The Shepherds Are Dense – Chapter 1197

Chapter 1194
The Great Poet from Avalon

Under Great Chieftain Erlo’s description, Aivass seemed to see an illusion before his eyes.
There were fields and fields of unquenchable flames.
Oases meant for living were destroyed, food was burned, and houses were set ablaze.
People were displaced, constantly driven by demonic flames to new areas. Then, new flames would ignite in their new settlements… People were burned, burned to death, trampled to death, and crushed to death in panicked flight.
Fundamentally, the resource most easily used to extinguish fires – water – was a controlled resource in Anxi that ordinary citizens could not obtain freely. It was “liquid life,” more important than wealth.
No one would willingly give up their water to put out a fire. Not to mention trying to extinguish an already formed fire with one person’s strength and one person’s water… that was simply impossible.
As for extraordinary beings…
The priests of the Ring Heavenly Envoy had no ability to control or extinguish fire, nor did the Curse Masters. As for hunters, thieves, and warriors, apothecaries and witches… none of them did. This land was neither civilized nor intelligent, and it lacked order… thus, there were no Candlemaster priests who could manipulate fire, and almost no mages or alchemists.
It was extremely difficult to put out fires relying on Ritualists alone. Even for the Lord, who had a contract with the Abyss Heavenly Envoy, their water was not inexhaustible, while the flames could ignite at any time.
They had, by sheer coincidence, chosen the path that most stung the Lord.
Even if there was water, oases were not formed in a day. Once those plants were burned, they would die, and who knew how long it would take for the wasteland to become an oasis again. The grass that the grazing cattle and camels ate would be burned, and even the livestock and poultry they raised would be burned to death.
Even if Ritualists could cast fireproof barriers on a small area, there would always be gaps and loopholes.
What kind of logic was there in guarding against a thief for a thousand days?
Flames would burn again and again. These avengers, who swore to give up everything, would rather harm the innocent than make the Lord pay the ultimate price.
The Red would not give up nor stop until the people completely broke down and fled the city.
“They used the lives of free people and slaves as bait, forcing those slave knights and the Lord’s legions to go to the fire scene to save people, only to ambush and kill them… or to completely enrage them, making them chase themselves to unfamiliar places, and then using pre-arranged trap rituals to kill them.”
“Like this, again and again, again and again… The oasis city-states they targeted would be covered by fields and fields of fire-fear that could not be extinguished and no one knew when it would ignite. Until they were slowly worn down and bitten to death by these mad dogs.”
“……”
Hearing this, Aivass pursed his lips.
He fell silent.
Even Aivass himself didn’t know how to comment on this situation.
Undoubtedly, this was not an act of justice. Those free people were all innocent.
Rebelling by harming the innocent… this should never be acknowledged or praised, no matter what.
—But from another perspective, they could only resist the Lord in this way.
Ritualists, Curse Masters, and the scouts and assassins lurking in the shadows… assassinating the Lord was almost impossible. Not to mention, killing the Lord itself was meaningless; only capturing him alive was useful. How many lives would it take to capture the Lord alive amidst such a vast crowd?
The lives lost would be far more than this!
And what Aivass was even more reluctant to admit was…
“…If nothing unexpected happens, they should all be devotees.”
Aivass replied slowly, “Hassan was an accident. If he hadn’t been sent to the Mage Tower, he would have also become a devotee.”
Their behavior patterns all fit the philosophy of the Path of Devotion.
“All beings suffer… I kill all beings, for the benefit of all sentient beings… right?”
Aivass muttered in a low voice.
But Aivass knew clearly… that so far, the Path of Devotion did not have a profession with purely spell-based attacks.
Otherwise, he wouldn’t have embarked on the illegal path of a Demon Scholar in the first place.
It was precisely because the Priest profession lacked combat power that he took the path of a Demon Scholar to fight the Heavenly Envoys back then… otherwise, he would have definitely chosen a pure divine path.
Although he now knew that he had to develop in a balanced way to merge with the Path of Hope, Aivass back then did not know this. In Avalon, where there were “illegal paths,” adventuring and studying demon magic was a dangerous thing. At least, within Aivass’s knowledge, such a profession did not exist.
Did they forcibly develop a new offensive profession for the Path of Devotion?
That was even more impossible. The essence of developing a new profession was to design a complete system for the corresponding Heavenly Envoy or Pillar God through occult knowledge, and then they only needed to sign and grant power… This required a vast amount of knowledge and design ability, talent and merit in the corresponding path, and favor in front of the gods.
A group of slaves whose homes were destroyed, they clearly had none of that.
However, with the Red causing trouble, the city would definitely strictly investigate combustible materials and guard against ignition points. And in a sparsely populated area like an oasis city-state, fires did not spread that easily.
To make fires that instantly ignited and were difficult for extraordinary beings to extinguish… the only answer was that there were extraordinary beings among them.
Even if they weren’t professionals…
…They should be inheritors.
—At that moment, Aivass thought of Cardinal Belisarius.
He probably knew who had given these people their power.
Cardinal Belisarius himself had an extremely extreme and warlike personality. He was called the “Ice Heart King” by the Anxi people and was regarded as a mysterious guardian god in the depths of the desert.
He claimed that if anyone asked him for wisdom, he would give it to them. Whether it was about occult knowledge, knowledge of the outside world, or the desire to escape the desert, he would offer his help.
This inheritance of igniting fires should have been granted to them by him.
“Oh, that’s right!”
The Great Chieftain suddenly remembered something and said, “Hassan brought back a song this time, reportedly written by a great poet from Avalon.”
“…A song?”
Aivass was somewhat surprised.
“In the desert, songs are more powerful than words, my King.”
Erlo said.
…This was normal.
After all, songs themselves were extraordinary abilities of the Path of Beauty, capable of communicating with the soul. It even belonged to the domain of the Song Heavenly Envoy—the Song Heavenly Envoy was a Mirthful one, and it was natural for him to grant some “miracles.”
“How does that song go? Do you still remember the lyrics?”
Aivass himself was from Avalon and had read too many poems. But for a moment, he still couldn’t recall who the “great poet from Avalon” was.
“Of course, my King.”
This Harpy Great Chieftain said confidently, “I won’t boast, but we Harpies are good at singing.”
Immediately, she began to sing a loud and melodious song.
She truly did not exaggerate… it was a wild song full of charm.
But as soon as Aivass heard the lyrics, he couldn’t help himself—
“Let the scorching sun forge my spine, I will not speak.
“I will not say how much I yearn for the sweet dew.
“Rather, let every grain of sand chant this poem in unison:
“One day, I will break free from these leaden shackles;
“I will rise with the smoke, free as the wind;
“I will have my shining day, brilliant as the stars, radiant as the moonlight.
“God said, ‘You cannot have the dew and the longing for the dew at the same time,’
“Then taste my arrogance.”
Huh?
…Huh?
…Is this the great poet?
Prince Lloyd??
Aivass clearly remembered that this was a rebellious poem written with high spirits by Prince Lloyd when he attempted to usurp the throne back then!
What made Aivass unable to hold back was that at the time, Prince Lloyd, to avoid being censored… his excuse was, “This is a poem written for the slaves of the Ancient Kingdom of Anxi.”
—And now it was actually being used in a proper place!