Witch Training Manual: My Water Magic Is Wrong

Wayne looked at him curiously.

"You can still send people out?"

Renn nodded.

"Yes, it's possible, but it can only be given to one person."

Without hesitation, Wayne glanced at Emily and said, "Then you should send the person next to me away."

Emily paused for a moment, then realized what she meant. Her expression changed, and her tone became clearly resistant: "Me? I don't want to. I've finally managed to spend time with you, sir. Don't just send me away like that. I don't want to go out."

Renn glanced at Emily with some surprise, then at Wayne, and asked, "Your Excellency, who is this?"

"Emily".

Renn's mouth gaped open, and he stood there stunned for several seconds before stammering, "She...she's the legendary Lady Emily?"

Emily was completely bewildered by his reaction: "Hey, do you know me? Have we met before?"

Wayne added from the side, "He's from the future; maybe you'll be famous in the future."

Emily blinked, intrigued. She asked curiously, "What will I be like in the future?"

Ryan opened his mouth as if to speak, but swallowed the words back down.

He coughed twice, his eyes darting around, "Well... Lady Emily, you'd better not ask."

He paused, his tone tinged with lingering fear: "I already suffered once for accidentally revealing the Sage's affairs last time. If I were to reveal your affairs as well, I fear I would never be able to leave this city."

Seeing his appearance, Emily became even more curious: "What exactly happened to you?"

Renn's lips twitched, but he didn't say anything.

Seeing Ryan's hesitant expression, Wayne didn't press him further. Everyone has their secrets, and since Ryan was afraid to speak, there was probably something he was reluctant to say.

Wayne looked at Emily and continued, "What's coming next might be dangerous. I still have things to do in this city, but you don't need to risk your life with me. Go outside and wait for me; I'll come find you when I'm done."

Emily wanted to argue, but looking into Wayne's eyes, she knew she couldn't win against him.

"……Oh well."

Seeing that the two had reached an agreement, Raine took out a blackened magic talisman from his pocket.

After a few magical incantations, the talisman glowed and surrounded Emily.

"Sir, I'll be waiting for you."

As soon as she finished speaking, her figure transformed into a stream of light and flew into the sky.

Raine watched the light disappear into the distance, then let out a long sigh of relief, as if a heavy burden had been lifted from his shoulders.

Before Ryan could speak, Wayne spoke first.

"That Blood Trial, wasn't it your doing?"

Renn paused.

Wayne's words surprised him.

"Sir, how did you know?"

"Raine, you know. Too many coincidences together don't make sense anymore. And I heard that you were the one who suppressed the rebellion of the Highborne demons."

Renn remained silent for a long time.

After a long while, he finally spoke.

"In my timeline, you didn't solve the problem of the City of Eternal Sleep; you only completed the sealing."

That sealing was a Pyrrhic victory. Emily, who came with you, died in this city.

Wayne's mind raced.

If it weren't for Ryan, Emily would very well be dead here!

Then, Ryan told his story.

"By the time I was born, these things had become history. The books say that you sealed the City of Eternal Slumber and saved the kingdom, but no one wrote about the price. Later, I grew up and became a wandering knight exploring ruins. With my friends, I retraced your route and came to this city."

Then I was swallowed up and became the city lord. I originally thought I would be trapped here forever, but then I met Agatha.

His tone changed when he mentioned Agatha Christie's name.

"She wasn't fully asleep at that time; she was in a semi-awake state. We met at the city lord's mansion, and gradually, we became a couple. Those years were the best years of my life."

Wayne asked, "And then?"

"Then she died. Five years ago, the curse backfired. I just watched her fall into my arms, and there was nothing I could do."

I stayed by her side for three days and three nights, trying every possible method, but nothing worked.

Finally, having exhausted all other options, I had no choice but to look for the only thing in the city that might still offer a solution.

"Gods."

“Yes.” Ryan nodded. “I went to the fifth floor and found Her remains. I knelt before Her and said I would give anything to save her.”

He paused.

"He agreed."

Wayne looked at him: "What price?"

"Awaken Him," Ryan uttered three words. "He used his remaining divine power to pull Agatha's soul back from the abyss. The price is that I must help Him fully awaken afterward."

"So the Trial of Blood is just to gather nourishment for the gods?"

Raine hadn't expected Wayne to change his mind so quickly. He paused for a moment, then gave a wry smile: "Yes. That monument was originally a creation of the gods. The remnants of the gods' will told me that as long as the awakened ones fight each other and enough souls are absorbed by the Tree of Eternal Slumber, He can gather enough power to descend again."

"Were those demons that crawled out of the abyss also arranged by Him?"

"It's not an arrangement, it's a design," Raine corrected. "The awakening of a god requires two forces: the souls of humans and the abyss. The rules of this city were designed long ago, so that humans and demons from the abyss have a common trial goal on the surface, fighting and killing each other. The souls of all those who die in this city will be collected by the Tree of Eternal Slumber to become nourishment for the god's awakening."

Wayne frowned slightly as he spoke: "I'm curious, since you were willing to sell out the entire city to save people, why would you choose to reseal the demon? Since you've already betrayed this city, the awakening of the gods is the only choice you should make. For Agatha's sake, you should want the gods to awaken as soon as possible."

Renn remained silent for a long while before speaking:

"Because I heard two voices."

"Two voices?"

“The will of the god has split,” Raine said. “I was supposed to be wholeheartedly helping Him awaken, but shortly after I signed the contract, I started hearing another voice, a voice that claimed to be the god ‘Good Face’.”

"Good side?"

"Yes. He said that if His 'evil side' were allowed to awaken, everyone in the City of Eternal Sleep would die. The sleepers, the awakened, the half-sleepers—none would survive. He told me to stop it all, saying that was what I should do."

Wayne looked at him:

"So you've decided not to offend either side."

"This is all I can do." Ryan's voice was hoarse. "I promised God I would help Him awaken; that was a promise I made to save Agatha. But I don't want the entire city to perish with Him. I can't watch 100,000 people die before my eyes with a clear conscience."

He paused, a bitter smile playing on his lips. "So I did something foolish. I brought the first group of outsiders to the city lord's mansion, having them help me suppress demonic uprisings time and again to maintain the balance of the city. On the other hand, I formed another group of outsiders into the Divine Servant Team, having them act according to the will of the gods to continue advancing the trials."

Wayne continued, "

"Did you create both the Black Hand and the Divine Servant Team?"

"To be precise, I led Klaus to establish Black Hand to balance the power of the Divine Servant Team. I never showed my face, and they didn't know that I was behind it all."

"You establish two forces to check and balance each other, so that neither all the people die out nor the progress of the gods' awakening is reset to zero."

"To put it bluntly," Ryan said, "I'm a liar, I've lied to everyone, including the gods. I don't know which path is right, so I haven't taken either one, letting them drag each other down. As long as they stay in this stalemate, at least no one will die too quickly."