Er Mu - Release that Witch

Roland frowned as he asked, “you did not thoroughly investigate the situation?”

“Your Highness, to resume mining was the priority,” the assistant minister protested, “The revenue from that iron mine accounts for half of the production of this town, and the guards confirmed that someone at the scene was killed by witchcraft.”

“What kind of witchcraft?” Roland asked, interested.

“The head and a large part of the body were spread out on the ground as if they were melted. The corpse looked like a used up candle,” the minister said with a look of disgust. “Your Highness, be glad you didn’t see such a scene.”

Roland started playing with a silver fork thoughtfully. Historically, most of the victims of the inquisition witch hunt were innocent, tools for the church to maintain control over the populace or possibilities for ignorant townspeople to vent their anger. Sure, a small part of the accused caused their own downfall. The kind of people dressed that oddly while mixing together all sorts of strange material, claiming that they could predict the future and knew the conclusion of life and death.

The truth was those people did figure out some tricks, such as the use of chemical reactions, but then they used that to claim that they had gained the power of the gods.

To modern eyes, these were just some simple chemistry tricks, but in medieval times, those could easily be misrepresented as incredible phenomenon.

As for melting people, the first thing Roland thought of was an acid solution.

But it would be a hassle to prepare those kinds of things, and you would also need to thoroughly soak the body with it, but it wouldn’t look like a burned down candle, as for other methods they were out of the question.

Then how did she do it?

If she relied on alchemy, and that was rare, maybe…

Roland thought until there and then said in a determined tone, “Take me to see her.”

The Assistant Minister was shocked for a moment before spluttering, “Sir, you want to see the witch?” Barov stood up in panic, knocked over the cup with the milk which he hadn’t drunk.

“Yes, this is a command.” Roland said looked back and smiled at the assistant minister, he was now really thankful for the fourth prince’s unreasonable style.

Roland went over to the door but suddenly paused, asking, “Right, I have to ask, why would we use the gallows?”

“What?” Barov said.

Roland reiterated his question, “Why would she be hanged? Shouldn’t witches be burned at the stake?”

Barov face seemed puzzled as he asked, “Isn’t it true? But she is not afraid of fire.”

***

The dungeon was small, this barren land could not afford to have too many prisoners. Most criminals would face trial after a few days and either be released or killed.

In addition to Barov, the Prince was entering the dungeon with the Knight Commander, the prison warden, and two guards.

The dungeon had a total of four levels and the walls were built out of hard granite blocks. It was Roland’s first time being at this kind of place and he noted the deeper he got, the narrower the hallway became.The number of cells was also reduced. He thought they probably they dug a pit in the form of an inverted cone first, and then build layer after layer out of stone.

This rough project would of course not have a good drainage system. The ground was wet and the muddy sewage was flowing down the stairs, down to the last floor.

Obviously, the witch was at the bottom of the dungeon. Each layer they went down, the stench in the air became thicker.

“Your Highness, you are risking too much by doing this, even though she is sealed with God’s Locket of Retribution, it isn’t safe.”

It was Carter who had spoken. As soon as he knew that the prince was planning on visiting the witch, he immediately went after the prince, advising him all along the road to stop going over. But it was all for naught, even the repeating the direct command of the king not to engage in any dangerous situations had no effect. Obviously, he wasn’t only a pretty face, he was also a chatterbox. After being subjected to this for some time, Roland only wished that someone would sew his mouth up. “You must look evil in the eye before you face it on the battlefield and stand toe to toe.I thought you knew that.” he said.

“In addition to fighting the evil with courage, it is also important to assess one’s capabilities and act accordingly; reckless behavior is not considered courageous.” Carter rebutted.

“You mean to say that if you ran into an enemy weaker than you, you hold justice, but if he is stronger than you, you will turn a blind eye?” Roland challenged.

“No, Your Highness, I mean …” Carter stammered.

“Before you were already afraid of a witch raid, and now you are even afraid to see a little girl, my Knight Commander is indeed fearsome.”

Although the knight was a good speaker, he didn’t excel at debate, encountering a smooth talker like Roland he completely lost. Taking advantage of this effort, the group reached the bottom of the dungeon.

This floor was many times smaller than the one above, with a total of only two cells. The warden lit the torches on the walls and as the darkness faded, Roland saw the hunched over witch in a corner of her cell.

It was already late autumn and the temperature in the dungeon was low enough to make people see white fog when they took a breath. He wore a fur coat with silk lining inside, so did not feel cold, but the girl only wore coarse linen that couldn’t even fully cover her body with her arms and feet sticking out and turning blue.

The suddenly lit up torches made her cringe away with her eyes closed. But soon, she was able to open her eyes and looked straight at them.

It was a pair of pale blue eyes, like a calm lake before the onset of heavy rains. There was no fear on the witch’s face and you couldn’t see any anger or hatred. Roland saw a vision, it was as if what he saw in front of him was not a weak little girl. Instead, it appeared as if he was in front of a raging flame. He suddenly felt that the torch light from the walls was a little dim.

The girl tried to stand up while leaning against the wall, in slow-motion as if afraid to fall. But in the end, she ultimately stood up and hobbled her way out of the corner, allowing the light to cover her.

Already such a simple movement, yet it made his men suck in several breaths of cold air as they even retreated two steps back, only the Knight Commander could resist and stood in front of Roland.

“What is your name?” Roland asked the witch and patted the knight on the shoulder, indicating that he did not need to be so nervous.

“Anna,” she replied.

“In the end, what happened when the mine collapsed, can you repeat it for me step by step?” Roland asked.

Anna nodded and began to describe it.

Roland was a bit surprised, he expected her to stay silent or to angrily curse at him, but instead she just responded with, “ask whatever you want,” and obediently told her tale.

It wasn’t a complicated story, but a sad one nonetheless. Anna’s father was a miner and when the mine collapsed, he was at work. Immediately after they got the news of the collapse, Anna and the other miners’ families went over to help rescue their loved ones. The North Mine was previously rumored to be an underground monster lair with many forks in the road, extending in all directions. Since the rescuers were under no unified command, the volunteers separated after arriving at the mine entry so that when Anna found her father, only her neighbors, Susan and Ansgar were by her side.

Anna had discovered that her father’s leg was crushed under a full ore cart and he couldn’t move, but at his side was another miner patting him down, searching for her father’s money. As the looter saw them arrive, he took a pick and rushed at Ansgar and knocked him to the ground, but just at the moment when he was about to strike her, Anna killed him first.

Anna’s neighbours vowed that they would never say anything about this matter, and with their help Anna rescued her father. But before dawn, the next day, Anna’s father went out on his crutches and reported to the patrolling guards that his daughter was a witch.

“Why?” Roland, when he had heard up until this point, could not help but ask.

Barov sighed and answered, “Probably so he could receive the gold reward. The discovery and reporting of a witch, can get you 25 gold royals. For a man with a crippled leg, these 25 gold royals are equivalent to what he could earn for half a lifetime of work.”

After a moment of silence, Roland asked, “Your opponent was a strong and grown-up man, how were you able to kill him?”

At this Anna laughed, and the flames of the torches shook, just like high waves on a previously calm lake’s surface.

“It was exactly like what you think, I used the power of the devil.” Anna said.

“Shut up! Vile sorceress!” Shouted the warden, but everyone could hear his voice trembling.

“Is that true? I want to see it.” the fourth prince was unmoved by their antics as he calmly said.

“Your Highness, this is no laughing matter!” The Knight Commander interjected as he furrowed his brows.

Roland stepped out from behind the protection of his knight, step by step moving closer towards the cell as he said, “Everyone who is too afraid of her can leave, I did not ask you to stay here.”

“Don’t panic, she has a ‘God’s Locket of Retribution’ around her neck!” shouted Barov loudly to comfort everyone, but likely also to reassure himself, “no matter how powerful the devil is, he cannot break God’s blessing.”

Standing in front of the prison bars, Roland and Anna were at arm’s length and he could clearly see her dusty and bruised cheek. Her soft facial features showed that she still was a minor, but her expression did not have any traces of childishness. More than that, even anger was hard to find. It was the kind of disharmonious thing Roland had only had seen on TV.

It was the face of a wandering orphan who had suffered from poverty, hunger, cold, etc… but it was not exactly the same, normally in front of the camera the lost children always stood with a bent and beaten down body, their head down, but Anna did not.

From the beginning until now, she had still tried to stand straight with her gaze slightly raised, calmly looking into the prince’s eyes. She did not fear death, Roland realized. Instead, she was waiting for death.

“Is this the first time you have seen a witch, my lord? Your curiosity might get you killed.” Anna said.

“If it was really the power of the devil, you would absolutely not be in this current situation,” Roland responded, “If that were true, it is not I should be fear death, but your father.”

The fires in the prison suddenly became dark, and this was definitely not an illusion, what seemed to be like suppressed flames were soon left with only tight flame clusters. Behind himself, Roland could hear the sound of rapid breathing and prayer, as well as the muffled sound of panicked people accidentally falling down.

Roland’s heartbeat accelerated and he felt himself at an unusual turning point. On one side was the world with common sense, which was in accordance with the laws and constants that he knew, not one thread loose, And on the other side was an incredible new world, which was full of mystery and the unknown. And right now he was standing in front of this world.

Hung on her neck is actually the ‘God’s Locket of Retribution’? What a simple and crude locket, Roland thought.A red iron chain with a sparkling and translucent pendant, if the witch did not have both her hands handcuffed behind her back, couldn’t she use a quick pull to destroy this kind of thing?

Roland glanced at the crowd behind him, who were still mouthing prayers in panic. He quickly reached into the cell, grabbed the pendant, and with a little tug the necklace’s chain snapped and then crashed down broken, the move startled even Anna.

“Come on.” Roland whispered.

Are you in the end a liar, some type of alchemist, or are you a real witch? If you now take out bottles and jars and start compounding acids, I will be disappointed, Roland thought.

Roland then heard a crackling sound, which was the noise of the thermal expansion of water vapor. Thanks to a dramatic rise in temperature, the water on the ground beneath them had changed to steam.