—————————————————————–
Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Mod7
—————————————————————–
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
At daybreak, I threw on some clothes and headed to the city. After Marguerite transported me there, I went straight to the church’s training grounds.
My insistence on becoming a church instructor, which might seem like childish whining to Master, had its reasons.
‘The system needs to change.’
Individuals are weak and powerless. The system of witch hunting that the church had built up over thousands of years couldn’t be resisted. Even witches were the same.
That system needed to be eliminated, but even that wasn’t easy. The religious dependence of this era far exceeded modern people’s imagination.
Like clothes slowly soaking in drizzling rain – it needed to change so gradually that people wouldn’t even notice they were changing.
And thus, humans needed to be made to stop hating witches of their own accord. Training apprentice holy knights was the perfect position for that.
‘One or two years won’t be enough, probably not even decades…’
But dedicating a lifetime might change things, even if just a little. For Master who would live on after my death.
For all witches yet to be born.
Just for this moment, I needed to bend a little.
I finally arrived at the training grounds.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Several people had already gathered at the training grounds.
Both men and women together.
As I tried counting their numbers by eye, I made eye contact with the trainee on the far left.
“Number.”
“…P-pardon?”
“Airhead. Number!”
When I shouted while looking at the trainees, they caught on and began calling out their numbers. Hearing the numbers end at 17, I nodded while looking at them.
“I am Johan, and from today I will be your instructor.”
“Pleased to meet you, Instructor!”
“I’m not pleased.”
The trainees tilted their heads at my words. These idiots were so pathetic that if Ludwig had seen them, he would have frowned and sighed heavily.
They were a bunch gathered without any awareness of what they were trying to become, nor any pride in being holy knights.
“You’ve probably gathered here because of outstanding faith, talent, or desire for revenge against witches. Am I right?”
“Yes sir!”
“However, about half of you will give up becoming holy knights. I’ll make sure of it. If you’re prepared – you there.”
“Y-yes sir!”
“Run.”
“Pardon?”
I expressionlessly pointed at the track inside the training grounds.
“I said run.”
The one pretending not to understand wore a dumbfounded expression before starting to run.
The other sixteen trainees followed suit. Watching them run earnestly, I casually kept pace.
‘First, drain their stamina.’
A healthy mind comes from a healthy body.
In other words, if you make the body exhausted first, the mind becomes exhausted too. I would make them just exhausted enough to be susceptible to being brainwashed that witches weren’t so bad.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
How many hundreds of laps had they run now-
Though these medieval fantasy residents were incomparably more trained than modern people, that alone wasn’t enough to keep up with someone properly trained.
“Is this all you’ve got!”
“Hah, haaah! Huk! Haaah!”
“Anyone who collapses will have their holy knight qualification revoked by my authority. Run. You can run slowly but absolutely do not stop!”
Of course, I didn’t have such authority. It was just to frighten them. But these ignorant apprentice holy knights had no way to know if it was a bluff.
Even the naturally smart ones couldn’t think about it – I’d worked their bodies too hard. A body using all its energy running couldn’t engage in unnecessary mental activity.
“Stop.”
“Huuurk! Gaaah!”
“P-please spare us…”
“Water please…”
When I signaled they could stop, the apprentices immediately collapsed panting. Looking at them, I started mental education without giving them time to rest.
“At this rate, how could you protect people?”
“W-we can do it!”
“Oh really? Then get up and run.”
“…S-sorry sir!”
“Don’t just mindlessly talk – what’s most important is thinking and judging for yourself. Don’t blindly follow what others do. For example… you there.”
“…Yes sir.”
Trainee number 14 stood at my call. A busty trainee with swaying blonde hair tied back. Her appearance wasn’t very good for the male trainees’ eye health.
As her chest bounced when she stood, the panting trainees simultaneously gasped.
“If there’s a witch before you, what would you do?”
“Kill her.”
“Wrong.”
“…What do you mean?”
“Always think first. Why the witch is there, if there are hostages, if she’s a witch who harms people.”
“There are no witches who don’t cause harm.”
She shook her head firmly as she answered. However, that wasn’t the answer I wanted. Even if it might actually be true, they shouldn’t think that way.
“Why do you think that?”
“Well, witches have always caused harm…”
“How can you be certain all witches are like that? Have you personally seen and confirmed every witch?”
“That’s not necessary. Just as chickens can’t fly, witches being harmful is common sense.”
“So how did you verify that common sense?”
It was proving a negative. Since you can’t prove something didn’t happen, modern law operates on the principle of innocent until proven guilty.
The trainee pressed her lips shut at my words. She seemed to have plenty she wanted to say, but could only keep quiet in the face of instructor authority and unbreakable logic.
Looking at her, I continued:
“Is it even right to execute witches just for being witches in the first place? I question that from the start.”
“…Are you doubting the church? That’s blasphemy-”
“Yes. I deny this system itself. This system of executing and ostracizing all witches. What benefit could we possibly get from something like this? Has there actually been any benefit?”
“We’ve been able to kill cruel witches.”
“No. What died weren’t witches but holy knights, and common people caught up in angry witches’ magic. This system that antagonizes even witches who would have done nothing if left alone, ultimately turning all witches into enemies – with a system like this, this country can never develop.”
The trainees’ eyes flew wide. Not because they were moved by my speech, but likely shocked by the blasphemy they’d never even thought to consider.
Probably some would report me to Elicis today as a witch follower. But they would soon realize it was pointless, and if this education continued, they too would eventually realize something was wrong.
‘We need to change things bit by bit.’
At this moment when many holy knights had died, if the newcomers who would fill those positions questioned the system of antagonizing witches itself.
And if they reached high positions – in the distant future, they might be able to change this system that antagonized all witches, even if just a little.
Imagining that future, I glanced at the clock on the wall.
“Break time’s over. Now run.”
“Yessir!”
The trainees shouted energetically before starting to run.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Evangeline sipped her tea gloomily, feeling the emptiness of her disciple’s absence. An emotion she’d never felt in hundreds of years alone.
People don’t realize what they’re missing until they have it, and only understand its value after losing it.
She should have spent more time with her disciple – there was no time to waste on teaching holy knights…
Her disciple, whether knowing this or not, had heartlessly left for the church.
‘Johan, Johaaaan…’
Just as she slumped over the table, footsteps were heard. Footsteps that suddenly appeared behind her without any presence being felt.
Only Marguerite could do such a thing, and realizing she had returned, Evangeline turned around with a bright smile.
Whoosh-! As she turned, Marguerite who had been standing alone jumped in surprise.
“W-what!?”
“…Where’s Johan?”
“He’s still at the church. He said I’d go get him later since it might be dangerous alone?”
“Ah- So you’re saying you left Johan alone at the church right now. Is that right?”
Hearing Marguerite’s words, Evangeline grinned while shooting bursts of magical energy at her. Marguerite erased the incoming magic spheres with spatial magic and frowned at the irritated Evangeline.
“Don’t use magic inside the house.”
“Heeh- This is my house, are you trying to act like the owner now?”
“…That’s not what I meant.”
“Right, you think you can just run away with Johan if anything happens? Ah- Maybe I should just kill you here and now, hmm?”
“You’ve completely lost it. Just because Johan chose me instead of you.”
Standing up to the needling Evangeline, Marguerite approached with her nose in the air. Though Evangeline was the strongest witch she knew, she wasn’t about to back down either.
The curse of being isolated from the world meant, in other words, being safe from all attacks, and even now that the curse was gone, she could artificially recreate it.
Certain that their attacks wouldn’t work on each other, they could snipe and criticize freely.
“Johan chose you? Wrong. Do you think picking up a stray cat counts as choosing? That’s just pity.”
“Ahaha- Sure. The rejected loser can think whatever she wants.”
“You- Do you really want to die?”
“Try and kill me.”
At that moment Evangeline’s hand slashed at Marguerite. Marguerite used spatial magic to deflect the hand so it couldn’t reach her.
Simultaneously, a dimension-cutting magic was fired. Evangeline also rejected everything that would touch her body.
Like two same poles of magnets, their hands and magic repelled each other – the two women stood in a standoff.
Thus, it was extremely difficult for their magic to harm each other. However, Marguerite had words like spells that could definitely wound Evangeline.
“Why are you so sensitive today? Are you on your period?”
“…What period would a witch have, and you’re talking like you don’t have one?”
“I don’t though?”
“Ah- So you’re already that old…”
“I got shots to stop my period. Won’t have one for the next 10 months?”
Since it wasn’t something to bring up suddenly, Evangeline stared blankly at Marguerite, not understanding what she meant.
However, it didn’t take long before she understood and her face darkened.
“You, youuu…”
“Your disciple was amazing.”
“─Die!”
Evangeline activated her magic with those words.
The sun descended to earth.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Ritz is playing with fire.
“aw hell naw u was freakin my johan? u talkin mad shit for someone within nuking distance”
But is the little one okay?