Sorcerer's Handbook-Chapter 542: I Want to Hold the Observer Forever

Although Ashe didn’t see his teammates after entering the virtual realm, he wasn’t worried. After all, he had already selected all of his team members for the “virtual realm exploration,” and more importantly, he had the virtual realm map to check their locations. However, when he opened the map, his attention was immediately drawn to a newly appeared special mechanism.

While he studied the mechanism, he suddenly heard someone calling him.

“Observer!”

“Here!” Ashe instinctively responded, raising his hand and looking around. He immediately spotted that touch of crimson in the crowd.

Seeing her quickly approaching, pushing through the crowd with her lips pressed tight and eyes fixed on him, the Cult Leader found it amusing. It had only been about ten days since they last met, yet it seemed like years. He wasn’t going to disappear; there was no need to be so excited.

Despite these thoughts, he couldn’t suppress the smile that crept onto his face. He lowered his head and used his fingers to tidy his bangs, and all the frustrations in reality suddenly vanished at that moment.

Ashe walked briskly, pondering over what his first words should be. Before entering the virtual realm, he had specifically consulted with Igor on how to quickly reconnect with a friend after a long separation. Should he use a light-hearted “hee hee hee,” a calm “let’s go find the Witch,” a teasing “did you miss me all these days,” taking the lead with “how was your Meteor Trial result,” or a flattering “you look so pretty I almost didn’t recognize you,” or maybe something else? But as he got closer, Ashe realized he didn’t need Igor’s suggestions. His inexplicable quickened heartbeat seemed to compress his thinking, leaving his focus only on the figure before him.

When there were no more bystanders between them, and noticing that the sword Princess didn’t show any sign of stopping, Ashe instinctively extended his hand in preparation to receive her.

It was then-

“Obser-ver-!”

With a hurried shout, a soft figure leapt onto him, and Ashe nearly toppled over.

As he embraced the incoming person, a hint of surprise slipped into his voice, “Witch?”

The Witch clung to him like an octopus, her arms tightly wrapped around his neck, her head nuzzling against his shoulder with an unabashed smile on her face. Although surprised by her sudden enthusiasm, Ashe wasn’t too taken aback since the Witch’s personality was always quite mercurial.

Moreover, the joy and dependency in her eyes reminded Ashe of another little girl waiting for him, melting his heart like ice cream.

“Observer! Observer! Observer! Observer!” The Witch sang his name repeatedly.

The source of this c𝐨ntent is freeweɓnovēl.coɱ.

“Yes, yes, I’m here,” Ashe chuckled. “It’s only been a few days, but the Witch has grown even more adorable.”

“Uh-huh!” The Witch affectionately rubbed her face against his, giggling.

“You could get down from him now, couldn’t you?” Sonya pressed her hand on the hilt of her sword, saying coldly, “It’s only been ten days; is there really a need to be this excited?”

“No!”

The Witch reacted strongly, “I won’t get down; I want to hold the Observer forever!”

Ashe and Sonya stared at her in surprise. While the Witch did have her reasons to embrace the Observer, it was unusual for her to be this excessive.

In addition, although the Witch was somewhat childish and spoiled, she wasn’t truly a child and wouldn’t normally say something so willful.

The expression on the Witch’s face subtly changed then, the mischievousness quickly fading. She got down from Ashe, now shy, and explained, “I was just too happy and got a bit carried away, sorry.”

In Deya’s mind, Little Witch Lise was being scolded by the Black Butler, while the White Queen wielded the Scarlet Dead Apostles’ bronze whip, spanking Lise’s bottom until she admitted her mistakes.

Yes, the one clinging to Ashe earlier wasn’t Deya, but Lise.

Now that Deya was the Empress, there was no need for her personality to stay bound in reality. Besides, Lise had been constantly pestering to meet Dad in the Virtual Realm, so Deya brought her into the Virtual Realm and let her sister have the chance to indulge in the long-awaited reunion.

However, Deya was aware of the consequences. She had to maintain “secrecy” to sustain the power of her Secret Incarnation. Until she fully mastered the deity “Gospel,” revealing any secrets in front of Ashe would nullify her secrecy power, and all her personalities would be overwhelmed by the vast consciousness of Gospel.

Therefore, Deya set rules with Lise-she wasn’t allowed to call him Dad, only Observer, and she couldn’t reveal their situation or ask about Igor and Harvey. Lise agreed to all of it, and she kept her promise. However, Deya and the others hadn’t anticipated that even if she couldn’t call him Dad, just seeing Ashe turned Lise into a daughter once more.

Although her elder sisters were furious at Lise for crossing boundaries with her antics, Deya knew that deep down, everyone was rather happy. Despite the jests of fate, the machinations of the Divine Sovereign, and the wandering nature of life, she could still embrace Ashe.

Yet, there was a challenge they had to confront.

Deya slightly turned her head and locked eyes with the sword Princess, who was watching unabashedly. She quickly looked away, pretending nothing was amiss.

The sword Princess.

She, too, could see Ashe every night and was also a team member discovered by him. Moreover, she had known Ashe longer than Deya and her group.

Back on the Time Continent, the sword Princess and Observer frequently argued and had cold wars. The sword Princess often whispered criticisms of the Observer into Deya’s ear, leaving Deya uncertain about the true nature of their relationship. After all, in her view, the Observer didn’t seem all that great; in comparison, Ashe was much better.

But once they realized that the Observer was Ashe, the Witch sisters completely changed their perspective.

Because it was Ashe-someone even they liked-how could the sword Princess not also have feelings for him?

The Black Butler analyzed it this way: “She pretends to be in a cold war with Ashe and talks bad about Ashe to you to make you stay away from him. She must have had an improper interest in Ashe early on and has been trying to prevent us from getting to know Ashe since we joined the team.”

“How terrible! If we had realized sooner that the Observer was Ashe, maybe…”

Deya didn’t want to think too ill of the sword Princess, but regardless of her intentions, any woman appearing around Ashe was an enemy of the Witch!

Compared to the sword Princess, they had a significant advantage-they knew Ashe in the real world!

The sword Princess hadn’t even met Ashe in reality yet!

Unfortunately, due to the secrecy power, Deya couldn’t reveal this secret, effectively nullifying the advantage. But that was okay; even though she couldn’t disclose that she was Lise Deya, she could openly and legitimately pursue a romance with Ashe as the Witch!

Upon reflection, this might not be such a bad thing after all. Deya had always wanted to distinguish herself from Lise. Given Ashe’s personality, if he equated “Lise” and “Deya,” he would likely treat her just as family-only familial affection.

Even without the “secrecy” issue, Deya had intended to engage with Ashe with a clean, new identity. Now, she didn’t need to concoct a new identity. Continuing to use the Witch persona to engage with Ashe romantically was even more convenient.

Once she and Ashe established a new relationship, Deya would reveal her true identity. So while the “secrecy power” influenced her, it acted both as a constraint and a motivation.

Meanwhile, Sonya, observing the visibly flustered Witch, felt a surge of confusion.

Before their last parting, the Witch’s attitude towards the Observer was just that of an ordinary teammate. Why the sudden passion now?

Since they hadn’t met in the Virtual Realm, the reason could only be internal or external.

The internal reason could be a drastic change in the Witch’s personality; the external reason could only be… reality.

There was also a possibility that the Observer and the Witch met secretly in the Virtual Realm, but Sonya didn’t want to entertain that notion. It wasn’t that she couldn’t imagine it, but thinking along those lines left her unsure of how she might react.

Hopefully, the Witch was just overly excited… hopefully.

Suppressing her irritation, Sonya turned to see Ashe looking around and couldn’t help but ask, “What are you looking for?”

“Looking for our new teammate,” Ashe replied, scanning the area before calling out, “Yolan Vesser!”

“I’m here,” a soft, almost syrupy voice responded from not too far away.

Yet, neither the sword Princess nor the Witch looked at the newcomer; instead, they stared at Ashe in shock-

Why did you call us by code names, but call her by her actual name!?

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