The news of burning witches spread throughout the city in no time.
In this dark and chaotic era, people's minds were highly confined. The nobles might be able to rely on hunting in the garden and endless banquets to pass the time, but the common people had almost no entertainment. Under the double pressure of the church and the nobles, any expression of emotions could be labeled as "witchcraft". This extreme "thinking purification" had led to an even more extreme and twisted emotional catharsis: hunting witches.
Since early in the morning, the sky had been overcast. The lead-colored clouds covered the sky above the city, and then hung low to the horizon like a cover. The weak sunlight could not penetrate the clouds, and could only leak a hazy halo through the gaps in the clouds, unable to illuminate the earth. The cold wind mixed with the humidity rolled through the moldy streets and the muddy roads, filling the air with the stench of decay.
Under the dim sky, the whole city seemed to be filled with a deathly atmosphere. The bad weather seemed to be an ominous omen. Some old people walked on the streets, looking at the low hanging clouds and praying, chanting the name of the Holy Spirit. They remembered the old superstitious stories about the devil hiding under the city, the wandering dead at night, the crying ghosts in the attic, and the cemetery outside the city which was said to disappear mysteriously when the fog came. They believed that the bad weather indicated that at least one of the evil forces was at work, so they warned their families not to go out at this time.
However, for most people in the city, the burning of witches was still more attractive than the bad weather.
A large number of civilians had already passed through the gate of the inner city and gathered in the square. They were even willing to wait here for several hours just to watch the fire. The high platform on one side of the square was prepared for the nobles. Those who were interested in "watching" could come to the high platform in their carriages and warm furs at any time. But ordinary people had to get up early in the morning to occupy a place in the square. Such a "grand event" also gave birth to many people who made a living from it. Some people specially helped people to occupy a place in the square, and some people specially built wooden platforms on the rooftops outside the square. These "special seats" with a good view could be bought for two or three coins. There were also small vendors set up stalls outside the square, ready to take advantage of the fire to make bread and bacon for their families for a week. If it were not for the bad weather in the morning, the number of these vendors would have doubled.
Hao Ren and Lily did not come early enough, so there was almost no place to stand in the square by the time they arrived. But with enough strength and agility, they successfully squeezed in and came to a place very close to the stake. Lily curiously looked around on her tiptoes. Even in her human form, she still seemed to have a tail wagging behind her. "Wow! So this is how the medieval witches were burned."
"After all, people in this era don't have much entertainment," Hao Ren said casually. "This is an era where a couple who makes too much noise may be reported as heretics. People can only 'watch' the death penalty to vent their emotions."
"Tsk, what a pervert," Lily whispered. At the same time, she also saw the vendors and idlers who took advantage of the fire to make money. She had read about it in a book, but it was one thing to read about it, and another to see it with her own eyes. Some of the fairs and attractions in later Europe developed on this basis. Now, it was better to see it once than to hear about it. "By the way, Madame Marie seems to have arrived. I can smell their scent."
Hao Ren nodded and said, "Well, we'll act according to the situation."
After that, he looked up in the direction of the fire, quietly waiting for the witch named Hessiana to be escorted up.
He did not have to wait long.
The witches who were sentenced to be burned had to be escorted into the square in advance. The process of tying the witch to the stake was part of this crazy "entertainment." So after the hay and oil were ready, Hao Ren saw a strange-looking prison cart coming in from the entrance of the square. The cart was pulled by a pure black pony with an eye patch. There was a large dark iron cage on the cart. The bars of the iron cage were surprisingly thick, and there were countless crisscrossed chains tied between the bars. Every few links of the chains had a silver-white luster. It was made of pure silver. Around the prison cart were many crosses and sharp spear-like ornaments. Hao Ren believed that these things were not just for decoration.
These things meant that the witch in the iron cage was a real witch, not a poor victim.
The witch sat quietly in the middle of the cage. She wore a plain coarse dress with a dark blue belt. Her long black hair covered most of her cheeks and fell to her waist. There were no ornaments on her long hair. Surprisingly, there were no whipping scars on the witch's body. There was not even a speck of dirt on her. It was as if she had not been abused in the dungeon of the church. This was incredible in this era.
Hao Ren seemed to hear someone talking about the witch somewhere in the crowd. They mentioned that the witch had great power. Even surrounded by holy water and crosses, she was still difficult to hurt. It was said that whipping and stabbing could not leave a mark on her body. Even the executioners who were too close to her would be affected by the miasma and curse. She only showed a certain fear of fire. So, the church finally decided to give up on her "trial" and burn her directly in the square.
Hao Ren did not know whether these rumors were true or not.
At this time, the witch was finally transported to the stake. She was shackled in heavy chains. Even when she was here, the people in charge of escorting her did not seem to want to take off the chains. They seemed to want to tie the witch to the stake together with the instruments of torture. Looking at the two burly men escorting the witch, Hao Ren could not help but wonder what the witch had done to scare them.
A gust of wind blew the witch's long hair away from her face, and her face was finally completely exposed to Hao Ren.
It was a little younger than Vivian, but the outline was almost the same.
Hao Ren could not help but exclaim, "Holy moly! Is it really that little bat?"
Lily also said in unison, "Mr. Landlord, Mr. Landlord, it's really Hessiana!"
Hao Ren was in great shock. He had guessed that the Hessiana that Madam Marie and Helen were talking about was the naughty child he knew, but he could not believe it. There was only one reason: how could Hessiana be captured by humans?
How could a weirdo who drank holy water, ate garlic, and wielded a silver sword with the Bible be captured by the human church, which only had basic exorcism abilities?
She had inherited the magical talent of Vivian. She was not afraid of common exorcism methods at all!
Hao Ren could not help but stare at the "instruments of torture" on Hessiana. Most of the instruments of torture were made of ordinary steel, mixed with some silver parts. Perhaps the silver parts were blessed with salt and holy water, but they were still worlds apart from the sacred silver used by the demon hunters. Even if the human church built an airtight dungeon with pure silver, it would not be able to trap Hessiana, let alone the chains.
He noticed the expression on Hessiana's face. Even though she was chained up and was being tied to the stake, there was no frustration or fear in her eyes. On the contrary, there was only calmness and a hint of well-hidden teasing in her expression.
After dealing with the naughty child many times, Hao Ren had some understanding of her expression: it was the expression when her evil plan was about to succeed.
"Shit," Hao Ren said in a low voice. "This is bad!"
"Mr. Landlord, you mean Hessiana? It's okay. Let's just get her out. She still owes us a big favor! "
"I'm not saying Hessiana is bad. I'm afraid the witches are going to do bad things. Hessiana deliberately let herself be caught!"
"Ouch?"
At this moment, Hessiana had been tied firmly to the stake. Her shackles and the ring on the stake were tightly locked together. The sound of the shackles locking seemed to have awakened her from her thoughts. Hessiana raised her head and looked around the square lazily.
Then, the expression on her face suddenly froze, and a huge "What the f * ck" seemed to be gushing out of her.
A thin man in a robe stood on the platform near the seats of the nobles and began to read the charges on a piece of parchment (according to the practice of the Middle Ages, these charges were basically "standard articles" made up by imagination).
"... Sneaking into the cemetery at night and carving blasphemous symbols on the tombstones...
"Holding a secret witchcraft meeting, summoning the devil from hell in the apple orchard, and killing an innocent adult man with the devil...
"Insulting the mother, grandmother, great-grandmother of the district bishop, and tracing back to..."
The skinny man's reading was tongue-twisting and long-winded, almost making people drowsy. The witches in the crowd had already taken their positions and stepped on the Letta runes that had been set up in advance.
Hessiana suddenly turned her head and shouted at the platform, "Are you done with your f * cking nonsense? I admit it. Hurry up and light the f * ck! You f * cker! All the f * ckers in your family are f * ckers! Hurry up and light the f * ck! "
A series of jaw-dropping curses echoed through the square. Everyone was in an uproar. However, the skinny man, who was as expressionless as a zombie, did not react at all. Instead, he continued to speak in a tone that was neither too fast nor too slow, "Insulting the judges, their mothers, and their fathers in front of everyone at the fire execution ground, and fabricating the dirty deeds of the family members of the judges …"
Hessiana yelled, "You motherf * cker!"
Madam Marie's voice was a second slower. "Do it!"
A dark cloud of locusts swarmed towards the square from all directions. The ground beneath the people's feet began to wriggle like a living thing. The people gathered in the square let out a loud cry, followed by wailing and screaming. Everything was in chaos!
Several figures rushed to the fire execution ground. Hessiana let out a final roar in the chaos.
"Where the f * ck did these idiots come from? Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"
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