POV: Foggy
The trip to the hidden Clan was an amazing sight to see, on the way there I had a taste of what to expect to see in a place filled with people like me.
And I wasn't disappointed.
This whole place was hidden by magical mist, that even Trader didn't know anything about.
Once we got inside of could see a cozy place built in the middle of a big swamp.
They even had a slime farm which I only saw it from afar.
After the meeting with the Elders which got me a little tense, but recently I had experiences with important people so I was getting used to it.
They seemed much more interested in me than Trader for some reason, I could see in their eyes, greed, surprise, and anger but what all of them had was hope.
I'm not as smart as Trader or Bobby, but I knew those people wouldn't want to hurt me, quite the opposite, they wanted to know more about me.
So after everything ended on a tense note, I felt hopeful for the future.
We got placed in our new homes, where I slept soundly.
That was until Trader decided to rudely wake me up. I don't understand why they hate sleep so much, there's no urgent business that needs to be done, so why the rush?
The breakfast was amazing, I got to try this new thing called jem, and I loved how good it tasted with bread.
Trader seems impressed by it as well, but from his expression, I can guess it's not his first time eating something like this.
I wonder if he knows any other recipes that I can try.
With our bellies were full, our next course of action was to visit Elder Flora.
She had one of the biggest homes In the whole place, smaller only to the Elders building in the middle of the village.
Her house was beautiful and warm. It doesn't compare with the Royal Palace that I recently visited, but this place felt more comfortable and more welcoming.
It doesn't try to intimidate me with its riches, it is only a nicely decorated room.
While I and Trader admired everything around us, Catharine led us to the meeting place.
Flora expected us already, and from the messy desk and tired eyes I could guess she didn't sleep a lot last night.
We did talk a little before she gave us some books to study to my horror. This reminds me of the time I was forced to learn about the history of the Sandstone kingdom.
It was not fun, to say the least.
So when I got another history book in my hands, I used the skill that I mastered while in prison.
Looking like I'm learning but just zoning out.
Trader seems to be interested in those books, so we didn't leave anytime soon.
Even after we switched the books, we had to stay for a few more hours. But at least o got the chance to try the sweet jello, I loved it so much that I asked for seconds.
At the first opportunity that I saw where I could leave, I was out without looking back.
Sorry Trader, but I don't like to study as much as you.
With a good night's sleep, the next day was more exciting.
Trader said something about studying the walls of this village and even invited me, but I politely refused.
Instead, I visited the slime farm.
Since everyone here was a Witch including me, the slimes didn't seem to be bothered by us when I pet them.
I couldn't hold them for too long since they would get annoyed, but otherwise, it was a plesent experience.
The slimes were starting to show more hostility when I had food in my hand, and I was more than happy to toss them the rotten flesh.
I can never understand how they could eat something like this.
"Hahaha! Maybe I can give you one as a pet if you keep helping me like that."
The farmer said while leaning on the wooden fance.
"Seriously? I don't mind helping you every now and then, this is pretty fun."
He seemed to smile when I said that, which made me a little confused.
For the next few days I walked along the village, and people started to notice me and spoke with me like I was one of them already.
"Froggy, how was your day, do you want to see what I'm studing right now? I have a few books that you can borrow."
This person was from Flora's faction so I wanted to be more polite with him since Flora seems to like us.
But I didn't come here to study, so I politely declined him.
Trader who recently started to hang out more with us seems amused by my predicament.
He's more suited for this kind of stuff, I'm not that used to talking with a lot of new people. I still tend to isolate myself when things get overwhelming.
While some of the interactions weren't that pleasant, others were fun.
"Hey, Froggy do you want to brew a few potions with us? We have a lot of recipes that we want to try."
While I didn't like to study that much, ever since I became a witch I was fascinated with potion making.
I was lucky that the Nobles were interested in my skills and gave me the necessary resources to make potions.
If I didn't have access to those, I think I would've lost my mind.
Unfortunately, the ones that invited me were from the Brutus faction.
And he doesn't like my friend that much for some reason.
But I still hung out with them but not too much.
While I talked with some of my new friends I heard some interesting information.
"Yeah, it's been a while since the commun people heard about us, and the fact that a witch is out there killing people for no reason doesn't help."
"There's a witch that kills people out there? I haven't heard anything about that."
"It's not public news, he likes to hunt in the Stone Kingdom most of the time, and we only know about him because we have ears in the underworld."
"Have you tried contacting him to see what we're his motives? "
"We tried and even managed to find him, but he was half mad, so it wasn't easy to communicate with him. When someone doesn't brew a potion for two weeks they start to lose their minds. It's one of the curses made by the system. What's surprising about this case, it's how long he managed to keep himself alive. Usually when a normal witch gets that mad it would get itself killed one way or another. But this mad witch managed to stay alive for a few good years."
This wasn't something I knew even when I was with Bobby at the castle, maybe they kept it away from me specifically so I wouldn't do anything stupid.
But this witch is one of the reasons we can't be accepted by the community folk.
So if we manage to solve this problem we are a step closer to being able to integrate with others.
"I see, thanks James, but I promised that I'll meet Trader soon and I don't want to be late. See you another time!"
"Froggy wait-!"
But I didn't hear the rest of what he wanted to say since I was already a few blocks away from him.
The first thing I checked was Trader's home, and as expected it was empty. He must be at the wall studying the enchanted blocks from what he keeps telling me about.
At this point, I think he spends more time at that wall than in his house. Trader is weird sometimes, of course, he gets in trouble if he keeps getting his nose in someone's else business.
Maybe that's why he doesn't have a nose since he lost while getting into other people's problems.
I laughed at my joke, but it's for the best if Trader doesn't know about it.
Soon I was at the spot Trader told me that he worked, but he was nowhere in sight.
Was he perhaps at Elder Flora's place to borrow some more books?
"Trader! Are you here?"
I waited for a few seconds and the dirt block beside the wall was suddenly broken, soon I could see the frustrated face of my friend looking directly at me.
"Are you crazy Froggy? Do you want me to be found out? What if the guards heard you?"
"Calm down Trader I checked around the area before yelling, there's no one here besides me and you. What are you doing underground?"
We don't need to escape this place as well no?
This looks pretty similar to what he did at the Sandstone Palace.
"Come down if you want to see."
He disappeared back into the tunnels, and with a sigh I followed him.
Once I got there there I was in a small room with the only source of light being a torch.
It wasn't the usual long tunnels that Trader used to do, so I was a little surprised.
Trader didn't say anything just pointed up words which made me look up.
On the ceiling I could see some obsidian blocks with one being broken, and beyond that a blue block with tiny red writing all over.
"What's up with that block?"
"That is an enchanted lapiz block, it's an enchantment made by humans and that's why it's written in red, it created the mist and casts a barrier over the enchanted block. I don't know what the enchantments say, but I want to copy it and try to bring it to an enchanting table so I know what are the exact enchantments. I've never seen anything similar to this, so this is new territory for me."
He seemed very excited about the subject, but the only thing that I understood was the fact that it was a great artifact.
I'm glad I'm not the only one having fun here.
"Do you know about the witch that kills people around the Stone Kindome?"
"I didn't know he killed specifically in that region but I heard about him."
Even he knew about that which?
I'm I the only one who didn't know about this?
"Do you think it would lessen our bad reputation if we bring him to justice?"
Trader stopped from writing and looked at me.
"It would help a little, but it wouldn't solve the fundamental problem. One the system put a curse on you that would make the other people more worried about the witches. And second, the people that do know about you associate you with the Piligers, and as you've read from the books that Flora gave us. Nobody likes them."
"That sounds like a bigger problem than I can solve myself. Do you have any ideas that could help the Witches with this?"
Trader looked to the side like he was thinking intensely until suddenly he had an idea.
"There's an idea that would make the Witches more popular, but it would also be more dangerous. You could form a police force that would hunt down criminals all over the kingdom. People will start associating you with justice instead of fear."
That was an interesting idea, but as he said, it's also very dangerous. I'll have to talk with the others about this.
I don't want to be the only one that works to make our image better.
But this also made me realize something. If this goes through and well make a police force that would hunt the criminals, I'll have to leave Trader side, even after I promised that I won't do that any time soon.
This made me uncomfortable to think about.
On one side, there was my first friend that I made since I became a witch, and on the other hand, it's the people who are exactly like me and understand my problems.
I could only sigh, there was no need to make a decision right now.
I'll tell Trader's idea to Elder Flora and see how things will go from there.