Witch Training Manual: My Water Magic Is Wrong

Griffin turned his head.

Bernie, the mayor's simple-minded nephew, ran over.

After the Demon Tide, Wilford reassigned him from the watchtower to the city gate, telling him to "stop staring at people's clotheslines all day" and ruin his reputation.

Bernie stood there wearing chainmail three sizes too big, the plates dangling down to his knees. His helmet was askew, obscuring half of his eye, while his other eye stared wide-eyed at the carriage behind Lancelot.

"Griffin! Are you crazy?! You took their money and let them into the city, what if they're bad guys?"

Griffin stuffed the gold coins into his pocket, patted his chest, and made a muffled sound.

"Bad people? Do they look like bad people to you?"

Bernie turned his head, his gaze sweeping over Lancelot's face, then over the paladins behind him, then over the group of woman traffickers, and finally landing on the carriage.

"Like," he said.

Griffin's lips twitched.

"How is it similar?"

"It's like everything," Bernie said seriously, "but it just won't work."

Griffin paused for a moment.

"What do you mean, 'no'?"

"They can't go in," Bernie said softly but firmly. "I think there's something wrong with them."

Griffin sighed.

"Young Master Bernie, this is a caravan. Do you understand what a caravan is? They're for doing business. Business people all have this look in their eyes. Shrewd, sharp, with a calculating edge. It's normal."

"It's not that kind of problem," Bernie shook his head.

"What kind of problem is that?"

Bernie opened his mouth, then closed it again.

He really couldn't explain it.

He just felt something in the carriage that made him uncomfortable. It was like someone had breathed on the back of his head, a cool sensation.

Griffin tucked the gold coins into his pocket: "Alright, alright, you stay here and keep watch, don't delay them from getting in."

Bernie stopped him again.

"What's wrong now?"

"Then you have to promise me..."

Griffin's lips twitched.

"What did I promise you?"

Bernie leaned closer and lowered his voice.

"The purple one worn by the widow in the east of the city..."

Griffin quickly covered his mouth.

"Okay, okay, I promise you. Tonight, after dark, I'll go with you." Griffin's voice was squeezed out through clenched teeth, "But now, don't delay my chance to make money."

Bernie pulled his hand off his mouth.

"Then you have to keep your word."

"You keep your word."

"Don't lie."

"I'm not lying, I'm not lying."

Bernie then stepped aside.

"OK!"

Griffin's lips curled into a grin.

"That's more like it." He turned around and waved to Lancelot. "Go on in, go on in."

Lancelot nodded slightly.

Thank you.

The procession began to move into the city gate.

Meanwhile, on the other side of Frost Town.

Inside the church, Wayne was in the courtyard, holding a pair of scissors, trimming the flowerbeds.

Vera poked her head out of the kitchen and said that they would have stewed beef for lunch, and that it should be stewed for a while longer. She told him to wait in the yard and not to go far.

Wayne responded and continued cutting flowers.

The panel popped up.

[Frosttown - North Gate - Live Footage]

Hena's party had entered the city. Guard Griffin let them through for two gold coins. Bernie Wilford had tried to stop them, but Griffin persuaded him with the promise of "the purple of the widow of the east city." Bernie's intuition was correct, but he didn't know what he was wary of. His mind wasn't working properly, but his body sensed the abyss's presence. As Hena's carriage passed by, his hair stood on end for three seconds.

[Note: Griffin had no idea what he was doing. He only knew that two gold coins were enough to feed his family for three years. Whether those people were bad or not was none of his concern. He was just a city guard, earning five copper coins a month; it wasn't worth risking his life for.]

Wayne paused for a moment with his scissors.

coming.

Faster than expected.

He continued cutting flowers.

A new message popped up on the panel.

[Hena - Purpose of this Trip]

[True purpose: To make a bet. The bet's opponent: Lilith, the Demon of Desire, the cat previously sealed within Aldrian. The bet: To let her experience ultimate pleasure.]

[Note: Lilith's vision is to make the world more depraved. She is a well-known radical in the Abyss, believing that humanity's suppression of desire is a sign of civilization's pathology. She was sealed inside one of Aldrian's cats hundreds of years ago, and she yearns for freedom. This freedom requires certain conditions to be met.]

[Note 2: Hena is her good friend. Hena is a conservative and doesn't like causing trouble, but Lilith is an exception. Their friendship spans over four hundred years. Therefore, Hena often helps Lilith find ways to break the seal.]

[Note 3: Hena longs to be exorcised by you again. Not out of fear, but out of an itch. Last time in your dream, your exorcism gave her a sensation she had never experienced before. It felt like… well, never mind. In short, she wants more.]

Wayne's scissors stopped in mid-air.

Lilith.

Audrey.

That cat.

He remembered.

Back in Audrien, a black cat often perched on the wall opposite the church, its green eyes fixed on people entering and leaving. He assumed it was just an ordinary stray cat and paid it no mind. It wasn't until the panel appeared that he discovered the secret.

He had looked up Lilith's information at the time.

The church archives were thoroughly searched, but only a few lines could be found: Lilith, the Demon of Desire. Sealer: The Third Pope of Saint Hilde. Date unknown. Reason unknown. Method of sealing unknown.

He later investigated the relationship between St. Hilde and Lilith.

This time we found more information, but not much of it was useful. The scriptures of St. Hilde mention Lilith, saying she "seduced the priests of the temple into lust," "corrupted the pure," and "defiled the sacred." They say she once sneaked into the Great Temple of St. Hilde, stayed inside for seven days and seven nights, and emerged wearing the papal robes.

What happened inside the Great Temple?

no one knows.

All that is known is that from then on, St. Hilde's attitude towards desire became even stricter than before. The prohibition against marriage for clergy was enforced from that period onward.

It was said to be "to resist the corruption of demons".

But Will felt that it wasn't just that...

I was just thinking about it.

A head popped out next to Wayne.

"Owner!"

Wayne turned his head away.

"Um."

"What are you thinking about, Master?" Emma leaned closer to look. "Your brows are furrowed so tightly."

Wayne placed the scissors on the stone platform beside the flowerbed.

"It's nothing."

"You're lying." Emma crouched down, resting her chin on her hands. "Every time you say 'it's nothing,' you're thinking about something. Vera said so."

Wayne glanced at her.

"What else did Vera say?"

Emma thought about it.

"Vera also said that when a boy has something on his mind, don't ask too many questions, it'll just annoy him. Just sit next to him and he'll talk about it when he's ready."

She stood up and moved a stool next to Wayne.

"Master, you can speak whenever you want. It's okay if you don't speak."

Wayne smiled.

"Tell me, you didn't just come here to sit, did you?"

Emma rubbed her hands on her knees twice.

"Owner."

"Um."

"I want to kiss my master."

Wayne reached out and ruffled Emma's hair.

"Where's your sister?"

"She's in the kitchen," Emma said, pointing towards the kitchen. "She's stewing beef with Vera. Vera said the beef needs to stew a little longer today, and she asked her sister to keep an eye on the fire for her."

Wayne nodded.

Emma sat on the stool, swinging her legs back and forth. Her pale red eyes swept around the yard before returning to Wayne's face.

"Owner."

"Um."

Aren't you going to the church foyer today?

"No, I'm not going. I don't have anything to do today."

"What about the afternoon?"

"I won't go this afternoon either."

Emma's lips curled into a smile.

"So you spent the whole day in the yard?"

"Um."

"That's great." Emma said, leaning against Wayne's lap. "Then I'll stay in the yard all day."