The air around them was already tense, and the "squeak" only intensified the silence.
Angor couldn't keep a straight face anymore. "How about you ask it, Overseer of Wisdom? It'll be more convincing if it answers, and I'll be the witness. "
The Wise Overseer glanced at the tree spirit, which was still playing dead, and sighed in his mind. "No need. You do it."
He knew the tree spirit too well. It wouldn't speak in front of so many people.
The Wise Overseer was already surprised that Angor could make the tree spirit squeak. Anything more than that would be impossible.
Pausing for a moment, the Sovereign of the Wise continued, "Just now, you told the wood spirit that you wanted it to see 'him'. Who is he?"
From Angor's conversation with the wood spirit, the Wise Ruler already knew what was going on. Perhaps the wood spirit was willing to follow Angor because Angor promised him something. And there was a key person involved in the promise: him.
Who was this "him"? Why did the tree spirit want to see him? It even left its comfort zone, which was the safest place for it, just to see him.
"It's about 'him', huh …" Angor didn't answer right away. Instead, he brought up something else. "Do you still remember that I asked you a question before? What is the true form of a tree spirit?"
"Yes, I do."
Angor's answer was "I don't know." Since the tree spirit never mentioned its true form, the Wise Overseer didn't ask about it in the end due to various external factors, as well as the nature of the tree spirit. However, he guessed that the tree spirit was something related to humans, such as jewelry, weapons, or crafts.
The Wise Overseer thought that Angor only asked about the tree spirit's true form because he wanted to find the tree spirit in the Stairs of Hanging Prison.
But now, Angor brought it up again. There must be something else going on.
The Wise Overseer pondered for a moment and already had an idea about what exactly it was.
Angor continued, "I'm sure you're familiar with the tree spirit's path after it was born. Do you think there's someone in the tree spirit's path who affected it deeply enough that it was willing to leave just to see him? "
Both Angor and the Wise Overseer knew that there was only one answer to this question.
"No."
"It was born in a place where the Witch's Eye thrived. It hid and stumbled into an alternate dimension, and under the guidance of Miss Sisia, it came to the Stairs of Hanging Prison. In the process, it didn't meet any creatures it could communicate with other than Miss Sisya. "
"If Miss Sisya was the person it wanted to see at all costs, it would have left long ago."
"Thus, the person it wants to see must be someone else."
Angor looked at the Wise Overseer. He believed the Wise Overseer already knew the answer.
Sure enough, after a moment of silence, the latter said softly, "It wants to see the original owner of its body?"
"That's right." It would be strange if the Sage still couldn't figure out what was going on.
"It's that simple. I promised to take it to its master, so it agreed to leave with me."
Although that was the case, the Wise Sovereign didn't feel that the reason was that simple.
Wood spirits were timid, not stupid. If anyone could trick a wood spirit into coming out with a few words, it would be too childish. The Wise Overseer had been teaching the wood spirit day and night.
Angor must have done something else. Firstly, he wanted the wood spirit to notice him. Secondly, he wanted the wood spirit to trust him. And this was the key to the problem.
Angor sighed when he saw the Wise Overseer still looking at him with suspicion. "That's why I told the wood spirit to tell you. You'll believe it. If I tell you, I'll have to tell you everything. "
Angor spoke very softly as if he was mumbling to himself, but the Wise Overseer still heard it.
Angor was prepared to expose his disguise, but he still felt a little uncomfortable when it actually happened. He enjoyed doing things under his disguise. After all, what his disguise did had nothing to do with him.
"Wise Overseer, you don't trust me because you lack crucial evidence." Angor pointed at the cane on the table. "This cane is the proof."
As the Sovereign of Wisdom stared at the staff, his mind began to quickly go through all sorts of information regarding this staff.
He saw Angor making the cane with his own eyes.
At first, he felt that the cane looked familiar. Later, he noticed that one of the silver ornaments on the tip of the cane looked very similar to the one made by experiment subject No. 6163. This discovery caused the Wise Sovereign to feel slightly worried, worried that they might have already killed laboratory 6163. For this reason, the Wise Sovereign personally went to take a look through the magic array. After confirming that experiment subject No. 6163 was safe and that the silver ornament was on it, the Wise Overseer finally felt relieved.
Now that Angor mentioned the cane as "proof", the Wise Overseer couldn't help but take another look at it.
The cane was made from a derivative of the wood spirit, so there shouldn't be anything suspicious about it.
Was the tip of the cane still the most suspicious part?
The Wise Sovereign's gaze was fixed on the silver ornament that Nr. 6163 also had. The most attractive aspect of this ornament was the intricate carvings on it: a knight's rapier with wings, inserted among thorns and roses.
The Wise Overseer had seen the same emblem before, on Angor's glove.
Back then, the Wise Overseer was wondering why experiment subject No. 6163's ornament would have the same emblem as Angor's glove. However, Angor's strange behavior and a series of coincidences that even the Wise Overseer couldn't explain, so the Wise Overseer simply dismissed the matter as one of the many coincidences.
Now that he thought about it carefully, he realized that there were many things worth mentioning about the incident.
Experiment subject No. 6163 pursued "beauty" without a doubt. It gained intelligence because of "beauty". But how could it create such a delicate ornament when it just gained intelligence?
Impossible. Ornaments like this were the result of several generations of craftsmanship. Even No.6163, who was extremely talented in appreciating "beauty", could only judge that it was beautiful, but could not create it.
So where did the ornament on experiment subject No. 6163 come from? What did it have to do with the ornament on the tip of the cane?
The Wise Overseer felt that there was a vague connection in his mind that connected all the clues together. However, he still felt that something was missing.
And that something had to do with the wood spirit.
Angor wouldn't mention the cane for no reason, and the most important part of the cane was the tip of the cane.
Suddenly, a question popped up in the Wise Overseer's mind.
"What is the true form of a wood spirit?"
Angor asked this question at the very beginning. Back then, the Wise Overseer thought Angor only asked this question to draw out the idea of "the master of the wood spirit".
Now that he thought about it, Angor didn't need to ask "what is the true form of a wood spirit" to find out.
Ninety-nine percent of the spirits born in the southern wizarding region were related to humans in nature. Therefore, when Spirit was mentioned, it could be considered that Spirit was the owner of Spirit's body. Angor didn't need to ask what the true form of a wood spirit was.
From his previous observation, the Wise Overseer knew that Angor was a man of few words. Angor wouldn't ask such a question for no reason, so there had to be a reason behind it.
What was the true form of a wood spirit? The Wise Overseer already guessed that it had something to do with humans. He guessed that it might be an ornament, a weapon, or a piece of furniture.
But now, Angor pointed at the cane and said, "The key evidence is right here."
It wasn't a hint anymore. It was an explicit statement.
The Wise Overseer asked, "The true form of a wood spirit is a cane?"
It sounded like a question, but the Wise Overseer didn't seem to mind it.
Angor nodded. "That's right. But you're still missing one thing, Wise Overseer. Just knowing that a wood spirit's true form is a cane isn't the key evidence, is it? "
This time, the Wise Overseer didn't bother to guess. They were supposed to exchange questions, but now Angor was leading him into a passive position. This wasn't the Wise Overseer's original intention.
Thus, the Wise Sovereign directly asked, "Then what is this crucial piece of evidence you speak of?"
"Like I said, the key evidence is right here," Angor replied.
Angor repeated his words and pointed at the cane again.
The Sovereign of the Wise stared at the staff. Suddenly, an unbelievable thought arose in his mind, one that he didn't even dare to believe. But when he saw Angor mentioning the cane again and again, the Wise Overseer felt that it was possible.
For the first time, the Wise Overseer hesitated. "This cane is the true form of a wood spirit?"
"Bingo!" Angor grinned from ear to ear. "Bingo!"
The Wise Overseer didn't know what to think when he saw Angor's reaction.
"This cane … I saw you craft it with my own eyes. How can it be the true form of a wood spirit?" Even though the Wise Overseer was hesitant to answer, he still wasn't sure if he could trust his own words.
"The body of the cane is also a spawn of a wood spirit."
While speaking, he picked up the cane and gently touched the vines wrapped around it. The wood spirit seemed to like Angor's touch. It moved a little as if responding to his touch.
"Everything here belongs to the wood spirit. Besides, the wood spirit is already coiling around the cane. It's not an exaggeration to say that this is the true form of the wood spirit."
The Wise Overseer didn't think Angor's explanation was right. However, Angor's words caught the Wise Overseer's attention.
— — Everything here belonged to the Wood Spirits.
The cane was currently made up of three parts: the vine, the body, and the head. There was no need to talk about the first two as they were wood spirits to begin with. But Angor was saying that the silver ornament on the head also belonged to the wood spirit?
The Wise Overseer didn't think too much about it. He pointed at the silver ornament and asked, "So this is the wood spirit's as well?"
Angor nodded. "Yes. It was with the wood spirit when it was first born, so it's not an exaggeration to say that it belongs to it. Of course, from the perspective of ownership, half of this ornament belonged to its original owner. But since the original owner accidentally lost the staff, then all rights to it should belong to the wood spirits. "
The Wise Overseer didn't say anything.
"But the wood spirit was born in an awkward place, surrounded by Witch's Eyes. In order to protect its budding intelligence, it didn't dare to move around so as not to attract the attention of the Witch's Eyes. That's reasonable. "
Since the wood spirit was right next to them, Angor had to use the word "coward" a little more euphemistically.
"The cane was born in a remote place, but there were too many Witch's Eyes. Someone would find it sooner or later. But most Witch's Eyes aren't that smart, so they weren't interested in 'inanimate objects'.
"But then, a very special Witch's Eyes showed up. It wasn't interested in 'inanimate objects', but it was obsessed with 'beauty'."
By now, the Wise Overseer already knew that the "Witch's Eyes" Angor was referring to Subject No. 6163.
In that case, the silver ornament on experimental subject 6163's body came from the wood spirit's main body? Then why was it still wearing the ornament?
The Wise Overseer suddenly remembered that Angor crafted a supernatural cane on the spot. If he wanted to refine an ordinary silver ornament, wouldn't he be able to do it in a matter of minutes? So, he had exchanged a fake for a real one?
No, wait … The silver ornament wasn't that valuable, so it was a bit of a stretch to say that it was a new one for an old one.
As expected, Angor quickly moved on to the rest of the story.
"The Witch's Eyes, who was obsessed with beauty, saw the small crown on the cane and the silver ornament, so they took it away. Our poor wood spirit didn't dare to fight back, so it could only watch as its belongings were taken away. Oh right, the Witch's Eyes also took a silver ring, but it didn't look good, so it threw it away. In the end, another Witch's Eyes picked it up.
"The wood spirit only had one ring left, which it treasured very much. Unfortunately, Sisya took a toll on it when it was in the alternate dimension, so it couldn't keep the ring. In the end, it had to climb the Stairs of Hanging Prison naked. "
The Wise Overseer was speechless. That sounded pretty sad.
"Until we arrived. Our luck was pretty good. Along the way, not only did we find the silver ring, we also found the carved ornaments and the crown on the special Witch's Eye and in its boudoir. In the end, we traded the last ring with Sisya and combined it into this cane. We found all the missing parts for the wood spirit. "
By now, the Wise Overseer had understood everything.
The Wise Overseer wasn't going to comment on Angor's other achievements. However, the fact that Angor managed to get the ornament and crown from Subject No. 6163 rather than by killing the wood spirit was enough to impress the Wise Overseer.
However, the Wise Overseer only kept this in mind and didn't mention it. Similarly, Angor didn't mention how he got the ornament from Subject No. 6163 either.
Wise Sovereign: "Your story sounds very coincidental, but it should be true. But I don't understand why you insisted on keeping the ornament. Did you already know it belonged to the wood spirit? "
Angor put his hand on the table and asked the Wise Overseer to look at his glove.
The Wise Overseer didn't need to look to know that the emblem on Angor's glove was exactly the same as the one on the silver ornament. However, the Wise Overseer didn't know what the emblem meant.
"I didn't know it belonged to the wood spirit. I only knew that the emblem represented my professor. In other words, it belonged to him. Since it belonged to him, I had to take it back no matter what. "
(End of Chapter)
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