At that moment, Diya was squatting in the lumber mill, rummaging for usable materials.
This lumber mill connected to the outside of the den. A colossal machine utterly devoid of engineering aesthetics jutted like a fishing rod into the dense forest beyond. Powered by sorcery spirits, eco-friendly trees rapidly sprouted outside by time magic were processed by the machine into neat cubes of lumber that dropped into the den.
Logically speaking, dire wolf-dragons had no use for timber, and lumber took up immense space, so it should have crowded the den to bursting in no time. In reality, though, there wasn't much lumber in the mill.
As Diya searched for materials, she listened to the lectures of her sisters:
White Queen: "Princess, you can't just hand things over so bluntly."
Diya: "Should I throw them instead?"
White Queen: "That's not what I mean... Doing that will make the Watcher uncomfortable."
Diya: "(￣△￣；) I don't get it."
Black Butler: "Please, just let Sister White take over. I can't bear to watch this anymore."
Diya: "I think I did great! Sword Princess likes me a lot, and the Watcher will like me soon too!"
Black Butler: "Who gave you that confidence? Little Red, say something to her!"
Red Apostle: "Two words."
Just then, Diya heard footsteps. Turning her head, she saw the Watcher leading the Sword Princess over.
"Witch, why is your personality so different today compared to yesterday?"
"Huh? That's because yesterday was the White Queen, and today it's Diya."
Diya hid nothing, answering with cheerful candor.
Black Butler: "I knew it. She was definitely going to sell us out."
"The Watcher already knew about the Little Witch and the Secret Princess. We couldn't hide it from him anyway," the White Queen said, trying hard to make excuses for Diya.
"Eh?" Diya blinked hard, as if pricked by a needle. "You didn't know? Did I say something wrong? Watcher, didn't you tell her?"
"I don't know the full story either, which is why we came to ask you together." Yaxiu spread his hands. "Witch, do you want to share your secret with us? If you'd rather not, you're free to decline—just like I've never asked Sword Princess what 'Little Trumpet' actually means."
Diya pushed up her glasses and promptly received advice from the sisters' council: "Actually, it's not that big a deal..."
Just as Sonia could freely vent to the Watcher about her roommates, the academy, and society, the Witch sisters also deemed the Sword Princess and the Watcher to be virtual friends with whom secrets were safe. First, the Watcher already knew their secrets, so keeping them hidden was pointless. Second, the Sword Princess and the Watcher had no intersection in reality—evident from their excitement upon meeting in the Void Realm the previous night; the White Queen deduced they likely lived in two different countries.
Furthermore, because the Watcher always appeared before her as an illusory figure, the White Queen reasoned that the Watcher and they were likely in different countries as well, bound together through some unknown miracle.
In other words, they, the Watcher, and the Sword Princess were all strangers living in different nations.
No matter what the Watcher and the Sword Princess learned, it couldn't affect the sisters' real lives.
Thus, far from just Diya, with the exception of the more prudent White Queen, the other sisters were actually quite eager to reveal their existence to strangers.
"I am the White Queen. Please take good care of the Princess." The vision from last night briefly manifested—white suit, short skirt, and absolute territory, an elegant, gentle, and steady older sister.
"I am the Red Apostle." Red hair, red clothes, fierce eyes, on guard like a wild brown bear prowling in the wild.
"I am the Black Butler. My primary job is helping the sisters come up with insults." Dressed in a sharp butler uniform with her hair tied neatly behind her neck, her androgynous look was exceedingly dashing. Her exquisite, spirited features made one wonder if such an elegant mouth could truly produce anything less than pure ivory.
"And then there's me, the Secret Princess!" Diya shifted back to her original form, resting her hands on her hips with pride. "Though the Watcher gave me the codename Witch, so you can just call me Witch. From now on, activities in the Void Realm will mostly be led by me, so I am the Witch!"
Not only Sonia, but even Yaxiu had his eyes opened—switching personalities came with automatic wardrobe and hair color changes, faster than a magical girl transformation. Did she come with multiple default skins from birth?
"Witch, do you have any other sisters?" Sonia asked curiously.
"There are more..." Diya paused. "But they all have other things to do, so they won't appear for now."
Multi-threading and simultaneous cooperation could be this awesome?
Yaxiu suddenly felt the urge to develop multiple personalities himself—split off one to handle work and cultivation in reality, split off another to fight and adventure in the Void Realm, while he himself took care of resting and having fun. A perfect division of labor.
Still, it was just wishful thinking. Setting aside the fact that he lacked the ability, even if he did have it, the most likely outcome would follow the old fable: one Yaxiu carries water, two Yaxius fetch water together, but three Yaxius have no water to drink... After all, they were all Yaxiu. Why should you get to slack off while I have to work?
His current mini-goal remained unlocking the potential of the Substitute sorcery spirit. One day, Yaxiu would live the life of a sorcerer capitalist exploiting his sorcery spirits.
"Then why are you the one in charge of Void Realm exploration?" Yaxiu suddenly realized a question. "Logically speaking, shouldn't the combat-oriented Red Apostle be handling it?"
"Because I know a little bit of everything the other sisters can do, which makes it easier to handle unexpected situations. If push comes to shove, we can always switch," Diya said, picking up a piece of material from the lumber pile. "Besides, Void Realm exploration is exhausting, and among the sisters, I'm the only one interested in the Void Realm... Hm? Oh, okay."
Diya suddenly stared intently at Yaxiu and asked, "Watcher, Watcher, what do you think of the three of them—the White Queen, the Red Apostle, and the Black Butler?"
Sonia was taken aback—what a bizarre way to ask. When her classmates tried to set her up with male nobles, they used the exact same tone as if peddling fruit.
"Huh?" Yaxiu pondered for a moment. "The White Queen is dignified and graceful, the Red Apostle is sharp and fierce, and the Black Butler is dashing and cool... Witch, you have three wonderful sisters."
"What about you, Sword Princess? What do you think?" Diya turned to Sonia.
"Pretty much the same as the Watcher," Sonia said, clapping her hands. Her social aptitude was beyond question. "And every one of you is so gorgeous. I love the White Queen's mature charm, the Red Apostle's fiery spirit, and the Black Butler hits my strike zone dead center. And you yourself, Witch, are so adorable... Can I just have all of you?"
Diya's eyes sparkled. Suddenly, she leaped forward and hugged both Yaxiu and Sonia, letting out happy little snorts. Caught off guard by her sudden bear hug, Yaxiu and Sonia were brought right down to the ground, watching the Witch nuzzle against them like a little bear cub.
"Witch, what's with the sudden—"
"We're so happy!" The Witch lifted her head, her delicate, pretty face beaming with an infectious smile. "Sister White and the others rarely show themselves before other people. Almost nobody knows they exist—you two are the only ones... They've always wondered how other people would see them. Your approval made them—made all of us—so happy! If you don't believe me, I'll let them tell you—"
Diya adjusted her glasses, instantly taking on the appearance of the Black Butler.
The Black Butler declared sternly, "We aren't. She's talking nonsense!"
"I am not talking nonsense!" Diya shifted back, huffing softly. "Black Butler, your face clearly flushed red with happiness just now! We all saw it!"
"I told you she was going to sell us out!" the Black Butler cursed.
"I have nothing to say," the White Queen said, giving up the struggle.
The Witch sat up, suddenly remembering something. "Oh right! In the picture book *House of the North Wind*, the protagonists became friends after sharing secrets... Are we friends now?"
"You only shared your secrets with us, but we haven't shared ours with you," Yaxiu pointed out.
Diya blinked. Severely lacking in social skills, she froze on the spot like a crashed computer.
*Eh? Was that a rejection? What should I do now? No, I want to find a hole to crawl into! Maybe I should switch out—Sister White, save me—*
"Still, we've got a long, long future ahead of us in the Void Realm." Yaxiu stood up and dusted off his backside. "When we have time, we can chat about our stories."
Sonia sat up, ruffled Diya's stubborn cowlick, and let out a helpless sigh.
"I'm just an ordinary female college student. I don't have any sensational secrets to offer in return, you know."
The Black and White Witch, Lisdia, had officially joined the team.
Chapter 236