Alice in the Land of Steam

Chapter 1279 Are They All Equally Disingenuous?
Before leaving school, he vowed that he would take good care of his friends, live up to the teacher's teachings, and achieve impeccable results... Until now, he is still convinced that his ideas are not wrong, but he is not as firm as before. Perhaps it is the cruelty of war that makes him realize that all ambitious goals are essentially overdrawing hope. When he gradually becomes numb, hope will gradually disappear.

What was he thinking when Maurice blocked a bullet for him on the battlefield? What was he thinking when Enrique told him that he was a little scared before he went to the battlefield? Has he forgotten the anger and hatred when his parents died at the hands of the invaders? Does he still remember the grievances and unwillingness on the road of wandering? Has he begun to miss those beautiful scenes when he was still in school, which he dared not even dream of?
It is impossible to answer these questions because, in the final analysis, people always have to move towards tomorrow.

"You can go to school properly but you have to come here to suffer. If I were you, I would also feel sorry for Mr. Ling." Mitch said without raising his head.

But he did not deny that there was indeed no regret in Kyle's tone.

For everyone who voluntarily embarks on this path, the final outcome may be pain, sadness, despair, satisfaction, emptiness, or a sense of accomplishment... The only thing that is impossible is regret, as if those two words no longer exist in their lives.

At this point, Mitch suddenly stopped wiping the hilt of his sword, looked up at Kyle, and asked, "After conquering Hector City, the next target will undoubtedly be Suare. It just so happens that Mr. Ling's Cloud Whale Island is hidden in the Black Forest. I have already agreed with Metien in advance that I will take everyone's ashes to that cemetery for burial. At that time... do you want to go back with us?"

As long as the Gray Hill City of Suare is successfully recaptured, the Axis forces in the entire Ansers region will lose their backbone, and there will be no power to stop the advance of the rebels. They can even be bolder and directly declare that the Ansers region has been successfully liberated. There is no doubt that it will be a glorious battle. Many people joined the rebels just to wait for this moment to come, not to mention that the main members of the Ash Guerrillas are basically from that area: the Eagle of the Gray Hill is the successor of the oldest surname in Suare City, the Borg, the Protector of the Church, Kadora was originally the daughter of the secretary of a vassal lord under the Earl of Gray Hill, and Mitch and Kyle came from several small villages near Suare City. Although their hometown is already far away in their memories, their emotions have never been alienated.

If the Ansus region can be successfully liberated, this decisive battle of great significance will surely be described in great detail in the history books of later generations, right? A sense of honor, justice, mission, and the simplest patriotism are urging these young warriors to embark on the road back home and blow the final horn of victory.

However, for those young soldiers who are mature but not mature enough to think like adults, the greatest significance of this battle to them is nothing more than proving that hard work will definitely bear fruit and persistence will definitely be rewarded.

If someone tried to persuade these stubborn boys and girls to retreat with reasons like "this battle is too dangerous, it's not suitable for you to participate" (for example, Regina said this, not because of the instruction of the Eagle of Gray Hill, but simply out of worry and concern for the young army), then they would definitely answer you like this: We have come to this point, how can we give up easily?

"..."

Kyle was silent for a long time.

Until Mitch got a little impatient and cast a questioning look at him, he turned his head away, deliberately avoiding the sight of his companions, and whispered: "I don't plan to go back. I'll act with Sister Regina."

Although the city of Hector was captured, it did not mean that the enemy's power was completely destroyed. In the vast fields and rural areas, there were still a large number of enemy fortresses or fortresses. Although these enemies were leaderless after the fall of the city and no longer posed a great threat, if they resisted stubbornly, it would easily cause panic among the people. In order to appease the people and eliminate future troubles, according to convention, the rebels would leave some troops to clean up the areas where enemy military forces were still entrenched, while the main force continued to advance towards the city of gray hills, Suare.

Eliminating the remaining enemies was just a minor act, and the glory and merit that could be obtained were naturally not as great as attacking the hub city in the Ansers region. Therefore, the officers who were temporarily serving under General Franshand under the orders of the Earl of the North looked down on such a troublesome task and pushed it to the Liberator Front. Fortunately, this was also what the Grayhill Eagle was happy to see. After all, the soldiers of the Northern Army were not Ansers, and they would not care about the situation of the locals. The army composed of slaves and criminals had no military discipline at all. If they were responsible for this matter, it would be hard to say whether they were appeasing the people or ruining the reputation of the rebels.

Therefore, he handed the matter over to his most trusted companion. Regina, a red-haired girl from the mineral town of Lostra, has always been regarded as the right-hand man of the Eagle of Gray Hill. Her reputation among the Ash Guerrillas is second only to their leader. Giovanni, the boss of the Miners' Brotherhood, was seriously injured in the battle to conquer the iron city of Bad Ain. After the war, he announced his retirement. In fact, it would be more appropriate to use the term "retirement", but this rigid and stubborn old man never regarded himself as a soldier, so he still used the term he used when he was a miner. He is also one of the few miners in the history of Lostra who can live to retirement.

Afterwards, he entrusted the Miners' Brotherhood he founded to Regina. Although the latter recognized her identity in the Ash Rangers and therefore did not choose to become the new leader of the Miners' Brotherhood, she was deeply recognized by Boss Giovanni and also by the miners. She never disappointed anyone in terms of ability or character.

Kyle decided to stay behind and participate in the operation to wipe out the remaining enemies, rather than follow the main force and move towards the Gray Hill City of Suare to face the glorious and great decisive battle. On the one hand, as mentioned earlier, he really didn't know how to face Linge, let alone how to confess to him the deaths of Maurice and Enrique, so he chose to escape; on the other hand, he felt that his abilities were limited and he was not yet able to participate in such an important battle. It would be fine if he just died in battle, as he had already realized that in his heart. But compared to death, the young man might be more afraid of letting others be disappointed in him.

"Before I left, my teacher told me to do what I can, but not to try to change anything. If you fight with the intention of changing something from the beginning, you will end up being the one being changed."

Kyle looked at the silent corpses covered with white cloth. Death was imminent, but he was not afraid. He just felt a little regretful: "I once thought I could do it, but when I really faced the battle, I found that I was not ready. It was just that my impulse and self-esteem did not allow me to retreat. When one day I can really do this, I can go back to see my teacher with my head held high, but before that-"

"Until then," Kadora, who had already wiped the blood off his companions, put away the dirty handkerchief, turned around, and said to Kyle calmly, "You still need to grow up."

It was magical. She was obviously younger than Kyle, but when she said this, her tone was so matter-of-fact, as if the boundary between maturity and childishness was not distinguished by age, but by something more complicated.

Kyle also vaguely sensed the existence of that boundary, so he was not angry, but just nodded slightly and frankly admitted his shortcomings: "You are right, Katara, I really still need to grow. Whether it is for myself, for the teacher, or for-"

He looked at the bodies again, including those of Maurice and Enrique. Under the pale tombstones, the lives of the people were still as vivid as if they had never died: "Them."

Mitch was silent for a moment, then said, "Then you should try your best to live until that day."

"Is this your blessing to me?" Kyle was a little surprised: "I thought you would laugh at me and call me a coward."

Mitch fell silent again. If it were in the past, he might have laughed at Kyle, because at that time he stubbornly believed that fighting must be courage and running away must be weakness. But now this idea has disappeared without a trace, as familiar companions fell on the battlefield one by one. If possible, Mitch would rather they all ran away because of fear of war, rather than seeing them die for their courage.

In fact, weakness and courage have never been antonyms. In many cases, they have similar meanings. A person can be both weak and brave, a person can choose to be brave because of weakness, or a person can become brave after being weak...

There are too many similar examples in the world, for example, Mitch himself is one of them. So he will not laugh at anyone anymore, including himself.

"Just treat it as such."

he said nonchalantly.

"That must be the case."

Kyle said firmly.

Kadora looked at Mitch on the left, then looked at Kyle on the right, and suddenly said faintly: "It's a boy after all."

Both are equally dishonest.

……

In the bottomless abyss, a huge body was sleeping quietly in this ancient coffin, as if it was sleeping forever after death. It still retained the distorted outline of a human skeleton, but the skin had been replaced by a bituminous liquid, and the flesh and blood were the filler of the rotten corpse. Both the bituminous liquid and the flesh and blood were constantly wriggling and expanding outwards, hungrily devouring the darkness that was so close. It looked so greedy that one even wondered if it would devour itself in the end.

The slender limbs made entirely of pale skeletons and hideous spikes swayed slowly in the darkness like tentacles, pushing this huge body to cruise and float continuously. It was like a ghost ship that urgently needed the souls of the living to fill its emptiness, constantly looking for new food to satisfy its insatiable appetite.

If you hadn't seen it with your own eyes, you would probably have found it hard to imagine that such an evil and blasphemous monster had been gilded, decorated with gold and silver, and worshiped on the altar. People seemed to be unable to see the hunger in his eyes, and only cared about offering their devout prayers; they seemed to be unable to hear his evil whispers, and only cared about expressing their own wishes.

Faith is what is satisfied, and truth is what is needed. Thus, the gods and their believers both obtained what they needed from each other, and the original God of Night, Logria, was born. He constantly bestowed the gift of power, and people took whatever they wanted, whether it was worldly wealth, religious power, or a pious soul, they were all willing to offer it, just asking the gods not to leave their lambs, or in other words, not to leave their kingdom.

Perhaps those years were so beautiful that Roglia could not forget them. Even though he had been expelled, the statue had been smashed, and the church had become a battlefield, he still longed to respond to the expectations of his believers, to return to his own kingdom, and to restore the glory of the Original Night Church.

However, both His departure and His return are closely related to one person.

"Carson...Borg...

A pair of scarlet eyes slowly opened in the darkness, and the blood in them was as thick as molten magma, flowing down with the pulsation of tiny blood vessels, burning the darkness and making a terrifying hissing sound. Roglia's voice was hoarse, broken, and full of a sense of struggle that was difficult to describe in words. To put it bluntly, it was like a drowning pig with no way to escape, desperately trying to grab the last straw.

Katzenberg was that lifeline.

He has been waiting, waiting for the moment when the Gray Hill Eagle falls, but he must fall when his hope is about to reach the peak. The sense of loss at that moment will ferment despair and breed the most painful, hateful but also delicious soul in the world, and He will be able to use it to regain his strength, power, believers, and everything.

The eagle that fully believed it could return home, the eagle that poured countless efforts into this war, the eagle that was deeply trusted by his companions and comrades-in-arms... If he is not devoured at that time, then all the forbearance, dormancy and painstaking waiting until now will be meaningless, right?
Ancient legends mention that an eagle will only die in the place closest to the sky. For the Grayhill Eagle, that is destined to be a distance that cannot be reached in dreams.

It's time to go.

If we don't set off now, it will be too late.

Enjoy his despair and pain...but why?
Why did he smell another scent, as if in this area, in addition to the Gray Hill Eagle, there was another soul born from the darkness, and the taste of that soul was dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of times more delicious than the Gray Hill Eagle that he had always been thinking about!

As long as he devours that soul, he can... become a god.

True God.

After a long silence, a gurgling sound came from the darkness, as if a drowning pig had waded through the heavy river, struggled ashore, and was dragging its mutilated body, staggering towards the future it had seen.

Give me some meow