Hmm, just hide in her own room. After all, except for herself, only those four teammates will enter her room, and they are all trustworthy, so there's no problem.
The Black Sheep Witch decided this.
After such a bout of joking, the two of them did indeed become reacquainted, the initial awkwardness gone. Dorothy took on a more serious attitude and began to humbly ask for advice.
"Alright, Koreya, now it's your turn to teach me. You're the second strongest Magic Girl alive. Teach me how to use the Magic Equipment," Dorothy said.
Although the Homebody Witch was finally not lacking in Magic Power, she quickly discovered a new problem: there was too much of it, and her frail human body was struggling to cope. She felt like a balloon inflated to the max, as if she would burst at any moment even without casting spells.
But the problem wasn't a big one; it was simply because she had slept for too long. Her five-hundred-year-old antiquated body couldn't keep up with the times. Once she learned the modern Magic Equipment techniques, this issue of the Magic Power's insatiable expansion would be solved.
"Tsk, even though Denisha meant well, soaking me in pure Life Magic Power for five hundred years is quite the extravagance," the Homebody Witch muttered to herself.
She now understood what the sudden surge of Magic Power inside her was all about—it was all due to the excessively nourishing green nutrient solution in the hibernation pod, which wasn't just any nutrient solution. It was Life Essence, specially formulated by Denisha to nourish her body. The concentration was so high it had liquefied. Even a pig soaked in that stuff for a few years would turn into a Magical Beast, let alone herself, who had soaked for over five hundred years.
Highly concentrated Life Essence, even in the later Witch World, was considered an incredibly precious treasure. Just a sip was said to prolong life, and even witches of later times weren't so extravagant as to use it for baths.
Denisha had become decadent. The revolution had not yet succeeded, and yet she was living so lavishly. Surely, such valuable treasures should have been used by her comrades first. What need did a "vegetable" have for it?
Upon learning the truth, Dorothy wanted to criticize her Childhood Sweetheart for the waste, but when the words reached her lips and she saw Denisha in her plain Nun's dress, she stayed silent.
After all, all that Life Essence was purchased with Denisha's own salary. She, as the Leader of the Magic Republic, should have had exceptional treatment.
Not to mention living like an Emperor, building palaces, and selecting concubines, at the very least, a few manors or villas with some maidservants would have been normal.
But in reality, Denisha continued to live as simply as the Shepherdess of the past, still residing in the small chapel left by Adam, and even the Nun's clothing she wore were those same few sets that have been patched and mended for years, to the point where probably not a single thread of the original fabric remained.
She had forgone all the pleasures she was entitled to and allocated all her resources to this "vegetable" sister of hers, exchanging them for Life Essence to nourish her.
As the beneficiary, Dorothy really couldn't bring herself to complain.
She could only work hard to not let Denisha's efforts go to waste. At the very least, she had to perform well enough to justify soaking in Life Essence for five hundred years.
How could someone as money-conscious as the Homebody Witch tolerate such waste? She always believed in getting what she paid for. Since she had already taken such a great advance on resources, she had to live up to her own worth.
"Now I can't help but get serious about this, eh? The military funds have already been advanced, so my combat ability must match up. Gear up for battle, then. After all, it's just a dream, and gear in a dream doesn't count as real equipment," she convinced herself.
...The Homebody Witch convincing herself...