Miss Witch’s Devotion Has Gone… Twisted

"You mean there's a witch hiding by my side?"

Loren feigned surprise, but compared to before, this time his acting was far too clumsy.

At the same time, Loren's voice was loud enough to ensure everyone in the house could hear him.

"Yes, that's the situation..."

The Pope wasn't a fool either; he had already figured out what was going on.

It was abundantly clear now that the witch was raised by Loren, and Loren knew it perfectly well.

Even if a witch could beguile anyone, they could never beguile Loren.

"How did you find out?"

Loren looked at the crystal ball in the scarecrow's hand and asked.

By now, Mirrorheart had grasped the situation and quietly informed the others.

"We've developed a method to detect witches, and that's this crystal ball.

"If this world were a piece of music, witches would be the wrong notes. As a musician, you must understand.

"This crystal ball shows the surrounding melody. Once a witch appears within range, the notes inside the crystal ball become chaotic and disordered, just like now."

As he spoke, the Pope took the crystal ball from the scarecrow and showed it to Loren.

"Let me see it."

Loren snatched the crystal ball directly from the Pope's hand. The Pope had no guard up and simply handed it over.

After taking the crystal ball, Loren smashed it onto the ground without a second thought. The floor tiles cracked, but the crystal ball remained unscathed.

Without hesitation, Loren drew Requiem and added another strike, finally destroying the crystal ball completely.

Strangely, the liquid inside didn't spill out; it was merely split apart.

"Oh dear, I was so careless and broke the crystal ball. Is this thing worth anything?"

"We've already begun mass-producing these crystal balls. Next, we'll use them for a blanket search to track down witches. They won't be able to escape."

After the crystal ball was broken, the Pope actually seemed relieved and continued speaking to Loren calmly.

"Is that so?"

Loren was lost in thought. He still hadn't sheathed his blade.

Since a tool for detecting witches had been invented, the Witches' Church would surely make their move soon.

"It's a pity the crystal ball is destroyed. Now we can't tell who the witch is, or how many there are.

"But we trust your judgment. Who do you think is the witch?"

By now, everyone had gathered behind Loren. Corolla stood trembling in the corner, sensing that something bad was about to happen.

Scarlett, thick-skulled, didn't feel any danger at all.

"So, what you're saying is, now that the detection tool is destroyed and there's no evidence left, I can just pick anyone to take the fall.

"As long as it's someone close to me, because you've already confirmed there's a witch by my side, otherwise you wouldn't dare come to me.

"I choose this person. She doesn't even have to be a witch; as long as she lets you save face.

"Then you'll quickly execute her without giving a chance for further testing, and we can keep up our fake peace.

"In the meantime, I can hide the remaining witches. I can keep them, as long as you don't find out. Even if you know, as long as there's no evidence, we'll leave each other alone."

Loren spoke bluntly, so bluntly that it terrified the Pope.

The others around him all lowered their heads, pretending they hadn't heard any of this. Many of them had received favors from Loren and didn't want to fall out with him.

But more importantly, they had all worked with Loren before, so they knew exactly how terrifying he could be.

Loren could lead them to toy with their enemies, and he could just as easily lead the witches to toy with them.

Unless absolutely necessary, they would all choose to play dead rather than oppose Loren.

Witches were the Church's bottom line, not theirs.

The Pope said nothing, tacitly acknowledging Loren's words. That was indeed what he had been thinking.

"Master Mentor... Your Holiness... you..."

At this point, Casper couldn't help but speak up. He was probably the most loyal to the Church here, so he was momentarily unable to comprehend this.

"Shut up."

Loren shot Casper a glare, and Casper immediately fell silent like a child who had done something wrong.

He had no status now; his act of becoming a pirate was essentially apostasy. So even though his strength far surpassed the Pope's, he didn't dare say another word.

Here, the Pope was the one with the final say.

The scene fell into a terrifying silence. All the witches had already drawn their weapons, ready for battle.

Things had developed too fast; they hadn't had time to prepare. Anna hadn't even gotten a chance to take a bite of her cake.

Now Anna gripped the Scythe of Harvest tightly, her eyes focused solely on the people she wanted to kill, no longer glancing at the cake.

If Loren gave the order, she would charge in and kill them all without hesitation.

In the end, it was the Bishop who broke the eerie stillness:

"Witches are masters of beguilement. Even Master Mentor can't be a hundred percent immune...

"So this problem is the Church's fault for failing to protect you..."

The Church kept backing down. He really didn't want to fall out with Loren.

Now, as long as Loren handed over someone—anyone—everything would be fine, even if it was just one of the maids.

That was the Bishop's plan. He knew Loren had a few maids in his house. These maids were hired by Loren; surely their bond wasn't that deep...

Everyone understood this clearly. Corolla lowered her head and silently took a step forward.

She had already started imagining what would happen next. She would be executed by the Church, and Loren would watch her die from below the execution platform.

In that moment, Loren's eyes might be filled with tears, but to avoid exposing anything, he would force himself not to let them fall...

Actually, Corolla didn't care about witches. After all, the witches had never hurt her.

If Loren really did keep witches, that just meant witches weren't as evil as the rumors claimed.

But no sooner had the fantasy formed than Corolla realized she wasn't the only one stepping forward. Everyone had taken a step forward at the same time.

"You want to take the fall too? What a coincidence."

In this tense moment, Flossie cracked a joke.

"I'm the witch!"

Naclis blocked the others who wanted to step forward. This was the first time they had seen Naclis wear such an unquestionable expression, so much so that they subconsciously stopped in their tracks.

"Well then, this makes things easy..."

After Naclis stepped forward, the Pope breathed a sigh of relief. Then he saw Loren reach out and stop Naclis.

"I did raise witches. I raised many of them, and no one beguiled me.

"I did it for only one reason: I love them, and they love me."

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