Er Mu - Release that Witch

Roland looked at the expression on Karl’s face with satisfaction, and once again asked, “What do you think, will three months be enough?”

Karl van Bart’s voice somewhat shivered,”If you’re right, no, no, I mean… If the alchemical workshop described this matter correctly, I… I’m willing to try.”

“Very good, I will let people summarize the detailed information of cement for you. If there are still anything else you need to discuss with me, then feel free to talk with my assistant minister,” Roland laughed, “Mr. Karl, from now on you will be the chief of the employees’ office. “

On the next day Roland saw Nana in the afternoon. The little girl stared blankly at Anna, clutching her clothes for a long time, before saying, “I’m already… Dead?”

The first time Roland saw her, he had to admit that the power of the witch did not only give them the ability to use magic. To some extent, it also changed their appearance and temperament. She and Anna were very different types, but both of them had a unique charm. This feeling had nothing to do with age, and it was also unrelated to their situation. Even when Anna was in jail, waiting for her death sentence, the radiance she emitted still continued unabated. He searched through his entire memory, whether it was a noble lady with a very good upbringing or a street walker in Graycastle, neither had given off such an aura. If one insisted on describing it, then compared with other woman, it was as if the witches were the colors in a black and white photograph.

She was brought over by Karl van Bart, who afterward retired tactfully, leaving only Roland, Anna, and Nana in the backyard. “You’re not dead, Anna too is alive and well,” Roland had to hold back a smile, “I’m the fourth Prince Roland Wimbledon, and you’re —.”

“I’m Nana Pine,” when the little girl heard that she herself did not die, her expression turned lively again. She ran straight to Anna’s side, beginning to chatter with her, unconcerned, disregarding the identity of Prince Roland Wimbledon. Roland naturally didn’t care what a 14 — 15-year-old girl had to say. Instead, he leaned on the round table and poured himself some ale, appreciating the ‘day-to-day behavior’ from the side.”

Anna was clearly a little bit calmer now. In the time Nana would take to say more than ten sentences, Anna would say only one. Having said that, while Anna was only seventeen, she already exuded a big sister kind of feeling. Roland couldn’t help but think, “When she grows up, how outstanding will she become?”

When Nana’s speaking slowed down, he coughed, and opened his mouth, then asked, “Miss Pine, I heard from your teacher that you have awakened as a witch?”

Compared to the vast majority of people who used the word “Fallen” when becoming a witch, Roland preferred the term “awaken”. He was not naïve enough to think that all witches were immaculately white, people who already had a malevolent personality would only bring about greater destruction. This was the same with weapons, they could produce violence, but they could also be used to resist violence. The crucial point in it was in the person who was holding the weapon.

Perhaps the church’s propaganda of the massacres caused by witches was based on the facts, but using that as proof that the whole witch community was guilty was the greatest of injustices.

Nana’s face once again stiffened, she whispered, “Will you hang me?”

“No, of course not, the gallows are for heinous criminals. You are not one of those and Miss Anna is not one either, so do not worry about that.”

She took a breath and nodded, “I’m not sure… The teacher said witches were coerced by the devil and afterward gained some kind of evil powers. C-could I be possessed? Moreover, I have never seen the devil.”

“When did you find out that you, yourself, have become different?”

“Roughly a week ago,” Nana muttered, “I saw a bird with a broken leg and wanted to help it. …… And suddenly, I felt something flowing out of my hands.”

“There were things flowing out?” Roland asked, “What happened then?”

“Ah… It suddenly enclosed the bird like a sticky bubble of water,” Nana’s head tilted when recalling this, “Then the bird’s leg was healed.”

Does she have the power of healing? Roland’s heart began to race, he was very clear what this ability would mean. With the absence of antibiotics, there was no modern medicine here, people with traumas or infection would likely encounter death in these ages. As such, rapid wound healing was almost the equivalence of saving many lives. This ability was very limited in promoting the progress of civilization as a whole, but it had an amazing significance to every individual’s life.

He immediately went to the door, looking for a knight to bring a living chicken. If it could be proved that what she had said was true, he might be able to use this as a source to change the Border Town’s view on witches, ending the current situation of their ruthless persecution.

Seeing the knight accept his order and leave, Roland returned to the table, “You can heal small animals, so why would you think witches are evil?”

“The teacher said, witches can do what ordinary people cannot do, and sometimes it may not look bad, but that would be only a trap, set up by the devil to tempt more people… “The girl trailed off. “I really have not seen the devil, I swear.”

“Of course you haven’t seen him, that’s merely the church’s lie, your teacher was also deceived by them,” Roland soothed.

“The Church lies?” Nana’s jaw dropped down, “Why?”

Roland shook his head, giving no explanation. Even if he explained it, they wouldn’t understand it. Before a civilization develops to a certain extent, these kind of outlandish things always happened always happened. Even when no one benefited from it, people would automatically contribute natural disasters, man-made disasters, or incomprehensible phenomenons as a product controlled by someone behind the curtains — from historical point of view, this was a boulder which in majority women had to carry on their back.

And in this world, witches who owned a feasible power of unknown origin became an easy target for the church. Thinking about it, it was absolutely impossible for the church to ignore this kind of extraordinary appearances, no matter what. They would have to confer all witches as Saints, naming their powers as the gift of God; or kill all of the witches, stating they were the devil’s spokesperson. However, once you choose the former, the majesty of monotheism would receive a heavy blow — as soon as a witch not belonging to the church emerges. In the case of all religions believing in other gods labeling the witches as Saints, they would all be people chosen by God, and so whose god would be the only true god?

Polytheism could only exist on the premise that all gods truly exist, capable of restricting each other. Since God was nonexistent, this was all symbolic crap that someone had created by running off their mouth, so why permit the opposite side to exist and share this world with them? So anyone would claim their god as the true god and believe in monotheism. And when it come to a member of another religion, there was only one way to go — liquidation. In the end, they could only choose the latter option, to spare no effort in killing all the witches.

There was absolutely no relation to the devil; it was only for their own benefits.

A living chicken was prepared by the castle kitchen right away, and then the knight carried it by the wings, while it still fluttered and kicked in confusion.

The next thing made Nana dumbfounded; Roland took the silver knife from his waist and had the knight grab it so that he could stab the chicken’s body. When the chicken was wounded, Roland allowed Nana to come up and treat it, after curing it another stab followed… this way they proceeded over and over again.

After half a day, when the chicken finally took it lasts breath, Roland had a general understanding of Nana’s ability.

She could restore damaged parts, including cuts, tears, fractures and bruises. In case a part was missing, such as a cut off chicken leg, she could not make it grow new one. However, under full use of her ability the broken claw could be reconnected again, allowing the cut to be healed. Ultimately, she could not reverse death, once the chickens died, her treatment was ineffective.

During the entire course of treatment Roland did not see any trace of the “sticky water”, instead, she simply put her hand on the chicken’s wound, and the wounds would heal at a rate visible to the naked eye. After these series of tests, Nana’s physical exertion was not large; she was at least not sweating like Anna after her training.

Only Nana herself was dissatisfied, she felt that the treatment of the chicken was unfair, to such an extent, that at the end of the experiment she widened her eyes and pouted at Roland.

“Well, don’t just stare there, come and have something to eat,” upon seeing her, Roland without any better option had to summon the” afternoon tea” to shift her attention. This move was already tested against Anna; he thought that very few girls of their age could resist the temptation of delicious desserts. As it turned out, Nana’s performance in front of the pastries was not much better than the former’s.

After eating the cake, Roland allowed Nana to leave.

Anna asked, “Why did you allow her to leave? Just like me, she’s also a witch, right?”

“She still has her family, and at the present time her family has not found out, that she has become a witch.”

Anna whispered, “It’s just a matter of time.”

“Right, sooner or later,” Roland sighed, “so, it’s a little late, but… Do you want to see your father?”

She shook her head; no wavering was seen in her lake-like eyes. It seemed that the betrayal of her father had made her completely lose her hope. She didn’t have a family to return to before, at least now she had a friend.

“Nana will always come back, in fact, I’m going to have her come here every second day to let her practice her own ability.”

Hearing this, she blinked her eyes and nodded quickly.

“Do you want to go back to Karl’s college and learn together with the other children?”

Anna did not answer, but he felt that he could understand her inner thoughts.

“These kinds of circumstance are unlikely to last long… As long as I am here, you will one day be able to live like normal people, anywhere you go there would be no one to arrest you, much less send you to the gallows. One day this will be reality, “said Roland stressing every single word ” I promise.”

***

Since Karl took over the city wall project, fourth prince Roland suddenly settled down.

He spent every afternoon in the castle garden, accompanied by Anna and Nana. Now they had no further need to prepare extra clothes for Anna’s training, even if there were leaping flames on each of her fingers, she could still operate them skillfully. Now it was unlikely to be like before when a mishap occurred, igniting her own witch’s uniform.

Nana also changed her clothes into the same witch uniform Anna wore, at first she felt a little reluctant about the practice, but the afternoon tea session appeased her. Seeing the two witches come and wander around in his backyard greatly alleviated the bitterness in Roland’s heart.

Occasionally, he went to the north slope at the foot of the mountain to check the progress on the city wall. After more than two weeks of construction, the wall had already reached a hundred yards in length. In this era where a theodolite to measure the distance didn’t exist, every day, at the same time, Karl would have the craftsmen determine the distance and evenness by using the shadows formed by the sun with the help of a wooden pole. They built a watchtower every ten columns to stabilize the city wall.

Such a large-scale building project was naturally also noticed by the town’s nobility, but in addition to finding Barov and asking him about this project, they took no further actions as if this had nothing to do with them. Roland did not complain, since their possessions were at Stronghold Longsong, they would definitely not stay here and help him guard the Border Town. He could even imagine these people getting together and ridiculing Roland, saying he had overestimated his capabilities.

Not only had the nobility noticed the change, but the merchants as well. In the previous years, the traveling merchants would purchase animal fur, but now it appeared that there was no possibility to purchase it. One after the other, they began to set out and return to the stronghold. Naturally, the anger about their empty-handed return was vented to Roland. The news regarding the fourth prince Roland Wimbledon’s building project to repel the demonic beasts in the Months of the Demons had already spread along the Redwater River, many calling it just stupid and ignorant.