Chapter 90: The Newly Appointed Sages Are Actually Seeds Of Resentment

Jiang Cha never imagined that a commission she accepted on a whim would end up bringing her such a generous reward.

Mephisto didn’t pay her any commission fee, but the generosity of the rich senior sister and the wealthy young heiress far exceeded her expectations.

“This is all of the necromancy Violet has mastered. Jiang Cha, if you have time, please take a look… I know this is a difficult request, but for our victory—and for her to have fun—I still hope you can at least familiarize yourself with the effects of these spells.”

Mephisto directly handed Jiang Cha a spatial bracelet, and her words shocked the girl for a hundred years.

“You… how many books do you have?”
“Fifty-eight beginner spells, seventy-two intermediate spells, sixteen advanced spells.”

Jiang Cha: …

Yes, original magic books—ones Jiang Cha could directly study from. Mephisto hadn’t just given her “a few spellbooks” as payment; she’d basically handed her an entire necromancy spell tree!

It was no exaggeration to say that once Jiang Cha learned all of these, she wouldn’t have to worry about finding necromancy spells again until she reached the rank of Grand Witch.

“Are you sure it’s okay to just give me all this? This is way beyond the value of the commission.”

Normally, the commission fee for one month’s work would only be worth about ten intermediate-level spellbooks at most.

“It would be great if you could learn them all, of course. But these books are only on loan—once the commission ends, you’ll have to return them.”

Business is business, even among sisters.

Mephisto was willing to give Jiang Cha unexpected perks for the sake of victory, but she wasn’t about to outright give away items this valuable.
Strictly speaking, what she was offering was one month’s worth of study time in necromancy—and a temporary learning license for these spellbooks.

While that was still extremely valuable, it was at least ten times less than the price of the books themselves.

Would Violet really be fine with this?

Jiang Cha glanced at the little girl beside her, who blinked her big eyes and looked up at her with eager anticipation.

“Of course it’s fine! I really like Jiang Cha!”

The little one’s expression when she looked at the spellbooks was pure distaste, but she could see that Jiang Cha was happy—so she nodded with a bright smile.

“If it can help Jiang Cha, then all that pain was worth it!”

Pain, huh… Jiang Cha couldn’t help but sigh.

Well, for an eight-year-old mentally, studying is painful.
And honestly, those books probably weren’t even worth as much as the little heiress’s monthly allowance from the Great Sage, so of course she didn’t care.

The knowledge of witches had price gaps—the cost of knowledge below the level of a Grand Witch and above it were worlds apart.
So even though the allowance sounded enormous—about a million witch-gold coins, enough to buy a habitable planet in another star system—for someone on the level of a Great Sage, that was just one-tenth the price of teaching a single lecture.

Thinking about it that way… didn’t it feel better?

“No, not at all!!!”

After trying and failing to console herself, Jiang Cha looked down at the bracelet in her hand, then at the little girl beside her, and felt her conscience twist in guilt.

“Senior.”

She looked up at Mephisto seriously.

“Hm?”

“I’ll come visit Violet often from now on, you can count on that.”

Pfft.

Mephisto covered her mouth and chuckled softly—apparently amused by Jiang Cha’s sudden sincerity.

“Alright, that’s good to hear. I’m glad you care about her. But Jiang Cha, I’m curious—why are you so invested in this little one?”

What was Jiang Cha worth?
Perhaps, someday, she would be worth it.
But right now, this price was at least ten times above her actual value.

“And besides, you’re my aunt’s disciple. According to witch tradition, it’s natural for the Karel family to support you. In fact, part of the reason I commissioned you in the first place was because of that connection.”

Ah yes—the perks of having a mentor.

It might look like Mortel hadn’t given Jiang Cha any help—no allowance, complete “free-range” training.
But being the Number One Grand Witch wasn’t just a title; after two centuries of life, Mortel’s connections ranged from the Great Sages all the way down to novice witches in the academy.

So even if she didn’t directly help her disciple, did Jiang Cha really think she wasn’t quietly paving the way for her?

Yes, Mortel even knew the Great Sage.
In fact, she had an official listing in the Sage Council—though not for anything flattering.

Her title? “The Witch Who Evades Council Duty.”

See, by regulation, newly promoted Sages had to work in the Council for a time before the older ones could retire.
The job sounded prestigious, but in reality, it was tedious administrative hell—managing all affairs within the witches’ domain.

Freedom-loving witches dreaded it. Many Sages spent their days praying for a new victim—er, successor—to come along so they could finally quit.

But among them was one witch who could have ascended anytime… and refused, even after the First Great Sage personally tried to persuade her.

No one knew why the First Great Sage eventually agreed to her “rank suppression,” but ever since then, the Sages who were stuck working while Mortel enjoyed her free life running a little shop in the red-light district… were seething with envy.

They even started voodoo dolling her!

Literally.

The Level 9 Arcane spell [Sympathetic Punishment] could link a fragment of someone’s soul to a doll, making any pain inflicted on the doll transmit directly to the target.

It couldn’t kill a Grand Witch—but it could definitely make Mortel yelp in pain while trying to help a little witch get dressed.

Jiang Cha had no idea how that situation got resolved. Mortel never said.

But she forcibly reined in her runaway imagination.

“I’ve never studied high-tier spells before, so I’ll start with the lower and mid-level ones first. Once I get used to them, I’ll challenge the advanced ones.”

Since she’d accepted Violet’s gift, Jiang Cha naturally wanted to repay her.
Her plan was to first read through all the beginner and intermediate spells—those wouldn’t take too long.
Then she’d familiarize herself with the structure of the advanced ones to make next Wednesday’s training smoother.
After that, she’d tackle mastering the advanced necromancy spells.

If Mephisto knew Jiang Cha was planning to finish all those spells within half a month, she’d probably regret ever giving her the full collection.

Not because she was stingy—
but because she’d be worried Jiang Cha might study herself to death.

But that was just who Jiang Cha was—a relentless overachiever.

With her natural talents, her learning speed far surpassed that of other witches.
It was an inborn gift others could only envy.

Of course, other witches had their own gifts too—after all, every witch’s innate magic was like her personal cheat code~