Holy Warrior Liu Bei

Chapter 22 Badges, Staffs, and Post-War Arrangements

"Sorry, this road is closed!"

Asdallen's lips moved, but Orodan and the others could not hear what he was saying.

The art of silence!

Within a spherical area with a radius of 20 feet centered on Liu Bei, all sounds are blocked, all creatures are deaf, and all spells that require language are unusable.

The area was neither too big nor too small, just enough to encompass Liu Bei, Leezel, and the three Shadow Druids.

Within the area affected by the Silence spell, they were completely unable to transform, not to mention that the escape routes they could have taken after transforming had already been occupied by Asdalon.

What happens when three druids who cannot cast spells are approached by two warriors?

Liu Bei never showed mercy to his enemies.

After only one exchange, the two, poised for action, charged forward one after the other.

The small dagger in the Shadow Druid's hand was completely unable to withstand the longswords in the hands of the two.

Twin swords danced, blood splattering everywhere;

The giant sword slashed horizontally, severing limbs and scattering them.

In the blink of an eye, the battle was over!

Seeing the Shadow Druids lying on the ground, Kaha's face was filled with shame: "What have I done! Severus ordered me to protect my own people from harm, and yet I've become the one who caused them the most suffering!"

"I am no longer worthy to be the guardian of the woodlands, paladin from the verdant gardens. I beg you to protect our community and guard our paths! We will never forget your kindness!"

"You burn as fiercely as a flame, howl as loudly as a gale. You are the guardian of faith."

"Please accept our gift, and let yourself be known to all. May I not be the last monster you conquer."

After saying this, Kaha took out a staff and presented it with both hands.

Liu Bei stared blankly at the staff in Kaha's hand, vaguely guessing what was going on.

He looked around and saw that everyone had stopped what they were doing. Even Ansel did not rush to loot the spoils, but instead focused his attention on this place.

He stroked the stag head badge on his chest, recalling all the conversations that had taken place since entering the temple!

He suddenly realized something: what truly changed the situation was not the letter, but the unassuming deer head badge on his chest!

It was its existence that caused Orodan and the others to misjudge the situation.

It was because of it that Kaha was truly able to listen attentively to his words and contemplate the true meaning of Severus's teachings.

Stroking the badge on his chest, Liu Bei thought of Ansel's instructions before entering the woods.

"Liu Bei, my father gave me two things before, and I don't know what they're for. But before I left, he told me that if those druids were too difficult to deal with, he should give you these two little things so you could take them with you. He said that if you had them, things would be easier to talk to them."

Before returning to the woods, Ansel secretly slipped a badge and a brooch into Liu Bei's hands.

A deer head badge and a silver brooch featuring a harp surrounded by a crescent moon.

Of the two items, Liu Bei chose the deer head badge, perhaps because of the deer head crown on Ras's head, Liu Bei felt that he should take it at this moment.

The current situation was clearly due to the badge he was wearing. He looked at Ansel and saw only a pair of expectant eyes.

Is this a case of "the hunter gets pecked in the eye by the goose"?

He treated Ansel like a child all the time, but he ended up being tricked by Ansel. He knew exactly what the badge was!

This is no gift; it is clearly a scepter symbolizing the status of the woodland chieftain!

Taking it means that one will replace Kahar as the new leader of the woodlands.

But isn't this exactly what he wanted?

Why did he suddenly feel a little afraid at this point?

He looked down and saw that Kaha's eyes held not only guilt, but also expectation and pleading!

This is not just a power, but also a responsibility.

He reached out and picked up the staff.

He saw it too; the moment he picked up the staff, Kaha breathed a sigh of relief.

"Kah, the ritual can now cease! The Woodland will provide shelter for all the Tiflins until they depart! And the Druids cannot remain confined within this Sacred Pool Temple; the defense of the Woodland must be shared by the Druids and the Tiflins!"

"Adventurers, your responsibility now extends beyond simply retrieving Master Halsin; I hope you can assist the Woodlands in repelling the goblin army's attack!"

Everyone responded in unison, "As you wish!"

"Then so be it." Liu Bei dismissed everyone. Now that the crisis inside the woodland had been eliminated, the druids had reached a consensus, so it was natural to stop the ritual and reorganize the members of the society to devote themselves to the defense of the woodland.

"Kha, I hope you can talk to Sefro after the Thorn Ritual is canceled. They are not pollutants; they are no different from the druids of the woodlands. Don't discriminate against them because of their bloodline. No one can decide what kind of family they are born into, nor can anyone decide what kind of blood they have! The Tifflins can also listen to Severus's teachings and can also harmonize the relationship between humanity and nature as druids."

"As you wish!" Kaha obeyed, then called Ras to leave the temple together.

Canceling the Thorn Ritual only required her presence, and she called Ras to communicate with Sefro. However, she wasn't stupid; she knew her image in the Tiftin's eyes, and without someone acting as a buffer, a conflict was very likely to occur.

After all the druids left, Liu Bei's tense expression immediately relaxed. He then searched around for Ansel and finally found him at the door leading to Nettie's treatment room.

"You little rascal, you've got some nerve! You dared to keep something this important from me!"

Ansel whistled as if he hadn't heard anything.

"Liu Bei, the druids all listen to you now. I happen to have some information here that might be able to help you!"

Asdallen took the initiative to step forward and tell the whole story about the Owl Bear Cave.

"It's them! What happened?" Netty, who was in the treatment room, also heard Asderon's words and immediately chimed in, "Do those two little ones have babies now? I remember the last time I saw them, they were only as tall as Ansel!"

"Hey! Hey! That's going too far! You people weren't satisfied with persecuting the dwarves, now you want to persecute us halflings too?"

Upon hearing this, Ansel immediately flew into a rage. As everyone knows, among the humanoid races of Faerûn, there are two races that are very short: dwarves and halflings.

Due to certain historical reasons, dwarven jokes have become an enduring part of the taverns of Faerûn.

As for how many people had their feet smashed by dwarves for telling jokes about dwarves, that remains unknown.

Seeing that the wind was blowing towards the halflings, Ansel was immediately enraged!

Telling jokes about dwarves is one thing, being the subject of jokes is quite another!

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to!"

Nettie realized that her unintentional words had hurt Ansel and quickly apologized.

"Okay, I accept your apology. I'm not as petty as those bearded guys!"

"How about this, Asdallen, you lead the way, and Nettie, you come with us to retrieve the owl-bear back to the woods. What do you say?"