As the ice dragon flew into the sky and headed west, Payne looked up at the fading white shadow on the ink blue sky, standing for a long time in the night wind, and when he turned around, he suddenly felt that the place where he had lived for hundreds of years, as its name suggested, was really a little empty.

He didn't want to stay here, and he couldn't calm down to do anything, so he walked through the woods. Shredded starlight sprinkled from between the branches and leaves, shining like a dream, and the faint song came from nowhere, just like his childhood memory...... It's as if nothing has changed in hundreds of years and will never change.

But he could feel the smell of decay in the thick shadows, like a tree that had grown too long, it seemed to still have deep roots and leafy leaves, but it was covered with spots of decay in a place where no one could see.

Will the tree really come back to life by cutting off all the decaying parts? He didn't have a definite answer. All he knew was that he couldn't do nothing...... You can't be like the elders who sit in the towers, just waiting in silence, and treating prosperity or destruction as an indisobedient, divine arrangement.

He was not reconciled. Resentment had burned like a dark fire in his heart for too long. Even if this is unwilling to be suspicious and rebel against the gods, even if it will repeat the mistakes of giants...... He couldn't stop.

He stopped when the great oak tree appeared in front of him, and gazed at the branches that seemed to be covered with silver frost with mixed feelings. The leaves of the trees, dyed golden red by the autumn wind, have begun to fall and spread quietly all over the ground. When he was a child, he liked this place far more than the empty court, the ancient abode of the Silver Leaf clan, but now it was colder and more silent than the empty court.

Too many of his people have left.

He didn't notice when Fairy appeared. His only loved one was blank to him as he walked by, but stopped him as he turned to leave.

They were silent in the starlight. Even after a brief time together, they still couldn't understand each other - he felt that what Fairy was asking for was too illusory, and Fairy felt that he had forgotten his roots...... The only thing they have in common is that they can't tolerate those shady methods.

“...... Follow me. ”

It took a while for Fei Rui to speak, and his stiff, cold tone sounded like a command...... But Payne was used to it. Most of the time Firay doesn't mean anything, he just never learns how to show kindness.

The Elven King hesitated for a moment, then waved his hand and left all the hidden guards behind.

They ascended the spiraling staircase to the circular platform at the top of the tree. A young elf was lying on tiptoe by the altar, looking down at the pool of dew that would never dry up, and when he saw them coming, he saluted in a panic, and disappeared into the thick foliage in the blink of an eye.

Payne approached the altar—a grasshopper in the dew was kicking its legs half-dead, making ripples in circles.

The little elf probably thought that this would cure the listless little insect with little time...... When he was a child, he thought that this water could do anything, but it was actually just water.

He fished out the dying little thing so that it wouldn't drown before it froze to death, and when he looked back, he saw Ferry's brow furrowed slightly, and he could almost hear his unspoken evaluation—something more.

“...... You didn't let me see this, did you?"

He simply deliberately held the grasshopper on his finger to show him.

Fieri glared at him in exasperation, his always somewhat gloomy, statuesle-stiff face, but it became a little more vivid.

"What the hell are you going to do?" he asked bluntly.

"You are an elven elder...... Or do you want to ask me as my uncle?" asked Payne nonchalantly.

"Both. Fei Rui replied without hesitation, "I thought you had given up on too drastic tactics. ”

Payne fell silent, wary.

He thought he was covering it up well. But tonight, when the trust he had earned in exchange for honesty was easily and uncherished, at that moment, he really had the urge to remove all obstacles in a more direct way.

But Mock could see it...... Fei Rui also saw it.

He probably can't fool the old guys.

In fact, the night he confronted Helenno, he was ready for a head-on confrontation with the Presbyterians. He knew that Helenor's actions weren't just her own—even though she thought she was in control, and that even if he was victorious, he would immediately face another battle...... But in the end, it was only Helenor and Kao who were pushed out and sacrificed.

Now he felt that Helenor was better than those shadows that only hid in the shadows...... Rightly or wrongly, she is at least willing to act.

"I've never given up on 'too drastic' tactics. He spoke slowly, "That's your choice." ”

That night, Philee didn't just take Ed into the Tower of Silence. He summoned the spirits loyal to him, changed his original plan, reduced his sacrifices, avoided conflict, and did everything in his power to save him, so that he could not even blame.

He could have destroyed most of the power of the Council of Elders with the flames that night rushed to the sky, dead or alive. He even chose his successor, a more daring man than he was, but who was trusted by his peers and who did not have as many restraints as he did.

It is better to be reborn from blood than to be annihilated in silence.

But Fei Rui's intervention made what he wanted to be devastated, and it became as difficult as he is now to go up and down and get stuck in the mud.

He had struggled with this predicament for too long, and he had lost his patience for a long time.

“...... Stupid!" Ferry growled angrily - his patience was only worse than Penn's.

"Maybe in your eyes, they ...... We old and immortal creatures are like trees that have long since rotted out, but we refuse to fall, only blocking the sun and leaving the new plants and trees under the trees dying. But you must know that fallen rotten wood can make the soil more fertile, but it can also ignite a fire that burns everything. Do you think you're the only one who was ready for it that night? What can a reckless lose-lose do change?!Meaningless sacrifices will only become sacrifices to others!Why can't you be like your ......?"

"That's enough!" Payne interrupted him flawlessly—he had enough of the last sentence he hadn't finished.

He turned around, like so many of their previous arguments, and ended up with a dead man who was too perfect. Sometimes Payne couldn't help but wonder how his brother, the elf who had been dead for nearly a hundred years, could let himself die so meaninglessly, if he was so perfect...... And then I felt guilty about it.

"Wait!" Fei Rui stopped him again, "Payne Silverleaf, you're not prepared!"

"So what?" Payne asked with a sneer without looking back, "By your judgment, I'll never be ready." ”

“...... I can help you. ”

Before stepping off the platform, he heard an answer that left him in disbelief.