I Became a Witch and Started an Industrial Revolution

Chapter 1: Crossing into a Magical World

‘This is… where?’

‘I didn’t die?’

The reborn An Ning struggled to open her eyes, but the dazzling brightness made them water uncontrollably.

She blinked rapidly, but the tears welling in her eyes blurred her vision, allowing her to see only the culprit that made her cry.

Countless small glowing specks of light seemed to be floating around her.

An Ning instinctively tried to sit up, but no matter how hard she tried to control her body, her hands remained weak and powerless.

She couldn’t even feel them.

The loss of control over her limbs made her panic.

‘I’ll be damned, am I crippled?!’

‘Come to think of it, I was crushed by a bookshelf. If I only ended up crippled, wouldn’t that count as good luck?’

Her ragged breathing startled awake the woman who had dozed off beside the luxurious bed.

The woman forced open her swollen eyes, and when she saw An Ning awake, she rushed to her side and gently touched her forehead.

The feverish heat from before was gone, and with joy she shouted toward the door:

“Anje! Quickly! Go and fetch Father Karls, Mitia’s fever is starting to fade!”

A young girl’s voice from outside was equally filled with delight: “Really? Madam, I’ll go right now!”

An Ning frowned.

Her vision seemed faulty, as though she had activated some infrared scanner.

She could see human shapes but not their details.

Not knowing what was happening, she chose to close her eyes again.

At least she could be sure of one thing—she was not dead.

That alone was enough.

Before long, she heard the door creak open, followed by a calm middle-aged man’s voice whispering softly near her.

A warm power flowed into her body.

The man in spotless white priestly robes turned to Eliza and nodded.

“Awakening successful. Congratulations.”

Relieved at last, Eliza leaned on Anje and covered her mouth, sobbing quietly.

The middle-aged priest’s face showed pity.

The beautiful marquise before him, with her belly already swollen, had nearly lost her father-in-law, her husband, and her child all within one week.

Thankfully, the child had survived.

Otherwise, the poor woman would have been dragged to the stake by the furious people.

After weighing the matter, the priest sighed and said:

“Marquis Ackerman and Marquis Harmon sacrificed themselves for the nation. Without doubt, they are both heroes of the kingdom! My lady, please accept my condolences.”

Eliza wiped her tears and whispered: “Yes! I will always be proud of my husband and father-in-law. I will raise and properly teach the children of the Astal family!”

Meanwhile, An Ning, feigning sleep, was dumbfounded.

“I actually died and crossed over?!”

She had just graduated as a cowardly university student and hadn’t even stepped out of campus.

She had skipped thirty years of detours and become the school’s librarian right away.

How had she already died within a year?

Crushed to death by a collapsing bookshelf… just perfect.

But then again, wasn’t this fitting?

A crispy shark was indeed crispy, fragile yet stubborn.

Even flattened into a paper figure, she could still be reborn…

…

Time passed quietly.

In the middle of the vast estate, beneath an ancient tree, the Astal family servants set up a grand parasol with chairs and tables.

After recovering from her grave illness, the marquis’s eldest daughter came here almost every day to sit for hours and take the marquise out for a walk.

“This drought… who knows when it will end. The people of the land must be suffering so much now, sigh…”

A year had passed, and though Eliza had barely emerged from grief, her beautiful face still carried a trace of sorrow.

Even the exquisite pastries on the table before her could not stir her appetite.

“Three years of tax exemption, relief grain distribution… Kambesburg and Sivius City have already raised their grain prices fivefold. We have already done everything the Astal family could possibly do.”

“Sadly, there are already reports of poor folk starving to death. Just yesterday, more than a dozen cases occurred, and the number is rising.”

The silver-haired girl sitting quietly beside her lifted a teacup brimming with milk-scented red tea and said calmly.

Her violet eyes held no hint of emotion, as though she were merely commenting on how good the tea was today.

In truth, her attention was fixed on the projection in her retina—a dynamic diagram showing the internal and external structures of an early steam locomotive, along with its operating principles.

Yes, this girl was An Ning.

After waking, she had discovered a strange system in her mind, filled with countless technological materials—though most of it was locked.

While recovering, she had been studying both this new world and whatever knowledge she could access from the system.

When she heard that people were starving to death, Eliza could not help but ask: “What more can we do?”

An Ning—now Mitia—shifted her gaze back and shook her head.

“There is nothing we can do. If we buy at five times the price, then next time it will be ten times… twenty times… until we are completely drained of money.”

“Mm-mmm…”

She patted the golden-haired little one squirming and whining in her arms, then continued:

“Mother, it is not that we turn a blind eye, but that the power over food lies not with us. It is those grain-hoarding nobles and merchants who cut off the commoners’ lifeline.”

Eliza’s chest heaved with anger as she cursed: “Those greedy, damned parasites! They should be hanged in the barren wheat fields!”

Mitia actually nodded in agreement.

“Yes, if that happens, next year’s wheat harvest will certainly be much better.”

Before Eliza could say more, a maid hurried over, bowed, and said:

“My lady, a caravan has arrived outside. They claim to be from Kambesburg and request to see you. All their wagons are filled with grain!”

Excitement filled the young maid’s tone.

She was a child born and raised in Uruk City, and her family too had suffered from the famine.

“They’re here? Then let’s go, take me to them.”

The little one resting drowsily against her neck stirred as Mitia rose to her feet.

Eliza, who moments ago had been burning with fury, now covered her mouth in surprise.

She quickly realized what had happened.

“Mitia… you bought it?”

Mitia nodded slightly.

“I bought it at five times the price. But afterward they raised it to ten times. That is why I so strongly agreed with what you said earlier—they truly should be hanged in the wheat fields.”

“I assure you, you will one day see it happen.”

Eliza gazed lovingly at Mitia’s departing back.

The little one who had once waited eagerly for her parents and grandfather to return had truly grown up.

And yet…

Eliza wrinkled her nose and glanced at the column of smoke rising from the depths of the estate.

“I wonder what Mitia is tinkering with this time… filthy as always.”

…