Chapter 12 - The Reincarnated Eldest Witch Sister Embraces Self-Sacrifice

Chapter 12: Difficult Situation The peaceful days passed by in the blink of an eye, and at last, the dreaded autumn arrived. To put it plainly, the situation was not looking good. Just as I had anticipated, a drought caused by heat waves and lack of rain occurred. As a result, the Vasilio Kingdom was struck by more severe water shortages and wildfires than usual. The decreased crop yield was unavoidable, and combined with the wildfires, the food situation became critical. However, we managed to get through the first year somehow. In preparation for such food crises, everyone had stocked up on emergency supplies to a certain extent. By consuming these reserves, aside from the extremely impoverished, most were able to survive the winter. The problem lies in the second year. The heat waves and drought did not end after just one year, and the following year, another drought occurred. This in turn led to various other impacts beyond just the crops. Due to the decreased water levels in rivers and lakes, fishermen found it difficult to catch fish. Prolonged heat waves caused livestock to fall ill, preventing farmers from using cattle for farming and making it difficult to obtain milk and meat. Hunger was no longer just a problem for the poor. If you were a commoner, you were afflicted by food shortages. So, from the second year of autumn onwards, I started releasing the grain I had personally stored. As usual, I intended to ask the Defelos Trading Company to sell this grain in the surrounding areas' shops. I hope this would help alleviate the food shortage, but whether it would work remains to be seen. ...Humans are creatures who fear unknown powers. The witches in this world indeed possess formidable powers, and the full extent of their power remains shrouded in mystery to ordinary humans. Therefore, it was well understood that witches could become the subject of discrimination at any time. But perhaps, I had been naïve about it. One day, during a casual conversation with the owner of a jewelry shop where I do business, I heard that a certain witch had been sentenced to death. +++ Here is the course of events. At one point in time, cows kept in a certain village in the Vasilio Kingdom began falling ill with a contagious disease one after another. As a result, the villagers wondered why the cows were falling ill with the disease, and they came up with a certain possibility: the witch's magic. Several days before the cows fell ill, a witch selling medicine had visited this village. This witch was adept in magic related to medicine, so the villagers suspected that she might have poisoned the cows. Thus, the witch who was accused by the villagers was put on trial and sentenced to death, or so the story goes. This is only a conjecture, but this witch is likely innocent. The reason being that poison cannot be the cause of a contagious disease. If we were to assume that the cows fell ill with the contagious disease, the cause would likely be a pathogen such as a virus or bacteria. While a witch might be able to kill a cow with poison, it would be quite difficult for her to cause a contagious disease. It would be far more convincing to consider that the cows fell ill due to weakened immunity from the prolonged heat waves. Besides, there would be no reason for the witch, who could make a living relatively well by selling medicine, to deliberately kill cows in a rural village. However, the talk of viruses and bacteria is based on my memories from my previous life and does not serve as evidence in this world. Even if she is likely innocent, I probably could not do anything to help the witch in question. ...And now, I am currently riding in a carriage, heading towards the capital of the Vasilio Kingdom. I am going to witness the execution of the witch in the central square of the capital as a witch myself. I must witness the outcome of the witch trials in this world. When I alight from the carriage and enter the capital, I am greeted by the sight of a huge castle and a brick-built townscape dominating the center. As befitting the capital, there was usually a lively scene, but the current capital was clearly dwindling in population. Probably due to the impact of the drought, the number of people moving about had decreased. As I walked through the main street of the capital, the destination, the central square, gradually came into view. As it was the day of the execution, many people had gathered around the central square. Similarly to the medieval Europe of my previous life, executions in this world also had a side of being a spectacle. Upon arriving at the central square, I could see the guillotine placed at the center of the crowd. Soldiers in armor were positioned in a ring around the guillotine, conducting security to prevent the crowd from approaching the execution site. It seemed there was still some time before the execution, as neither the executioner nor the witch scheduled for execution were visible. After waiting for a while, priests and a figure who seemed to be the executioner gathered in the central square. Finally, escorted by soldiers, the condemned witch appeared in front of the guillotine, and the surrounding people began to stir. The appearance of the witch in question was that of a young woman with long black hair, her hands bound with handcuffs. Tears streaked her face, and her expression showed a drained despair. I couldn’t help but avert my gaze, much like many others gathered there, as I found it impossible to witness this execution as a form of entertainment. Nevertheless, as I continued to gaze unflinchingly at the guillotine, I was suddenly tapped lightly on the shoulder from behind. When I turned around, a familiar hooded witch with dull blonde hair, Bronty, was waving at me.