Seeing the knight take his leave, Roland returned to the table. “You can heal small animals, so why do you think witches are evil?”
“The teacher said, witches can do things ordinary people can’t. Sometimes it doesn’t seem bad, but it’s a trap set by the devil to lure more people…” The girl's voice lowered. “I, I really haven’t seen the devil, I swear.”
“Of course you haven't. It's just a lie of the church, and your teacher is one of the deceived,” Roland comforted.
“The church is lying?” Nana Water widened her eyes. “Why?”
Roland shook his head and didn't explain. Even if he said it, they wouldn't understand. When civilization has not developed to a certain level, this kind of bizarre thing always happens. Even without the promotion of interests, people will automatically attribute natural disasters, wars, or incomprehensible phenomena to imaginary behind-the-scenes masterminds – historically, most of the blame has been placed on women.
In this world, after witches possessed real power of unknown origin, they became an easier target for the church. Think about it, the church can never let this anomaly go. Either all witches are canonized as saints, claiming it is a gift from God, or witches are hunted, claiming they are spokespersons for the devil. However, once the former is chosen, the authority of monotheism will be greatly hit—because the emergence of witches has nothing to do with the church. What if churches that believe in other gods also canonize witches as saints, and everyone is chosen by God, then whose God is the only true God?
The prerequisite for polytheism to coexist is that the gods truly exist and can restrain each other. Since gods do not exist and are all symbolic objects fabricated by words, why let the other party share this world? Therefore, any monotheism will claim that it believes in the true God, and for heretics, there is only one way to go, and that is to completely eliminate them. Similarly, they can only choose the latter, sparing no effort to attack witches.
This has nothing to do with preference, only with interests.
There were live chickens in the castle kitchen. When the knight came with its wings, it was still flapping and kicking.
What happened next stunned Nana Water. Roland took out a silver dagger from his waist, asked the knight to hold it steady, and stabbed the chicken. After stabbing, he asked Nana Water to treat it, heal it, and then change the method to continue... again and again.
When the chicken, which had been tortured for half a day, finally died, Roland had a rough understanding of Nana Water's abilities.
She can restore damaged parts, including lacerations, fractures, and bruises. If the part is completely missing, such as cutting off the chicken feet, she cannot make new claws grow. But if the broken claws are reattached and the ability is used, the break can be restored as before. Finally, she cannot reverse life and death. Once the chicken dies, her treatment is ineffective.
Throughout the treatment process, Roland did not see the "sticky water" she described. She simply put her hand on the chicken's wound, and the wound could be restored at a speed visible to the naked eye. After a series of experiments, Nana Water's physical exertion was not great, at least not as sweaty as Anna during training.
The only one who was dissatisfied was Nana Water herself. She felt that treating the chicken like this was too much, and she kept pouting and glaring at Roland until the end of the experiment.
“Okay, stop glaring, let’s eat something,” Roland had to use the trick of "summoning afternoon tea" to divert her attention. This trick works well against Anna. He believes that few girls of this age can resist the temptation of delicious desserts. And the fact proves that Nana Water's performance in front of exquisite pastries is not much better than the former.
After eating the pastries, Roland asked someone to send Nana Water away. Anna asked puzzled, “Why don’t you keep her? She is a witch, just like me, right?”
“She still has family, and her family hasn’t found out she’s a witch yet.”
Anna said in a low voice, “It’s only a matter of time.”
“Yes, only sooner or later,” Roland sighed, “So it’s better to delay it as long as possible. Do you… miss your father?”
She shook her head, and her eyes, as calm as a lake, did not ripple at all. It seems that being betrayed by her father has completely disappointed her. But without relatives, she still
will have friends.
“Nana Water will come often. In fact, I plan to let her come here every two days to practice her abilities.”
Hearing this, she blinked her eyes and nodded quickly.
“Do you want to be like her, return to Karl's Academy, and study with other children?”
Anna didn't answer, but he felt that he heard the other person's heart.
“This situation won’t last long… as long as I’m here, you will eventually be able to live like ordinary people, and no one will arrest you and send you to the gallows no matter where you go. That day will come,” Roland said word by word, “I promise.”
*******************
Since Karl Vanbert took over the project, Fourth Prince Roland suddenly became idle.
He spends every afternoon in the castle garden, accompanying Anna or Nana Water to practice. Now Anna doesn't need to prepare extra clothes for training. Even if flames jump on each finger, she can skillfully operate them without accidentally igniting her witch hat as before.
Nana Water also put on a set of the same witch uniforms. Although she was reluctant during the training, she still pouted and did it honestly for the sake of afternoon tea. Watching the two witches wandering around in the yard, Roland's wicked taste was greatly satisfied.
Occasionally, he would go to the foot of the North Slope to see the progress of the project. After more than two weeks of construction, the city wall has been built for about a hundred meters. In an era without theodolites for ranging, Karl directed the craftsmen to use a wooden pole to determine the distance and straightness based on the shadow of the sun at the same time every day. A watchtower is set every ten poles to stabilize the city wall.
Such a large-scale use of people naturally attracted the attention of the nobles in the town, but they did nothing except ask Barov about the situation, as if it had nothing to do with them. Roland didn't care about this at all. These people's family properties are all in Longsong Stronghold, and they will never stay here to help him defend Border Town. He can even imagine these people gathering together privately and laughing at himself for being overwhelmed.
Not only nobles, but also merchants. The merchants who used to buy animal furs in Border Town have begun to set off back to the stronghold after seeing that there is nothing to buy this time. The dissatisfaction of returning empty-handed is naturally vented on the ruler, Roland. The saying that Graycastle's Fourth Prince Roland Wimbledon is still engaged in large-scale construction before the arrival of the Demon Month is simply stupid and ignorant, has spread along the Redwater River.
At this time, probably no one thinks he can defend this town, and most people don't even think about it. After all, the impression the Fourth Prince left on everyone did not include being brave in battle. No matter what he is doing, he will eventually obediently return to the stronghold to take refuge.
In this way, amidst the discussions of the crowd, Roland ushered in his first winter after crossing over.
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