map, and if she kills him, the map might be lost.

The only problem is, what should we do with him?

Xiangzi pursed her lips, looking at the distraught man.

“Let’s take him to the starting village you mentioned. Hopefully, someone there knows what happened,” she said with a sigh.

"Ok!"

Ai Yin nodded, grabbed the man's shoulders, and hoisted him onto her back.

"Let's go, little master!"

The Lost Tale: The Lost Child: Chapter 317 was downgraded.

Deacon is a typical handsome middle-aged man, tall and strong, wearing a beautiful red armor, exuding a calm and mature temperament at all times. He is the kind of person who can attract the attention of young girls just by standing there. He won the title of popularity king in the first popularity vote event held by the game operators.

Of course, whether he is popular or handsome has nothing to do with Aine—maybe it did before, since she also voted for the handsome older man back then.

but now......

His tall and imposing stature indicated that he was much taller than Ai Yin. When Ai Yin carried him, his calves dragged on the ground, and his metal boots made a clanging sound as they rubbed against the ground.

Wearing a beautiful set of red armor suggests that he already had a considerable weight, and on top of that, he was wearing an even heavier suit of armor.

Ai Yin started to regret it after walking only a few steps.

"Little Master!"

She carried Dickon and landed behind Xiangzi.

"Little Master, wait for me!"

Xiangzi slowed his pace to wait for her.

"Do you need my help?" Xiangzi asked.

“No need, I can still handle it.” Ai Yin shook the person on her shoulder. “This weight is acceptable, but it’s just… he’s too big, it’s easy for him to slip off.”

As he spoke, Deacon's armor continued to clang.

"Heave-ho." Ai Yin adjusted her posture again. "Speaking of which, little master, do you feel like we've gotten a little stronger since we entered the barrier?"

She couldn't have stepped on a bouncing iron ball before to propel herself higher, but she just felt she could do it, and she actually succeeded on her first try.

"Huh?" Xiangzi raised an eyebrow.

Her strength has been suppressed by most of her power, and she's practically starting from scratch. How could Aine say something like "becoming stronger"... Wait a minute...

"You mean you've become stronger?" Xiangzi asked in return. "How much stronger? A lot?"

"Not much, it feels like... just a little bit." Aine scratched her head.

"What level is your game account?" Xiangzi asked again.

"I just reached level 5 not long ago, but I've played quite a lot."

Playing a lot means playing until the early hours of the morning every day after returning home, and checking in every day without fail.

What is the standard for level five in this game?

“Fairy Tale Town isn’t a game that focuses particularly on combat. The maximum player level is only twelve, and my level is already close to the vanguard tier among the current players,” Ai Yin explained. “When we leave the starting village and head to the Red Queen’s Castle, most players are around level four and a half.”

"So, with your character's level in the game, defeating Deacon, who was guarding the gate back then, would be quite easy, right?"

"Level 5 is pretty safe compared to Level 4, but it's not entirely risk-free." Ai Yin tilted her head in confusion. "Why is Little Master asking this?"

"My magic power is almost gone," Xiangzi said. "Most of it is blocked by a barrier, and I only have a little bit left that I can use. If I try to break through it, something bad might happen."

"Huh? Does that mean the junior master has actually become weaker?!"

"Ah."

"What does that have to do with my level—ah, I see!" An exclamation mark seemed to appear above Aine's head. "Is our strength in the barrier determined by the level of our character account?"

"That's roughly the idea." Xiangzi nodded.

Her account was at level one, with nothing, starting from scratch. Therefore, her strength was suppressed by the vast majority after entering the barrier, and even her previously stored data was deleted.

However, Aine actually became stronger after entering the barrier. In other words, in the eyes of Fairy Tale Town, her original level was not considered to be at the "level five" level. Therefore, after entering the barrier, Fairy Tale Town amplified Aine's abilities to a level that met the "level five" standard.

Xiangzi raised his hand, trying to recreate the broken sword he had just picked up on the battlefield.

With a whoosh, a broken sword appeared in his hand.

Xiangzi held the sword in his hand and twirled it a few times.

At her current level, which is level one, recording this broken sword has already consumed one-third of the space allowed by the barrier to her memory, which will be referred to as the memory space from now on.

Moreover, if he does not destroy the broken sword back to its original magical state, he will not be able to reproduce the broken sword again—that is, only one can exist at a time.

In other words, she can record and reproduce a maximum of three different weapons.

Whether larger weapons would take up more memory space is unknown, but in any case, she can no longer recreate the overwhelming number of weapons and carry out a saturation bombardment as she usually does.

Moreover, this is a fantasy world dominated by cold weapons. Even if a weapon better than the broken sword is recreated later, it is highly likely that there will be no firearms, which would be a serious blow to Xiangzi's habits.

"Sigh, this can be considered a form of self-training," Xiangzi thought with a sense of resignation.

We used to rely too much on firearms, so using cold weapons now is a way to train ourselves.

Anyway.

Xiangzi raised his head again, watching the sunlight gradually sinking towards the western horizon, turning golden and brilliant.

This is also like playing house with Su Shi.

======

Although the grassland beneath Xiangzi's feet was not a desert, when she saw the smoke rising straight up in the distance, she still experienced the awe-inspiring sight of the plains, smoke, river, and sunset all combined together.

"Little Master, we're almost there." Ai Yin tugged at Deacon's arm, pointing forward with her other hand.

Deacon's entire body dragged on the ground, with only one arm being pulled by Aine. As he walked forward, his armor struggled against the stones on the ground, making a clanging sound, like a piece of music that lacked any beauty.

Ai Yin was already tired of carrying him. Since he kept talking about his Red Queen and the people in the village and wouldn't say a word of complaint, she simply dragged him away.

"I have eyes," Xiangzi said, breathing heavily.

Perhaps because her level had been reduced to level one, her physical strength was also much worse. After walking for almost a whole day, she started to get tired.

On the contrary, Aine carried someone for so long without breaking a sweat or getting out of breath, and was completely unharmed.

Is this what level 5 physical fitness is?

Xiangzi actually started to feel envious.

"Hey, little master, look, someone's waiting for us up ahead!" Ai Yin saw a figure standing at the entrance of the town, so she quickly pretended to carry Deacon on her back and waved at the figure, "Hey, hello—!"

A blurry figure walked towards them, gradually becoming clearer, until finally...

Are you new here? Are you also trapped in this game?

A young girl dressed in a nun's habit and wearing large round-framed glasses emerged from the shadows of the setting sun. Xiangzi recognized her; they had met briefly that afternoon, though it wasn't a formal meeting.

Lin Hai, one of the ordinary people trapped by the barrier.

The Lost Story: The Lost Child - Chapter 318 The Beginner Village

Xiangzi observed their destination from afar, the "beginner village" that Aiyin had mentioned.

It's called a village, but that's only from a modern perspective. In a fantasy world with an ancient setting, it's almost a small town in terms of size alone. The entire village is surrounded by a stone wall about five meters high, with water on one side and a moat dug out on the other three sides.

Lin Hai stood under the streetlights outside the city gate bridge, watching two girls he had never seen before carrying a man as they approached.

The sight of two unfamiliar figures made Lin Hai unable to suppress his excitement.

She hadn't seen any new people in a long time; the people around her were either NPCs or monsters. Now that she was actually seeing a new person, she was so excited.

But... since they're newcomers, it means they're also trapped in the game. Wouldn't my excitement be a bit too gloating...?