Enlightenment runes in American manga

Chapter 46 The Purification Ceremony in the Mountain Village (for further reading)
Curran has left Faust's laboratory.

On the way back to his office, he kept replaying the other party's answer about "human nature" in his mind.

Does human nature cease to exist when there is only pure good or pure evil?

It does sound very reasonable, and this is indeed a reliable direction to try.

To be honest, the former, with his relatively ordinary or even selfish moral standards, wants to guide the young girl Anna to become a spotless saint in the world, most likely it is a dream.

But for the latter, the arrangement he made before was actually based on similar considerations. If it goes well, it may become the fuse that lures this pious believer to degenerate.

Thinking of this, Curran quickened his pace, and after returning to the office, he sent a telegram to the mission team sent in the morning.

Then, Ophelia, who had tested Hans from the confinement room, just came back and told Curen that after she handed the note to the other party, Hans knelt down and asked to meet Curran without hesitation.

Nodding her head to indicate that she understood, watching Ophelia turn and leave, Curran, whose buttocks had just gotten hot, went to meet Hans again.

He wanted to prepare a safe way out for himself.

……

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A few days later, Sokovia, a small village surrounded by mountains.

There are no more than two or three hundred people in this village, and they have lived an isolated life for a long time. They are more or less blood related to each other, so it can be said that they are a big family.

At this time, in the family cemetery beside the village, there were constant voices of pleading and crying.

The middle-aged man who made this miserable sound looked very embarrassed at this moment, and was knocked down to the ground by several strong men.

His eyes were fixed on a grave being dug up, and he kept shouting:

"Julia can't be the witch those soldiers said, and Anna is not a demon born in the world."

"One of them has died, the other has been taken away, and I am the only poor person left alone."

"Now, why don't you let go of Julia's bones? I beg you, in order to survive, I have been a grave keeper for three years, just to see Julia every day."

"Grandma Martha, Uncle Reg, don't believe the lies of those outsiders, and leave me with a little hope of surviving!"

The man's voice was so piercing that the men and women watching couldn't bear it.

The grandma Martha he was talking about, who was the oldest elder in the village, couldn't help but agree to the other party's request almost because her heart was soft.

But the village head, Reg, beside her, gritted his teeth and continued to let the village youths with shovels dig up the grave.

He looked at an officer not far away from the corner of his eye, and apologized to the crying middle-aged man in his heart.

"I'm sorry Joseph, for the safety of the village, I must do what these soldiers asked. Julia's grave, after the incident, I will repair it myself."

Finally, as the man cried hoarsely and his tears dried up, the tomb was completely dug up, and then the oak coffin buried inside was also taken out and split open with an axe.

Julia, who had been dead for more than three years, her bones were exposed in front of everyone.

Reg, who was facing the coffin, let out a long sigh of relief.

Because the skeleton had already turned into white bones normally, and the surface was covered with some rotting clothing fragments.

The person who broke into the mountain village with the foreign military officer before was also a religious person with a high status.

Together, they suggest that Julia is an evil witch who escaped from elsewhere and ended up hiding here.

Reg didn't want to believe it, because although Julia had indeed escaped from the outside, she had lived in the village for more than 20 years.

From acquaintance and marriage with Joseph when she was young, to the birth of Anna, and to her sudden death three years ago, no one noticed anything abnormal at all, and her personality was not even the slightest resemblance to the gloomy and cunning witch in the legend.

But Reg felt a little guilty in the end, now that the bones appeared, no different from ordinary people, the possibility of the witch's claim was once again reduced.

He couldn't help but want to talk to the officer and ask if there was some misunderstanding.

But before he stepped forward, the other party had already brought the old priest with white beard and hair in religious clothing and approached Julia's bones.

Then, the cleric took out an exquisitely crafted jug with intricate patterns from the suitcase, which contained extremely precious holy water.

The kettle was poured slowly, and a few drops of holy water were poured into a transparent glass, shallow enough to barely cover the bottom of the glass.

Then, from the bone that kept the human shape, the assistant next to the clergyman took out a small piece with tweezers and put it into a transparent glass.

The bones fell into the holy water, and the surrounding villagers held their breath, including Grandma Martha, Village Chief Reg, and even Joseph, all staring at the situation in the glass, wanting to know the final result.

"Hey~~"

As soon as the bones come into contact with the liquid, it is like encountering a natural enemy, and there is an ear-piercing sound immediately. The two consume each other, emitting wisps of white smoke. In the end, the bones and the holy water disappear at the same time.

There is nothing in the glass again.

The villagers were in an uproar when they saw this scene. Julia, who has lived with them in the same village for more than 20 years, is really a witch? !

The noise grew louder, and the villagers communicated more and more intensely with each other.

One said that he had discovered Julia's abnormal aging speed early on, the other said that Julia always liked to go to the mountains to look at the stars, which was an excuse to hunt humans, and that the basement in Joseph's old house was the place where the other party imprisoned their prey.

In the end, all the weird things that happened in the village over the years were blamed on Julia.

After seeing the reaction between the bones and the holy water, Joseph fell into unbelievable shock.

He knew that the accusations of the foolish men and women in the village were nonsense, but the matter of Julia never going to church with him when she was alive suddenly came to his mind.

Could it be that Julia, whom he loves the most, is really a witch who plays with people's hearts, and is he just a poor person who has been deceived?
Such a cruel truth completely knocked down this infatuated man.

Seeing the various performances of the people in the field, the corner of the officer's mouth slowly formed a smile.

That's right, the plan was completed very well. I didn't expect that the task I received from Director Ophelia would be so simple.

Going back this time, if you are lucky, you may be able to get yourself stuck in a position for several years and be promoted to a higher level.

Thinking of this, he happily looked at the old priest who was still holding the beaker and didn't move.

The guy puts on a good show and pays the money-grubbing old jerk a little more afterward.

But wherever he looked, he saw the other person's pale face, and then, the old magic stick approached him tremblingly, and whispered in his ear:

"Sir, the thing you want me to add has not been put in yet, it is already like this, have we really met a witch?"

……

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(End of this chapter)