Chapter 690: Witches vs. Witches
Translator: TransN Editor: TransN
No. 76 pretended to be timid and shifted her head.
She had prepared to be examined by the Witch Union if she wanted to have contact with them. The Union knew the abilities of the witches the most, and it was normal that an organization with such a large scale had some detective means like the sense of magic and Magic Stone of Observation. She had no need to trek to the Western Region of Graycastle if she could not pass the examination.
Different from the senseless God's Punishment Army soldiers, she could easily control every part of her body and the release of anti-magic areas. Any witch could master this skill after two or three years' practice. As long as she did not use her magic power to cause any distorted barrier, she would appear the same as common people.
After all, the anti-magic areas and the blue blood of the God's Punishment Warriors were all caused by the magic power. If they were senseless, they would behave like beasts and fight by the instinct of the transformers. They naturally did not know how to use the ubiquitous magic power, either. Only after the shell was possessed by a witch's soul, it would be fully utilized. Even though the witch could not cohere the Magic Cyclone as in the past, and would lose her combat instinct, the immortal soul could gain power and skills no worse than the Extraordinary through years of training.
"Why don't you... ask about our abilities first?" Annie asked after a long silence. Obviously, she was extremely wary of them.
No. 76 was equally intrigued to know their answer. During the journey, she had a deeper understanding of the suffering of Annie and other witches. She heard that Annie was once refused by a witch organization due to her ability defect and was almost sold by them to the nobles.
It was well understandable for No. 76 that the combat witches were highly valued. Especially when the wild witches were severely suppressed by the Starfall City, self-protection and protection of the organization were necessary means of sustaining the organization. However, it also indicated that these witches just had a primary understanding of the magic power. The High Awakening could bring great changes to some non-combat witches after their promotion, and their seemingly useless abilities could experience transcendent transformation. Therefore, it was an extremely stupid choice for the Bloodfang Association to refuse the non-combat witches and even sell them to the nobles.
But it was also too weird if they did not care about the abilities at all. It could be described as jumping from one extreme to another one. After all, High Awakening was always rare, and thousands of witches could not be promoted throughout their lives, not to mention that the combat witches also had the promotion opportunity. Therefore, in any case, the status of combat witches was always higher. Their equal treatment was simply incredible in the eyes of No. 76.
No wonder Annie would be so wary of them.
"The ability test is usually arranged in three days," the red-haired witch laughed softly and said, "after all, you must be tired after such a long journey. We'll wait until you have a full rest, so the test results will be more accurate. What do you think of it? By the way, my name is Wendy, and I'm in charge of the Witch Union. You can come to me if you have any questions later."
Annie did not relax at her words. She continued to ask, "What if the test shows that... our abilities are useless?"
The witch, who claimed herself as Wendy gently responded, "Both His Majesty Roland and the Witch Union hold the notion that 'there is no useless power'. I know what you're worried about, and this is a process which most witches joining Neverwinter will experience. In fact, an ability test is just for His Majesty to know your situation better. It doesn't mean that you have to be a member of the union."
Annie was stunned. "What do you mean?"
"It means that, even if you don't want to work for His Majesty, you can still live in the city like common people."
No. 76's heart skipped a beat at her words, as she knew that emergence of Senior Witches relied heavily on a relaxing environment. For example, in Taquila, every witch could practice her ability as she wished, and anyone with even a little talent would be specially cultivated by the Union. In the Holy City where the more the witches were in charge, the more witches were promoted to get a higher ability.
And if a witch had to flee from a place to another and lived in horror, she even had few opportunities to practice her ability, then how could she be promoted? If they were not lying, and Neverwinter indeed provided the witches with a free and stable life, then they really had the conditions for the birth of Senior Witches in a sense.
Maybe the Chosen One was not among them now, but what about several years later? No. 76 was full of thoughts now. "Maybe I should find an opportunity to talk with the Witch Union in private and it's the best choice to make them a branch of the Union."
"Can I choose not to work for the King?" Annie seemed not to believe what she had heard.
"Yes, Witch Union won't force any sister to sign the contract. But if you're a member of the union, you'll benefit so much and your work will also be easy, so everybody joins this family now."
"Sorry, Lady Wendy..." Broken Sword said, "Can you tell us what a witch's daily job is?"
"Don't call me Lady," Wendy shook her head with a smile. "We're sisters, aren't we? As for work, it depends on your ability. For example, Miss Evelyn can brew delicious wine, so she opens a wine factory in the city. And Miss Mystery Moon is responsible for the light in the factory, as she can magnetize objects. And Miss Nana Pine... Her excellent healing ability makes her an angel in Neverwinter. I heard from Mr. Ambassador that some of you need curing, right?"
"She didn't give any examples related to combat witches," No. 76 frowned and thought, "Don't they care about the differences between the abilities of the witches? Then how did the king of Graycastle defeat the God's Punishment Army of the church?"
"Can you really cure the feet of Hero?" Amy immediately became excited.
"We have to let Nana try first," Wendy nodded to the blonde witch. "But before that, can you introduce your backgrounds and names?"
No. 76 did not care about whether she could be cured. Instead, she had focused on the other four witches.
The colorful magic stone on her chest became slightly hot, which meant that someone was using magic power. The heat was not from the skin contact, but a direct response of the soul.
She realized that the examination started.
From Annie to Hero, everyone briefly told their past story. Wendy also raised several questions, while the older brunette witch recorded the contents on a notebook. The magic stone remained the same temperature during this period.
When the inquiry was over, Wendy looked at No. 76.
"Are you... not a witch?"
"She's our friend," Amy said. "If it were not for her to stall the knights of the Kingdom of Dawn, we would've all been taken back to the dungeon."
"I used to be a guide, or a waitress, in an underground exhibition in the City of Glow. And Mr. Ambassador bought me from the Chamber of Commerce." No. 76 slowly uttered the words she had prepared. She had a vague awareness of their means of examination now. Those questions were not casually raised, but had clear purposes and could not be replied with vague answers.
Some of them might be able to detect the lies.
No. 76 was not worried about it. She could accurately control every movement of her body and also temporarily cut off her control of any part of her body. The usual subtle changes when people lied did not exist for her. Her words would be impeccable unless they could directly invade her mind,
Her guess was proved.
After her answers, Wendy did not show any strangeness, "I see. Thank you for saving them, and if you have no other place to go, you may live with them in the Foreign Affairs Building."
"Thank you for your consideration," she said gratefully.
"Wait..." Just then, another green-haired witch who had been silent before suddenly asked, "Can you tell me where you got the ring on your chest?"