CHAPTER 165: CHAPTER 150: AS AN EVIL GOD’S FOLLOWER

Ave suddenly felt like a rebellious young girl.

When everyone was urging her through letters to return to the imperial capital, she wanted to stay at the Empire’s border and pursue a goal that seemed almost impossible to achieve; but now, with the King’s death, the capital was rife with undercurrents, Valerie Tutor advised her to stay at the border and not to return, yet she began to have thoughts of returning to the capital.

"We have to plan carefully, we need some strategy."

Ethan’s response surprised Ave a bit, she quietly said, "I can go back by myself, it’s very dangerous there..."

She lowered her head, stealing a glance at Ethan.

Deep down, she hoped he would accompany her back, for this person had many clever ideas, a special magic power that always brought hope, but she also vaguely remembered Ethan mentioning that he didn’t like dealing with nobles.

Moreover, when Ethan suggested that they were a team, she was indeed moved.

"Hmm? What do you mean? Does the capital not welcome someone like me from the countryside?"

Ethan asked half-jokingly.

Ave still had her head down, but the golden hairs atop her head straightened up—if it weren’t for limited movement range, they seemed to be about to pounce on him.

"Brother, my dear brother!"

The golden hair seemed to be expressing such a message.

Ave’s mood settled down, she wished to linger in this harmonious atmosphere for a moment, until Lindong’s somewhat cold voice interrupted this harmony, "Indeed, the capital does not welcome countryside folks; you’re likely to be discriminated against there."

"Who dares discriminate against him!"

Ave blurted out impulsively, realizing her lapse, she lowered her head again.

"Before discussing these issues, I have a new discovery, Ave, this may be related to you."

Ethan’s tone suddenly became serious, upon noticing Ave’s unusual reaction towards Viola, he realized that the plan of the unknown Witch might not be that simple.

The Choir member was precisely the one Ave was most familiar with, coupled with the Chief Priest Mary who bore a striking resemblance to Ave... he couldn’t believe it was merely coincidence.

He said, "Perhaps Chief Priest Mary is you, or in other words, the Margaret Clan’s ancestor. ’The Scarlet Plague’ mentions how she depended on her sister since childhood, the resulting cause being war; her manners and speech bear traces of nobility, which vagrants can’t access, and she’s also subjected to Holy Word Art, the Church for some reason sealed her emotions."

Many details were omitted in ’The Scarlet Plague,’ Ethan thought this was Old Ba’s most evil aspect.

Old Ba broke the seal of Holy Word Art by some means, thus the emotions accumulated over years flooded over Mary like a tide, she became a drowning person, the only straw to clutch at was the Evil God’s whispers.

This gave Ethan a new understanding of Old Ba; compared to forcing submission through forceful means, He seemed more inclined to dismantling humans’ psychological defenses from within—everyone He targeted suffered misfortune over multiple generations, destined to experience the deepest despair.

Ethan felt the main reason was that Old Ba was simply too idle.

His true form was isolated in some level of the contamination zone, where there was nothing except Him, and everything happening in the real world was like an unceasingly rolling performance to Him, He could intervene at some key points, treating some ’actors’ on stage like puppets.

These ’actors’ became His God’s chosen ones.

When Ethan understood the significance of God’s chosen ones to Old Ba, he faintly knew of their ’script.’

In Old Ba’s envisioned future, this was a play of the Empire’s collapse, one of His greatest pleasures.

"Everything we learned in the contamination zone was also planned by that unknown Witch, including your encounter with Viola and the identity of Chief Priest Mary."

Ethan said, "Teacher, you were right, she is indeed a troublesome enemy."

The Witch subtly outlined two paths for them.

One, is Viola perishes in the contamination zone, and the infuriated royal family and the Church deploy the Golden Fleet to Ximu Town, thus starting the war.

The other, is guiding them back to the capital, Ethan predicted that the ancient technology mastered by the Margaret Clan, and the relationship between Chief Priest Mary and the Margaret Clan, might become the fuse to overthrow the Empire.

No matter which direction the situation develops, it’s something the other party is eager to see.

All the answers to the puzzles are hidden in the capital.

"How do we leave here?"

Ave looked at Viola, "I’ve cut off her energy supply, she won’t wake up until the core is restarted."

"Let the Scarlet Plague destroy this city."

This was at the early outbreak of the Scarlet Plague; following the trajectory of history, Chief Priest Mary stayed in this city for a long time, despite every measure she took, even going so far as to heartlessly isolate the sick refugees outside the city gates, the plague still enveloped this city.

From the beginning, Old Ba had given them the clue.

Destroying the city with force was futile, only by ceasing to use magic power, viewing from a refugee’s or a follower of an evil cult perspective, could this ’performance’ continue.