Witch Training Manual: My Water Magic Is Wrong

Cuiying Street has never been this lively.

When Wayne arrived, the entrance to the Rose Courtyard was already surrounded by layers upon layers of people, all craning their necks to look up at the second floor.

Outside the south-facing window on the second floor, Mayor Wilford was hanging there. His head was up, his legs dangling in the air, and he was completely naked from the waist down. When the wind blew, his legs swayed slightly, like two pieces of cured meat hanging on a clothesline.

The crowd was whispering among themselves.

"Is that the town mayor?"

"Yes, that's him."

"How did you hang it up?"

"Who knows, anyway, it's up there."

"Where are your pants?"

"Probably inside. Or maybe she came without any clothes on."

"Does his wife know?"

"Look, that's the one in the green dress."

"Oh dear, she's really pitiful."

Wayne squeezed through the crowd from the back.

Someone recognized him and made way for him.

"The bishop is here! The bishop is here!"

"Make way, let the bishop pass!"

"Your Excellency, you've finally arrived! The mayor has been hanging there for ages; if he stays there any longer, someone might die!"

Wayne didn't reply; he walked into the Rose Garden.

Several women stood in the lobby on the first floor, dressed in brightly colored clothes, their expressions subtle. It wasn't fear, but rather an expression that said, "We're helpless, but it really has nothing to do with us."

The madam stood at the top of the stairs. She was in her forties, heavily made up, and held a handkerchief in her hand, the corner of which she had twisted into a pretzel.

When she saw Wayne come in, she took two steps forward to greet him.

"Your Excellency, you've finally arrived!"

Where are they?

"Upstairs," the madam said, pointing to the stairs. "The madam is upstairs too, trying to figure something out. Would you like to go up and take a look?"

Wayne went upstairs.

Several servants stood in the second-floor corridor, holding crowbars, hammers, and saws, but no one made a move.

Celine stood by the window, at a loss.

She nodded when she saw Wayne.

"Your Majesty Bishop."

"lady."

Wayne walked to the window and looked outside.

Wilford's lower body was hanging outside the railing.

His head was stuck between two iron bars, his face flushed red. It was hard to tell if it was from blood rushing to his head or from embarrassment. His eyes were closed, his lips were pursed, and he pretended to have fainted, but his eyelids kept trembling.

Wayne looked at him.

"Mayor."

Wilford did not respond.

"Mayor, how are you?"

Wilford still didn't respond.

The panel popped up.

[Wilford - Current Status]

[Status: Social suicide in progress. The reason he's hanging on the windowsill is because he's overdosed on drugs. He wants to die, not in a joking way, but genuinely. He's even thinking that if he fell out of the window right now, headfirst, neck first, would it be a quicker and more painless death?]

[Note: This was the most humiliating moment of his life. He would rather be eaten by monsters, killed by his enemies, or have his wife discover all his secrets than be seen naked and hanging in the brothel window by the whole town.]

[Note 2: He was thinking about a question. If he survived today, how would he face the whole town? How would he face his wife? How would he face his children? He thought about it for a long time and came to the conclusion: he couldn't face them.]

[Additionally: He's waiting for a miracle. Waiting for someone to pull him out of this desperate situation. Not physically, but in a way that saves face. He needs a respectable reason, a reason that will convince the whole town that "the mayor isn't a psychopath."]

The crowd on Cuiying Street had not yet dispersed.

Wayne leaned halfway out of the second-floor window. The voices below fell silent for a moment as people craned their necks to look at him. Sunlight fell perfectly on his golden hair, making him appear as if he were gilded with a layer of light.

He raised his hand, and the crowd fell completely silent.

"Everyone," his voice wasn't loud, but it resonated throughout the alleyways of Cuiying Street, making every word clear, "the mayor has been possessed by a demon."

Someone in the crowd gasped.

"demon?"

"What demon?"

"I knew it! How could the mayor...?"

Before they could finish their discussion, Wayne continued, "The demon's goal is to completely corrupt the mayor. He wants to turn this border town into the territory of the demon's cholera epidemic. This isn't the mayor's own wish; the demon is manipulating him."

The buzzing from the crowd grew louder.

Some nodded, some shook their heads, some were skeptical, and some had already begun drawing the Holy Sacred Symbol on their chests.

The guard pushed his way to the front, tilted his head back, and asked:

"Your Excellency, are you sure it's a demon?"

"Sure."

"Can you exorcise it?"

"Yes." Wayne took a porcelain bottle from his pocket and held it up to the sunlight. The transparent bottle contained a pale golden liquid that shimmered with a subtle luster in the light.

"The goddess's holy medicine, specifically designed to subdue demons."

Someone in the crowd pushed forward.

They wanted to see more clearly.

Wayne uncorked the bottle and tilted it. Liquid flowed from the bottle, forming a thin line in the air, and landed precisely on Wilford's bare back.

The moment the liquid came into contact with the skin, black smoke billowed up.

It wasn't the kind of smoke that slowly rises; it was a sudden "bang," like someone had lit a fire on Wilford's back. Thick black smoke billowed from his lower back, tumbling and rising, twisting and swirling in the air like a struggling snake.

A gasp of surprise rippled through the crowd.

"Black smoke!"

"He's truly a demon!"

"Did you see that? It's black!"

"I see it! I see it! So much smoke!"

Wilford was startled. He couldn't see his back, but he could feel something surging behind him. The feeling was so real that he began to doubt whether he was truly possessed by a demon.

Wayne's voice came from above.

"The demon is leaving the mayor's body. Look, everyone, this black smoke is the demon's trace. It has been lurking inside the mayor for many days, and today it has finally been forced out by the power of the goddess."

After the black smoke dissipated, it was quiet for about two breaths below.

Then it exploded like a pot boiling over.

"A miracle! This is a miracle!"

"Your Excellency the Bishop is a saint!"

"Goddess, please bless me! Goddess, please bless me!"

The cheers from the crowd grew louder and louder, some people began to clap, and some people put their hands together and recited the prayers from the scriptures.

Wayne looked down at the iron bar.

The iron bars were made of cast iron, about the thickness of an adult man's thumb, and were welded horizontally to the window frame, with just enough space between them to catch a person's head.

Wayne handed the scroll to the servant beside him.

He gripped the two iron bars with both hands.

The servant was taken aback.

"Sir, what's wrong...?"

Wayne did not answer.

His fingers tightened, the muscles in his forearms bulged beneath his robe, and the iron bar made a faint sound in his palm.

"Crunch crunch."

The crowd fell silent.

Everyone stared at the two iron bars.

Wayne took a deep breath and suddenly exerted force with both arms.

The iron bar bent.

The two iron bars bent outwards at the same time, and the gap in the middle changed from a fist width to two feet width, enough for an adult to pass sideways.

Cuiying Street was completely in an uproar.

"Oh My God!"

"How can Your Excellency be so strong?!"

"It's made of iron! Cast iron!"

"Am I seeing things? I must be seeing things!"

"I saw it too! The iron bar was bent!"

"Goddess above, is this a divine messenger sent by you?"

Wilford was still pretending to be unconscious, but he felt the pressure between his head suddenly disappear. The two iron bars that had been holding him in for almost half an hour seemed to be pulled apart from both sides by something, loosening his waist.

What he hated most at that moment wasn't being seen by the whole town, but rather that he even thought Wayne looked kind of cool when he bent the iron bar. This thought made him want to die even more.

Wayne dragged Wilford in through the window.

"Mayor, it's alright now."

Celine stood to the side, looking at her husband lying on the ground, her expression subtle.

"Your Excellency, he..."

"It's alright now." Wayne crouched down and reached out to feel Wilford's forehead. "The demon has been driven away. He just needs to rest for a while."

He took the scroll back from the servant, opened it, and read a calming prayer.

……

After Wayne prayed, Wilford "slowly woke up".

Acting score: 60 points.

He improved compared to before, but the improvement was limited.

His first words were:

"Where...am I?"

This was the opening line he had rehearsed twenty times in his mind, his tone, pauses, and expressions all meticulously crafted. But no one noticed, because everyone's attention was focused on the fact that he wasn't wearing pants yet.

The second sentence: "Has the demon... left?"

The situation was slightly awkward.

Celine sighed and said to the servant.

"Let's take the gentleman back to rest!"