"Go with you to meet the King of Muxi?" Emerson rolled his eyes and leaned against the wall. "No way! Why should I waste my time on a king with no future?!"

Cumberland gasped, suppressing the urge to strangle someone deep inside him, and asked in a low voice, "A king with no future? What do you mean by that?"

Emerson glanced back at the old knight: "Todd Fischer, is that the right name? Regardless of whether he is a holy son or not, as far as the founding monarch is concerned, he is not qualified."

Seeing Cumberland's expression, which was on the verge of exploding with rage, Emerson showed no fear. He sat up and looked directly into the other man's eyes: "I have my reasons for saying this. You can think about it, from the time of ancient Tyro onwards, what common characteristics did those monarchs who established new kingdoms have?"

Cumberland shook his head and said, "I haven't read as many books as you, and I don't want to guess. Just tell me directly."

Emerson clenched his right fist and held it up in front of Cumberland, saying, “A founding monarch may not be wise, may come from a poor family, or may even lack martial prowess, but there is one thing he must possess—ambition, or what we might call the lust for power.”

"After all this talk, you're telling me that a wise ruler should first and foremost be an ambitious person?!"

Emerson spread his hands, looked at Cumberland, and said in a firm tone, "Ambition, selfishness, forbearance, tyranny, and the ability to assess situations—these are all virtues of a king. You knights, because you have been subjected to too much hypocritical proselytizing, have begun to reject the truth and submit to falsehood."

"Humans are two-faced creatures. On the one hand, they are incredibly foolish, with insatiable desires and a yearning for everything; on the other hand, they have an innate tendency to submit to power." Emerson looked at the 'protective umbrella' on Cumberland's chest and shook his head, saying, "Kings, especially founding monarchs, should be as ruthless as lions and as cunning as foxes. But the actions of the Muxi rulers went against this principle. They distributed their power to the people, hoping that the people would balance their needs themselves, which is laughable in itself."

After listening to Emerson's statement, Cumberland remained silent for a long time. When he came to his senses, he weakly defended himself, saying, "A king should love his people, and the people should naturally obey the king's will."

Emerson leaned against the wall and scoffed, “What a monarch needs is cruelty, not love. Fear and obedience give a monarch more security and power than being loved. But sometimes he needs to make the people believe that the monarch is ‘a man of virtue.’”

Seeing Cumberland's increasingly confused expression, Emerson continued, "It's not hard to understand. In public, the king should appear to love his people like his own children and be kind and benevolent. Punishment should be left to others, and the blame can be shifted to find a scapegoat to avoid being condemned by the people. Rewards, on the other hand, should be given personally to prevent subordinates from acting in their own self-interest."

Cumberland listened, shaking his head. "Listen to what you're saying! Greed, pride, tyranny—these are original sins! You want a holy son to rely on these sins to gain power and govern the country?!"

“I used to believe in good deeds too, but what I saw, heard, and did in the year before the Silver Ring Kingdom fell completely changed my mind.” Emerson reached out a trembling hand, took out a small bottle from his pocket, uncorked it, and took a sip. “It’s like two people. If both are kind-hearted, they will live in peace. If you have no ill intentions, but the other is malicious, you will inevitably suffer in the end. But if neither of them is kind, it will only end in a draw. So, from the beginning, having the most selfish intentions is the best strategy.”

Cumberland snatched the bottle from his hand and threw it into the pile of junk behind him. Pointing at Emerson's nose, he cursed, "Absurd! If we follow your logic, there will be no virtue or kindness in the world, only deceit and greed. The world will be nothing but war and slaughter. What's the difference between that and hell?!"

"You've fought more wars than I have. Tell me, in this dark world, which year hasn't been a war?"

Emerson's words left Cumberland speechless for a moment, and he could not reply.

Emerson leaned his head against the wall, looked up at the roof, and muttered, "This world has long been a hell."

——————————————

Todd sat on the throne, his eyes closed, quietly pondering everything in his mind.

This is his daily homework now.

Before parting, Clarence gifted Todd a portion of his memories and superpowers.

Let's leave aside the superpowers for now.

As one of the three elders of the Presbyterian Church, his memories were naturally extremely valuable. Through them, Todd not only learned about the internal structure and operational procedures of the Presbyterian Church, but also glimpsed some of the organization's 'secrets'.

The problem is that the transmitted memories are all fragmented; sometimes it's a scene, sometimes a prop, and sometimes just a vague, indistinct sound.

What Todd needs to do now is to rearrange these chaotic "fragments of memory" according to time and people, and find the most crucial events.

For him, the most important thing right now is how to stop the mutation.

According to Jerome of the 'Dissidia Legion', he was on the verge of mutation due to the failure of the Successor experiment. Thanks to Theodore's treatment, not only was the mutation stopped, but he also became a member of the 'New Successors'.

Todd plans to use Theodore's voice and images as keywords to conduct a thorough search of Clarence's memories.

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!