Witch Training Manual: My Water Magic Is Wrong

Chapter 203 Andrei's Choice

Wayne turned his head to look at the giant beast.

"You're here?"

The demon wolf nodded slowly.

The group was now at a standoff.

Wayne looked away, raising his voice by half an octave.

"Aren't the people inside coming out?"

silence.

A long silence.

Then the hotel door opened.

Andrei walked out of the door.

He stood on the steps, his gaze sweeping over Wayne's face, over the giant beast, over the townspeople holding torches, the guards with spears, the mercenaries with longswords, and finally back to Wayne's face.

"Bishop Wayne, is there some misunderstanding?"

Wayne looked at him.

"Misunderstand?"

Andrei's smile remained unchanged.

"We, Saint Hilde, have come to Frosttown to spread our faith, to eradicate the witches, and to protect the people of this land."

"Protection?" Wayne interrupted him, glancing sideways at Wilford. Wilford stood beside the cage, one hand gripping the iron bars. "Your so-called protection is capturing innocent villagers, turning them into demons, and then killing them?"

Wayne's gaze was sharp.

"Over the years, how many times has your St. Hilde clan arbitrarily arrested people in Frost Town, framing civilians as witches?"

Andrei's face remained expressionless.

Without waiting for his reply, Wayne turned his head to look at the hotel entrance.

Gleeve was leaning against the door frame, his legs still trembling.

"If you don't believe me, ask the person next to you."

Greve's body stiffened abruptly. His gaze shifted from Wayne's face to Andrei's, lingering for only a moment before quickly looking away. He looked like he'd done something wrong.

Andrei turned his head and glanced at him.

Greve lowered his head.

Andrei looked at the other three combat priests.

They are the same.

The noise of the crowd surged in from all directions.

"Look, they've all stopped talking!"

"They're feeling guilty! They're feeling guilty!"

"That's exactly right! They didn't capture any witches, they just captured innocent residents of Frost Town!"

"Those dogs in white robes!"

Andrei stood still, the torchlight shining from his side, dividing his face into light and shadow.

Wayne looked at him.

"It's rare to see a self-proclaimed righteous and perfectionist believer so stupid."

Wayne took a step forward.

"You think you understand your men, that they are as devout and upright as you are. But you don't even know what they've been doing right under your nose."

Wayne looked directly into Andrei's eyes.

"You don't even know how much innocent blood you've spilled over the years. Look at your own hands! See if they're clean, see if there's any ashes from the people you burned to death on them. Smell them, can you still smell the burnt odor?"

Greve stood next to Andrei.

His legs were trembling, his voice was trembling, but his face had the ferocity of someone on the verge of death.

"You're talking nonsense! What proof do you have?!"

He turned around, lunged at Andrei's feet, and grabbed the hem of Andrei's robe with both hands.

"My lord, you must believe me! They are all witches! The residents of Frosttown are protecting witches; they're trying to cover up the truth! You can't believe their one-sided story, my lord! They are witches! You saw their eyes too; they're completely black—that's the mark of a witch! The witches of the witch rebellion five hundred years ago had eyes like that! It's clearly written in the scriptures! You can't doubt me just because a priest from a small border town spouts a few nonsense! I've served Saint Hilde for fifteen years, fifteen years! How could I possibly lie to you?"

Gleeve became increasingly anxious as he spoke.

"My lord, think about it. If they weren't witches, how could their pupils be completely black? If they weren't witches, how could they possess magic? These residents of Frosttown have been deceived by witches. They don't know how terrifying witches are, they don't know how kind witches can pretend to be! But you know! You are the Cardinal candidate of St. Hilde, you are the messenger of the goddess, you cannot abandon me at this time!"

Wayne laughed, looking at Greve as if he were watching a clown putting on a great show on stage.

"evidence?"

He took a step forward.

"What evidence do we need? Those people in the cages were yesterday peasant women from Willow Village, blacksmith wives from Stone City, and tenant farmers' daughters from Black Soil Slope. They've lived around Frost Town for years, decades, even twenty years. The people of Frost Town know them better than you do."

He paused for a moment.

"But you, a bunch of missionaries from elsewhere, have captured seven or eight 'witches' in less than three days. Do you know them better than their neighbors who have lived with them for decades?"

Greve turned away from Andrei's feet, his face still wet with tears, but his expression had changed from pleading to ferocity.

"You're talking nonsense! You're slandering without any evidence! Slandering missionaries of the Church of St. Hilde, do you know what that crime is?"

Wayne took a step forward.

"You fools, have you ever seen what a real witch is like?"

He turned around and faced the crowd.

"Witches, the kind who slaughtered religious leaders and ruled the continent for eighty years five hundred years ago, were born that way. A witch's magic comes from her bloodline; it's innate and doesn't need drugs to activate it or external forces to inject it."

He turned his head and his gaze fell on the women in the cage.

"And these people, they were drugged and turned into this. They weren't born witches, they were created demons. The secret formula of the St. Hilde Tribunal uses the blood of abyssal demons as the core ingredient, supplemented with thirteen kinds of herbs."

He turned back and looked at Andrei.

"This is your St. Hilde's 'witch extermination.' If you can't catch any born ones, just create a few yourself, then kill them. You get results, you get credit, you get a promotion. As for those who were drugged, who cares?"

Andrei looked at Greve.

Is he telling the truth?

Gleevet fell silent.

Andrei's voice rose half an octave.

"I'm asking you, is what they're saying true or not?"

Gleeve's lips trembled slightly, and tears welled up in his eyes.

"My lord... I... I did all this for you..."

His voice was trembling.

"Do you know how precarious your position at St. Hilde is? There are seven candidates for cardinal, and you're fifth. The four ahead of you, aren't they all from illustrious families? Aren't they all backed by powerful connections? What do you have? You only have achievements. The achievement of eradicating the witch."

He looked up at Andrei.

"My lord, there are only so many witches on the entire continent. Every one you capture is one less you have. And their reputation is so widespread. If you don't create witches, where will your merits come from? Without merits, how will you be promoted? Without promotion, how will you surpass those four? If you can't surpass those four, you'll be a cardinal candidate for life, a cardinal candidate forever!"

Andrei stood there, like a tree struck by lightning.

The branches are still there, but the heart of the tree is dead.

His expression was extremely complex at that moment.

Greve scrambled to his feet, grabbed his sleeves with both hands, his face streaked with tears and snot.

"My lord, I've done so much for you, you can't abandon me now...you can't..."

Andrei did not look at him.

His gaze fell on Wayne's face.

"I will definitely investigate what happened today. If they did it, I will give you an explanation."

Wayne looked at him.

"Explain?"

Andrei's voice wasn't loud, but every word was steady.

"Gleeve is my man. He's been with me for eight years. In those eight years, he hasn't made a single mistake."