92. The Water of Life of Fallenberg (2)
Brunhilde approached the old man’s side, looking at his disappointed face with pity.
“Are you here because you’re ill somewhere?”
“I have asthma. Cough. The coughing and phlegm never stop, causing pain in my chest. It’s very painful.”
“Around the solar plexus?”
She said, placing her hand on the old man’s chest.
He shook his head and pointed to the side.
Brunhilde moved her hand to where he pointed.
“Cough, cough. Every time I cough, this area hurts…… huh?”
The old man slowly closed and opened his eyes in disbelief.
The pain he had felt in his throat and chest completely disappeared.
“Now the water of life’s effects are showing!”
“I’m glad.”
“It’s a miracle! A miracle!”
The old man jumped up, raised both arms in joy, and left the cabin.
Through the window next to the entrance, they saw him running toward the people lined up by the river, shouting.
The people stirred greatly, pushing each other to take out more money.
Some even knelt and prostrated themselves before what they called the River of Life, the Andera River.
Katya felt unsettled by this strange phenomenon.
‘Just drinking river water can’t cure diseases.’
If such a river really existed, royal families from around the world would rush to collect it until the river dried up.
Just now, as soon as Brunhilde’s hand touched the area where the old man complained of pain, his suffering stopped.
It wasn’t right after drinking the so-called water of life, but clearly after contact with her.
Katya turned her head back to this mysterious woman.
She had never seen anyone with white hair and such skin and iris colors.
Even the silver hair passed down in the Grand Ducal family was rare outside the Vasily family, making white hair even more unheard of.
No, come to think of it, she remembered feeling something similar from someone else recently.
The man whose pants she had accidentally pulled off at the illegal gambling fight arena also gave this impression of everything around him being white.
His hair still had some silver mixed in though.
“I must be the first person like me you’ve seen?”
Brunhilde asked with a lonely smile.
At those words, Katya frantically waved both hands.
She must have been staring rudely without realizing it.
“No! I was just lost in thought–!”
“It’s okay. Everyone finds me curious when they first see me. I’ve looked like this since childhood, so even the villagers where I was born and raised still avoid me calling me a witch and point fingers. That’s why I live here away from the village.”
“How can they do that? Various people exist in this world. Different doesn’t mean wrong.”
“I deserve to be treated as a witch. They say one of my ancestors was a witch. So witch’s blood must flow in me too. Maybe even this unusual appearance is because I’m a witch.”
Katya finally realized that the ‘village’ Brunhilde mentioned was Fallenberg, which she had heard about from Nikolai.
The village created by priests from Charmente… Though the Charmente Empire and Hersen both believed in the religion worshipping seven gods that originated from the Kingdom of Arsetia across the sea, all three countries had their own characteristics according to region and culture.
The Kingdom of Arsetia was a place where mages who used magic by borrowing demon power and priests who used holy power by borrowing divine power coexisted, training both mages and priests.
Hersen didn’t actively train mages like Arsetia but didn’t ban their entry like the Empire and allowed free use of magical tools.
However, the Charmente Empire implemented policies prohibiting magic and persecuting mages, causing the religion itself to become closed off.
She remembered reading in books that since using magic was punishable by death and bounties were placed on mages’ heads, innocent people were frequently accused of being witches and killed.
She could vividly imagine how much persecution Brunhilde must have endured growing up in a village created by people from such a country.
“You are not a witch.”
She had read in books that when mages use magic power, each person emits their own unique scent.
Arsetians called this magical trace.
Therefore, it served as important evidence when magical crimes occurred.
However, just now when Brunhilde healed the old man, Katya couldn’t detect any scent.
No magical circles appeared around her either.
‘Skin close to white paper, colorless hair and irises…… I’ve read about this somewhere…… where did I see it?’
Katya ran frantically through the library spread out in her mind.
It took some time to dig through her memories since everything she had read since childhood was mixed together without proper organization.
“Not a witch……”
Just then, a loud noise came from outside.
“Let it be as you believe! Let it be!”
Katya startled at the roaring sound like someone spitting blood and opened the window where the sound came from.
Men dressed in priest robes raised both arms and led the chant as people around them knelt, raised their hands, and repeated after them.
“What are they doing over there?”
“Looks like the ritual has started.”
“Ritual?”
“They say if you immerse yourself in the Andera River seven times, any disease will be cured. It seems this ritual is much more expensive than drinking one cup of the water of life. The priests conduct the ritual themselves.”
Though Katya had read quite a few theology books, she had never heard or seen of such a ritual.
Was she really practicing the same religion as these people in this land?
“How can that river have such effects?”
“You know how among the seven gods, Paracletos the god of life and death and Kovalika the goddess of war and peace don’t get along?”
“That’s famous. Isn’t it harder not to know if you attend temple?”
These divine siblings had countless recorded fights in the doctrine, with dozens of derived stories frequently appearing in priests’ sermons.
“They say after fighting a battle with Paracletos, Kovalika came down here on a moonlit night and washed in those waters.”
“Come on, who saw that? I’ve never heard such a story during sermons. How can anyone know something not written in the doctrine?”
“I’m not sure about that either. I’m banned from entering the temple. The villagers say they’re afraid……”
Katya felt her hair stand on end at the villagers’ selfishness that even took away the freedom to worship.
Who were they to deprive others of their freedom?
“From what I hear people saying, since Kovalika is the goddess of war and peace, she also fights against and protects from disease? They say because the goddess washed in that water, it can cure any illness.”
Even if that story were true, no one could charge money for accessing and using the river.
This area was state property. It meant it was the country’s asset that no one could own.
With such noisy profit-making going on, could the nobles living in nearby regions really not have known?
If ignorant common people were deceived into paying money without knowing it was illegal to occupy and profit from state property, nobles had a duty to correct this fact.
That was the duty and responsibility that those born with privileges owed to the governed class.
Events of this scale were supposed to be reported to the ruler through government offices.
But Nikolai knew nothing about this fact.
He had visited Fallenberg to prevent private judgments occurring in this religious and closed society.
Given that nobles hadn’t reported this fraud to the authorities—no, there was a high possibility that the village head, priests, nobles, and government offices were all in it together.
‘They’re exploiting the fact that most citizens can’t read Arsetian.’
If they had ever read the doctrine, everyone would have noticed how nonsensical this fraud was.
But doctrine books were far too expensive for ordinary citizens to own.
Even the doctrine books lent during worship at temples were all written in Arsetian.
While nobles could specially order Hersen language translations to read anytime anywhere, this was impossible for commoners and the lowest class.
Moreover, even sermons consisted of difficult and archaic vocabulary, so most people just filled seats blankly, understanding nothing before returning home when the worship ended.
“So basically, certain people are making big money scamming common folk?”
Having reached that conclusion, Katya snorted in anger and rushed to the riverside, kicking open the cabin door.
Surprised by her sudden action, Brunhilde chased after her.
Katya pushed through the crowd and walked toward the priests who were about to conduct the ritual.
“Excuse me, I have a question?”
At those words, the one who appeared to be the leader of the false priests turned around.
Unlike people bowing and scraping politely, she stood with arms crossed, weight on one leg, wearing a provocative expression.
“What does our sister wish to know?”
“Is it true that all diseases are cured if you enter that river?”
“Of course. This is the river where Goddess Kovalika’s miracles occur.”
“You must be very close with Goddess Kovalika.”
“It’s natural since we’re in charge of communicating with the gods.”
The crowd began to murmur at Katya’s barrage of questions.
Though the leader felt somewhat uneasy not quite understanding this woman’s intentions, he maintained a relaxed smile trying to appear composed.
“If you can communicate with the gods, you must know everything about this river?”
“Of course. From the history of how this river began, Goddess Kovalika–”
“Then what happens if a healthy person with no major illness enters?”
Katya played her trump card.
