I Gave You a Chance, But You Were Useless

Shasta comforted the little witch before her.

"Are you telling the truth?" Gevra asked timidly.

Her small, frail body was like a little quail.

Shasta was afraid of startling her, so she was extremely gentle, which made Morey's jaw drop.

"It's true. You won't have to hide anymore. I'll take you to the Witch Forest, where all our sisters and companions are," Shasta said softly.

But Gevra shook her head, tears in her eyes, "But I only bring misfortune."

"I know, Gevra. You blame yourself for the collapse of your house, your father's broken leg, and the draft cattle in the livestock shed going mad. You can also sense a mysterious, divine power surrounding you, affecting everything. You were terrified, so you cried to your mother, and your family learned everything. You were seen as the source of misfortune. Your father cursed you as a child of damnation and cruelly drove you out of your home. You felt despair, but you had no choice but to turn and leave because you brought suffering to your family. So you hid in the deep mountains and lived here alone for nearly two years. It must have been very difficult."

"Gevra, you are an unfortunate child. I know that your misfortune constitution might be a fact. You can't reject it. It has brought you much unhappiness, but it is, after all, your power. Don't be afraid, don't be scared. I will teach you how to control this secret power and master it. You will surely become an excellent witch."

Gevra felt it was unreal.

She couldn't understand what Shasta was saying to her, nor could she comprehend the current situation. But she had an instinctive fear of the outside world.

"Do I have to go out with you?"

Shasta was undoubtedly affirmative about this. She said, "Gevra, you must understand that you are only normal when all your companions are witches."

Gevra pleaded, "I just want to stay here. Can't I not go?"

She was truly fragile, like a startled little rabbit. She could feel the kindness and warmth emanating from Shasta.

But even so, Gevra was still very afraid of the woman before her and of everything she said.

Shasta said softly, "Witches do not harm their companions."

"But the Church will burn me, and they'll burn my family. I can't let the Church officials catch me," Gevra began to cry again. She knelt before Shasta, as if begging for mercy from a superior, "I've never been outside, Ms. Shasta. Please let me go."

Shasta felt a surge of unnamable anger. Her usual style was decisive, but today, despite spending so much effort, she still couldn't convince Gevra.

She didn't vent her anger on Gevra.

She knew the latter's past experiences and current predicament.

She was angry at the Church, angry at Gevra's parents, and even more angry at the plight of witches. This rage burned through Shasta's nerves, making her tremble and emit black smoke.

Reasoning was useless.

This girl perfectly embodied what it meant to be unreasonable.

Shasta prepared to forcibly take Gevra away—not with violence, as that would only agitate Gevra's power. If her abilities went out of control, anything could happen.

So Shasta said in a gentle yet firm tone, "Alright, child, my time is limited. Just leave everything to me. You'll know in the future how correct a choice it was to leave here."

Gevra was very perceptive. She realized Shasta's intention but dared not resist this strange witch.

She was a little uneasy and weakly said, "I can't just leave. I need to tell Uncle Dick, and Uncle Jet, and Grandpa Garin, and Uncle Borg..."

At this moment, a muffled "ang ang ang" sound suddenly came from the forest.

It wasn't obvious at first, but the sound rapidly approached, accompanied by the rustling of bushes and grass, and the trees trembled as if a dangerous creature was rushing towards them.

The mountain wind howled, and Shasta's expression changed drastically!

Led by a hunter, Romain arrived at the dirty doctor's residence.

He saw the person before him, covered in dirt, with a black beard—or perhaps it was a white beard, darkened from lack of grooming, and utterly filthy.

It could only be said that the title "Dirty Doctor Garin" was well-earned.

This mountainous area was relatively open with sparse vegetation. A wooden cabin stood there, filled with bottles and jars, crushed medicinal powders, root systems of herbs, insects steeped in alcohol, and cauldrons.

This dirty doctor held a high status.

In Sigg Town, if a child contracted a strange illness, their parents would tirelessly carry their child up the mountain to seek Garin's treatment.

They only needed to pay a small amount of grain.

Garin's existence was even more special for the hunters; almost every hunter had received treatment from Garin.

Romain found a faith badge of the Gods inside this wooden cabin. It was a beautifully intricate pattern forming the "Thirty-Three God Thrones"—a design of a throne made of lines and thirty-three dots.

He spoke, "You're from the Church, aren't you?"

Garin was very old, his face full of wrinkles, but his eyes were bright.

He was not surprised or taken aback by Romain's arrival. He calmly allowed Romain to search and observe his room. He showed no reaction even when Romain found the faith badge.

The hunter Dota was horrified. He hadn't known Garin's identity before, but he knew Garin took good care of the witch Gevra.

Gods, someone from the Church taking care of a witch? It was like an angel bestowing blessings upon a demon in hell.

Mol began to sweat profusely again. He had always thought Garin was just a highly skilled itinerant doctor.

One witch had already surprised him, and now Sigg Town was hiding someone from the Church?

Damn it! How could I not know anything? What else is impossible in Sigg Town? How can such a small place hide so many talented people!

Sigg Town had no missionaries, priests, or churches. Their knowledge of the Church came only from fragmented information from traveling merchants, so they had no way of knowing Garin's background.

Romain had sensed it as soon as he arrived.

The item arrangement style was very similar to the Church's.

Moreover, only the Church possessed systematic medical knowledge; they were superior to court physicians and wielded divine healing arts.

In Romain's opinion, without divine arts, the Church's healing system was quite backward and primitive, and their crude methods of treating illness made his eyes twitch.

But that didn't stop Garin from being talented.

In this day and age, a doctor who could treat illnesses without killing people was a good doctor.

Romain said to Garin, "You left the Church? Want to work for me?"

"Church regulations state that servants of the Gods can only believe in the Gods for their entire lives," Garin replied in his aged voice.

"Oh? So you can't resign, huh?"

Garin didn't know what a resignation letter was, but he understood the meaning, so he didn't answer.

Romain then asked, "Then is this considered desertion?"

Garin remained silent for a moment before conceding, "I did not desert; I have not lost my faith in the Gods."

The Church symbolized the Gods' tangible presence in the mortal world, equivalent to being the sole authorized, direct subsidiary.

This meant that for a believer to betray the Church was to betray their faith in the Gods. If one did not join the Church to believe in the Gods, it wasn't true faith.

Garin's continued faith after leaving the Church was truly an anomaly.

In this fantasy world, the Gods likely existed, but there hadn't been any large-scale divine miracles for a long time.

Romain, however, felt no reverence for the Church or the Gods.

You have divine healing arts, but I have War Knights.

Everyone has extraordinary abilities; who are you trying to scare?

If you have the guts, bring out your God and let's have a spar?

If the Gods possessed the power to alter heaven and earth and cared about their followers, why didn't they descend with divine power to aid their faithful lambs? Instead, why did they allow this era to develop so barbarically?

If the Gods did not possess the power to alter heaven and earth, then he saw no need to hold much reverence for those who styled themselves as Gods.

If the Gods did not care about their followers, then it wouldn't matter to him even if he killed everyone in the Church.

What's more, the Church hadn't changed this era in all this time.

I gave you a chance, and you couldn't use it. So when I start cutting, you'd better not stop me, or you'll get cut too.

Just as Romain was about to say something, he heard a faint, pig-like scream echoing from the distant mountain forest, reverberating through the wilderness!