Miss Witch’s Devotion Has Gone… Twisted

The witch Loren thought of was the former Gluttony Witch. She became famous when Anna was still young. Anna inherited the position of Gluttony Witch only after her death, and this was the only position that had been replaced.

She had already died before the main plot began, so Loren didn’t know her name, didn’t know what she looked like, and only knew her Arcane Ability.

Her Arcane Ability was called [Endless Hunger], which was considered a rather overpowered tier. Its effect was to release a unique gray mist. Anything touched by the mist would be corroded and ultimately devoured.

The devoured things could enhance her strength and also restore her stamina or Mana.

Although its efficiency was far inferior to Loren’s Pluto’s Mouth, it had the advantage of low consumption. Moreover, even without these additional effects, the gray mist’s offensive power was already high enough.

The only thing that limited her was her own moral bottom line. If she had truly gone on a killing spree everywhere, she wouldn’t have been killed due to insufficient strength.

So even though this incident seemed very much like her doing, Loren didn’t really suspect her. But an investigation still had to be conducted.

”Movila, take a look around this area, see if you can find any clues.”

Loren held a map and drew several circles on it. These were places Loren had analyzed as potential next targets, and they weren’t far from the Gedlan Kingdom.

”Okay.”Movila nodded, and some crows began flying towards the places Loren had marked.

Loren propped up his chin with one hand, while the other gently tapped the table. This matter was truly difficult for him to handle.

Currently, Loren held absolute authority within the Church. The power over life and death of everyone in the entire Gedlan Kingdom was in Loren’s hands. With Loren’s status, he didn’t even need evidence to pin a crime on someone.

But all of this had a prerequisite: it must not touch the Church’s bottom line, which was the Witches.

If the former Gluttony Witch were truly discovered, proving her innocence would be useless for Loren. For the Church, the very existence of a witch was the greatest sin.

To save her, she could only be found before the Church did. Obsessing over who the real culprit was was pointless.

To obtain firsthand information, Loren even went to the Church.

According to Loren’s persona, this was very reasonable. Loren was loyal to the Church and hated evil. Presumably, he also deeply hated Witches, so it was normal for him to actively seek information about them.

It was only after arriving at the Church that Loren received the latest news: a third location had already been victimized. It wasn’t the remote village Loren had guessed, but a city.

A prosperous city. Half of it was destroyed overnight, razed to the ground, leaving not a single survivor.

Loren recalled the map. This city was also on the forward route, so there was no particular reason for that person to target this city; it was simply because it was on the way.

He had already targeted villages twice. Choosing a prosperous city this time actually made him less likely to be discovered.

”Were there any other discoveries?”

Compared to the information-isolated villages, the city’s information flow was clearly more active. Furthermore, he didn’t destroy the entire city, so there should have been quite a few eyewitnesses.

”Some eyewitnesses saw gray mist. The mist came quickly and dissipated quickly as well. However, when it dissipated, everything it had touched also disappeared...”

”This...”

Listening to the Bishop’s description, Loren increasingly felt this resembled the former Gluttony Witch’s Arcane Ability.

But nothing is absolute. Those capable of causing such an effect were definitely not limited to her alone. Out of trust for the Witches, Loren didn’t believe the culprit was the former Gluttony Witch.

”It’s not far from the Gedlan Kingdom either...”

Loren sighed with emotion. The Bishop keenly grasped Loren’s implication:

”Your meaning is that the culprit might come to the Gedlan Kingdom?”

”Yes, following this trajectory, he should come to the Gedlan Kingdom.”

”But why?”

The Bishop was somewhat puzzled:

”If his goal is to target more people, staying in the Nofica Theocracy with its higher population density would be a better choice. If he’s trying to escape the pursuit of the Bountiful Church, then he shouldn’t come to the Gedlan Kingdom, which also belongs to the God of Bountiful Harvest’s territory.”

”Perhaps he hasn’t thought that much and is simply committing random acts.”

Loren voiced his conjecture, though he himself felt it was unlikely. Loren had thought about many possibilities. He felt the greatest likelihood was because of himself, but he didn’t say it outright.

The previous incident of refining the Ember Radiance once again proved Loren, proved that the Master Mentor wasn’t just an empty title. His current status wasn’t entirely built up by the Church’s promotion.

The Master Mentor was truly omniscient. He could accomplish anything, including granting people longevity.

Now, who knew how many people worldwide coveted Loren? If not for the Church constantly protecting Loren, probably countless countries would have already gone to war over him.

In a sense, Loren had now also become like those female protagonists in romance-focused novels, capable of making major nations fight over him. However, the specific reason wasn’t some romantic love; it was all about tangible benefits.

Loren didn’t tell the Bishop these deductions he had reasoned out, precisely because he feared the Bishop’s protection would become overly strict, making it inconvenient for Loren to act when the time came.

”Is there any clue regarding the culprit’s identity?”

”Isn’t it a witch?”

After witnessing the culprit’s methods, the Bishop became even more convinced it was a witch.

Loren once again felt the importance of the power of discourse. Whoever the Church, which held the most discursive power, said was evil, people would truly believe was evil.

People believed Witches bore original sin, yet Witches didn’t even have the right to speak. Their voices would never be heard by anyone, to the extent that the entire world forbade speaking up for Witches, even Loren couldn’t.

They accused the Witches of heinous crimes, but in reality, they were the perpetrators, disguising themselves as victims.

This situation felt somewhat familiar to Loren...

”It might not necessarily be a witch. I think it’s more likely the work of believers of the God of Greed.”

Loren couldn’t directly exonerate the Witches; he could only approach it indirectly:

”Believers of the God of Greed have many methods for conducting large-scale sacrifices. His appetite is enormous. It’s not unheard of for Him to directly have believers sacrifice half a city, and His appetite will only grow larger.

”When the same person performs repeated sacrifices, the rewards given by the God of Greed will actually become less and less. But by then, He has already stirred the greed within the believer’s heart. So, to obtain rewards, the believer will sacrifice even more things.

”Wasn’t the previous old King exactly like this? He sacrificed too much and simply couldn’t continue to satisfy the God of Greed, so he could only seek other methods for longevity.”

This kind of thing happened right under the Church’s nose; the Church couldn’t possibly be unaware. So, when Loren brought up these matters, the Bishop’s expression became somewhat awkward.

Fortunately, Loren was talking about a dead person, so the Bishop didn’t react too strongly. Since the old King was already dead, it didn’t matter if the incident came to light. Even if people found out, the Bishop could righteously say the old King had received the punishment he deserved, even though the old King lived over a hundred years and had many descendants.