The Spinning Ring's Little Habit and the Holy Purification Movement

Wooden fences stood around the town not far away. For towns of this size, somewhere between a village and a city, wooden fences were the usual type of wall.

This was sufficient and also matched the economic strength of this small town.

The maintenance costs for overly expensive city walls were beyond what this small town's annual public tax revenue could support.

That was a money-devouring beast.

Money poured in like a rushing stream, only to be wasted.

This was because city walls were very useful during wartime, but in peacetime, they were simply a drain on finances.

Behind the wooden fence wall, there was also a wooden watchtower, manned by one soldier for lookout duty and two archers.

Black Wolf pulled aside the carriage curtain and glanced at the soldiers in the town's watchtower. "This town probably only has two to three thousand residents. I didn't expect it to have a watchtower."

"And two archers on top, that's truly extravagant. Keeping one archer is more expensive than keeping three light infantrymen. This little town is really quite wealthy."

"It seems the mayor here knows how to make money."

"Hearthstone Witch, how will you get in?"

"You're wearing a wizard's robe that only witches wear. The town guards will see through your identity at a glance."

"If they discover a witch trying to enter the town, I don't know if they'll let us in."

"And even if we get in, we'll face many restrictions."

The old witch showed no shame. "It's because people in our profession have too much integrity, and our reputation precedes us."

"Your Majesty, now is the time for you to use your first magic."

"I need your help to enter the town! I haven't learned Charm Technique. Now, only the Ring of Desire you possess can cast a charm spell."

Yveta was happy to oblige. "How should I do it?"

The old witch said, "Generally speaking, it takes an ordinary wizard several years to learn a magic, involving a lot of knowledge."

"But with a magic item, you can learn a magic in a few minutes. This is precisely why magic items are so expensive."

The old witch said, "Your Majesty, please take off the [Marso'go Ring of Desire] from your right little finger and look at the inside of the ring. Read the words on it."

Yveta did as she was told and took off the ring. Indeed, on the inside of the black ink diamond ring, she saw a line of text.

The old witch added, "These are magic words, visible only to wizards and witches."

"And you'll automatically know how to pronounce them without needing to learn."

"Spells attached to magic items are usually engraved with magic words, but it's not impossible for some malicious wizards, witches, and alchemists to intentionally leave behind obscure, or even lost, dead languages as the incantation to activate the magic item."

The old witch said, "Of course, such people are only a minority."

"Because they will be condemned by Heaven."

The Great Witch confidently told everyone that those who liked to trick others would be condemned by Heaven.

Black Wolf couldn't bear to watch and turned his head away.

Just as Yveta was about to recite the incantation on the inside of the ring, the old witch quickly stopped her. "Your Majesty, you can't recite it in the carriage."

"Once you recite it, the spell will take effect."

Yveta pursed her lips and nodded.

The old witch said, "When you cast this spell, you might want to add some small gestures, like twirling the ring twice with your thumb."

"My teacher told me this might enhance the spell's effectiveness."

"But..."

The old witch hesitated, looking somewhat lost. She rarely showed such an expression. "Actually, I'm not sure if it's really useful, because I can't be sure if my teacher was just messing with me at the time."

"However, she has been dead for too long."

"Therefore, I cannot use Spirit Medium Magic to summon her soul and pry the truth from her."

"..." Yveta.

The people in the carriage were also speechless.

They firmly believed that if she could, Hearthstone Great Witch would dig up her teacher from the grave.

Yveta asked curiously, "Hearthstone Witch, how did your teacher die?"

"You're already over two hundred years old, your teacher must have been even older. Such a powerful figure, did she die of old age, or was she killed?"

The old witch sighed. "My teacher was a Fourth Rank Sequence witch, a high-level witch. But she was killed, killed by the Church."

Black Wolf and Leili looked at the old witch with some surprise.

In their impression, the Church hadn't taken such strong action in a long time.

The old witch sneered. "What's so surprising? You haven't seen what the Church looks like when it goes mad. When the Church goes mad, I suspect they are all possessed by devils. Except for Your Majesty, all of you are just children. Do you know about the Holy Purification Movement eight hundred years ago?"

"When the Church wasn't as powerful as it is now, the Church established its authority by hunting witches and wizards."

"Even if most of those killed were ordinary women, because real witches weren't easy to find, or even hunt."

"Usually, the Church had to pay a heavy price to kill a real witch, so later they were happy to hunt fake witches. As long as the public couldn't tell the difference between real and fake witches, then there was no real difference."

"In your impression, the reason the Church is weak now is simply because the Church is too powerful."

"Because it is powerful, the Church has become benevolent."

"They are unwilling to harm ordinary people, nor do they want to pay too great a price to fight witches, or even to be mortal enemies with all magic users."

"There's no need for that."

"The Church has become the ruler, and the Pope is already the King of Kings."

"A ruler who has already secured their position, if they want to reduce resistance from their subjects, must become gentle and kind."

"Pretending to be a sheep."

The Old Witch said sarcastically, "This is just the hypocrisy of the powerful towards the weak."

Before the Old Witch could finish her blasphemous words, Alicia, who was driving the carriage, skillfully said, "My lords, we are about to arrive at the town gate ahead."

The Old Witch immediately shut her mouth.

Her blasphemous words could not be heard by mindless soldiers. If they happened to be true fanatics, they might rush forward to fight her to the death.

Yveta placed his left thumb and index finger on the Marso'go Ring of Desire, truly preparing to twirl the ring twice before chanting his incantation.

"Better safe than sorry."

Anyway, this action consumed no stamina and wasted no time.

He might as well comply.

What if the Old Witch's teacher hadn't lied to her!

Ahead of their carriage was a group of small merchants pulling carts loaded with potatoes, beans, and other crops.

These people were being inspected by guards, who were calculating the total value of the crops.

This was because they had to pay a transit tax.