Shut up, brave man! I don't want to atone for my sins to you!

However, Lao Deng was not angry.

She just shook her head and sighed:

"You're still the same, Donald."

The one-eyed old man retracted his standard holy sword after hearing this, looked at Lao Deng in silence for a moment, shook his head, and replied stiffly:

“I will be like this in the future.”

"Until you lie in the coffin?" Old Deng taunted with a rare sharp tongue, "Or, after you die and are burned into ashes, you will also plan to kill all the mages in the Pan-Continent in your urn without leaving a single one, and let them be buried with you?"

"..."

Donald stopped talking.

Seeing this, Lao Deng sighed again:

"Forget it. I shouldn't have tried to reason with a stubborn old man like you. It would be strange if you could understand me."

She paused, and her expression became serious again:

"But you should understand that if you, Victoria, really violate the "Tilin Agreement" and get involved in the silent spell, then I am afraid that we, the White Tower, will also become your enemy—"

"You are not making an enemy of one or a few wizards; you are declaring war on the entire wizard world!"

"Does your emperor really understand what he is doing?"

Faced with the repeated questions from the Lord of the White Tower, the old man named Donald remained silent.

Because he couldn't give an answer. He was the Sword of Victoria, but he was only the Sword of Victoria.

Asking a sword to think like a human being is really asking too much.

All he could do was to relay it - to relay the Emperor Victoria's speeches and eloquence to the Lord of the White Tower, Viliden, truthfully.

Other than that, the only thing he's good at is swinging a sword.

Perhaps it was precisely because of concerns about this embarrassing situation and in order to deal with possible diplomatic issues that the person in charge of preparing this experiment prepared a backup plan in advance before the "Iron Throne" set off.

Now is the perfect time to put this alternative plan to use.

Then, as if he had received some instructions, Donald suddenly controlled the steam armor to slowly raise his left arm and spread out his short and thick five fingers.

The steam that originally filled the entire body of the armor slowly gushed out through the reserved pressure relief valve, and the deeply hidden steam core also entered standby mode.

The forbidden attitude that enveloped the dark red machine dissipated silently.

The communication spell module installed in its palm quickly "flipped" out. Driven by the portable magic battery, a light blue fluorescence emerged, and a young, soft and gentle female voice sounded:

"Hello, respected Lord of the White Tower, Sir Velidon Velvia, please forgive Donald's usurpation. After all, he is just a warrior with little knowledge. If you are interested in our Victorian steam armor and related technologies, you may discuss it with me."

"Oh?" Lao Deng raised his eyebrows, "Who are you?"

"My name is Xia," the female voice introduced herself, "I am Victoria's top technical advisor. These steam armors and their supporting equipment in front of you were all designed and built by me."

Perhaps he had doubts about the age of the person who owned the voice, or found it hard to believe, or perhaps he had some strange guesses, Lao Deng couldn't help but ask:

"You are... a witch?"

The witch Thea happily replied using the communication spell:

"You are as smart as the rumors say. Yes, I am indeed a witch."

Lao Deng heard the words and replied in a subtle tone:

"I really can't imagine that someone with such a young voice could design and build those steam armors... Excluding those unlikely options, there is only one possibility left."

"Witch Xia," she guessed the truth but did not relax, instead she became more cautious, "Why did you choose to help a mortal empire like Victoria?"

The witch Thea asked back softly:

"But in the eyes of the world, haven't we witches always acted recklessly? No matter what we do, it's not worth being surprised..."

When she said this, her tone suddenly became a little relaxed and smiling.

"Besides, I am also curious," she said, "Why did my compatriot, the Twilight Witch Lacele, help you build the White Tower?"

Now it was Lao Deng's turn to be speechless.

Old Deng didn't say anything, so the witch Xia continued in her usual, unhurried and gentle tone:

"Perhaps, my motivation for helping Victoria is the same as the motivation of the Witch of Twilight for helping you. So if you are still curious about why I helped Victoria, perhaps you can ask the Witch of Twilight - ask her why she helped you in the first place."

But Lei Xier herself was actually standing next to Lao Deng.

She recognized that the communication spell module used by the steam armor seemed to belong to the same architecture as the communication spell issued by the White Tower, so the witch Thea was most likely unable to see her.

But even if the witch Thea could see her, she would tell the witch Thea confidently:

she does not know!

There was no specific reason or cause for her to help Lao Deng. It was simply because Lao Deng was lying on the side of the road, looking miserable and about to die.

Is there a need for a reason to save people?

Besides, there is no need to dwell on this issue. It doesn't matter why the witch Thea wants to help Victoria. What matters is why the steam armor troops designed and built by her are equipped with equipment similar to forbidden or silencing spells.

So she simply walked around to Lao Deng and asked bluntly:

"I don't care why you're helping Victoria, I just want to know what the hell you put on those steam suits!?"

The witch Thea's voice was still gentle:

"Who are you? Oh... You must be my compatriot whom I have never met before, the witch Rachel?"

"So what if it is?" Lacier raised her eyebrows. "So what if it isn't?"

"No problem," replied the witch Thea, "but why are you so aggressive towards your compatriots?"

"That's because you crossed the line! You went beyond the 'Tilin Agreement' jointly drawn up by the mages! You will bring disaster to Victoria by doing this!"

"Crossing the line? No, my compatriots, I don't understand..." Witch Thea's voice was full of sticky and wonderful confusion, "What is the 'line'?"

"?" Lacie was stunned.

The witch Thea continued:

"There shouldn't be any so-called 'lines' in this world, right?"

"The mages drafted the 'Tilin Agreement' and condescended to bestow this favor on mortals. Indeed, the 'Tilin Agreement' is indeed a good thing for mortals. Just like a pet's collar, after this agreement comes into effect, pets with owners will no longer be easily captured, beaten, abused, or even sold..."

"However, this is just mercy. This is just charity from the mages to the mortals."

"Mages can have mercy on mortals, but they can also take back their mercy because they always have the initiative in their hands. Pets trapped in collars seem to have a stable life and can live well, but this stable life is false. They are always weak because they have never had the power to fight against mages..."

Hearing this, Lacier frowned and said:

“The weapon of criticism cannot replace the criticism of weapons?”

Then she shook her head again, alert:

"No, Witch Xia, you are trying to stir up a dispute between mages and mortals, you..."

But she didn't need to accuse the witch Xia of any crime, the witch Xia herself readily admitted:

“That’s right.”

Her voice was still soft, but filled with a certain contrasting... madness.

she says:

"I woke up and saw the mages wantonly enslaving and trampling on the lives of mortals. I also saw that they were so high and mighty and pitied mortals. I felt that this was unfair, so I gave mortals the power to compete with the mages... I let pets gain wisdom, strength, and tools comparable to their masters. I am looking forward to what kind of fruit I will reap after planting the seeds."

"But if you do this, you will once again stir up disputes between mages and mortals!" Laceer couldn't help but retort, "By then, the flames of war will spread to the entire Pan-Continent!"

The witch Thea smiled - although Lacie couldn't see her face, she was sure that she was smiling.

She guessed that she was laughing, and indeed the witch's slightly distorted laughter came from the communication spell module:

"But didn't you also help the Lord of the White Tower overthrow the order of the old times? But didn't you also cause wars directly or indirectly?"

Witch Xia paused and ended with a brief sentence:

"We are all witches. We... none of us is more glorious than the other."

[To be continued]

-

77. How can I do this?

Lacie suddenly found that she had no way to refute the witch Thea.

Because what Witch Thea said was right.

She also helped Lao Deng overthrow the old era and indirectly triggered several wars.

And the witch Thea is just doing what she has done before:

She wants to help Victoria, so that mortals can obtain the great power that only mages could control in the past -

Just like when Mo Cha was fighting with Lao Da, what she did was to sprinkle some Jin Ke La on Mo Cha, so that he could barely fight with Lao Da for a few moves instead of being killed instantly by an elbow.

but why?

Could it be that the reason is really as the witch Xia said, but she just feels it is unfair?

This reason was so ridiculous that Lacie was unwilling to believe it.

But she had to believe it.

because……

They witches are indeed like that.

It is difficult for ordinary people to understand the thinking of witches. Even scholars who specialize in studying witches are often puzzled by some of their behaviors. In comparison, Rachel and Thea can almost be called "atypical witches."

——At least, they all have clear goals.

One wants to overthrow the old times, the other wants to help the disadvantaged mortals.

And the other witches...

Each of them has unique skills.

There are those who founded religions in order to become gods, those who made soul contracts with tens of thousands of people without restraint, and those who were mad and spent their days plotting how to destroy the world...

Compared to them, Lacille and Thea seemed normal.

Although it’s not that normal.

Lacey couldn't help but sigh.

Perhaps because Xia had called her a compatriot before, she actually had an inexplicable sense of belonging, so she finally advised Xia:

"But even if you help Victoria and form this steam armor unit, it is still unlikely that Victoria can confront the entire wizard world head-on. Even if there are forbidden spells or silent spells, the wizards will probably find a way to deal with these iron cans very quickly..."

While she was saying this, she had thought of a solution.

Whether it is the forbidden spell or the silencing spell, they can only eliminate magic power and have no effect on matter. In this case, why not just throw stones at those tin cans?

She didn't believe that the shock-absorbing structure of the iron cans would allow them to survive the impact of the meteor spell released by the super-level wizard.

But Xia seemed to have expected her to say that, so she replied:

"No, my compatriots, this is just an experiment, a rehearsal... Whether it is the Iron Throne or these artificial heroes in front of you, they are all just... a trivial technical verification."

Lacey was stunned.

She raised her head almost instinctively and looked at the complex and exquisite steam armor standing tall in front of her.

She understood that they were undoubtedly mage killers with the forbidden force field on their bodies. If they wanted to, they could even use the information asymmetry to easily kill any mage.

Even a super-level wizard who stands at the pinnacle of wizards.

And these mage killers were just experiments according to Xia? Was it the so-called "technical verification"?

Lacie subconsciously thought that Xia was bragging.

But she soon remembered that before Xia appeared, Donald told Charles that the previous generation of heroes died at his hands.

A vague, chilling guess emerged from the bottom of her heart.

Her voice almost trembled:

"Where did all this technology come from? What did you... do to the previous generation of heroes?!"