After the illusion magic was dispelled, a small wooden cabin appeared in front of Anis.
To be more precise, most of the cabin’s structure was embedded into the side of the mountain, making it very sturdy.
Pushing the door open, a wave of warm air greeted her.
The *crackle* of firewood echoed in the cabin, and an iron pot hung over the fire with clear water boiling inside.
On the wooden table nearby, all sorts of alchemy equipment were neatly arranged. Herbs from the material storage emitted a unique fragrance, and everything looked ready.
It was as if they were waiting for Anis to arrive.
Anis stood at the door, staring at the room full of meticulously prepared items that now belonged to her, too stunned for words.
She even had the illusion that as long as she mastered Witch’s Brewing, she could use this high-quality equipment to cure that senile king.
“Well?”
Sherry looked at the shocked Anis with a smile; this was exactly the effect she had wanted.
“Ahem.” Anis coughed, feigning composure. “With this equipment, there shouldn’t be any hardware issues in brewing higher-purity Mana Stabilizers.”
“That’s good, hee-hee.”
Sherry pulled a small glass bottle from her pocket, where the Frost Lily of the Valley they had picked sat quietly inside.
Ice-blue mana flowed around it; even after all this time, it was still in full bloom.
“I’ll leave this here, then. I won’t disturb you any further. Good luck, Anis!”
Sherry waved at her with a smile and took a step back out of the cabin.
The room fell silent again, save for the crackling of the firewood. The girl stood still, looking around, her heart unable to find peace for a long time.
After a while, she gathered her thoughts and pushed open the cabin door.
The sunlight was blinding yet comfortable. Looking out, she could see the entire landscape at the foot of the mountain.
“I can finally leave that birdcage where there isn’t even any light!”
The teleportation magic circle was right next to the cabin. When Anis stepped onto it, a shroud of darkness covered her, and before long, she was back in that dark tunnel.
Stepping out of the tunnel, the fragrance of flowers from the glass greenhouse filled her nose, making her feel refreshed.
“All right, time to do some moving.”
Considering she hadn’t completely escaped her cage, she couldn’t make it too obvious.
Sherry had given her a certain degree of freedom, but she was only the acting lord.
Once that old fogey returned and saw her current situation, he would definitely hiss in stress.
‘I need to come up with a plan.’
Well, according to the plot, that old fogey wouldn’t be back for a while, so she stopped thinking about it.
The Princess’s matter was more urgent.
Anis returned to her former cage-cabin and briefly packed her necessary belongings.
“Meow?”
Mimi approached Anis as she packed, rubbing against her calves with a cry filled with unease.
“Oh, right, kitty.”
Anis stopped packing and pulled the cat into her arms.
“Don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid. Your master isn’t abandoning you.”
In a cat’s eyes, if one packed their bags without taking them along, they would think they were being abandoned.
How could she ever abandon Mimi? This was a cat with the potential to turn into a catgirl!
‘Having a little catgirl as an assistant — how wonderful that would be.’
“Mimi, how about Master takes you to a better place?”
“Meow~”
Mimi seemed to understand. The unease in her cry vanished, and she affectionately perched on Anis’s shoulder, sticking out her small, barbed tongue to lick Anis’s cheek.
“Haha, that tickles. Stop it.”
Anis scratched the cat’s head in response. With a gentle wave of her wand, her luggage was stored in her spatial magic.
The girl and the cat went to the glass greenhouse, dispelled the illusion magic in the corner with the secret passage, and walked down the stairs into the darkness.
Once they were enveloped in darkness, the weight on Anis’s shoulder lightened significantly. Mimi seemed to liven up, lifting her head and looking around with her glassy eyes.
“Mimi, don’t worry. It’s not dangerous here.”
Anis soothed the cat, and the weight on her shoulder settled back down.
But right then, a girl’s whisper sounded in her ear!
“Master, I love you, *chu*~”
After the whisper, a pair of soft, warm, and faintly fragrant lips kissed her cheek.
Anis’s heart skipped a beat because she clearly felt that this sensation didn’t belong to a cat — it belonged to a human!
“Mimi?”
“Meow?”
She tried calling out, but all she got was a meow.
After stepping out of the darkness, a tabby cat was still perched on Anis’s shoulder.
“Mimi, did you just turn into a catgirl?”
Anis asked tentatively once more, but the response was still just an unintelligible meow.
‘Did I want a catgirl so badly that I’m hallucinating?’
Anis shook her head and placed the cat on the floor of the cabin. “Go on, this will be your territory from now on.”
The little cat sniffed around the floor and finally lay down in a corner by the fire, yawning. She seemed satisfied with the place.
“Hmm… I should set up a living space for myself, too.”
Sherry hadn’t placed a bed here, nor an armoire, as if she didn’t intend for Anis to live here permanently.
“Are you still afraid I’ll run away for good? Whatever, I’ll make one myself.”
This wasn’t a problem for her. After confirming that the wall behind the fireplace was the solid mountain rock, she drew her wand and gave it a few gentle waves, cleanly cutting out a wooden board.
The sturdy and smooth gray wall was like a canvas waiting to be painted. Anis picked up her wand and continued cutting.
As she dug the hole, she couldn’t help but sigh. ‘If only I’d had such convenient magic in my past life.’
A square, rectangular space was successfully completed in only about half an hour, and Anis hadn’t even broken a sweat.
“Let’s see… Duplicate!”
She pointed her wand at the wooden boards and waved it elegantly. The cold, dark stone walls were effortlessly covered with a layer of wood identical to the exterior.
‘If I could have done this in my past life, it would have been a total game-changer for interior design companies.’
Anis held her slender wand up to eye level.
After staring at it for a while, she murmured, “Magic…”
Another half hour later, a simple bedroom had been finished.
“I just need to spend a little more time making some furniture… Mimi!”
“Meow?”
The cat walked into the room with a puzzled tone, her eyes immediately landing on the cat bed she usually slept in.
“This is where Master will work from now on. How about you be my assistant?”
A witch and her cat — the perfect duo.
“Meow.”
Mimi nodded.
“Good, thank you.”
Anis stroked the top of the cat’s head as a plan for her next move took shape in her mind.
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