Chapter 153: Additional Settings

“Even if your strength isn’t top-tier, it’s fine! Big sis has your back from now on!” Judy cheerfully patted her chest. But the moment the words left her mouth, she realized a contradiction. “Ah—wait, but you’re afraid of fire… and I’m basically walking around wrapped in it. Won’t I just scare you instead? Tch, that’s a bit troublesome.”

She scratched her head, then quickly waved it off with her usual carefree attitude. “Ah, whatever! I’m not the only one in the tower who can fight. We’ll definitely find someone strong who doesn’t make you nervous to help you. Speaking of which…”

She stroked her chin, looking Peleti up and down, a teasing curiosity flashing in her eyes. “Your ability is cooking, but you’re afraid of fire… how does someone afraid of fire even cook? And this ‘Witch of Consumption’ title—does it have any special ability?”

“Just explaining it might not be convincing,” Peleti steadied herself, then fished out a small orange-flavored candy wrapped carefully in wax paper from an inner pocket of her cloak and handed it to Judy. “Why not… try it?”

“Human food?” Judy took the small orange candy, hesitation appearing on her face.

For witches, food was essentially energy. The complex components in human food were mostly useless to them, even difficult to digest. Aside from the specific elements they tasted during their own witch’s feast—like fire for Judy—they could hardly obtain flavor or nutrition from ordinary substances.

“This thing… I can eat it?”

Looking at Peleti’s earnest, expectant gaze, Judy couldn’t bring herself to refuse outright. She tossed the candy lightly into the air, caught it neatly in her mouth, and let it dissolve on her tongue.

The next second, she froze.

A clear sweetness, mixed with the fresh fragrance of orange, slowly spread across her tongue.

“…Sweet?” Judy’s eyes widened slightly.

That simple, pure sweetness instantly stirred soft memories from a distant past.

“So amazing… I can actually taste it.”

Although the energy it provided was far inferior to even a wisp of pure flame, this long-lost, genuine taste brought an unmistakable joy to her eyes.

She couldn’t even remember how long it had been since she last experienced what “sweetness” truly felt like.

“An ability like this… even if it can’t fill you up, for witches, it’s an incredible gift,” Judy said sincerely. “Should I say the gods finally got something right for once? After all this time, the tower finally has someone related to ‘food.’”

“Actually, my ability can extend a bit further,” Peleti added when she saw Judy’s positive reaction.

After all, none of these witches truly understood the authority of the God of Gluttony—she could safely flesh out her “Witch of Consumption” persona.

“In theory, even things that aren’t food—like stones or dirt—I can make them edible, and they can provide a small amount of energy. It’s just that I’m too weak right now, so the energy they give is very limited.”

“Being able to taste different flavors is already amazing! As for energy—we don’t rely on that to eat anyway. Even as snacks, this is great!” Judy gave Peleti’s shoulder a hearty slap, strong enough to make her sway slightly, her tone full of comfort and encouragement.

“Oh right—do you have enough supplies on hand? Or do you need ingredients? I can go grab some from the Elf Forest for you!”

When she said “grab,” her eyes sparkled with excitement, clearly looking forward to the “activity.”

Feeling Judy’s overwhelming enthusiasm, Peleti quickly waved her hands. “No, no—I prepared plenty before coming.” That was the truth.

Before heading to the Elf Forest, in order to perfectly maintain her disguise as the Witch of Consumption, she had made thorough preparations at the Church of Gluttony. Not only had she gotten a large amount of spices, seasonings, and basic ingredients from Ino, she had also forced herself to study cooking with her for half a month.

That period completely overturned her understanding of food.

Cooking didn’t necessarily require open flames—there were charcoal grilling, iron plate searing, deep frying, even raw preparation methods for certain ingredients…

Through actual practice, Ino had proven one thing to her:

No one understood food better than followers of Gluttony.

“Eh, why be polite with me!” Judy clearly didn’t take Peleti’s refusal seriously. She grabbed Peleti’s wrist, brimming with excitement. “Come on! Big sis will take you out for a spin—get familiar with the surroundings!”

She pulled Peleti straight out of the tower window. Taking her fear into account, Judy deliberately avoided using open flames, but even so, waves of heat still surrounded her as she carried Peleti at low altitude, speeding along the outskirts of the Elf Forest.

—

Judy’s idea of “taking a spin” was simple.

If any magical beast looked unpleasant as they passed by—kick it to death.

According to her, the Elf Forest had a thriving ecosystem with a large number of magical creatures. Occasionally “teaching a lesson” to a few reckless ones wouldn’t affect the balance at all.

—

“So this is the elves’ marketplace? It looks… not that different from a human market.”

After a while, they landed in a spacious clearing within the forest.

Stalls made of rustic wooden frames and tents were neatly arranged. They displayed many strange items Peleti couldn’t name. The elves’ calls to attract customers were crisp and melodious, spoken in the elven language, their tones almost like singing.

Peleti looked around curiously.

She had originally thought that, as elementally attuned beings, elves would have minimal living needs—perhaps not even requiring such lively markets.

It seemed she had been mistaken.

Like witches, elves were elemental lifeforms, but they were vegetarians—not beings who could survive merely on dew as described in fairy tales.

Perhaps only the Witch of Water could manage something like that.

“See anything you like? Just pick whatever—I’ll pay!” Judy waved her hand grandly.

As one of the few witches in the tower who frequently operated in elven territory, she had earned quite a bit of elven currency by helping them deal with troublesome magical beasts.

She had no expensive hobbies, and she wasn’t interested in most of the items sold by the elves. Aside from occasionally losing a bit of money playing chess with the Witch of Dust, she had little else to spend on. Over time, her savings had become quite substantial.

“Is that really okay?” Peleti asked politely, though her gaze was honestly drawn to the novel items.

After all, it was only natural to feel curious in a place one had never seen before.

Peleti was no exception.

But in that moment, she forgot who the true masters of this forest were.

—

Just as she bent down to examine a cluster of glowing flowers that chimed like wind bells—

A trace of unusual airflow brushed past her ear.

That wasn’t natural wind.

Before she could fully straighten up, a voice—mixed with surprise, urgency, and something more complex—cut clearly through the faint noise of the marketplace and struck her ears:

“Peleti?! And… the Witch of Flame?”

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