Chapter 192: The Failed Demon King
The Demon King brings food enough to sate hunger and buildings to ward off the cold.
The Demon King ignores the oppression suffered by the people and the hatred they accumulate.
"After being defeated time and time again by irresistible power, we learned to silently grow accustomed to despair."
An old Sarkaz stood upon the ruins and shouted, "But we must convince ourselves that this despair was not caused by our own hands. We need to find a Root for this despair within the life we can see!"
"And so, in this era, the Root of evil is clear for all to see—Babel."
Groups of Sarkaz gathered around him.
"It was Babel that drew in foreign enemies; it was Babel's medicine that accelerated the worsening of our Oripathy; Babel's education has ground away our will to resist..."
He cried out at the top of his lungs, "It was Babel that bewitched the Demon King, attempting to deceive us into giving up the collection of blood debts from foreign races. Babel is the Root of our despair!"
"I see some of you nodding. Presumably, your parents told you the same thing, didn't they? Alarmist words are often enshrined as truth by those mired in despair."
Suddenly, his tone shifted. "But is that the truth? Was our life any better when foreigners never came near Kazdel?"
Looking at the gathered crowd, he smiled with satisfaction. "Do not be deceived by any rhetoric. Think, witness, and reach your own answers."
"Yes, leaving Kazdel is difficult. The vast land outside is full of danger; it is hard for us to even safely reach the next national border. But I will still leave this place. I will go to Leithanien, to Columbia, to Casimir—to any place where I can find a way to change the status quo!"
"And then I will return. I will teach those methods to you, to all the Sarkaz children..."
Before he could finish, a flying stone struck his forehead. Blood flowed steadily down.
"Traitor!"
"Lackey!"
"Go die!"
Debris continued to fly toward the old Sarkaz standing on the ruins, but he neither dodged nor hid.
He merely looked at his clansmen before him with a sense of desolation.
A few well-equipped Sarkaz gradually gathered as well.
They were people from the Military Commission.
There was no doubt that the old Sarkaz's end would not be a pleasant one.
After all... Babel had already been forced to leave Kazdel.
Now, this was the territory of the Military Commission.
But in the next moment, a pure white figure appeared before the old Sarkaz.
A stone struck her shoulder.
The Sarkaz below were all stunned.
"No... I..." Looking at the stone he had thrown hitting the Demon King, a Sarkaz teenager stood at a total loss.
"Your Highness... I..." He didn't know what to say.
The men from the Military Commission silently shifted their targets.
"You haven't eaten yet, have you?" Theresa looked at the terrified child before her.
"No... Your Highness..." The Sarkaz boy stumbled over his words.
"Here, I have a piece of flatbread." Theresa took out her own lunch, a piece of bread that couldn't be more ordinary. "No matter what you intend to do, filling your stomach is the most important thing."
"Disperse, everyone. Nothing happened here."
Without those words from her, neither the bread nor the child would have fared well.
The surrounding Sarkaz dispersed obediently.
Including that dazed child.
"Your Highness..." Behind her, the old Sarkaz on the ruins was moved to tears.
"I remember you." Theresa turned to look at him. She released her Arts gently, and the wounds on the old Sarkaz gradually healed. "Ah, Kalu. You were among the first batch of teachers at this school. It's been a hundred years... you've grown so old."
"Yes, Your Highness, I've grown so old." Kalu gave a smile that looked more painful than crying. He looked at the ruins beneath his feet. "The school... is gone too."
"The things you just said... were very good," Theresa sighed. "Perhaps it's a good thing to go out and see the world."
"I'm too old, Your Highness," Kalu murmured. "Too old... I should have died along with this school."
"Even if I go out, will I ever be able to return?"
"How will you know if you don't try?" Theresa gave an encouraging smile.
"Yes, I will go," Kalu looked at the merciful Demon King before him, just as he had a hundred years ago when the Demon King led them to build this school. "It's just... Your Highness, our Hero, our King... in your heart, is there still a future for the Sarkaz?"
"There will be. Trust me." Theresa lowered her head. "There will be."
"Then I'm off, Your Highness." The old Sarkaz gave a solemn salute and slowly walked down from the ruins.
"Take care."
"You too, take care, Your Highness."
Watching the old Sarkaz's hunched back gradually disappear, Theresa looked at the ruins before her again.
'Your Highness, they said we can get potatoes for attending class!'
'I don't understand, Your Highness. Are there any simpler stories?'
'You said that when you were our age, you even went outside with the mercenaries!'
'There's a deep sea between Sargon and Iberia? What's a ship? They forbid us from going on deck? Why do people vomit?'
'The towers of Leithanien? Are they just like our furnaces?'
'There are people willing to be kind to us? You're lying! My dad said no one out there would treat us like that!'
'That's not right! Don't the teachers here treat us well?'
The students here came and went. In the past, she always had a way to draw the children back to this classroom.
But now, forget the students—even the classroom was a pile of rubble.
Babel, her former ideal, had also moved far away from this city.
It all started with an 'accident'.
An agitated teacher accidentally killed an agitated father. Subsequently, he was surrounded by an angry crowd and fell into the dust of the streets.
Civilians, Babel, mercenaries, and perhaps even the Military Commission—more and more people were dragged into it.
The dust raised there spread from one corner of the city to another...
Until the outer walls of the Babel office were shattered by artillery fire of unknown origin, and the Royal Court Army finally suppressed the chaos that had caused such an uproar.
Starting with an accident and ending with a shell, Babel was no longer welcome and had to evacuate Kazdel.
"I remember this classroom," Theresis appeared behind her. "Back then, your smile was truly happy."
"Not forced like it is now."
"Neither of us had a choice, did we?" Theresa did not turn around.
"...Victoria's movements are very strange," Theresis continued. "They are in a great hurry."
"You know I won't agree with the Military Commission's methods," Theresa sighed.
"And you also know that most Sarkaz agree with the Military Commission's stance," Theresis said bitterly. "It's not up to me."
At the very least, by being the leader himself, he could control the scale of the Military Commission's actions. Without him, the actions taken by the various Royal Courts, each with their own ulterior motives, would bring about unpredictable disasters.
"I know. I know everything, brother," Theresa showed a hint of vulnerability. "Neither of us is our own master."
"..." Theresis did not answer.
Yes, they were not their own masters.
The two said nothing more, simply standing quietly upon the ruins.
...
"Where did this quack come from?!"
On the outskirts of the Kazdel region, in an unnamed Sarkaz village.
Warfarin looked at the little shrimp in front of her, absolutely fuming.
"Treating Oripathy? You?" She looked down at the tiny person, then tilted her chin. "Heh."
"Little girl, how old are you? Have you studied basic medicine? How many papers on Oripathy have you read? What academic achievements have you published?"
She was only wandering through this area temporarily. After treating the villagers on a whim, she had found a house to settle in for the time being.
But today, she heard that a group of mercenaries returning to Kazdel had brought a Miracle Doctor who could treat Oripathy.
So she had rushed to the center of the village at full speed.
And she saw the Miracle Doctor.
Wait, is she even ten years old?
For the first time, Warfarin felt like she couldn't keep up with the times. Do scammers these days not even bother to dress the part anymore?
Looking at the famous Warfarin—the Blood Addict, the well-known student of the Bridge University—Xia Yu was also quite helpless.
Well, at least in terms of medical skills, the Warfarin in front of her was a proper doctor.
At least more proper than Xia Yu.
She was just an amateur. Setting aside Incantations, the medical knowledge Bailu inherently possessed was difficult to apply on Terra.
The Xianzhou was, after all, a high-tech civilization. The medicines Bailu usually handled were basically industrial products, making it hard for her to find local substitutes in this world.
"A Vampire?" Seeing Warfarin look down on the Miracle Doctor, the surrounding mercenaries all picked up their weapons.
If it were anyone else, they wouldn't be this agitated. It was mainly because the opponent was a Vampire.
"Oh, Little Bailu, someone is questioning your medical skills," The Doctor stoked the fire, enjoying the chaos. "Go on, give her a lesson!"
Hearing this, Charlotte helplessly picked up Amiya and subtly moved further away from The Doctor.
Sigh. She hadn't intended to enter Kazdel; she only planned to escort The Doctor to the vicinity of Kazdel. But plans change. Even though these people seemed friendly, she still couldn't feel at ease about The Doctor.
"Then let's have a lesson," Xia Yu snapped her fingers coolly. Golden Light emanated from the large vehicle behind her, directly enveloping the dozen or so severely ill Sarkaz in front.
Before long, the light faded, and these Sarkaz were greeted with a new lease on life.
"Wait, this is..." Warfarin's eyes widened. She rolled up a patient's sleeve, and Originium Crystals clattered to the ground. "How is this possible?!"
"The Originium Crystals actually just... fell off?"
She snapped her head up. "What about inside the body? What about those organs that were undergoing originium-transformation?"
"They turned back into flesh and blood," Xia Yu said with a smile. "What else?"
As she spoke, she glanced at The Doctor beside her.
The Doctor simply shrugged and said nothing.
"A Miracle Doctor!" Warfarin lunged forward, grabbing Xia Yu's hand with an intense look in her eyes. "How did you do it?"
This was treating Oripathy!
What? You're asking about medical skill?
Heh, as long as the patient can be cured, I don't care if it's Arts or medicine!
"Simply put, I don't know," Xia Yu smiled at her. "These aren't my Arts."
"They're just things I've borrowed."
"Do you want to know?"
Warfarin deeply regretted answering "yes."
Thus began her miserable career of working for others.
If Xia Yu ever heard Warfarin's future complaints, she would only say, 'Don't blame me.'
'Even without me, Warfarin, you wouldn't have escaped.'
'At least over a hundred years later, you're still the one leading Rhodes Island.'
"Babel, huh..." Warfarin was naturally lured onto the vehicle. "They invited me once too."
She frowned. "It's just... sigh, the relationship between the Vampire Royal Court and Babel is, well, how should I put it... not exactly harmonious."
"Although I'm already considered a recluse, if I were to actually join Babel..."
At this point, she shrank her neck.
She didn't want to offend the Sanguinarch, and Babel didn't hold much attraction for her.
'Oh, so Warfarin joins later?' Xia Yu thought to herself.
"But if you're asking me where their headquarters is, I do know," Warfarin looked to the west. "That ship called Rhodes Island isn't too far from here."
"That's wonderful," Xia Yu smiled. She wasn't exactly lacking Babel's coordinates—Ascalon was still here, after all.
But being able to abduct a Warfarin was also very good.
While they were talking, The Doctor in the back seat was closely observing the Bailu in front of him.
How should she put it? She was certain that the visitor from the stars had not laid out the entire situation.
But that was understandable; you don't pour your heart out to a casual acquaintance.
It was just... do powerhouses of that galactic level... truly exist?
And a planetary computer—if they had that...
The Doctor's heart was far from calm.
The other's method of treating Oripathy gave her a bad premonition. For local Originium Arts to touch the secrets deep within Originium was extremely difficult. But if it was an alien whose background was unknown...
Heaven knew what shocking things she could pull out.
So if someone said she had achieved this by touching that secret of Originium, The Doctor would certainly believe it.
Originium collects life forms and converts them into information to be stored within the internal sea of Originium. This information... is the foundation of the Originium Project.
Originally, after being awakened, she had held a sliver of hope. But seeing this scene, The Doctor knew that as long as this person existed, the threat to the Originium Project would never disappear.
If you really restore the information collected by Originium bit by bit, what happens next?
What happens when the Observer arrives?
What will civilization rely on to survive then?
The Doctor sighed.
She would find an opportunity to have a proper talk with her.
As for resolving the hidden danger directly?
Well, she hadn't considered that. Mostly because she couldn't win.
Everyone had seen the situation that day; the Shadow she summoned could actually throw two massive Greatswords like small mountains.
Furthermore, The Doctor suspected that winning wouldn't matter anyway. It was obvious that Bailu didn't possess this healing ability herself; she had merely borrowed it from someone else.
Getting more interesting.
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T/N: If you spot mistranslation, do tell me.
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Shilling time!
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