Surviving as a Witch in a World that Hunts Heretics

Volume 2, Chapter 19: The Completely Incomprehensible Pilgrims

"Priest, your documents fell!"

It was during the period when she was still learning letters. As for the timing, it was probably about five or six months ago.

After picking up two or three sheets of paper from the floor, printed with letters and stamped with the Church's seal, Leticia turned her head and called out to the priest, who was busy handling other matters.

"Oh, then I'll trouble you to put them on the desk."

Priest Marshall said this without turning his head. He seemed completely entangled by the work before him and had no free time at all. "By the way, Leticia, find the document with Lord's Calendar 427, Month 1 written in the upper right corner and bring it here."

This world's era calendar differed somewhat from that of her previous life. There was no Common Era calendar that Leticia was familiar with. In its place was the theologically heavy Lord's Calendar. At the same time, every year was divided into thirteen months, and almost every month had its own name. Unfortunately, Leticia's grasp of letters was still not good enough, so she could not recognize most of them.

Righteously making an excuse for being temporarily too lazy to make things up.jpg

At the same time, every month uniformly had thirty-six days. It was said to be related to the mythology of the one and only god, and the Church and the earliest nations had set thirteen months of thirty-six days as the standard in commemoration.

There was no zodiac or anything like that, so there was no such thing as a twelve-year cycle either.

"Ah, okay!"

Lord's Calendar 427, Month 1...

Lord's Calendar 427, Month 1...

Mm...

After looking somewhat oddly at the sheets of paper in her hand, Leticia then looked at the piles of documents around her and silently walked to Priest Marshall's side. "Priest, these are the ones."

"Good. Thank you, my child."

Priest Marshall was always busy. His constantly bustling appearance even made Leticia wonder whether imparting doctrine, teaching, and resolving doubts for her counted as extra work for Priest Marshall, or a form of pastime.

"Priest, the words on this... Is it something-something-er?"

The writing here had nothing to do with square characters. It was closer to alphabetic symbols, which made the difficulty of learning rise another level.

"Hahaha, child, you still have a great deal to learn."

Leticia's enthusiasm for learning greatly pleased Priest Marshall. This elderly priest, aside from being rather fanatical and obstinate in theological matters and harsher than the winter wind when it came to heresy, could still be considered a very kind old man.

Like a grandfather tutoring a junior at home, Priest Marshall motioned for Leticia to sit on his knee and half-embraced her. "This word means pilgrimage. Read in full, it means Pilgrim."

This feeling, like being with family, was something absolutely impossible among the native residents of Innsmouth Village. Even Laila Bliss, who had an innocent and lively personality, rarely had the chance to act spoiled toward the elders in her family after leaving infancy.

"Pilgrim..."

If Leticia were to make the association herself, she would probably lean toward images like ascetics wearing long robes or shabby clothes, expressionless monks who kowtowed with every step as they traveled toward the sacred mountain in their hearts. If they fell into eternal sleep along the way, people would also believe their souls would go to paradise or the like...

But what kind of role were Pilgrims here?

Faced with Leticia's question, Priest Marshall only smiled and spoke words so mystifying they could not possibly be more mystifying. "They are the young morning sun, the lambs who uphold the sacred, the beloved who meet the supreme."

"Well, pilgrimage... It seems I need to make some preparations too."

Priest Marshall did not reveal anything more.

As for Leticia, she did everything she could to read those documents. In the end, she discovered that, after her half-guessing organization and free translation, the entire document was nothing more than a notice written in official jargon. It only explained some starting point, ending point, and arranged time, leaving Leticia utterly helpless.

That was the extent of her impression of Pilgrims.

From the look of things now, the status of Pilgrims was very unusual for ordinary people.

However, unexpectedly, there was no time left for Leticia and Ilo to ask more, because the flow of people was still moving and would not stop because some noble people had appeared.

It was like an irresistible flood, directly sweeping the two of them away and carrying them far off.

Before those Pilgrims were completely covered by the tide of people, Leticia turned her head back for one last look, as if wanting to memorize every possible factor that might cause a change—especially that time bomb who had also come from Innsmouth.

She did not know whether it was an illusion, but in that final instant, their eyes seemed to meet.

"An illusion... right?"

Because she could no longer see him at all, she had no chance to confirm it.

Leticia could only carry that slightly uneasy feeling as she left with Ilo.

She had not even been able to thank that young man...

But for Leticia, the best thing was that nothing happened.

"The third place you need should be inside this street."

It was not in the center of town, but rather in a place somewhat toward the southwest. The surroundings were all civilian residences, with a few small shops opened by minor vendors here and there. However, everyone who came here knew that those were only the appetizers before the main dish.

That was right. As long as one walked into those shops, one would discover that while they sold daily necessities, they also thoughtfully placed some small bottles and jars in rather conspicuous spots.

There were no labels on them, nor any explanations. Even if one directly asked the shopkeeper, they would only put on an ambiguous smile that every man understood and make a few gestures.

Clearly, these were tools, good things, things that could let people greet what they were about to face next in a better state.

Leticia had never entered these shops, nor had she gone deep into that extremely dark-looking alley. However, she had a truly unbelievable sense of sight. She only needed to stand where she could see and look. That was enough.

The expressions on those people's faces, the disorder of their clothes when they came out, and those little movements they tried their best to hide but could not help revealing somewhat—Leticia could see all of it clearly.

Not to mention the almost visible, peach-colored atmosphere filling this place. Hehe.

"Wow..."

It seemed Ilo was seeing a place like this for the first time, and it truly broadened her horizons. She looked east and west, hesitating as if she wanted to say something.

"I recommend you don't speak..."

Leticia glanced around without leaving a trace. There were still very few people right now, but that did not mean there were none of those people walking along while yawning and tying up their trousers. Children their age really were quite rare here.

"..."

Ilo glanced at Leticia with considerable dissatisfaction and turned her head away in a huff, though she did not say anything more.

"Do you need to go in?"

Leticia scratched her hair and asked somewhat helplessly, "Personally, I don't have any thoughts about it. After all, there's still a tavern I haven't taken you back to..."

"Huhu, I actually do rather want to go in and take a look..."

Ilo's gaze was obscure and unclear, as if she were considering something. But she did stop in truth and had Leticia take her to the tavern named Henry's Hut.

That truly made Leticia breathe a sigh of relief.

However, good luck once did not mean good luck would continue afterward. At the very least, for Leticia, Ilo not making her walk into that pleasure quarter was already a miracle. After all, her impression of Ilo was very close to that of a little devil.

"This really is... the kind of luck where even cold water gets stuck between your teeth."

Looking at the person who had just walked out of the tavern, Leticia felt her heart pound hard twice, and her expression was quite helpless.

That foul-smelling fatty she had encountered at the very beginning—why the fuck had she run into him again...