Astartes of the Bear School

Chapter 1990 1962. The New Agreement
"So, it seems you're finally going to tell the truth, beyond just science popularization activities?"

Lann heard Melina's soft whisper, as if she had made up her mind, but the Witcher wasn't particularly surprised.

When Melina was explaining the hidden things in those border areas to him, the amount of knowledge and information she displayed was already abnormally exaggerated.

If Lan En weren't stupid, he wouldn't have seen this girl as just an ordinary unlucky girl stuck in the middle at the crucial moment of returning to the tree.

On the contrary, Melina's usually indifferent face showed a hint of surprise after hearing Lan En's blunt words.

It seemed as if she truly had no idea how outrageous her true nature had been revealed during her interactions with Lan En.

But this expression only lasted for a moment, and Melina quickly returned to her original indifferent demeanor.

"I'm sorry, I did hide a lot from you, and I didn't want to get too close to this city."

The girl looked at the magnificent and sacred golden royal city with complicated emotions.

“I was born at the foot of the golden tree, and it was there that I received the mission my mother gave me. But with it came the loss of everything. My mission burned my body, yet forced me to live on in this state.”

"So I resist this place, and I also resist... my mission."

“And now?” Lann asked her. “I don’t know who your mother is, or what your mission is. But these conditions shouldn’t have changed, right? So why are you showing your physical form in Rodel again?”

“It… is hard to explain.” Melina glanced at the deep alley again. “But now, I have made my own decision: I want to try to see clearly what my mission is trying to accomplish.”

"You wanted a prayer about [The Crucible] before, right?"

The Witcher frowned and nodded his head up and down.

“I can give you that,” Melina said without batting an eye, “the complete set of the [Forge of All Things] prayers. If you want, we can also go and observe the Forge Knight in the cell together, and I can explain to you how his power works.”

“And in exchange, all I need is you…” Melina said, raising her hand from under her cloak and pointing to the magnificent golden tree, “Take me to the foot of the golden tree.”

Lan En raised an eyebrow: "We're right at the foot of the Golden Tree."

“Word games are meaningless.” Melina said calmly. “What I want to reach is the foot of the real golden tree, not this city.”

"So, we're going into the palace, and to the very depths of it?" Lan En scratched his head. "You think so highly of me?"

Rodel is the capital of a divine dynasty, and this dynasty still retains its organization, rather than being a disorganized mess.

The strong, demigods, King Rodel... a tightly organized structure meshes together like gears.

No matter how confident Lan En is, he doesn't think he can challenge this system right now.

But Melina did not shy away or waver; she continued to look calmly at the Witcher with her right eye.

Until the Witcher uttered the word 'but'.

Under her gaze, Lan En stroked his chin thoughtfully for a moment: "But it shouldn't be impossible."

Melina didn't ask any more questions, such as Lan En's strategy or how he planned to enter the palace. It was as if she would take Lan En's agreement seriously as long as he agreed.

Before disappearing back into blue light, Melina seemed to suddenly remember something, and she raised her right hand towards Lan En.

"We have an agreement."

The Witcher looked down at the girl's hand, which bore burn marks, and then reached out and grasped it.

"Yes, it's a deal."

After Lan En left, the girl, still in spirit form, gently brushed her fingertips across the gold ring on her other hand.

That was the spirit horse's whistle, which was inhabited by the spirit horse, which was also a spirit.

"Toret, he seems... to be a really good person."

In the realm of spirits where no one listens, the girl's ethereal voice spoke these words.
-
Rodel Palace.

"Uh...ah."

With a sigh that seemed to be the last breath exhaled from her withered body, the old woman who should have been immortalized by the power of the two fingers collapsed and lay prostrate on the thick, sacred ground of the palace.

Behind her, the deceased old women with their fingers cut off stood on either side of the road. It was as if, even in their dying moments, they were thinking of not blocking the way within the palace.

The immortality of the old women who practice finger liberation predates the Golden Law and originates directly from the two fingers.

So at this point, if Shuangzhi simply abandons them, they can die directly.

The old woman's body was already deformed, withered, and thin; on an ordinary person, she would look like a big-headed doll about to die of thirst.

However, under the power of the two fingers, these old women with unbound fingers have maintained this appearance for an unknown amount of time. Perhaps, from the day they abandoned eating and drinking because they were immortal, their appearance was destined to be like this.

Montgomery walked calmly past the road flanked by the corpses of the old women who had untied their fingers.

His horned face seemed forever etched with sorrow.

I don't know if it's the sorrow of their own fate, or the plight of these golden beings who are destined to suffer and die in turmoil as the world collapses.

Or perhaps, he was simply too busy with too many things and had a headache over the mess that the Golden Dynasty was currently in.

After walking all the way to the palace that once belonged to Queen Marika, the mother of Montgomery, the Blessed King put down his burlwood cane and sat on the extremely uncomfortable stone bed.

His body, much larger than his mother's, actually made the enormous stone bed seem more fitting.

As the son of an ominous sign born to Marika herself, Montgomery's atavistic traits seem to be far more pronounced than those of other sons of ominous signs.

Not only does it have horns all over its body, but it also has a thick, fleshy tail that looks like a bunch of connected tumors, with the tip of the tail resembling a scorpion's stinger.

Normally, this tail would be hidden under this tattered robe, but now, as it swayed, it suddenly snapped up and pointed at the dark corner of the Queen's bedroom.

“This is our home, Monger.” Monger leaned back on the stone bed, closing his eyes to rest. “No need to be sneaky.”

In the shadows, amidst a thin pool of blood, a figure as tall as Montgomery seemed to emerge from the shadows, slowly rising from the bloodstain and finally standing on the ground.

Completely different from her brother's style, she wore a magnificent robe, a tribute from the royal family of Caria. The equally luxurious trident in her hand thudded as it struck the ground.

"This is our home? At most, it's just the home of Marika and her spoiled children."

"She is our mother."

“So that’s why we’re working so hard to clean up the mess she left behind.” Monger retorted to his brother with ease, his tone mocking yet tinged with bloodlust. “I heard you’ve killed quite a few of our kind in the sewers these past few days, shedding a lot of blood. That’s the kind of person the Invisible Mother would take a liking to.”

“If the children of ominous signs could stay put, I would find a way to take care of them after the world is at peace again. Unfortunately…” Mongot still didn’t open his eyes, “They’re jumping out of the sewers now. There’s nothing we can do but suppress them.”

“Don’t take it to heart,” Monger walked behind the stone bed, patted his brother’s shoulder with a smile, “Anyway, back in the sewers, it was all about killing each other, so who cared about who?”

"No need to say more, this doesn't affect me. Have you finished your business?"

Beneath the cover of the ram's horns on his head, Munger looked down at his brother, who was resting with his eyes closed and asking him a question.

He reported to his brother, "It's done. It went very smoothly. Otherwise, I wouldn't have been back so quickly."

"Quite smoothly?" Mongot frowned even while resting with his eyes closed. "The Sacred Tree, Abrefil, is isolated from the borderlands, and information doesn't circulate much. But even just asking around, you know that place is no ordinary one. Michaela is also a powerful deity and demigod, and you...?"

Faced with the doubts, Munger chuckled softly, "I'm not like those two fools outside the city, swaggering in and forcing my way in. You know the power of this [Cursed Blood], brother."

“My loyal subordinates secretly infiltrated the Sacred Tree with the cursed blood, and after finding Michaela, I teleported directly to her using the cursed blood.”

“Michaela has quite a reputation, but he really is just a child who hasn’t grown up. His body hasn’t even fully developed yet, so he has no chance to resist me. Now, if the news is fast enough, it should reach us in the next few days. Heh, that crazy woman Marlenia, tormented by the putrefactive disease, will explode right now.”

“Then she’d better be exposed among the demigod alliance outside the city.” Montgomery waved his hand. “Are the traces you left enough? How are your men performing outside Rodel City?”

Monger smiled and said, "Don't worry, how different are the marks left by the blood flames from the lava magic of a volcano? Anyway, the people of the Holy Tree shouldn't be able to tell the difference. As for outside the city, Vanre has been reporting to me that he's almost out of cursed blood because it's spreading so smoothly."

“Even the field medics in the allied forces are prisoners of [Cursed Blood]. How can they fight us? If you count the amount of Cursed Blood that Vanre has used, he has shared it with at least two or three hundred knights.”

“Two or three hundred knights,” Munger exclaimed. “All of Goughia’s went mad in public, while none of Lacad’s knights saw it. It’s a miracle they can trust each other like that.”

“Very good, let’s throw them into chaos from within, then look for an opportunity! Time waits for no one. Rataen has set off from Galid and is gradually approaching the Yatan Plateau. By the way, where are you being held, Michaela? Is it safe? The palace has the highest-level prison available. It would be best to transfer her over here as soon as possible.”

After hearing his brother's words, Munger opened his mouth but suddenly paused, his golden pupils flashing for a moment, before continuing to speak as if nothing had happened.

“He and Marlenia are twins, so they might have some kind of connection. If we put him directly into Rodel, that madwoman might sense it and stop going crazy in the demigod alliance.”

"Don't worry, the place where I'm keeping him is safe enough. There's no need to move him."

For the first time since the start of their conversation, Montgomery opened his eyes, which had been closed in a state of rest, and looked back at his younger brother with a frown.

Monger shrugged slightly: "Why are you looking at me like that?"

“You rarely thought about the dynasty so proactively before.”

“I just don’t want you to sit here like an idiot and end up catching that crazy woman’s corrupting influence. We’re already 'filthy' children of evil, aren’t we?”

Looking at his younger brother, who was still playful but whose sharp teeth reeked of blood, Montgomery looked him up and down several times, but in the end he just nodded and said nothing more, assuming that his brother had really figured it out.

(End of this chapter)