Chapter 99: Chapter 99

Actually, if they were to talk about emotional ties, the feelings between Ron and Morris weren’t that deep. After all, at his core, Ron was a transmigrator, though he was indeed grateful for Morris’s help.

But if that were all, he would at most feel sad for a while over Morris’s death; it wouldn’t be something difficult to accept.

After all, this world was so dangerous and full of unexpected accidents. Even Ron himself couldn’t guarantee that he would still be alive the next day, so what guarantee did Morris have to surely survive?

But Morris wasn’t just an apprentice instructor who had helped Ron; he was also the territory’s only Senior Knight after the Lord.

It wouldn’t be surprising for Apprentice Instructor Morris to die, but for Senior Knight Morris to die was simply too difficult to accept.

Ron didn’t know whether he was unable to accept Morris’s death because “with Senior Knight Morris dead, the territory is in danger, which in turn makes himself dangerous,” or if it was simply the instinctive suspicion of the people and events around him that came with being a transmigrator.

…

That night, Ron tossed and turned. This was not only because he was currently in the training ground and didn’t want to withdraw his consciousness to return to his true form while surrounded by Knights, but also because Morris’s death left him with a profound sense of insecurity.

Early the next morning, he found Monte and asked him face to face: “Captain Monte, had you known all along that Instructor Morris had sacrificed his life?”

Monte hesitated for a moment before giving his response: “I only heard about it from the others yesterday morning. The reason I didn’t tell you was out of concern that this matter would affect you, thereby interfering with your intuitive judgment.”

“…”

Ron was momentarily speechless. Well, that counted as a reason. He just hoped it wasn’t a gag order from the higher-ups, though that possibility was slim; after all, he now knew of Morris’s death anyway.

Seeing Ron’s silence, Monte misunderstood and began to console him: “From the moment each of us joins the Territory Guard, we have been prepared to die in battle for the territory. Morris died a worthy death, and his family will be well taken care of. If you still feel saddened, just look after his family more in the future!”

“I will.”

Ron had no hesitation regarding this, and at the same time, he asked about the cause of Morris’s death. “Captain Monte, how did Instructor Morris die?”

“He and his teammates encountered an ambush by two Senior Knights among the cultists while out on patrol. During the battle, he was struck by the mind-bewitching ability of an Evil God Artifact and was killed by the enemy. When the reinforcement team that received the signal arrived, those two Senior Knights had already vanished.”

“What about his teammates?” Ron asked again.

“Fortunately, his teammates are all still alive. If the reinforcement team had been any later, not a single one of them might have survived.”

Monte’s description gave Ron a deeper understanding of the details surrounding Instructor Morris’s death, yet his heart was still filled with doubts.

He knew that Morris had already achieved the Senior Knight rank and possessed a Transcendent Weapon. Even in a two-on-one fight, he should have been fully capable of holding out until the reinforcement team arrived.

If he also had his teammates supporting him with a Battle Formation, it wouldn’t have been impossible for them to suppress the two enemies. This style of combat was admittedly difficult to sustain, as teammates would struggle to continuously keep up with the combat rhythm of a Senior Knight, but to reiterate the same point:

Delaying until the reinforcement team arrived would have been no problem at all.

Instructor Morris himself had even said that with just two squads, they could attempt to kill those two Senior Knights.

With only one squad, there was no reason for them to be completely stripped of their ability to resist!

In the final analysis, it seemed all the problems were concentrated on the “Evil God Artifact” Monte had mentioned. Setting aside whether it was actually an Evil God Artifact or a Wizard Legacy, could a Senior Knight truly have no resistance to it whatsoever?

Furthermore, if such an artifact truly existed, why hadn’t it been used in previous attacks? Or rather, it had been used, but he just didn’t know about it?

Ron didn’t know much about Evil God Artifacts or Wizard Legacies, and for the time being, he couldn’t judge what the actual truth of the matter was. But judging from Monte’s explanation, everything seemingly, supposedly, made sense.

It was just that there was still one question: did Monte, or rather the territory’s leadership, actually know that Morris had achieved the Senior Knight rank?

Ron clearly remembered that Morris had confided in him the fact that he had achieved the Senior Knight rank. He had also mentioned that he would find a suitable opportunity to announce it publicly, asking Ron to keep it a secret for the time being.

So, when exactly was this suitable opportunity?

And what was the purpose of concealing it?

Were these factors related to Morris’s death?

Numerous questions swirled in Ron’s mind, but he rationally refrained from directly interrogating Monte. Morris’s death was shrouded in mystery, and it might even concern the safety of everyone in the entire territory. These questions had to be considered carefully.

If the concealment of various information during the previous trial outside the territory had cast a shadow of doubt over the Lord of Sis for Ron, then now, because of Morris’s death, he had truly begun to suspect him.

Of course, it was purely suspicion; Ron didn’t have a single shred of evidence to prove that there was a problem with the Lord.

Furthermore, he couldn’t confide this suspicion to anyone else, because the Lord of Sis was deeply loved by the territorial subjects. Had it not been for Morris’s incident, even Ron himself would have held him in the highest regard.

This was because the Lord had established a rule of law in the territory that far exceeded its era. Regardless of the true reason behind this, at least the territorial subjects of Sis Territory that Ron saw lived here very freely and comfortably.

Sis Territory did indeed allow, and even encourage, its subjects to offer opinions on the territory’s various administrative policies. But if someone were to question the Lord’s own character or motives, the one raising the questions might instantly find themselves standing in opposition to everyone else.

This was human instinct rejecting any threat to their inherent, stable way of life.

Questioning the Lord wouldn’t immediately change everyone’s life, but it carried the underlying potential to do so.

The subjects didn’t want the Lord to be a bad person; they hoped the Lord would forever be exactly as they envisioned him, so they instinctively rejected any doubts about him.

But Ron, this outsider, was very clear on one point: true rule of law meant that everyone was subject to the law, including the Lord. Yet the current situation in Sis Territory was that the Lord stood above the law.

The rule of law and peace currently enjoyed in Sis Territory was essentially charity bestowed upon the subjects by the Lord. As long as he was unwilling to provide it anymore, he could take it back at any time, and the subjects would find it incredibly difficult to rebel.

Could the rule of law truly be maintained solely by relying on external pressure?

No matter how powerful the external force, they would eventually encounter an unreliable Lord. To expect a Lord’s descendants to be as wise and enlightened as their predecessors was impossible.

A single misstep could very well cost the lives of everyone in the entire territory.

This was the judgment Ron had made after gaining a deep understanding of Sis Territory’s current situation.

Under these circumstances, was it truly necessary to revere a classical era Lord as a saint?