Witch Training Manual: My Water Magic Is Wrong

the next day.

Wilford arrived just as dawn was breaking.

He looked very energetic.

"Sir, what should we do with those people?"

Wayne stood in front of the icon in the foyer, holding a white cloth in his hand, wiping the dust off the icon's base.

"Burn some, let some rest."

Wilford paused for a moment.

"Sir, are you still going to release them? If you release them, aren't you afraid that the Church of St. Hilde will cause trouble?"

Wayne draped the white cloth over the icon's arm and turned around: "Some of those people didn't have blood on their hands. But they were accomplices."

Wilford frowned.

"Accomplices are still criminals. If we release them, they'll go back and complain, and St. Hilde's Crusade will come. What can Frosttown, with its limited resources, possibly use to stop them?"

Wayne looked at him.

"Who says they'll complain?"

Wilford didn't understand.

"If they go back and complain that we burned their people here, do you expect them to keep it a secret for us?"

Wayne stepped down from the icon and sat down on the bench.

"Mayor, I have a question for you."

"Please speak."

"If the people of St. Hilde receive news that the Wiggins Church in Frosttown burned their people, what do you think they will do?"

Wilford thought for a moment.

"Send troops to raze Frosttown to the ground."

"Yes. But what if they receive information that there's been internal conflict within the St. Hilde mission, with members killing and burning each other?"

Wilford's eyes lit up instantly after hearing what Wayne said.

"Sir, you mean...let them judge themselves?"

Wayne nodded.

Wilford punched his own palm.

"Brilliant! This idea is absolutely brilliant! Let them interrogate and kill each other. When St. Hilde asks later, it'll be that there was a traitor within your own ranks, and you cleaned out your own ranks. What does that have to do with Frosttown?"

He became more and more excited as he spoke, raising his voice by half an octave.

"Sir, what's wrong with your brain? How could you even come up with such an idea?"

Wayne glanced at him.

"Let's do it tonight. The trial will begin tonight."

Wilford straightened his chest.

"Okay! I'll go down and get ready!"

He turned around and strode out. He almost tripped on the threshold when he reached the door, stumbled, steadied himself, and continued walking without looking back.

Wayne withdrew his gaze and turned to walk towards the backyard.

He had just turned the corner when he ran into the two sisters.

"Owner!"

Emma ran up to Wayne and looked up at him.

"Master, may we attend tonight's trial?"

"cannot."

Why?

Wayne looked at her.

"You're too young; that kind of scene isn't suitable for you to watch."

Emma's lips twitched, and just as she was about to say something, Ella stepped up from behind her. She stood in front of Wayne, her expression serious.

"Master, I'm actually not young anymore."

The panel then appeared.

[Ella - Current Status]

[Status: Starting one morning, she was no longer the little girl who would only hide behind her younger sister. She learned to be grateful to Goddess, to face her desires, and to achieve self-breakthrough in the darkness. She even learned to remain calm in your presence.]

[Note: She doesn't want you to see her through the eyes of a child anymore. She knows that in your eyes, she and Emma will always be those two twins rescued from the slave market—thin, timid, and in need of protection. But she has changed. She wants you to see this change and acknowledge it.]

[Note 2: To be honest, she seems to feel increasingly uncomfortable sleeping with you and her sister. It seems Emma is becoming more and more interested in knowledge outside her current understanding.]

Emma jumped out from behind Ella, hands on her hips, chin held high.

"Master, I'm not small either!"

Wayne looked down at her.

"How old are you?"

Emma puffed out her chest.

"Anyway, it's not small."

Wayne remained silent for two breaths.

"Go ahead then. But stand at the back and don't push forward."

Ella's lips curved into a slight smile, which Wayne noticed.

Emma also peeked out from behind.

"Me too! Me too!"

"OK."

Wayne turned around, took two steps toward the front hall, and then stopped. He turned his head and looked at Ella's face.

"By the way, Ella."

"Um?"

"Take some time to give your sister some common sense."

Ella paused for a moment.

"What common sense?"

Wayne's voice was gentle.

"Naturally, it's some everyday knowledge. The goddess is never stingy with the growth of roses. She also needs to understand this world further."

Ella's ears slowly turned red.

"Yes, yes...yes, Master."

The panel popped up at this point.

[Ella - Current Status]

[Status: Ella understood. You only said one sentence, and she understood everything. In some ways, she's intelligent. But clearly, too intelligent.]

[Note: She believes it's best for sisters to be together.]

[Note 2: She decided to find a suitable time, a suitable method, and teach Emma the right content little by little. She couldn't rush it, or Emma wouldn't understand. Nor could she go too slowly, or it wouldn't be effective.]

Looking at the panel, Wayne fell silent.

The common sense he mentioned is truly everyday knowledge.

It's nothing else.

For example, kissing won't get you pregnant...

But Ella clearly didn't understand.

No. She understood.

But the direction is not quite right.

Forget it.

Wayne turned his gaze away from the panel, deciding to drop the matter. Some things only get more complicated with explanation; it's better to let time resolve them. Anyway, Ella is a smart woman; he's confident she'll raise her sister well.

After Wayne left.

The redness on Ella's face hadn't completely faded yet.

Emma tilted her head to look at her.

"Sister, what did Master say?"

Ella opened her mouth slightly, then closed it again.

Her gaze shifted from Emma's face to Wayne's retreating figure, then returned to her.

"It's... knowledge about goddesses."

Emma's eyes lit up.

"The knowledge of the goddess? What knowledge of the goddess? I want to learn too!"

"I'll teach you when we get back."

Emma nodded vigorously.

"good!"

Ella's gaze fell on Wayne's retreating figure, and the corners of her mouth curved slightly, a faint but genuine smile.

She turned her head and looked at Emma.

"Let's go back."

"Why go back?"

"study."

……

Night fell quickly.

Four rows of torches were planted on the open space on the north slope, illuminating the entire open space as bright as day.

The crowd was even larger than last night. Almost all the residents of Frost Town had come, and people from several surrounding villages had also come, pushing wheelbarrows, using crutches, and carrying children, crowding the open space in layers.

A dozen or so wooden stakes stood in the center of the open space.

The missionaries of St. Hilde were tied to stakes, with thick hemp ropes wrapped around their shoulders and waists, again and again.

Gleeve was tied to the very middle stake, in the most conspicuous position, and the rope was tied the tightest.

Wayne stood on the steps in front of the wooden stake.

He was holding a roll of parchment in his hand.

"Fellow villagers of Frosttown."

The crowd quieted down.

"Today, we stand here not for vigilante justice, not for revenge, but to ensure that those who deserve punishment are punished, that those who deserve to die die, and that those who deserve to live live."

He unfolded the parchment.

"The following is a list of crimes committed by those judged guilty by the Goddess. Greve, clerk of the Foreign Affairs Department of the Holy See of St. Hilde. Over the past seventeen years, he has recorded a total of forty-eight 'artificial witches.' Among them, there were thirty-one adult women, twelve underage women, and five men. The youngest was six years old, and the oldest was seventy-three years old. All forty-eight people were executed."

Someone in the crowd gasped.

"In addition, other participants..."