Shirley and Lena, the three teachers from the Witch Academy, finally let out a long sigh of relief, putting their worried hearts at ease.
There was no helping it.
The commotion caused by the Demon Whale had been just too huge. As teachers, they had to prioritize their students’ safety.
“Alright, since everyone is safe, let’s head back first. We’ve been running around all day, and we should start preparing dinner.”
Shirley massaged her slightly sore legs and offered the suggestion to the other witches.
Ruiya and Lena nodded in agreement.
Just as Tunzuo was about to turn and leave with Teacher Shirley and the others, she noticed Olivia still staring blankly at the Demon Whale’s corpse.
“Hey, pervert dragon, let’s go! Time to head back and eat!”
Tunzuo cupped her hands around her mouth like a megaphone and shouted loudly at Olivia.
Hearing Tunzuo’s call, Olivia snapped back to reality.
She took a deep look at the massive corpse of the Demon Whale, then turned and walked toward Tunzuo, a gentle and elegant smile returning to her face.
“Little ghost, you go back with Teacher Shirley and the others first, taking the catch. I still have some personal matters to handle. I’ll be back in a little while.”
Olivia explained to Tunzuo in a soft voice, sending her off first.
Tunzuo raised an eyebrow.
She didn’t know exactly what the matter was, but since an accident had occurred, Olivia, as the host, would naturally need to deal with it.
So she gave a slight nod, accepting Olivia’s explanation.
“Fine, we’ll head off then. Come back soon. I’m not saving you any food.”
With that, Tunzuo called out to Ruiya and the others, and together with the fish she and Olivia had just caught, they returned loaded with bounty toward the deeper part of the beach.
Olivia watched Tunzuo and the others walk away until they were out of sight.
Then, with a deep look in her eyes, she turned and walked into the depths of the ocean.
Back on the beach, An Lin sat under a parasol, holding two glasses of iced juice, taking care of the two little ones, Sally and Huli.
The accident earlier had frightened the two young ones badly.
An Lin was currently stroking their fur to calm them down.
Seeing Tunzuo return, An Lin hurriedly went up to her, spinning around to check Tunzuo’s condition, looking for any injuries.
“Little sister Tunzuo! Are you all right? Over there, first a tsunami, then a meteor shower—I was so worried I nearly died!”
“I’m fine, Sister An Lin. Just a small accident. Olivia and I handled it all.”
Tunzuo waved her hand, looking relaxed, not taking what had happened to heart at all.
Hearing this, An Lin finally relaxed.
She looked around and asked with some confusion:
“Huh? Where’s Miss Olivia? Didn’t she come back with you?”
“Oh, that pervert dragon said she had something to deal with and would be back later.”
Tunzuo shrugged nonchalantly, adding her own guess.
“After all, this is the Gold Family’s property. With an accident, that pervert dragon has to go check things out, both emotionally and logically.”
An Lin thought it over and found Tunzuo’s reasoning quite sound, so she didn’t ask further.
She turned to help the other witches process the day’s catch for dinner.
The three teachers from the Witch Academy, along with An Lin, were all witches with maxed-out life skills.
Their movements in handling the seafood were smooth and fluid.
Before long, a temporary stove was set up on the beach using magic, with various spices and cooking utensils neatly arranged on the sand.
“This lobster is top quality. Steaming it to taste the original flavor would be best.”
“Then I’ll make pan-seared swordfish steak. Leave anything fried to me.”
“Then I’ll make a soup.”
The four witches in charge of cooking enthusiastically discussed the dinner menu, and the air gradually filled with an enticing aroma.
Tunzuo, Sally, Huli, and Hai Lanyue were roped in to assist the four witches.
While Tunzuo and the others were busy preparing dinner, Olivia stood with an icy expression in front of the deep sea trench where the sea beasts were imprisoned.
The trench where the sea beasts were held was located in the deepest part of the folded space of Golden Sand Beach, surrounded by complex spatial restriction runes.
Kneeling before Olivia was a dense crowd of mermaids, trembling, their heads pressed to the ground, holding their breath.
Olivia’s voice was cold as a glacier that had never thawed in ten thousand years, echoing through the empty sea trench.
“Then tell me—who was on duty today? How did the Demon Whale escape?”
Olivia’s brilliant golden vertical pupils narrowed, her gaze carrying the brutality of a dragon, as sharp as a blade.
Nine mermaids shakily stood up from the crowd, their heads low, voices laced with sobs.
“I-It was us, Mistress…”
“How did the Demon Whale get out?”
“I-It was our negligence…”
The leading mermaid stammered an explanation to Olivia.
“After feeding, w-we forgot to close the restrictions… P-please spare us this time, Mistress. Next time—”
Squelch—
Before the mermaids could finish their pleas for mercy, Olivia raised a hand and made a grasping motion in the air.
A violent burst of magical power erupted.
The mermaids didn’t even have time to scream before their bodies were crushed by Olivia’s magic, turning into clouds of scarlet blood mist that dispersed in the seawater.
The pungent smell of blood terrified the kneeling mermaids.
They pressed their heads even lower, their bodies trembling like sieves, afraid that the next one to be crushed would be them.
Olivia’s cold eyes swept over the kneeling mermaids.
Her voice was flat, betraying no emotion.
“I’ll say this once. You were chosen from your clans by the Gold Family to serve at Golden Sand Beach because you are obedient enough and pretty enough. That saved you from the fate of being thrown into a cannery and turned into canned food like the rest of your kin.”
“Remember this—the Gold Family has no use for flawed consumables. If it happens again, I won’t hesitate to replace you with a batch that listens better.”
Faced with Olivia’s warning, the mermaids repeatedly affirmed with trembling voices, not daring to utter a single word of rebuttal.
After disciplining her servants, Olivia turned and left the sea trench.
She had just checked carefully—the restrictions in the trench showed no signs of tampering.
The Demon Whale’s escape seemed to be nothing more than a simple mistake.
‘Could it really be just a simple mistake… or is Hai Lanyue’s bad luck charm at work…?’
Olivia furrowed her brow.
Doubts still lingered in her heart, but with no clues, she didn’t dwell on it and swam back toward the beach.
By the time Olivia returned to the beach, it was dusk.
Tunzuo and the others had already prepared dinner.
A long table was laden with a variety of delicious dishes, their fragrances mingling.
The witches had also specially strung up a circle of glowing colored lights around the beach, giving it a festive atmosphere.
Knowing that all the dishes were made by everyone’s own hands, Olivia was overjoyed.
Her gaze swept across the table and finally landed on Tunzuo.
She asked with great anticipation:
“Little ghost, is there anything you made among these? Which one is your signature dish?”
Olivia’s question made Tunzuo a little embarrassed.
She pointed to a plate of cold seaweed salad on the table, turning her head away, not daring to meet Olivia’s eyes.
“Ahem, well… that plate of cold seaweed salad is mine.”
There was no helping it.
Before being transformed into a witch, Tunzuo had either eaten takeout or survival rations every day.
What did she know about cooking?
Being able to help with side dishes and make cold dishes was already good enough.
Olivia paused at this, then coughed dryly.
She picked up a chopstickful of seaweed and put it into her mouth, chewing carefully before putting on an exaggerated expression of satisfaction.
“Delicious! Little ghost, your cooking is amazing! The seaweed is crisp and refreshing, with a great chew!”
Knowing that Olivia was just trying to please her, Tunzuo wasn’t particularly happy.
She curled her lips, picked up a plate of stir-fried squid tentacles from the table, and handed it to Olivia.
“You should try this instead. Even though Sister An Lin cooked it, at least I cut the squid and helped with the seasoning.”
But upon seeing the squid tentacles Tunzuo offered, Olivia took a rare step back, her eyes darting away as if she was hiding something.
“Uh, maybe let’s skip this for now, little ghost? I’m not really used to squid.”
Tunzuo raised an eyebrow at Olivia’s unusual behavior.
She picked up a piece of squid tentacle with her chopsticks and directly extended it to Olivia’s mouth, coaxing her:
“It tastes really good. Just try it. I’ll reluctantly feed you this once.”
Faced with the chopsticks holding squid tentacle that Tunzuo brought to her mouth, Olivia backed away several steps, her face still wearing that proper smile, but she put a good distance between herself and Tunzuo.
“Really, there’s no need, little ghost. Uh, I’m allergic to squid…”
After confirming once again Olivia’s unusual reaction, Tunzuo narrowed her eyes, seemingly guessing something.
But she didn’t say anything; she quietly put down the chopsticks and said casually:
“Fine, since you don’t appreciate it, forget it.”
Hearing this, Olivia relaxed her guard and sat down at the table with relief.
But the moment Olivia sat down, a slimy, cold sensation coiled up her calf.
The feeling was like deep-sea seaweed, possessing an elasticity that made even a witch shiver.
The sudden change made Olivia shiver.
She looked down and saw a shadow tentacle had somehow already wrapped around her calf.
The tentacle’s surface secreted some kind of unknown slime that slowly trickled down her ankle.
Olivia’s expression changed drastically.
The dinner fork in her hand fell in shock.
She quickly stood up, broke free from the tentacle, and leaped aside.
The moment she landed, Olivia realized what was happening.
She turned her head stiffly and saw Tunzuo looking at her with ill intent, a wicked grin curling at the corners of her mouth.
Shadow tentacles surged from the shadow beneath Tunzuo, crawling out one after another, slithering across the sand like poisonous snakes.
“So you really are afraid of tentacles, pervert dragon~”
A mischievous fox-like smile spread across Tunzuo’s face as she advanced step by step toward Olivia.
Seeing Tunzuo’s tentacles slowly approaching, Olivia’s smile stiffened.
She kept waving her hands in refusal.
“D-don’t, little ghost. Let’s talk this out…”
But Tunzuo didn’t care.
With a wicked grin, she commanded the tentacles to attack Olivia.
Relying on the fact that Olivia wouldn’t dare hurt her, Tunzuo acted recklessly.
The shadow tentacles shot out like snakes from their holes, suddenly striking at Olivia’s side from the flank.
“Ah!”
Olivia yelped, hurriedly dodging sideways.
The tentacle grazed past Olivia’s skin, leaving a shallow trench in the sand.
Seeing this, Tunzuo’s excitement grew.
With a thought, several tentacles surrounded Olivia from all sides, forcing her to dodge left and right, looking utterly flustered.
“Little ghost! Don’t go too far! I-I can fight back too!”
Olivia retreated as she tried to use dragonfire to drive away the tentacles, but she was afraid of hurting Tunzuo, so she held back, looking quite restrained.
“How am I going too far? Weren’t you the one who wanted to play a hunting game? I’m just going along with it~”
Tunzuo giggled.
A tentacle burst out from beneath the sand, heading straight for Olivia’s ankle.
Olivia leaped up, but another tentacle seized the chance to wrap around her other leg and yanked her downward.
“Ouch!”
Olivia stumbled, barely managing to steady herself, only to find more tentacles already surrounding her completely.
Finally, Olivia was forced by Tunzuo against a large rock, with nowhere left to retreat.
Tunzuo ordered the tentacles to launch a final assault.
One tentacle, taking advantage of a gap in Olivia’s defenses, precisely coiled around her ankle and pulled outward, toppling Olivia onto the soft sand.
Then, the remaining tentacles from Tunzuo’s shadow surged forward and bound Olivia tightly.
“…Let me go, little ghost…”
Olivia struggled constantly, but the strength Tunzuo had imbued in the tentacles was astonishingly great.
Moreover, the slimy feel of the tentacles made Olivia’s entire body go weak, leaving her unable to muster any strength.
Feeling the tentacles slither across her body, Olivia trembled, her breathing uneven.
Finally, she could only voice her plea for mercy to Tunzuo.
“Don’t… little ghost, stop…”
Looking at Olivia’s pitiful appearance, with tears welling at the corners of her eyes, an unknown emotion stirred in Tunzuo’s heart.
The smile on Tunzuo’s face grew more dangerous.
She stepped forward, directly pinning Olivia down, and reached out to grip Olivia’s pale neck.
Watching Olivia squirm nervously beneath her hand, Tunzuo’s rationality was gradually eroded by impulse.
‘So this domineering pervert dragon can also beg for mercy under my hand?’
‘The arrogant young lady of wealth… can she really have such a fragile side?’
Thinking this, Tunzuo unconsciously increased the pressure in her grip.
Seeing Olivia’s face gradually flush red, the madness in Tunzuo’s eyes nearly overflowed.
Seeing the wild and twisted expression on Tunzuo’s face, Olivia knew that this time, her act of weakness had unleashed something terrible.
Tunzuo leaned down.
The faces of the two witches drew closer, their breaths mingling.
Just then, an untimely cough suddenly broke the silence.
“Ahem!”
Tunzuo paused and turned her head.
An Lin, Ruiya, and the other witches were standing not far away, their faces flushed as they watched her and Olivia.