Volume 4: The End of the World Chapter 10 Magic Appraisal
The scene before him made Nezemar feel extremely uncomfortable.
Blood flowed down the man's jaw, dripping onto his animal-skin clothes, and bloomed into blood flowers. Behind him, on the altar used for the "holy communion ceremony", was a bloody scene that no sane person could accept.
For Nezemar, compared to the white bones with flesh shaved off and the outline that was no longer human, what she couldn't accept was the numb and sad eyes of the two children, and the mechanical movements of their hands that did not stop even after being baptized by numbness and sadness.
Even though the presiding judge had clearly explained to her the origin of this tradition, after seeing such a tragedy, she couldn't convince herself that it was right.
Devouring blood-related relatives - this is something that no living being with a soul should do.
The forest elf man stood in front of the old Druyin. He only had time to quickly wipe the blood off his face and then knelt down immediately.
Druyin, who had originally planned to walk to the other end of the Treetop Temple to check for foreigners, had no choice but to stop when he saw this. He waved his hand to let the Wild Hunters who were guarding him go ahead and guard the gate at the other end of the temple, and then he looked down at the man who blocked his way.
Since every forest elf will eventually become a part of the sacred forest of Ravenwood, Druin, as the keeper of the sacred forest, has the obligation to listen to the voice of every member of the tribe.
"It is your duty to deal with the bad seeds. Is there anything wrong with that?"
The old man first glanced at the person who was halfway through being processed on the altar, then walked up to the man kneeling on the ground and asked condescendingly in a solemn tone.
Under the blessing of the World Tree, the vitality of all the forest elves is extremely strong. Not only are they immune to almost all diseases and plagues, even if they are violently injured, as long as they are not directly hit in the vital parts and die on the spot, the forest elves can basically recover slowly through rest.
But all these gifts are also conditional. The Great Mother gave them strong vitality in the hope that they would be able to further expand the boundaries of Ravenwood Forest after they grow old and become trees. Therefore, those unqualified forest elves who cannot live to old age will be called "bad seeds" by their own kind - that is, seeds that cannot contribute to the expansion of the sacred forest.
This is also the reason why the bloody and cruel "holy communion ceremony" rarely occurs in reality - as long as it is not a period of war, or when tribal warriors are fighting to the death, most ordinary forest elves can live to the end of their lives and turn into a tree.
Therefore, in the culture of the forest elves, not being able to survive to the tree stage is a great shame. Therefore, the body of the deceased must be eaten by the relatives of the deceased, and cannot be eaten by wild animals or other people.
In a sense, this is also a means of punishment and warning.
"Sir, my wife died at the hands of the imperial ambassador's lackeys. She died under dirty magic. Please make those foreigners pay with blood. I am willing to perform the holy communion ceremony on the murderer!"
The man raised his head as he spoke through gritted teeth, his eyes filled with anger waiting to be ignited.
As soon as these words were spoken, the other forest elves who came to worship in the temple immediately started talking about it.
"Killed by the ambassador sent by the Empire?"
"How dare those witches kill the people of the Great Mother in the sacred forest?"
"Does His Excellency the Duke not even care about such things?"
"Why would she care? Wasn't it her idea to replace the land used to grow green grass with grapes and export red wine to the empire? As a woman, it is impossible for her to become the husband of the 'Great Mother', so she tried her best to please the empire and employ those wizards..."
"...Shh, don't mention this here, let's talk about it when we get back..."
Although it was just a slight whisper, Nezemar, who had received professional training, could hear it very clearly.
It seems that the forest elves are very dissatisfied with the policies of the current Duke of the Holy Tree...
Nezemar thought so.
"Ahem, be quiet."
The old man Druyin, with buds and leaves growing on his head, coughed lightly to stop the whispers around him, then looked at the man in front of him with eyes full of anger and said:
"You said that the ambassador of the Empire killed your wife. Do you have any evidence?"
"The other party used invisible witchcraft to cut my wife's throat, just because the other party had set their eyes on the prey my wife had hunted, and she was unwilling to give it to the other party. This happened today, on the hill southwest of the sacred forest, and I witnessed it with my own eyes."
The man said, opening his mouth full of blood.
"In other words, there is no one other than you who can help testify?"
Hearing this, Dru Yin's frown relaxed a little. He turned to the priest who was in charge of chanting the "Holy Communion Ceremony", and the other party immediately understood and said:
"His wife had already died when she was brought here. The fatal wound was indeed a cut on the throat, as this gentleman said. But as to whether it was caused by witchcraft, I am not sure. But considering that he said that the beast his wife hunted was a gray-clawed wolf, it is not impossible that the gray-clawed wolf's sharp claws could have caused it..."
Upon hearing this, the man immediately turned to the priest, stared at him with his beast-like eyes, and said in a voice that was almost a growl:
"Do you think I'm a fool? Can't I tell the difference between a wound caused by a gray claw wolf and a wound caused by cutting the air through witchcraft? And my wife is a warrior from the Eagle Feather Tribe who has received the blessing of double tattoos. Could it be that she can't even defeat a gray claw wolf?"
The priest shrank his neck slightly after seeing the other party's eyes that seemed to want to eat him (and actually did eat him), but after seeing the calm expression on Dru Yin's face, he plucked up the courage to continue:
"If you put it that way, I'm afraid we can only judge it by asking an experienced old hunter to come and examine the wound, but this..."
The priest looked at the half-eaten corpse and continued:
"It's already like this, there's no point in judging it anymore."
"You were the one who urged me to hold the 'holy communion ceremony' immediately! You said that if we didn't hurry up, the body would decay!"
Upon hearing the other party's words, the man immediately jumped up, and with an eagle's scream, the eagle claw tattoo on the man's finger instantly took shape into a sharp claw blade.
"When you brought it over, it was indeed showing signs of corruption..."
Maybe because he felt guilty, the priest's voice became lower and lower as he spoke.
The man couldn't help but raise his paw upon hearing this, but before he could do anything else impulsive, the old Dru Yin beside him raised his hand slightly. A light green aura instantly rose around the man, and then he lowered his head tremblingly as if he was under great pressure.
"Calm down for a moment. Do you really know what you are doing when you attack a priest in the Treetop Temple?"
The old man warned, and then he continued:
"Let me ask again, are there any other witnesses besides you? Since we can't tell the type of wound, we can't convict those foreigners based on your one- statement alone."
"The spirits of the wilderness can testify for me, and the Holy Tree Mother can testify for me. They all witnessed it all!"
The man raised his head while struggling to break free, and spoke loudly.
The old man just sighed when he heard this.
"But they can't speak up to testify... So, although the wound cannot be identified, if the person really died from witchcraft, there must be magic left on it. I will report this matter to the Duke immediately. With the Duke's love for his people, she will immediately send a magic caster from her staff to conduct an appraisal. Are you satisfied with this handling?"
The old man's words were like a bucket of ice water poured on the man's head. He was stunned for three or four seconds before he spoke:
"Most of the Duke's staff members were recruited from the Empire. Do you want the Imperials to investigate themselves?"
His tone was much calmer than before, but the eagle claw shadow in his hand became more solid, expressing his emotions at the moment.
The old man frowned and said:
"The only people in Holy Tree City who are proficient in magic are the Duke's staff. If you really go to the Star Lighthouse to find a magic caster, your wife's body will probably rot before the 'holy communion ceremony' is completed. Do you want to be charged with violating the contract with the 'Great Mother'?"
"You...you all colluded together..."
The man spoke incoherently, his eyes revealed a desperate ferocity, and he looked as if he was ready to resort to violence at any moment.
Seeing this, Forest Druyin, who had subdued the opponent with one move before, cautiously took half a step back and raised his hand.
"Dad, can we not eat?"
It was at this delicate moment that the two children who had stopped the ceremony at the altar looked at their struggling father and asked.
The man immediately turned to look at his two children, and the brutality in his eyes disappeared for the most part.
"I...you..."
Most of the tyranny was gone, and what remained was regret and despair.
The priest on the side saw this and immediately seized the opportunity to say:
"Even if you don't think about yourself, you should think about your children. Besides, don't you believe in the fairness of the Duke's advisory committee? Besides, within a radius of dozens of kilometers, apart from the Duke's men, where else can you find magic casters who can conduct residual magic power appraisal? If there are any, I am willing to let them come..."
Nezemare hesitated whether to point out her identity as a magic caster here, so as to help the poor man in front of her to identify the residual magic power. But because of the previous order of the judge, she kept struggling whether she should wade into this muddy water.
After much hesitation, Nazemare finally made up her mind. But at the same time, a girl's trembling voice sounded behind her.
"I……"
Nezemal turned his head and saw the girl beside him who had been wrapping her head with a headscarf taking a small step forward.
"I can help this gentleman identify the remaining magic power."
She said so.
