Chapter 243 Domination
When the members of the Land Freedom Party found the letter with the family crest and wax seal from the lining of the man's clothes, the look they gave the black-haired young man suddenly changed.
A man rushed into the conductor's room and whispered beside Wood: "Soldiers are starting to come towards the train, and the brothers who will support us are already in place."
Wood nodded slightly, his eyes never leaving the dark-haired youth's face. But the professor ignored him. His gaze crossed the crowd and met with Knight Commander Iyaros, standing outside. This man had managed to sneak in thanks to a Confusion spell, and perhaps, not wanting to see the rebel leader's face, he hadn't shared the carriage with them. Because of the presence of a certain god, Nova didn't intervene.
The knight's eyes were strange at this moment. As the professor was carefully analyzing his micro-expressions, he heard Wood ask in a deep voice beside him, "Who are you?"
Nova's eyes slid across the team leader squatting on the ground obediently, and he asked calmly, "Is this important?"
Wood sneered: "How do I know if you have any connection with Bas Catherine? Are you trying to do something with the Land Freedom Party?"
"Quite clever." The black-haired young man glanced at him coldly. Before Wood could speak, he sneered with an infuriating sarcasm: "It's a pity that the target was wrong from the beginning. Who gave you the information that told you that Bas Catheran was on this train?"
Before Wood could say anything, the person next to him angrily scolded him, "What does this have to do with you?"
Wood waved his hand, stopping his men from making rude remarks. He gave a few instructions about evacuating Bass Catheran, then turned to the black-haired young man in front of him and asked, "What do you mean by that?"
But before the professor could continue, the squad leader, who had been crouching there looking cowardly, suddenly leaped up, pulled a pistol from behind his boot, and fired several shots at Bas Castleland, who was being held by the Free Land Party and being dragged out of the carriage. The latter's chest instantly exploded with blood, and he collapsed silently. The former was also shot in the head.
Bullets flew, people screamed in terror, the scene was in chaos, the professor was almost hit by someone, but was quickly protected by the savior who covered his head in his arms.
Wood's expression changed drastically. Dust was rising at the end of the track, and the figures of more soldiers loomed on the horizon. He looked gloomily at the professor for the last time, then picked up the letter, turned around, and jumped off the train with the others.
"Wood, aren't we taking him back?" His companion asked breathlessly as he ran. "Who the hell is that kid? He knows so many things he shouldn't know!"
"Bullshit!" Wood cursed angrily. "That guy next to him is definitely an expert. Just now, shrapnel splashed in front of them, and it was like hitting a wall of air, hanging in the air for a moment before falling. He must be a sorcerer!"
The professor, who remained on the train, watched as soldiers poured in and surrounded Bas Castlean's body. After listening to the witnesses' description, the soldiers began searching for the "mysterious black-haired youth." However, the professor was heavily protected by magic, and the soldiers repeatedly passed by them and ignored them. Finally, amid the passengers' protests, they concluded that the "suspect" had escaped with the rebels.
Finally, the train slowly restarted and headed towards its original destination. After a lot of trouble, the professor finally sat back in the carriage and continued his work. However, this time, Knight Commander Yialos appeared before them, staring at them with a complicated expression, as if he was about to say something but hesitated.
The god completely ignored him, sitting cross-legged beside the black-haired youth, flipping through the documents spread out on the table beside him. But for some reason, Yialos had the feeling that he wasn't in a good mood. The rebel leader, meanwhile, didn't even raise his eyes, his head down, writing something in his notebook.
"explain."
The other party spoke without warning while writing furiously.
Yialos was stunned for a moment, then saw the man take the time to look up and give him a dissatisfied look. "Your gaze is burning holes in me. Ask whatever you want to ask. I will judge whether to answer based on the actual situation."
"Are you ready to form an alliance with the Land Freedom Party?" asked the Knight Commander in a deep voice.
The professor paused for a moment. "Why do you think I want to ally with them?"
"They were rude, but you remained tolerant," the Knight Commander said coldly. "Furthermore, you even offered guidance and assisted them in finding Bass Catheran, allowing them to take away crucial evidence."
The professor stared at him calmly: "Continue."
"Those people were cruel, tyrannical, and ignorant—but you also prevented them from slaughtering innocent people." The Knight Commander's expression was a bit complicated. On the one hand, due to his status, he was filled with disgust for the rebels. Even if their words were true, the crimes committed by the Casselan family would be judged by the Empire, not by a group of bandits.
But on the other hand, this soul of the People's Party seemed more... rational and restrained than he had imagined. Subconsciously, he didn't want to speculate about him.
The black-haired young man stared at him for a moment, then suddenly answered frankly, "I left Port Morris to find potential allies for the People's Party."
"I can't make any rash judgments until I see it with my own eyes," he said calmly. "But right now, it looks like this is a group of people driven by hatred. Despite having very simple collective aspirations, they're attracting more and more extreme revenge seekers, swept up in their rage, until it snowballs and grows, rolling forward—before losing control and crashing into the cliff face."
"They need guidance." The black-haired young man lowered his head and turned a page in his notebook. "At least they need to know who their true enemy is, rather than simply releasing their anger on one individual."
Yialos stared at the other man's indifferent profile and asked sharply, "So you think you can become their new master, rule them, and make them serve you?"
The tip of the pen spread a little ink on the paper, and the next second, the black-haired young man put down the notebook, and the spine of the book made a slight collision sound with the table, which made the Knight Commander subconsciously tense his back - he actually felt a certain sense of oppression from an ordinary person.
"Master? Rule?" The professor looked at him coldly and calmly. "I don't think I could be so ridiculous."
"You seem to have made a mistake and fallen into a feudal narrative." He took off his glasses and wiped the lenses carefully. "I won't rule anyone. It won't be me, or even any individual, who actually compels them to make their choices. It will be humanity's noble, passionate, brutal, and bloody spontaneous spirit of resistance. I am merely a symbol."
"Bewitching, inciting, domesticating, coercing and bribing... I know how you see me." Even in the sunlight, those highly transparent smoky-gray eyes still showed a metallic, cold, rational hue. "You think I'm a demon. Everything I say is a lie to deceive the people."
"But I think if someone follows me, it's more like they're following the ideas I've spread, the future I've portrayed, the fundamental aspirations of humanity for survival, dignity, and a better life." His voice was soft but powerful. "And I, myself, am a devoted practitioner of those aspirations."
Yialos looked at him in a daze, opened his mouth, but didn't know what to say.
It was a very provocative answer. Being used to dealing with high-sounding politicians and nobles, he should have shown a mocking expression. However, the overly pale face showed an inexplicably familiar feeling, and soon the Knight Commander recalled that he had seen a similar divine light on the faces of the pious saints depicted in the church murals.
"But as the snowball rolls, in addition to freezing the pests to death, it will also flood a large amount of fertile land that can grow crops." The leader of the People's Party looked at him calmly.
"—I won't allow it, so I will stand in the path of the avalanche and redirect its trajectory."
The Knight Commander left, seemingly dazed before leaving. The professor doubted that a few words could overturn the man's twenty- or thirty-year-old beliefs, but he was somewhat relieved that he wasn't planning on staying in the carriage. Unconsciously, he began to dislike the presence of strangers around while he worked.
By the time he finished all his work for the day with the help of his secretary, night had already fallen. Nova rubbed his brow and stretched his stiff shoulders. The next second, two hands touched his shoulders and began to massage them skillfully and slowly. He couldn't help but relax completely and leaned back comfortably.
The savior's voice rang out softly, "Comfortable?"
"...Um, thank you." The black-haired young man replied in a daze. Just as he was about to yawn and curl up in his arms, he heard the other party suddenly ask in his ear: "Who is Harry Potter?"
“……?”
Azuka recalled: "And...Tom Marvolo Riddle?"
The other party had spoken these two names so spontaneously that it didn't seem like they were just improvisations. And even though his expression was serious on the surface, his familiarity with people meant he could immediately discern that his nemesis was secretly plotting something sinister. His instinct told him there was something wrong with these two names.
As expected, the black-haired young man was suspiciously silent for a moment: "...the name of a character in a literary work from my hometown."
The savior smiled: "Oh?"
"Well, I just think there's a bit of a resemblance between you and me." The guy's speech became suspiciously fast: "The savior of the wizarding world and the Dark Lord."
The other person buried his face in his shoulder and rubbed it, his voice lacking emotion: "So you think of him through me - you like this character very much?"
"No, it's just a well-known children's literature." The professor pushed his face away expressionlessly. "And in the story, the Dark Lord is defeated by love in the end - are you satisfied?"
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