Harem Online: My Party Is Full of Beautiful Celebrities-Chapter 69: The Light Tree’s Judgement

Following the elder, Martin left the reception hall and headed straight upstairs without even getting the chance to look around.

Before he fully realized it, he was already standing before grand wooden doors carved with intricate patterns. They opened the moment they sensed the elder’s presence.

A bright, warm light spilled over him.

It was nothing like the glow of lanterns or chandeliers. It poured down through the roofless crown of the tree itself, straight from the Light Tree, bathing everything in the room in a quiet radiance. Or perhaps the Light Tree was not merely lighting the chamber. Perhaps it was part of everything that happened here.

The room looked like a council chamber, but one grown rather than built. A thick wooden branch ran through it like the spine of the chamber itself, wide enough to serve as the Forest Table, while smaller branches curved upward into seats for each elder around it.

With the roof open above, pale light poured down from the crown of the tree and traced the old grain in the wood. The great branch serving as a table looked ancient, its surface marked by dark rings, shallow cuts, and smooth stretches polished by years of hands, documents, and decisions.

Leaves stirred high above through the open crown of the tree, though Martin felt no wind reach him below. Somewhere within the chamber, wood creaked softly, not with age but with the slow, living movement of the branches themselves. The place did not feel decorated for judgment. It felt grown for it.

For a moment, Martin barely noticed anyone inside, as if the elders themselves had become part of the forest.

Then he saw them properly, and status windows appeared above their heads, displaying their names and statuses. Their levels were there as well, hidden behind question marks.

One elder was a narrow-faced old man with neatly combed white hair, a trimmed beard, and sharp eyes that seemed made to cut through excuses. Beside him sat a broad-shouldered elder with a scar cutting through one eyebrow and thick green robes that made him look more like a veteran hunter than a scholar.

I see... so they’re showing their names and statuses like this while putting pressure on everyone else in the room.

Martin clenched his hands. He could not measure up to them at all.

Then the narrow-faced elder looked at him.

It was not a long look, but it was enough to make Martin feel as though the man had already judged his level, class, posture, and worth in a single glance.

"And this one?" the elder asked. "You did not bring him here as a porter."

A branch twisted and formed a temporary seat for Cassandra beside the nearest elder on her right. None of the elders sat at the head of the table, and neither did the guests. The arrangement tried to look equal at first glance, but the illusion did not last.

Cassandra took her seat with easy confidence and crossed one leg over the other. "Of course not," she said. "He is Emperoar, the leader of the party that obtained the spear."

More eyes shifted toward Martin.

The pressure changed at once.

He was no longer merely the man standing behind Cassandra. He was now part of the reason this meeting existed.

"Greetings, Ms. Cassandra. We informed you of the potential expansion only today. How is it that you already possess an item that might enable it?" the narrow-faced elder asked.

All eyes turned to her.

Cassandra smiled. "Good afternoon, respected elders."

Half of them silently snorted at her greeting.

Respected elders? Your actions say otherwise!

Cassandra did not answer at once. She let the question settle just long enough for the room to lean toward her instead of away from her.

Only then did she smile again.

"Because some opportunities do not wait for institutions to finish discussing them," she said. "And because I assumed the Forest Table would prefer facts over delay."

A few of the elders’ expressions hardened, but none of them interrupted her.

Then she turned her head slightly. "I won’t keep you in suspense. Emperoar, if you would?"

That commanding, sexy side glance sent Martin into motion at once.

He nodded and took the crystal spear from his inventory.

Its long shaft rested across his palms, smooth in some places and rough in others, as though the weapon had been forced into shape rather than carefully forged. The jagged crystal blade caught the Light Tree’s radiance in sharp streaks of pale gold and green. It looked crude at a glance, but not cheap. The spear looked fast, vicious, and far beyond what a normal level one weapon had any right to be.

Everyone except Cassandra fell silent as their eyes followed the spear. The scar-browed elder leaned forward first, his gaze fixed on the spearhead with the practical intensity of a hunter studying an unfamiliar beast. Another elder narrowed his eyes at the crystal head as though measuring more than its shape.

The narrow-faced elder watched without blinking, his fingers folded neatly on the wood as though he preferred judgment before curiosity.

They knew where the spear had come from.

A weapon like this did not leave one of the Light Tree’s dungeons without meaning something to the academy.

"I see," the scar-browed elder muttered. "With this, you may be able to lay claim to territory held by monsters. The rest depends on the Light Tree’s Judgment. Boy, place that spear in the middle of the Forest Table."

Martin wanted to retort.

The word boy scraped against his pride, but the pressure in the chamber crushed the reply before it could leave his mouth. In this room, he had no standing yet.

He stepped forward with the spear in both hands, but before setting it down, he noticed that the branch’s center was darker than the rest. The wood there had been worn smooth into a circular patch, as though countless objects had been judged in that exact place.

So that was the true center.

He placed the spear there without asking.

One of the elders noticed. Martin said nothing, but he caught the briefest shift in the man’s eyes, as though he had expected hesitation and found something else instead.

In an instant, the entire chamber dimmed.

Light compressed into a single beam that illuminated only the spear, while the leaves high above fell still. The weapon rose and slowly turned in the air as though the Light Tree itself were inspecting it from every angle.

Then a pulse of light ran through the crystal.

The entire chamber seemed to hold its breath.

And then, the verdict came...