She was brought over by Karl van Bart, who afterward retired tactfully, leaving only Roland, Anna, and Nana in the backyard. “You’re not dead, Anna too is alive and well,” Roland had to hold back a smile, “I’m the fourth Prince Roland Wimbledon, and you’re —.”
“I’m Nana Pine,” when the little girl heard that she herself did not die, her expression turned lively again. She ran straight to Anna’s side, beginning to chatter with her, unconcerned, disregarding the identity of Prince Roland Wimbledon. Roland naturally didn’t care what a 14 — 15-year-old girl had to say. Instead, he leaned on the round table and poured himself some ale, appreciating the ‘day-to-day behavior’ from the side.”
Anna was clearly a little bit calmer now. In the time Nana would take to say more than ten sentences, Anna would say only one. Having said that, while Anna was only seventeen, she already exuded a big sister kind of feeling. Roland couldn’t help but think, “When she grows up, how outstanding will she become?”
When Nana’s speaking slowed down, he coughed, and opened his mouth, then asked, “Miss Pine, I heard from your teacher that you have awakened as a witch?”
Compared to the vast majority of people who used the word “Fallen” when becoming a witch, Roland preferred the term “awaken”. He was not naïve enough to think that all witches were immaculately white, people who already had a malevolent personality would only bring about greater destruction. This was the same with weapons, they could produce violence, but they could also be used to resist violence. The crucial point in it was in the person who was holding the weapon.
Perhaps the church’s propaganda of the massacres caused by witches was based on the facts, but using that as proof that the whole witch community was guilty was the greatest of injustices.
Nana’s face once again stiffened, she whispered, “Will you hang me?”
“No, of course not, the gallows are for heinous criminals. You are not one of those and Miss Anna is not one either, so do not worry about that.”
She took a breath and nodded, “I’m not sure… The teacher said witches were coerced by the devil and afterward gained some kind of evil powers. C-could I be possessed? Moreover, I have never seen the devil.”
“When did you find out that you, yourself, have become different?”
“Roughly a week ago,” Nana muttered, “I saw a bird with a broken leg and wanted to help it. …… And suddenly, I felt something flowing out of my hands.”
“There were things flowing out?” Roland asked, “What happened then?”
“Ah… It suddenly enclosed the bird like a sticky bubble of water,” Nana’s head tilted when recalling this, “Then the bird’s leg was healed.”
Does she have the power of healing? Roland’s heart began to race, he was very clear what this ability would mean. With the absence of antibiotics, there was no modern medicine here, people with traumas or infection would likely encounter death in these ages. As such, rapid wound healing was almost the equivalence of saving many lives. This ability was very limited in promoting the progress of civilization as a whole, but it had an amazing significance to every individual’s life.
He immediately went to the door, looking for a knight to bring a living chicken. If it could be proved that what she had said was true, he might be able to use this as a source to change the Border Town’s view on witches, ending the current situation of their ruthless persecution.
Chapter 15 Flattering oneself
Seeing the knight accept his order and leave, Roland returned to the table, “You can heal small animals, so why would you think witches are evil?”
“The teacher said, witches can do what ordinary people cannot do, and sometimes it may not look bad, but that would be only a trap, set up by the devil to tempt more people… “The girl trailed off. “I really have not seen the devil, I swear.”
“Of course you haven’t seen him, that’s merely the church’s lie, your teacher was also deceived by them,” Roland soothed.
“The Church lies?” Nana’s jaw dropped down, “Why?”
Roland shook his head, giving no explanation. Even if he explained it, they wouldn’t understand it. Before a civilization develops to a certain extent, these kind of outlandish things always happened always happened. Even when no one benefited from it, people would automatically contribute natural disasters, man-made disasters, or incomprehensible phenomenons as a product controlled by someone behind the curtains — from historical point of view, this was a boulder which in majority women had to carry on their back.
And in this world, witches who owned a feasible power of unknown origin became an easy target for the church. Thinking about it, it was absolutely impossible for the church to ignore this kind of extraordinary appearances, no matter what. They would have to confer all witches as Saints, naming their powers as the gift of God; or kill all of the witches, stating they were the devil’s spokesperson. However, once you choose the former, the majesty of monotheism would receive a heavy blow — as soon as a witch not belonging to the church emerges. In the case of all religions believing in other gods labeling the witches as Saints, they would all be people chosen by God, and so whose god would be the only true god?
Polytheism could only exist on the premise that all gods truly exist, capable of restricting each other. Since God was nonexistent, this was all symbolic crap that someone had created by running off their mouth, so why permit the opposite side to exist and share this world with them? So anyone would claim their god as the true god and believe in monotheism. And when it come to a member of another religion, there was only one way to go — liquidation. In the end, they could only choose the latter option, to spare no effort in killing all the witches.
There was absolutely no relation to the devil; it was only for their own benefits.
A living chicken was prepared by the castle kitchen right away, and then the knight carried it by the wings, while it still fluttered and kicked in confusion.
The next thing made Nana dumbfounded; Roland took the silver knife from his waist and had the knight grab it so that he could stab the chicken’s body. When the chicken was wounded, Roland allowed Nana to come up and treat it, after curing it another stab followed… this way they proceeded over and over again.
After half a day, when the chicken finally took it lasts breath, Roland had a general understanding of Nana’s ability.
She could restore damaged parts, including cuts, tears, fractures and bruises. In case a part was missing, such as a cut off chicken leg, she could not make it grow new one. However, under full use of her ability the broken claw could be reconnected again, allowing the cut to be healed. Ultimately, she could not reverse death, once the chickens died, her treatment was ineffective.
During the entire course of treatment Roland did not see any trace of the “sticky water”, instead, she simply put her hand on the chicken’s wound, and the wounds would heal at a rate visible to the naked eye. After these series of tests, Nana’s physical exertion was not large; she was at least not sweating like Anna after her training.
Only Nana herself was dissatisfied, she felt that the treatment of the chicken was unfair, to such an extent, that at the end of the experiment she widened her eyes and pouted at Roland.
“Well, don’t just stare there, come and have something to eat,” upon seeing her, Roland without any better option had to summon the” afternoon tea” to shift her attention. This move was already tested against Anna; he thought that very few girls of their age could resist the temptation of delicious desserts. As it turned out, Nana’s performance in front of the pastries was not much better than the former’s.