These huge changes made Agatha feel dazed, she did not want to believe the other party, but the story sounded very real, like if they had personally experienced it, a story so miserable, she had a hard time believing someone just made that up.
If she were to try it, she found it impossible to imagine being enslaved, hunted or killed.
Even in the Holy City, the common citizens were still considered people, not animals.
She felt extremely weary, Wendy seemed to notice her discomfort and brought her a cup of hot milk, “Drink this, it will make you feel better.”
Although this red-haired woman was not blessed by the gods, with power and strength to overwhelm all living beings, she still felt affected by her like a flame, not hot and dazzling, but warm like the cup… She drank the milk, as the sweet taste flowed into her stomach, she felt her strength restored a little.
After resting for a while, the conversation continued.
Even though she didn’t know why a group of witches would be wary of one of their own kind, she wanted to believe in them, after all, to unlock the God Punishment Stone on her foot, they needed to trust each other first.
As for the credibility of what Wendy spoke about the Prince, she had to confirm it with her own eyes.
Before witnessing what this narrow stretch of barbaric lands was like, she wasn’t ready to believe the Federation had vanished without a trace, like it never existed.
“Like I said before, my name is Agatha, a member of Taqila’s Exploration Society. In the fifth year of the War of Divine Will, as the last Holy City left standing, Taqila could no longer hold and the war ended. Most of the people fled from the city, but I went to the Concealing Forest, to retrieve some things I left behind.” the prince asked.
“Wait… Were you fighting against the Devil?”
Agatha frowned at that question, “Who would do it if not us? Would you rely on ordinary people like you?”
“Are you a witch of the Church?”
She impatiently said, “I don’t know what the Church is, I have not heard about it before. Taqila… All of the Holy Cities were built by witches, and there were tens of thousands of people living in them, apart from witches, most of them were people like you. They were responsible for giving birth and taking care of children until they awakened as a witch, after that, the new witches were given a specialized education training. Naturally, if a witch was deemed good at fighting, she would incorporate to the Federation, and join the battle against the Devil.”
The Prince pondered for a moment, then took out a book and handed it to her, “Can you understand what’s written here?”
Agatha casually turned a couple pages, and was quickly drawn to it, “This… is a witch’s diary.”
A witch with light grey hair then asked, “You know this language?”
“The Federation created it, so that the common people would not be able to decipher it, but since they were unable to participate in the upper-class decisions anyway, I always thought this wasn’t a great idea.”
The witch asked with curiosity, “How? If it’s just another set of letters, couldn’t the average person grasp it with enough study?”
Agatha then proceeded to explain, “You need to use magic power to read it, it’s not so difficult, if you’re a witch, I can teach you.”
“The text itself is a tool of communication, making it more widespread is always better, indeed it’s really stupid. Excluding the ordinary people greatly reduces the manpower available. In fact, after training and education, ordinary people can be qualified for a variety of jobs, and with the exception of magic ones, they will not be bad at them.” The prince commented.
Even if she shared his ideas, about questioning the Federation’s policies whether to accept the collaboration of ordinary people with no magical powers or not, she still didn’t like how he tended to stand in front of everyone.
She began to miss Kraft.
Even a family bodyguard, understood more about politeness compared with this so-called Prince.
Another witch came forward to ask, judging by her looks, she seemed to be of considerable age, “My name is Scroll, Miss Agatha. Have you heard the name Akaris?”
Agatha was slightly surprised by this question, “Where did you hear that name? Didn’t you say the matters about 450 years ago were lost?”
Scroll responded, “I once found an old book among some ruins, in the forest of the eastern region of Greycastle, that’s the same book you are currently holding, the name appears on the last page, and it’s written in the language of the average person.”
Agatha turned to the last page hastily, and read through the several lines of scribbled notes, she let out a deep sigh, and remained silent for a long time.
In her mind, the image of the woman holding the sword, summoning thousands of rays of light, emerged. But this time, the shadow seemed a lot bigger.
After some time passed, she slowly said, “Akaris, the Queen of the City of the Falling Star, one of the Federation Three High Seats. She was a rank above Exceed, a so-called Transcendent. Even among all the Federation’s Holy Warriors, she was the most powerful one.”
There was restlessness between the witches.
“Rank above… Exceeed?”
Agatha sank into her seat, “Since all this is lost knowledge, it’s normal that you do not know, the abilities of each witch start growing from the day they awake to their witch powers and it solidifies in their coming-of-age day. But that’s not the peak of their abilities, through understanding, feelings and practice, some of the lucky ones can go a step further, enhancing their abilities incredibly… We call them High Rank, or Awakened. There is no upper limit to this awakening and the increase is not limited to the branching of their powers, but also can be observed in the shape of their magical power.”
The prince touches the back of his head as he said, “Well, if it’s about evolving, the Witch Union has four witches who had evolved their abilities.”
This comment made Agatha almost choke, “What? Four? How many members does the Witch Union have?”
The Prince starts using his fingers and after finishing said, “A little over 10 people.”
She seemed a little annoyed by his response, “Don’t talk nonsense about things you don’t know! Four witches among a little over 10, awakening and becoming High Ranked? You obviously have no idea what awakening means, don’t place it on the same level of the coming-of-age magical solidification or branching of abilities, those are completely different! In order to become a High Rank, one not only needs to be loved by the gods, but also hard work and effort are indispensable!”
The Prince, feeling somewhat helpless, beckoned, “Anna.”
A beautiful and calm girl, as Agatha observed the witch walk to her bedside, she gave her honest evaluation. Even for a witch, such appearance was very outstanding, blue eyes like a crystal-clear lake reflecting the moon, enough to see her own reflection.
However, she was too young, perhaps barely an adult, and that made it obvious she had no experience training, feeling or understanding magic. To her, that had her awakening at the age of 26 years old, and was considered as an outstanding talent by the Federation, it was clear how difficult it was to gather experience.
Agatha thought, probably they treat the branching abilities of the coming-of-age period as awakening to a higher rank.
A flame with orange light appeared in Anna’s hand.
She quickly gave her evaluation, “Flame-class ability, a very common Summoning type, which can be measured by the maximum temperature and heating speed, she can be regarded as a combat witch.”
As she finished her words, the flames suddenly dimmed, turning into a small wisp, slowly changing its colors, ranging from dark green to an aqua tone, and filling the surroundings with its own rays of light.
The prince answered, “This is the solidification of her coming-of age, and next is the key point.”
Solidification? No… How can this be solidification? Mature witches are supposed to make their flames hotter, brighter and bigger, she was astonished. Moreover, what was this key point?
Soon, Agatha saw the unthinkable, the green fire disappeared and was replaced by a black block, it didn’t resemble a flame at all, more like a metal box, without any light, it walls were smooth, the corners with a distinctive sharp shape, calmly standing in the hand of the witch.