How could Fred not praise her dedication to her family? “Marciella, let's go.”Marciella had been somewhat worried at first that she would be disliked when her family's situation was revealed. She had expected mockery, not even pity. It was the kind of reaction one would normally get from society. Yet, Fred heard about it and expressed sympathy for her situation. He was truly a great person. Marciella liked him even more.Could she be falling in love? “Yes, Sir Fred!” Fred did not intend to bring Horace and the rest with him. He would leave them behind and promptly inform them of any advancement in the situation.With that, the two left. When they reached their destination, Fred found himself a little taken aback by the relatively backward village. His first impression of it was that it was in too poor of a condition. There were only a few decent spots in the village after he went around. Each of the houses was made of thatched grass. He did not have a good impression of

Fred thought he misheard the woman and asked, “You're saying… it really happened?"“Yes!” Marciella nodded. “Believe it or not, it was a success. It started raining soon after, and the villagers’ belief in the witch skyrocketed. To them, the witch saved them. She was their savior, and instantly, her position within the village rose. After some development, there were a thousand households in the village!"Marciella had been living at the brothel and was never home. She was not aware of the village's development in terms of the number of people there. When she learned of the number, she was a little surprised. "I never thought that it would happen so fast.” “That's because there's more food here now, and people from other villages became attracted to the notion of moving here,” the old lady explained. Fred had also gotten a slight hang of the situation, but still, it was definitely not that simple. To say that it was just about the rain was not exactly true.The situation was d

"Chief, what do you think?" said someone all of a sudden.Fred glanced to the side, realizing that the middle-aged man was the village chief.“That person is the chief? So, everything that has happened was approved by him?”"That's right!" Marciella nodded."He holds absolute authority in our village. If the chief disagrees with something, then it's impossible to accomplish it! He has practically been following the witch's words without question ever since that incident! "Besides, I've also heard a lot about her. She gets food, drink, and money from our village. She even receives offerings from everyone. She’s been living off this arrangement," Marciella explained.By now, Fred had wrapped his head around this. He felt a headache forming. Nodding, he said, "So, in other words, the key to the situation is the chief. If he doesn't listen to her, it means no one in the village will follow the witch's instructions, right?""That's right!" Marciella nodded. "That’s exactly it. But i

“Yeah. That's right, level of trust. After so long, how much do you trust her?" "I’m not sure specifically, but I’m certain it's quite a bit! The witch has always inspired trust among the masses!”Her answer left a bitter taste in Fred's mouth as it meant these people were easily influenced.His forehead creased, and when Marciella noticed his expression, she thought it was strange.“Mr. Fred, is there something wrong?”“I can’t say how difficult this is going to be, but I still have to think about how to deal with this…"Fred knew recklessness would not cut it in this situation. Chasing away the witch might not be useful in this case.Even in the Ancient Martial Realm, one had to use their brain when dealing with something like this. Not only that, this situation required him to think through his methods. Now that it was clear that this witch was put on a high pedestal by the villagers, there was a need to reveal her true colors. Once that was done, no one would believe thi

“Leave the village? Why?” “There isn't much of our witchcraft left we can use. The village is almost depleted of their children and money. The drought will arrive eventually, and when it happens, many will die. This is what I wanted to remind you about.” Fred looked at the cloaked man and surmised that he was no simple person. Judging from this appearance, he was someone full of savage explosiveness. More importantly, he had potent explosive power hidden in his body!What was going on? Also, seeing how these two were speaking to one another so secretly, they were definitely in cahoots! Considering their secretive behavior, could this man also be a witch like the woman?Also, based on their conversation about the weather just now, it meant that they had some method of controlling the weather or blocking it. Although Fred could not be certain about this, he knew that these two people were behind the village's plight.It looked like things were not going to be a walk in the park.