The banquet didn't begin immediately.
Before that, Firenze took Lewis on a tour around the centaur camp.
The centaurs were all busy with their own tasks.
Some were weaving.
Some were drying herbs.
Others were preparing to head out.
But the moment they saw Lewis—
every single one of them turned their gaze toward him.
In both his past life and this one, Lewis had only ever seen male centaurs.
But here—
he finally saw the females as well.
From his observation, their lifestyle resembled that of a primitive tribe.
The males were responsible for hunting, guarding, and patrolling.
The females handled gathering, crafting, and food preparation—
relatively safer work.
That explained why he had rarely seen female centaurs in the Forbidden Forest before.
They simply didn't need to appear outside.
As expected, the upper bodies of female centaurs resembled human women.
Compared to males, they appeared more slender and refined—
yet still carried strong, wild muscle lines.
Far more powerful than ordinary human women.
They usually wore their hair long,
its color matching the fur on their bodies.
They liked braiding both their hair and tail hair into intricate styles,
decorated with clips and small bells—
clearly influenced by wizard culture.
In terms of aesthetics,
they weren't much different from human women.
What surprised Lewis, however,
was that they wore clothing on their upper bodies.
That completely contradicted the traditional wizard belief that "centaurs don't wear clothes."
But thinking about it—
it made perfect sense.
If they shared similar aesthetics with humans,
they would also share a similar sense of modesty.
The idea that centaurs never wore clothes was long outdated.
No matter how proud or isolated they were,
they were still intelligent beings.
And interaction inevitably led to influence.
As the smaller, culturally weaker group,
they would naturally absorb aspects of human society.
The wizard-style ornaments worn by female centaurs were a perfect example.
Even male centaurs, though mostly bare,
wouldn't reject accessories—
feathers, belts, cloaks…
Lewis even spotted some guards wearing armor.
Firenze explained,
"Our ancestors—and many conservative centaur tribes in Europe—believe wearing armor is cowardly."
"But if it reduces casualties… then it has value."
"Especially against acromantulas. Armor can protect against their venomous fangs."
Ronan added,
"Many young foals secretly befriend students from your school. Wizard trinkets are very attractive to them."
Bane, however, frowned.
"If hunters wore such things, I would forbid it. Those jingling ornaments would expose our position in the forest."
As they chatted, they passed through scattered tents—
and arrived at the center of the camp.
A wide open space.
At its heart stood the largest tent.
Decorated with intricate patterns.
Guarded constantly by two centaurs.
Lewis guessed—
this either belonged to the tribe leader
or served as their main gathering place.
But what truly caught his attention—
was the stone circle in front of it.
Massive stones, each over a meter tall.
At first glance, they seemed randomly placed.
But upon closer inspection—
they formed four to five concentric rings.
All centered around a single, tallest stone.
Every stone bore carvings.
And the central one—
was the most complex of all.
"May I take a look?" Lewis asked, pointing at it.
"This is our totem," Firenze explained.
"Our sacred ground… and our place of stargazing."
He paused.
"But you are one touched by destiny. A guest of the tribe."
"You may enter."
"Thank you," Lewis said. "I won't disturb anything."
He patted Lare's neck, signaling her to wait outside,
and stepped into the circle alone.
But he wasn't here out of curiosity.
He didn't even glance at the surrounding stones.
He walked straight toward the center.
Because long before he arrived—
the Scholar's Moonstone had already reacted violently.
It had been restless ever since entering the camp.
Now, as he approached the center—
its energy pulsed like rapid flashes.
Lewis strongly suspected
that this stone circle—
just like the one in the Moonstone Garden—
was a remnant of the ancient druidic tradition from the Celtic era.
At the very least,
it was connected to it.
There were many such stone circles across the British Isles.
The most famous—Stonehenge.
Also known as the Salisbury Stone Circle.
Almost all of them dated back to Celtic times.
Lewis had long suspected—
that these circles were actually ritual grounds of the druids.
Perhaps even—
the centaur race itself
was a creation of druidic power.
He had his reasons.
He remembered a diagram in the Hogwarts library—
a centaur anatomical drawing based on Da Vinci's Vitruvian Man.
According to that diagram,
centaurs were biologically unnatural.
They possessed both a human thoracic cavity
and a horse's abdominal system.
Between them was a reinforced diaphragm-like structure.
They had longer lungs,
more complex digestive systems,
twelve pairs of human ribs and eighteen pairs of equine ribs—
and two hearts.
Such a creature—
could never be the result of natural evolution.
It had to be artificially created.
And in a world without gods—
combined with centaur culture—
only one answer remained:
the power of nature itself.
There was even precedent in another world.
In Azeroth—
centaurs were the descendants of Cenarius, a forest demigod,
and an earth elemental princess.
A fusion of nature and earth.
Their half-human, half-beast form
originated from Cenarius' own half-man, half-stag body—
a symbol of intellect and wild nature combined.
Perhaps…
the centaurs here were no different.
Perhaps they too were born from druidic power.
Even their culture aligned with this idea.
Their three strengths—
herbology, astrology, and hunting—
matched perfectly with druidic domains.
Earth—life and growth.
Moon—stars and wild instincts.
Still—
these were only theories.
But today—
he might finally prove them.
Standing before the central stone,
Lewis noticed something.
A half-circular indentation.
Exactly the same size
as the Moonstone in his possession.
Coincidence?
He didn't believe in such things.
Staring at the groove—
then at the Moonstone in his hand—
he acted almost on instinct.
He took it out.
And pressed it into the slot.
The moment it clicked into place—
the world changed.
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