The New Civilization of Witches

Chapter 4: The Fire

"In the end, what happens when the mine collapses, can you repeat it for me step by step?" Roland asked.

Anna nodded and began to explain.

Roland was a little surprised, he wished he had remained silent or cursed at her angrily, but he instead replied, he said,

"ask whatever you want," and obediently tell the story.

It's not a complicated story, but it's still sad.

Anna's father was a miner and when the mine collapsed, she was at work.

As soon as they get news of the collapse, Anna and the rest of the miner's family go to help save their loved ones.

The Northern Mine was previously rumored to be an underground monster nest with many ramifications in its path, extending in all directions.

Since the rescuers were not under unified command, the volunteers split up after arriving at the mine entrance so when Anna found her father, only her neighbors Susan and Ansgar were by her side.

Anna has discovered that her father's leg was crushed under a full ore cart and she can't move, but by her side is another miner who pats him, looking for his father's money.

When the robbers saw them arrive, he picked up a pick and rushed to Ansgar and dropped it to the ground, but just in time he was about to attack her,

Anna killed him first.

Anna's neighbors swear that they will never say anything about the matter, and with their help Anna saves her father.

But before dawn, the next day, Anna's father came out with his cane and reported to the patrolling guards that his daughter was a witch.

"Why?" Roland, when he heard up until this point, was unwilling to ask.

Barov sighed and replied,

"Maybe so that he can receive a golden gift. The discovery and reporting of a witch, nobility can give you 25 gold.

For a man with crippled legs, these 25 golden nobles were equivalent to what he could get for him half a tenure."

After a moment of silence, Roland asked,

"Your opponent is a strong and mature man, how can you kill him?"

Hearing this Anna laughed, and the flame of the torch shook, like a high wave on the surface of a previously calm lake.

"That's exactly what you think, I used demonic-power" Ana said.

"Shut up! Vile witch!" Shouted the warden,

but everyone could hear his voice trembling.

"Is that true? I want to see it"

the fourth prince was unmoved by their antics as he said calmly.

"Your Majesty, this is not a laughing stock!"

The Knight Commander interrupted while furrowing his brows.

Roland stepped out from behind his knight protection, step by step moving closer to the cell as he said,

"Everyone who is too afraid of him can leave, I'm not asking you to stay here."

"Don't panic, he has the 'God's Skytoothed .'

Revenge' on his neck!" barov shouted loudly to cheer everyone up, but it was also possible to convince himself, too,

"'no matter how strong the devil is, he cannot destroy God's blessing."

Standing in front of the prison bars, Roland and Anna were at arm's distance and he could clearly see her dusty and bruised cheeks.

Her gentle facial features indicated that she was still a minor, but her expression had no trace of childishness.

More than that, even anger is hard to find. It was a disharmonious thing that only Roland saw on TV.

It was the face of a wandering orphan boy who had suffered from poverty, hunger, cold, etc.

but not exactly the same, usually in front of the camera missing children always stand with their bodies bent and beaten, their heads down, but Anna does not.

From the beginning until now, he still tried to stand upright with a slightly raised look, calmly looking into the prince's eyes.

He was not afraid of death, Roland realized.

Instead, he awaits death.

"Is this the first time you've seen a witch, My Lord? Your curiosity might get you killed."

said Ana.

"If it were truly demonic-power, you would absolutely not be in the current situation," Roland replied, saying,

The flames in the prison suddenly darkened, and this was definitely not an illusion, what looked like an extinguished fire was immediately left behind with just a tight bundle of flames.

Behind him, Roland could hear the rapid sounds of breathing and prayer, as well as the muffled sounds of panicked people accidentally falling down.

Roland's heart rate accelerated and he felt himself at an unusual turning point.

On the one hand is a world of common sense, which according to the laws and constants he knows, not a single thread comes loose, he said,

And on the other hand is an incredible new world, one filled with mysteries and the unknown. And now he stood before this world.

Hanging on his neck actually belonged to a god

Retaliation Pendant'? What a simple and crude pendant, Roland thought.

A red iron chain with a gleaming and translucent pendant, if the witch had not cuffed both her hands behind her back, could she not have used a quick pull to destroy this kind of thing?

Roland glanced at the crowd behind him, who was still saying a prayer in panic.

He quickly reached into the cell, grabbed the locket, and with a slight pull of the chain the necklace broke off and then fell apart, the move even shocked Anna.

"Come on." Roland whispered.

Are you in the end a liar, some kind of alchemist, or are you a real witch? If you now take out the bottles and jars and start mixing the acid, I will be disappointed, he said,

thought Roland.

Roland then heard a crackling sound, which was the sound of thermal expansion of water vapor. Thanks to the dramatic rise in temperature, the water in the ground below them has turned into steam.

Roland saw flames rising straight from Anna's feet, and then the ground where she stood was burning. The torches behind them exploded simultaneously, as if they were receiving pure oxygen, in a brilliant burst of light. For a short time, the entire cell seemed to be in daylight, and all this was accompanied by the fear of the spectators.

Screams.

As the witch moved forward, the flames surrounding her moved along with her.

The moment he reached the edge of his cell, the dozens of iron bars that formed the wall became a pillar of fire.

Roland was forced to retreat, the hot air biting on his skin, making him feel pain.

In just a few moments, he had escaped from the late autumn summer, no, this was a different kind of heat, no, this is solely produced by this high temperature flame and not the full ambient summer heat.

One side of his body was facing the heat of the flames, and on the opposite side Roland felt a chill.

He could even feel cold sweat running down his back.

... He really isn't afraid of fire Roland thought.

Roland remembered the words from

Assistant Minister. Only now could he truly understand the meaning of that sentence.

He was the flame itself, and how could one be afraid of himself?

Immediately, the iron bars changed from deep red to light yellow, and began to melt.

This meant that they had been heated to over one thousand five hundred degrees celsius, and achieved this in a condition without any act of isolation, which was far beyond Roland's imagination.

Like everyone else, he had stepped away from the cell, firmly attaching himself to the wall furthest from the cell.

If he did not do this, the heat that the molten iron generated was enough to kill him even without direct contact, but it was also enough to burn clothes, such as

Anna, her prisoner's clothes had been burnt to ashes and her body was now surrounded by raging flames.

Roland did not know how long it had lasted, but in the end, the flames completely faded.

The torch quietly lit up on the part of the wall next to it, it never seemed like anything had happened.

But Anna's burning clothes, hot air, and prison bars that looked like they were being burned by demonic minions, all of this, told everyone that this was not an illusion.

Other than Roland, only Knights

The commander is still standing.

The others collapsed to the ground, the warden was so frightened that his pants smelled of urine.

Anna was now standing naked outside the cell, the shackles of her arms missing.

He did not obstruct the view on his naked body, his hands hung naturally beside him and his sea-blue eyes were restored to the calmness from before.

"Now I have satisfied your curiosity, sir," he said,

"Will you kill me now?"

"No, Roland stepped forward and wrapped his coat around him and said in the softest possible tone, "Miss Anna, I want to hire you."