Chapter 139 - The Witch In The North

'Of course we should, that's the least I can get for sacrificing everything,' Petunia thought to herself before saying goodbye to Monica and the others.

"Can't I go with you?" Monica asked Petunia while petting her back.

"Your dad won't allow you to get in danger again, and besides you're too weak to even join us," Petunia snugged and buried her face in Monica's dress.

"Ah, I'm so sorry for your loss. I feel so guilty. I wish I could do something to help you too," Monica said with all of her heart before kissing Petunia's forehead which almost made Petunia in tears, "I promise to be here whenever you need my help, just tell me what you need and I shall give it to you, okay? I don't like being in debt too much," Monica chuckled, trying to lift the mood up but failed to do so when she heard Petunia's little sobs in between her dress.

"Hey, why are you crying? It's not like I'm never going to see you again. We still have four years to see each other before the tournament and even more so when you finally win the tournament!"

"But I have to survive this year by finding the correct formula for my feline curse first. Somehow I also started calling this transformation a curse because of you," Petunia said with a pout on her cat face which made Monica chuckle despite the dampness of her face from being in tears.

"I really thought my transformation happened because of a curse, who knew that witch was behind everything all along without even knowing it?" Monica said, stating the ignorance of the witch of what she did by simply giving Monica's stepmother a potion that could change people into animals and Sir Durish another one with dark magic disguised as an instruction for a supposedly "cure", making Petunia realize something.

"That witch! Maybe I should visit her shop and see if she could help me! I wonder how she was able to create that complicated formula that took my parents a lifetime to perfect," Petunia said while wiping her tears and standing in Monica's arms.

"Are you sure about that? You just heard what I said, right? That the witch is supposed to be evil for causing this havoc without even doing much?"

"I know! That's more reason for me to visit her!" 

'I got a feeling that I know this 'witch' and why she's obsessed with making animal potions and tricking others into doing the dark magic for her to collect their Energy slimes,' Petunia thought to herself, which she couldn't tell anybody right now.

"Do you want me to come with you?" Monica offered but Petunia immediately shook her head.

"There's no way I'm letting you go there and transform into a raven again, after all that I've done for you, do you want it all to go to waste?"

"Of course not!" Monica stood up, "I just want to help you, please?"

"You can help me by staying still. Now how should I get the directions from Sir Durish if he can't remember anything?"

"Maybe I can help?"

"No, you're not coming with us."

"That's not what I meant! When I was still a raven, I often heard rumors about the witch in the north who likes torturing animals and could even transform into an animal herself! All of the animals in this area know her as the woman with an icy look and an icy dress, living amongst the ice which you could never see an animal pass by because they were afraid to be tortured by her, but because I was scared, I didn't bother looking for her or even knowing where she lives. I just know all animals are scared of her and if you ask them, you may even get directions," Monica shared with expressive movements which made Petunia focus on her story even more.

"But I can't talk to animals." Petunia pouted, "Is there any way I could get her attention instead?"

"Why would you-" Monica's eyebrows met in confusion but quickly dropped her jaw when she realized what Petunia was planning, "OH!!!" and suddenly, her tone went from enlightened to not interested when she said, "No. I am not letting you get captured and tortured by her."

"Come on! You must know something! Where is this place that the animals always avoid? I really need to go there to make progress, please?" Petunia scooted closer to Monica with her pleading eyes.

"No! You're planning to get even more killed! No!"

"Please? I won't die, I promise you that, I just need to have a conversation with this 'witch' and what she has to offer."

"What makes you so sure that she will help you?"

"Well, she helped Sir Durish by giving him a fake instruction and not torturing him. Err, maybe she tortured him in another way, but aside from that I'm sure she won't hurt me once I have a talk with her."

"She better! Or else I will hunt her down and burn her to death like what those people in the old books do to witches!" Monica exclaimed strongly.

"So? Are you going to tell me where to find her?" Petunia scooted closer to Monica once again, making her eyes bigger and shinier for Monica to take pity on her.

"F-Fine!" Monia said and looked away, "But I will tell Fily and the others about this too."

"What? No!! Don't. This is my personal mission and they have their own problems to solve. Let's not make this a big deal."

"But it is a big deal! Who's going to be the alchemist in their group if not you?! Where can they find someone better than you?! And lastly, who's going to be my best friend after all of this is done? I can't live knowing that you sacrificed yourself for me! Heck! I can't imagine being the one who will lead you to your death! So it's either you go with them, Petunia, or you're not going to go at all, not under my watch."

"Tss, fine," Petunia said reluctantly, "But tell them to prioritize their research about Salamandite first. I also need that to live."

"Okay, deal." Monica nodded her head with a smile and offered a pinky promise to Petunia with closed eyes.

"Uhh, yay?" Petunia said after grabbing Monica's pinky in between her paws with a confused expression.

"Oh, sorry." Monica laughed after realizing that Petunia doesn't have a pinky to make a pinky promise with her!

"Let's just do this," Monica offered and raised Petunia to the air, "Weee!" she said while swirling around with Petunia.

"S-Stop! I'm getting dizzy, ahhh!" Petunia complained but joined Monica in her laughter nonetheless.

"Ahh, they're so cute to see. I hope I can do something to help save that poor little soul from deteriorating," Sir Graham said beside Venedette and the other kids besides the window where they could see Petunia and Monica have fun outside, in the front yard.

"Actually you can. You see, Petunia has this formula for her beloved Gummy cloud and we're short on ingredients so if you have them, I think that would be helpful enough," Fily said after clearing her throat in front of the adults and the kids who immediately agreed with her.

They all felt bad after what happened to Petunia. Not only did she sacrifice all the rare ingredients that she worked hard to collect but she also lost her Gummy cloud which was almost equivalent to Fily losing her knowledge and normal superhumans losing their limbs.

And since Fily and Gem already had an idea of how to make the Gummy cloud, they all decided to help Petunia create a new one as soon as possible, be it on this trip or after when they finally return to Yvandir where the ingredients are mostly complete.

"Oh, ho ho. May I see this list?" Sir Graham said enthusiastically after hearing an opportunity for him to repay Petunia's kindness.

"Sure," Fily said with a smile and showed Sir Graham the list while the others were still busy watching Monica and Petunia spend time together.

"Are you sure you're okay now? Shouldn't you still be resting?" Von whispered to Gem who was just beside her.

"I'm fine. My energy just got drained but I'm sure I can get it back after a good night's sleep. I still can't believe I just did something heroic. That's the first for me. Usually, I just save myself but this is the first time I had actually saved real people other than me," Gem shared with a smile on her face and sparkles in her eyes while looking at Monica.

The Energy slimes might be wasted in that big pool with a complicated formula but Gem was surely happy to see the children that she helped save from that wicked witch's careless actions.

"You did great," Von said and looked away from Gem who was now the one looking at her.

"You also did great, we all did great. And I hope we can do more greater things in the future," Gem said with a bright smile that made her face look ten times prettier.