Volume 2: Funeral Song of Crows Chapter 13: Crow Man and Silence
"May I have your name?"
William looked at the man who was kneeling on one knee in front of him and asked.
"As a member of the Crow Flock, I have no name. I can only call myself the Crow Feather Prophet."
William frowned slightly and continued to ask:
"How did you know I would come here?"
"My Lord predicted your return and ordered me to be here to greet you and congratulate you."
The other party continued to answer respectfully.
This was the first person William met who knew his identity after traveling through time.
Or... not a human?
"Are you a Crowman?"
William asked, looking into his crow-like, round and deep amber pupils.
"Yes, Your Excellency the Judge."
The other party still maintained the same posture as before and replied.
"But I remember that the Crowmen were wiped out in that purge a thousand years ago."
Crowmen are not intelligent creatures that have existed in this world like humans or elves.
They are the product of a curse.
The Crowmen are said to have first appeared in the 20th year of the Platinum Calendar, shortly after the Seven Holy Spirits Creation Model was proposed.
At that time, there was a group of scholars who set the grand goal of understanding the nature of the Moon Realm. They firmly believed that the Moon Realm was not a direct product of the Seven Holy Spirits' creation, but had a more complex formation principle, and believed that this path could bring them true eternal life. For this reason, they launched a large amount of research on the Moon Realm and went far enough on this path.
So far that it angered the three Void Kings.
The Whispering Queen, the Dark Tide Lord, the Pale Poet.
These three Void Kings directly gave them eternal life.
At the same time, they were cursed.
The Whispering Queen has tied the threads of her conspiracy to their eyes forever, and they will deduce countless cruel future fragments from this. The countless tragic possibilities will torment them forever.
The Lord of Dark Tide tore their original souls into pieces and sewed blood and shadows on them, causing their emotions to constantly switch between the two extremes of bloodthirsty rage and depressed fatigue.
The Pale Poets have endowed them with a physique that will constantly bring misfortune to themselves and those around them as long as they exist in the world, and misfortune and disaster will always accompany them from then on.
These three curses complement each other. Their extreme emotions make them eager to change the terrible future they see, but the bad luck that surrounds them will always push their future into a more tragic situation.
This cycle repeats itself.
While gaining immortality, one must endure eternal torture.
Most of them collapsed and degenerated into monsters and were killed. A few learned how to control their minds and not be tortured and driven crazy. They survived and even learned how to guide the power of the curse to work for themselves.
These people are the Crow People of later generations, a hidden group that can uncontrollably see possibilities in the future, use shadows, blood, and their own violence as weapons, and bring doom to those around them.
They were seen as a symbol of weirdness and ominousness on the continent, and were even once classified as moon realm monsters.
On the eve of the first full-scale invasion of the Moon Realm a thousand years ago, in order to eliminate the existing hidden dangers of the Moon Realm in the world, the Seven Kingdoms, with the support of the Holy Spirit Church, launched a continent-wide cleansing campaign against the Moon Realm curse.
The Crow People were declared completely exterminated in this purge.
Except for one person...
"Yes, Lord Inquisitor, but as you know, one of the Crowmen escaped the Purge."
Prophet Crowfeather replied.
Of course William knew.
Coles Jackdaw, last of the Judgement Seats, the last of the Crowmen.
William had no doubt that Coles was the real last Crow Man. After all, there was a label called "The Last Crow Man" on his character attribute column.
"Yes, but that person is not you. What is your relationship with him?"
William asked seriously.
The Crowmen are unable to have offspring, and the only way to pass on their curse is to transfer their curse to another person who is willing to bear it before death.
But it was obviously impossible for the crow man in front of him, because after enduring the strong curse from Coles, if he could still survive and breathe, his strength would definitely not be as strong as it is now.
"That lord dispersed his curse and left behind a legacy. We are the new Crowmen who inherited his legacy."
The Crow Man replied.
William continued to ask:
"So that's the man who predicted my coming? Coles Jackdaw?"
The man did not reply, but continued to maintain his previous respectful attitude.
And the look on his face seemed to say—I can't say.
William noticed that the name "Crows" was mentioned.
William had known about this secret organization before.
Previously, he had moved a large cabinet from the archives room of the Star Lighthouse in Thorn City. After William had finished dealing with the affairs of the Holy Tomb and had some free time, he went back to Dusk Fortress and cracked the self-destruction ban engraved on the cabinet with the help of tools in the underground enchantment room.
Most of the files were about the various Moon Cults in the northern part of Blackwater Province, including secret societies that were quietly preaching in the Rose Palace Mage Hall and underground at Offa University. The details gave William a new understanding of the intelligence gathering capabilities of the Star Council.
According to Vincent, Duke Simon and the tower keeper had a secret agreement that all evidence of Moon Realm worship in the Rose Palace Mage Hall must be destroyed. However, it seems that the old man did not keep his promise, but kept it back for himself. I don't know if it was for a future fallout.
It's a pity that he didn't expect that Simon was not a good person either, or he did expect that he would turn against him faster and use more cruel means than himself, so the information never waited until the day when he could use it.
Among those materials, a report on the Moon Cult organization called "The Crows" caught William's special attention.
Because the word that appeared most frequently in that report was "unclear".
The specific object of worship is unknown, the purpose of the activity is unknown, the organizational structure is unknown, and the size of the group is unknown...
Apart from the fact that the other party's object of worship is not any virtual king, and that every member who joins it must swear an oath called "silence", there is no other valuable information in this document.
And that oath called "silence"...
According to the records of the Star Lighthouse, they once captured a member of the crow group and tortured him to reveal the identity of the object he worshipped. However, the other party said that he had taken a "silence" oath and could not reveal any information about his master.
Finally, there was really no other way, so the tower keeper used the [Law of the Dead] himself, trying to dig out some information from the opponent's undead. However, after the opponent said the name "Father of Crows", he was torn into pieces by an unknown force.
It was the same situation as when William interrogated David Orbis, the traitor from the University of Offa.
Saying the name will lead to complete silence.
So William looked at the Crow Man who remained silent and did not ask any further questions.
He thought for a few seconds and then continued to ask:
"So you can't say anything?"
The man nodded.
"Let me ask you, can you just nod or shake your head?"
"No, this is the limit of our activities in this world. Any information about my Lord must remain silent."
The man shook his head.
William felt a slight headache.
We finally got some clues about the members of the Tribunal, why is it like this now?
Why are you being a riddle teller for no reason?
