Roland swallowed the last piece of fried eggs, took a napkin and wiped his mouth, "so much is said, it turns out that you are worried that the witch will hear that she is not dead, will run to save her?" 」

"That's it, your Highness," said Barovton, "they are in a hurry, they must be on their way, if the witch were dead, but now she is alive!"The madmen steal even the babies, and they will not let go of a partner who has fallen.”

Roland was a little confused, and he always felt that something was wrong.Why do the assistant minister and the chief knight talk about witches feel like great enemies?

The woman who was going to be hanged was a witch, wasn’t she?It is as if the wind will fall down.If she has terrible power, why do you still stand there and let people kill?No, she would not be caught at all, and according to the Church, she was the embodiment of the devil, and in addition to the judgmental army, the mortal army would pay a heavy price in front of the witch.However, the devil was caught by the residents of the border town and tortured in every way until he was sent to the gallows, and the terrible power was not found.

“How did she get caught?”

“When she heard that it was a landslide in the North Slope mine, she was caught by angry villagers to reveal her identity in order to escape for her life.”

Roland thought, well, there was an impression of it, and it happened to him the day before.

“How is it revealed?”

"I don't know very well," said the assistant, shaking his head, "that the situation was very chaotic, and it must have been seen that she used witchcraft."

Roland frowned, “You don’t know anything about this?”

“Your Highness, it is a priority to resume production in the mining areas,” the Assistant Minister protested, “half of the border town’s revenue is based on iron ore, and the prosecutor has confirmed that people died of witchcraft at the scene.”

“What kind of magic?”Roland was interested.

“As melted, the head and most of the body are spread out on the ground, reminiscent of a burned black candle,” the other person said, “Your Highness you wouldn’t want to see a scene like that.”

Roland put the silver fork in his hand, thinking.Historically, most of the victims of witch hunts have been innocent, used by churches and ignorant people as tools of anger, while a small part of them died on their own.These people dressed themselves up strangely, threw strange materials into the pot all day, and declared that they could predict the future and determine life and death.

And they did think out some of the ways, such as using the flame response to claim that they had gained the power of the gods.

In the eyes of modern people, these are all chemical tricks, but at that time, it was easy to be misinterpreted as an incredible phenomenon.

As for melting people, Roland first thought of chromium pickling, but this thing is troublesome preparation, it needs to be completely immersed in the human body, the effect of the cadaver is also far from the candle, as for other strong acids are even worse.

How did the witch do that?

If she had relied on alchemy, it would be a rare chemist in the territory, if not...

Roland thought about it and made up his mind.

"Take me to see her."

“Wait, sir, are you going to see a witch?”Barov got up in a panic and overturned the glass of milk he had not drunk.

"Yes, that's an order."Roland smiled back to the assistant minister, and he was now really grateful to the four princes for their unreasonable style.

When he came to the door, he suddenly paused, "Yes, I always wanted to ask, why is it hanging?"

“What?”

“Why the hanging?Shouldn’t witches be burned at the stake?”

Barov's face was full of inexplicable, "Is it?But she is not afraid of the fire."

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There was only one dungeon in the border town, the barren land could not afford too many prisoners, and most criminals would face trial—either to release or to be put to death in a few days.

In addition to Barov, the prince was followed into the dungeon, the chief knight, the warden, and two guards.

The dungeon has a total of four floors, and the walls are all made of hard granite.Roland returned to such a place for the first time, and he noticed that the narrower the lower the passage, and the smaller the number of cells.Probably dug a pit of inverted cones and then put up with a layer of stone, he thought.

This rough project will naturally not have good drainage measures, the ground is wet, turbid sewage is so flowing, along the stairs down the first step down.

Witches are locked up at the bottom of the dungeon, and at the bottom, the smell of the air is even stronger.

“Your Highness, it is too dangerous for you to do so, and even if she is trapped by the lock of God’s punishment, there is no guarantee of security.”

The speaker was Carter Lannis, the chief knight who knew that the prince was going to visit the witch and rushed over for the first time, and discouraged him from stopping the road.And the king’s order was invalid to him—he refused to accept any orders that disregarded the prince’s life, and wanted him to leave.

There is a cold and handsome face, why is it a word?Roland really wanted someone to sew his mouth."Don't dare to face evil, how can you have the courage to defeat evil?"I thought you understood that."

“Fighting evil is also to do what you can, and recklessness is not equal to being brave.”

"That is to say, if you encounter an enemy who is weaker than yourself, you can do justice, and if you encounter something stronger than yourself, you should turn a blind eye."

“No, my lord, I mean...”

"I used to be afraid of witchcraft and now afraid to see a little girl, and my chief knight is very unique."

Although the knight spoke a lot, he was not good at strong defense, and Roland, who was strong in his mouth, naturally had no power.By the time, a man had come to the bottom of the dungeon.

It is much smaller than the upper floors, with only two cells in total.

The head lit the torch on the wall, and the darkness faded, and Roland saw the witch curled up in the corner.

Now it is late autumn, the temperature in the dungeon is so low that people can see the white air they exhale, he wears a velvet coat, which is coated with a silk lining, naturally does not feel cold.But the other side only one coat, can not completely wrap the body, exposed outside the arms and feet have not been frozen blood.

The sudden light of the fire made her lateral over her head, her eyes closed slightly.But soon, she opened her eyes again and looked straight.

It was a pair of pale blue eyes, calm like a lake before the rainstorm.She couldn’t see fear on her face, and she couldn’t see anger and hate.

Roland had the illusion that he was not seeing a weak little girl, but a shadow that was devouring the flames.For a moment, he felt that the light of the torch on the wall was dimmed a little.

She tried to stand up against the wall, moving as slowly as if she were going to fall at any moment.But in the end she stood up completely, stumbling from the corner to the place where the light could be covered.

It is such a simple action, but let a dry person wait to take a breath of cool breath, have stepped back two steps, only the knight flashed in front of himself.

“What is your name?”Roland patted the knight on the shoulder, signaling that he didn’t have to be so nervous.

“Anna,” she replied.