346 – Past (part 3)

“Well…   is this a high rank awakening?” The prince asked.

Agatha did not know what to say, in her brain, the only thought was, how is this happening?

The Holy City was forgotten, the Federation was destroyed, it would not be wrong to say that under no specific training and guidance, a witch’s ability should have suffered greatly and be lower than in the past. But then, what was this in front of her eyes? A barely adult witch has had its ability evolved twice, this was not something that could be attributed to good luck, even in the prolific Federation, witches like her were only a few.

Moreover, if their words were true, were there at least other three people like Anna?

Agatha stared at the grey-haired man, and after a while she turned her gaze to the ceiling, “It…   It should be, but I don’t have an assessing magic stone, so I can’t test the size of her ability.” She paused, feeling her throat a little dry, “I would like to ask, what did Anna experience, that caused her to awaken? She looks very young so I think she just reached adulthood recently, and these two changes seem to have taken place in a short span of time, maybe a year or two?”

Agatha said, discovering that she, unknowingly had started to use polite language.

Even if a large number of people would mate, it was not guaranteed that a powerful witch would be birthed, so it was the experience, rather than the origin, what determined their ability, in order to join the higher ranks. And accordingly with Anna’s ability, she had already qualified to join the top ranks of the Federation, comparing her to herself, even if Anna had not acquired a higher authority, she would at least be treated as an equal figure.

Any witch who had awaken to become a High Rank, was deemed worthy of respect.

“The first time, it was because of magic exhaustion after fighting demonic beasts, the second time, I think it was due to the new knowledge I learned.”

“Knowledge…” She was startled, “What knowledge?”

Cough, cough, “We can continue that discussion later,” the prince cleared his throat, “for now let’s get back to the topic we were talking about, what is this experiment of Akaris, this God Punishment Army referring to?

If they were not telling lies, this knowledge contained certainly an extraordinary truth, big enough so that it could give Anna an epiphany to awaken new abilities. Right now, he was not willing to cooperate and that was perfectly normal since trust had not been established yet. Agatha couldn’t help feeling excited, if she could improve the chances of a witch awakening, that was of extraordinary significance, and if she could find the principle, the revival of the federation was not impossible.

However, where did he get this knowledge? In this backwards barbarian land, how could some villagers understand the secret of magic? She was filled with confusion, in these more than 400 years, what had the world turned into?

Agatha put these difficult problems aside for the time being, “Akaris was extremely powerful, so after wearing a God Punishment Stone, even while facing several Lords of Hell, she was victorious. But, Transcendents were just too few in numbers, or should I say…   were lost in, among the myriad of abilities.”

“Myriad?”

“Yes, a witch doesn’t know what she could do before the awakening to her powers, but according to the Federation statistics, only one in ten, 10% of the witches were suited for combat, the same went for the Exceed types. And among this 10%, how many can advance their powers to a higher rank was completely up to fate. The Federation has had times where no witch advancing her rank had appeared for 50 years, so the ability to fight depending solely on witches was very precarious.”

“The common people could not fight, the awakened witches were not always combat types, and those fighting were not necessarily strong, this kind of meaning?” The Prince was touching his chin as he spoke.

“That’s pretty much it,” Agatha let out a sigh, “so we formed a guard comprised of mortals to make up for the witch’s insufficiency, but…   mortals cannot defeat the Devils. Even if they were to carry God Punishment Stones, they would still be far behind and unable to fight against the strength of the mighty demons. So Akaris, in this unfavorable situation, ordered the Exploration Society to embark in a journey to break the limits of the human body in order to create a superior warrior, and looking at these scribbled, almost illegible notes, she seemed to have succeeded…”

“Seemed to? Were you not also a member of the Exploration Society?” The Prince asked curiously.

“That’s correct, but when the order was issued, I left the Tower, and built my own experimental building in the Concealing Forest,” she bit her lip, hesitating for a moment, “but they quickly found their way around, using the power of the God Punishment Stone to force a witch and a mortal to bind together, but…   this process consumed the witch’s life. I couldn’t accept the way the experiments were going, the Exploration Society should focus on exploring ways to use magic and the Punishment stones, instead of seeing the witches as expendable. Natalia was right, this kind of behavior would eventually bring destruction to the witches.”

“They treated people as consumables?” the prince seemed a little socked.

“Akaris was against the wall at that time, Taqila was on the verge of collapse,” seeing Roland’s pained expression made Agatha’s heart feel a little warmer, “but now the Federation had vanished, obviously these kinds of practices were not preserved, so it should never happen again.”

After she said that she lowered her head, stroking gently that page, Over the mountains, Across the river…   what a familiar slogan. But where are you now? How can I rebuild the order alone?

“But the God Punishment Army still exists.”

This remark made Agatha’s fingers turn stiff, and she looked at the prince with disbelief, “You…   What did you say?”

“I do not know whether this is a coincidence or not,” he slowly spoke, as if thinking every word carefully, “the Church…   that organization you’ve never heard about, has established two cities in the big open land at the center of the Impassable Mountain Range, they are known as “Holy Cities”. The hunt of witches was initiated by them, and not only that, they are still searching for orphans and homeless children and bringing them back to their monasteries to adopt them, Wendy escaped from one of them.

“The Church has its own army and territory, the most powerful warriors they have are the God Punishment Army, they are mindless monsters of infinite strength and endurance, only comparable to the Exceed. In addition, they probably even have several powerful witches, which is why I used the God Punishment Stone to temporarily seal up your ability.” The prince relaxed his hands, “Before you told us about this, we had always thought that along with the establishment of the Holy City of Taqila, it was the people of the Church the ones fighting against the Devil, and that those ruins were also left behind by them.”

Agatha opened her mouth, but no words came out, an organization composed basically by mortals, had gotten hold of the Federation’s most important secret, and in return went on to hunt the witches, and made their own God Punishment Army to consolidate their own rule? She suddenly felt a splitting headache, the God Punishment Army did not die out, but instead fell into the hands of an organization hostile towards witches! What the hell have the people of the Federation done?

Seeing her exhausted and uneasy expression, Wendy gently pushed her head on the bed and whispered.

“Today is your first day here, you should sleep. Rest assured, we will get to the root of the problem.”

Afterwards, she felt the lock on her ankle loose, Anna removed the God Punishment Stone. As the people in the room started to leave, the grey-haired Prince was the last one.

As he closed the door, Agatha heard his calm and steady words.

“There was one thing you were wrong about, mortals can defeat the devil.”