"""

    "Little Baskin, what are you talking about? Isn''t that your home?"

    Oh, so that was "my" home.

    Leon gazed wistfully at the small house, memorized its exact location, then shook his head indifferently, and said in a very light yet resolute voice, "That''s not my home, it''s just a house where I live."

    "..."

    Unaware that he had been baited, upon hearing "Little Baskin''s" response, the middle-aged man''s heart involuntarily quivered slightly, a wave of hollow pain surging up.

    For Little Baskin, that was no longer his home... and the current Kingdom was also no longer his kingdom...

    *No matter how much change and effort I put in, what was meant to happen had already happened,* he thought. *Wherever the world goes from here, whether the result is good or bad, it no longer concerns me.*

    *My family is long gone, my regrets doomed to remain unresolved,* he reflected. *So for me, who no longer has a "home," is this Kingdom not just an empty house as well?*

    "That''s true..."

    After Leon''s phrase "that''s not a home" left seven or eighty bloody holes on his heart, the middle-aged man sat down beside him and silently let the night wind blow.

    ...

    After a short while, the "homeless youth" broke the silence first, gazing at the lights in the valley, he softly asked, "Leader... In the end, can we really change this country, so the tragedies that everyone suffers won''t be repeated?"

    "..."

    "We can."

    Though he didn''t really believe this himself, the middle-aged man, who still needed the Rebels, nodded affirmatively, earnestly deceiving, "This country is beyond saving, as long as we keep trying, we will eventually sweep it into the trash heap and then on the ruins..."

    "Leader."

    Interrupting the middle-aged man''s words somewhat impolitely, Leon said in a somewhat confused voice, "After you confirmed that I wasn''t qualified, I thought seriously about how I could change the Kingdom without that kind of magical ability.

    "But I found that I couldn''t seem to do anything, even with you leading us, we couldn''t do anything."

    In the middle-aged man''s somewhat shocked expression, "Little Baskin" spoke at a steady pace, "Although I haven''t read much, looking at the situation in the upper and lower houses, I feel that the politics those big figures talk about is, in essence, convincing more people to believe in you, to agree with your judgment, to be willing to listen to you, and thus gather enough strength to change the status quo.

    "Yet what we''ve done over these years is to make enemies everywhere... The nobles hate us, the merchants fear us, the royal family hunts us, even ordinary people are distancing themselves from us, only when forced by pain to the point of no return do they consider us a last resort.

    "Leader, do you really believe that this can change the country? And even if you succeed in the end, how can you ensure that what rises from the ruins is the future you speak of, and not another doomed Kingdom heading towards decay from the start?"

    "..."

    After hearing these words that stabbed like knives into his heart, the middle-aged man abruptly stood up, scrutinizing "Little Baskin" in disbelief, then cautiously demanded, "Who taught you to say this? Or... are you not Little Baskin?"

    "?"

    "Leader? What are you talking about?"

    Hearing his words, "Little Baskin" looked up in surprise, baffled, "If I''m not Little Baskin, then who am I? And these words weren''t taught by anyone; I thought of them myself."

    At this point, Leon sighed deeply and briefly mentioned listening to past stories at Uncle Owen''s house. Following that, with a "confused look," he gazed at the middle-aged man, speaking with longing, "By the way, Leader, since you can be our leader, naturally you are the one who knows the most among us. There are some things I''d like to ask you.

    "Uncle Owen and... my father, they were right to fight for the country, and the Kingdom gave a generous pension, so it''s not wrong, my mother and I did nothing wrong either, so why did it end like this?

    "My mother has to die in the hospital, my father became a worthless man, I have to endure the past of being beaten every day, and Uncle Owen, who tried his best to help my family, has to feel guilty for a lifetime... Can you tell me why these things happen?

    "Also, under your leadership, apart from being able to break things everywhere, because we don''t even dare to show our faces and are stuck in this small valley, do we really have the ability to change all this?"

    "..."

    ... Sear?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    *Could Little Baskin be real?*

    Mumbling incoherently in response and hastily escaping the high cliffs after a barrage of soul-searching questions dispelled his doubts yet left his mind reeling, the middle-aged man wandered aimlessly back home in the night.

    *Why did I go out to talk with him? Wouldn''t it have been better to just leave? What were those questions he asked? Why couldn''t I answer even one of them?*

    *And just from discovering he lacked the Talent to become something extraordinary, could Little Baskin think of so many things? I''ve obviously been through so much in my past life,* he mused bitterly, *but why can''t I figure anything out? Are differences between people really this big?*

    Carrying a belly full of messy questions, he staggered to his home, ready to push the door open when suddenly his expression turned alert, and he looked towards the nearby large tree.

    "Who''s there?"

    "Leader, it''s me..."

    Under his cold gaze, a man with a bloated figure and flushed cheeks, smelling strongly of alcohol, sheepishly stepped out from behind the tree, shooting him an awkward grin.

    Old Owen?

    After slightly furrowing his brows, the middle-aged man relaxed his guard a bit, asking curiously, "What are you doing here so late instead of resting? Do you have something urgent?"

    "Actually... it''s nothing urgent... I just wanted to ask if you could use that watch to test Little Baskin again."

    Presenting a hair he retrieved from the drinking table with both hands, the fat uncle, now much soberer, explained with a slightly pleading expression, "Leader, Little Baskin carried a big barrel of oil all by himself during the day, he was already tired then, and he suffered beatings these past days, lacking proper sleep, maybe he wasn''t in the best condition, and just barely missed meeting your standard.

    "That kid didn''t say much the whole day after failing your test, even tonight, although he hates when others drink, he took a couple of sips himself and has been distracted ever since. I''m a bit worried about him.

    "Leader, could you possibly test him again? What if he passes this time?"

    "..."

    *So it''s because of this; you truly see him as your son...*

    Looking at the hair in the fat uncle''s hand, the middle-aged man couldn''t help but shake his head helplessly.

    "Owen, this test isn''t one of those where the results drop because you didn''t get enough sleep or just exercised intensely... hmm..."

    At this point, seeing the uncle''s imploring gaze, the middle-aged man hesitated slightly, recalling Little Baskin''s peculiar questions, showing a trace of uncertainty in his eyes.

    "Alright."

    After pondering for a bit, he, surprisingly to himself, nodded, taking the black hair from the uncle''s hand and lightly rubbed it on the side of the wristwatch.

    "Kr-chk~"

    Under his operation, the noise of gears meshing sounded again, the watch soon "opened its mouth" and swallowed the hair, vigorously "chewing" it.

    "Owen, though I''m willing to test again, you shouldn''t hope too much."

    As the watch began its evaluation, the middle-aged man gently reminded him, "This device measures not just the body but leans heavily on aspects of mind and will, and Little Baskin did fall short in these areas, so even retesting probably still..."

    "Click, click, click, click, click, click."

    Watching as the pointer, without even a slight wobble, hit right against the six crisp collisions, all moved to the far right, firmly locking in place, in fact, trying to move even further right, the middle-aged man''s eyes instantly bulged, sharply inhaling a breath of cold air.

    "What??????"

    """