Chapter 396

【How interesting.】

【Since your mind is made up, allow me to reveal what fate that choice will bring upon that fledgling.】

【From my observations, at least three kinds of beasts that prey on small birds roam that courtyard: the Fu's Scissor-Tail Scorpion, the Asdena Wolverine, and the Huntington Wing-Necked Serpent........】

【Though they cannot harm humans, these creatures are still the apex predators within that small courtyard.】

【In such a place, the fate awaiting that little Songstress Dove can only be one—a painful death.】

【For the choice you have made........ I offer my deepest condolences.】

【Next, let us move on to the second choice.】

【This time..... it is the story of a Dreamseeker.】

Silver Wolf: "Stelle, just as expected of you."

Silver Wolf: "You sent that little bird straight on its way, huh?"

Stelle: "What?"

Stelle: "I even built it a bird's nest!"

Stelle: "It died with dignity!"

Sparkle: "Ehh, whether it dies early or late, its ultimate fate was to be gone anyway. Why fuss over it so much~"

Sunday: "But if we hadn't opened its cage, it wouldn't have died."

Sunday: "Its fate, from the very moment we encountered it, was already in our hands....."

Sunday: "But regrettably, we did not make the right choice."

Sunday: "We let it throw its life away."

807 March 7th: "What is the right choice?"

March 7th: "This thing, you can't answer it on behalf of the little bird either, can you?"

Robin: "For my brother, letting it live a good life is the right choice."

Robin: "For me, I only hope it can have the life it wants."

Seele: "Tch, I get it now."

Seele: "Sunday's overflowing with sympathy, about to turn into a saint."

Seele: "He can't stand seeing anyone suffer, which is why he's become like this."

Seele: "I say.... does this count as having too poor a tolerance?"

Stelle: "I think it does."

Stelle: "Otherwise why would I suggest he see a therapist more often?"

Bai Lu: "Although I'm not a therapist."

Bai Lu: "But from my perspective, this is because during his childhood, no one properly guided him."

Bai Lu: "Combined with the not-so-great job environment after growing up, it's made him more and more repressed."

Furina: "Job environment?"

Furina: "You mean that Confessional from before?"

Furina: "Indeed... that place isn't suitable for kind people to stay."

Furina: "Because kind people generally can't bear to witness such suffering."

Stelle: "That place suits me just fine."

Stelle: "With my mindset, I'd just treat all this as entertainment and wouldn't take it seriously at all."

Sparkle: "Eheheh, the way you talk really sounds more and more like one of us Masked Fools~"

The video continues.

【This story took place during my tenure as a Tonguesman.】

【Tonguesman is a position unique to the Oakfamily lineage, responsible for listening to the confusion and bewilderment of the Dreamscape residents and offering them corresponding guidance.】

【It was also during that time that I was able to hear voices from all corners of the Dreamscape: joy, sorrow, arrogance, regret......】

【The complex tapestry of human nature weaves the world, and I was fortunate enough to catch a glimpse of it.】

【He was a Dreamseeker, and also a smuggler.】

【Like everyone else, he came to Penacony yearning for a better life, but the price he paid for mortals........】

【Could also be called giving everything he had.】

【He told me this — he sold everything at home that could be sold — the house, the land, and two children.........】

【He said he couldn't afford to raise them, and that being a slave would at least let them scrape by.】

【He had also made a plan, intending to buy his children back after striking it rich, so they could share in the sweet dreams of Penacony.】

【Unfortunately, his smuggling plan was rather clumsy, and the scent was picked up by those stubbornly dull-witted Hounds.】

【After hearing this Dreamseeker's story, I immediately requested the Hound lineage to cease the pursuit, so that he might live in peace.】

【Alas, my vision was too shallow; I never imagined that this self-righteous act of kindness would one day bear bitter fruit........】

【The answer will be revealed later.】

【Now, I hope everyone makes a choice——】

【Will you make the same decision I did, persuading the Hound lineage to stop the search, so that Dreamseeker might survive and fulfill his wish?】

【Or will you remain silent, letting him linger on in misery under the Hounds' pursuit until the destined judgment arrives?】

【I look forward to your choices; perhaps they might turn that tragedy around.】

Stelle: "This child-selling nonsense again."

Stelle: "Is there even a choice here?"

Stelle: "I'll just give him a harsh rebuke!"

March 7th: "Erm....."

March 7th: "There's no need to be so aggressive."

March 7th: "True, what he did was truly inhuman."

March 7th: "But if the Hound Clan actually captures him,"

March 7th: "then his two children will never have a chance to be redeemed?"

Xiangling: "The children are innocent....."

Xiangling: "Though we don't pity him, we pity his two children..."

Hu Tao: "To become a slave at such a young age—that's no pleasant memory."

Hu Tao: "Given that, I still hope we can let him off, giving him a chance to redeem his children."

Miss Sushang: "But..... is he telling the truth?"

Miss Sushang: "Even if he becomes wealthy, will he truly go to redeem his children?"

Miss Sushang: "Won't he just forget about them entirely?"

Truth Doctor: "Hard to say."

Truth Doctor: "Human hearts change easily; knowing a person's face doesn't mean knowing their heart......"

Ying: "Sigh, there's no choice—if we don't give him this chance,"

Ying: "then those two children's fates are sealed....."

Stelle: "Pfft!"

Stelle: "If I were Sunday, I'd kick this man out of Penacony hard, and make him a slave."

Stelle: "Then bring the two children over to live in comfort."

Silver Wolf: "That's very much in line with your style."

Flowing Firefly: "I think.... Stelle's solution is viable!"

Furina: "Ah, this......"

Furina: "It sounds satisfying."

Furina: "But wouldn't it be too cruel for these two children?"

Furina: "After all, he's their father."

Xi'er: "If he truly saw himself as their father, he wouldn't have considered selling them."

Xi'er: "Someone like this doesn't deserve to be a parent!"

Furina: "True..... such a father is useless."

Furina: "Better to rely on oneself."

Stelle: "So.... why isn't my option available?"