Angel tentatively replied: "Timidity, cowardice, and reclusiveness are not necessarily vices. These vices target oneself rather than others, so they don’t count as evil thoughts."
The Black Earl thought for a moment: "That might be possible."
After speaking, the Black Earl didn’t continue further, stopping as he deemed necessary.
The Black Earl stopped, and Doxes immediately picked up the conversation:
"It’s now generally certain that the wooden staff is the original form of the Wood Spirit, but beyond that, there are still some preliminary issues unresolved," Doxes said. "Firstly, if these rings, pendants, and crowns all belong to the Wood Spirit, why were they scattered around different places later on?"
"Secondly, if these ornaments don’t belong to the Wood Spirit, why does the Wood Spirit cherish them so much, even unwilling to hand them to Cicia in exchange for a ticket?"
"As for the third," Doxes looked at Angel: "If this silver staff head belongs to the Wood Spirit, then according to the family crest on it, the wooden staff is very likely from the Iguro family. Considering the timeline, could it possibly come from your mentor, the Illusion Master?"
The three questions raised by Doxes were of concern to everyone, especially the third question.
If it truly originated from Sanders, then Angel had previously claimed that Sanders lost a "dagger," so what was going on?
Angel pondered for a moment and said: "I can’t answer the first question, but judging only from the ornaments, they’re actually quite conspicuous. I personally speculate that given the timid and cowardly nature of the Wood Spirit, it would never leave such conspicuous items to let the Ghosteye Witch notice it, maybe it just discarded them."
"Of course, it’s more likely that before the Wood Spirit was born, meaning when it was just an ordinary staff, these ornaments were mostly scraped off by the Ghosteye Witch. For a certain special Ghosteye Witch, these ornaments seemed quite beautiful, it collected those nice ones and then casually discarded the dark staff body of the Wood Spirit, which is a plausible scenario."
"As for the ownership issue of small circles and large rings... this can also be inferred from that special Ghosteye Witch. It removed the crown, thinking it looked good, but the small circle inside was quite an eyesore, so it casually discarded it, only to be picked up by another Ghosteye Witch. In the end, it benefited Speedy."
"And the large ring, which doesn’t look so great at first glance, the special Ghosteye Witch took the ornaments and left, leaving a lone large ring on the Wood Spirit, it’s also possible."
"However, all of this is based on speculation, I can’t provide a definite answer."
Angel’s answer to the first question, although based on speculation, was logically coherent. After listening, everyone thought about it and felt that Angel’s speculation was not impossible.
That Doxes didn’t continue to delve into the issue further shows that he actually agreed with the inference.
"The second question is essentially an extension of the first. If that special Ghosteye Witch only valued the beauty of the ornaments, then taking off the crown for collection and wearing the oval pendants is reasonable. As for the large ring, since it’s not very pretty and hard to remove, so it was left on the Wood Spirit."
"If the Wood Spirit was born after the staff head was taken, seeing the large ring on itself, it would naturally consider it as its own and love it dearly."
"If the Wood Spirit was born early, given its timid nature, it couldn’t resist and could only let the staff head be taken apart. The final lonely ring naturally became its treasured item."
The second question didn’t require much explanation, everyone could understand it, so Angel simply mentioned it and moved on.
He also knew that what others cared most about wasn’t these two questions, but the third question raised by Doxes.
"As for the third question..." Angel rubbed his brow with a bitter expression: "Asking me confuses me as well."
"According to the information from my mentor, what he lost here was indeed a dagger. Moreover, I’ve even seen the appearance of that dagger through Illusion Technique. The hilt of the dagger is indeed quite similar to that oval pendant, engraved with the Iguro family’s crest. This is also the reason why I misunderstood the pendant on the Ghosteye Witch, thinking it might be polished from the dagger’s hilt."
"Moreover, my mentor never mentioned any short staff from the Iguro family."
To prove his words, Angel even voluntarily asked the Black Earl to perform the Divination to verify.
The result of the Divination was as Angel said, he didn’t know about the existence of the short staff.
Doxes: "If the Illusion Master didn’t tell you about a short staff, could it have been left here by another member of the Iguro family?"
Angel: "I don’t know."
However, Angel felt himself that it should be unlikely. The Iguro family is not a Wizard Family but just a traditional noble family of mortals. Although Sanders became a powerful True Knowledge Wizard, he hadn’t married or left any heirs, nor did he care much about the development of the Iguro family... under such circumstances, it would be difficult for the Iguro family to produce another Transcendent.
Moreover, without being a Transcendent, it would be almost impossible to reach this region.
So, Angel was also puzzled by this. He leaned towards the short staff still being Sanders’, but Sanders had never mentioned that he lost a staff.
What’s more important is that in the Nightmare Realm, Angel once encountered a "youthful version of Sanders," who was also holding a dagger rather than a staff.
So where did this staff come from?
Could it be that all of Angel’s previous inferences were wrong, and the Wood Spirit’s body wasn’t a wooden staff? Or was the so-called staff head unrelated to the Wood Spirit?
Angel let out a long sigh and said: "This is the intriguing part I mentioned, because I also don’t know what the answer is, what the truth is."
"Only by finding the Wood Spirit, or finding a way to make the Wise Sovereign speak, might we learn the truth."
At this point, Angel brought up the initial issue again.
"By the way, regardless of whether this ring belongs to the Wood Spirit, it’s something Cicia took from the Wood Spirit. Does no one know any spell technique to track the object?"
After speaking, Angel looked directly at the Black Earl. Although he said "you all," Angel was only referring to one person, the Black Earl.
Because others who knew similar prophecy methods would have mentioned it already. The Black Earl had demonstrated prophecy before, so he was the most likely candidate.
This time, the Black Earl did not remain silent like last time but responded calmly: "It’s still too early to discuss this; we can talk about it after arriving at the Hanging Jail Stairway and if we can’t find the Wood Spirit."
"Since Cicia said, the Wood Spirit values this ring highly, maybe we won’t even need to search directly. Holding this Silver Ring, it might come to us."
Angel: "And what if none of that works?"
The Black Earl: "If all methods fail, then we can discuss tracking."
Although the Black Earl did not give a direct promise, he indirectly indicated that he would use tracking methods if necessary.
These words were quite sufficient.
Angel: "Let’s hope that it will be just like the Black Earl said, and the Wood Spirit will willingly reveal itself upon seeing the ring..."