Chapter 1020 1002 Another Shapeshifter

Chapter 1020 1002. Another shapeshifter

His understatement made everyone except Tris feel a little dazed.

But if you look at this kind of exaggerated thing in conjunction with him, it is actually quite acceptable.

"But I got other news from the Mud Gang."

Lan En said to Dudu.

"A temple guard is looking for you, Dudu."

"Temple guard? Looking for me?"

Dudu repeated, looking puzzled and surprised.

But Lan En, who revealed the news, was also surprised.

He was surprised: Why was Dudu, a shape-shifter who was cautious to the point of being timid, not afraid after hearing the news.

The Temple Guard are the Eternal Fire's armed force in Novigrad, adhering to increasingly radical doctrines that will become even more radical in the foreseeable future.

They hate monsters, discriminate against inhuman races, and may in the future hate all users of Chaos magic.

For non-human races, out of compromise for urban development, they may not act too aggressively against urban residents.

But it's a monster like a shapeshifter.

"Come, let me hear what the news is."

Dudu's halfling's big feet paced back and forth on the wooden floor.

"Sir Lane, please speak."

"The person who is looking for you is called Ritu Manji, and he is the leader of the temple guards. He used his administrative authority to ask the Mud Gang to block the transaction with you and bring your business down."

Lan En leaned back in his chair and recounted the information he had obtained.

"He emphasized that the important thing is to catch you as a person, and money is not important. So I think this guy is not an ordinary official who wants to take advantage of you, but for something else."

"Ritu Manji? Caleb Manji's brother? Brother Manji?!"

Dudu was fine, but Dandelion said in surprise.

Geralt asked in a deep voice: "Do you know this person? It sounds like their brother is quite famous in Novigrad?"

"There is a reputation, but it is never a good reputation."

Dandelion walked behind Lann and Geralt's chair, propped up the back of the chair and said to the two witchers.

"Both these brothers passionately believe in the doctrine of eternal fire. You can imagine what it's like to be so fanatical."

Lann and Geralt looked at each other.

Both of them were demon hunters who had traveled in the upper reaches of the continent, and they had seen a lot of racial persecution and mutual vendettas.

And they also know exactly what the Eternal Fire fanatics are.

Dandelion continued describing.

"No one knows whether the two brothers really believe in the doctrine, or whether they act like they believe in the doctrine in order to climb up in the sect. Anyway, it makes no difference to the result."

"In order to show their piety, those who died under their cruel methods have nothing to say."

"Just last month, the two of them presided over an execution. A half-elf woman was accused of casting black magic to curse her neighbor. The two of them didn't even ask a professional to come and take a look. The trial process was completed quickly, and finally in The poor woman was hanged on the gallows."

"In my opinion, the woman's neighbor was so angry that he lied about the case because he didn't drag the half-elf into bed."

Dandelion introduced the Manji brothers as if announcing the curtain in a play, saying that a certain villain was about to appear.

Dudu, who wasn't very scared at first, swallowed.

But he still made a difficult arc at the corner of his mouth.

"They are looking for me, so it shouldn't be that scary. After all, I have friends among the temple guards, right?"

"伱?" Triss asked in surprise as she sat on the bed, "A shapeshifter, or are you a halfling and have friends among the temple guards?"

"Yes, and his status is not low." Geralt said solemnly.

"That's also a few of us who know each other, the Temple Guard Commander, Schapel."

Triss and Priscilla gasped almost as soon as the name appeared in the room.

The Temple Guard Commander's infamy spread far and wide.

Rumor has it that he and his men often carry a whip called a Lamia Whip.

During the process of weaving and shaping the leather of this kind of whip, iron thorns and barbs are mixed in. Many cities and countries have banned the possession and carrying of such whips.

Novigrad was among them, but Chapelle and his men openly hung these rolls of Lamia whips on the belt buckles around their waists.

Even after the wounds caused by such a whip are healed, ordinary people will never forget them for a lifetime just by looking at them.

"Chapelle is not a priest, but he is the highest-ranking official in the city!"

Priscilla covered her mouth and said.

Even she has heard this name while traveling and performing.

"The most vicious and cruel man in Novigrad. I heard that even people from the city council and major guilds would shudder when they see him. He is addicted to power, like a spider addicted to blood."

"Disappearances without leaving a trace, false accusations, torture, masked killers popping up on the streets, intimidation, extortion, theft, coercion. Just saying what he did is dark enough!"

"But that's old history."

Dandelion spoke in a relaxed tone as if singing.

"I can guarantee that Chapelle is fair and kind now. It's just in order to manage the scumbag team of temple guards that he has to hide his beautiful heart under the disguise of coldness and viciousness."

"Are you sure of it? Are you sure of the complex, ever-changing and unpredictable human heart?"

Priscilla and Dandelion's tongues were equally powerful, and they struck immediately after the poet's words.

"Speak as if you know him well."

Dandelion opened his mouth, but did not rush back.

Geralt also tilted his head and looked at Dudu, and while looking at him, he raised his chin towards Priscilla.

Dudu nodded: "Tell me, Geralt, Dandelion. There's nothing I can't say. Although I didn't catch this girl, I know her at least. She is a kind and tolerant woman who has no ill intentions towards non-human races." No prejudice either.”

After receiving Dudu's confirmation, Dandelion continued.

"Of course I know Chapelle, because Chapelle is now the commander of the Temple Guard of the Eternal Fire."

"Wait a minute." Lan En sat upright from the back of his chair, "He's a shapeshifter too?!"

"you are right."

Dandelion pointed at Lann with a 'you guessed it' expression.

"Two months before we got to know Dudu, the real Shapelle died of a stroke, and now this Shapelle simply became him. The shape-shifter is kind-hearted in nature, and he and Dudu began to take care of each other. This is also the case for Dudu. The reason why it’s so easy to get status in Novigrad.”

Except for the three insiders, everyone present was a little stunned.

No one would have thought that within the Church of Eternal Fire, the most radical and discriminatory of non-human races, the commander of the most radical and discriminatory temple guard force of non-human races would turn out to be a shape-shifter!

"So if you ask me, this shouldn't be a big deal. Chapelle can handle it with just one sentence. Those are his men, aren't they?"

Dandelion said matter-of-factly.

Dudu also relaxed a little under the poet's comfort.

But after Lan En received the new information, he thought about it for a moment, and then he felt relieved about Dudu again.

"That is to say, the Manji brothers may have begun to doubt the identity of Shapelle's shapeshifter."

Dudu jerked his body and looked at Lan En in horror.

"After all, Dudu Bibwit's identity has very little overlap with Chapelle's identity, right? At least in public, very little."

"Both of you are shape-shifters, so you won't let your apparent identity come into contact with you because you are both very cautious."

"But a notorious temple guard leader is still eyeing you. He doesn't want money, property, or stocks, he just wants you."

Lan En quickly clarified the relationship with the help of Mentos in his mind, and even made a schematic diagram of interpersonal relationships.

"Dandelion said that this matter should be left to Chapelle to handle, but in my opinion, the Manji brothers were probably rushing to bring Chapelle down from the beginning."

"Shapelle's power comes from the Temple Guards of the Eternal Fire. Even if he is the commander, he cannot change the nature of this force, that is: this is a force loyal to the Church and the teachings of the Eternal Fire. Armed Forces."

"Once his identity as a shapeshifter is confirmed. No, even if his identity as a non-human race is confirmed, the power in his hands will disappear in an instant, and he will be killed in turn."

"Being the commander of a force and being able to fully control the force are two different concepts."

Lan En said calmly, but his words made Dudu, who was not so nervous at first, panic again.

Dandelion was also speechless with his mouth open.

The poet has actually seen many scenes of inferiors overcoming superiors, but there is no doubt that his knowledge and vision have not penetrated deeply into the core of the power structure.

It is just a poetic view that the change of rights is due to vague expressions such as human desire or impulse.

However, in the education and world view that Lan En received, the operation of power is a real materialization process.

There are traces to follow and a set of internal logic.

He can understand this logic and even play well if he wants to.

Although Lan En did not mean to look down on Dandelion's seven liberal arts degrees, he believed that poetic expression was sometimes an obstacle to understanding the real world.

"The Manji brothers want to investigate Chapelle!"

Dudu muttered with a cold sweat on his head, and a pair of halfling's big feet made a loud sound on the wooden floor.

"I have to. I have to inform him! Yes! Inform him! As long as he knows, he can handle it!"

"But two people have begun to doubt him, which means that secretly more people already think he is abnormal."

Lan En's left hand emitted a cold white magic aura, and he was using the [Yaxi Sign] to calm down Dudu.

"The shapeshifter is kind-hearted in nature, but just hearing about what Chapelle did is enough to make people scared. He has taken over Chapelle's identity for so long, and it must have been a long time since he showed such cruelty to his subordinates and colleagues. If you lose your character, you will be suspected sooner or later.”

"Rather than remind him now, you might as well persuade him to leave Novigrad."