Chapter 1175
I Could Have Tolerated the Darkness
“I do need your help.”
Eivass nodded. “I can’t create water… The water of the Lord requires burning the lives of slaves to be summoned continuously. In a theoretical state, the lives of four hundred people could provide water for thirty-two thousand people for a year, with a loss rate of about 1.25% annually.”
“That does not sound like much, even lower than Avalon’s mortality rate.”
Sherlock looked at Eivass. “Don’t you ‘dedicate’ them? Isn’t that what you Dedicators love to do?”
“Because it’s not necessary, Sherlock. Isn’t there you?”
Eivass said with a smile, “Compared to them, you are my acquaintance, my good friend. It would be more reasonable for me to dedicate you!”
“…So that’s how it is,” Sherlock’s lips curved slightly upwards, and a faint azure glow flickered in the depths of his pupils. “No wonder you found me this staff… To be honest, did you already anticipate this scene before entering Anxi?”
“Of course,” Eivass said with an innocent look. “I told you long ago, you just didn’t pay attention.”
“I only thought you wanted me to produce water for our convoy. Who knew you wanted to stay as a Lord…”
Realizing he had once again fallen into the fox’s plan and conspiracy without any defense, Sherlock shook his head helplessly and dropped the topic. “How do you plan to govern them? Do you remember what I just said, that even the slaves of Anxi support slavery? How will you persuade them to give it up?”
“I have no intention of persuading them.”
Eivass said gently, his voice becoming peaceful. “I only intend to forgive them—as long as they do not 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 People.”
“What about the slaves? Without slaves, they might be bought off by other Lords.”
Sherlock had already foreseen the future. “These short-sighted people have not received much education. If you pardon them and make them Free People, they will only think they deserve this status. If other city-states try to win them over, they will only identify themselves as Free People, not as former slaves.
And you can’t provide them with any benefits. It will be very easy for other city-states—like Heaven City—to win them over.”
“You also know that it’s easy for Heaven City to win them over… Then why can’t I do it?”
Eivass retorted.
He said meaningfully, “I don’t need to change their way of thinking, nor do I need them to oppose slavery. I only need to turn all slaves into Free People.
“Do you know, Sherlock? Meat is cursed. Once they taste the first piece of meat in their lives, they can never go back… The instinct to crave delicious meat juice will make them never forget that moment. It’s an addictive curse, a poison called ‘hope.’
“‘I could have tolerated the darkness, if I had never seen the sun.’
“If a person has lived in dark underground caves since birth, they will not understand what the sun is, nor what the sky is. If they cannot see light from the very beginning, then not seeing the sun is not an unfortunate thing for them.
“What I am going to do is break this dark earth and drag everyone out to see what the sun is. I won’t care what they do afterward. As long as they can tolerate the Void of darkness, then let them be.
“But I believe more people will become addicted. They will pursue that light at all costs… like moths to a flame.”
Eivass said slowly.
“Interesting! As expected of you, Eivass!”
Hearing Eivass’s words, excitement glittered in Lixia’s eyes—
Even a year ago, she wouldn’t have imagined she could be where she was today.
Shedding her old, dying body and obtaining the young, beautiful, healthy, and strong angel’s body—even escaping the rigid and decaying Avalon and causing havoc in the Ancient Kingdom of Anxi!
She was indeed as Eivass had said… When Lixia was still called Meg, she had already prepared herself for death. The Ascension Ritual she was about to participate in was essentially a self-execution.
It was like a pilgrimage for an aged warrior, or an old adventurer climbing a snow-capped mountain. It wasn’t that they didn’t know the risks, but they couldn’t bear to die in bed.
If they were to die, they would die in their cause, in something meaningful.
If life were a currency, it should at least be spent in a valuable way.
Old Meg couldn’t stand the thought of eventually becoming too old to move, nor of becoming weak and senile. So, while she could still move, she decided to bet everything on participating in the Ascension Ritual—if it succeeded, it succeeded; if it failed, at least she would die decisively.
If one could not burn intensely and shine brightly, it was better to die silently like a knife!
…But after she became Lixia, that dragon-person Child, her thoughts changed.
—It’s good to be alive. A young body is truly wonderful.
Being alive is actually something so hard to let go of… She wanted to continue living, wanted to eat more gourmet food, and travel across more lands. She wanted to arrive in foreign territories as a traveler, not as a warrior or an invader.
Once one has seen the light, they can no longer tolerate the darkness.
In the past, that light was brought to her by Eivass.
And in the future, she would accompany Eivass to bring this light to others.
—Neither a gift, nor charity, not even good deeds.
But like a Child’s innocent “showing off” and “sharing”—
Look, I’m living so comfortably now! You should too!
The only difference is that she could truly do it now.
“Just in case, I’ll ask first…”
Sherlock remained silent for a long time before saying seriously, “Fox, you must know the risks involved. You seriously want to do this, not just out of interest, right?”
“Of course,” Eivass replied.
“If your plan is successfully implemented, do you know what that means? This is not as simple as supplying water to a city or guiding everyone to avoid the Abyss Heavenly Envoys—you will be hostile to the entire Anxi, because you will be destroying their culture, their traditions, their past, their everything.
“Those who see you as an enemy might even be the very people you are about to save; you had no past grudges with them, but because of this, you will have made an irreconcilable and deadly enemy. There will be hundreds of Fifth or even Sixth Tier powerhouses, the hatred and curses of millions, tens of millions of lives, omnipresent assassinations, and curses. So I want to ask you, Eivass—is this something you genuinely want to do from your heart, or is it a paranoid delusion influenced by your Path?”
Azure electrical currents flickered in Sherlock’s pupils.
He wanted to see even a trace in Eivass’s pupils of being tempted by that seductive deep red evidence… but he saw nothing.
“This is what I want to do, and it has nothing to do with my Path,” Eivass said, word by word, seriously. “I cannot tolerate the existence of slaves in this World, nor can I tolerate slaves who are content with it, much less tolerate these slaves who view their enslavers as benefactors and good people—that is blasphemy against benevolence and goodness.”
“Since you are sober… then I will help you,” Sherlock pursed his lips and said seriously, “There’s no turning back now, Eivass. Don’t be half-hearted… see it through to the end.”
“Of course,” unlike Sherlock, who was as if facing a great enemy, Eivass smiled with ease. “Don’t put too much pressure on yourself. We are not alone—not to mention the support of the Church, and even among the Anxi people themselves… there may be those who awaken.
“Alright, great detective. First, accompany me to research how to remove the Petrified Curse.” And…
Eivass had one more thing to say.
They were not without grudges either.
The Curse Masters from the Ancient Kingdom of Anxi were the ones who cursed his parents to death.
Eivass remembered the name of the person. One of the purposes of coming to Anxi this time was also for revenge.
As for the three demons, they had left not long after. They didn’t know how to undo the petrification either, so keeping them here was meaningless. Thus, at Eivass’s signal, Viness had them go find their former Master and attack him.
Demons who had just transformed, at only Fourth Tier, and who perhaps didn’t even have a Mark of Sin, certainly couldn’t kill a Sixth Tier Lord.
But it was a warning. It was like bagging corpses and throwing them back at the entrance of the opponent’s influence.
—Telling him that I have arrived.
I have seen you.
The first one is you.
(End of Chapter)
