Game Transmigration: Saving the World Again 1000 Years Later

254 Count to One

Quayle Wolfspeak had been watching coldly as Elise stepped forward when panic set in.

He knew the forest druid and the Wild Hunt were after them. He had been trying to come up with a plan to escape undetected.

But now, this girl walks out on her own, for something so meaningless?

Didn’t she know her true identity? Didn’t she know how important her eyes were?

The eyes of the first Eighth Holy Spirit Emissary, Sibylla Silence, were the strongest bond their organization had. The clues in those eyes about the whereabouts of the Eighth Holy Spirit’s legacy were their only hope for overthrowing and rebuilding the empire.

All previous owners of the Eyes of God were powerful leaders, recognized and supported by all members of the organization.

But the previous successor broke tradition by losing to a subordinate of the Platinum Ring’s chief and transplanting the eyes to a blind orphan with mediocre talent. Her stubbornness caused the organization to fall apart, with some core members even defecting to the empire and exposing their whereabouts.

Therefore, I hate taking care of children…

Quayle restrained the urge to go to her, knowing it would make them more conspicuous.

So he stood still, watching helplessly as Elise walked to the altar and stood in front of the forest druid, looking at the half-remaining corpse.

As long as he didn’t step forward with her, his identity would be safe for the time being. The Holy Tree Duke’s lackeys wouldn’t pay too much attention to him.

Quayle Wolfspeak silently looked at the Wild Hunts surrounding him and thought to himself.

But Quayle knew the gap between friend and foe was too great. If he wanted to live and keep those eyes out of the empire’s hands, his only hope was to create chaos at a critical moment and escape with Elise.

The odds were slim, but it was his only chance.

He couldn’t help but wonder, why did she have to step forward like this?

…

Elise didn’t know why she suddenly stepped forward either.

Her Eyes of God—said to be able to see through the essence of everything in the world—easily penetrated the headscarf wrapped around her head and saw everything that was happening in front of her.

The sad man who ate his wife’s corpse, the arrogant and disrespectful forest druid, and the child who stood still with a dazed gaze…

Then, something seemed to overlap with them and a scene that didn’t belong to the present covered her vision.

It was a thin man kneeling on the ground and gnawing at a corpse. A gray-haired man stood beside him and complained, “I’ve already told you not to come on a mission to Ravenwood Forest meant to solve Currere’s problems. Why bother when nobody is nice to you and you have to finish the corpse yourself? Moreover, even if you act strictly according to those people’s traditions, those old farts won’t accept you as a member of the forest druids. You should know this better than anyone.”

Then, the gray-haired man muttered in an almost inaudible voice, “We can’t use threats to force those people to listen either. What a crappy design.”

“Presiding Judge, I’m already very satisfied with having a reason to return to my hometown. I can’t ask for more given my guilt-ridden self,” the thin man stopped what he was doing and replied.

“Bullsh*t guilt-ridden self. The Mage Guild has voted to recognize the legal status of Undead magic. There’s even the Dead in the Seven Holy Spirits’ faith. Ravenwood is the only place with many crappy rules. If they don’t change some traditions in the future, they’ll be doomed sooner or later,” the gray-haired man who was respectfully addressed as Presiding Judge said. Without warning, the Presiding Judge turned to look at Elise, giving her a start.

“Sibylla, can you observe the remnant magic nearby? Let’s get rid of that group of necromancers and return early. We can’t let this fool keep eating.”

Elise’s mouth opened uncontrollably and she let out a voice that didn’t belong to her.

“No problem. I’ll do the appraisal of the magic remnants. I…”

In her memory, before she could finish speaking, the illusions in front of her instantly disappeared and she returned to the Canopy Temple.

“I…”

The inertia from before made Elise involuntarily take a small step forward. Her mouth still had the unfinished words of the person named Sibylla.

Elise, unable to distinguish between the illusion and reality, paused for a moment. Then, she looked at the sad and angry man in front of her and said with a trembling voice, “I can help this gentleman do an appraisal of the magic residue,”

“You?”the elder asked, his suspicion clear in his voice.

“Little kid, how old are you? You dare to say that you can help with the magic power appraisal?”

“This has nothing to do with age.”

Elise tried to steady her trembling voice.

She stepped forward, an unfamiliar emotion surging in her heart. It terrified her, but if it was the person she remembered, she would have stepped forward.

“Then let me change my question. With the Astral Laws’ judgment system, what level of magic chanter are you? Let me remind you that the duke’s staff committee is at the Expert level. As this concerns the empire’s ambassador’s reputation, there’s a high chance that the duke will send a Master-level magic chanter for a strict investigation. What makes you dare to say that you can help?” the old man continued, impatience creeping into his tone.

The old man, who was not a magic chanter in the Astral Laws system, could clearly tell that the weak magical power fluctuations on the girl in front of him were only slightly better than that of ordinary people.

“Apprentice…”

Elise lowered her voice.

“How dare an Apprentice make such a bold and shameless claim…”

“But I can see it.”

Elise interrupted, her voice slightly raised.

“What can you see? Forget it… No matter what you see, save it for mommy and daddy back home.”

The old man waved her off impatiently and gestured for the Wild Hunt to take her away.

“I can see that you’re wearing a pendant that has been enchanted by a Life Emergence spell and a ring with lightning resistance. Is that ring worn because your left arm was injured by lightning spells in the past? The remaining magic on it is too faint. I can’t tell what spell caused it.”

The girl’s words hit the forest druid like a bolt of lightning. He froze, staring at the unassuming figure in front of him.

His left arm was indeed injured by lightning spells three years ago.

But before he could react, a member of the Wild Hunt stepped forward, ready to take the girl away. The druid held out a hand, stopping him in his tracks.

“How do you know?” he growled, his voice low and dangerous, eyes fixed on the girl.

“I can see it.”

Although she knew what outcome her answer would bring, Elise still gave her answer.

This was because the other party wouldn’t recognize her authority if she didn’t say so.

“So, you’re the person we’re looking for?”

...

Without waiting for a response, he turned to the Wild Hunt beside him.

“Take her to the duke. Our work here is done.”

“Please wait.”

Elise stood tall and steady as the Wild Hunt approached. She spoke, her voice calm and collected.

“Why? Do you have any other conditions you want to negotiate with us?”

The druid sneered, his hand gesturing for his subordinates to stop.

“Before taking me away, can you let me complete the appraisal of that corpse? As you can see, I’m completely qualified to do this and seek justice for this man,” Elise asked.

Regarding this, the elder smiled and shook his head.

“Since we’ve found you, such a trivial matter isn’t important at all. We’ll just leave it to the clergymen of this Canopy Temple to resolve it as per the norms. Take her away!”

The last few words were directed at his subordinates.

However, after the last few words were spoken, the Wild Hunt didn’t do anything. They didn’t even look at their target, Elise.

...

They all looked at the forest druid in the lead.

Or rather, the woman who had suddenly appeared behind him, a silver dagger pressed against his throat.

“What do you want?” the old man asked.

“Do as this girl says,” Nizemar replied coldly. “She’s already willing to expose her identity and help your race seek justice. Don’t you people from the Emerald Province have even a bit of magnanimity?” Nizemar replied coldly.

“I’ll take it that the thought of wanting to be a hero has gotten to your head. Lay down your weapon immediately and I’ll pretend that nothing happened. But if you don’t let go of me, you’ll be given the same treatment as her…”

Although the blade was at his neck, the forest druid still spoke very calmly.

He didn’t believe that anyone from the empire would dare to kill a forest druid in the Canopy Temple, surrounded by more than ten Wild Hunts.

If she did, putting aside whether she could get out alive, even if she was really a Legendary or even Divine Realm powerhouse and could fight her way out, killing a high-ranking official from Emerald Province in front of everyone would be a vile diplomatic incident, unless the other party had a member of the Riel royal family backing her or the empress herself.

Nizemar clicked her tongue in disdain and said, “Didn’t anyone teach you not to speak like this to someone holding a knife to your neck?”

With that, she pulled the dagger in her hand slightly and gently sliced open the tough bark skin. Something bright red mixed with green seeped out. It was unknown if it was blood or tree sap.

The druid’s throat trembled as a layer of brown powder appeared on the blade.

He said in a no longer calm tone, “You… don’t mess around. I’ll count to three. If you don’t let me go…”

“I’ll only count to one. If you don’t reply, I’ll assume cooperation isn’t on the table,” Nizemar said coldly.

“What?”

“I’ll start counting. One…”

“Cooperate, I’ll cooperate! Let this lady check the remnant magic of that corpse first!”