章節 33: 0032 The Witch's Hammer
The young girl's name is Noa, Noa . Sara, a soothsayer, chimera, fiddle musician, dancer, and a sorceress of the Roma Sara clan ...
Listening to this glorious and peculiar resume, and then looking at this timid and tearful petite girl, Lorraine felt a broad brain ache.
They seem to be in a big mess ...
Thanks to the Dominican monks, Mr. Kramer and Mr. Sprenger, the word witch has become famous in the Catholic world.
In the middle of the fifteenth century, the Black Death was still spreading in the corners of the European continent, and a hundred years of rest was not enough to revitalize this traumatized land, while the lack of medical treatment reminded the people that they could do nothing when the next Black Death came.
At that time, there was a group of women who traveled around the continent under the name of ghosts and gods, and because of their slight knowledge of medicine and their willingness to cure the poor and needy people, they soon gained the love and admiration of all sectors of the community.
They are honored as [witches].
This annoyed the church powers of the time, as witches were mostly pagans, or were deliberately hiding their beliefs and masquerading as pagans for the sake of their livelihood and mystique.
In order to maintain its dominance in the secular world, the Church began to launch a smear campaign against them.
This propaganda culminated in 1484.
Kramer and Sprenger obtained a large amount of "hard evidence" through false accusations, intimidation, rumors, torture and other despicable ways, and after organizing and editing, formed a system for identifying, deciphering and judging witchcraft, and wrote a strange book called "The Witch's Hammer".
This book officially takes [witches] out of the traditional pagan category on its own, making them synonymous with evil, horror, curses, and plagues.
People panicked, and at the instigation of the Church, the entire Catholic world launched a vigorous [witch trial] campaign that lasted three full centuries.
According to incomplete estimates, at least 100,000 innocent women have died horribly in the midst of this crazy scam.
Even until today, Lorraine can still occasionally hear about the news of the fire sentence from the talk of others, but the area has been mostly confined to the inland villages where the people's wisdom is difficult to open up and the information is closed to the public.
Suffice it to say that as much as God's followers persecuted witches, how much deeper was their fear of them.
And right in front of us is a real witch ...
Only moments ago, she had used a purple crystal ball in her pocket to charm a killer into becoming her protector, until Haina fell from the sky and cracked the mysterious sorcery with a single slash ...
Lorraine was curious about the science contained therein, except that night was coming, and right now this back alley lying full of Roma didn't look like the right place to walk into science in any way.
He mused for a moment.
"Noa. Ms. Sara ..."
"It's ...," Noa's voice was thin.
She stood across from Lorraine, twisting her sleeves and wringing her hands like a scared little girl instead of a sky knight who could ride a broomstick and chase Quidditch.
Lorraine narrowed her eyes and solemnly said, "Ms. Sara, may I ask if you know how to ride a broom?"
"Eh?"
...
Unfortunately, Noa can't ride a broom.
Not even to mention brooms, she had never even ridden a horse in her life, only caravans.
Lorraine's interest in her faded for the most part.
Because even Kiki, the delivery girl, can ride a broom, so a witch who can't ride a broom must be a fake witch.
As for how she was able to get her opponents to die for her with a crystal ball ...
Lorraine guessed that it was likely to be related to some kind of trickster variant of deep psychological suggestion, which, while seemingly mysterious, was not worth making a fuss about.
The witch lady who couldn't ride a broom could only be considered a passerby to Lorraine, and since Hina's sense of justice had been satisfied, it was naturally time for both parties to part ways.
Stepping out of the back alley, Lorraine stroked her chest to say goodbye to Noa and continued her journey with Hina on her arm, ready to head back to the ship to plan tomorrow's kidnapping.
But ...
As he walked, Lorraine stopped walking.
"Meow ..."
As he walked, Lorraine turned back.
"Mr. ..."
Noa and White Ears hung their heads and clutched their sleeves as they followed Lorraine five meters away, neither chasing nor staying away.
Lorraine walks faster, she walks faster.
Lorraine walks slower, she walks slower.
Lorraine stopped and White Ears barked.
Lorraine turned back and Noa started crying ...
Ms. Witch cried with great skill, not in a pouty way, but in a silent sob.
Large teardrops rolled and rolled and rolled inside big, long, bright eyes that would never fall, making her eyes lose their miserable, tearful, pathetic state for a moment.
Hina cocked her head and frowned, "Lorraine, isn't that ..."
"She's a witch, and we have Pierce and Crane on board."
"But the ship is short of men ..."
"She's a witch and has never been to sea and can't sail a boat."
"There are rats on board ..."
"She's a witch, and White Ears is just a mongrel, lazy cat that only does cute things, I don't think he's capable of taking on the heavy lifting of catching mice."
"I can teach it ..."
Lorraine hung a black line in her head.
He suddenly remembered that Hina could really catch mice like a real cat, since that was supposed to be part of the daily training for the art of catfighting.
Lorraine couldn't help but be in a dilemma, "Hina, tell me honestly, are you so insistent because of the people, or because of the cat?"
Hina's emerald green eyes flashed, "My brother has a black cat by his side, you should have one too."
"Told you I'm not your brother."
"I know, that's why you should have one too."
Crazy!
Lorraine paused the handle of her umbrella in annoyance and took a deep breath, "Haina, if you want a black cat, I can accompany you to the market to find one after we get through to Viscount Alfonso. We're still focusing on the Viscount at the moment, is that okay?"
"The ..." Noa, half hidden in the shadows, timidly raised her hand, "Sir, is it Viscount Alfonso of Bellemeo you are talking about? Sasserica. Viscount Alfonso?"
The black cat's good fortune came without a word.
The Romsala tribe is a peculiar tribe of Roma who, within the memory of four generations, began to wander westward from Minsk in the Republic of Poland, having been Orthodox, Catholic, Protestant, and then turned back to Catholicism in Spain.
It's the standard Roma model of faith, going with the flow like a floater, and they can be devout believers as long as they can abate the hostility around them.
But there is no doubt that they are believers in God.
As a group of God's believers in divination, they are very marketable in the Spanish noblewomen's circle, and often go to a certain city under the recommendation of a certain lady to perform divination for a certain lady, and in this way earn a short-term place to stay and a considerable and lucrative commission.
This visit to Belle Mayo was no different.
Mrs. Alfonso has lost her fertility due to illness, and Viscount Alfonso, long childless, accidentally falls in love with his wife's beautiful country cousin.
Out of her desire for children and concern for her marriage, the lady became superstitious about witchcraft and divination. She was introduced to the great name of the Romsala Ministry by her girlfriends, which brought them to Belmeo in the hope of finding a way out of her predicament through tarot divination.
However, the Romsala ministry had an accident on the way here.
Their witch, Noa's mother, is dead.
They were attacked by a group of bankrupt peasants outside the city, and Noa's mother died from a stray bullet, and before she died, entrusted Noa with the crystal ball of destiny, which contained the power of sorcery, making Noa the new tribal witch.
What follows is a common dog and pony show in the succession of kings.
Unwilling to recognize the shy, timid, and very un-Romany new witch as the leader of the tribe, Noa's three cousins turned on the entire tribe the night they arrived in Bellemeo and began to plot to take the Crystal Ball of Fate by force.
Lucky to escape, Noya wandered the streets of Belle Mayo fleeing for her life, going without food and clothing and starving for days until she was about to die, when she was saved by the combined efforts of Lorraine and Haina.
That's the whole story.
After listening to Noa's self-reporting by the dock, Lorraine and Hina came together and whispered against their heads.
"Hina, the kidnapping plan is bankrupt; Viscount Alfonso has no heir. As for his wife and country cousin, no matter which one we kidnap, the other will encourage us to tear the ticket. And whether we tear it or not, we will offend the Viscount by doing so."
"Uh-huh."
"That is to say, it is now only through the divination of the Ministry of Romsala that we may establish a quick friendship with the Viscount."
"Uh-huh."
Gaining consensus, Lorraine straightened up and straightened the folds on her tuxedo, "Noa. Ms. Sara."
"Yes ..."
"Out of courtesy, I must first ask your opinion." Lorraine nodded slightly, "Do you wish to board the ship and begin a new wanderings with us strangers?"
"I ... was abandoned by the tribe. If I leave the harbor, I may be captured and burned, and if I stay in the harbor, I will surely be killed by my cousin's people ... You are a powerful man, so ..." Noa bit her lip, "yes , I hope to have your shelter and be able to be your loyal crew."
"In that case, I have three questions that I need to understand clearly."
"You say."
"First, how many people are there in the Romsala Ministry besides you?"
"There are thirty-seven men left, eighteen women, and six children."
Lorraine closed her eyes for a moment, "Is there any way to let them know you are on my ship."
"Nothing need be done. We'll buy information from thieves, beggars, and vagabonds, and nothing that winds up in the harbor will be hidden from our cousin's eyes."
"Third question, although the Viscountess believes in witch divination, what about the Viscount? What is his attitude toward witchcraft?"
Noa's small face tangled for a moment, "He is a devout religious man and repulsed by us, that's why the divination didn't take place right away, Her Ladyship needs time to convince Monsieur le Vicomte."
"Really ...," Lorraine smiled and extended her hand to Noa, "Diviner Noa. Miss Sara, congratulations, you've been accepted."
每周推薦票狀態
-- 推薦票
榜單 
-- 推薦票