The Witch Lady Who Suddenly Fell in Love with Dressing Up

Winter days always flew by, especially when life became regular and fulfilling.

Ever since he had a minor test of his skills on the north slope that day, Lynch's days had grown increasingly busy.

Every morning, he would routinely check the spoils of the Abyss Gazer scarecrow at his door and dispose of the unlucky critters that had fatally crashed into it.

The afternoon was his fixed hunting time. He would take Kuma deep into the edge of the forest to look for solitary or small groups of low-tier magical beasts.

As the system absorbed the magic cores one by one, Lynch could clearly feel the magic power within his body slowly growing.

This feeling of steadily becoming stronger gave him a sense of security.

"Phew... another one down."

Lynch stood in the snow, skillfully digging the magic core out of an Icefield Rabbit and tossing it into his system inventory.

At the same time, a semi-transparent progress bar popped up on his retina.

Current Cumulative Kills: 128/1000

Prompt: When the kill count reaches 1000, the Tier 3 Promotion Quest will be automatically unlocked.

Looking at the massive gap that still needed to be filled, Lynch couldn't help but sigh.

"A thousand..."

"At my current rate of killing five or six a day, even if I don't rest a single day, it will take a very long time. And this is just the threshold to unlock the quest. Who knows how absurd the promotion quest itself will be... Oh wait, if it's another promotion quest related to Felsy, I might be able to find a shortcut. Anyway, the most important thing right now is the kill count."

Lynch scratched his head in distress. "It seems relying purely on this piecemeal approach won't work. I need to find a chance to wipe out a monster nest. Like a Goblin tribe or something?"

Complaints aside, Lynch didn't actually have much dissatisfaction in his heart.

As a transmigrator, he had inherited the original owner's memories and knew exactly what Tier 3 meant in this world.

For the vast majority of ordinary people, breaking through from Tier 1 to Tier 2 could be achieved by piling up effort and resources, but stepping from Tier 2 into Tier 3 was a massive watershed.

Take Rhodes, the guard at Asik's house, for example. He was in his forties and had extremely rich combat experience, yet he was still stuck at the peak of Tier 2, unable to advance an inch. A shortfall in talent, resources, or comprehension could cause a person to stagnate there for life.

Tier 3 meant a qualitative change in magic power or a martial artist's aura. It meant becoming a respected figure in a small town, or a centurion or even a vice-battalion commander in the army.

"Even though this system usually loves to be dramatic and doesn't speak nicely, at least the path it provides is clear."

Lynch looked at the progress bar, a smile curling the corners of his mouth. "As long as I kill a thousand, I can touch the threshold. In a world that judges you by your innate talent, this kind of hard work pays off mechanism is already incredibly generous."

"Isn't it just grinding? As a gamer in my past life, grinding is the last thing I'm afraid of."

Lynch put away the magic core and looked at the sky.

"It's about time to head back. I promised Asik today that we'd go to the town to check out that recruitment event."

"Besides... Felsy seems to have been looking forward to the roast chicken from that shop in Broken Gold Town for a long time."

...

Meanwhile, at Lynch's house.

The afternoon sunlight spilled through the gaps in the curtains onto the large, soft bed in the bedroom.

The bed, which was usually kept neat, was currently piled high with all sorts of clothes.

There was a new cotton dress gifted by the church, a silk shirt Lynch had bought from the town, and that white fox fur cloak traded for Wind Wolf pelts.

Felsy was standing in front of the full-length mirror, holding a light blue dress against herself. Her brows were tightly knit, as if she were pondering a major strategic issue concerning the survival of the world.

"Is this one... a bit too plain?"

Felsy looked at herself in the mirror and muttered, "Although blue can accentuate my aloof and elegant temperament, if I go to a noisy place like the town, won't it lack... well, presence?"

She put down the blue dress and picked up an off-white wool sweater next to it.

"This one is warm, and it feels nice. But the neckline is a bit too high, it covers my collarbones completely..."

In Felsy's mind, the image of Lynch helping her dry her hair a couple of days ago involuntarily surfaced, his gaze subtly sweeping over her neck.

That idiot, even though he didn't say anything, his eyes couldn't lie.

"He seems... to prefer seeing me in light-colored clothes?"

Felsy's cheeks flushed slightly, her fingers unconsciously twirling the tips of her silver hair.

"No... that's not right! What am I thinking!"

Suddenly realizing her thoughts had gone astray, Felsy quickly put on a stern face at her reflection in the mirror, trying to recover the dignity of the World-Destroying Witch.

"I'm just doing this for my disguise! Yes, a disguise!"

"There will be a lot of people and prying eyes in the town this time. If I don't dress like an ordinary, yet rather pretty human woman, what if someone sees through my identity as a witch?"

"Furthermore... as Lynch's nominal wife, if I dress too shabbily, it will be a loss of face for him too. After all, he's a Tier 2 powerhouse now; we still need to keep up appearances."

After this logically rigorous self-persuasion, Felsy comfortably picked up the light purple dress with the most tailored cut, the one that best accentuated her waistline and figure.

"This one it is. It doesn't lose its majesty, yet it's sufficiently... well, pretty."

Just as she was about to change her clothes.

Knock, knock, knock.

There was a gentle knock on the bedroom door.

"Come in." Felsy quickly concealed the conflicted look on her face and restored her aloof expression.

The door opened, and Kuma popped her head in before stepping inside.

"Lord Witch, Lynch will be home soon, shouldn't we prepare to..."

Halfway through her sentence, Kuma's voice caught in her throat.

Her eyes widened as she looked at the bed full of clothes, and then at Felsy, who was standing in front of the mirror holding a dress.

Her pair of red fox ears twitched uncontrollably twice.

"This..."

Looking as if she had just seen the sun rise from the west, Kuma had an expression of sheer disbelief. "My Lord, are you... picking out clothes?"

In Kuma's impression, the World-Destroying Witch who once dominated the Demon Continent had always worn a single black abyssal robe to the death.

The Lord Witch had always been utterly dismissive of superficial things like appearance.

In her own words: "Only the weak need to rely on their appearance to attract attention; the aura of the strong is enough to make all living beings submit."

But now?

What was going on with this bed full of clothes?

Was this still that decisive and ruthless Lord?

"What? Is there a problem?"

Felsy shot her a cold glance. Although her tone was flat, Kuma could clearly see that the tips of her Lord's ears were a little red.

"N-no problem at all!"

Kuma shook her head, driven by a strong survival instinct, but she still could not help muttering under her breath, "I just think it's very unusual... Back at the Scorched Earth Fortress, even when you attended the Demon King's banquet, you went fully clad in armor. I never expected you to dress up so grandly just to visit a tiny human town..."

"That is because there was no need to hide my identity back then."

Felsy interrupted her with absolute self-righteousness. "We are currently in the human heartland, and we must blend into our surroundings. This is called tactical camouflage, understand? Idiot."

"Tactical camouflage..."

Kuma looked at the dress, which was obviously designed to accentuate her figure, and rolled her eyes hard internally.

Yeah, right!

Who spends half an hour posing in front of a mirror for tactical camouflage?

This was clearly a woman dressing up for the man she likes! This was the pure instinct of a maiden in love wanting to show off her charm in front of her sweetheart!

"Yes, yes, you are absolutely right."

Not daring to expose her, Kuma stifled a laugh and walked over to help Felsy adjust the hem of her skirt. "Then how about your subordinate helps you choose? I think this purple one looks exceptionally good. Lynch definitely won't be able to take his eyes off you once he sees it."

"You talk too much."

Felsy gave a soft hmph, but she did not refuse Kuma's help. In fact, when Kuma praised her, the corners of her mouth curled upward into an uncontrollable little smile.

"By the way, Kuma."

"Yes, my lady."

"My hairband... do you think it would be better if I chose a brighter color?"

Kuma: "..."

My lady, your aloof facade is completely crumbling!