331 Drinking
Floral left with the archbishop of the Second Order. Perhaps the situation was the other way around.

After all, it was impossible to say which side was truly being exploited… But regardless, as long as the other party still held the identity of Holy Tree Duke, the other party still held the initiative in Holy Tree City.

Fortunately, Remides didn’t come alone.

Including the personal guards of the Phoenix Guards who protected the Ava State governor, an elite force of about 300 people secretly landed in Emerald Province before the main fleet on an ancient holy relic, the Sun Ship, that had been passed down from the King of Mist’s era.

With the help of the teleportation beacon left behind by William, they teleported to the hinterland of Ravenwood, outside Holy Tree City. Although the few magisters who opened the portal fainted from exhaustion, this elite team made up of Transcendents arrived.

As for why they appeared outside the city… Holy Tree City didn’t have ‘civilized’ city defense fortifications like city gates or walls, but if foreigners didn’t have the locals to guide them, they would be viewed with hostility by the entire forest once they stepped into the territory classified as ‘in the city.’ Therefore, Remides had them set up camp outside the city for the time being.

When things went completely south, this would be a trump card that they had prepared in advance.

On the other hand…

“You’ve already seen it. The duke’s body is occupied by an unknown monster. Even I can’t predict what crazy things she will do in the future. However, the damage she can ultimately cause definitely won’t be smaller than the Luxuriant Calamity of the past or even Lady of Starvation’s Moon Realm Tide invasion.

“If you still remember the history of more than a thousand years ago.”

Remides looked at the forest druids who remained in the temple and said in a threatening and serious tone,

Convincing these people didn’t take much effort. It was better to say that they were here originally to take advantage of Floral’s weakness to pull her off the Withering Throne in one fell swoop.

Although the Holy Tree Duke’s sudden awakening had exceeded their expectations, what had just happened gave these people a reason to publicly overthrow the Holy Tree Duke’s rule… and a sufficiently powerful backing.

The Holy Tree Duke, Floral Kane, a secret Moon Realm believer was suspected to have been possessed by a high-level Lunar Monster…

If this was still a guess, the fact that the other party had killed her loyal subordinate was indisputable.

As for bringing an unimaginable disaster to the entire Ravenwood, these words were said by the person who had experienced the Luxuriant Calamity and the Lady of Starvation’s Moon Realm Tide.

Therefore, without needing Remides to say a word, these people immediately expressed that they would do their best to cooperate with her.

They would do anything for Ravenwood and the safety of Emerald Province!

As a result, the Conservatives, who had been offended by Floral’s iron-fisted rule, became Remides’s natural allies. If they could mobilize the Oak Council and the Beast Spirit Tribe warriors, they would have the numerical advantage.

Fate made fools of people.

Of course, Remides knew that these people definitely had their own plans. The so-called alliance of convenience would definitely be filled with all kinds of tricks.

However, she didn’t mind.

The main reason why she roped them in was to stabilize the situation in Holy Tree City in the future, as well as the most important… information!

“You’re asking me about the Holy Tree Duke… No, Floral Kane’s past?”

After allowing the others to leave, Remides kept Enso, the leader and oldest, behind and asked about Floral’s background.

Although the Presiding Judge had been updating her through Mirror Shadow, it was impossible for him to explain everything in detail.

Enso was the oldest elder in the Oak Council. If Floral had anything special about her identity, he was the most likely to know.

At the very least, he should know some clues.

Enso nodded and touched his fibrotic forehead in thought for a moment before saying, “She’s a child of the forest favored by the Matriarch and can easily communicate with the will of the World Tree. In the past, she could even use this to become the Matriarch’s incarnation. However, because she was adopted by human mages when she was young, she gave up her talent at a very young age. In addition, we still don’t know who her biological parents are because she was abandoned deep in the forest when she was born…”

…

Following the vine network that connected the trees, Quayle Wolfspeak, the captain of the guards, brought the silent and terrifying fellows to the branch of the subtree named Yew.

In the past, the Forest Elves wouldn’t name a subtree. This was because the souls of every tree below the World Tree were equal. Naming them meant differentiation.

However, about half a year ago, the Matriarch gave a rare oracle—She gave names to every subtree in Ravenwood and gave them last names that were extremely common among the Forest Elves.

The Oak Council’s interpretation of the oracle could be said to be diverse…

Quayle’s mind was filled with random thoughts, and by the time he came back to his senses, he realized that he was already there.

The door to the Yew Canopy Temple was wide open, and a disgusting charred stench constantly spread out.

Just as he had expected, someone had burned all the compost in the temple to useless residue. If they didn’t quickly replenish the nutrients, this subtree wouldn’t be able to return to the Matriarch’s arms as a qualified “child.”

Who did such a cruel thing that prevented those poor souls from returning to their mother’s arms?
Quayle punched the tree branch in anger, causing black and gray dust to fly.

He swore in his heart that he would make those who committed such atrocities pay an extremely painful price.

Before he came, he hadn’t figured out the deeper meaning behind Master Enso’s request for him to bring Wild Hunt, the Yew Tree Spirit, and the empire’s ambassador to capture those crazy arsonists. He thought that this was too ostentatious.

However, he now understood the reason.

The person who committed such a terrifying crime had to undergo judgment from the White Bone Castle, the Oak Council, and the empire’s embassy at the same time. He wanted everyone to despise that hateful arsonist.

Therefore, the next question was how to live up to his mission and find that damned fellow.

This question was quickly answered.

“Captain, there seems to be smoke coming from the crown of Brambles,” a Wild Hunt warrior behind him pointed at another subtree in the distance and said.

Brambles was the name of a subtree.

…

As he walked out of another Canopy Temple, William’s expression turned grimmer.

Everyone inside had almost been mechanically burned to ashes. This time, he didn’t even have the interest to speak.

In this temple, he found a forest druid who hadn’t left in time. After a simple inquiry, he learned other information.

Mothers and children were forced to drink tree sap that could cause serious hallucinations. That was why they spontaneously did such actions.

After crushing the person’s windpipe, William found half a bottle of dark-green stuff in his bag.