I Am Also An Extraordinary Creature
Chapter 70 - 68: The One Who Collects Money

Chapter 70: Chapter 68: The One Who Collects Money

In the center of the town, another cleric from the church was holding up a skeleton head and said to the townspeople, "This is the skull of a Headless Knight, inhabited by its undead spirit. Next, we will give the undead spirit of the Headless Knight a divine purification!"

Compared to watching the purification of the Headless Knight’s skull, Katrina was more anxious to see her father, and Zheng Yichen was even less interested in such purification. As a bona fide modern person, he might have found it somewhat interesting if this world was swarming with magical creatures.

But according to his understanding, the industrial development of this world had already begun, and the church’s so-called holy purification was mostly just about burning.

"Daddy!" Seeing her father lying on the hospital bed, Katrina could not help but cry. Hearing his daughter’s voice, Fantaso opened his eyes on the bed with an angry gaze fixed on Zheng Yichen, who felt quite innocent.

How should he put it? His attitude wasn’t about eloping with the man’s daughter or anything of that sort. Why did it now seem as though he had kidnapped her?

"I’ll go out for some air," Zheng Yichen left the room, leaving what followed to Katrina to handle. He didn’t understand any magic anyway; it was better to wait outside. After about ten minutes, Katrina came out of the room.

Her eyes were red but her expression was much more relaxed. Zheng Yichen glanced at Fantaso lying on the hospital bed; the old man still appeared to be at death’s door... quite the pretense.

If Katrina wanted to heal her father, her witch identity was bound to be exposed.

In the town’s center, the church began their holy purification. It was indeed just as Zheng Yichen had imagined: burn, burn, burn.

The skull of the Headless Knight was placed on something resembling a ’barbecue grill,’ which had something like a magic array formation in its hollow part.

The flames from the burning wood passed through this ’grill’ and were transformed into fire that looked ordinary but was clearly not; there was something to it.

The skull on the ’grill’ quickly blackened. A figure with filed teeth struggled and howled in pain within the flames, drawing gasps from the townspeople. That figure in the fire quickly turned ethereal and dissipated completely with the skull, burned to dust.

"What’s the difference between their methods and the witch’s magic?" Zheng Yichen whispered to the girl beside him.

Katrina looked at the magic array formation on the ’grill’ and shook her head slightly, "It’s too far away; I can’t tell much from here, but that should be a kind of magic."

Zheng Yichen immediately thought of the word ’monopoly.’

A successful purification had the townspeople looking like devout believers. The cleric continued to preside over the event, "There is a witch living in this town, and next, there will be a baptism..."

Blah, blah, blah—the main point was to emphasize the witch’s evil and threat. Although the witch was dead (the presiding person never mentioned that the witch was shot), the deceased witch could still potentially influence the town. It was fine as long as they stayed here, but once they left, it would be different.

Therefore, the upcoming baptism was crucial, and everyone must participate actively.

—Time to collect money.

"This seems like just ordinary water," Katrina said, somewhat speechlessly, looking at the water on Zheng Yichen’s body. Although her magical powers and the church’s were not of the same system, she could still tell that the water on Zheng Yichen was not any Purifying Holy Water.

"No one here can expose this," Zheng Yichen said. Whether it was ordinary water was not for them to say; the church people had just burned an undead spirit of a Headless Knight, and before anyone could question this, the townspeople had already turned into troublemakers.

"Let your father come here as well, to undergo the baptism."

"Yes," Katrina nodded. Since it was just ordinary water, there was nothing to be concerned about. It didn’t matter that she wasn’t paid; the important thing was that her father had gone through the ’baptism,’ and she had water sprinkled on her. Afterward, the church’s people didn’t do anything more and left the small town.

This little town was not wealthy, so it was natural that the church’s people would not linger here.

That night, Katrina’s father talked with her for a long time. The next day, Fantaso looked still very weak but his complexion had improved significantly.

The townspeople believed that the baptism had worked, dispelling the influence of the Undead brought by the Headless Knight.

"My dad agrees with my decision," Katrina said in a low voice to Zheng Yichen as she watched the townspeople gather for a feast, convinced that the evil had been completely expelled after the church’s people collected the money, performed the baptism, and left.

They organized a new feast in relief, celebrating that the town had returned to normal. This time, Zheng Yichen was not just an observer, as he too was part of the feast.

"How does he view your identity?"

"..." Katrina shook her head, not wanting to talk more about it. Her father not reporting her to the church as an act of filicide was already real paternal love. People of this era had great prejudice against witches.

"And what about me?"

"Uh," Katrina hesitated, looking at Zheng Yichen. "My dad doesn’t want to see you."

"Alright."

Zheng Yichen’s mouth twitched. Katrina’s father agreeing with her decision was probably because of her identity as a witch. Although he hadn’t reported her to the church, he also didn’t want a witch lingering around, even if the witch was his daughter.

To Fantaso, Zheng Yichen was seen as the chief culprit in leading Katrina astray, and he certainly didn’t want to meet him.

The day after the feast ended, at the entrance to the small town, Katrina arrived with a horse-drawn carriage filled with numerous boxes.

It looked much like the dowry a daughter would bring to marriage. Zheng Yichen even saw Fantaso’s figure from a distant loft, the old father glaring at Zheng Yichen with a very displeased look. His daughter being a witch was something Fantaso could do nothing about and even wanted to distance himself from Katrina.

But she was still his daughter, and now being led away definitively irked him.

Katrina looked back more reluctantly, the value of the goods the carriage carried was enough for her to live a prosperous life. It was the last gift from her father, knowing her as a witch, and leaving the town meant she would not have the chance to return.

On the road leaving, Zheng Yichen dug out the hidden Sword of Hell. Traveling by carriage was much more comfortable than horseback, but being with a beautiful girl, he thought riding would still be nice...

This carriage was probably the best one in the town.

After returning to the city, Katrina’s expression relaxed significantly: "From now on, we’ll be together."

"Yeah, that’s pretty good," Zheng Yichen nodded. He hadn’t had a girlfriend in Hazy City and didn’t have any family ties, so he was not adverse to this development.