“Oh? You mean this?”
It seemed that due to the recent idle chat, the thoughts of the past puppet girl were interrupted. She glanced at the unfinished snake-shaped wooden carving on the table, picked it up and played with it casually, without suspicion.
“It’s nothing, really. Some time ago, a group of lunatics came to the Spirit Puppet Forest and inexplicably invited me to cooperate with them, blah blah blah. They didn’t specify what the cooperation was about, and the Spirit Puppet Tribe has been avoiding outsiders for a long time, always indifferent to worldly affairs. How could they make an exception just because of a few words? So, I immediately rejected their leader.”
“But those guys were really annoying. Even though they were all rejected, they stayed in the forest all day long, pestering the tribe members they encountered. It caused many sisters to come to me to complain. Later, when there was no other choice, I threatened their leader that if they didn’t leave immediately, I would use force to expel them, and finally, those outsiders left the forest.”
“Although their heads seemed a bit messed up, the tattoo on the back of their hands was quite exquisite. I saw it once before and found it quite interesting, so since I had nothing else to do, I thought why not use it as a prototype for a new work. Besides, I haven’t carved a snake-shaped wooden sculpture before, but it turned out to be quite troublesome.”
“Outsiders, huh...”
It seems that, as expected, that group, likely led by a suspected summoning alchemist, had indeed set their sights on the low-key yet powerful Spirit Puppet Tribe.
However, compared to the situation with the Mountain Wolves, their recruitment and persuasion efforts here hit a wall. Perhaps it was because of the strength of the Spirit Puppet Tribe, or maybe some other reason, they couldn’t retaliate in anger, so they could only leave reluctantly.
But why did the Spirit Puppet Tribe, led by Ini, react so differently from the situation with the Mountain Wolves, decisively refusing them without hesitation?
No, from a general rational perspective, the choice of the Spirit Puppet Tribe seems more reasonable. It’s the other side that’s abnormal.
From Savo’s description of the Mountain Wolves’ situation, what those guys did probably wasn’t just verbal persuasion.
Demons aren’t stupid, with just a few days of persuasion, causing the leader of the Mountain Wolves, who had been leading his people and territory for decades, to abandon them and their homeland to follow them, is extremely abnormal.
Some special abilities, perhaps? Like charm magic... or other more subtle types? If that’s indeed the case, continuing to deduce, it’s highly probable that this ability is ineffective against the Spirit Puppet Tribe. Could it be because their nature is actually puppets...?
Looking at the thoughtful expression on Miss Priestess’s face, Ini quickly caught on.
“What, do you know those guys?”
Oh? Should I say, no wonder she became the clan leader, she may seem lazy, but she’s actually quite sharp. There’s no point or necessity in lying here.
Although Ini is a bit peculiar, her impression on Violet is not bad. Plus, considering her relationship with the Spirit Puppet Tribe and Ewan, she shouldn’t be an enemy. So, it’s better to be honest.
“It’s not like we really know them...”
It took a little time, but Miss Priestess roughly explained to Ini about their escorting of the wolf cub Novia to the Moon Shadow Clan territory and the various situations they encountered when passing through the Mountain Wolf tribe.
Of course, certain inconvenient details, such as the process of Snow Wing killing the giant snake, were definitely glossed over, as even the other companions besides Xiao Guang weren’t very clear about the details here.
The source of this c𝓸ntent is freewebnøvel.coɱ.
“Something like that happened? Oh, now that you mention it, those guys did indeed come riding Mountain Wolves. I thought that was a common trend nowadays...”
“Oh, really? In that case, all the intelligence matches up. When did those guys leave?”
“Not long ago, about half a month ago. They left in quite a hurry, not sure what they were up to. I was worried they might pull something, but it seems they didn’t.”
Half a month ago... It sounds like not much time has passed, but that’s probably before Violet and the others arrived at the Demon Suppression City.
In other words, the guy suspected to be Silvester had already left the Human United Kingdom and entered the Ten Thousand Demons Mountains to carry out activities, which explains why he never appeared during the subsequent events.
“The other party...”
Miss Priestess was about to continue speaking when suddenly, there was a slightly urgent sound of wind chimes outside.
“Ding-ling-ling! Ding-ling-ling!”
Hearing this sound, Violet and the others were somewhat puzzled, but the puppet girl, as the owner of the house, suddenly changed her expression. Without saying anything, she hurriedly stood up and ran out.
“?”
The girls, as guests, looked at each other, though they didn’t quite understand what was going on, judging from Ini’s expression, it seemed like something urgent had come up.
What a coincidence.
As they stepped out of the door, the Miss clan leader was having a loud conversation with a girl wearing a cute skirt, with fair skin.
“Eilush? She didn’t fall from the sky again, did she?! Or did she stay up all night again and the core malfunctioned from continuous operation? I’ve said many times to take care of it and not overload it, right?”
“No, no, Sister Ini, she wasn’t experimenting with flying wings this time. It seems like she has been properly maintaining the core recently, but she really doesn’t look well. Could it be that the mental core has been running for too long and is nearing its working lifespan?”
The girl who had carefully shaken the wind chimes before cautiously spoke. Undoubtedly, she was also a member of the Spirit Puppet Tribe, though she didn’t resemble Ewan and Ini as much, she bore at least seventy to eighty percent similarity. Similarly, she had long, smooth hair down to her waist, but her face looked a bit younger, appearing to be around fifteen or sixteen years old.
Standing next to Ini at this moment, she seemed like her younger sister.
“Nonsense! We’ve only lived for a little over two hundred years, how could the lifespan of the mental core be so short? Anyway... now is not the time to discuss this. Where is that guy acting up this time? Hurry, take me to see!”
“What’s going on?”
Having roughly eavesdropped a few sentences, Violet finally interrupted as they seemed ready to move.
Although she appeared somewhat anxious and impatient, Ini was clearly a well-mannered woman and did not show any excessive rudeness in front of the guests. She simply turned around and explained as briefly as possible.
“It seems like one of our clan members has some health issues. I need to hurry over to deal with it, so I’m afraid I don’t have time to entertain you all. I’m sorry... If you’re just passing by to deliver a message for my elder sister and happen to be on your way, you can follow the path north through the forest to get out quickly. If there’s anything else, please wait for me to come back.”
Seeing the urgency on the other side, Miss Priest didn’t continue to insist but tentatively asked.
“Don’t worry, can we accompany you to take a look? I’m actually a priest myself, so I have some confidence in healing. Since it’s a health issue, maybe I can help.”
“A priest? But we, the Spirit Puppet Tribe...”
Miss Ini tilted her head, seeming like she wanted to say something, but perhaps she thought explaining would be too troublesome, so she directly stopped the topic due to the urgency.
“Alright, since you’re a friend of Ewan and there’s also the Moon Shadow Clan here, you can come along. But if anything happens, please don’t take any unauthorized actions. The structure of a puppet’s body is different from that of ordinary creatures.”
After saying this, the clan leader didn’t pay any more attention to the girls, turning around to glare at a curious puppet girl who was scrutinizing the unfamiliar outsiders with her bright, shiny black eyes.
“Don’t dawdle, hurry up and take me to see. Do you want that guy Eilush to be left to rust in the forest?”
“Uh! Y-Yes, Sister Ini!”