It had been four years since that nightmare, but whenever Hollins closed his eyes, he would still see the mountains of corpses and seas of blood, the burning city, and the terrified people everywhere. They screamed and pushed each other, trying to escape this hell, but they didn't know that they had nowhere else to go.
When he opened his eyes again, it was already past midnight. The courtyard outside the window was silent, with only the rustling of a stray cat as it crawled past the fence.
Today, Hollins' hatred for Angsey had become very faint. As the lord of the Northern Region, Angsey had fulfilled his duty and done what he was supposed to do. Even though this decision was cruel to the tens of thousands of people in White Raven City, even Hollins had to admit that sacrificing White Raven City was perhaps the only choice under the circumstances. It was a pity that Warren City Lord, who fought for the Northern Region and the Bretton Family to the very last moment, as well as the soldiers and innocent civilians.
In comparison, Hollins hated the Temple of Light and the Magic Association more, especially the Temple of Light. Not only did they not send a warning in advance when they knew that the monsters' target was the Northern Region, but they also quietly withdrew all their clergymen. Their actions could be considered as accomplices.
As for Dana, Hollins' feelings were a little more complicated.
The Magic Association followed the Temple of God and retreated from the Northern Region, but he didn't expect the White Raven City branch under Dana's leadership to come back and disregard the headquarters' orders. In the end, they sacrificed half their manpower to save seven survivors, including Hollins. Hollins' life could be said to have been saved by Dana, but on the other hand, Hollins didn't know if it was a blessing or a curse for him. Perhaps dying with the others that night wasn't the worst outcome, because only the living had to bear all the pain.
Hollins didn't lie down and continue sleeping. Instead, he put on a coat and walked out of his room to the courtyard, where he unexpectedly met Dana.
The female mage was standing in the darkness, looking up at Hollins' room. She was a little surprised to see him walk out.
"When did you come here?"
"Just now," Dana replied.
After that, both of them fell into silence at the same time. After a while, Daina spoke first. "I'm leaving. I might not come back here for a long time."
"Oh." The sheriff nodded blankly. After that narrow escape from death, his originally round belly had disappeared, and he had lost a lot of weight. He looked a little more handsome, but he still looked a little lethargic.
"The Magic Association has been in a heated argument all these years because of my previous unauthorized actions. It's only now that the date of the final trial has been confirmed. It'll be on the third of next month in New Tylert. I have to be there in person, so I'll be leaving in a few days."
There was no way that the White Raven City Magician's Association had lost nearly half of its members.
The council soon found out what Daina and the others had done, but they never reached a consensus on it. They argued for a few years and held dozens of hearings, but they still couldn't reach a consensus on how to deal with it. On the Temple's side, Vennar the Fifth had already stepped down. However, the leader of the opposition, Bishop Wenger, was exposed at a critical time that his daughter was involved in the assassination of Morteris, so he couldn't take over the position of Pope. The new Pope, Ellwood, was a centrist. Although he was experienced, he was originally just a mediator, but he was pushed to power by a freak accident.
On one hand, he angrily criticized the former Pope Vennar the Fifth's wrong stance on the Northern Territory incident, but on the other hand, he held it high and put it down gently, not advocating for Vennar the Fifth to be held accountable. There were even people who saw him visiting the latter's residence late at night and talking until dawn.
Ellwood claimed that he was handling the handover, but those who were observant soon noticed that the new policies he implemented had the vague shadow of Vennar the Fifth. For example, on the one hand, he acknowledged Ancey's righteousness in protecting the Northern Territory, and almost agreed to all of the latter's requests for rewards. On the other hand, he hoped that the Magic Association could hand over Daina and the others who violated the agreement.
However, this time, the Magic Association did not agree. Daina was different from Lolo. She was the leader of the Magic Association, and she was a level-5 Archmage. She was considered one of the Magic Association's own people. If they couldn't even protect her, then there was no need for the Magic Association to continue existing. Therefore, Da Vinci's meaning was very clear. Even if Daina was really at fault, the Magic Association should handle it themselves. At most, the Temple could send a diplomatic group to participate in the trial as observers.
Seeing that the Magic Association was firm, Ellwood did not insist and promised to send a diplomatic group when the time came.
Just when Daina was about to leave after saying these words, Hollins, who had been silent all this while, suddenly said, "I'll go with you."
"Hmm?" The female Magician stopped in her tracks.
"Bring me along. I'll go with you to New Tylte. I can be a witness to prove that you did the right thing that night."
Daina shook her head. "I didn't report your existence to the Magic Association. If people find out that there are survivors in White Raven City, it might bring danger to you. The situation in the Northern Territory is very unstable now. The Church won't tolerate living people telling the truth about what happened in White Raven City."
"But the people have the right to know the truth of that night, don't they?" Hollins' eyes that were originally dead were filled with vitality again, as if he had found the meaning of life again.
"I thought you wouldn't trust the Magic Association anymore."
"It's true that I don't trust the Magic Association, but I believe that most of the mages have their own hometowns, so they don't want something like this to happen to them one day. As long as I tell them the truth about what happened in White Raven City, I'm sure they'll stand on our side."
Daina fell silent for a moment, as if she was considering the feasibility of this matter. Finally, she said, "Maybe you're right, but this will still bring you great risks. Have you ever thought about what will happen if you lose the bet?"
"My life was picked up from the ground. The worst case scenario is that I'll have to return it."
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