Chapter 59: Another Story

William's question left Flora in a long silence. It was evident that she wasn't keen on talking about her past, or at least, she wasn't willing to discuss how she acquired her current powers.
However, judging from the attitude of the imperial envoys towards her, it is clear that this woman did not achieve a divine realm through the stellar laws. And in the current state where the magic advancement system is monopolized by the Stellar Council, there are only a few paths that can achieve this - and most of them involve some taboos and dangers. Translation: However, judging from the attitude of the imperial envoys towards her, it is clear that this woman did not achieve a divine realm through the stellar laws. And in the current state where the magic advancement system is monopolized by the Stellar Council, there are only a few paths that can achieve this - and most of them involve some taboos and dangers.
After hesitating for a moment, William let out a faint sigh and said, "
If it won't affect our next phase objectives, go ahead and say what you have to say. Honestly, I'm not interested in unnecessary details, but considering that it concerns the survival of Ravenwood as a whole, if you truly care about Ravenwood to that extent, then I assume you're not the type who can't distinguish between urgent matters and trivial ones, right?"
威廉说着，在对方惊讶的目光中，将那个古朴的黑色魂匣从储物空间里拿了出来。
“这是先前乌木声称要作为报酬给我的魂匣……虽然我能确定是一千多年前尼赫的那个魂匣没错，但里面装着的是是否是他的灵魂，之前我一直都持保留态度。至于现在，假如我没猜错的话，这个东西里面装着的其实是你的灵魂对吧？”
William's words made the other person's body tremble slightly, which confirmed his suspicions. So he continued, "
You previously claimed that you had a contract with Lady Famine and hoped that I could help you completely wither the core of the World Tree... Let me guess, Neh's legacy must have a close connection with Lady Famine, right?"
Flora stood in the palace like a silent ice pillar.
William's conclusion was actually very simple.
Since the Ironhearted Widow said that Niehe had already died, then he must be dead; there couldn't possibly be a chance for him to return with a soul box. Even if William had a glimmer of hope before, after he confirmed that the "Holy Mother of the Sacred Tree" mentioned by Wumu was actually Lady Decay impersonating someone from another timeline, he should completely give up this delusion.
And besides Neha, the only powerful lich he knows of is this person in front of him.
After a while, she stared at the soul box and said,
Because Neha's records are not complete, the following story is entirely based on the scattered pieces of information and confirmed historical facts by my... foster parents. I cannot guarantee its accuracy and it probably won't be of any help in resolving the current situation.
"I need to hear you out before making a judgment on whether it would be helpful in addressing the current situation," William replied.
Although she didn't need to, Flora still took a deep breath.

“好吧……目前我能肯定的是，那是您‘升天’以后两年后发生的事情。”
…………
故事的开头与乌木先前向威廉叙述的版本基本一致。
In the 880th year of the Platinum Calendar, which is two years after William's "ascension," the entire continent of Vic experienced turbulence, and the two leaders of Ravenwood mysteriously died on the same day.
为了重新立下与世界之树的誓言，当时圣树城里的改革派，找到了尚存于世的审判席成员霜巫尼赫帮助他们进行对于森精灵古旧传统的改革。
However, there is a difference between what Wumu said earlier and what the reformists are offering. The reformists are not offering to restore his identity as the Forest Grand Druid, but rather to exchange his life-saving talisman with him.
Or, to put it more accurately, those reformists use Neha's protective amulet as coercion, forcefully demanding that this former hero of the judiciary comply with their plans.
“Wait, where did those people get the life-saving box from... Is there any record?”
William couldn't help but interrupt and ask.
Regarding how the life-saving box was found, William always found it very bizarre. Because besides himself, no one else should know the final whereabouts of that life-saving box. Even if someone accidentally stumbled upon it, it wouldn't be so coincidental that it landed in the hands of those people at that exact moment.
Fralo shook his head, but this does not mean "there is no record".
"Although it's just a guess, based on a series of events later, my foster parents speculated that Mr. Neha's life-preserving amulet is where it all began... The Reformation faction, led by Rivenwood, only proceeded with assassinating those two leaders and irreversibly pushing the situation forward after obtaining the life-preserving amulet and being confident in their control over Mr. Neha."
In other words, the incident began with Neha's soul box being found by someone. It can be said that this once again replicated Neha's personal storyline from years ago-- in that case, the problem should lie with the soul box itself.
William nodded, indicating the other party to continue.
After the Moon Realm crisis, both the Great Mother of the Holy Tree and the Father of the Wilderness, two ancient gods, entered an eternal slumber. They could no longer intervene in a personalized manner, but could only instinctively respond to the faith of believers. In the long run, the Wood Elves should be able to develop a more controlled system of transcendence, with continued faith as the foundation.
However, those so-called reformists, in a sense, should be regarded as the most conservative conservatives. They hope to awaken those two gods again through reproducing past ceremonies and revive the system of the forest elves from the past.
Of course, these are all just superficial reasons. The hidden, underlying reason should be that Lady Famine, who has kept a trump card even when the Moon Realm was completely sealed off from the mortal world, intends to use Rivendwood to restart her infiltration and corruption of the mortal realm.
当然，当时的她肯定不敢大张旗鼓的这么做。否则在那个其他君王都被关在外面的时代，她将成为整个月境的众失之的。更何况，想要更变时间线的话，当时瑞文伍德所能够提供的燃料还不够。
Forty million aging souls probably only reach the critical point today, one thousand years later.
Therefore, her ultimate goal is probably just to replace her consciousness with the will of the World Tree, indirectly controlling the entire Rivendwood. After all, the World Tree is the body she transformed into when she was still a mortal. Only reply to the translated content:
“Mr. Nehru was partly coerced and partly deceived into participating in that reform. Even though some members of the Oak Parliament tried to steal the core of the World Tree with a 'burn everything' attitude, ultimately they were unable to stop it all.”
"But in the end, did Lady Hunger-Rot's plan fail because Neha discovered the truth and did everything he could to stop it?" asked William.
Neha did not actually thwart Lady Hunger-Rot's plan. The reason for the failure was something else.
Furaro shook her head and said, "
Mr. Neha discovered the truth only after everything had settled, but by then his soul was already on the verge of dissipating. Before that, he was carried through the entire ritual and directly entered another timeline. However, strangely enough, Lady Jifu didn't attempt to project her consciousness onto this timeline using the power obtained from that ritual. Instead, she chose to use that power to strike Mr. Neha and leave him in a near-death state."
“可能她对于审判席仇恨的优先级，要大于对于瑞文伍德的控制吧。”
毕竟对于虚无君王来说，对于现世她们有着无限的时间可以供玩耍。但那些碍过自己事的凡人，假如不抓住机会杀掉的话，说不定就寿寝正终了。
This is Flaro, along with the conclusions drawn by her foster parents.
Although William doesn't think so, he couldn't come up with any other explanation for now, so he continued to ask:
“在他留下来的记录里，有说过自己是如何进入到另一条时间线的吗？”
芙拉洛摇头道：
“关于那段仪式的记录十分含湖，只是提到了时间破碎的这个概念。不过可以肯定的是，再现与世界之树初约的仪式肯定是一种方法。除此之外……他好像就模湖的提了一下，相比于身体，利用记忆与灵魂穿越时间线的阻力会小很多。”
William nodded in response to the words and then said, "
That's right, that's what I plan to do."
Flora looked at William with confusion.
"At the moment, those tree-like forest spirits in Rivendwood are the Soul Caskets. And their souls are connected to the undead bodies on the other side through dreams."
William said as he weighed the soul box in his hand, then continued: "
But you have already separated your soul from your physical body from the very beginning. In other words, as long as we can find the tree-turned forest spirit that impersonates you on this side and replace your soul with hers, then perhaps we can naturally transition to another timeline, considering that the other timeline belongs to your body as well... Of course, this is just a hypothesis, and it may not necessarily succeed in the end."
Actually, William himself is not quite sure if this approach is correct, but it's worth a try.
"But...the entire Rivend Wood has over 40 million trees that have been transformed into elves."
Fulao widened his eyes and said.
"But there can't be many souls with such strong intensity as you, right?"
William replied.
The other person immediately caught on.
"What are those tree spirits..."
"That's right, they are the tree spirits of the giant trees."