29 - Chapter 29

Hearing this judgment, the Skeleton King was not surprised: “Are you worried?”

“Aren’t you worried?” Burris also followed the gaze of the Skeleton King. He couldn’t see anything other than the fog. “Hell and the human world are exile planes, and there is no connection between them. In this world, there are only a few artifacts that have been passed down from ancient times to the present that still have infernal elements. The available range of those elements is very small and can only be used in a laboratory. It is impossible to diffuse to such a large range, let alone raise the dead….The current situation is like there are living infernal creatures hiding not far away, or there is a thin spot connected to hell…”

Roth stroked Burris’ shoulder: “No, it’s not that scary.”

“Isn’t this the thin spot you are looking for?”

“Of course not. What use is it for me to find Hell? Infernal creatures hate me more than the gods.”

As he spoke, he glanced at the mage. Burris looked away anxiously, his eyelashes of the same color as his hair cast a small shadow, which made his lower eyelids darker and paler…Roth sighed sadly. The other day Burris looked very healthy, and now he looked as haggard as Heisong, but without wearing makeup. It was heartbreaking.

“My dear.” Roth said in the ear of the mage. “You are not afraid of the elements of hell; you are afraid of me. You are afraid that I have something to do with all this.”

Burris couldn’t deny it. He just apologized: “I’m sorry, my lord.”

“It’s all right, I know exactly what you think. You trust me intellectually, but emotionally you are unavoidably suspicious. This is all because I am too mysterious and too ancient. If I were also a twenty-year-old young man, you could see through me by looking up my details, but I am a demigod, an otherworldly creature… When you look at others, it is like looking at a toothbrush; and when you look at me, it’s like looking at a handful of hair…”

The first part was very serious, but the latter example made Burris a little confused. “What hair? What are you talking about?”

“You can see the hairstyle, but you can’t tell how many hairs there are, and you can’t tell if there are lice on the roots.”

Burris raised his head and looked at the Skeleton King’s hairline, unable to find a word to respond for a while. Roth patted him on the shoulder again and whispered: “Think of what I said at the dance. I won’t hurt you.”

With that he turned and mounted his horse without giving Burris a chance to answer. The mage looked at his back, his mind empty.

The team continued to advance. The closer they were to Silver Falcon Castle, the denser the fog would be, and it wouldn’t be possible to see the ridge on the road and the tail of the line by the carriage. Burris looked at the front of the team occasionally, and could only see a few shadowy people, but couldn’t tell who they were.

This reminded him of the past.

When a similar situation happened last time, he was not in a soft-seat carriage but a prison cart; it was not fog but a snowstorm that obscured his vision.

In the rime forest more than sixty years ago.

Facing the Corpse Heart Guardian, the Temple Knights were only briefly surprised, and soon recovered their calm. This team was worthy of being elite. They used clever positioning to confuse the construct and make it unable to detect the real threat. When the time was right, two knights tacitly launched raids from different directions, one feinted from the front and the other from the side. Then it tripped with a chain hammer, and when the structure was unstable and fell down, the spears of the other knights pierced its energy core together.

The commander of the detachment smiled with satisfaction, but Burris in the prison cart pointed to a bush and screamed.

Another Guardian appeared, two or three steps behind a young knight. It waved a heavy chain, and the knight who was not able to dodge in time was overturned to the ground with his horse.

When the leader of the detachment ordered the formation to be reorganized, the construct took a big step forward and kicked the fallen horse with its powerful feet. This move not only disrupted the formation of the knights, but also shocked two or three of the horses, and the scene suddenly became chaotic.

Amidst the chaotic hooves and neighing, a scream froze everyone’s hearts.

The Corpse Heart Guardian took a big step forward and stomped on the knight who had fallen off his horse. The knight’s armor was deformed, his abdomen was squeezed horribly, and his upper and lower body were almost completely separated. The screams resounded through the forest.

The Knights let out a desperate roar. Just as they were encircling the construct with red eyes, another Corpse Heart Guardian came out of the forest on the other side of the formation.

It waved its upper limbs with huge spikes and rushed to the nearest knight-Manero, at the outermost formation.

The clear and deep spell sounded, and the Guardian suddenly stopped. Manero looked at the cart in surprise, and Burris, maintaining his spellcasting gesture, yelled to him: “I can only control one! Hurry up…”

Under the command of the detachment leader, the knights took some time to destroy the second Guardian and dealt with the third effortlessly. The rime forest became quiet, and probably the only living creatures nearby were also scared away by the battle.

Several knights surrounded their seriously injured teammates, trembling and chanting prayers.

Sadly, one of them could not survive or even die quickly.

The man groaned in pain, unable to say a complete word. Burris would like to suggest that they just give him a quick death, but they certainly wouldn’t do it.

Never kill each other at any time, this is one of the rules of the Otarot Temple Knights. The early release of the seriously injured is also life-threatening, and it is obviously forbidden.

Did Otarot himself really say that? Does He really feel that a good person should be tortured to death, instead of quickly going to rest in peace? Seriously, Otarot…Does he really care about this?

Burris had read many books about miracles and divine magic. Otarot is known as the God of Silence, the destination of the dead, and the lamp bearer in the eternal night. It is said that he will accept the souls of the dead, lead them to his kingdom, and return to eternal sleep… But how can he blame you if he can accept the wicked, and if people like Yriel can sleep in his arms? Why don’t you dare to help your friends end their pain earlier?

The moaning weakened, but the man was not dead yet, he just couldn’t move or make a sound. Burris could kill him from a distance, but he dared not do it.

A long sword came in from the railing and leaned against Burris’ neck. The leader of the detachment looked at him coldly: “I said, no magic is allowed, and no spells are allowed under any circumstances.”

Burris closed his eyes, trembling and apologizing. This was not pretending to be pitiful, he was really scared, not of this sword, but of these people.

Even if they do nothing, Burris would be terrified from the bottom of his heart.

They would rather make the knight suffer more than accept the help of a necromancer. They would rather let his friend live, instead of letting him die peacefully… Is the place I’m going with you the same? Will you give me a fair trial?

I don’t believe so.

The sword had not been retracted for the moment. The prison cart was opened and Manero got in, carrying a pair of cold iron shackles. He put Burris’s hands behind his back and fastened his handcuffs, whispering to the mage: “I know you want to help, but really… you really don’t need to do this. It’s better for us if you don’t cast the spell, really.”

Burris was quiet and at his disposal, nodding at whatever he said.

“This is the first time.” Said the leader of the detachment outside the prison cart. “Since you can control the constructs, who knows what else you can do? We didn’t use coercive means to control you in the first place; it was also because you had merit to offset the crime, so we were willing to give you some respect. But if you don’t keep your promises, we can only treat you as an ordinary prisoner. Child, listen, this is the first time. If there is a second time, I will treat you like dangerous spellcaster and murderer…In that case, you will probably never be able to cast spells again.”

The knights were on the road again. The momentum of the snowstorm was unabated, and it was estimated that the three constructs will soon be buried… and the victim who was mutilated.

The view in the snowy woods was really bad, and the team hadn’t gone far far, but no one could longer see the tragedy behind them.

Burris closed his eyes and paid attention to the man’s life energy with a silent, invisible spell. The knights couldn’t tell that he was casting a spell, and this spell did not cause any harm to the outside world.

The mage used his pulse as a reference, and after about two minutes, the poor man finally died completely.

Strangely, his breathing was not gradually weakened, but was forcibly interrupted. At a certain moment, his breathing was still, his heart stopped beating, his mental activity was frozen… His pain was over. He was taken away.

Burris opened his eyes and stared at the snow-filled path. Manero looked at him worriedly and knocked on the railing of the prison wagon.

“What happened?” Burris turned his head back in a daze.

“I also want to ask what happened to you just now.” Manero said in a low voice. “Didn’t I tell you very clearly? Why are you still casting spells?”

“If I don’t do it, maybe one or two of you will die.”… Maybe even more than one or two.

The young knight frowned: “I understand what you think, but you don’t understand our discipline. You admit that Yriel was an evil and cruel person, right? You admit that you have participated in his evil acts, right? So now you that you are a prisoner, not a free man. As a prisoner, you must obey orders and you cannot act according to your own judgment…until you are free. Do you understand?”

“I understand.” The mage sneered. “This prisoner will not hesitate to cast spells to help you, so that your bravery and sacredness are greatly reduced…what a humiliation.”

“I…” I didn’t mean that -from the look on his face, Manero wanted to say that, but he couldn’t say it. He could deny it, but couldn’t find another way to explain it. The young knight felt annoyed for a while, and he could only tell himself that if the people of the Temple of Silent Prayers were here, they would be able to explain clearly.

After all, Manero was young, and he still wanted to compete with words: “Let’s put it this way, if you are an innocent free mage, of course you could cast spells to help us, but you are now guilty…”

“May I be innocent?” Burris was surprised to find that he no longer shed tears.

Strangely enough, he never knew the dead knight, but his dead body was burned in his mind, completely drying out his tears.

“May I be innocent?” He repeated. “You saw a stranger and learned that he was studying necromancy. At this time, you had already convicted him. In some areas, people who study toxicology and otherworldly ancient books and records will also be convicted. There is no need for a judge, no high-ranking priest, or even anyone to issue an accusation… When you look at them, what you see in your eyes is already a sinner. Lord knight, you can’t see free men, you can only see all kinds of sinners. Even if they are your robed fellows, they are no exception.”

“What do you mean by this?”

Burris did not explain, but asked him: “Otarot will guide people to rest and keep their souls from being trapped in the gap between life and death… Is this true for everyone? Is it true for sinners?”

Manero was invigorated and pleased to be able to tell the necromancer his doctrine: “Of course. It’s just that the soul of a sinner needs to be cleansed and redeemed in the divine realm before returning to the embrace of our Lord.”

Burris asked again: “There are people dying every minute and every second in this world. Among them, there are so many people who don’t end their lives well, and there are so many people who have regrets… Otarot needs to soothe so much pain, wouldn’t he be tired? What good is it for him to do this?”

Manero stroked the holy emblem on his chest: “My Lord does not act for his own good, but because he cares. He cares about the pain of every soul.”

“Do you all agree with him?”

“Of course.” Said the knight proudly. “We use him as a beacon.”

Burris got close to the railing and leaned close to Manero: “He cares, but you don’t. You rebelled against him. You don’t care about other people’s pain, you only care to know if they are guilty.”

Manero looked at the mage in shock and was speechless for a moment. This young mage apprentice just cried and trembled. Why is him like a poisonous snake with its fangs exposed now?

The knight said nothing. He was still walking by the prison cart, but deliberately looked away. Burris could see that he was not convinced, but angry. He must be very angry. It would be uncomfortable for anyone to be accused of this, not to mention that he could not find a way to justify himself.

Strangely, at this moment, Burris’s heart suddenly became clear.

He once thought that he had lost his place of belonging and a future worth looking forward to, but it does not seem to be the case now. His retreat was indeed gone, but he saw the way to the front.

There will come a time when you will just have to look at beautiful scenery with your naked eyes, without having to judge others all the time.

There will always be such a day.