Paladin

"I did know the plan in advance, and I did... choose to hide it from you." Hewitt replied lightly.

They looked at each other for a long time, but they didn't find wavering, temptation, or doubt in each other's eyes.

As a paladin, Evan has never had any prejudice against mages. However, along the way, he has seen too many enemies who have no hatred, but because of differences in beliefs and deviations in positions, they face each other to the death; Tot, the man he loved was slandered, suspected, and driven out by the mainstream, but never stopped doing his justice.

They met from the seaside of Sabiron Parish, and they supported each other to overthrow the hypocrisy in an unjust trial. They traveled a long distance and fought together in the snowy north; Hewitt did not have a single point In seconds, he expressed his hatred for the Holy See.

But he is a mage, does he really have no hatred?

Felix and he belonged to the Clayfield family and had the same blood. Did Hewitt really turn against his brother without hesitation?

Evan never thought about it, nor did he want to think about it from this angle.

He looked at Hewitt's always calm light purple eyes, and for a moment he didn't want to continue this topic, nor did he want to know more.

"I asked Woody about this plan in detail that day. He didn't know much. Felix's plan ended when he borrowed the ring mage. Everyone thought this was his ultimate goal, including Me." Hewitt said slowly, "Woody asked me if I was going to stop this plan or help them, and I—I was at a loss, Evan."

This was the first time he said such words, and Evan couldn't help being slightly moved.

Hewitt turned his head, stretched out his hand and gently moved towards the fireplace next to him, and the warm fire slowly started to burn.

The mage put his hand back again, and seemed to use these movements to organize his words. He said: "I am a mage, and I should help the mages of the circle? But they have violated the laws of the Holy See, and they have to ask for help. The people who bowed their heads in the Holy See are traitors that neither side wants to accept. Before Felix, no one thought of trying to rescue them... Besides, Felix's plan was to destroy the entire meeting hall first, The more cardinals you kill, the better. During the rain of meteorites, many innocent people will inevitably die. Using the lives of others in exchange for the freedom of these mages... is it really advisable?

"But do I choose to stop this plan? Those in the circle are our companions. When I joined the Thorium Council, I swore to respect everyone. What's more, the companions in the circle were forced to deprive of their freedom and dignity, and were punished for life. Imprisonment with no way out; there are also many of them like Woody, who have no sins, and are treated poorly just because of their status as mages. Should they bear all these injustices in silence? Evan, I...I My principle of doing things is to get rid of all the interference of personal feelings and make the most rational decision; but a principle has no position, but a person must have a position, and I happened to stand in the camp of mages since I was born .”

Evan sighed softly, feeling his confusion at that time from Hewitt's rare words.

It seems that no matter how this matter is done, one party will have to bear the injustice.Even if Evan himself stood in Hewitt's position at the time, he didn't have a perfect strategy at all.

Hewitt heard this sigh, and he turned his face slightly to stare at Evan, and continued after a long time: "I accepted the position of the Grand Arcanist of the Thorium Council, and I have been working for the Arcanist for the past few years. I have seen many mages, some are like Grey, some are like Ms. Leliana. I have always been at ease, my principles and my standards of judgment can help me make a decision, and I have never encountered such a dilemma. This This incident made me suddenly feel that rationality is a very troublesome thing. Everything is weighed by its right and wrong and pros and cons, but it made me more and more confused. For example, choose the innocent person or choose the ring mage; which side More importantly, which side is more just; which side to save is a better choice for this world? I asked you with this question..."

"Me?" Evan was a little surprised, he thought back for a moment and said, "You mean, you asked a question that didn't start and end at that time, saying it was...'Exchange the lives of a few people for the freedom of the many people'? You're actually talking about this..."

Huey nodded, with a smile in his eyes: "I didn't mean to annoy you at that time, but asking a bad question first will help to distract you, otherwise with your insight, it's easy to lose your attention. will know what I'm talking about."

With Evan's good temper, after recalling the two questions that day, he also said angrily: "Shuitt! Your black water is really terrible! When you talk to me, you are full Your mind is full of traps, you bastard... you are simply... a mage among mages."

Hewitt folded his hands and sat very calmly. He obviously pleaded guilty to all the accusations against the paladin, but he was unrepentant.

Evan was angry for a while, but still had nothing to do with him, so he said again: "What did you think next? Why did you decide to ask Woody to tell me temporarily? Also, how did you get caught by Felix?" of?"

"I... wanted to check the meteoroid that Felix had arranged in advance. This kind of super-large spell requires a lot of preparations, but I didn't expect him to be there in person, and the demon spirit was caught by him by accident." Xiu There was some displeasure on Etta's face, obviously he felt ashamed to be caught by his brother on the spot.

But he quickly recovered, and said: "Actually, I originally planned to pretend that I didn't know anything and let things develop on their own. But your answer that day made me hesitate. I went back to the circle to look for Woody, but in On the way, I met a few children from the church school, they were holding a music box made by Woody, and there was a song of Drizzt in it..."

Evan frowned slightly and asked, "They don't know where the music box came from?"

"I don't know, they just think the music box is very interesting and the songs are nice." Hewitt narrated quietly, "I followed them for a while, and decided to be irrational for a while, so I turned into Woody and asked them if there was a A school can teach them how this music box works and how to make it. Would you like to learn it? They nodded. I asked them if this school could teach them the truth of the world, why the stars shine and why the ocean is blue , Why do people’s eyes shed tears, teach them how to change the world and the lives of ordinary people without magic arts, are you willing to learn? They shook their heads.”

Hewitt's words paused for a while, and Evan's heart was filled with mixed feelings, and he continued: "Why are you shaking your head?"

"They say that the stars shine, it is the will of God the Father." Hewitt's eyes were a little out of focus, as if they were in the distance, and he murmured after a long time, "That's it."

As a child, he used to climb the bookshelf in the basement of the Clayfield home late at night, rummaging through books thicker than the size of his palm.The book says: The luminescence of a star is due to the continuous birth and destruction of countless particles invisible to the human eye in its body, and each beam of light is exchanged for such birth and death.

For this answer, he quietly searched for several months until he realized the details of this process; and every mage has experienced such questions.

Perhaps several generations of mages have dedicated all their lives, all their enthusiasm, all their wisdom and pride to understand how the sunshine we live on is born; every such answer deserves respect and gratitude.

But in missionary schools, such questions have no value in existence.

The children said: It is God's will that the stars shine.

Hewitt clasped his hands, his mind gradually withdrawn from the memories, he said: "I suddenly feel like I want to rescue Woody, at least he still remembers the song of Drizzt and knows the craft of making some small toys. So I told him to tell him all about his plans if he ever met you, so he could live—because I knew you were going to be at the stake, and if he ever met you, it would be at the stake."

"I did release Woody from the stake... so did he escape in the end?" Evan asked.

"I don't know," Hewitt replied.

The two looked at each other, the situation of their pursuit of Felix was too complicated, and no one noticed the old mage.

Evan sighed deeply, and Hewitt said slowly: "So I made an irrational decision. Whether Felix's plan will be known to you and then stopped by you depends on Have you decided to save Woody?"

Evan shook his head, and said helplessly, "You guys are irrational once in a while, and it's just... I don't even know how to evaluate it."

"I actually thought about it. It's better to tell you all this. You can save everyone... But after you know the plan, you will never risk your life. It is impossible to continue the rescue plan." Hewitt said in a low voice, "I also know that you will neither let Felix kill innocent civilians; nor let a ring mage like Woody be imprisoned in the ring for life or be sent to the stake."

"Actually... I just found out about this plan at the time, and I thought about asking you for help..." Evan murmured, and said in a low voice, "I don't think you would watch innocent people die under Felix's hands. , As for what to do if Master Yuanhuan cannot be saved, that is simpler, you are the Mages, and they are also the Mages, a group of Mages will definitely have a solution."

Hewitt: "..."

The two stared at each other for a while.