Chapter 421 (2/2)

“How many people know about the church’s hidden witches?”

The Priest shook his head. “Master Tayfun only told me about this two years ago and ordered me not to tell other believers, so… I’m not sure how many people know.”

“The church is obviously very secretive about raising Pure Witches, which at least means they aren’t publicly holding a double standard,” thought Roland. “This is definitely good news.” This finally confirmed his suspicion and gave him another piece of evidence to hold against the church—if the believers found out that the sermons they received were all false and that the church was secretly raising the very enemies they were taught to fight under their noses, how would they react?

“What was your motive in sabotaging the Lord of Fallen Dragon Ridge? Why did you want to take her back to Hermes?”

“I don’t know. My only mission was to monitor Aurora, so only she knows the exact motive. There was a change of plans because Aurora discovered that the lord was actually a witch, and the new Pope thus ordered us to send all captured witches back to the Holy City to be purified.”

“Purified,” Roland snorted. “Do you actually believe that? If purified witches… no, Pure Witches are sinless, why would the church keep their existence as a secret?”

“Because… because some believers aren’t devoted enough, so this’s the only way for now…” His voice trailed off, and he eventually closed his mouth.

The prince sneered. “Where did you plan to go after leaving Fallen Dragon Ridge?”

“Redwater City.”

“After that?”

“Impassable Castle.”

“Anywhere else?”

“Just these three cities.” The Priest responded numbly, having given up resisting after disclosing the information about Pure Witches. “Master Tayfun didn’t tell us when to return, so we were going to stay at Impassable Castle awaiting new orders.”

His answer matched the letter found on the witch’s body. “Why these three cities?”

Campus shook his head.

It seemed that he didn’t know much since for the church, he was probably just a monitor for the Pure Witch. Roland stroked his chin and thought, “Fallen Dragon Ridge is in the Southern Territory, Redwater city in the center of the kingdom, and Impassable Castle between the Northern and Western Territories, so they have nothing in common, and they aren’t important passes or intersections. Even if the church wanted to overturn the Kingdom of Graycastle, they wouldn’t start with these cities.”

If he had to name a similarity between them, it would be that they all lay on the border of the Western Territory—a thought suddenly sprang into his mind: Was he actually the person the emissary delegation was targeting at?

…

The interrogation didn’t stop until evening. Roland collected his information and stood up. When he was about to leave, he noticed that the Priest was sitting motionless against the wall, as still as a corpse, neither begging for mercy nor cursing in fury. This surprised him greatly. “Aren’t you asking what I intend to do with you?”

“You tortured me into confessing all this… and God will bear witness,” Campus said with his eyes closed. “God is my final judge, not you. It doesn’t matter what you’ll do to me.”

“Your Highness, give me another night with him,” said Iron Axe. “I’ll turn his attitude around.”

“Not necessary. This is enough.” Since the Priest had already confessed everything, Roland had no interest in continuing to torture him. “He’ll be judged, not by God… but by the people.”