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The Church and the Witch – Part 03

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Translator: Kell

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How in the world did it end up like this?

“When we came out of the cave,” Lily explained, “these people were there. They said they were here to catch the bad adjudicator! And then I led the way so they didn’t get lost in the cave.”

“Bad adjudicator?” I glanced at the priest.

“D-Don’t look at me!” he said.

“It is not Secrecy. We are here to arrest Corruption,” a knight said. “The other day, a wounded knight arrived to give a report, accompanied by Corruption’s henchman. The henchman said that Secrecy’s Beastfallan servant went mad, but the knight, undaunted by Corruption’s threats and the henchman’s supervision, reported the adjudicator’s treacherous actions in full. A strike force was immediately formed and ordered to raid the witch lair.”

However, they couldn’t go past the cave. It was then that Lily appeared with the captives. While inside the cavern, Lily and the knights ran into Corruption’s dogs, who were attempting to escape, and arrested all of them. The Grimoire of Zero’s copy was then confiscated.

All right. Makes sense now, I guess.

“So in the end, the Church obtained the book,” I said.

“It would appear so,” Zero agreed.

So all our efforts was for nothing? No. If we hadn’t intervened, Corruption’s treachery would not have been exposed, and by thwarting Sanare’s plans, we sort of accomplished our goal.

Nevertheless, the book getting into the Church’s hands was the worst possible outcome.

Lily held out a knife to me. “Um, here. This knife protected us. When we went to the pantry, the man there woke up and attacked us. It would have been bad if not for the knife.” Her big ears twitched as if saying she wanted a compliment.

As I took the knife from her, I thought I saw the freckled boy’s face overlapping with her proud smile. “Great job,” I said.

Lily gave a firm nod, but began acting restless when she noticed there was something wrong with me. “You’re covered in blood… and you look cold.” Her eyes were full of worry.

“Don’t look at me like that. It feels like I’m actually gonna die right now.”

“Y-You’re going to die?!”

“No!” Without enough blood in my system, shouting made me lightheaded.

“Ah!” Zero exclaimed. “The Knights Templar must have the key, yes? They can remove these shackles!”

“Oh, right. No, wait…” The priest’s expression quickly turned sullen.

“So you are the rumored Zero,” a knight said. “Your beauty is indeed mesmerizing. But we are not foolish enough to remove a witch’s shackles.”

“Only for now! Mercenary is dying. I can close his wound immediately. You can put the shackle back once he is healed.”

The knight sneered. “I thought witches were more cunning. You should try harder if you want to convince us. The Beastfallen does seem to be on the verge of death, but a single beast dying shouldn’t matter to a witch, no?”

“How dare you!” Zero shouted. “He may only be a beast to you, but he is my only friend. I will not hesitate to kill a hundred of you puny humans if it means he lives!”

“Watch your mouth, Zero!” the priest admonished.

Zero glared at the priest. After glancing back and forth between him and me, she went silent.

The priest stepped in between the knights and us, standing in front of the man who seemed to be the troop leader. “Thank you for obtaining the book and rescuing the prisoners,” he said. “I will now escort Zero to His Excellency. You are aware that Zero is an ally under my supervision, yes?”

“So I’ve heard,” the knight replied. “She is unrelated to the witch who caused the current incident.”

“Then I trust you will treat her gently. She will assist the Church in various ways in the future. I don’t want her hurt.”

“You’re kidding, right? She’s a witch.”

“So what?”

It wasn’t just the knight who was shocked by the priest’s words. Zero and I exchanged glances, blinking repeatedly.

The priest from before would never have said something like that. He would deem witches to be evil on the spot and kill them.

The knight’s cheek twisted a little. “Did a man from Dea Ignis become attached to a witch? It doesn’t matter if they’re cooperative. A witch is a witch. Their existence alone is evil!”

“I repeat myself: so what? Surely the noble Knights Templar wouldn’t turn a helpful witch into a target for their vengeance simply because ‘their existence is evil’.”

Unable to say anything back, the knight averted his gaze. Apparently that was their plan. In fact, it seemed like the priest pressed them because he knew exactly of their intentions.

If the priest didn’t step in, there was a good chance that Zero, helpless as she was at the moment, would have suffered in the hands of the knights. Picturing it pissed me off so bad. I’ll fucking kill you, knights.

I shot them a glare, and the priest hit my head with his staff. “Ouch! Are you trying to finish me off?!”

“If you can scream that loud, you’ll be fine for a while. You keep your mouth shut, and we can proceed smoothly.”

“Why, you…”

“First, we must tend to the Beastfallen,” the priest addressed the knight. “After that, we will escort the witch to Lutra Cathedral. A little warning: If the Beastfallen dies, there will be trouble. I am not prepared, so I don’t wish to engage a witch who claims that cutting off her arm will make it possible for her to use Magic.”

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The priest covered for us. Thanks to his warning, threat, and persuasion of the Knights Templar, our trip to Lutra was extremely safe and pleasant.

Under the watchful eye of the priest and the generous treatment from the knights, I somehow survived.

“Yeah. I saw this coming.”

I was in a prison underneath the cathedral. Lying in the middle of the cell, I nibbled on a moldy piece of bread.

While I was treated as a servant of the priest, the Church had no custom of showing hospitality to Beastfallen.

It wasn’t like I committed a crime or anything, but apparently this was the only place in the cathedral they would allow a Beastfallen, so I had no other choice.

On another note, I actually recovered after a meal and a good night’s sleep. Just goes to show how sturdy Beastfallen are.

It felt like my wounds healed faster than they used to, but maybe it was just because I’d had more chances to get seriously injured since meeting Zero.

The only thing that bothered me was that Zero had been separated from me. The priest took her to face the Church’s bigshots, but I had a feeling that things would work out fine. Zero could handle herself.

And I was right.

When I noticed the footsteps approaching the prison, I got up and saw the priest and Zero standing in front of the cell, followed by a group of people clad in black. The hoods covering their faces made them look shady.

I stared at them blankly. “What kind of a gathering is this?”

“They’re Inspectors, sent from the Seven Cathedrals,” the priest replied. “Zero will show Magic to them.”

“What kind of Magic?”

“Healing. For you.”

“I’m quite all right, as you can see.”

The priest tossed a heavy burlap sack. Its mouth opened, revealing what was inside.

“It’s my arm.”

“It is,” Zero said. “I will now attach it.”

I leaned forward. “Attach where?”

“I have not thought of any other candidates, but it does not look like it would fit anywhere but your elbow.”

“Is this the part where I laugh?”

“A laughter of joy would be perfect for this situation.”

Okay. Sounds like a serious matter.

Zero thrust her arms out toward the priest. He used the key to remove the shackles.

“Wh-Whoa, whoa, hold up! Are you sure about that?! Aren’t those guys some bigshots from the Church?!”

“It is fine. After a thorough discussion, they arrived at the conclusion that they wanted to see Magic in action. Moreover they are not bigshots, but deputy bishops. If anything goes wrong, only Lutra Cathedral will fall. The Church determined that it will not hurt.”

“Well, aren’t they bold?”

“I agree. I am starting to like the Church a little. In exchange for my showing them Magic, they promised to burn the book they obtained. After that, it was agreed that the priest would formally accompany me. To share information about Cestum.”

Where was my say in all this? Still, this was an unprecedented treatment for a witch.

The Church must have become very aware of the existence of Cestum after this incident. If a witch who had the will and power to fight against them would assist the Church, they probably thought using her was the best option.

“Now, let us reattach your arm. Since it is your arm, your shoulder alone is the best fit for it.”

The door to the cell opened and Zero entered, dragging my arm with her. After securing my arm to my elbow with a long piece of cloth, she stood up and took a few steps back.

“I will use this opportunity to show you a powerful spell.”

Zero opened her arms wide. Slowly she spun her arms, and positioned them above and below. Two faint arcs of light formed in the air.

“Deiress, nairess, veedress, sukra.”

The trail of light suddenly began to distort and twist.

White snakes? And there’s two of them.

“O’ wind of life, descend from the wings of the shining white serpent. Repel all deaths everywhere my breath can reach.”

Swiftly the two white serpents intertwined, and brought their white, smooth foreheads together. As their backs split open, the wings of a bird spread wide, one for each, which gradually joined together to form a pair of wings.

“Chapter of Protection, Page Seven: Medicluvia. Grant me power, for I am Zero!”

Zero grabbed her cloak and raised it overhead to create a wind. The two snakes flew away, flapping their wings, and then suddenly disappeared.

The next thing I knew, the pain in my entire body subsided, and my arm was firmly attached to my elbow.

“I can’t believe it. I can move my arm normally.” I flexed it around a little, but I didn’t feel anything off with it.

A gasp of amazement came from the Inspectors.

“She wasn’t lying,” one said. “She actually reattached a severed arm so easily.”

“It’s almost like a mira—”

“Shh! Careful what you say. She’s a witch, and what she used was Magic.”

Zero watched them with a smirk as they whispered among each other.

The priest heaved a sigh, then suddenly froze. “My nails are back?” The nails he had lost while being tortured had all grown back.

“A bonus,” Zero said. “Medicluvia is a spell that heals those who are touched by the healing wind. The wind must have reached you by coincidence, healing your wounds.”

“Ah! The pain in my knee is gone!” said one of the Inspectors. “It’s been bothering me since the other day.”

“M-My headache is gone as well…”

Oh, smart move, witch. I looked at Zero. “You did it on purpose.”

“If I healed you alone, they might claim that it was staged. The best move was to involve everyone here. In this narrow basement, the wind could reach them even if they were standing some distance away.”

“You’re a shrewd woman, all right,” I said, astonished.

Zero gave a pleasant smile. “Like a witch, right?”

Wearing a frown, the priest pretended to not hear our conversation.

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