While Brando said his apology softly, the quarrel in the long house seemed to escalate at this moment——
There was a loud bang, and the young man slapped his hands on the table made of spliced pine boards, and veins popped out. "I don't agree!" His eyes turned red and he gnashed his teeth angrily: "Funya is still a child, she is Sally.
Your lord’s daughter! And we are men in the tribe. Men, do you want to survive by exchanging the life of a child?”
"Can you do it?"
"Can!"
The young man's roar echoed in the long room. For a moment, everyone looked at me and I looked at you, but no one dared to respond. Bolton folded his arms and remained silent, while the elder just sighed slightly - he raised his head and blinked hard.
Old, cloudy eyes.
Everyone took a deep breath.
"Who is that?" Brando asked, looking in the direction of the longhouse.
"Brother." The little girl replied in a low voice in Elvish. She blinked her eyes and her voice was as clear and clear as a string of silver bells falling to the clearing in the forest.
Brando nodded.
There was silence in the longhouse for a moment.
"That's enough," the thin middle-aged man let out a long sigh and shook his head: "Please, you've said enough, don't hurt everyone anymore."
"Uncle Cliff!" The young man clenched his fists.
"That's enough, why don't we understand it - but we are Senyans, do you understand? This is the fate we bear, life and death are not ours to choose."
"Hey, do you still remember those tribesmen who froze to death in the forest?" the middle-aged man asked in a low voice.
The young man relaxed slightly. He wanted to say something but couldn't pronounce a syllable. He could only bite his upper lip tightly, raised his head, took a deep breath, and blinked his red eyes: "Of course, my father
…”
"He is here to keep you alive, child." The elder sighed.
"I know."
"Every one of us is," the middle-aged man replied: "So please consider our position and the position of those who died."
"In the legend of our Seniya people, there is such a long-standing song in the forest, but the souls of our ancestors are also watching us in this forest; they have fought, shed blood and sacrificed in the black forest from generation to generation.
, but we don’t want to ruin all of this on impulse.”
"Do you understand?" he asked word for word.
The air in the room seemed to freeze, and someone was sobbing softly.
"I see."
"But, are we just going to live like this forever? What's the point? Master Niya also said that just living is not enough for people -" The young man turned his head and wiped his eyes, choking:
"What if you have to give up everything just to live?"
"At least there is hope when you are alive," the middle-aged man shook his head: "If I can't see hope, please, I at least hope to leave this hope to you——"
The young man lowered his head.
"Elder, you make your decision." The middle-aged man turned back.
A trace of sadness flashed in the elder's eyes, and he was silent for a moment: "Okay, but none of us have the right to let other tribesmen die for us. I hope you can ask Funya for her own opinion."
"But there's no precedent for this before," someone in the crowd said.
"That's because the people who made the choice before were all men in the clan or old people. I believe they have the ability to make judgments and understand what they are doing." The elder lowered his eyelids and replied.
Everyone was startled, and then fell silent.
"But Funiya is a child, what does she know? Do we want to leave the fate of a tribe to a child? This is too hasty!" Someone in the crowd objected.
The middle-aged man's face suddenly turned cold.
"But now you have to rely on a child to save yourself, right? Even if it is a last resort, shouldn't you feel ashamed?" The middle-aged man turned around, looked at the dark heads in the long house, and asked angrily.
"That's what I say, but there has never been such a precedent before. Besides, Funya is the elder's granddaughter..." someone responded in a low voice.
This sentence was like a stone thrown into the water. The crowd couldn't help but be slightly silent. Tuo, who had lowered his head before, was startled for a moment and then realized - he turned back like an angry lion and stared at the speaker in the crowd.
that person.
Tuo almost couldn't believe that anyone was thinking like this at this moment.
"Indeed, she is not your daughter, so can you give her away without any care in exchange for your miserable existence?" The young man almost roared, and he roared out with all his anger: "You bastard
, you simply don’t deserve to be called a Senian, now, get out of here——”
His intimidating gaze frightened the man and he took a step back with a pale face.
"You, what are you talking about? I'm just saying a possibility, but it doesn't mean it's true..." The man stammered and replied: "Besides, it's not impossible. Please, can you guarantee that the elder
Don’t you think so? Are you an elder?”
The elder glanced here and said nothing.
The young man clenched his fists, closed his eyes and took a deep breath, about to explode. But at this moment, a small, soft voice penetrated the silence of the long room:
"Stop making noise——!"
The door was pushed open at some point.
Funya in a linen skirt stood outside the door; the little girl clenched her little hands into fists and almost used all her strength to shout this sentence with her eyes closed——
"Everyone, stop arguing..."
She opened her eyes, with a kind of pleading in the deep green color, and the tears couldn't stop falling; the little girl looked at everyone with tearful eyes, and sobbed into the long house: "I'm sorry, dad, grandpa, I'm sorry,
It’s all Fanya’s fault…”
All of a sudden.
Except for Funya's cry, there was silence in the longhouse.
The middle-aged man was silent. He stood up silently and walked slowly to Funiya. He slowly squatted down, hugged the little girl and whispered: "I'm sorry! Funiya, we really deserve to die, really deserve to die -
—”
Bolton, who was in the middle of the crowd, suddenly held his head and burst into tears alone.
For a moment, everyone looked at each other in silence.
Only the elder’s eyes fell outside the longhouse——
The old man stood up slowly, bowed slightly and saluted Brando outside the door: "I'm telling you a joke, sir."
Brando put one hand on the hilt of his sword. He looked at these people without saying a word.
He didn't even know what he was feeling at this moment, he just felt that he couldn't say a word; his hand gripped the hilt of his sword tightly, his knuckles cracking, but it seemed that this was the only way to make himself feel better.
He silently watched the old Senian elder leave the table, look at him solemnly, and kneel down as if he had made great determination - kneeling deeply in front of him,
Put your head on the ground:
"Sir, please help us!"
"I know I can't cause you this trouble, sir, but..."
The old man begged almost in tears.
Everyone was silent, and everyone's eyes were focused on Brando alone.
When the young man saw the tearful Fonya and the wailing Bolton, he sighed slightly in his heart that the so-called separation between life and death was nothing more than this. But he couldn't tell what kind of feeling he felt in his heart, he just felt blocked and panicked.
He moved his lips as if he wanted to speak.
But it was at this moment that he felt a soft little hand hold his own hand forcefully - the young man was slightly startled. He turned around and saw a pair of dark eyes.
There is unbearability and determination hidden in those beautiful eyes at the same time——
It's Antitina.
She came anyway.
The noble daughter also couldn't bear to watch this scene. She almost hesitated and wavered, but in the end the girl took a gentle breath and gently grabbed Brando's hand.
She shook her head slightly at him.
"Lord." When the girl spoke, she felt that these four words seemed like four sharp knives, one of which was piercing her heart - she gritted her teeth and read out each word one by one.
Brando looked at her.
Everyone else looked at the two of them.
"Do you want to convince me, Antitina?" Brando asked.
Antitina said nothing, just looked at him.
"Can you bear it?" Brando asked.
Antitina bit her lip. She looked at everyone present, the sad and turbid eyes of the elder, the self-hateful and painful eyes of the little girl's father, and the helpless and pitiful eyes of Funia, as well as those present.
Everyone's helpless and pleading eyes.
Every time she looked at it, the girl's face became paler, as if she had lost all color.
But her hands tightened, and her knuckles almost turned white.
"You hate me, Lord," the girl took a breath and shook her head: "I will not allow it, I will never allow you to do that; Lord, you know what you will face when you take this step.
What, it’s Grudin, Madara, and the Gendenel family, the endless army. If you agree to them, you will be shattered into pieces——"
"I know, maybe you don't care, Lord. Because you are the most heroic and upright knight Antitina has ever seen, just like those ancient times described in books by Antitina.
Like the nobles, I always thought it was just a legend, but Lord, you told me a real possibility..."
"But I care!"
"Because of this, I won't just watch you die; for this reason, even if everyone hates me, I don't care-" The girl raised her head and looked at him, speaking decisively and loudly
replied.
Brando was silent for a moment. He never thought that Antitina would think so. He glanced at the noble daughter, lowered his head, and replied softly:
"Thanks."
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Then he opened them, knelt down and patted Funya on the head. Then he stood up, turned around and left.
"Lord Lord?"
Antitina was stunned.
Everyone also sighed slightly. They looked at the back of this young man, and the expectations in their hearts were gradually diminishing. But they also understood what Antitina said. Indeed, they were not qualified to force a stranger to fight for themselves.
die.
What qualifications do they have?
What's more, it was obvious that the young man felt uncomfortable. This showed that he cared about them. No one had ever cared about how the Seniya people lived, but they saw anger and sadness on the young man's face.
That is not pity or charity, but empathy.
When the young man turned around, everyone couldn't help clenching their fists. It was not anger, but a deep sadness for their fate.
Lord Martha, Goddess Niya, aren’t the punishments you have given the Senyans enough?
"Let's go, Antitina."
Brando didn't even look back and replied in a low voice.
Antitina reacted after being startled, but when she let go and breathed a sigh of relief, for some reason. When she saw the young man's back, she felt a small sense of loss in her heart, as if she had buried him with her own hands.
what.
The noble daughter lowered her head and pressed her chest.
