Chapter 143 - 143 Their Futures (Part 2) (1)
Compared to the previous times William came here where martial law was enforced everywhere, Thorn City’s streets had basically returned to normal. At the very least, there were no longer black-armored Bramble Guards patrolling the streets and searching for Moon Realm believers, causing everyone to panic.
Perhaps it was because April Fool’s Day was coming; merchants selling bamboo slices and hard paper could be seen everywhere in the market. Many children in dirty and ragged clothes held a few crumpled copper coins in their hands and bought raw materials to make a beggar’s crown from vendors.
To children who lived in the slums at the bottom of the hierarchy, April Fool’s Day or Beggar King’s Day was one of the few festivals that they could call their own in a year. On this day, as long as they wore a woven beggar’s crown, they could openly go on the streets and ask those who looked rich for food and money without having to worry about being rejected or retaliated.
In fact, to maintain order in the city on April Fool’s Day, the nobles in many places on the Vic Continent would even send people to distribute food to the slums on that day.
!!
William couldn’t help but feel a strong sense of mockery.
The Moon Realm Void Sovereigns were undoubtedly a great enemy of all sentient creatures in Currere, but Their existence indirectly contributed to improvements in Currere.
After all, who would have thought that Valk’s joke used to mock power back then could evolve into a festival that brought some benefits to the poor over the millennia?
As a world where individual strength could open up a huge chasm, this world didn’t have the basic conditions to launch a revolution from the bottom up. The Vic Continent had a historical record of more than 12,000 years since the Black Iron Age, but during that period, nearly 8,000 years had passed with humanity’s political structure being the most primitive and barbaric tribal system.
After all, the rule of families that inherited divine blood and witchcraft secrets was unshakable, so they naturally lacked the motivation to change their lifestyles. Even now, the use of extraordinary power had largely escaped the reliance on bloodline inheritance, and the system of magic-related knowledge was no longer a secret and could be taught publicly. However, absolute power was still in the hands of the few strong.
It was precisely because of this that the entire continent’s political system was still in the middle ages. Most rulers weren’t that concerned about the living conditions of their subjects—compared to the threat they might pose if they rebelled, the threat of him being chosen as a joke by Absurdity Jester on April Fool’s Day and swapping identities with an unknown beggar was even greater.
It was so severe that they suddenly felt merciful and were willing to lower themselves to provide solace to the poor in the slums.
That wasn’t all. Back in the era when the Moon Realm was within reach, the various kingdoms on the Vic Continent had always maintained an extremely restrained and conservative attitude toward war because they were afraid that war would increase the power of the King of Deathblood, the war overlord, and in turn, reflected back on Currere.
However, after the Doomsday Watchers sealed the last Moon Realm rift on the continent and theoretically severed the Moon Realm’s influence on the Vic Continent, the countries that had lost their worries had their interest in war ignited, causing the Kings Era to descend into chaos for more than 200 years.
From this perspective, the King of Deathblood, the Void Sovereign who symbolized war, violence, and blood, was the greatest guardian of peace in Currere.
The damage caused by the Currere mortals’ malice wasn’t inferior to the Void Sovereigns. At the very least, the Void Sovereigns hadn’t been able to kill Duvey, the second Judge.
William sighed with emotion.
As the name suggested, Castellan meant the caretaker of Twilight Fortress. As a Doomsday Watcher, Duvey was even more qualified than William himself. The protagonist in-game had inherited the will of the previous Presiding Judge. The first time he came to the Twilight Fortress, Duvey was one of the last two people left amongst the Doomsday Watchers.
In the early stages of the game’s story, he and another person were newcomer guides for William. Duvey was in charge of supervising and operating everything in the Twilight Fortress and initiating the main plot points. The other person was in charge of initiating the main plot points relating to the entire continent for the collection of Judgment equipment. During the mid-game, the developers would maliciously choose a person to die under the Moon Realm’s first invasion based on the player’s progress.
As for this oldest Doomsday Watcher who had survived three Moon Realm wars and fought Lunar Monsters all his life, he ultimately died at the hands of his people in Currere.
But who killed him?
When William asked this question, Blake said that he didn’t know either.
In terms of motive, Lionheart Byron—who had always met with objection by the other party—had the most reason to do so. And in terms of ability, Shadow Koos was the person most capable of doing so.
Not only that, but other than the internal members of Judgment, countless factions had reasons and abilities to do this in the complicated situation of the Vic Continent back then. It was even to the extent that… although the Moon Realm had been sealed off from Currere, the Void Sovereigns could manipulate the remaining believers in Currere to complete the assassination.