BXBX NOVEL Chapter 116: | 116 | A Choice
She looked at them with curiosity and cautiousness. She was aware of the offerings given by the beastfolk tribes, but she wasn\'t knowledgeable of its deeper intricacies.
"Be careful while dragging out that crate. Our offerings are greater than before with the help of that human. Perhaps, they wouldn\'t punish us too much this year." One of the elder deerfolk expressed to the young men.
The young men merely nodded while the elders furrowed their eyebrows. Their offerings were better than the last couple of years, so they desire for their oppressors to be merciful to them.
It didn\'t take long before a fairly gigantic wooden ship resembling a brig sailed across their shores. Inside it were human guards and the colonial envoy of the archipelago colony.
As their ship docked into the Deerfolk Tribe, several dozens of guards stepped out and lined up together before the beastfolks. The elders stepped away while the young men stood their ground.
Unlike the weary and traumatized elders, the young beastfolk had their minds cleared from fear and despair.
After the colonial guards positioned themselves, the envoy finally stepped out of the giant medieval brig. He was a thin man, but wore luxurious clothing clad with golden strings.
The colonial envoy had an arrogant expression on his face as he observed the animals before him. He clicked his tongue in annoyance and uttered with a conceited tone.
"I have arrived as the representative of the colony. I expect a great offering from your tribe, otherwise we wouldn\'t give you a tinge of our mercy."
Hearing the words of the colonial envoy, the deerfolk elders shivered, remembering the tragedies brought about by the so-called envoys.
Seeing such fearful display, the colonial envoy smirked as he ordered his guards to check the offering of these animals. "Check what these animals got, and make sure to identify everything."
The colonial guards nodded in understanding and began checking the wooden crates. The young beastfolk backed away from the guards, but nonetheless, they still maintained their determination.
While the guards checked the offerings of the Deerfolk Tribe, Hermona continued observing them from afar. Even though it was somewhat peaceful at the moment, she understood that things could go wrong in any second.
Though, as she gazed upon the scene, she realized how much of a monster she was. To think that she would treat the beastfolk in such contempt.
\'Seeing it in this perspective made me realize how hateful we were. We treat beastfolk worser than our criminals, merely because of the former\'s appearance resembling that of an animal.\'
Hermona wanted things to change, especially their treatment towards the beastfolk tribes. Her time with the deerfolks made her realize that they weren\'t that much different from humans. So, why should they treat them as lesser-beings?
But she understood that it would be difficult. After all, she would practically be fighting against the entirety of humanity.
"Hmmm... It seems that your offering this time is a lot better than the last years. It looks like you animals have gotten smarter." The colonial envoy remarked, giving hopeful expressions to the elders.
"But sadly, your offerings are still far from enough. We need your greater offering. I\'m sure you won\'t deny my words, right?" The arrogant man shook his head and expressed with a smirk.
The elders felt fear and didn\'t hesitate to nod their heads in agreement. The young beastfolks in the background could only clenched their fist from the situation unfolding before them.
"We shall bring our sacrifice, great one." The elder bowed and glanced at the young men to bring their sacrifice. The young beastfolks felt saddened, but had no choice and followed the commanders of their elder.
It only took a moment before their sacrifice was brought in front of the colonial envoy, and it was none other than the Saintess of the Deerfolk Tribe.
In the distance, Hermona felt shocked as her heart pounded. She finally realized what the role of the Saintess in the Deerfolk Tribe was. She gritted her teeth and wanted to walk out from her hiding spot.
Meanwhile, the Saintess looked around the weary dock with a confused expression. She wondered why she was brought here by the elder. According to her fellow kins, she was supposed to fulfill her duty at this very moment.
"Eh, elder!? Why did you bring me here? What should I do?" The Saintess asked the elder, who merely maintained his silence. Another elder stepped up and responded to the confused young one. "You are to maintain silence and do your duty as the Saintess."
Even though shocked by the cold words of the elder, the Saintess had no choice but to follow his words. After all, she was an obedient Saintess of the Deerfolk Tribe.
"Oh, as expected, the quality of your offerings are better than other tribes." The colonial envoy smiled and walked towards the young Saintess. After arriving before her, he touched her fist and perversely glanced at her body.
"Ripe, young, and beautiful."
"I\'ll take this on-" Before the colonial envoy could continue, a voice resounded in the distance, bringing about the attention of everyone. They were surprised that someone could interrupt the envoy in such a disrespectful manner.
The colonial envoy furrowed his eyebrows in annoyance and turned his gaze towards the direction of the voice. It was then he saw a human girl with the insignia of the wyvern riders.
His annoyance immediately turned into astonishment as wyvern riders were becoming rarer in the colonies as they have been called upon by the Colonial Dominion. The same could be said with the Magus. It was very clear that the Colonial Dominion was preparing something big.
"Wyvern rider... What brings you here and why do you interrupt our rite?" The colonial envoy squinted his eyes and questioned the intruding girl. Even though she was a wyvern rider, he still had a job to do as the envoy.
"Where are you bringing that girl?" Hermona questioned the envoy, as she needed to know the destination of the Saintess. The colonial envoy raised an eyebrow and promptly answered.
"I will bring her to the domain of the colonial governor. He desires for young beastfolk girls." He answered as he didn\'t think that it was a big deal. The wyvern rider should be planning to help them in their endeavors.
After all, they were the warriors of humanity.
When Hermona heard the words of the colonial envoy. She had a bad feeling inside her heart. She then took a deep breath and asked another question. "What happened to the previous Saintesses?"
The colonial envoy became confused as to why she was asking so much questions. But since everyone seemed curious about the answer of such a question, he humbly complied with a grin.
"What do you think happened to them? The colonial governor played with them to his heart contents and threw them away when they became broken. It is an honor for the beastfolk to be used by our governor."
The words of the colonial envoy sounded like insults to Hermona. She glanced at the confused Saintess and imagined such horrifying fate befalling over the young one.
As scenes of horror passed through her mind, it was at this moment, Hermona understood what she needed to do. She gazed at the colonial envoy with a calm gaze and said.
"After spending time with them, I realized what I needed to do." Hearing her words, the colonial envoy was confused trying to make sense of her words.
"I have to free them!" Mana exploded from the wyvern rider as countless fire arrow spell circles materialized behind her. Fire arrow was a basic spell for wyvern riders. It was something akin to a swordman\'s sword.
The colonial envoy finally understood what the wyvern rider meant and gritted his teeth. "Are you crazy! Betraying humanity and siding with these monsters! Have you thought of the consequences it would bring you?!"
The words of the colonial envoy made sense, but she realized that she needed to stand up for something once in her life. And she finally understood where she needed to be.
So, she didn\'t desire hesitation at this very moment.
She had made a choice.
"Fire arrows!" Hermona ordered and countless fire arrows propelled themselves to the guards and the colonial envoy. The envoy ran with his life, while the guards sprinted towards the wyvern rider.
Unfortunately for them though, they were too late.
The fire arrows pierced through their bodies, instantly burning through them like hot knife through butter. Regardless of their armor, the colonial guards fell in an instant.
Beside the ramp of the medieval brig was the colonial envoy crawling towards it. He was barely alive and feel death creeping into him.
Hermona stood beside the envoy and burned his body into dust. He looked at the ship and did the same. The giant medieval ship was set ablaze as fiery flames consumed everything in its path.
The elders were horrified at what the wyvern rider had done, but the young beastfolks felt hope and respect.
"Don\'t just stand there. Clean up the mess and let\'s have a meeting." Hermona ordered the young men, who happily obliged. She then coldly gazed at the elders, though sighed after a short while.
"We have rebelled."