The Little Witch’s Daily Struggle – Chapter 2025

Chapter 2025: News Spreads

For girls like Lorna and Bailing Ding, who only understood traditional monotheism, this custom of revering deities without truly believing, or believing but only a little, might be difficult to comprehend.
However, Leo Man and the Twin Nuns had dealt with many heretical sects before. Moreover, their understanding of occult knowledge concerning religion was thorough. They had encountered polytheism and general believers.

For a family like the Saigo Family, their relationship with the gods was more like a transaction. People offered sacrifices to the gods, and the gods bestowed blessings upon them. However, their family didn’t even want these blessings; they directly gave them to their subordinates as a reward for their loyalty and for enhancing their combat power.

This was actually a very clever approach. I guessed that the Saigo Family must have encountered similar situations before. Perhaps a family member, in their desperate desire for power, kept demanding divine favor and eventually descended into madness, turning into a monster and possibly bringing about immense disaster.

After that, the Saigo Family probably stopped letting their own kin consume the fruits of divine blessings. They gave them to their servants, or at most, to some collateral branches of the family, making them bear the risks while providing combat power for the main family. What a shrewd calculation!

I took this guess to Mari and received an affirmative answer. Although the Saigo Family wouldn’t directly tell their servants about their family’s scandals, she had vaguely heard similar rumors from others outside the family.

It was said that a monster had once broken out from the Saigo Family, causing considerable destruction. It took great effort to suppress it later.

After breakfast, we took them to the practice room of a luxurious hotel for sparring. As a top-tier luxurious hotel, the Sea Melody Inn had a practice room specifically for wealthy individuals’ guards to engage in sparring.

We paired up for sparring. I sparred with Flame Feather in magic. The Twin Nuns sparred with the Crystal Persons in defense and divine spell exchanges, while Bailing Ding and Mari exchanged swordplay techniques.

It was then that they realized how strong we were. Even without considering the powerful enemies from the previous duel, the remaining girls were enough to hold them off, and some were even stronger than them.

At least, I felt it wouldn’t be difficult to defeat Flame Feather with magic. Ice and snow magic was very effective against Phoenix Fire, and there were ways to counter lightning and storms. I could even outlast her immortal body by absorbing her life force.

The combats on the other sides were similar. The physical defense of the Twins was almost comparable to that of the Crystal Persons. They stood still, and Sandstone’s spear attacks couldn’t even pierce their bodies.

Bailing Ding’s swordplay was incredibly fast. She and Mari fought to a draw. Mari couldn’t break through Bailing Ding’s defense with her dual blades, even with just her single estoc. The two of them exchanged blows, sparks flying.

After that, we switched opponents and even fought in teams. Through these few sparring sessions, we gained a deeper understanding of each other. Understanding each other’s combat styles is usually a prerequisite for seamless cooperation.

For the next three days, we stayed in Valencia City. First, we rented a temporary merchant mansion to live in. This was a villa with its own private courtyard.

Compared to our villa at the Steam Armor Factory, which was purely for the leaders to reside in, this merchant mansion for the rich was quieter, with a beautiful environment. It also had reception rooms and banquet halls specifically for entertaining guests and hosting small banquets, as well as a warehouse and offices. Merchants were indeed different.

Older Brother Jayad was also busy. He started visiting prominent local merchants. After we asked Fuldamantha, he provided us with a list of influential merchants in Valencia.

Although many major merchants had gone abroad, merchants were always busy and frequently traveled. Jayad visited all the merchants who were still in Valencia and the surrounding areas.

We selected some suitable gifts from various spoils of war. Some were small magic apparatuses, some were artworks – items that displayed status without appearing ostentatious or flaunting wealth. After packaging them, we presented them.

Compared to nobles, merchants were easier to meet. Apart from the fact that they had to be visible in public, their businesses recorded their residences and offices, making it possible to approach them for business discussions at any time. Of course, one needed to be of a similar standing to gain an audience.

Soon, the merchant circle of Valencia knew that a diamond merchant had arrived in the city. He was very courteous and generous, proactively meeting most of the merchants and inquiring about local business practices.

The merchants’ impression of him was that of a young man who was just starting out, a little rustic. Perhaps it was due to him being from a minority group and having lived in Africa for an extended period, he lacked aristocratic airs. However, he was sincere, capable, and treated everyone with genuine respect and politeness, earning him high favorability.

For the first three days, Valencia remained peaceful. The city’s commoners enjoyed the lingering festive atmosphere of the Winter Veil Festival, quietly preparing for the New Year. However, after three days, the atmosphere began to feel… off.

First, it was the well-informed major merchants. Merchant caravans from the west suddenly decreased. Merchants with business stations and offices near the Royal Capital also received news from their subordinates that something major had happened in Castile.

There were too many nobles and important figures who witnessed the Crown Prince’s death that night. This news was impossible to contain. In fact, someone had spread the news that very day, or fled like us.

Such a significant event would be a huge topic of conversation. Those people would definitely talk about it everywhere, boasting in taverns, and telling anyone they met that the Crown Prince was dead.

It was estimated that some merchants might have received the news two days prior, but they did not disseminate it. Instead, they quietly began hoarding goods or contemplating their next investment strategies.

It wasn’t until now, as the news began to trickle down to the common folk, that it finally became widely known. On the afternoon of the third day, Fuldamantha visited, and upon opening the door, exclaimed, “Mr. Everson, this is bad! Something terrible has happened!”

“Don’t rush, calm down. Come, friend, sit down and have a glass of whiskey,” Jayad invited him, drinking from a fruitwood wine table.

“This is no time for drinking! I heard!” Fuldamantha stopped midway, closed the door, and walked over to Jayad, lowering his voice. “I heard… the Crown Prince is dead!”

“Oh.” Jayad, having witnessed the event himself, calmly took a sip of his drink.

“It’s said he was killed at a banquet. A jester from Cando City was actually a cultist. He mutated and wreaked havoc. And then someone tried to assassinate the Lord of the City. As a result, the Crown Prince was accidentally cursed by a magic apparatus and his soul was claimed!”

Fuldamantha spoke somewhat incoherently, overwhelmed by the chaotic situation and the sheer volume of information, making it difficult for him to organize his thoughts. But midway through, he realized Jayad’s reaction was not what he expected. “Uh? You don’t seem to… have much of a reaction?”

“Because I already knew that yesterday,” Jayad said with a smile.