In a faraway world, a dimension that's unreachable by normal means, a certain witch sat on her throne. With a hand to her chin and a loud yawn that's unbecoming of royalty like her, she casually browsed a floating green panel before her eyes.
"Boring..."
In a voice that sounded like the whispers of cherubs from heaven, she let out a tired sigh.
"The interdimensional shop really hates witches. Not only are our consumable items expensive, they're almost always out of stock!" she grumbled as she closed her eyes.
Her blood-red lips curled into a frown as she let out another sigh.
But when she slowly reopened her sharp, golden eyes, a small grin pulled at her lips. "Still, this newbie guy... I wonder who he is? How is he stocking those Voodoo Dolls so fast?"
The page she was staring at for a while now was a certain seller.
One that she found by sheer coincidence... and had been buying items from for two days in a row now.
Still, just from a glance—with how the name was still the default, randomized string set by the interdimensional shop—the woman could tell that whoever it was, was truly a noob in this business.
"Still, it wouldn't be so bad to nurture this seller... I wouldn't even mind if he raised his prices a bit more," she murmured to herself. "Hmm...?"
But just then, she noticed that the page she was looking at suddenly got updated.
It started changing, starting from the shop's name—Hexel—and a short but decisive, almost arrogant, description. Just reading it, the woman could tell that this "Hexel" was aiming to sell mostly witch items—an idea that she wholeheartedly welcomed.
Then, shortly after, Hexel started posting items for sale.
In particular, he put a total of 180 Voodoo Dolls for sale, all priced at 1,200 Colts each.
"He spiked his prices?" The woman raised a brow before smiling. "Well, knowing the effectiveness of his items, this is still too cheap."
Without a hint of hesitation, she bought up all the Voodoo Dolls instantly, leaving not a single one behind.
"With this many dolls, my daughters would definitely improve their skills faster...!"
Just as she was thinking of closing the shop window, she felt a nagging feeling not to—almost as if the world itself was stopping her from missing something.
Witches are beings that stay true to their desires and those who listen closely to the voice of nature. Thus, she didn't ignore this feeling and stayed, curious.
"What else is coming...?" she mumbled with a hint of excitement.
Then, finally, she noticed a new item being added—at the auction slot of the shop. And it was only a single item at that. The woman checked it and saw the image of a doll—a Substitute Doll.
"What, so this is it?" she sighed, disappointed. "I was hyped for nothing..."
Almost by reflex, she tapped on the bid and, as per her usual style, doubled the initial bid instantly—10,000 Colts for the item!
"This should at least help this maker to gain confidence and extra funds—"
But just as she was rationalizing her generosity, her eyes caught sight of the item's description. At first, she thought she was seeing things, but a moment later, after rubbing her nose bridge and rereading it, she couldn't help but gasp.
"What the fuck?! It's actually a treasure...!"
It wasn't only a high-quality doll, but it was even at maximum level!
Of course, there's no way it was just a scam. The item's descriptions are managed and approved by the interdimensional shop itself, so there's no way to tamper with them. Anything that's written there should be 100% true, with not a hint of lies!
But that wasn't the thing she focused on.
Rather, it was the bid price that was rising by 5,000 Colts every passing moment. Just after blinking her eyes once, the price had already inflated to 100,000 Colts!
The bidding war was intense, and without a doubt, all witches were drooling to get their hands on it. After all, just this one item should be able to let them march toward their enemy's domain and wreak havoc without fearing a counterattack!
As proof, the names of those in the bidding history were extremely familiar to her.
"Those bitches, they dare covet my item...!"
She growled, slamming the staff that was leaning against her throne.
"I, Queen Wisteria Hallbach, hereby declare! Anyone who dares covet my items shall face great calamity...!"
And without hesitation, Wisteria—at the same time she padded the bid to 500,000 Colts—released a powerful curse. A curse that spread not only throughout her entire world of Witcheria, but even to worlds beyond their dimension!
A curse so strong that, if her targets weren't royalties of other places, then they would've died then and there!
"Tsk!"
However, just as she feared, the bid still increased further.
The "opponents" didn't get intimidated by her curse at all. No, rather, they even counterattacked!
Curses rained over Wisteria's castle like there was no tomorrow—curses that wouldn't lose out in strength to the one she just used.
Even their barriers were helpless against dozens of curses hitting at once, some landing on her successfully, too. Wisteria glanced at the doll to her right, a Substitute Doll that had been passed down in her royal family—one that's just two levels below maximum, level 8.
Still, even that doll of hers cracked under the pressure of multiple top-level curses hitting simultaneously.
"...Bitches!" But instead of becoming scared or angry that her family's royal treasure was damaged, she grinned fiercely. "If a war is what you want, then bring it on...!"
It was at that moment that the entire witch community was shaken awake.
A chaos that spread over a short span of 30 minutes, but caused collateral damage that could rival a hundred years' worth of war.
"I... got it...!"
But in the end, although battered and sapped of all her energy, by sheer grit and ingenuity, Wisteria still won the final bid!
An item that would replace their broken royal treasure—something that, for sure, would protect their country for centuries to come!