Chapter 18 - New Revelations

The woman before me being a witch wasn't confirmed yet so saying anything about it wouldn't be wise. That's why I decided to feel it out a bit more before I jumped to any conclusion.

"I don't know what you're talking about— I don't even know who you are," I replied to the woman as I took a step back— just in case she decided to do something.

Though I highly doubted she would do something with the way she was acting.

"Ah, where are my manners, let me introduce myself." She took a brief pause from her words for the dramatic effect I'm guessing— stepping forward as she stated her name, "I'm Luna Lockheart, witch professor."

'Ok, that was easy,' I thought to myself at how easy she admitted to being a witch— or well, a Witch Professor— whatever that was.

"A what? Witch Professor, what is that?"

My question wasn't me playing dumb about the topic— I actually had no idea what a Witch Professor was. Never hearing the term in my life obviously didn't help that fact.

"Ah, self-proclaimed naturally." She said as if she was caught in a lie, clearing up the confusion I had.

'So she's just a weirdo. Back to step one.'

It seems that at that point in time, I had a strange look on my face because she quickly caught on to my odd thoughts and spoke up in her defense.

"Don't get me wrong, if I claim to be a Witch Professor, it wouldn't be on unfounded reasons." She stated before following up with something that made me even more curious about the situation.

"Let's not play dumb— we both know you're a Witch— I'm one too. But I'm a special kind of Witch, one whose entire life is focused on understanding the mysteries of magic.

To understand what other Witches simply take for granted."

She said extravagantly as if she was doing something that no one has ever done before— but in reality, it was just a fancy way of saying she was a Witch that wanted to learn more magic.

While the idea was interesting— it was easier said than done.

Most of the magic Witches currently use has been passed down for generations. Hundreds— if not thousands of years of Witches have gone by in order to make what we have today.

Over those years parts of the arts have been lost due to many reasons, with humanity being the main cause— or outright altered because of simplicity.

Yet no one has truly created brand new magic from nothing in ages.

It wouldn't be an understatement to say that anyone that was able to come up with a brand new spell of their own was a genius.

Even just remodeling an old spell to something new would make you quite skilled.

That is to say— I didn't believe her claims all that much.

"I see, and what exactly is it that you study?"

I asked— trying to get a better understanding of what it was she studied— given the fact that her explanation itself was rather vague to begin with.

Studying magic is a very broad topic. Magic can come in many forms.

Magic can be things such as Hexes, Jinxes, Spells, Curses, Potions, Runes, and much, much more.

This doesn't even go into the application of language and imagination in magic— showing you just how broad the topic is.

"Everything really. Anything and everything about magic. You are even holding one of my many earlier works— not the best, I grant you, but it's still something."

Hearing her words made me snap out of my thoughts about the application of magic— shifting my eyes towards the book in my hand when she mentioned it.

'Now that she mentions it, her name is on the book. And she did say it was her journal.'

Realizing that this was a journal she wrote herself and placed here made a lot more sense since the book didn't seem to be an officially published work.

The work wasn't revolutionary by any means— but some of the applications of the plants listed in the book were stuff I hadn't even heard of before.

Granted that could very well be because I just haven't read a lot of books about herbs— or maybe even the possibility that she had found some old information that wasn't common knowledge and used that to her advantage to write it.

Either way— it was an interesting piece of work. But not enough for me to actually admit she was a genius Witch.

"So this is your book. I was planning to buy it, but you can have it back, I guess."

I held out my hand as I said that— intending to give her back the book I held in it, only for my hand to be blocked by her own.

"Keep it— I'm always happy to share my knowledge with new and aspiring Witches. Plus I've seen you around, I saw how you were ready to use a hex on that werewolf but hesitated."

Hearing her say that caused me to raise an eyebrow— mainly because I didn't notice anyone else around me when I was with the werewolf.

Aside from Rosaline that is.

So she either was there when the werewolf was attacking me or she used some way to watch the situation from afar— with the second option being the most likely one since the werewolf would've also noticed her.

"The book may even be able to help you improve further— though I'm sure you will be a great Witch even without my help."

She said once more in a friendly tone— I couldn't tell if she was just being friendly or if she had some sort of other motives.

But for now, at least it didn't seem so.

"Thanks— I suppose. Why are you here, in town?" I asked her the question that was on my mind from the moment I confirmed she was a Witch— why she was in town.

The better question would actually be how she was in town— seeing as the Council would've mentioned something like this being the case— but didn't.

I just didn't ask that question because I wanted to know her reasoning for being here before I found out how she was here.

After all— knowing if something was a threat was more important than knowing how that thing remained an unknown threat.

"You don't need to worry— I've actually been here way longer than you might think. It's why the Council doesn't know about me being here."

She smiled as she made her way over to her desk— motioning with her hand for me to follow her.

"I'm actually a Rogue Witch— which I'm sure you have already figured out. But the reason I am a Rogue Witch isn't quite what you may think."

I listened to her as I followed behind her— stopping at the desk.

Nodding my head to her statment— I could agree that she didn't match the images of Rogue Witches I had in my mind. After all— Rogue Witches are said to be Witches that were banished by the community because of their actions.

To actually be banished from a Witch Community would mean you have committed some sort of vile act.

From mass unjust murder to experimenting on innocent lives, or even just being an unstable variable they couldn't control.

That is to say— she didn't fit the image of any of those things in my mind. So her being a Rogue Witch was quite the curious thing.

"I can see you're curious— let me explain." She stated before finally reaching her desk— where she took a seat and looked at me.

"I was actually born in this town over 250 years ago. My mother was a Rogue Witch, and my father was a Human, which was why I was never registered in the Council's index."

While her age was surprising— given how long she looked. It wasn't impossible for a Witch since most Witches could live for hundreds of years— and had ways to make themselves look young.

What was truly surprising, however, was the fact that she was born here from a Rogue Witch— which was the cause of her not being registered.

If the Council was that lax on the Rogue Witches giving birth— then it was truly frightening to wonder just how many have gone unaccounted for and could possibly cause issues around the world.

"Thankfully my mother died shortly after I was born— so she wasn't able to influence the younger me with her madness while I was growing up— keeping me from becoming like her.

This however did leave me without a home to stay in— since my father ran away shortly after his night with my mother. That was when I was adopted by the first generation owner of this shop and raised like their own."

She said as she finished speaking, looking up at me for something in return.