"Wi… witch!"
Qin Five held a wooden stick in her hand and quickly moved it across the twenty six letters.
Whenever the stick stopped on the correct letter, the scarecrow would blink rapidly. Qin Five would then record it, until a complete word was formed.
Blink!
"It really is a witch! What's going on with the witch?"
Qin Five continued questioning the scarecrow, and the scarecrow cooperated quite well, continuing to identify letters.
About five minutes later, Qin Five finally saw a strange sentence appear, "Witch, nearby, servants?"
"What does this mean?"
Qin Five tilted her head, looking at the few words in confusion.
At that moment, Ethan suddenly galloped back to the villa, scooped up the scarecrow in his arms, and said, "It means there are servants of a witch nearby."
"Huh? Lord, why are you back again?"
Only then did Qin Five notice that the lord had returned.
Ethan, holding the scarecrow horizontally in one arm and pulling the bone horse's reins with the other, turned his head and said to Qin Five, "I need its help. I'm taking it with me for now."
"All right, Lord. Please be careful on your way."
Qin Five waved toward Ethan.
Only after the lord had gone far away did she murmur to herself, "The lord is amazing. Just one glance and he immediately knew what Mr. Scarecrow meant."
"Hey, Qin Five, you like the lord, don't you?"
Cook Four suddenly popped out from who knows where, hugging Qin Five around the waist and teasing her, "I caught you! You were staring at the lord's back in a daze!"
"I don't! I was just…"
"Just what?", Cook Four raised an eyebrow and looked at Qin Five, "I'm telling you, the lord is going to be mine sooner or later. You're not allowed to like the lord."
"I don't like the lord! I just think the lord is very smart," Qin Five said with a red face, "And besides, the lord doesn't belong to anyone. He will always be the lord!"
"Hmph! You still say you don't like the lord. Look how hard you're defending him!"
"Stop it! I already said I don't!"
Qin Five blushed and quickly ran off toward the dormitory building.
But after Qin Five ran back to the bottom of the dormitory building, she puffed out her cheeks and looked again in the direction the lord had left, unwilling to look away, muttering, "In a place like this, how could anyone not like the lord?"
"He's handsome, powerful, and also very considerate!"
"If only I could turn into a cat."
———
On the road to the ruins, Ethan rode the bone horse at full speed while talking to the scarecrow, "You're curious why I suddenly came back to get you, right?"
["Yes!"]
The scarecrow blinked once.
But in Ethan's mind, the scarecrow's voice unexpectedly rang out. He wasn't surprised at all and calmly said, "You don't need to blink to talk to me anymore. Just think it directly. I can hear what you're saying."
["What? How did you do that?"], The scarecrow's eyes widened in shock, ["I thought only witches had that kind of ability."]
"I just learned a skill called The Art of Language · Skills of Heart-to-Heart Communication."
When Ethan opened the platinum treasure chest earlier, he had obtained a strange skill called [The Art of Language · Skills of Heart-to-Heart Communication]. At the time, he didn't know what it was for.
While riding back, he studied it along the way.
[The Art of Language · Skills of Heart-to-Heart Communication: A mental communication ability created by Archmage Andrew. It allows you to hear the inner thoughts of those who wish to communicate with you. (And the reason Archmage Andrew created this magic is said to be because his cat always had requests every single day. In order to figure out what his cat was thinking, Andrew created this art of language.)]
[PS: If the other party does not wish to talk to you, you will be unable to establish mental communication, and naturally you will not hear their voice.]
'So the guy who created this magic was basically a full-on cat slave?'
At first, Ethan had doubts about this magic as well. But when he rode back to pick up the scarecrow, he happened to hear the scarecrow's inner thoughts.
'There are servants of a witch nearby.'
This not only confirmed that Archmage Andrew's magic was effective, it also proved that the uneasy sixth sense he had felt earlier while riding toward the ruins was correct.
Sure enough, back then, while riding, Ethan had been guessing who his enemy could be.
But no matter how he thought about it, whether lords or players, with their current strength, it would be hard for the system to describe them as powerful. So the only possibility left was relatives of monsters.
But among the monsters he had encountered, aside from the Nightmare Rats that lived in groups, the others were basically lone wolf types. There was no way they'd have relatives coming to seek revenge.
And the only one he had encountered who might actually have relatives… Was the witch.
At the thought of the wilderness witch, Ethan immediately thought of the scarecrow. In this world, only scarecrows, as servants of witches, would understand witches the best.
So he had to bring it along.
["So that's how it is,"] The scarecrow continued communicating with Ethan, ["I was wondering how you knew that sentence meant there were witch servants nearby. That little girl at your place kept reading it back and forth so many times and still couldn't get it right. But the way she looked all dazed was really cute."]
"That's enough! Stop thinking about that kind of crap. You can be a creep when we get back," Ethan cut off the scarecrow's messy thoughts and said, "I'm asking you. How did you know there were witch servants nearby? And do you know who they are, or what abilities they have?"
["I can feel it, that nervous feeling,"] the scarecrow said, ["Usually when a witch or a witch's servant appears, I get this feeling like I urgently need to pee. If it's a witch, then it feels like I urgently need to pee and poop. If it's a servant whose strength is below a witch but above mine, then I only feel the urge to pee."]
"Uh…"
Ethan instantly regretted using mental communication with the scarecrow. What kind of existence even is this.
(ー_ー)!!
"Wait, that's not right," Suddenly, Ethan realized a bug, "Can you even go to the bathroom? You can't even drink water. How are you supposed to use the toilet?"
["I might not be able to use the toilet, but I still have feelings,"] The scarecrow snapped, ["Do you think scarecrows don't feel anything? It's exactly because I still have a heart, still have feelings, that I suffer."]
"All right, stop talking," Ethan quickly cut him off before it went any further, "Just tell me who exactly the witch's servant is, and what abilities they have."
"Otherwise I'm afraid you'll be going back soon to face the witch."
"And I'll end up like you, becoming a tool too."
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