Mark walked around the circus caravan campsite while carrying Liriel visiting friends since it would probably take an hour for Milena and her assistants to cook dinner for them. They visited Norunta the witch so he could ask her some advice regarding Liriel.
Norunta and Sunetta were outside their cart cooking something in a large cauldron. Norunta stirring something on her cauldron looked like the stereotypical witch that Mark almost laughed out loud. While stirring, the witch was telling a story to her apprentice that was causing her to cackle and if he were watching a scene from a movie, he would have condemned it for using so many cliches that it would have been insulting the audience’s taste and intelligence but since this was the real life in another world, Mark couldn’t help wonder if somebody did transmigrate from this world to Earth.
What Mark found a bit weird was instead of the scene being creepy, it was sending a feeling of coziness and warmth because children were running around and not afraid of the witch at all.
Even Liriel laughed when she saw and heard Norunta laughing.
“Mark and the little girl, you’re here! How may I help you this night?” Norunta asked while she kept stirring.
Mark stole a view inside the witch’s cauldron and saw that Norunta was just cooking some sort of stew. At first, he thought that it was some sort of potion.
“I need some advice regarding Liriel. She hasn’t talked since she joined our family. Is there something wrong with her?”
Norunta looked at Mark and then looked at the little girl with her hair glowing since the wisp was hiding inside it.
“Why is her hair glowing?” Sunetta asked when she saw Liriel’s glowing hair.
“Oh, I gave her a mythical item that summoned a permanent wisp that could cast spells to protect her. The wisp can cast Heal, Mage Armor, and Mage Bolt.”
Norunta and Sunetta gaped at him when they heard that he had given the little girl a treasure.
“Don’t tell anybody that. If somebody asked again, tell them that the wisp just decided to follow the little girl out of the blue. I assumed that the artifact that you’re talking about is that bracelet the little girl is wearing. Do you want the girl to be endangered? People are people and most of them are greedy!” Norunta scolded Mark.
Mark blushed and acquiesced with Norunta’s suggestion regarding the wisp. He should have known but he got comfortable with the people in the circus and hadn’t encountered any betrayal yet but why tempt fate?
“Regarding Liriel’s ability to talk, I assume that the child did encounter some traumatic experience but from the looks of it, she’s already starting to heal. Just keep surrounding her with love and laughter and soon she’ll be alright and maybe someday you’ll be coming here to ask for a potion of silence,” Norunta cackled again.
Mark thanked the witch and left with Liriel. When they returned to the RV, he saw the twins surrounded by women, and the boys were pouting. When the women saw him, they charged at him like angry cavalrymen.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
“What happened?! Mark asked, taken aback by the angry expressions on the women’s faces.
Apparently, the women were the mothers of the twin’s friends. All of the kids including the twins were now suffering from indigestion. The boys showed off their newly acquired rings and then proceeded to decimate the food that was stored inside.
The feast that followed was out of control so now the twins and their friends were suffering from tummy ache.
Mark apologized profusely and offered to heal the children so the women went to get their kids. Looking at the twins contorting bodies due to their tummy aches, Mark did not have the heart to let them suffer anymore so he cast Dryad’s Circle but he wondered if the spell could cure indigestion.
Happily, the spell did but the dryads’ laughter sounded like they were mocking the twins, and from the looks of it, Isaac and Aaron noticed since they were blushing in shame.
“The food inside your rings was supposed to be for emergency and you ate it just to show off! Now all of your friends are sick! If we didn’t have healing spells, you and your friends could have died! As punishment, you’re not allowed to watch Naruto for a week! Go inside the RV now,” Mark told the twins with a stern expression but he almost laughed since Liriel also had a stern expression copying him.
When the twins went inside the RV, Mark hugged and kissed Liriel and the little girl giggled.
“You’re so cute! You’re a princess and I’ll give you ice cream later!” Mark kept praising the little girl who kept on giggling.
The mothers returned with their kids who were contorting due to tummy aches and the women were still glaring at him. Mark saw that Hamil and Halinda were with them. Halinda was also glaring at him but Hamil was laughing causing all of the women to glare at the circus leader as well.
When the kids were gathered, Mark cast Dryad’s Circle again and all of the kids' pain disappeared. He apologized to the women again and told them that he already punished the twins severely. The women relented only after several minutes of him profusely apologizing. He almost couldn’t stop himself from laughing since Liriel was copying the women’s expressions and was glaring at him as well while her tiny little hands were on her waist.
After the women and their children left, he invited Hamil and Halinda inside the RV. The twins were sitting quietly on the sofa in the living room.
“No dinner for you tonight! Go to your room and reflect on your mistakes,” Mark told the twins sternly and the boys ran towards their room.
“Where are your employees?” Hamil asked.
“They were on their RV cooking dinner for everyone.”
“What on earth were you thinking giving the little kids magical treasure!” Halinda scolded Mark.
“Well, they’re legendary items that I received that would allow the twins to talk to each other telepathically and I thought that it was a fitting gift for them. The item is called the Legendary Twin Ring and they’re twins! It also had a ten cubic meter storage space inside,” Mark boasted.
Halinda rolled her eyes and Hamil laughed.
“Mark the problem is their treasure and if an outsider saw them, they wouldn’t hesitate to kill the twins to get the items and since they’re kids, they couldn’t help but show it off to their friends,” Hamil said.
Mark looked worried and thought for a bit.
“Hmm, I guess you’re right. My priority should be finding magical artifacts that would protect the twins. Liriel already had one. She had a mythical item that permanently summons a guardian wisp that could cast Heal to heal her, Mage Armor to protect her, and Mage Bolt to damage creatures hostile to her.” Mark told the couple while pointing at the wisp that suddenly flew from inside Liriel’s Hair to the top of her head.
Hamil and Halinda gaped at him then the couple both sighed.
“Don’t you think that it would be better to keep the items first and give them to the kids when they’re older?” Hamil asked.
“No. The advantage of having a powerful backer is that they would enjoy magical artifacts and they shouldn’t be scared of anyone targeting them since somebody powerful is backing them. I will make sure that the children would be full of magical items that only a god would be able to hurt them!”
The couple only sighed again and told Mark that it was his decision but that he needed to make sure that he would not regret his choices and Mark just nodded. After that, the couple said their goodbyes and returned to their cart.