There are some scenes in life that even an old witch who has lived a very long and eventful life cannot help but be surprised by like the one currently taking place in front of Grandma Holly’s eyes. She had just come out of the inn and was ready to fly off on her broom but she had to stop for a moment.

A plump middle-aged man dressed in fine clothing ran straight toward Grandma Holly. She seemed to have seen that face somewhere. It was the kind of face that minor nobles had, not too powerful but still powerful enough in a small region. She didn’t like those faces, they always had something to ask of her.

It was always a wise decision for a witch to ignore men in power who approach them with a face that is practically screaming that they want something from the witch. It never goes well in these cases. It is always something stupid like a potion that makes a girl fall in love with them, an undetectable poisoned apple, or a sleeping curse.

And when things go horribly wrong which they almost always do, the witches take up all the blame. Those in power quickly do everything in their power to shift the blame. Bards are called and fairytales are sung about bad witches doing bad things.

If you think about it, no witch has enough time or patience to plot against random princesses. But, the witches who have never gotten the hang of branding always get the short end of the stick.

Although there were witches of all shapes, sizes, and appearances, the public perception had formed such that people didn’t even think of good looking or young witches as witches. It was so bad that some witches even resorted to sticking cosmetic warts, moles, and nose extensions to look the part.

Some might think that the witches could just ignore the requests from those in power. After all, aren’t they witches? They have mysterious magical powers, so they should be quite strong. But that is only the naivety of those who hadn’t seen a crowd with pitchforks and torches walking up to their houses in the middle of the night. Unless they are crazy or psychopathic, the witches generally ran from those.

The public tends to listen to the people who own the lands and factories they work in, instead of the witches they only see once in a while. Credibility and truth generally don’t matter in the face of power. And as mysterious and powerful as magic is, the power over the livelihood of people is stronger.

Grandma Holly remembered that the plump man was Horatio, the mayor of Sherry. But that made her want to fly off even faster. She didn’t want anything to do with the man who stank of greed from a block away. If that disgusting smell is already so strong, the mayor is almost sure to have fallen into the hands of one of the seven sins. Those bastards were even more of a bad news.

Despite her thoughts, Grandma Holly was unable to fly off in time as the mayor caught up to her in no time. Despite his plump figure, the man was deceptively fast. “Good morning, Grandma Holly. How are you doing today? You look lovely as ever.”

Like a seasoned politician, Horatio gave a business-like smile and spoke pleasantries while trying to maintain eye contact with Grandma Holly’s cold, dark eyes. He was polite and even though he was speaking empty compliments, he spoke with sincerity. It could only come from decades of experience.

Horatio’s ingratiating smile and pleasant words didn’t have any effect on Grandma Holly though. The old witch just scrunched up her nose trying to block the stench coming off of Horatio. She was being polite by not taking out her handkerchief and immediately covering her face. Not that it would matter though. Metaphysical smells are not filtered by ordinary fabric. She would need something like a cloth made from the Four-legged silk spider’s silk to ward off that kind of smell.

“What is it, lord mayor? I am very busy so it would be best if you could keep it short.” Grandma Holly kept the minimum level of respect but replied bluntly. Her annoyance wasn’t hidden.

With his excellent social sense honed over the years by attending parties in high society, Horatio was able to tell that the old witch was annoyed. If it was any other time, Horatio would have trusted his instincts that were screaming at him to get out of the witch’s way but today he ignored the cold sweat running down his spine and kept up his forced smile.

“I know that Grandma Holly is a very busy person and her time is priceless but the situation is so urgent that I had to stop you for a conversation at the risk of being rude to you. Could you please hear me out for a moment?” Horatio’s smile was slowly distorting and he made a pleading face.

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Grandma Holly contemplatively looked at Horatio’s face for a while. It was rare to see someone in the position of Mayor Horatio make that face in front of a witch. He was practically begging for her to listen to his pleading. Despite the aversion she felt, Grandma Holly felt interested enough to take some time and listen to what Horatio had to say.

“Okay, go on. But keep it short. No need for long-winded explanations.” She gave permission.

Horatio let out a long sigh of relief, and his shoulders relaxed. His expression became serious as he looked around cautiously. “It is something that cannot be spoken about in public. I don’t want this matter to leak unnecessarily. It is a matter of this town’s safety. Please come to my carriage, we can talk privately there, it is soundproofed.”

Grandma Holly didn’t immediately believe Horatio’s words. She was well aware of the contributions that Horatio had made to this town. It was rare even for her to see a town growing like Sherry. Despite his capabilities as a mayor, his gambling problems made it hard for her to trust his words at face value.

But she decided to trust the sincerity in his expression and voice. No matter how much of a seasoned politician Horatio was, he couldn’t fool the eyes of Grandma Holly who had been around the world long before Horatio’s grandfather was even born. So, she followed him to the carriage across the street.

Inside the carriage, Horatio began his explanations, “I don’t know if you have heard about it but the youth in town have been clamoring about elections and democracy….” It wasn’t a particularly long explanation since Horatio himself had very little information. But his explanation of chock full of his assumptions about this new cult and how dangerous it could be to the town.

“Hmm… I understand. So, you suspect that a cult has infiltrated Sherry after being chased away from the other kingdoms. This cult wants to overthrow you as the mayor through this thing called elections and let the people choose their own representative.” Grandma Holly glared at Horatio.

It sounded reasonable to her that the people would choose their representatives. She thought that it was a brilliant new idea that should be implemented everywhere so that the stupid nobles and their pride could be brought down to the ground. She even wanted to meet the guy who was leading this cult as Horatio put it, there were quite a lot of inputs she had for him.

Horatio immediately picked up on the change in the mood. Grandma Holly seemed to be sympathetic to the cultists instead. ‘Damn! If the witch joins them, I’ll be properly screwed. Should I just take the money from the auction and move to a big city?’

He quickly shook off the defeatist thoughts that invaded his mind for a moment and continued to push forward as discussed with Pipsmith. “I know this sounds like I am trying to desperately cling to my position as the mayor but it is so much more than that. It is now a matter of the safety of Sherry.

Just this morning, I found some information that the cultists are trying to summon some evil spirit they call the spirit of democracy. That damned election thing is just a ritual for the summoning. Think about what would happen to this town and its people if a summoning is successful. I don’t want our town to become a sad page in history like the Hammer and Sickle Kingdom.”

Although she wasn’t fully convinced, Horatio’s words made Grandma Holly think seriously of the serious consequences that a successful summoning could have on Sherry Town. Evil gods summoned by cults throughout history have been a mixed bag.

Some evil gods were very weak like the Cult of 420 where the evil deity peacefully left after submerging an entire city in smoke and turning its people into base philosophers who asked questions like ‘who decides which side is right and which is left’ and ‘why aren’t donkeys as fast as horses’. The only damage there was that the entire food supply for a month was depleted in a week.

But there were also cases like the Hammer and Sickle Kingdom which used to be called Arasa Kingdom. An evil deity with a thick mustache was summoned there and the entire kingdom was engulfed in revolution and civil wars. Famine and disease became widespread and at some point, all the people in the kingdom disappeared with only hammers and sickles remaining in their places. Nobody knows what happened to the people there but some lucky merchants made a killing selling the farm tools.

“If you are aware that the situation is that urgent, why haven’t you called for help from the larger kingdoms or hired a hero if not a wizard?” Grandma Holly asked suspiciously.

Horatio wanted to instinctively lie to her but held himself back. He was reminded of Pipsmith’s advice not to lie about this. “Honestly, I don’t have any money to pay as tribute to those kingdoms or to hire anyone. Even if I make some money after tomorrow’s auction, it will just be spent on paying off the debts. I know witches don’t like to meddle, so I wouldn’t have bothered you if I wasn’t desperate.”

Grandma Holly could see the tricks that Horatio was trying to play very clearly. It wouldn’t have worked if she were any other with but the safety of Sherry Town was important to her. Of course, she could drag Willum out of Sherry but she couldn’t be heartless enough to ignore the other residents. As annoying as they were, she had treated and interacted with many of them.

She sighed, “I will look into it on my end but you shouldn’t hope for a lot. It is best that you prepare other measures. It’s best if you hire a famous hero or an Arch-wizard. No matter how frustrating those bastards may be, they are the experts in these situations.”

After parting ways with Horatio, Grandma Holly couldn’t calm her mind so she decided to discreetly walk around the town for the day to see if she could find anything. It was regrettable that she wouldn’t be able to bake those cookies but she was a purist who never baked in a bad mood.