Black Village – Part 05
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Translator: Kell
Working together with the villagers to dig up all the bodies and moving them to the graveyard seemed like it would take all night.
At first the villagers were hesitant to get involved in the burial. It was only after the priest and I actually started digging up the bodies and burying them that they started to help out one by one.
Why am I even doing this? I wondered. I was the toughest one around, though. I’d feel uncomfortable if I didn’t help.
The priest wrote a letter and asked the villagers to send it to the Knights Templar blocking the road. More workers should arrive in the morning to relieve us of our task.
As they worked together, the villagers began to trust the blind priest a little and started talking.
“Villagers started falling ill. Then these guys showed up and said they could help us. There were five or six of them. They called themselves the Coven of Zero. I thought it was a bad joke, so I said, ‘I’ll even ask demons for help.”
“They were nice. We had meals together. A silver-haired witch? Oh, must be that bigshot from the Coven. The witches were saying she was beautiful. No one’s ever seen her before, but I wish I’d met her at least once.”
“There’s an old temple up the river. Apparently it was built to worship a water god in the past. The Knights Templar said it was the witch’s headquarters, and they wanted us to show the way. But no one knows how to get to the temple. There’s a cave, but when you go in, you suddenly find yourself going out. They then accused us of covering for the witches.”
Those were the notable information I gathered. Six or seven members of the Coven of Zero. Their leader named Zero. The only new intel we got was the existence of an old temple used by the witches as a stronghold.
The rest were mostly grievances against the Church, the characters and backgrounds of the people killed by the adjudicator—but the priest listened intently without any hint of displeasure.
Standing idly on the edge of the cemetery, Zero listened to the villagers, not offering any help with the work.
“Sounds like the Church’s the bad guy in this case,” I said as I took a break. “Just as Cestum planned.”
“Not necessarily,” Zero replied. “It was the Church that caused the suffering, but it was also a churchman that saved them. The Church is a two-faced organization. It rules with fear, and offers salvation through mercy.”
Zero’s gaze was directed at the back of the priest, who was burying the dead with the villagers.
“I do not trust the Church, but I do not think the Church is evil either.”
“Whoa. Even though you’re a witch?”
“Precisely because I am a witch. A long time ago, the Church protected the people from those who misused Sorcery and brought chaos. Witches who preferred peace cooperated with the Church and even assisted in the witch hunts. This is in line with the Church’s current policy of using good witches.”
“From cooperating with them to using them, huh? Sounds like the relationship’s gotten quite twisted.”
“Five hundred years is a long time. There are probably many other things that are twisted now. Nevertheless, it was the Church that brought order to the world. The Church taught the unfortunate, built city walls to keep out wolves and thieves, distributed medicine to the sick, and fed the hungry. Witches are selfish and meritocratic. Had they won the war, this world would have been filled with more chaos than it is now.”
To be honest, I was surprised that Zero had such a positive opinion of the Church.
My thoughts probably showed on my face, as Zero shrugged a little and added, “I am not saying there are no problems. The Church has grown too big. It has not been able to keep up with the changing times and is still fixated on the rightenousness and order it championed five hundred years ago. If the Church remained the same while the world changed, a rift would form, leading to the organization’s corruption. Cestum took advantage of that.”
Helpful witches appeared right when the people had grown tired of the Church’s five-century rule.
When the righteous witch defeated the evil witch in Wenias, a new opinion on witches began spreading among the masses.
Albus’s letter mentioned that people who wanted to learn Magic and powerful people who wanted to benefit from it were gathering in Wenias. There was a lot of opposition from people who didn’t like it as well.
Right now, the Church was much more powerful. But if the Church’s bad reputation spread through Cestum’s schemes, and the good deeds of the witches became known, the power structure would be flipped one day.
“It’s not like the Church has ruled the world for five hundred years for nothing,” I said. “I doubt Cestum will succeed in their plans.”
“Of course. There will be a massive witch hunt before witches can gain too much power. And that will lead directly to war.”
“Even without you clashing with the Church?”
Back when we were staying in Credo and Liza’s rundown house, Zero said that if she fought the Church, a war would break out.
“There is more than one path that leads to war. My fighting the Church would simply expedite it. If Cestum is left unchecked—no, even without their intervention, if Magic is left to spread, war will eventually break out. The Stargazer sorcerer Argentum himself observed it in Black Dragon Island.”
“Didn’t you come out of the cellar to prevent that? Anyway, I guess we should be worrying about our current enemies, not a future war. So about the Coven of Zero hiding in the temple.”
The only reason we came to this village in the first place was to follow signs of Magic that would lead us to the witches’ lair. I had no idea what Zero was planning to do with them, but what really mattered was we obtained the copy of the grimoire before the adjudicator.
“I sensed the presence of five witches,” Zero said. “It matches the testimony of the villagers. But they all vanished a moment ago.”
“Were they killed? Including your impostor?”
“Hmm, my impostor…” She seemed to be pondering something.
Noticing my stare, Zero gave a wave of her arm, as if to say it was nothing. “I just thought it was strange. All the rumors about the witches came from this village, but not one villager had actually seen the witch known as Zero. Everything is hearsay, nothing but rumors. Does that remind you of something?”
“Thirteenth.”
“Yes. In order to manipulate the witches in Wenias, Thirteenth created a being known only as Him. The current situation is quite similar.”
“So you’re saying the fake Zero doesn’t actually exist?”
“We lack information to make a conclusion. There is a possibility that they were in the temple. In any case, I seem to have underestimated Dea Ignis. Inexperienced as they might have been, I did not expect witches who could use Magic to be killed so easily.”
“If the adjudicator got the book, they’re probably already headed back to the cathedral. You’re not gonna storm the cathedral to take it back, are you? Cause that would be reckless.”
“Indeed, it would be. We need to devise some kind of a plan.”
“I doubt you and I alone can do anything against the Church.”
The Knight Templars guarded the cathedral at all times. If we tried to take the copy, the priest who was tentatively allied with us would become our enemy. Unless we were prepared to wage war on the world, marching in there would be a bad move.
Zero stroked her well-shaped chin. “Corruption was only able to locate the Coven of Zero and take the copy because of the information that Sanare provided. It is unlikely that her goal was to give the book to the Church. Cestum would gain nothing if the adjudicator completed their mission.”
“The decline of the Church’s authority. I see your point, though. There would have been no point in causing an incident if the Church completed its mission without problems.”
“There has to be something. What is their objective?”
Just then, I heard the whinnying of horses and the sound of a carriage, signaling the arrival of the Knights Templar.
A dozen or so knights gathered at the graveyard, guided by the villagers who delivered the letter. The knight who stopped us on the road walked straight up to the priest.
“I never expected a different adjudicator to pardon the village that an adjudicator punished,” he said.
“It might have been to kill witches, but His Excellency was also distressed by Corruption’s perverse actions,” the priest replied.
The knight looked clearly relieved. His distrust of the Church had lessened somewhat.
“I must say, it took you a while to get here,” the priest said. “I expected you to arrive before dawn.”
“We had a bit of a mess. The adjudicator Corruption located the witches’ lair, but did not find the head of the coven there. They got no intel even after torturing the captured witches, so they went on another witch hunt.”
“What?!” The priest was taken aback.
Frowning, I looked at Zero. “I thought you said all the witches were dead.”
“Their presence vanished, yes. I do not sense anyone leaving the temple, so it is hard to imagine that one of them escaped—” Zero stopped mid-sentence, as if she just realized something. “A being only heard in rumors. In other words, an enemy that cannot be caught. I see. I understand now. That woman is as insidious as they come.”
Zero gave a bitter smile. “Knight, I wish to confirm something. No one had seen this Zero, correct?”
“Well, reports say no.”
No one had seen Zero, not even in the temple, which led to Zero’s assumption that she never existed in the first place. That assumption now changed to conviction.
“I have some good news for you, knight,” Zero said, lifting her hood.
Before I could stop her, she exposed her waist-length silver hair and bewitching beauty. The knight’s face grew paler and stiffer by the second.
“I am that Zero. Secrecy found me and has me in his custody. Inform the Church of this and stop the witch hunt immediately.”
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