"I Became a Witch, but Now Everyone's in Love with Me!"

Chapter 28: He Qin – Please Reimburse Me!
 

The deafening explosion that marked the end of the thirty-minute battle still echoed faintly through the air.
And then…
No one survived.
“Cha Bao, are you insane? At least give us a warning next time!”
Lina stormed out of the resurrection room, soaked from head to toe, hair dripping. “Do you have any idea how close I was to a heart attack?! Your full-power mode is actually terrifying!”

Jiang Cha, calmly drying her hair with a towel, responded in a soft voice.
“I didn’t have a choice. Teacher Carol’s strength is too overwhelming. No matter how I ran the calculations, the best outcome was still a draw. I did hint at it, though… You should’ve figured it out, right?”
To deceive Carol—an ace-level combat witch with years of experience—Jiang Cha had gone so far as to deceive her own teammates.
Any abnormal behavior might’ve tipped Carol off, so she chose the cleanest solution.
Blow up everyone.
Even her allies.

“I did send a hint,” she added. “He Qin was the only one I let shield herself. Only she could survive that blast.”
“…You’re cruel.”
Lina knew why it had to happen. But knowing didn’t make it sting less.
This was their first team battle. And this was how it ended?

She glanced nervously at He Qin, unsure how she’d taken it—but the bun-haired puppeteer looked surprisingly calm. No fury, no sulking. Just a gentle, almost resigned sigh.
“…Try not to use that tactic again,” He Qin said softly.
“I’ll do my best~” Jiang Cha smiled sweetly.

Of course, if there were better options, she’d have taken them. But if not?
Well… tough luck.
As for the source of the explosion?
It was one of Cha Bao’s old tricks.

The four witches had burned through nearly 50,000 magic points during the match, creating a vortex of energy even more violent than the one she’d triggered in the forest. She had Lina prep her breathing and activate her innate power early—amplifying the blast to absurd levels.
The explosion was so powerful that it cracked the protective runes inscribed on the battlefield itself.
If you had to compare it to something, it was roughly equivalent to sixth-level pure offensive magic: Lester’s Red Dragon Breath.
An ancient, infamous spell. Not rare, but brutal, costly, and very effective.

Ironically, that magic’s last big public appearance was linked to them. Or more specifically—to one of Lina’s many sisters.
During the Witch Cup, she found the perfect moment to unleash it and wiped out four opponents in one hit.
“I’m gonna lose it. Kids these days are just straight-up vicious.”
Carol hadn’t died in the explosion. But her body was scorched and paralyzed, unable to move—a technical knockout.
With no teammates left, she was considered out of the match. A draw.
Cathy poured a fifth-level revival potion over her charred “corpse.” Carol recovered visibly, her mouth already working before her limbs did.

A string of curses followed.
Cathy, watching her senior come back to life with a snarl, immediately regretted wasting such a high-grade potion.
“If she were mute, she’d definitely be the most beloved teacher in the whole damn school…”

“Hey, Casey! Why’d you stab me last time?!”
A blue-haired witch stormed over, fury in her eyes.
“You know resurrection’s cheaper than a potion,” Casey replied with a shrug, not a trace of guilt.

“Are you serious?! Come here! If I don’t beat you up, I’m not Rin!”
“But you can’t beat me?”
“Go to hell, you wooden witch!”

Rin threw a punch, then stomped off in a huff.
Carol sighed.
They’d been trying to pair these two up forever—putting them in the same squad, giving them joint missions. Four years later, they were still stuck in limbo.
Not because they didn’t like each other…
One was too proud.
The other too stubborn.
“Why the hell am I still worrying about matchmaking?” Carol grumbled, rubbing her temple.

Time to get back to work.
“Kathy, what do you think of those three brats?”
“No pressure playing three-on-four. Their only weak point is easy to patch. Honestly, they’re terrifying. Freshmen keep getting stronger—it’s putting pressure on us veterans.”

Carol nodded. “How would you patch the weak point?”
“Let her grow naturally. Lina said she’s got scary learning speed. She’s planning to specialize in multiple fields…”
A hyper-logical strategist.
A puppeteer with her own system.
A red dragon girl from House Noyce.

That combo?
Basically unbeatable.
The only downside? It would take time.
Way too much time.
Five secondary disciplines and six magic systems. Each a black hole for time and money. Even in seven years, most witches barely master half of it.

But even a semi-finished product was dangerous.
“I checked her file,” Carol said. “Still not sure where the principal found her. But she’s starting official training this Wednesday.”
“…What kind of freak is this kid?” Casey muttered, wide-eyed.

Carol smirked. “Name one great sage who isn’t a freak.”
Fair point.
Normal witches searched for cheat codes in their genetics.
Big witches wrote their own cheat codes.
Sages wrote full-blown programs.
Great sages?

They became the operating system.
“So, you’re betting on Jiang Cha?”
“Vladimir personally told me to watch her. I was the first to spot her potential. Of course I’m betting on her.”

“Got it. I’ll give her the resources she needs.”
Cathy wasn’t just a fifth-year student.
She was also the Battle Club’s de facto leader—the manager, the one who handled club business when the sixth- and seventh-year leaders were off-campus.
Budget approvals? Equipment requests?

Her word was law.
“Weak arsenal, huh?”
Carol chuckled to herself, remembering how fast the girl picked things up in her class.
Even if He Qin didn’t join, she didn’t care. As long as Lina and Jiang Cha competed in the Witch Cup, they’d still have a shot.

Those two?
She was confident she could tempt them.
He Qin had a master mentor—Carol couldn’t compete there.
But Lina wanted access to her spell archive.
And Jiang Cha was broke.

That was an easy game to play~
“Whoa, teacher, your smile’s kinda creepy. Just putting it out there—I only like first-years. No interest in older women.”
“Scram. Lose one more match and I’ll beat your ass into next week.”

“Okay~”
Cathy rolled away without shame.
She happened to pass the trio who had just emerged from the resurrection room.

“Kathy… new hobby?” Lina asked, blinking as she watched Casey rolling across the ground.
“Just stretching.”
The excuse didn’t fool any of the three. But before they could press further, Carol emerged and rescued her senior’s dignity with a sharp bark:

“What are you standing around for? Back to the field!”
“Got it~!”
Lina beamed, then glanced at He Qin.
“Qinbao, you still want to play? If you’re tired, you can just watch.”

Lina would never force her. Friends were more important than any match.
But He Qin’s silence from earlier still worried her.
“I’m fine. It’s just…”
“Just what?”
Jiang Cha tilted her head.

“…Will the Battle Club reimburse me for the damage?”
He Qin slowly summoned the wreckage of her puppets—ten shattered, charred bodies, each of which had taken hours of careful construction.
Her expression was heartbreakingly mournful.

The explosion had obliterated every single puppet.
It wasn’t even about the work anymore.
It was the cost.
Witchcraft was expensive.
No matter your specialization, being a combat witch meant burning money nonstop.
Potions, alchemy tools, enchantment scrolls—they all added up.
And puppets?

Puppets were the worst.
Delicate, complex, expensive—and easy to break.
“Uh… Senior Casey?”
Lina looked at the retreating back of their upperclassman.
“Full reimbursement, I promise,” Casey replied, waving over her shoulder. “But He Qin, now that you’ve clicked the ‘join Battle Club’ button, I can’t reimburse materials under the Puppet Club’s name anymore.”

“…Fair enough. Thank you, Senior.”
Witches always balanced their decisions.
He Qin didn’t particularly like the Battle Club.
But between that and footing the repair bill?

Battle Club it was.
“Lina, I won’t nag you about your family’s training methods,” Carol said as they returned to the battlefield. “But emotional control is not optional. You can’t rely on others to lead you forever.”
“I know~”
Lina stuck out her tongue.

“He Qin,” Carol continued after a pause, “I won’t interfere with your career path. But if you want to improve your combat ability, I recommend taking a few mechanical engineering electives. It’ll help.”
“I understand. Thank you, Teacher.”
She had already considered minoring in {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} mechanics. Now it was confirmed.

“And Jiang Cha…”
Carol pressed her fingers to her forehead, sighing.
“There’s so much to say, I don’t even know where to start