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

Chapter 52: Meeting the Monkey Girl in the World Fragment

 
Fragments of the world.
In Jiang Cha’s imagination, they should be mysterious things—constantly radiating a dangerous aura beneath a dazzling, otherworldly light.
But…

“This is the fragment of the world?”
Staring at the small spatial gate floating quietly in the void of space, Jiang Cha couldn’t help but marvel at how advanced witch technology had become.
Even with her current level of understanding, she could tell that this gate was more like a space anchor point—something that forcibly pinned an otherworldly dimension, one not originally part of this universe, into place.
“It’s time. You know what to do, right?”

Myrtle checked the stability of the world fragment, nodded, then turned to her and asked gently.
“Mm.”
“Alright, go on in. I’ll wait for you outside.”

“Okay~.”
The world fragment Myrtle found for Jiang Cha was a bit special.
It was a small shard of a high-energy world. Against anyone above the level of a Great Witch, it was essentially useless—but for a special case like Jiang Cha, it was extremely effective.
Of course, the trade-off was that the inside of the fragment was quite dangerous.

Based on what she’d learned, the beings inside these fragments were incomplete. If they left this “black box” world, their powers would either weaken drastically or vanish entirely. But within the fragment, bound by the internal rules, they retained the strength of their “original forms.”
Some might appear like mere projections, but their essence was fundamentally different.
“Really…”

The moment she stepped through the gate, Jiang Cha found herself in a sparse grove.
On the surface, it looked picturesque—birds singing, flowers blooming, clear waters, and rolling hills.
But to her senses, this place felt utterly dead.
Not due to a lack of vitality or incompleteness, but because there were no souls here.
Not a single living thing possessed one.

A seemingly timid rabbit hiding under a tree root stared warily at the girl who had just appeared. But even its expression was no more than a scripted response, simulated by the will of the world fragment.
Its essence was akin to virtual reality created by the witches—a hollow shell with no true substance.
“To collapse a world fragment, we need to disrupt its ‘script.’ Change the endlessly repeating puppet show, let the errors pile up, and eventually cause the world’s will to crash…”
“As expected, I’ll have to find the ‘destined protagonist’ here first…”

According to Myrtle’s intel, this fragment belonged to the “fantasy” category. But what kind of story it was reenacting, Jiang Cha would have to find out for herself.
She closed her eyes and sent her mental power outward, searching for a trace of reality in this fabricated world.
The so-called “protagonist of destiny” was, in essence, no different from the rabbit earlier. Just a more prominent character in this scripted play.

But the rules surrounding them were stronger, consuming the majority of the space’s calculation power—making them easy to distinguish from the “supporting roles.”
“…Already?”
Jiang Cha opened her eyes, surprised.
She’d only scanned a small area, but something odd had already appeared.

It was a monkey.
To be precise… a monkey girl?
She wore a wreath on her head, and her face was mostly hairless—almost human-like.
Aside from the thick fur covering her body like clothing, she didn’t differ much from a person. She lay sprawled on a tree branch, dozing in the sun.
From time to time, she’d lazily pluck a peach and take a bite, still half-asleep.

“Looks like my luck’s pretty good today.”
Jiang Cha smiled, pleased, and strolled toward the monkey girl as if taking a casual walk.
“Fantasy world… monkey…”

“Could this story be tied to that character?”
The unmistakable sense of déjà vu triggered Jiang Cha’s caution.
If her guess was right, this fragment might be far more dangerous than she’d anticipated.
But she couldn’t really blame Myrtle.
With her Great Witch power, Myrtle couldn’t step into this world fragment herself—doing so would cause it to collapse instantly.

So… maybe Jiang Cha’s luck wasn’t as good as it seemed.
“Is this really…?”
Still, looking at the utterly defenseless monkey girl—who didn’t even react when she approached—Jiang Cha sighed, beginning to doubt her theory.

After all, the legendary “Great Sage” from another world, recorded in witch history, was not only… male, but also definitely not this lazy or oblivious.
Regardless, the monkey girl in front of her was the destined protagonist of this fragment. If she wanted to accomplish her mission, she had to make contact.
“Hey~ little monkey, wake up, time to get up.”

She activated mental magic and language synchronization.
Though Jiang Cha was speaking in Chinese, the monkey girl heard it as her own native tongue.
(Not to be confused with beast communication—communicating with truly unintelligent animals who lack writing systems is a job for druids.)
“Huh…? Who the heck dares disturb Grandpa Monkey’s nap…”

Grumbling irritably, the monkey girl shouted even before opening her eyes.
But once she did—and saw the black-haired, red-eyed girl sitting on a tree branch, half-lit by dappled sunlight, looking like both angel and devil—
Her voice faltered.

She didn’t know what love at first sight was, but she could tell her heart was beating faster.
In the countless repetitive days she’d endured, this sudden change felt… precious.
“Hey, little monkey lady, have you heard of a place called Water Curtain Cave?”

The girl seemed not to notice the change in her expression, asking with a smile.
“What’re you doing there, human ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) girl? That place is crawling with monsters—they’ll eat you if you’re not careful!”
Of course she’d heard of Water Curtain Cave.
A bunch of dumb monkeys on the hill had gathered there lately.
She hadn’t bothered to fight them for it—no benefits, and she could get hurt.
Not worth it.

“Because it sounds fun!”
The girl spread her arms with longing in her eyes, then pouted with mock indignation.
“And don’t underestimate me! If a goblin dares cross me, we’ll see who comes out on top!”

“You?”
The monkey girl examined her closely.
She sensed no demon qi, no immortal energy, no magic power.
Her bone age matched her appearance—just a teenager.
She snorted.

“Yep, just me! So are you taking me or not?
I’ll have you know, I’m an expert on peaches. I know where to find the best ones!”
Seeing the monkey girl’s disbelief, Jiang Cha grabbed her arm and started acting spoiled.
Her slightly raised chest rubbed against the monkey girl’s furry arm, making her blush.

She quickly pulled away, flustered, and pushed the clinging girl off.
“Alright, alright! It’s just Water Curtain Cave—Sister Monkey will go with you!”