The meeting lasted for more than three hours. It was because no conclusion was reached.
"If one of them is a witch, I think Isolene is a witch. This is because Mori had undergone the consecration ceremony of the saint the other day. If she were a witch, her blood would have been black, so we would have known then."
"I agree. Didn't the archbishop's deputy, Priest Rupelon, conduct the identification ceremony himself?"
The eyes of the high priests all turned to Priest Rupelon.
"That's right. It was a discrimination ceremony that I conducted myself, so no one would doubt the results. I, too, think she's a witch."
Priest Rupelon brazenly sided with Mori. How can he confess here that he brought alcohol instead of holy water at that time, and that Mori even drank it all? If he reveals such a bizarre mistake in this gathering of all the high-ranking priests, he will be stripped of his position.
"Isolene Sien just held a Saint's Identification ceremony. The blood was clearly red. Then it means that they are both ordinary human beings, which makes no sense."
"That's right. And this is a separate statement, but it seems a bit flimsy to use the Saint identification ceremony as an indicator of witch distinction. Over the past five years, I have conducted experiments on the blood of many people, and there have been cases where the blood of newborn babies and eighty-year-old grandfathers has been stained black. It just seemed to be blackened by something in the blood."
"Then what should you use to judge that you are a witch? Neither of them can be pierced with a silver sword, and this is true."
"I think Mori is a witch. I heard that she usually used a lot of remnants, but wasn't it all the power of the witch?"
"In my opinion, Mori is just a clever wizard. I heard that she helped people in many ways. If she were a witch, she would have thought of sucking the blood of the humans, not helping them."
The Great Temple became more and more noisy. While the priests were having a heated discussion in the conference room. Upon hearing the rumors, the nobles flocked to the Great Temple.
"It turns out that Count Sien's daughter was a witch, is it true?"
"I heard that Grand Duke Ethel's maid named 'Mori' is a witch. In order not to find out that she was a witch, she impersonated the Lady of Count Sien."
"Still, I would like to believe that the Young Lady of Count Sien was a witch. No, I'll make it that way. I didn't want to see the white writer in the city, but it was good."
A lady chuckled as she looked at Count Sien pacing in the distance. Count Sien was restless, fearing that his daughter was really a witch.
***
Isolene and Gremory were each interrogated by the archbishop.
The Interrogation took place not in the prison, but in the guest room. This was because they could not be treated as sinners when it was not clear who was a witch.
The archbishop was unable to make a judgment, so the interrogation lasted for several hours. It was because no matter who he listened to, it sounded right.
In the end, the archbishop made a decision. He sat Gremory and Isolene side by side and held out a glass of clear liquid.
"This is holy water. Ordinary people drink it without any problems, but if you are a witch, you will feel burning pain. Well, even this is not accurate, but anyway, it is a traditional witch identification method used in the past."
Gremory looked at the holy water as if it were petty. Yes, she felt like her esophagus was burning. It's like drinking strong alcohol.
"Can I take it in at once?"
Gremory looked at Isolene and provoked. Isolene responded.
"I can drink faster than her, right?"
"That... It doesn't matter how fast you drink, just drink it all."
The two women seemed to be trying to grab their hair at any moment. The archbishop sighed in astonishment.
The two drank holy water almost at the same time. While staring at each other. Then, they put the empty glass on the table.
"Archbishop, did you see it? I'm fine."
Isolene spread her arms wide to emphasize her well-being. And Gremory is.
"I'm fine too."
It was fine. Perhaps because she had developed tolerance after drinking holy water in the past, she felt a pleasant and chewy feeling.
The archbishop became even more troubled.
"Hmm... If both are okay... I'll try this method too. It will hurt a little, but please bear with me. Think of it as a process of relieving resentment."
The archbishop beckoned to the young priest standing behind him. The priest brought a colorful box. Inside the box was a silver dagger.
"They say witches feel great pain when they are injured by silver. Can you hurt your paIm with this? I'll draw your palm so that you don't have too much blood."
Isolene held out her palm.
"It's a familiar way to check. Before I was saved by His Highness Grand Duke Ethel."
"I suffered a lot when I was unjustly witch-hunted."
Gremory did not lose and proudly held out her palm.
"Archbishop, please draw deeper than she does."
Isolene gritted her teeth and glared at Gremory
"On the subject of a witch who will make you get an even if you scratch it slightly! Tell me the truth. You're shaking right now, aren't you?"
"You're funny, dirty witch. You seem to be on the verge of crying, right?"
"Hah! Archbishop, please give me some popcorn. I want to see him roll around in pain! It's better if you give me alcohol and snacks!"
"What are you talking about, you idiot! Archbishop, give me that dagger! I'll burn her myself!"
The two women eventually grabbed each other's hair. Then they screamed and began to roll on the floor.
"Huh...Stop! I'll do it! Your lives are at stake, so please cooperate properly!"
It was only after the archbishop shouted that the room fell silent. The two women stood up and sat down quietly in front of the archbishop. Both had scattered hair.
"First, I'll draw the Young Lady's hand."
"Yes."
Isolene proudly held out her hand. The archbishop cut her palm. Isolene frowned slightly, but endured the pain without any problems. The priest standing behind the archbishop immediately stopped the bleeding in her hand with a white cloth.
"Next, Mori. Reach out your hand."
"Here."
Gremory also reached out ambitiously. To be honest, she was a little scared, but drinking the holy water made her drunk and less afraid.
The archbishop's silver dagger reached Gremory's hand. Gremory flinched; she expected to feel a lot of pain soon.
"You have to endure."
Gremory gritted her teeth. After a while, as expected, terrible pain was felt in the palm of her hand. The pain was greater than she expected because the silver quality was good. Unbearable.
Isolene noticed that Gremory's expression was not good, so she deliberately started a fight.
"Hey, are you hurt? Hurt, right? You want to shout at him to stop, don't you?"
"Shut up, don't annoy me."
"Don't you just confess that you're a witch now? It seems that the witch verification process is still a long way off. Can you endure all of that?"
"Ha, you are...!"
"Quiet! Be quiet, please!"
The archbishop, who had lost his temper, finally exploded.
"You keep arguing like that, and I can't tell if it's because she's frowning, because she's hurt, or because she's annoyed!"
"I'm sorry, I'll be quiet now."
Having achieved his goal, Isolene turned her head sharply.
Thus, Gremory's witch identification process ended.
The priest stopped the bleeding in her hand. The archbishop became distraught again.
'Hah. Aren't they both witches? Besides, I heard that the two of them got along very well in the first place.'
If so, there were two possibilities left.
'What if two people are innocent and the witch exists separately?'
What if a separate witch was playing tricks on the two women to separate them?
'No, then things get too complicated. It's not very likely. There can't be a witch in the world in the first place.'
The last possibility was black magic. What if someone who hated the Count of Sien or the Grand Duke of Ethel used black magic to betray the two families?
'Black magic. Yes, it's most likely that black magic intervened. Black magic, unlike witches, is clearly real in the world.'
The archbishop's expression became more relaxed after reaching a cool conclusion.
When the archbishop finished his work and came out of the hall building, he was frightened when he saw the nobles who had gathered in front of the temple.
'Whew. Everyone is in a mess. After all, there are absurd rumors that a witch has appeared, so it's worth it.'
The nobles were divided into several groups and fought against each other. The political enemies of the Count claimed that Isolene was a witch. The political enemies of the Grand Duke of Ethel, who shouted that Mori and Isolene were both witches. The rest of the nobles snorted and asked where the witches were in the world.
Chession broke through the mess and reached the archbishop.
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