Chapter 382 Charm
"professor."
Azuka removed the gloves that had touched the priestess's blood and stepped forward to carefully support the man. He tightened the man's heavy windproof cloak and, with practiced ease, touched his pale forehead, all in one smooth process.
"...I'm fine." Nova blinked a little slowly, and when he saw that the man wanted to pack him up and stuff him into the chair again, he finally reached out to stop him.
"That priestess also has royal blood, and the totem on her face can only be used by the royal family." The professor brought the topic back on track. "But she never considered using the royal family of Ferros to gain her own captive status. She never considered it. Instead, she was determined to die. In her mind, the Great Shaman was more important than the royal family."
He stared in the direction where the priestess was dragged away, a sharp, bright light gleaming deep within his smoky gray eyes. His speech gradually quickened. "Salvatore's comprehensive rise within Feros in a remarkably short period of time doesn't quite conform to the typical pattern of religious power development, nor does it conform to the 'recruitment' process of powerful individuals being exploited by the royal family, and then expanding their influence. The royal family was willing to mobilize the entire nation to create this 'Great Shaman' when the other side was still weak, even willing to allow him to bypass the royal family. There must be some very close and strong connection between the two parties."
"Either Salvador possesses extraordinary abilities and has converted the entire Ferros royal family into his followers, or the great shaman is himself a member of the royal family. While there's no concrete evidence at this time, I believe the latter scenario is more logical," the professor concluded expressionlessly. "Sometimes, blood ties are the oldest and strongest bond, especially in a country like Ferros that values bloodline. If he's a core member of the royal family, then it makes sense for the royal family to fully support him, even willingly submitting to him."
This means that Salvador is not just an individual with great power, he represents the entire Fellowes and represents a viable and replicable case of deification - even killing Salvador is just the beginning.
"Create a deity belonging to your own family." A hint of cold irony flashed across Azuka's eyes, and he couldn't help but twirl his fingers. "It's not uncommon. The Silver Iris royal family probably knows something about the changes in the royal family of Ferros. I'll have someone verify it."
The professor nodded, satisfied; this guy always managed to keep up with his pace. Beside him, Maxine listened, feeling dazed. She opened her mouth, then closed it silently. Previously, Azuka had been the decision-maker among the three of them, but now, with these two brilliant minds together, she felt a strange sense of awe, afraid to interrupt.
Perhaps because he'd spoken too much in one breath, the black-haired young man suddenly began to cough. He tilted his head, pressing the back of his hand to his lips, his thin shoulder blades clearly rising and falling under the heavy cloak. Azuka frowned, reaching out to pat his back to help him breathe, and took the hot tea that Maxine offered him and brought it to his lips.
"I was busy this morning and didn't have time to keep an eye on you. Did you take your medicine?" he asked in a low voice.
The guy was silent for a moment, then said expressionlessly, "Drank it."
"Really?" Azuka narrowed his eyes slightly, looking at the man who was drinking water obediently from his hand - something was wrong.
"Hmm." The professor looked away, feeling somewhat guilty. He'd drunk half of it, so to speak, but the last bit, still tinged with medicinal residue, made him nauseous and unable to finish it, so he dumped it into the fire to destroy it.
But if he doesn't say it, who else would know?
In order to divert this dangerous topic, the black-haired young man looked at Maxline nonchalantly and asked seriously, "How is the situation with Jophiel Yialos?"
"Almost there," Marshilin was stunned for a moment, then quickly reacted and unfolded the map on the table. "He just staged a brilliant ambush near the Frostwhisper Mountains, annihilating a Yankee regiment attempting to move south and destroying their supply base. He'll reunite with us tomorrow at the latest, providing us with a great opportunity to replenish our supplies."
The professor nodded slightly and looked down at the map, wondering what he was thinking.
Marcyline silently observed his profile. He still looked a little frail, his pale face still showing signs of illness, and the bony ridges at the back of his neck bulged slightly as he lowered his head. If it weren't for his long, bony fingers, tightly wrapped in gloves, resting on the map, tapping slowly and intermittently, he would have looked more like a hard, fragile sculpture.
But it was this person who was so bold as to throw the Silver Iris Empire's loyal Knight Commander of the Kite Heart Guard into the People's Party's army. Anyway, Maxlin believed that she did not have such courage. The loyalty and determination of the Knight Commander who committed suicide on the spot in front of the Scarlet Tyrant to follow his former master was truly impressive.
Calculated to be a "traitor" to the Empire, the Knight Commander initially refused to communicate with any of the People's Party. He did not resort to sabotage, but simply chose to silently quit, abandoning all work, like a stone thrown into a torrent, stubbornly trying to maintain its shape.
The guy locked himself in the room, polishing his pistol over and over with his remaining arm. Orel, who hadn't yet left for the capital and was swamped with activity, didn't bother with him—"Better to have some backbone and starve to death," he complained angrily to Marshilin. That way, he wouldn't have to worry about this stubborn tin can one day explode and pierce our majesty."
But even so, they still had to keep an eye on the Knight Commander. After spending some time together, Marshilin actually didn't have any ill feelings towards the Knight Commander himself. Or rather, she didn't dislike the people His Majesty had decided to keep. Perhaps it was because these people were not bad people by nature—whether it was Greven Woriv, who had nearly killed her, or the former Silver Helm Knight Commander of the Empire, they were all unlucky souls with miserable lives... Especially Iyaros, who was extremely unlucky to be targeted by His Majesty.
She tried to persuade him, but he refused to let her in - until a letter from the royal city arrived in Port Morris. She didn't know what the emperor said in the letter, but the effect was immediate. The next day, he finally stopped disguising himself as a gloomy mushroom in the house.
Of her reborn companions, Azuka was unfathomable and intimidating, while Orel was cold, straightforward, and arrogant. It was Maxine who got along best and most harmoniously with the others. Later, even the Knight Commander couldn't help but ask her a baffling question: Do gods inherently have the right to control humanity?
How could it be possible? At that time, Ma Xilin looked at him with extreme horror, feeling as if she was looking at a poor fool who had been brainwashed and made stupid.
She immediately dragged him into the tavern to drink together, and shared with him her own indignant experience about the cruel sacrifices of the sea god.
You also saw Azuka. She bluntly used her best friend as an example to make fun of him. He is a god now, but in essence he is still a human being, a human being who can cry and laugh, and a fool who is cursed by love and cannot extricate himself.
Perhaps the strong can indeed manipulate and oppress the weak through various channels, Marshilin concluded cleverly, but the world is ultimately made up of the vast majority of vulnerable ordinary people. If the strong take this for granted and act recklessly, then when the strong weaken, or when all the vulnerable ordinary people unite and become stronger than the strong, wouldn't it be natural for them to overthrow the strong's brutal rule?
Seeing people staring at her blankly, the red-haired girl scratched her face shyly. This was something the professor wrote in a book. She explained, uh, it seemed to be called "The people are the creators of history" and "Society is destined to spiral out in a direction that is in the interests of the vast majority of people." I think it makes a lot of sense.
Marshilin didn't know how effective this persuasion was. In short, the Knight Commander got himself drunk that day, but he started to come to work obediently the next day, but he became more silent.
Later, when the war officially broke out with the Empire, Orel vehemently opposed his participation, even publicly hurling harsh words at him. Despite being so provoked and humiliated, the Knight Commander remained silent, seemingly devoid of any desire to prove his loyalty and surrender, no longer working for his former master. Perhaps it was simply that his sole patron, Queen Esmeralda, was still his sole patron, not the Empire itself.
In the end, the professor, against all odds, assigned him to the army, specifically to target those areas where the Imperial nobility was most brutally oppressing the civilian population. This seemed to perfectly align with his innate chivalrous spirit of enforcing justice and protecting the weak. He gave up resistance and instead gradually began to work diligently, as if atonement or cleansing himself. He put his experience as a high-ranking Imperial official, familiar with the Imperial Army's combat thinking and weaknesses, to good use, and on the battlefield, he rigorously adhered to a style of treating civilians with kindness and punishing the strong to support the weak.
This approach quickly earned him prestige among the civilians in the bright area. People began to call him the "one-armed paladin" and privately spread the legendary story of his "abandoning darkness and joining the light."
Orel still scoffed at this, believing it was nothing more than a malicious act and disguise—because ever since the Knight Commander had been plotted against, despite obeying orders, he had never shown any favor to the culprit, the Ghost. However, the Ghost didn't care at all, which made Orel extremely angry. He privately complained to Marshilin that it was unfair, and he couldn't tell whether he was angry for himself or out of pity for the culprit.
...This Majesty has this kind of wonderful charm, Maxine couldn't help but mutter in her heart. No matter whether she loved him or hated him, she was still willing to become the sword in his hand and cut off all the thorns that blocked his way forward.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
