"What does this mean?" Roland asked in a deep voice, his face expressionless as he stared at the few pieces of animal hide spread out on the table.
At this moment, his heart was filled with anger. The devils not only left triumphantly after launching an attack, but also left behind a retaliatory declaration. This was simply a **naked provocation against Neverwinter City. But the more it was at this time, the more he knew he had to restrain himself.
The officials looked at each other, none of them daring to answer.
Besides being unwilling to face the king's anger, the obvious meaning of the patterns drawn on the animal hide was also a major reason.
The huge wolf-shaped creature undoubtedly referred to Rogia.
The other pictures depicted kneeling humans, witches in kunbang, burning city walls, and corpses and ruins.
Although the lines were extremely simple, they were easy to understand when viewed together.
This was a threatening letter expressed in pictures.
--Hand over the wolf girl, lay down your arms and surrender to live, harbor the murderer and die resisting.
Roland scanned the officials in the hall one by one, took a deep breath, and tried his best to calm his mind. Although not everyone would show an expression of never giving up, and some even showed timidity, fortunately, no one proposed handing over the witches to the devils.
"Your Majesty, what the other party wants to convey is not simply intimidation or persuasion to surrender, but a trap!" In this oppressive silence, a light curtain unfolded on the wall, and Pasha's voice entered his mind. "I have already learned the details from Sylvie. Please don't believe every word the devils say. This is their consistent tactic!"
Her tone was slightly urgent, as if she was worried that he would make the wrong choice.
And Roland also heard some strangeness.
"Have you encountered such things before?"
"To be precise, it was the former mortal kingdoms." Pasha said solemnly, "During the First Battle of Divine Will, the devils used this method to divide the connection between mortals and witches, and gradually erode the Dawn Realm."
Following the ancient witch's narration, Roland quickly understood the meaning of "trap."
In that era when ordinary humans and witches co-governed, the devils, in addition to being aggressive on the battlefield, would also exert pressure on their opponents from the side, such as handing over the witches to delay the attack. Witches were always a minority compared to ordinary people, and there was no need to hide their abilities, so they were easily identified.
In order to save their lives, those cities where witches were in a weak position often chose to comply. As a result, some witches were still fighting bloody battles with the devils on the battlefield, and when they returned to the camp, they were captured or killed by their own people. In such a situation, the existing gap between witches and ordinary people gradually widened, and what further aggravated the situation was an inhumane betrayal.
During the Battle of Divine Will, the lords of two major cities formed a joint army to fight against the devils. The only difference between the armies was that one was led by witches, while the other was entirely composed of ordinary people. In a fierce battle, the ordinary lord suddenly sided with the devils, intercepted the witch army that was retreating, and used God's Stone of Retaliation weapons. The witches, who had already lost more than half of their number and were exhausted, made a final resistance, but were still completely annihilated. Their leader was beheaded and displayed to the public, and the surviving witches, except for a few who were handed over to the devils, were reduced to slaves.
This betrayal was later called the "Twilight Schism" by the Union, and was regarded as a profound lesson. From that day on, humans gradually divided into two groups.
However, the cities that surrendered to the devils did not exist for long. Handing over the witches was just the beginning. When the enemy outposts continued to advance and those lords could reach their land, they would not hesitate to raze it to the ground. The human grand duke who launched the Twilight Schism was no exception. Under the direction of the devils, he built Mist Storage Towers in the city, and sent people to help the enemy build outposts and provide information... Even so, he did not enjoy his old age in peace. There were rumors that he was imprisoned in the lord's castle by the devils and starved to death, and some said that he escaped the territory after learning that the devils wanted to exterminate humans, but was killed by revengeful witches... In short, as the Battle of Divine Will came to an end, humans also lost control of the Dawn Realm. Most of the territory became an insurmountable forbidden zone, and the red mist entrenched on the skyline was a nightmare that all escapees could not get rid of.
It was this disastrous war that led to the birth of the Union, and eventually evolved into a huge political entity, ruling the Fertile Plains for hundreds of years.
At the end of the narration, Roland also heard a shocking rumor from Pasha.
"This matter is not clearly recorded, but it is a secret circulating among the Union's upper echelons - the devil's threatening and divisive methods, although clumsy, were learned from humans."
"What did you say?" As soon as he said the words, he realized that she was saying these words to him alone.
Sure enough, the officials in the hall seemed a little surprised, as if they were wondering why he suddenly asked this question.
"Rumor has it that before the First Battle of Divine Will even began... no, it should be said even earlier, someone had contact with the devils - at that time they were no different from beasts, and a human taught them knowledge." Pasha said in a low voice, "A few people believe that this may be the reason why the later high-level devils tend to be human-like. However, the Three Chiefs believe that this is simply nonsense, and prohibit the public from discussing it in private, so only witches at the upper levels have heard of this rumor."
Roland held his breath and tried to communicate with the ancient witch spiritually, "Do you believe it?"
"I don't know," Pasha surprisingly did not give a definite answer, "If it's true, it can only prove that communicating with devils is tantamount to courting death."
Roland pondered for a moment and asked the obviously missing part of the story, "Was the human in the rumor... a witch or an ordinary person?"
The latter sighed softly, "Both versions have been circulated."
It seems to be a truly irresponsible rumor.
In addition, the Three Chiefs of the Union's approach is also understandable. No matter how the devils became enemies, since their purpose is to destroy humans, then the only way to deal with them is an eye for an eye. He changed the subject, "If the threatened kingdom is indifferent, what will the devils do?"
"The attacks will continue until the lord submits, or a large army arrives." Pasha replied, "This set is very effective for those small towns with weak strength."
"That is to say, they will come again, right?" Roland sneered twice, "Barov."
"Your humble servant is here!" The chief steward immediately stood out.
"Do a good job in appeasement. There is no better way to promote it than to use the enemy's blood to commemorate the sacrificed warriors," he said word by word, "As for the trap? I will let the devils know that now is not the time of the First Battle of Divine Will."
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