Even if you become a witch, you have to eat oranges

The Nutshell Workshop is a well-known organization throughout the secret realm. Just like the 'workshop' in its name, its main business is the production of various magic tools.

Naturally, there are a large number of alchemists gathered in it.

His main stores are all located in the most prosperous areas of the central island, but the alchemists who specialize in production are concentrated in a place called Gray Cloud Island.

There is little sunshine here, it is surrounded by clouds all year round, and there is a steady stream of clouds and mist coming from the island.

This place was not so gloomy originally, nor was it called Gray Cloud Island.

Ever since the Nutshell Workshop settled here and built a large-scale alchemy facility, countless elemental impurities were discharged, and it became what it is now.

For this reason, the workshop has to pay a large sum of money to the Erta family every year.Of course, they don't care.

These gray clouds containing elemental impurities are harmful to the human body, and the witch is not willing to be contaminated.Therefore, there are a large number of isolation circles inside the core of the island.

Among the buildings on the island, the core part is naturally given to several master alchemists in the workshop.

In the laboratory of one of the masters.

Several apprentice witches are busy in front of the alchemy experiment table. They are all one of the core members of the workshop and apprentices of Master Till.

Among them, a witch was patrolling.She was dressed simply and had a delicate face, but it was obscured by a pair of alchemy glasses. Her face had no expression, and she looked very old-fashioned and serious.

"Hello, Sister!"

"Senior Sister Maruna, I have a question!"

Seeing Maruna's arrival, the apprentices either nervously or fawningly greeted her.

She is Master Teal's only official witch apprentice and an elite member of the workshop.For the apprentices, Maluna, who patrols and teaches for Master Tiel, is more like their master.

She walked in front of each apprentice, sometimes guiding them on what they did wrong, and sometimes giving them serious reprimands.

After a while, all the apprentices in the room were checked.So, she left here again and came to another independent small room.

A little girl with long brown hair was playing with alchemical instruments in the room.

The large alchemy protective clothing looked empty on her body, which highlighted her thin figure. She held the vessel in her small palm and observed it carefully.

Although what Tyr Witch said was that Lini was not an official apprentice yet, and the content she learned was different from others.But being assigned to a separate laboratory is a preference no matter how you think about it.

In fact, unlike those apprentices outside, Maruna knew that the teacher often came to personally teach this newly recruited junior sister.

"Junior Sister Lini, how have you completed the task assigned to you by Master?"

Maruna leaned forward and asked curiously.

"Wait a moment!"

The little girl frowned and continued to study carefully without looking back.

Maruna immediately shut up and waited quietly behind the little girl, watching her do what she was doing.

If the apprentices outside saw this scene, they would be shocked.

Analysis of the feather properties of the Ice Mirror Bird... Isn't this something that most formal alchemists can study...

Although he is indeed powerful and talented, there are still many apprentice-level materials that have not been touched...

"Huh." Lini temporarily stopped what she was doing and said with some embarrassment:

"Keep Senior Sister waiting for a long time."

It seems quite polite.I often indulge in research and do not want to be disturbed by the outside world.

Maruna immediately forgave Lini for her little disrespect and asked again:

"Xiao Lini, how are you completing the tasks assigned by Master!"

"Ah, those are almost done... there are still some things that are not finished yet."

"Then you have to hurry up. Master will check it tonight." Maruna thought to herself that since everyone was doing other things, there should be only one thing left to finish.

Maruna walked to the pile of materials aside to check it out.

"Li, Lini, isn't there still more than half of this to be done?"

Her voice was trembling. Even if the task assigned by Teacher Tier was relatively difficult, she must be taught a lesson if she did it so perfunctorily the first time.

It may even affect your future status in the teacher's mind.

"It seems like there's still half left." Lini turned her head and glanced, her voice still calm.

"Then why don't you hurry up and do it! Why do you want to study other things?"

"But these things are so annoying."

Is this an annoying question?Maruna wanted to reprimand her, but then she thought that Teacher Tiel really likes to assign particularly difficult tasks for the first time.

She checked carefully and found that it was indeed difficult to process these materials. Let alone an apprentice without magic power, even the apprentices with the best grades outside were not easy to handle.

Why would you embarrass the little junior sister like this? I thought Master was very optimistic about her.Maruna felt a little bit resentful towards her master.

"These are indeed troublesome...but, Lini, you can't just give up and go get other things."

"But these materials are very cheap! They are not profitable at all!"

"Because they are indeed introductory materials... although the processing steps are not simple..."

Wait, make money? What does this have to do with making money... Isn’t the most important thing for an apprentice to learn knowledge and accumulate experience?

Maruna immediately wanted her junior sister to correct this misconception.

But she also thought about how she heard that the junior sister seemed to be an ordinary person from a remote village, and was brought here not long ago by the master.

She probably didn't have the qualifications of other witches or her family, and she must have lived in poverty... maybe she also had a difficult time at home before.

For such a young girl, it is really not easy for her to come here alone.

Maruna wiped away her tears and said:

"Junior sister Lini, do you want me to help you?"

"Hey? Really! Thank you, senior sister!"

Lini's eyes suddenly sparkled, and she said happily.

"I am an official witch and an official alchemist certified by the alliance. These things are very simple for me!"

Maruna pushed up her glasses and said proudly.

"Then, these are also troublesome for Senior Sister!"

Lini moved a large pile of materials in the corner.

Wait, I just said I wanted to help, why was it all given to me?

"The teacher and everyone say that Senior Sister is very powerful. It must be easy for Senior Sister to do this!"

"Ah, well, yes! These are easy for me."

"Then thank you, Sister!"

……

Late at night, Till came to Lini's studio.

"Hey, Maruna is here too? Your face... doesn't seem to be very good?"

"Scared! Teacher Till!"

Maruna's face was pale and her eyes were bloodshot. She put her wide glasses that had fallen off back into place, trying to cover them up.

In fact, for a formal witch, these apprentice-level materials are really easy to operate with magic and mental power... but she has to pretend that they are made by an apprentice without magic and can only do it manually.

What a difficult challenge!I feel like my understanding of alchemy is a little deeper...

"Has Lini's mission been completed? I have brought you the appropriate magic stone. It depends on how well you complete it."

Volume 45: [-]. Prophecy and Chase

"Teacher, my mission is completed!"

Lini pushed a pile of completed materials in front of Till for her inspection.

"Oh? It's actually done... Well, I mean, it's not bad, but I have to check the quality."

Master Teal murmured in her heart. In her expectation, it would be good if this little apprentice could finish half of it, or at best it could be completed.

But what happened to the large box of processed materials in front of us?

Moreover, the quality of the finish seems to be quite good.

"Huh? Why does it feel a bit like Maruna's way of dealing with it..."

"No, it's not..."

Maruna's body trembled, and she subconsciously wanted to defend herself.

"Because I often ask Senior Sister Maruna for advice these days."

The little girl replied without changing her expression.

"Oh? Is that so?" The old lady seemed to believe it, and she smiled at her eldest apprentice.

"It's a good thing to help junior sister."

"Well, Senior Sister Maruna is such a good person! She has been helping me a lot these days. She is very patient and diligent..."

Lini began to praise Maruna greatly. Anyway, she could earn a coolie by talking for free.

She didn't notice Maruna's gradually embarrassed and ashamed look.

Granny Tier listened carefully for a while and then interjected:

"I'll also help you cheat, right?"

Lini froze, looked at Maruna and said dryly:

"Actually, I can explain..."

"Then tell me, I'll listen."

"Well, um, Senior Sister Maruna seems to be very idle recently. She said she wanted to review the apprentice's knowledge..."

The girl on one side widened her eyes and wanted to say something, but she fell into silence in frustration.

"You're still making excuses at this time..." Tier was a little impressed. She pointed at the eldest apprentice beside her:

"You go out first."

Maruna breathed a sigh of relief and was about to leave quietly when a voice came from behind:

"The workload is doubled this week."

She stiffened and left dejectedly, not forgetting to close the door before leaving.

After the door closed, Till looked at his little apprentice who was pretending to be innocent and said angrily:

"Did you make it yourself? Don't tell me that you really didn't do anything. According to Maruna's efficiency, these finished products only used half of the materials."

Even though Maruna was careful not to use magic or forge techniques, she still had more than half the finished product rate based on her strength, fully meeting the one-fifth target set by Till.

Till stared at Lini closely. She didn't care about the little jokes between the apprentices. After all, the alchemy workshop was not a charity, but a business alliance.

However, whether the apprentice can conscientiously complete the tasks given by the master is more important, which is related to the apprentice's future.On this point, Maruna's judgment was very accurate.

"Well, over here..."

Lini reluctantly took out another small box from under the table.

With senior sister's interactions, she can hide these by herself!useless!

This time, Thiel carefully identified them one by one to confirm the degree of completion and technique.

"Although it's still a little rough, you did make it yourself, and the quantity is about the same."

Tier was somewhat shocked. This meant that his apprentice had completed the target with less than half the quantity, which was very close to his eldest apprentice, a formal alchemist.

"Then, as agreed, I will give you a magic stone suitable for your qualifications..."

"However, you seem to be quite free...you should also double the amount of tasks in the future!"

"Hey - I don't want it!" Unlike Maruna who accepted it silently, Lini directly protested.