Chapter 1175 I Could Have Endured the Darkness
"You have to help me."
Aiwass nodded. "I can't create water... The water of the Benevolent Master requires the lives of slaves to be continuously summoned. Theoretically, the lives of four hundred people can be exchanged for the water needed for thirty-two thousand people for a year, which is about a 1.25% annual loss."
"That doesn't sound like much. It's lower than the death rate in Avalon."
Sherlock looked at Aiwass. "Aren't you going to 'donate' them? Isn't that what you donators love to do?"
"Because there's no need, Sherlock. Don't you have me?"
Aiwass said with a smile: "Compared to them, you are my acquaintance and my good friend. I want to dedicate myself to you. This is more reasonable!"
"...I see," Sherlock's lips curled up slightly, a faint blue light flickering in his pupils. "No wonder you found this staff for me...Tell me the truth, did you already think of this scene before entering the rest?"
"Of course," Aiwass said innocently, "I told you a long time ago, but you just didn't care."
"I just thought you wanted me to produce water for our fleet, but who knew you'd stay and be a benefactor..."
Realizing that he had fallen unprepared into the fox's schemes and plots, Sherlock shook his head helplessly and dropped the subject. "How do you plan to govern them? Remember what I just said? Even the slaves in rest support slavery. How can you convince them to give it up?"
"I'm not going to convince them."
Aiwass spoke softly, his voice becoming calmer. "I only intend to pardon them—as long as they don't break the law, as long as they are willing to obey my rules, as long as they can contribute to the city... I will make them all free citizens."
"What about the slaves? Without them, they might be bribed by other benevolent masters."
Shylock had already foreseen the future: "These short-sighted people have not received any education. If you pardon them and make them free citizens, they will only feel that they deserve this status. If other city-states try to win them over, they will only consider themselves free citizens, not the slaves they once were.
"And you can't offer them any benefits in the first place. It's easy for other city-states, such as Paradise City, to win them over."
"You know, it's easy for Paradise City to win them over... so why can't I do it?"
Aiwass asked back.
He said meaningfully: "I don't need to change their minds at all, and I don't need to make them oppose slavery. I just need to make all the slaves free.
"Do you know, Sherlock? Meat is cursed. Once they taste the first bite of meat in their lives, there is no going back... The instinctive craving for the delicious juicy meat will make them never forget the feeling of that moment. It is an addictive curse, the poison called 'hope'.
"'I could have endured the darkness if I had never seen the sunlight.'
"If a person lives underground from birth, without light, they will not understand what the sun or the sky are. If they cannot see light from the very beginning, then not being able to see the sun is not a misfortune for them.
"What I have to do is to break this dark land, drag everyone out, and let them see what the sun is. I don't care what they do after that. As long as they can endure the darkness of nothingness, then let them be.
"But I believe that many more people will become addicted. They will pursue that light at all costs... like moths drawn to the flame."
Aiwass said slowly.
"Interesting! You're just like me, Aiwass!"
Hearing Aiwass' words, Ligeia's eyes sparkled with interest and excitement.
Even a year ago, she couldn't imagine that she would be where she is today.
He got rid of his old and dying body and gained a young, beautiful, healthy and strong body of an angel - he even broke away from the rigid and decadent Avalon and made a big fuss in the ancient kingdom of Parthia!
She was indeed the person Aiwass had described... When Ligeia was still called Meg, she had already prepared for death. The promotion ceremony she was about to participate in was essentially a self-execution.
It was like an old warrior's pilgrimage, or an old adventurer climbing a snowy mountain. It wasn't that they didn't know the risks involved, but they couldn't bear to die on their sickbed.
If I die, I will die in my career and do something meaningful.
If life is a currency, at least spend it somewhere valuable.
Old Meg couldn't bear the thought of herself becoming too old to move, or becoming weak and demented, so she decided to risk everything and participate in the promotion ceremony while she could still move - if she succeeded, she would succeed; if she failed, at least she would die.
If you can't burn and shine fiercely, it's better to die silently like a knife!
...But after she became Ligeia, the little dragon girl, her thoughts changed.
——It’s so good to be alive. A young body is so beautiful.
Being alive, it turns out, is such a cherished thing... She still wants to keep living, to eat more delicious food, to travel to more lands. She wants to reach foreign territories as a traveler, not as a warrior or invader.
Once she had seen the light, she could no longer endure the darkness.
In the past, that light was brought to her by Aiwass.
And in the future, she will also accompany Aiwass and pass this light on to others.
——It is neither a gift nor a charity, nor even a good deed.
But it is like a child's innocent "showing off" and "sharing"——
Look, I'm having a great time! You guys should join me too!
The only difference is that she can really do it now.
"Just in case, let me ask..."
Sherlock was silent for a long time, then said seriously, "Fox, you should be aware of the risks involved. You really want to do this, not just for fun, right?"
"Of course," Aiwass replied.
"If your plan succeeds, do you know what it means? It won't be as simple as providing water to a city or guiding people away from the Yuantiansi. You will be at odds with the entire Parthian Empire because you will destroy their culture, their traditions, their past, everything they have.
"Those who see you as an enemy might even be the very people you're about to save. You had no grudge against them in the past, but because of this incident, you've forged an irreconcilable feud. That will involve hundreds of fifth- and even sixth-level powerhouses, the hatred and curses of millions and tens of millions of lives, and ubiquitous assassinations and curses. So I want to ask you, Aiwass—is this something you truly want to do, or is it a paranoid delusion engendered by the influence of the Tao?"
There was a bright blue light dancing in Sherlock's pupils.
He wanted to see even a hint of evidence in Aiwass's eyes that he was bewitched by the enchanting crimson... but he saw nothing.
"This is what I want to do. It has nothing to do with the Tao."
Aiwass said each word seriously, "I cannot tolerate the existence of slavery in this world. I cannot tolerate the fact that there are slaves who are happy with this. I cannot tolerate these slaves viewing their enslavers as benefactors and kind people - that is a blasphemy against kindness and goodness."
"Since you are awake... then I will help you."
Sherlock pursed his lips and said seriously, "There's no turning back, Aiwass. Don't do it halfway...if you're going to do it, do it to the end."
"Of course," said Aiwass, who smiled easily, unlike Sherlock, who was in a state of panic. "Don't put too much pressure on yourself. We are not alone—not to mention the support of the Theocracy, and even among the Parthians themselves... there may be some who have awakened.
"Alright, great detective. Come with me to study how to remove the petrification curse."
and……
Aiwass didn't say anything else.
They are not without hatred.
The one who cursed his parents to death was a curse master from the ancient Parthia Kingdom.
Aiwass still remembered the other person's name. One of the reasons for coming to An Xi this time was revenge.
As for the three demons, they left shortly thereafter—they didn't know how to remove the petrification, so keeping them here was pointless. So, at Aiwass's suggestion, Venis instructed them to search for their former master and attack him.
This kind of demon who has just been transformed and is only at the fourth energy level, and does not even have the mark of a serious sin, certainly cannot kill a good master at the sixth energy level.
But it was a warning. It was like bagging a body and throwing it back at the other side's door.
——Tell him that I am here.
I've seen you.
The first one is you.
Update completed!
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(End of this chapter)
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