"What is the essence of life?"
"This is an eternal question."
The bonfire was burning quietly, and Horno stood in the center of the camp and said this to everyone.
"In this world, animals and plants all have their own lives."
"No matter which race they belong to, no matter how powerful they are, they will always face birth, old age, sickness and death." She stretched out her hand to support the tree next to her. It was clearly still standing, but the bark had naturally begun to peel off. This was the tree that had lost all life. prove.
"When death strikes, creatures instinctively start to flee."
"Let me ask you, after entering the forest for so many days and nights, have you ever heard insects flying, birds chirping, and wild beasts running?"
"Not all of them died, most of them instinctively ran away after sensing the crisis."
"Preserve life, protect yourself, and survive to produce offspring."
"This is something even an insect would do."
"Then the meaning of life is limited to this, is its essence just a simple continuation?"
"This is a question that I don't have an answer to." Horno shook his head, and everyone, whether standing or sitting, listened quietly to her narration.
"A magician is a profession that has curiosity as its nature and exploration as its duty. But no matter how familiar I am with those ancient and obscure spells, no matter how well I understand how to mobilize the natural magic power in this earth, I still cannot understand what life itself is. What is it?"
"I can't understand why there are so many differences among you humans. Even brothers and sisters who grew up in exactly the same family conditions will have completely different life trajectories."
"I also can't understand the vast gulf between humans and elves."
"I don't understand how life itself is born. Although I understand how to make an organism move, no matter how superficial and ignorant I am, I understand that there is a huge difference between that and being truly given life."
"But thanks for everything, I am a daughter."
"So I can understand what it feels like to give birth to life." She pressed her belly lightly, and some commotion began to occur among the mercenaries - this matter had not been fully explained before, until now Horno Only then did he plan to have a complete showdown.
Adolphus turned his head and looked at Henry and Mira. He judged from the expressions that the sage and the Luoan girl had already known about this matter. I think there should be many people in their group like this, but if I were in that position and thinking about the overall situation, I would definitely bury the news.
The commotion began. These people, with an average age of over 40, were all veterans who had been tempered by society. This elf would mention the matter of giving birth to life at this time, and with some knowledge related to the elves, they began to make some guesses, and Horno raised his head and said calmly:
"The witch is my child."
"Damn you." "I knew it." "How could such good elves mix with humans? I knew there was a ghost." "Damn it, were you the cause of all this?"
"Shut up!"
"She doesn't have any ill intentions, it's just love!" The rebuttal voice came from our Luoan girl, but she was isolated and helpless, and everyone's hatred for the witch was extremely deep after a bloody battle, and everyone's emotions ushered in a complete explosion.
It was a difficult journey, just traveling was painful enough. After the encounter with the Earth Dragon the day before yesterday, they had lost a total of more than thirty-seven companions.
This is the reason why Horno chose to reveal everything at this point in time. The witch is good at attacking the weaknesses of people's hearts. If she says this with her own words before the battle, it will have more impact than if the witch picks her apart at the peak of the battle. and less damage.
At least now that they have learned the news, they still have time to calm down everyone's emotions, control the situation, and prepare for battle.
——Of course, all this is after eliminating unstable factors.
"Love is not a reason." An expected voice rang out from the expected group of people.
"You have violated the realm of the gods, magician. Your disrespect has brought too many disasters to this land." The sage does not need to look at it. He can understand just by listening to the content and tone of the words. A paladin under Adolphus.
"..." Mira raised her head and looked at him. Henry looked calm. She then looked at Horno, Erica, and even Adolphus. They all looked at each other. This has been expected for a long time.
Fanatic religious elements have probably remained unchanged from ancient times to the present.
"In the name of God, you will be punished by my sword, the mother of witches." The paladin drew the sword from his waist and rushed towards her while chanting prayers in Gulaman language.
His cloak fluttered menacingly.
But the elf just moved his fingers, and a strong wind pressure knocked the unsteady knight to the ground.
"I advise you not to get up." Henry said every word with his arms folded. "Tch—" The Paladin, who realized he was outmatched by just a small movement, clicked his tongue. After glancing at his captain Adolphus who was unmoved, he turned his head away bitterly, while his companion He came up and helped him up.
"The realm of the gods, right?" Horno glanced around at the humans around him with great interest - except for a very few, their expressions all carried obvious or deeply hidden disgust, contempt, or hatred. She exhaled softly, and the blue light in her eyes slowly dissipated, and the orange light of the bonfire was reflected in them again.
"Yes, you blasphemous elf." The paladin who took back his sword was frustrated but still did not flinch verbally.
"Whose god?" she asked, and the words were like a thorn stuck in the throat, suddenly rendering the paladin speechless.
"The god of elves? The god of all things?"
"Human gods, right?" She smiled softly. Although she looked immature, her smile gave people a sense of mature wisdom.
"Arrogant, conceited, and arrogant."
"I learned these words from your human language."
"In your human culture, humans are considered the most special creatures."
"Because only humans will consciously begin to seek the meaning of life."
"It's not like others, in your words." She glanced at the paladin: "Inferior species. Just rely on instinct."
"Human beings are noble, so nature must have a unique origin."
"So the White Church was born, preaching that humans are the only creatures created by gods in their own image and are children of gods. Only the gods of humans are qualified to create life." She swept away the menacing The paladin looked at Adolphus, who turned his face away silently, avoiding eye contact.
"You always think that you are unique. You are the only sentient creature in this world."
"And later on, even after encountering and communicating with other races, and understanding that we are not just legends existing in the mouths of pagans, the church once denied our existence, and even founded the so-called special armed forces of the Holy See."
"The first branch, which has now been disbanded, used to be a famous heresy extermination force. Not only the heretics among humans, but also any other race that does not belong to the 'great god's creation' - even if we are so similar."
"But now you're standing here and starting to accuse me of violating the realm of gods?"
"Ignorant child!"
"Who gave you the power to dictate what I do? When you faced the darkness, did the gods you believed in show up?" "Boom——!" Horno paused the ground with his wand, and the magic wave It spread so much that the flames were almost extinguished.
"Qiang——" The paladins all drew out their swords, but Adolphus stretched out his hand to stop them.
"Let's get to the point." After a long silence, he said proactively.
"..." Mira glanced at Henry. For some reason, Horno's actions reminded her of the previous confrontation between the sage and Adolphus - the fanatics are really a difficult group to deal with, girl. With this thought in his mind, Horno took a few steps back, and Camilo, the human magic instructor next to him, also walked to the center.
"Anyway, in short--" Camilo broke into a cold sweat under the eyes of everyone. He wiped his forehead with his broad sleeves, and then took over the conversation, in order to express his gratitude to Ou, who was standing at the forefront of the news after exposing this matter. Erno takes some of the pressure off.
Camilo swallowed: "We will omit the process part for now. Miss Horno - madam, in grief, uh, what she did - we will not discuss whether it is correct or not for the time being, just learn from the magician from an academic perspective.”
"Discuss," he said.
"Life is one, precise."
"mechanical."
"A layman may think that a fireball from an elemental magician is wonderful, but to the poor imagination of an entry-level apprentice, those simple and clear magic books seem to be like listening to heavenly books. But this is really not difficult." Camilo shook his head: "The mysterious fireball technique is actually nothing more than two key elements, shape."
"and hot."
"Like most other magic, it involves knowledge of the control of energy."
"..." Everyone fell into silence. Camilo turned his head and found that Mira's little white eyebrows were almost twisted together: "Oh, my dear mercenary lady. That means, magic and It’s you, and me, and everyone here.”
"the same."
"You need to eat when you are hungry, and what you eat will be converted into strength and energy." "Oh——!"
"And so is magic!"
"It's just that it can't rely on food to provide energy. You have to master the correct spell and mobilize the magic." "The method." "Let the right magic enter the right place at the right time." "Imagine a tentacle with more than ten tentacles and There are seven or eight babies that keep opening and closing their mouths - I know this is scary - you can make the magic successful by avoiding those tentacles and finding the right mouth to feed the food into."
"Cast."
"It sounds complicated enough, right, but it's nowhere near as complicated as life itself."
"The reason why life-related magic is called the taboo domain of gods is, firstly, because it is too complex and almost no one can master it. Secondly, the total amount of magic required by it is very huge, far beyond the ability of an individual. The level you can have.”
"So I used the power of the earth." Horno continued calmly.
"The magic that exists in nature far exceeds the individual. As long as it is mobilized in the right way, it is far more powerful than any spell that a magician can cast."
"Well...I roughly understand it. In short, it is very complicated, troublesome, and requires a lot of energy. But this has nothing to do with what we are going to do..." Mira hesitated. He glanced at Horno, and then continued: "...What does it matter?"
"That is to say, it can be reversed, because we got to where we should be, and the druids helped control the surroundings." Horno answered, but her too professional statement only made Mira more confused.
"What she means is, little girl." Henry took over the words: "I want to return the magic power borrowed from the earth."
"Ah——" The vivid statement was immediately accepted by the Luoan girl, but she only suddenly understood for a moment. After realizing what the so-called "returning the magic power" meant, her whole little face suddenly wrinkled again.
Henry lowered his head and looked at her, Mira lowered her head and remained silent, while the others continued to discuss.
"This was originally impossible, because what a large magic circle needs most is stability. It is impossible to make a magic circle when she can freely use magic power. And if we have the ability to weaken her to the point where she can no longer use magic power freely, Uh, then." Camilo shrugged: "We have also defeated her."
"But even so, it won't be simple." Adolphus suddenly took a step forward: "Otherwise, I wouldn't have chosen to explain the situation now." He stared at Horno closely, his eyes looking like a wolf. Sharp light.
"Yes." Horno responded in a low voice.
"We don't have the materials or time needed to redraw the magic circle, so we can only let her return to the center of the original magic circle, and simply modify the magic circle to-" "Then who is the person responsible for letting her go back? ?I don’t think the witch will be obedient.”
"Our people have to sacrifice to complete this siege, so is this why you confess everything? To make your own conscience bearable?"
"Say everything clearly and stop hiding the truth, so that we can die in peace to clean up your mess?"
"Who has the ability to get close to that distance without being bewitched by the witch? During the Battle of Scotti, we could hear her whispers thousands of miles apart." He pressed forward step by step, and Horno's Her head hung lower and lower, and Mira's fists clenched tighter and tighter.
"That will be me, don't worry." Erica, who had been silent all this time, suddenly spoke up. As soon as she spoke as the Red Thirteen, everyone else stopped commotion. Only Adolphus remained unmoved.
"But it's risky after all, right." "Yes."
"This is not the only way," he said.
"There are other ways." He said every word.
"That thing, if it can really be regarded as life, can be regarded as the life that was conceived, and it is related to love." Horno lowered his head, and Mira clenched her fists.
"Then, it's his mother -" "Ah, yes -" "Yes -" Many mercenaries began to echo Adolphus's remarks, even though many of them set out. He looked like he was brave enough to do what was right, but now and then. After being exposed and aware of the risks, many of them decided to quit.
Being able to let Horno do this on his own, at least in their eyes, couldn't be more "just" both emotionally and rationally.
"This is her sin, why should we sacrifice it!" "Yes, let her do it by herself, this is all her fault!"
"It is up to you to solve the sins created by the witch." "This is your sin." "Yes, at least this is worthy of those who sacrificed innocently." "It is up to you to do it yourself-" The scolding The voices came and went, but Horno said nothing and just lowered his head.
"This evil creature you gave birth to is not proof of love." "If you still believe that there is any love in that thing, then go up and solve it yourself." "Aren't you talking a lot about giving birth to life? It requires your sacrifice. Where will your love go?" "Yes, since you have so much love, then go ahead on your own, why should we sacrifice ourselves?"
"Why——"
"That's enough!!!" A cry sounded out. Mira pursed her lips and clenched her fists, trying hard not to let her tears fall. The elf, who had been suffering silently, raised his head and stared at her blankly.
"Why can you say such things with a normal face?"
"Why can you say this as if it is a matter of course and a just matter?"
"That's her baby!!"
"You are telling her to kill her own child with her own hands!!"
"No matter what mistakes I have made, this is not——"
"whether--"
"This is wrong!!" she shouted, suddenly running away from the camp and running towards the dark woods.
The sound of rustling through the jungle faded away.
"...What the hell."
"After all, she is still a little girl, so she has a soft heart."
"A girl who has no sense of the overall situation." "Yellow-haired girl." The mercenaries muttered such words, and Erica took a few steps forward towards Henry.
"...What a unique disciple."
"I didn't pay much attention to you when we met before. I thought that when I grow up, I will be just like you."
"I quite like this sex."
"And her." Erica said softly, "It's really similar."
"..." Henry was silent.
"Aren't you going to catch up?" She glanced at him, and the sage raised his eyebrows and chased in the direction where Mira ran away.
"So, woman -" The mercenaries were still talking, but Erica rolled her eyes and turned around.
"Ha-" She made a sound that sounded impatient: "Did I just hear someone have an opinion on women?"
"...No." "You must have heard wrong."
"Ha." The silver-haired lady shook her head and walked to Horno alone.
"There are tall, strong, and older men all over the floor. There are also guys who pretend to be some kind of holy knight. They are very pretentious in everything they say and do." She glanced at Adolphus, who moved again. Opened sight.
"The result depends on the courage in the heart and insisting on one's own justice and kindness."
"The total amount is less than one ten thousandth of that of a 14-year-old girl."
"Shameful." Erica shook her head. In the silence, she scolded them in front of everyone, but the mercenaries were just silent. After seeing what she did to the earth dragon, none of them had any regrets in life. Resistance.
"Hopeless."
"It's really hopeless——"
