Chapter 1 The News of Burning Witches

The news of burning witches spread throughout the city in no time.

In this dark and chaotic era, people's thoughts were highly restricted. Noble lords and ladies might still rely on garden parties, hunting, and endless banquets to pass the time. However, the entertainment activities of the common people were almost non-existent. Under the dual pressure of the church and the nobility, any behavior that expressed emotions could be labeled as "witchcraft." This extreme "thought purification" instead gave birth to even more extreme and twisted emotional venting: witch hunts.

From the early morning, the sky was covered with dark clouds. Layers of leaden clouds enveloped the city, then hung low like a cover over the horizon. The weak sunlight could not penetrate the clouds and could only leak out a hazy halo in the gaps between the clouds, unable to illuminate the earth. The cold wind mixed with moisture swept through the moldy streets and roads flowing with sewage and sludge, filled with the stench of corruption.

In this dim light, the whole city seemed to be filled with death. This terrible weather seemed to be an ominous sign. Old people walked onto the streets, watching the low-hanging dark clouds, praying and chanting the name of the Holy Spirit. They remembered the long-circulated superstitious stories – about the demons hidden underground, the death announcers wandering at night, the crying ghosts in the small attics, and the cemetery outside the city that was said to mysteriously disappear when the fog descended. They believed that this weather at least indicated that one of these evil forces was at work and warned their families not to go out at such times.

However, for most people in the city, the burning of a witch was still more attractive than bad weather.

A large number of commoners passed through the gates of the inner city early in the morning and gathered in the square. They were even willing to wait here for several hours just to watch a burning at the stake. The high platform on one side of the square was prepared for the nobles. Lords who were interested in "watching" could calmly arrive on the high platform in carriages and wearing warm furs. However, ordinary people had to get up early to occupy a place in the square. Such a "grand event" also spawned many people who made a living from it. Some specialized in helping people grab places in the square, some built wooden platforms on the roofs outside the square, and two or three small coins could get these "premium seats" with good views. Even more small vendors set up stalls outside the square, preparing to earn enough bread and bacon for the whole family for a week from this burning at the stake. If it weren't for the bad weather starting in the morning, the number of these vendors would have been twice as many.

Hao Ren and Lily didn't arrive early enough, so when they arrived, there was almost no place to stand in the square. But the two of them relied on enough strength and agility to squeeze in smoothly, and after causing a series of curses and complaints along the way, they came to a location very close to the stake. Lily curiously tiptoed and looked around. Even in human form, she still seemed to have a tail wagging hard behind her: "Wow – so this is what a medieval witch burning looks like..."

"After all, people in this era don't have many entertainment activities," Hao Ren said casually. "This is an era where even if a couple's *pa pa pa* is too loud, they might be reported as heretics. People only have 'watching' executions left to vent their emotions."

"Tch, so perverted," Lily muttered in a low voice. She also saw the vendors and idlers making money from the burning at the stake. She had seen descriptions of this in books, but reading a book was one thing, seeing it with her own eyes was another: some markets and attractions in later Europe developed on this basis. Now, seeing is truly believing. "Speaking of which, Madam Marie seems to have arrived. I smelled their scent."

Hao Ren nodded: "Yeah, we'll play it by ear later."

After speaking, he looked up at the direction of the stake, quietly waiting for the witch named "Hesperianna" to be escorted up.

He didn't wait long.

The witch sentenced to burning at the stake had to be escorted into the venue in advance. The process of binding the witch to the stake to be shown to the public was itself part of this crazy "entertainment." Therefore, after the hay and fuel were ready, Hao Ren saw a strangely styled prison car drive in from the entrance in the back half of the square: the prison car was pulled by a pure black pony wearing a blindfold. There was a dark iron cage on the car. The bars of the iron cage were surprisingly thick, and countless chains were tied crisscross between the bars. Every few rings of the chain, there was a ring that showed a silvery-white luster. It was actually made of pure silver. Around the prison car, you could also see many crosses and sharp spear-shaped decorations—Hao Ren believed that those things were not just for decoration.

These things meant that the person in the iron cage was a real witch, not a poor victim.

The witch sat quietly in the center of the cage. She was wearing a simple coarse cloth dress, tied with a dark blue belt. Her long black hair covered most of her cheeks and hung down to her waist. There were no decorations on her hair. Surprisingly, there were no whip marks on the witch's body, and even very little dirt, as if she had not been abused in the church's dungeon: this was simply unbelievable in this era.

Hao Ren heard someone in the crowd seemed to be talking about things related to this witch. They mentioned that this witch possessed great power and was difficult to harm even when surrounded by holy water and crosses. It was said that whipping and stabbing could not leave scars on her body, and even executioners who got too close to her would be affected by miasma and curses – she only showed some fear of flames, so the church finally decided to give up "judging" her and instead burn her directly in the square.

He didn't know if these rumors were true or false.

At this time, the witch was finally transported to the stake. She was wearing heavy chains, and even when she got here, the people responsible for escorting her didn't seem to have any intention of taking off the chains: they seemed to plan to tie this witch to the stake along with these instruments of torture. Looking at the menacing appearance of the two burly men escorting the witch, Hao Ren couldn't help but wonder what the witch had done to scare these fierce gods and evil spirits.

A gust of wind blew past, blowing away the witch's long hair that hung in front of her face, and her face was finally completely exposed to Hao Ren.

It was a face that was a bit more tender than Vivian's, but the outline was almost exactly the same.

Hao Ren couldn't help but exclaim, "Damn... it's really that little bat spirit?!"

Lily also said in unison: "Landlord, landlord, it's really Hesperianna!"

Hao Ren was now in great shock—although he had previously guessed that the Hesperianna in Madam Marie and Helen's mouths was the mischievous child he knew, he had never been sure, for only one reason: how could Hesperianna be caught by humans?

Such a freak who drank holy water like garlic, wielded the Bible and silver sword without any problem, how could she be caught by a human church with only basic exorcism abilities?

She inherited Vivian's magical talent and was completely unafraid of those common exorcism methods!

Hao Ren couldn't help but stare at the "instruments of torture" on Hesperianna's body. Most of those instruments of torture were just ordinary steel, mixed with some silver parts in the middle. Perhaps those silver parts were also blessed with salt and holy water, but they were still worlds apart from the holy silver used by demon hunters. Not to mention such a chain, even if the human church built an airtight dungeon out of pure silver, it might not be able to trap Hesperianna!

He noticed the expression on Hesperianna's face: although she was bound by heavy chains and was being tied to the stake, there was no frustration or fear in her eyes at all. On the contrary, her expression was only a piece of calm, and a hint of well-hidden playfulness.

After dealing with this mischievous child many times, Hao Ren knew a little bit about her little expression: that was the expression of a trick about to succeed.

"Something bad is going to happen," Hao Ren said in a low voice. "This time something bad is going to happen!"

"Landlord, are you talking about Hesperianna? It's okay, we'll just rescue her—this time she owes us a big favor!"

"I'm not saying Hesperianna is in trouble, I'm saying those witches are probably going to be in trouble—Hesperianna was deliberately caught!"

"Awooo?"

At this moment, Hesperianna had been firmly tied to the stake. The shackles on her body and the buckles on the stake were tightly locked together. The click of the shackles locking seemed to wake her from her thoughts. She raised her head and lazily glanced around the square.

Then she saw the expression on her face instantly stiffen, and a huge "what the fuck" seemed to burst out.

A thin man in a robe stood on the platform near the noble seats and began to read out the charges according to a piece of parchment (according to medieval practice, these charges were basically all "standard articles" fabricated out of thin air):

"...Sneaking into the cemetery after nightfall, engraving symbols that blaspheme the dead on the tombstones...

"Holding witchcraft meetings, summoning demons from hell in the apple orchard, and killing an innocent adult man along with the demons...

"Insulting the regional bishop's mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and going back to..."

The thin man's reading was circuitous and verbose, making people drowsy, and the witches in the crowd had already stood in several predetermined positions, stepping on the Leyta runes set up in advance.

Hesperianna suddenly turned her head and shouted loudly at the high platform: "Are you done yet, you xx! I've admitted it, so hurry up and light the fire! You xx! Your whole family's xx are all xx of xx! Hurry up and light the fire!"

A series of jaw-dropping curses resounded in the square, and everyone on the scene was in an uproar. The thin man, who was as expressionless as a zombie, did not react at all, and continued in a unhurried tone: "Publicly insulting the judge on the stake, as well as the judge's mother, the judge's father, and fabricating the impure behavior of the judge's family members..."

Hesperianna cursed: "I xx your xx!"

Madam Marie's voice followed a second later: "Move!"

A cloud of locusts instantly covered the sky and swept towards the square from all directions, and the ground under everyone's feet also seemed to wriggle like a living thing. The people gathered in the square instantly let out huge exclamations, followed by screams of crying for their fathers and mothers—everything instantly became extremely chaotic!

Several figures rushed towards the stake, and Hesperianna let out a final roar in this chaos:

"Where the hell did this bunch of idiots come from to rob the execution ground, ah ah ah ah ah!!"