Chapter 41: Is it funny that Senior Sister got frozen?

This world never lacked for geniuses.

For Mashiro, who was born with silver hair, the comments surrounding her were always things like, “This child is so capable, she must be a magical genius.” It was as if all the effort she had put in was utterly meaningless.

She had become a titled witch, not through some innate talent, but through persistent, continuous effort!

No one around her understood her, except for Master Rhynes.

Only Master Rhynes would praise her hard work and make her efforts feel meaningful.

However, the reason Master Rhynes said such things was not because she believed Mashiro had grown to her current level through continuous effort.

It was because the real “genius” was someone else.

Chloe Luna.

Her Senior Disciple.

Just for saying hello to Rhynes one second earlier than Mashiro, she had become her Senior Disciple for life.

Sloth, arrogance, envy, wrath… all the negative emotions could be found in her. She was like an embodiment of the Seven Deadly Sins.

Every time Mashiro achieved a small success through hard work, this person would approach her with a smug smile, constantly patting her shoulder and praising her talent, probing her emotional weak spots.

Yet, this completely unreliable person could effortlessly perform magic that Mashiro couldn’t do. Moreover, in her fifth year at the Magic Academy, she had earned the title of Night Witch.

Compared to Chloe, Mashiro’s efforts were utterly insignificant.

‘Who could understand the pain of being unable to defeat a naturally gifted prodigy, no matter how hard you tried?’

****

Looking at Chloe, who was frozen in a giant ice crystal and locked in the dark, damp basement by Master Rhynes, Mashiro felt no emotion.

She had absolutely no good feelings for this genius, extremely arrogant, and constantly provoking Senior Disciple.

Two years ago, to pass the Titled Witch examination, Mashiro found Chloe and paid a large sum of money for her to be her sparring partner.

But after accepting the money, Chloe suddenly disappeared the next day.

She searched the entire world but couldn’t find her. ‘Seriously, she took the money and ran, didn’t she! Chloe, you bastard!’

It wasn’t until a few days ago, when she received contact from Master Rhynes, that she learned the truth. Chloe had received a message from Master Rhynes right after agreeing to be her sparring partner that day and had immediately flown off without leaving a word.

And after that, Chloe’s nature hadn’t changed. She took Master Rhynes’s money, didn’t do the job, and instead became the Master of Master Rhynes’s daughter, Charlotte. ‘Who gave you permission to be her Master?!’

When the truth finally came out, Chloe was severely punished by Master Rhynes and then banished.

However, Chloe showed no remorse. Instead, she intensified her actions, directly abducting Charlotte and disappearing for a whole year.

Fortunately, Master Rhynes was wise and powerful. After extensive searching, she finally apprehended the abductor in Snow Lotus City, freezing her in a giant ice crystal and locking her in her own basement.

As for Charlotte, Master Rhynes had erased her memories related to magic, allowing her to have a happy childhood without the need for constant, exhausting effort.

Of course, Master Rhynes didn’t plan to keep Chloe locked up forever. Once Charlotte turned ten, Master Rhynes could remove the memory seal, allowing her to learn the world’s magic, and Chloe could be released from the giant ice crystal.

However, Master Rhynes would certainly not let Chloe teach Charlotte magic again. Even Rhynes was terrified by Chloe’s sheer unreliability.

The Master destined to teach Charlotte magic had apparently already been internally decided upon: Mashiro.

Mashiro didn’t mind taking over the child who had already been “spoiled” by her Senior Disciple. After all, her Senior Disciple had paid a severe price for it: a three-year ice prison sentence.

Only one year had passed, and her Senior Disciple still had two more years of incarceration to serve.

Actually, Mashiro didn’t necessarily have to get involved in the grievances between Master Rhynes and Senior Disciple Chloe.

However, a few days ago, Master Rhynes unexpectedly had to travel far away with her husband on a personal matter. The task of watching over Chloe couldn’t be entrusted to her housemaids, especially considering the precedent of a maid being controlled by Chloe’s Suggestion Magic to abduct her daughter, Charlotte. The only person who could prevent such a situation from happening again was Mashiro, who was also a witch and could potentially stand up to Chloe.

And so, Master Rhynes used Transmission Magic to summon Mashiro to her home.

Mashiro was completely different from Chloe. She didn’t require any payment. She would seriously execute anything Master Rhynes instructed her to do.

After Master Rhynes briefly explained the situation, Mashiro disguised herself as a maid named Shiro and began working in Master Rhynes’s home.

Her job was simple: daily supervision of the two children, Charlotte and Shaula.

She wasn’t required to help with house cleaning or preparing meals.

Of course, besides that, she also had to take full precautions to prevent Senior Disciple Chloe from getting her hands on Charlotte again.

Sure enough, upon realizing Master Rhynes was absent from the mansion, Chloe, frozen inside the giant ice crystal, grew bolder. She actually dared to pull a stunt right under Mashiro’s nose in broad daylight.

Although her entire body was frozen in the giant ice crystal, rendering most of her magical power unusable, Chloe could still use a tiny amount of magic to establish contact with Charlotte. ‘As expected, Senior Disciple is a magical genius superior to me.’

After seeing the children, Charlotte and Shaula, off to the mansion, Mashiro walked into the basement and, right in front of Chloe, crushed the captured black butterfly into pieces.

“Senior Disciple, just stay peacefully inside. I won’t give you any opportunity.”

“Wuwuwu…” Chloe also let out a tearful moan from her mind. “Mashiro, you’re my best junior disciple! How could you help Master Rhynes fight against me?”

“That’s because you were so audaciously lustful that you abducted Master Rhynes’s good daughter for a whole year! If you had accepted Master’s money and done her job properly back then, you wouldn’t have ended up like this now!”

“I couldn’t help it! Little sister Charlotte is so cute! She’s just as cute as you used to be, and she’s a silver-haired girl too. You know I have a thing for silver hair!”

“Then you really deserve to be locked up here!”

“Good junior disciple, I beg you. If you can just let me out, I’ll do anything!”

“Senior Disciple, you can rest assured that no matter how skillfully you try to persuade me, I won’t help you with anything! Besides, stop wasting your magic on those little tricks. I’ve already earned the title of Sun Witch, your Night Witch title’s archenemy. There’s no way you can break through my defenses and lay your hands on Charlotte!”

“Wuwuwu… How could this happen?”

“I should say, indulging you by talking to you for even two sentences is the greatest kindness I can show you. Alright, time’s up. I have to leave now. Senior Disciple, you enjoy your rest inside this ice crystal. I’ll make sure to look after your disciple for you. You don’t need to worry.”

After saying this, Mashiro left the basement, coloring her hair back to orange on the way up the stairs.

Noticing that Mashiro had left the basement, Chloe’s expression… No, she couldn’t show any expression at all right now.

In any case, her mind was bursting with maniacal laughter.

‘Heh heh, Mashiro, Mashiro, you’re still too naive. Did you think I created that black butterfly familiar just to communicate with little sister Charlotte?’

On the hill behind the mansion, she had planted a few flowers two years ago. Before the black butterfly familiar contacted Charlotte, it went to the back hill, mixed the pollen from those flowers, and then let a large wild bear living in the back hill forest inhale it.

Now, she could control that wild bear anytime, anywhere. Making it use magic wasn’t out of the question either.

If she could lure Charlotte to the back hill, she could control the wild bear to help Charlotte break the memory seal that Master Rhynes had placed on her. Although the method of breaking the seal might be a little violent, Charlotte should be able to handle it, right?

Once Charlotte recovered her memory, she could also escape this cursed place quickly.

“Heh heh, Mashiro, just wait for Master Rhynes’s most severe punishment! Don’t you dare cry!”

And just as Chloe was being so smug, little Charlotte, who had somehow wandered off toward the forest on the back hill, suddenly sneezed.

“Achoo— Why do I feel like someone is plotting against me?”