"How splendid!" The chief clapped.

"I will prepare a banquet and distribute one silver coin to each family to celebrate the purging of a witch," he announced.

The eyes of the villagers changed once they heard they would have an easier winter. One silver coin amounted to ten large copper coins. It would be able to fill in the absence for their lack of harvest this season with no problem.

"Here is the girlie," the same stall owner pushed me to the chief.

The chief smiled as he dropped one small copper coin on the ground. The stall owner searched for the coin with his worn out hands on the dirt ground. I didn't expect the villagers to be nice to a new person in town, but this was just brutal.

All the villagers had a change in their attitudes as they looked at me with scorn. The henchman was called to tie the same ropes around my wrists and ankles into tight knots. But before he could, Luke tried to negotiate with the chief while blocking his way.

"You don't have the banquet ready yet. Please let me say my farewells until it's ready," Luke pointed out to the villagers the chief may go back on his word.

"Tsk," he spat on the ground.

"I'll make sure the banquet will be tomorrow evening after putting your girl at the stake," he demanded his henchmen to make the preparations.

Luke sighed in relief, thinking he bought us some time before one of the henchmen slammed my head against the stone wall. I screamed in pain as my vision flickered in and out filtered in a shield of red from my injured eyes. I felt my limbs being dragged on the floor as the sharp pebbles made my wounds get worse.

Instead of looking away, the other villagers cheered from defeating another 'witch' to curry more favour from the chief. They raised their arms in support as they yelled for my death.

"Kill the witch!" A stall owner screamed.

"Who dares to frame out Olive!" Another supporter of Olive yelled.

My ears rang from the loud noise before dimming into silence. I watched the villagers turn on me before I was blessed with my vision going black. Did the school know what a dangerous village they placed us in for this simple mission?

When I regained my consciousness, I found myself roped tight on my wrists and ankles. I gritted my teeth with hurt and betrayal, unable to move on the high pedestal that looked down on the crowd below. I felt my mana starting to go whack and out-of-control inside the deepest part of my body as the shouts got louder and louder.

I guessed even Luke wasn't all that high and mighty in this situation. I searched for him inside the crowd to find him not there. As the seventh 'witch' in this village, a bag of gold coins was held from a foreign official who sped to visit the event.

He was obviously a noble as he wore thick animal furs like a statement of fashion. His clothes were hideously filled with frills and laces. I wondered if he was close to the chief since he was able to come at a last minute event. I knew I served a warning to all the other young girls who dared to go against the village chief.

They were the only ones who looked at me with pity and didn't jeer with the others. I found Olive, standing there unmoving inside the jeering crowd that screamed for me to be killed. The girl who loved to fix various things with her rusty tiny tools. The silent, cold eyes of the girl in a worn-out dress mended with various rags patched into the cloth stared at me like she had no feelings. She still appeared broken from yesterday.

I wondered what it would be if I never went to the village square to help her yesterday. Would I be in her place? In the roaring crowd, thankful it wasn't them or their child on the stake? While I couldn't forgive her for placing me here, I couldn't blame her for wanting to live.

'Control Rika,' I mumbled inside my head as my heart thumped rapidly as the blacksmith tried to make a small fire with the dry, wooden branches.

When the sparks of fire slipped onto the tip of one brittle branch, the village chief patted the blacksmith before putting the burning flame onto an oiled torch. My eyes widened as the fire instantly screamed into the hottest blues as it shot up from eating the animal fat. The crowd clapped and cheered as the old man lifted the torch into the mounting sky.

I looked at the event that was decorated into an elaborate festival with tables full of beer and booze a few miles away in the village chief's house. A buffet full of meat made the children's eyes shine as they followed their parents who equally looked forward to the feast. Once the ceremony was over, they would reap the rewards.

I sighed as I was wrong with only the village chief being corrupt, the whole village was like him. He lowered his hands and time seemed to slow down as the torch was dropped onto the stake. I fiercely closed my eyes with grave anticipation of being lit on fire, alive.

I hoped the pain would only last a few seconds for me to use my second chance card. Although it did seem like a waste, I hoped I would reincarnate into a better life than this one. I resigned myself to my fate as this life wasn't worth living anyways with how restricted it was.