Chapter 43: The Future Cannot Be Changed

Peletti leaned against the carriage window, watching the buildings outside and quietly enjoying the feeling of the breeze brushing past her face.
In such sweltering weather, even a bit of cool wind felt like a blessing.

Within the city district, the carriage moved very slowly.
The horse pulling it did not dare to run too fast.
Normally, there wouldn’t be anyone crossing the middle of the road, but this world still had its share of idiots.

She and Josuna sat facing each other.
Neither of them spoke along the way.
Josuna no longer rested her foot on Peletti’s legs.
She simply gazed quietly at Peletti, intoxicated by this brief moment of peace with her, clearly lost in thought.

Peletti leaned her head out of the window.
This was the first time she had viewed the city from such an angle.

Rows of neatly arranged houses appeared before her.
Trees emerged at regular intervals between them.
The whole city looked like a massive set of building blocks, orderly to an excessive degree.

Even someone with obsessive-compulsive tendencies would find such a scene pleasing to the eye.

A gentle wind brushed past her ears.

“Little one, can you hear me?”

Peletti did not dare look at Josuna’s reaction.
She was afraid that her eyes would betray her unease.
So she could only blink rapidly, using that to tell Caroline that she could hear her voice.

“That’s good.
Listen, your current situation is not as dangerous as you imagine.
Your magic level is too low, and the Church’s detection system will very likely be unable to identify your true identity.
Feiye has run into trouble, and I cannot free myself to help you.
If something unexpected happens, I won’t be able to arrive in time.
Right now, you can only rely on yourself.
Remember, no matter what happens, you must ensure your own safety.
Little Green will stay with you the whole time.
If something goes wrong, break the nearest window, and it will help you.”

The rustling of autumn leaves abruptly fell silent.
The wind no longer brushed against her cheeks.

Caroline had left.
Judging by how hurried she was, Feiye’s situation must indeed be serious.

Little Green would be helping her in the cathedral.
What exactly was Little Green?
Was she talking about that fat bird whose waist was thicker than her own?

According to Ailberna, that fat bird was an alchemical creation.
It was also the first living alchemical creation in human history.
If Caroline could entrust her safety to it so confidently, then this fat bird she had always looked down on must have its own unique strengths.

At the very least, it was stronger than her, a Witch of Light.

Feiye was in trouble.
That was strange.

In Peletti’s impression, Feiye was an extremely powerful witch.
She might even be stronger than Caroline.
What kind of situation could trouble someone like her?

It seemed that after she left, the three of them had caused quite a stir.
Especially Ailberna.
She now knew more information about her.
This was extremely bad news for Peletti.

The more Ailberna knew about her, the more likely Peletti would fall into a passive position.

On top of the Church’s constraints, the situation might very well develop in a direction she could not predict.

She could only hope that Ailberna’s movements would slow down a bit.
Or that the Gluttony Church would put in some effort and apply pressure on the Church.
Otherwise, it would be very difficult for her to escape from here.

“What are you thinking about?”

Peletti’s drifting thoughts were forcibly pulled back to Josuna’s face.

“Nothing much.
I was just thinking that if my light-element affinity had been discovered earlier, maybe my life would have been better.”

“It would have.
It definitely would have.”
Josuna was momentarily stunned when she saw Peletti like this, and her tone carried an unusual firmness.

If Peletti and Josuna had been tested for light-element affinity together back then, even if it had not been light, even if it had only been a very ordinary element,

Josuna thought that Peletti’s ending would never have been becoming a witch.

With Josuna around, no one would have been able to disturb her.

But where were there any “ifs” in this world?
The reason it was called “if” was precisely because it was false, nothing more than a beautiful fantasy.

“Is that so…”

She did not really agree with Josuna’s statement.
Was having talent truly a good thing?

She once heard a saying: the stronger one’s ability, the more one sees.

Sometimes, seeing too much was not a good thing in itself.

“Falisar Grand Cathedral, as the central building of this city, has three adjacent streets that all fall under the Church’s jurisdiction.
They include the parish, the clergy residential area, the prayer area, and the academy.
Excluding the original personnel, this district can accommodate about twenty thousand people as refugees.”

Seeing that the temperature in the air was visibly dropping, Josuna took the initiative to explain the cathedral behind her to Peletti.

Peletti felt somewhat surprised after hearing this.

As expected of a city heavily supported by the Empire.
Even the cathedral alone could hold twenty thousand people.
No matter which city it was placed in, that number would be enormous.

A parish of this scale could easily be considered a separate town on its own.

However, wasn’t this a bit too ostentatious?

The war was still ongoing on the surface, yet they poured so many resources into a single building.
These good-for-nothing gluttons, for the sake of their so-called faith, truly did not care about the lives of civilians.

This so-called faith, at its core, was nothing more than their personal interests.
Perhaps they never even regarded civilians as human beings.

Thinking of this, Peletti felt an inexplicable surge of anger in her heart.

There were many people around.
Aside from a large number of shallow believers who had come to pray, there were also quite a few Church priests moving among them.

“Miss Josuna, please accept my radiant greetings.”

Along the way, Peletti could feel many gazes brushing across her face.
This maid outfit she was wearing was indeed far too eye-catching.

Josuna had not even given her a chance to change clothes.
She had simply dragged her out by force.

Upon entering the cathedral, a gigantic bell greeted them head-on.

This great bell seemed to be the device each cathedral used to detect the presence of witches.
Standing beneath it, Peletti could clearly see the pendulum inside swaying slightly, yet never touching the bell itself.

So it really was because she was too weak…

But there was nothing she could do about that.
Being weak was fine.
If her strength were too great, she would only be besieged instead.

She could only comfort herself like this.

However, these believers would never dream that a sworn enemy of the Holy Light Church—a witch—was strolling boldly into the cathedral itself.

The place for testing elemental affinity lay beneath an enormous dome.
At noon, the sun was positioned exactly at the skylight at the center of the dome.
Under the blazing sunlight, the surrounding stained-glass murals reflected streams of seven-colored radiance.

Under Josuna’s instructions, Peletti saw a monk step forward holding a cyan stone engraved with strange patterns, standing directly beneath the center of the dome.

“Are these runes?”

“This… maid, you really are quite knowledgeable.
That’s right, this is an elemental rune created through alchemy.
This special rune does not possess any offensive power.
On the contrary, it will be drawn to the element within the person who touches it, achieving the effect of testing elemental affinity.”

The monk responsible for the test had originally wanted to enthusiastically explain things to Peletti.
But when he noticed what she was wearing, he froze for a moment before quickly regaining his composure.

Seeing how strong his psychological resilience was, Peletti could not help but sigh at how experienced he must be.

“Come on.
The process is very simple.
Just place your hand on the rune.
These runes are all single-use items, and the probability of error is very low.”

Peletti nodded.
Under Josuna’s gaze, she raised her jade-white hand and gently placed it on the rune.

There was no change at all in the rune beneath Peletti’s hand.
Not even the faintest glimmer of light appeared.
Seeing this, the monk conducting the test could only let out a regretful sigh.

“I’m sorry.
This young lady does not have any elemental affinity.”