The middle-aged man undergoing Dragon Transformation had clearly never seen this trick either, but he roughly understood the abilities of the Tree Worship Church leader before him.
The man could actually speak with plants. Even plants they had already tamed, even plants that had begun growing dragon scales-he could still communicate with them.
Where exactly did the Tree Worship Church's limits lie? He had no idea.
Didn't that mean they could monitor everything inside Dragonborn Village whenever they wanted?
At that thought, although the man undergoing Dragon Transformation remained outwardly silent, he was already regretting letting this man in just to save face. He even began considering the feasibility and cost-effectiveness of silencing him for good.
The bishop of the Tree Worship Church clearly noticed his hesitation and said in an inscrutable tone:
"Bound by the contract, I have no interest in anything beyond the apostate. Now that I have found his trail, will you still not let me leave?"
The man undergoing Dragon Transformation met the bishop's gaze for two seconds before saying:
"Go."
The iron-bound solid wood gates closed before the middle-aged man undergoing Dragon Transformation.
With that walking plague finally gone, the villagers beside him immediately crowded around:
"Village chief, why did those tree-believing idiots come here again?"
The man addressed as the village chief remained silent. The Dragon Transformation features on his body gradually faded, and his body seemed to enter a period of weakness.
The village chief waved the others away, then took a trusted aide into the shrine building at the very center of the village.
A crimson dragon scale the size of a fist lay quietly in the center of the altar. The village chief gazed at it, seemingly inspecting its sheen.
After a long while, he let out a long breath as though he had confirmed something, then told his aide:
"Go to the sacred mountain shortly and report today's events to the master."
"Understood."
Outside Dragonborn Village.
The bishop led his horse, which had no fewer than five legs, back to his subordinates.
"Your Excellency, have you found any clues about the apostate?"
The bishop nodded:
"The target appears to have headed east."
"So the apostate really did come here."
One of the knights muttered to himself, and the bishop immediately looked over:
"Do you have a question?"
"My lord, the villager who reported the lead on the apostate lives in a village a few miles away. According to the bounty notice issued by the diocese, he should receive ten years of tax exemption."
The bishop seemed to recall the matter. He lowered his head in thought for a few seconds, then said:
"Prioritize the matter at hand."
"As you command."
The knights acknowledged the order and galloped east after the bishop.
At this point, a detailed explanation of the terrain of the barony where Ed currently resided was necessary:
Taking the flying castle as the center, rivers ran along both its western and southern sides. The enclosed area was mainly open country, while across the rivers lay forests so green they were almost black. Three villages were scattered to the east and north, with Dragonborn Village lying almost directly east of the castle.
Naturally, the trees in the village would not lie. Ed had indeed headed east after leaving the village. He was no fool, after all. With Little Green's reminders, he could easily identify situations where he might be exposed, and had therefore chosen a roundabout route back to the castle.
Besides that, he had learned one insignificant little fact in Dragonborn Village-the dragon that sheltered the village lived in the mountains a dozen or so miles east of it.
"Clop, clop, clop..."
Hoofbeats rang out across the open country, stirring up a gust strong enough to flatten the low weeds.
Among the weeds covering the ground, a few did not seem particularly frail. They merely lowered themselves along with the other weeds as those fell, turning the sides marked with eyes toward the ground.
To the east of the open country, the outline of a bare mountain had already begun to emerge beneath the skyline.
The castle, the baron's study.
"A [seed] has been triggered."
Little Green's reminder interrupted Ed's plans for the future. How he would live in this world going forward was certainly important, but the immediate priority remained the Tree Worship Church.
Ed had anticipated the current situation back when he went to the three villages to buy supplies. After all, surviving alone was difficult, but making contact with others would expose him sooner.
Choosing the lesser of two evils, Ed had no choice but to leave a few delaying measures along the way, hoping to hold up the Tree Worship Church's people and delay their discovery of his trail as long as possible.
Ed had never hoped to escape the Tree Worship Church's pursuit completely, but for now, he had yet to think of any solution other than wiping them out.
"Which seed?"
Even as Ed asked, Little Green had already shared the images that the "weed" had seen with him. He quickly identified the seed's location.
Sure enough, just as Little Green had said, some of the plants in Dragonborn Village were already capable of recording images.
Fortunately, that ability currently only worked for those trees. If even weeds could reveal the movements of passersby one day, he would truly have nowhere to run.
At that moment, Ed's left eye, which had already fused with Little Green, seemed to regain its sight. He saw a party riding strange mounts east at a gallop, about to disappear from this seed's field of view. If he was right, the next seed would soon receive these uninvited guests.
Just as he was thinking this, he saw the party of knights in his field of view suddenly turn around and gallop toward the seed's location.
At the same time, his view began shaking violently!
The seemingly drawn-on eye on the weed grown from the seed looked around, only to see vines breaking out of the earth, lifting the small patch of ground containing the seed clean out of the soil!
Exposed!
Ed was a little surprised. It seemed this bishop really was no ordinary fellow. A pity, though...
With a thought, he spoke to Little Green in his mind:
"Plan B."
The riders soon reached the vines. The bishop extended his right hand and accepted a small clump of soil from the coiling vines.
Every weed on that clump of soil was still perfectly alive, except for the one in the very center, which had withered away, leaving only yellowed leaves that were gradually curling up.
The bishop turned over the lifeless leaf and saw an eye that looked like a child's scribble. He could not help giving a derisive chuckle:
"As expected of a test subject. You learn quickly, but you should have considered who you were dealing with."
He had originally noticed nothing, but after the riders passed, this blade of grass seemed to straighten up at a different speed from those around it.
Although he had no eyes in the back of his head, as a regional bishop of the Tree Worship Church, he could still detect that slight anomaly.
While he had been coming over to inspect the soil, two more similar creations nearby seemed to have spontaneously withered and died.
He tossed the clump of soil to the ground with a backhanded motion, a contemptuous smile curling his lips:
"Trying to spy on me?"
Carefully sensing the order in which those spy weeds had withered, the bishop looked east.
The test subject is in this direction!
Brimming with confidence, he gave the order and continued east amid his subordinates' exclamations of admiration.