In other words, one of them must die by drowning; the priests were all taken aback and began to murmur.

“That’s ridiculous….”

“You were the ones who made the ridiculous request.”

Carlos tilted his head.

“You proposed a ridiculous trial, where my lover will die whether she’s a witch or a human, and you don’t even want to pay that price?”

The priests avoided the cold, purple eyes that met theirs. Trope did the same.

“Don’t worry. If there is no problem with the trial, and it is proven that my lover is a witch, I will not only pay the price of her life but also donate 10,000 gold to the temple.”

10,000 gold. Their mouths gaped open at the donation of a large sum equivalent to half a year’s operating expenses for a decent city.

“However, if she is proven to be human, all of you here will die.”

That too, momentarily. A terrifying pressure that seemed ready to take their lives then and there paled their faces.

Trope couldn’t even say they needed to proceed with the witch trial right away and just kept his mouth shut.

Carlos looked down at Trope with a cold smile.

“There’s not much time left, so choose someone to show the demonstration quickly. We need to proceed with the witch trial, don’t we?”

Despite Carlos’s urging, Trope’s mouth remained tightly closed. He just rolled his eyes, seeming to ponder how to defuse the situation.

In the silence where even the sound of the wind brushing against the grass could be heard, Carlos spoke,

“It seems no one wants to come forward, so I’ll have to choose.”

“Your Grace, that is….”

“Why? You’re not thinking of refusing to hold the witch trial now, are you?”

At the sharp retort, Trope closed his mouth again. He had already spoken, so he couldn’t say he wouldn’t hold the trial.

“It will be an act of going to God’s side, so it’s best to select the one with the strongest faith. Who here has the highest rank?”

At that, the priests looked at two people. One was Trope, and the other was a mediumranking priest named ‘Polo.’

Carlos looked back and forth between Trope and Polo, then pointed to Polo.

“It seems best for this man to do it.”

At Carlos’s choice, Trope sighed in deep relief, and Polo’s face turned pale.

“I, I….!”

“Please, brother.”

Trope grabbed Polo’s hand and said,

“All of this is for the imperial citizens and even all the people of the continent.”
“It’s true. If we can’t identify the witch now, more sacrifices will be made.”

Seeing his colleague of at least 10 years being pushed to death made Carlos laugh lightly.

The fellow priests unanimously urged it for the greater good, so Polo reluctantly accepted.

Soon after, Polo’s hands and feet were shackled. Polo, tied to a heavy rock, spoke to his fellow priests with a dirtcolored face.

“I’ll leave the rest to you, brothers… I’ll go to God first.”

This was followed by ridiculous talk about this being a noble sacrifice, or doing a good thing.

Carlos said nothing and silently watched, but he wasn’t standing idly by. Proof of this was that the shadow under his feet had disappeared.

After a long farewell, Polo tightly closed his eyes and jumped into the lake.

Splash, a violent spray of water, and waves spread around the place where the priest had fallen in.

The waves gradually disappeared, and soon the water’s surface was calm as if nothing had happened.

To anyone looking, it seemed as if Polo had died.

Trope, with slightly reddened eyes, wiped them with the back of his hand, calmed his sad feelings, and asked Carlos.

“Can you trust this trial now?”

“I wonder.”

At Carlos’s cold response, an infuriated Trope was about to say something when.

“Br, Brother!”

A priest beside him called out to him urgently.

“……!”

Wondering what was happening, Trope turned and immediately saw bubbles rising from the previously still water and opened his eyes wide.

Could it be that Polo, who had fallen into the water, had returned?

It was indeed a sad and tragic thing that a colleague had died, but that did not mean they hoped for him to return alive.

If he were to live, it would prove that Polo was a special being.

If it was revealed that a priest, a faithful servant of God, was indeed special, the temple’s reputation would plummet.

They were also afraid of what Carlos would do, and they could no longer prove whether Irene was a witch or not.

How could a priest who could not detect a demon among his colleagues conduct a witch trial?

So the priests, including Trope, hoped that Polo would not return alive, but sadly, their wish did not come true.

“Sa, Save me!”

Not only had Polo come back to life, but he had also managed to unlock his own shackles and was frantically waving his arms and crying out.

“Please, please save me!”

But the priests turned away from Polo. Instead, Carlos sent a signal to Deus to save him.

The moment Polo came alive onto the land, Carlos’s shadow, which had disappeared, returned.

Carlos, with a cold smile on his lips, looked at the bewildered Trope and the priests.

“Now, who is the special one?”