Chapter 107: Chapter 107

Had he not experienced Morris’s death, Ron might have believed Captain Monte’s words without reservation, because Morris had told him something very similar.

Yet this very Morris, who believed that a Senior Knight possessed enough power to resist death, had inexplicably died not long ago!

Furthermore, it was certain that Morris hadn’t died instantly. He had even had time to dictate his final wishes, which was sufficient to prove that there had been a definite interval between when Morris realized his life was about to end and his actual death.

If a Senior Knight could truly resist death that wasn’t instantly fatal, why had Morris still died?

Why hadn’t he, like the Lord, chosen to linger on for a few years rather than dying ignominiously without even leaving behind the title of Senior Knight?

Ron’s heart was filled with doubt. If a Senior Knight couldn’t resist death, then on what basis had the Lord managed to cling to life for years before recovering? Was it because he had access to other auxiliary healing methods? Or had he perhaps not been as severely injured in the first place?

But regardless, the Lord was about to make a public appearance, making a public appearance in his capacity as a Senior Knight.

Ron felt excitement, nervousness, and profound worry. Beyond the suspicions toward the Lord triggered by Morris’s death, there was also himself. As a transmigrator, he was deeply concerned that the Lord would detect something abnormal about him.

Just because Morris hadn’t noticed didn’t mean the Lord wouldn’t either. The Lord possessed a Transcendent Bloodline, and as the Lord, he was bound to possess mysterious Wizard Legacies. What methods he might have at his disposal, no one could guarantee.

However, Ron hadn’t considered running. He hadn’t yet advanced to Knight. Even if he ran, where could he possibly go?

For now, he could only hope that the Lord wouldn’t pay him any attention, which was probably already unlikely, and at the very least, wouldn’t discover the abnormalities in his identity.

…

As time trickled by, even though the Lord had yet to arrive, the entire Bell Tower Square had descended into an almost frenzied atmosphere.

Everyone voluntarily maintained silence, voluntarily organizing themselves into orderly formations, casting an extraordinary gaze toward the road on the east side of the Bell Tower that extended northward all the way to Sis Castle.

“Hm?”

Although Ron had previously respected the Lord of Sis for daring to implement the rule of law within his territory, after the series of events involving Morris first concealing his advancement and then dying suddenly within a short period, Ron’s impression of the Lord had deteriorated significantly.

At this moment, he naturally wasn’t looking northward with the same fanaticism as the others, waiting for the Lord to appear.

Ron was still meticulously observing the state of the Pollution Secret Patterns in the surrounding space. This was likely his sole trump card for survival, and he couldn’t afford the slightest lapse in vigilance.

But precisely under these circumstances, with the crowd’s emotions at an unprecedented peak of collective fervor, he discovered yet another characteristic of the Pollution Secret Patterns.

If one were to call the normal state of Pollution Secret Patterns, where they gravitated toward Order while simultaneously being repelled by it, “entanglement.”

Then one could entirely argue that those Pollution Secret Patterns entangled with Order had already essentially merged into Order’s carriers, whether humans or artificial creations. Even if they hadn’t merged yet, doing so was merely a matter of time.

Of course, this was under normal circumstances.

If the Radiant Maxims were recited, not only could it purify those Pollution Secret Patterns that were in the process of merging during the entanglement phase, but it could even purge the Pollution Secret Patterns that had already merged into human bodies or artificial creations.

Regarding the expulsion and purification of Pollution Secret Patterns, Ron had gone through several stages:

At first, on the surface of his true Light Orb, he would move the Pollution Secret Patterns, transferring them from his Body Secret Patterns to other locations on the orb’s surface. Back then, he believed that since the Pollution Secret Patterns could be moved, they could certainly be thoroughly expelled.

Later, after repeated failed attempts at expulsion, Ron concluded that purging Pollution Secret Patterns solely through his own power would be extremely difficult, yet he couldn’t find any external method of purification either.

After that came the discovery of the Radiant Maxims, and the verification of this mysterious power’s genuine efficacy, confirming that it could indeed thoroughly purify Pollution Secret Patterns.

But apart from the Radiant Maxims, Ron hadn’t found a single other method capable of thoroughly purifying Pollution Secret Patterns.

Yet now, what was he seeing?

The Pollution Secret Patterns originally entangled around the Territory Guard soldiers were actually being peeled away bit by bit by some force, then vanishing without a trace.

It was almost identical to the latter half of the process by which the Radiant Maxims purified Pollution Secret Patterns.

“This, this…”

On one side was the Lord of Radiance, the True God established through official decree by the Kingdom of Helios; on the other was the petty Lord of a remote frontier territory. Two entities that should have had absolutely no connection to each other were now linked together through the very same phenomenon!

The shock in Ron’s heart at this moment was unimaginable.

At the same time, he also seemed to somewhat understand why these soldiers revered and adored the Lord of Sis so deeply.

Perhaps these soldiers couldn’t observe the departure of the Pollution Secret Patterns as directly as he could, but the sense of relief at the mental level brought about by their leaving was something they could absolutely perceive.

People always instinctively did things that made them feel comfortable, and instinctively avoided things that might cause them discomfort.

For instance, when people saw others yawning, they would yawn too, because doing so relaxed them.

Even while asleep, a person would tuck their feet back under the covers upon sensing cold, or kick the blankets off upon feeling too warm.

The soldiers might not actively revere and adore the Lord of Sis simply because they wanted to feel more relaxed, but soldiers already possessed a natural, subordinate reverence for their Lord.

Once a soldier’s respect faltered or they became disloyal, the entangled Pollution Secret Patterns would increase their mental pressure, thereby forcing them to abandon their prior thoughts of disloyalty and disrespect.

None of this was laid bare on the surface. Rather, it was embedded within the words and deeds of every everyday action, subtly and imperceptibly altering the soldiers’ consciousness.

“Is this the true nature of a Lord in this world?”

Sheltering subjects, delivering them from suffering, and then enjoying their adoration and reverence. This was a positive feedback loop.

But what if the Lord was incompetent? Then perhaps it would become a negative feedback loop.

From this, a conclusion seemed to emerge:

In this world, any territory or Lord that could endure over the long term was inherently positive. The negative ones had long since destroyed themselves.

At this moment, Ron’s suspicion toward the Lord of Sis wavered somewhat, though he didn’t entirely abandon it. After all, as long as something was done with sufficient secrecy, without affecting the hearts of the people, it wouldn’t destabilize Order, nor would it bring about the territory’s ruin.

And Morris’s death, in Ron’s view, was precisely sufficiently secretive. Though there were many suspicious points, the general populace would never notice, and that was enough.

This, in turn, made Ron feel fortunate once more that he hadn’t chosen to reveal to Meredith his knowledge of Morris having achieved the Senior Knight rank. Had he divulged it, and had Meredith been “fishing” for information, he might truly have become fish on the Lord’s chopping block. [1]

…

[1]: “Fish on the chopping block” translates “刀下鱼肉,” a Chinese idiom meaning to be completely at someone’s mercy, helpless and awaiting slaughter.