The letters carved on the bark had become somewhat blurred, but upon close inspection, they were still legible - showing Star Luo Residence's address and instructions promising a reward for delivery.

After carefully examining it twice, Luo Wei finally confirmed - this was indeed the piece of bark she had carved in her dream.

So, she really did visit the Misty Plains in her dream?

No, more precisely, her soul had traveled there while she slept?

"Where's the bird?" The sudden stroke of luck felt almost unreal.

Chris hurriedly replied, "It's in the courtyard. We've trapped it under a wicker basket."

Luo Wei strode to the eaves, immediately spotting the wicker basket being held down by two maids. Through the gaps, she could make out a black shadow.

Black?

An ominous feeling rose in her heart.

"Open it. Let me see," Luo Wei commanded.

As they removed the basket, a large black bird with fluffy feathers was exposed.

Light rain was falling, and the black bird's feathers were all wet, its soft chest and belly feathers clumping together damply, making it look quite bedraggled.

But... but this wasn't the iridescent bird she'd caught in her dream!

This bird's feathers were pitch black and messy, with a broad, plump head - clearly a raven.

Luo Wei stood silently, deep doubt showing on her face.

Had she remembered the dream wrong, or had the iridescent bird somehow transformed?

"Caw caw!"

The big-headed black bird shook its feathers and took two steps forward. Its little black bead eyes fixed on Luo Wei with an aggrieved expression.

Luo Wei: ...

That sound... actually seemed right.

She looked down at the raven and hesitantly asked, "Did you fly here from the Misty Plains?"

"Caw!" The raven puffed up its chest.

...Could it understand human speech?

Feeling somewhat perplexed, Luo Wei turned to ask Chris, "How did this bird get into the courtyard? Did someone bring it?"

Chris shook her head, "No one brought it. We checked outside! It flew down from the sky by itself."

Luo Wei turned back to the raven on the ground: "You flew here on your own?"

"Caw caw!" The raven flapped its wings, taking off and landing again, as if demonstrating how it had arrived.

Now even more curious, Luo Wei asked, "How did you know to come here? Can you read?"

No wonder it had watched so intently, without making a fuss, when she was carving the letters on the bark.

"Caw caw?" The raven shook its head, though it wasn't clear if it was shaking off water or indicating it couldn't read.

Luo Wei didn't speak bird language, making communication particularly challenging.

Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

"Never mind," she gave up questioning. "I said before, if you could make it here alive, I'd keep you for life. Whether you want meat or grain, go pick what you like from the kitchen."

"Caw caw caw?"

The raven called out eagerly, suddenly spreading its wings and shooting into her arms like a cannonball.

"Master!"

"Miss Luo Wei!"

Chris and Laura both cried out in alarm, thinking it was attacking Luo Wei, and moved to block it.

But the raven merely snatched the piece of bark from Luo Wei's hand, landed on the ground, and used its claw to point at the writing while pushing it toward Luo Wei's feet.

Laura seemed to understand its meaning: "Miss Luo Wei, is it trying to get you to look at the writing on the bark?"

Luo Wei looked down - all the writing was hers, what was there that she hadn't seen?

It just had her address and the reward... the reward?

She tentatively asked the raven: "You don't actually want the reward money, do you?"

"Caw caw!" To her surprise, the raven actually nodded.

Luo Wei's mouth twitched. The world was getting more fantastical by the day - now ravens were orchestrating their own kidnappings to claim rewards from her.

"Here, ten gold coins," she took them from her pocket and held them out.

The raven flew up excitedly, trying to grab them, but finding its claws couldn't hold them all, it cocked its head in frustration and landed back on the ground.

"Caw caw caw~"

"What do you mean? I can't understand you."

"Caw, caw, caw caw~"

"Are you saying you want me to hold onto them for you?"

After some difficult communication, Luo Wei finally understood what the raven wanted.

It wanted her to hang a wicker basket under the eaves as its nest, put the coins inside, and let it sleep on the shiny gold pieces.

As expected of the bird species with the largest brain capacity - it was practically achieving enlightenment.

Luo Wei had the maids attach some ropes to the basket and hang it in a spot sheltered from wind and rain, as the raven requested. They even put in some dry hay, and finally, she placed the gold coins in one by one while it watched.

The raven supervised the whole process, anxiously watching the maids' hands, afraid they might steal its coins.

While the maids were hanging the basket, it hopped around excitedly like a duck. As soon as the basket was secure, it immediately climbed in to test it out. Apparently satisfied with its new bed, it soon began emitting a long string of harsh, duck-like laughter.

Everyone under the eaves winced, their faces scrunching up in discomfort. Laura, with her sensitive hearing, couldn't help but cover her ears.

Luo Wei fell silent. If it made such noises every day...

At least she didn't sleep at Star Luo Residence at night - otherwise, if it made sounds like that in the middle of the night, she'd die of fright!

Luo Wei glanced up again at the swaying basket. This raven should be a junior magic beast like the iridescent bird, but ravens weren't migratory birds - they shouldn't travel such distances.

She wondered how it had crossed the ocean and found its way here.

If only someone could understand bird language to translate the raven's calls.

Unfortunately, the Western Continent had no such talents now, or rather, once had them but no longer.

Legend said merpeople and sirens were natural singers and linguists who could communicate with all creatures in the world.

At this thought, an image of a cold, pale face flashed through Luo Wei's mind - Stacy, the undead mermaid.

Surely she could understand animal calls too?

In the evening, the rain stopped.

Rosie and Hol Felix came down together after dark magic class, while Roman and Tom ran into the courtyard with their backpacks. The quiet courtyard soon filled with happy voices.

Half a month ago, Luo Wei had commissioned a custom chess set. With nothing else to do today, it was the perfect time to teach Roman chess, fulfilling her earlier promise.

"Roman, come here."

"Coming!"

They sat down at the round table. Luo Wei set up the pieces on the black and white squares and patiently explained the rules of chess to Roman.

Rosie, Hol, Tom and Laura gathered around the table to watch. Except for Tom, who grew more confused as he listened, everyone else's eyes grew brighter with understanding.

They began to play, with white moving first - Luo Wei let Roman take the first turn.

In the first game, Roman was still unfamiliar with the rules and lost badly, as expected.

In the second game, Roman had figured out how to play and tried to fight back, but he was no match for Luo Wei's cunning strategy and soon fell behind.

"The king! The king! Watch out for her check!" Hol was so excited he almost pushed Roman aside to play himself - the spectators were more nervous than the players.

Before long, dinner was ready in the kitchen, and they reluctantly set aside the chess pieces to move to the dining room.

After dinner, night had fallen, and Luo Wei and Laura dragged Hol back to the academy.

Just as the three entered the academy grounds, a dark figure jumped out from the side.

"Why are you back so late!" Theodore's ears were practically steaming with anger. "Do you know how long I've been waiting? Going out to play without me - that's too much!"

Gladys also emerged, giving them a reproachful look: "Luo Wei, Laura, Hol, the student council wants us to clean the lake surface." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ patreon.com/BZDXG - Unlock a HUGE stash of advance chapters now! Dive deeper into the story ahead of everyone else!

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.