Roland swallowed the last piece of fried egg and wiped his mouth with a napkin. "After saying so much, you are worried that the witch's help will hear that she is not dead and come to save her?"
"That's right, Your Highness," Barov stamped his feet and said, "They are in a hurry. They must be on their way. If the witch is dead, it would be fine, but now she is still alive! Those crazy people even stole babies, I am afraid they will not let go of a fallen partner."
Roland was a little confused. He always felt that something was wrong. Why do the assistant minister and the chief knight feel like they are facing a great enemy when talking about witches?
The woman who is to be hanged is a witch, right? She is so thin that she seems to fall down if the wind blows. If she has terrible power, why does she stand there and let others slaughter her? No, she will not be caught at all. According to the church, she is the incarnation of the devil. In addition to the Judgment Army, the mortal army will also pay a heavy price in front of the witch. However, this devil was caught by the residents of Border Town and tortured in every way. Until he was sent to the gallows, the terrible power was nowhere to be seen.
"How was she caught?"
"I heard that when the North Slope Mine collapsed, she exposed her identity in order to escape and was caught by the angry villagers."
Roland thought about it. Well, this incident had an impression. It happened the day before he traveled through time.
"How was she exposed?"
"This... I don't know much about it," the assistant minister shook his head. "The situation was very chaotic at the time. Someone must have seen her using witchcraft."
Roland frowned. "You don't investigate this matter clearly?"
"Your Highness, resuming production in the mine is the priority," the assistant minister protested. "Half of Border Town's fiscal revenue depends on this iron ore, and the prosecutor has confirmed that someone died from witchcraft at the scene."
"What kind of witchcraft?" Roland became interested.
"It was like it was melted, and the head and most of the body were lying flat on the ground, reminiscent of a burnt black candle," the other party looked disgusted, "Your Highness, you don't want to see such a scene."
Roland played with the silver fork in his hand, thinking. Historically, most of the victims of witch hunting were innocent people who were used as tools by the church and ignorant people to vent their anger, while a small number of them committed suicide by their own will. These people dressed themselves up strangely and threw all kinds of strange materials into the pot all day long, claiming that they could predict the future and determine life and death.
And they did figure out some tricks, such as using flame color reactions to claim that they had obtained the power of gods.
To modern people, these are all chemical tricks, but at that time, they were easily misrepresented as incredible phenomena.
As for melting people, Roland immediately thought of chromic acid cleaning solution, but this thing is difficult to prepare, and it requires the human body to be completely immersed in order to use it. The effect of dissolving corpses is far from that of candles, and other strong acids are even worse.
So how did this witch do this?
If she relied on alchemy, then she must be a rare chemist in the territory. If not...
Roland thought of this and made up his mind.
"Take me to see her."
"Wait...wait, Your Highness, you are going to see a witch?" Barov stood up in a panic and knocked over the glass of milk.
"Yes, this is an order." Roland turned around and smiled at the minister's assistant. He was now really grateful for the unreasonable style of the fourth prince.
When he walked to the door, he suddenly paused, "By the way, I have always wanted to ask, why is it hanging?"
"What?"
"Why is it hanging? Shouldn't witches be tied to the stake and burned to death?"
Barov's face was full of confusion, "Really? But she is not afraid of fire."
*******************
There is only one dungeon in the border town. The barren land cannot support too many prisoners. Most criminals will face trial within a few days of moving in - either released or executed.
In addition to Barov, the chief knight, the warden, the head of the prison and two guards followed the prince into the dungeon.
The dungeon has four floors in total, and the walls are all made of hard granite. This was the first time Roland had come to such a place. He noticed that the passage became narrower and narrower as he went down, and the number of cells was also decreasing. He thought that they probably dug a large pit in the shape of an inverted cone and then piled up the
cells layer by layer with stones. Such a crude project naturally did not have good drainage measures. The ground was damp and the turbid sewage flowed down the stairs.
The witch was imprisoned at the bottom of the dungeon. With each floor, the stench in the air became stronger.
"Your Highness, it is too dangerous for you to do this. Even if she is trapped by the chains of divine punishment, she cannot be guaranteed to be safe."
The person who spoke was Carter Lannis. The chief knight rushed over as soon as he knew that the prince was going to visit the witch, and he never stopped trying to dissuade him. Moreover, the king's order was ineffective against him - he refused to accept any order that would disregard the prince's life, and it was impossible for him to leave.
He had a cool and handsome face, but why was he such a chatterbox? Roland really wanted someone to sew his mouth shut. "If you don't dare to face evil, how can you have the courage to defeat it? I thought you understood this."
"You have to do it within your ability to fight against evil. Recklessness does not mean bravery."
"So you can enforce justice when you meet an enemy weaker than you, but you should turn a blind eye when you meet one stronger than you?"
"No, Your Highness, what I mean is..."
"Before, you were afraid of witches robbing the prison, and now you are afraid of meeting a little girl. My chief knight is really unique."
Although the knight is talkative, he is not good at arguing. When he meets a strong man with a mouth cannon, Roland is naturally powerless. Taking advantage of this time, the group has arrived at the bottom of the dungeon.
This place is much smaller than the upper floors, with only two cells in total.
"Pah, pah, pah"
Before he reached the door of the cell, Roland heard the sound of flesh colliding. He secretly observed the faces of the people around him and found that no one was unusual. Roland remembered that there was no so-called human rights in this era. A witch who was about to be hanged was just a very suitable target for everyone to vent. Moreover, according to Roland's memory, the first person to take the lead in raping this witch was his predecessor.
When they reached the cell door, the scene inside the cell jumped into their eyes with the help of the torch on the wall.
The witch had taken off her hood, but she was still naked, with her long flaxen hair hanging down, her hands hung by a rope, and her white feet pressed against the ground to maintain her balance. A jailer was standing behind her, with his pants half-pulled down and his lower body pressed against the witch. The dark cock could be seen going in and out of the slimy vagina. The jailer had his left hand around the witch's waist and his right hand holding a breast and kneading it.
Seeing Roland and the others coming, the jailer who was fucking the witch quickly pulled out his cock, hurriedly pulled up his pants, and walked out of the cell.
Roland was too lazy to pay attention to this jailer who was full of lust. He just wanted to see the true face of the witch.
The sudden withdrawal of the penis and the sound of footsteps made the silent but flushed witch raise her head and look at Roland outside the cell.
Those were a pair of light blue eyes, as calm as a lake before a rainstorm. There was no fear on her face, nor anger and hatred.
Roland had an illusion that he was not looking at a weak little girl, but a shadow that was devouring the flames. For a moment, he felt that the light of the torches on the wall was dimmed a little.
"Untie her rope"
"Yes, Your Majesty" The jailer who put on his pants entered the prison again, untied the witch's bound hands, locked them behind her with shackles, and then walked out and locked the cell door.
The witch slowly closed her legs and staggered to the door.
Although her delicate face was covered with dust and scars, she was still so beautiful and charming. It seemed that because Roland had covered her face with a mask when he raped her in his previous life, she did not recognize Roland.
"What's your name?"
"Anna," she replied.