Miss Witch’s Devotion Has Gone… Twisted

”Where’s Mara? Why hasn’t she shown up yet?”

A few more days went by. Loren ate his way through every restaurant in this coastal city, but still saw no sign of Mara.

To make it easy for her to find him, Loren didn’t hide his whereabouts at all. Soon the whole country knew the Master Mentor was here. Many people traveled thousands of miles just for a chance to meet Loren in person.

A lot of people had questions for Loren and wanted his guidance. Loren didn’t stingily withhold advice, but he didn’t want to be bothered too much either, so every afternoon he set aside a few minutes to answer questions in the order people arrived.

With the Church of the God of Vows and Wind screening requests, Loren didn’t have to worry too much about chaos.

Many who had only heard Loren’s name finally saw him in person, and many doubters of Loren’s reputation fell silent at that moment.

Two continents were separated by the sea, so news spread slowly. Only members of the Church of the God of Vows and Wind found it somewhat easier to cross the sea. With people from the Kingdom of Anselm spreading the word, it wasn’t impossible for Loren’s reputation to echo across to the other continent.

”Master Mentor, there’s another execution about to happen. Can we go watch?”

Today the Kingdom of Anselm was holding a public trial again. All the cases here were open for everyone to observe.

”Let’s go.”Since Anna wanted to go and Loren had nothing better to do, he agreed to go watch.

”Yay! I want to see rivers of blood!”

”......”

Even after being raised by Loren for so long, Anna’s personality hadn’t changed much. She still loved killing—especially watching evil people die—and in that regard Loren had definitely led her astray.

To Anna, killing one villain meant saving many good people. She firmly believed the lesson Loren taught her.

And anyone sentenced to death by the Church of the God of Vows and Wind had to be truly wicked.

Loren arrived beside the trial platform in the square. Unlike the makeshift tribunal they had seen in Bardo, this was Anselm’s most formal courtroom.

When the people next to him discovered it was Loren, they instinctively made space for him. Loren’s status was not below the Pope’s, yet he still willingly answered ordinary people’s questions—something that wasn’t his obligation.

So they respected Loren from their hearts.

Loren recognized the two people on the bench; they were the couple they had encountered before.

”What is it with these two and so much drama?”

Loren had already labeled them in his mind: turtle man and clinging woman, a match made in heaven—by which he meant a mismatched, irritating pair.

The people of Anselm strictly respected the law. The formal trial and the execution platform rarely restarted, but now, after so long, it had been reopened because of two tourists.

”Plaintiff claims the defendant raped her. Is there any evidence?”

The trial was presided over by a Wind Messenger. Compared to the ones Loren had seen before, this one was much fatter, with a bit more flesh on his bones.

”I have proof. It happened yesterday. He raped me. There are marks on my body...”

”According to the Church’s investigation, you two are lovers, and there are no signs you struggled.”

”That’s because I knew I couldn’t resist...”

Before the woman on the plaintiff’s seat could finish, the Wind Messenger interrupted:

”Wind heard your conversation. Your real motive was that he refused to buy things beyond his means for you, and after seeing the king executed, you formed the idea of making a false accusation.”

The Wind Messenger pierced her true motive in one sentence. While the woman was still stunned, he had already issued his verdict:

”The plaintiff is guilty of false accusation. Sentence: flogging and ten years’ imprisonment, to be carried out immediately.”

The verdict spread through the city on the wind. Then the Wind Messenger smiled:

”You are a follower of the God of Bountiful Harvest, aren’t you? You are used to the Bountiful Church’s unfair judgments. For you, false accusation is just a means.

”But remember, the Church of the God of Vows and Wind will not rule by the mood of its judges as the Bountiful Church does. We are forever fair.”

The various churches competed with each other, and to solidify faith they often slandered rivals—just like now, when the Church of the God of Vows and Wind accused the Bountiful Church of unfair rulings.

Local people felt nothing special hearing this. They were used to such rhetoric; to them it was normal. People who heard that other places’ verdicts were unfair were the ones who felt shocked.

If Anselm’s laws were truly followed to the letter, let alone whether Gedlan’s ninety-year-old crown prince could become king—probably the current king’s three-year-old son would be pulled up to become king instead.

This wasn’t Loren’s first time seeing churches slander each other. The Plague Church loved using this tactic. What the Church of the God of Vows and Wind said was at least factual, but the Plague Church’s methods were downright disgusting.

They promoted the idea that only the Plague Church was inclusive and that other churches were old fossils, rotten and backward, while the Plague Church was the most advanced and civilized.

And it worked. On the train to Bardo Loren once met a Bountiful Church believer who thought Bardo’s air smelled sweet.

In their eyes, the Nofica Theocracy that could feed people was uncivilized, the fair and just Kingdom of Anselm was uncivilized, and only promiscuous Bardo was civilized.

While other places were still forging with hammers and iron anvils, the lands under the God of Night and Thunder had already started using lathes. Even so, in those people’s view, it was still less advanced than Bardo.

”Don’t!”

When the enforcement team dragged the woman away, the man tried to stop them and was kicked aside.

The people of Anselm weren’t very opposed to violent law enforcement. To them, sinners deserved such treatment; those who sheltered criminals were criminals themselves.

”They’re not going to be beheaded? How boring.”

”Why do you think about that every day, kid?”

Loren tapped Anna on the head, then left with her, moving with the flow of the crowd.

Only the man from that couple remained on the ground, curled up and crying. No one paid him any mind.

When they reached the shore, Loren’s steps suddenly faltered. His intuition sent out a warning—there was danger by the sea.

”Laila, do you sense anything?”

Startled by Loren’s sudden question, Laila only shook her head. She felt nothing.

Laila’s perception might be more sensitive than Loren’s in some ways, but it wasn’t as comprehensive. She could sense danger, whereas Loren could perceive more.

Most of his perception came from intuition, letting him sense certain things that were hard to put into words.

”Let’s stay away from the shoreline for a while...”

”What about Mara?”

No one questioned Loren’s decision; they only asked about Mara.

”My reputation has already spread. Mara will be able to find me easily later, even if I’ve moved away from the hotel I had been staying at.”

Loren stared at the blue sea. He couldn’t shake the feeling there was something beneath it.

If the sky fell, the Wind Messengers would shoulder it. Loren only needed to keep his distance a little, and the rest was none of his concern.