Chapter 656

In the crackling sound of the campfire, the little girl’s voice trembled slightly, she hugged her knees tighter, “Betty… Betty didn’t quite understand Grandpa’s meaning, but when she heard it, she felt so sad… The tears wouldn’t stop for some reason…”

“Alright, Betty, don’t say anymore.”

I waved my hand to interrupt her, suddenly feeling a bit regretful.

I regretted letting Betty tell me these things.

Because I never expected such a situation. I thought they were only connected in an indescribable way with the Gate of Truth or that goddess’s spirit. I just wanted to figure out this much.

But now, most of what she said about the story’s continuation, I could guess…

I didn’t want Betty to recount those things anymore.

I wanted to reach out and touch her head, but seeing the little girl slowly shake her head, take a deep breath, look at me, and show a clean, clear smile, I hesitated.

“Sister, Betty is fine. If Sister wants to hear, then Betty will tell her clearly… Betty doesn’t feel much about these things…”

She moved her small bottom a few times, leaning her body closer to mine, “Those are all past history, events that happened over a thousand years ago. Betty has never seen the true immortals, nor does she know those women who were captured, she can’t imagine the pain they went through…”

“Betty only heard it from Grandpa. About the wars, invasions, and tragic histories that occurred on this land, as well as how Messer Town came to be. Many things, Grandpa forbade Betty from telling outsiders, but Betty thinks that if it’s someone like Sister, perhaps knowing would be a good thing…”

The little girl looked innocent and sincere. After saying this, she tilted her head in thought, scratched her cheek with her finger, and smiled again, “But Betty doesn’t know much. Yes… I remember that night, Grandpa told me up to here, saying that the immortal women were captured by humans as slaves. Betty felt very sorry for them, cried until she fell asleep…”

“When I asked Grandpa later about those things, asking what happened to those women, Grandpa wouldn’t tell me. But Betty is a smart child. Because of taking care of Sister, Betty was able to enter Miss Elina’s cellar, where there are many books… Ah, have you already read some?”

The little girl asked with a cute manner. Seeing me nod slightly, she continued, “Betty had secretly taken out a few books before, which recorded many things about the immortals, but Betty can’t read much… So I asked Uncle Mundt, but unexpectedly, Uncle Mundt reported it to Grandpa, and Betty got a good beating… But, I also learned more because of this…”

She seemed a bit thirsty, picked up the water bag next to the fire, unscrewed the lid, took a sip, smacked her lips, and reluctantly put it down.

Then she lowered her head, looking at the campfire, silent for a moment.

“Betty knows that those women, later on… later on, gave birth to many children.”

Her voice gradually became softer, her tone mumbling, as if in a dream, “They have indestructible bodies, different from ours, they don’t naturally age with time, nor do they easily get sick and die… Thus, they served as slaves for over a hundred years. Many women, during this hundred-year period, gave birth to countless silver-haired, blue-eyed children… Messer’s children…”

The little girl suddenly raised her head, “Sister, do you know how long a hundred years is?”

“…Very long.”

“Betty can’t imagine…”

She shook her head, her silver hair swaying like waves, “Betty only knows that in the beliefs of the immortals, suicide is a very sinful act, one that leaves the soul forever restless. But in the course of history, countless women ultimately chose to end their own lives… Although they possess immortal bodies that don’t age or get sick, if they truly want to die, there are ways…”

“At first, it should have been the noble princesses of the tribe. According to the book, there was a daughter of the chieftain named Akayatis. Due to her prominent status and extreme beauty, after the war, she was captured by the commanding general and locked in the palace… doing various things, and finally died in the bathhouse…”

“She used a hair tie to cut her neck, bleeding dry, floating in the red-dyed water… Her face was snow white… the same color as her hair… She should have been the first immortal to choose suicide. Afterward, the captured women continued to die… some with babies in their bellies… These are what the book says, Uncle Mundt read it to me…”

“Later, those women found it very difficult to die… Sister, have you ever heard of a poisonous flower called Mandragora?”

“Mmm…”

I not only heard of it but even pretended to be poisoned by it…

“Betty thinks that it’s a very terrifying flower, more terrifying than those poisons that rot the stomach, it can make people unable to die… then live in agony…”

Live in agony…

My heart suddenly ached.

Yes…

Like me, once upon a time, we were in the same predicament… wanting to die, yet unable to move a single finger…

Mandragora flowers, the Church had already used them on those immortals a thousand years ago…

“They gave birth to generation after generation of half-blood descendants, just like us Messers. And those descendants, boys were strangled and fed to wolves, girls were kept and raised, and when they grew up… perhaps they didn’t even grow up, they all became slaves.”

“In the East Continent back then, people like us with silver hair and blue eyes were at the bottom, a few copper coins could buy us. Those who were pretty were more expensive, usually bought by wealthy merchants as gifts for nobles… It was said that at that time, among the human nobility, it was very popular to give Messer girls as gifts. If they were pure-blooded daughters of immortals, that would be considered quite sincere…”

“Betty.”

“Yes?”

“Don’t talk about it anymore, okay.”

I patted her soft head gently and asked softly.

“…Okay.”

The little girl fell silent for a moment, nodded slightly.

She immediately smiled again, “Sister, now there are no such things anymore. Immortals have long since disappeared, the wars of the past are just history, and as for Messer Town… it was originally the hometown of the Messer rebels who fought back, but they have all died long ago, turned into yellow sand, scattered across this desert…”

“Later, the Holy Church was established, and the first Pope abolished all forms of slavery. After that, Messer people lost their reasons to resist and lived stable lives. Gradually, they forgot their hatred… Until today, under the Church’s deliberate concealment, most of them no longer remember this history and don’t even know that their ancestors were once called Messers, the sinful bloodline born in war…”

“They became Apolista people, living peaceful lives across the East Continent… These things, only those of us living in Messer Town still remember.”

“Grandpa once told me that our ancestors were great figures who fought against fate. We are descendants of heroes, even if we have long shed the identity of slaves, we must not forget that shameful history… because we are Messers, we have no sense of belonging or recognition towards humans and the Church who always pretend to be upright, yet behind the scenes, are cunning and deceitful, deceiving the gods and attempting to control the entire world…”

“We are different from them…”

“We will always be Messers…”

…………

At some point, the campfire gradually went out.

That night, the young girl and the little girl nestled tightly together, huddled in a hollow corner, slowly closing their eyes amidst quiet whispers, falling asleep one after another.