Chapter 99: Is it funny that I almost got chopped off?

“So, Mom, what are you doing here?”

Charlotte asked Rhynes, who was staring blankly at the cluster of colorful mushrooms at the root of the tree.

“Can’t you tell? Mom is picking mushrooms!”

Charlotte looked at the mushroom skeptically. It was glowing with a dazzling light. Anyone could tell this mushroom was highly poisonous.

‘Did Master Chloe’s habit of picking strange mushrooms come from Mom Rhynes?’

“No, no matter how you look at it, these mushrooms shouldn’t be edible! Something bad will happen if you eat them!”

“As expected of my most excellent daughter. You immediately figured out these mushrooms are poisonous.” Rhynes praised her happily.

“I think any normal human could tell,” Charlotte muttered under her breath.

‘Why can’t Master Chloe tell? Because Master Chloe isn’t human.’

“So, Mom, what are you picking these poisonous mushrooms for?”

“You’ve got it wrong, Charlotte. Mom isn’t here to pick mushrooms. I’m here to eliminate them.”

“Eliminate mushrooms?”

Charlotte blinked, confused.

She didn’t understand.

‘Couldn’t you just stomp on them to kill them?’

‘Why did Mom Rhynes, a witch, have to personally deal with them?’

Just as she was utterly perplexed, the cluster of colorful mushrooms growing at the root of the tree suddenly swelled and grew, transforming into several muscular mushroom men, as if sensing the presence of their natural enemy.

This startled Charlotte.

“Holy shit! The mushrooms came to life!”

The mushroom men let out a tearing roar, but the witch Rhynes, seeing this, remained completely calm. Instead, a slight smile appeared on her lips.

She gently raised her right hand, and a magic wand slid from her sleeve into her palm.

“Flame Pierce!”

Instantly, several flaming spikes shot out from the witch Rhynes’s side, piercing clean through the trashy mushroom men, who only roared and had no fighting ability.

After a moment of wailing, the mushroom men vanished into a cloud of black smoke.

“That’s amazing!” Charlotte was stunned.

The witch Rhynes didn’t chant anything. She simply announced the spell’s name, and the corresponding magic was cast.

‘As expected of Mom Rhynes. She’s so powerful!’

“Well, dealing with these small fries is easy for me!” Mom Rhynes was also feeling a little smug.

“Alright, this is the last spot. Once I deal with this, the commission Master gave me will finally be finished!” The witch Rhynes let out a lazy stretch, turned to leave, and prepared to go back for a well-deserved sleep.

However, just as the witch Rhynes was about to pull out her magic broomstick, a scream suddenly came from outside the distant forest.

The scream, as if someone had discovered a corpse with a terrible death, cut through the sky, startling all the crows in the forest, who flew out.

Hearing the sound, the witch Rhynes immediately became alert. She found the direction of the sound, used her magic to scan the situation, and then quickly flew out of the forest on her magic broomstick.

“Eh? What happened?” Charlotte, who didn’t know the rest of the plot, looked bewildered as the witch Rhynes suddenly left.

Rhynes’s mother, however, remained calm. She slowly opened the storybook in her hand.

“Let me see. The next scene should be here.”

The moment the words left her mouth, the surrounding scene changed drastically again.

The gloomy forest instantly vanished, replaced by a caravan of merchants with horse-drawn carriages.

The caravan was parked on the side of the road by the forest, but they weren’t resting. They were stopped because…

“For the massive fortune, brothers, attack!”

A group of burly men, wielding blood-stained machetes, quickly overwhelmed the caravan’s guards, who only held wooden sticks.

Blood, like the juice of a red tomato, splattered everywhere onto the carriages.

In no time, the caravan guards lost their ability to fight and lay motionless on the ground.

“Hmph, if you don’t want to lose your lives, hand over all your valuables now!”

The bald man, who seemed to be the leader of the bandits, threatened the merchants, who were huddled together and trembling with fear.

Clearly, this caravan was being robbed by a group of bandits.

Although the caravan had guards, the guards were very unprofessional and were quickly defeated by the charging bandits.

Of course, the sight of the previous killing shocked Charlotte, who had just been transported to the scene.

A blood-stained machete grazed past her bangs, startling her so much that she nearly cast a Fireball spell on the spot. If she had accidentally cast a Fireball, she would have destroyed her own happy home.

“Holy shit!” Charlotte jumped back in shock, landing on her butt. After catching her breath, Charlotte finally understood the situation and complained to her mischievous Mom Rhynes.

“Mom, were you seriously trying to scare me to death? I thought I was about to be killed!”

“Sorry, sorry. The coordinates were a little off. It won’t happen again next time!”

“Are you sure?” Charlotte was skeptical.

Mom Rhynes loved to tease her children.

As long as she was her precious daughter, Mom Rhynes would probably never stop trying to trick her.

While the mother and daughter were casually chatting, the bandit leader, carrying his blood-stained machete, walked up to the unarmed merchants.

“Hey, you guys! If you don’t want to lose your lives, quickly hand over all your valuables, or my machete will show no mercy!”

Seeing the bandit leader’s ferocious expression, one of the frail girls couldn’t help but scream.

“Hmph! No one will come to save you, even if you scream until your throat is raw!” The bandit leader laughed heartily.

However, the next second, he was startled to see the world spinning.

A sharp pain shot through his cheek, and a blood-stained tooth flew past his eyes.

It wasn’t until he slammed onto the ground and felt the hard impact that he realized he had been kicked away by someone.

The bandit leader quickly climbed up and looked forward.

He saw a skinny, blue-haired boy in a green windbreaker, holding a seemingly ordinary sword, shielding the terrified merchants behind him. The boy stared coldly at the bandit leader.

“Damn it! Who are you? How dare you ruin my business? Do you have a death wish?”

“Who I am doesn’t matter,” The azure-haired boy showed no fear when surrounded by heavily armed bandits.

Instead, a fierce glare emerged in his eyes.

“What matters is that you bandits dared to attack an unarmed caravan in broad daylight! I will not allow you to continue your wicked deeds!”