Shadow of the Evil God

Cesar turned his head and saw her lithe figure emerging from the morning mist. He shook the map in his hand. "Let her get a few documents out first," he said. "Before long, I'll have to flee to the wilderness in the north. I'll have to flee in the real world during the day and in the wilderness at night..."

Diana took a step closer and looked him in the eye with a slight smile.

"It's not an escape in the wilderness," he said immediately.

Her smile was teasing, but also concerned. "Last night's journey was a bit difficult," she said, "but we still have daylight. As long as we're alive, there's always a way to escape. You don't have to always treat daylight as a penance. Also, Finnie asked me to give you a kiss." She stood on tiptoe and gently touched her soft lips to his. "Do you taste the lingering flavor?"

Cesar put his arm around Diana's waist, leaned down to kiss her, and held her tightly in the morning mist over the high walls. He felt her shimmering eyelashes brush against his, and saw her aquamarine eyes gazing back at him, filled with an imperceptible tenderness. He tasted a hint of sweetness on her cool tongue, the sweetness of Phils's favorite apple, as if that strand of saliva had just landed in Diana's mouth.

"You actually used a teleportation spell for something like this?" He realized. The underground testing grounds of the castle were quite far from the city walls, and it was impossible to reach that sweet taste by walking.

"It's strangely amusing... maybe." She lifted her lips and kissed him again, breathing in his warm breath and sharing that sweet scent with him. Then, she stepped back a little. "Finny has been forcing herself to remember the knowledge that Ferriers possesses lately, like she's rooted to a test bench. Honestly, it's been very reluctant, but we all do things reluctantly all the time. Sometimes she suddenly has some strange idea, and it's hard for me to refuse. Just think of it as kissing my ancestor to express my long-standing admiration for her."

"You are such a comforter, Diana."

“I’m the one who’s always comforting people.”

"But I can't think of any way I can comfort you," he said.

"All you have to do is keep going forward as usual, Cesar."

"I think this sentence is more dignified," Cesar said. "You know, it will happen sooner or later anyway, so why not let me experience it first."

"It's too early to call me husband," she said.

"Just to go with the flow?"

"I don't know what the atmosphere is about," Diana closed one eye. "Normally, you should say goodbye to me."

Chapter 277 Put a Leash on Him

......

After Cesar had completed his circuit of the castle walls, and Artinia hadn't come to him with her endless questions, he figured she might still be awake, so he went to her bedroom in the castle and knocked softly on her door.

The door opened. It turned out the princess had gotten up early, but was too busy with her own affairs to leave. It was still a bit dark, and she was wearing a nightcap and pajamas, clutching a sheaf of manuscripts. He had to admit, she looked rather odd, perhaps because he had never seen her without formal attire.

Artinya was shuffling through a pile of documents and offered him a manuscript she had handled. Cesar scanned a few lines and discovered it was a treatise on mechanics. The author, unknown to him, appeared to be a deceased figure from the Kasar Empire. The handwriting was beautiful, and the entire text was handwritten.

"It's the manuscript that Brother Mira restored," she said. "I'm reading it now. The content is very accurate."

"The writing style is a bit strange...is that how it is?"

"The original author of the manuscript was a monk who was passionate about philosophy. Any questions, sir?"

Cesar ran his finger over a line of the manuscript and said, "The language is difficult to understand, and the sentence structure is too obscure to be easy to read, let alone understand. The book looks like it was written in the style of a religious text. I don't think it will be of much use on the bookshelf unless a monk who is well-versed in the scriptures takes the book and explains it to people."

Artinya's eyes widened slightly. "Exegesis... You hope that anyone who can read can understand this book?"

"That's what a book like this is for," Cesar said. "It's best to have someone who can understand the text but isn't a monk do the revision. Change the obscure text into something accessible. Don't change it word for word, but understand its meaning and then write it down in your own words. Don't use the author's style or make unnecessary embellishments. And, by the way, delete any unnecessary nonsense that would waste the craftsmen's time and turn them off. And then, have the reviser write his own name on the new manuscript and write as he normally would. It's simple, isn't it?"

"So the restored manuscripts will remain on the library shelves, but you want the newly compiled books to be placed where people can browse freely?" Altinya asked him.

"Remember those regularly printed books in Anglan? These kinds of books are perfect for selling on the streets, in small houses with mud walls and tiles. Find someone who knows how to print and set up a shop. Since it's in a border area, offer books in two languages. Besides these mechanics treatises that are helpful to craftsmen, you can also have them sell many other popular books."

The princess pondered, "Reading books to help people learn to read, calendars, decrees, war briefings to boost public confidence, and even portraits for propaganda..."

“A portrait of yourself?”

"That's not what I meant, sir. Don't talk nonsense."

"Honestly, based on the list you listed, no one would buy literacy books, because people who can't read and don't want to learn won't even walk into a bookstore. War briefings and propaganda portraits are meant to be distributed on the streets. No one would come into a bookstore for them, let alone spend money on them. Calendars are definitely in demand. As long as they include enough important dates and detailed annotations, they will naturally be popular. As for the law book... I think most people only care about the penalties for bribery. You'd have to bundle other laws with this thing to sell it."

“Depending on what the people want?”

"Most people's needs are simple and clear," Cesar said. "They're either about survival and making a living, or about climbing the ladder of power. There's no reason to think people will flock to literacy books if you put them on the street. For the masses, literacy isn't something they care about anyway. If they can just muddle through, there's no need to force themselves to think or work hard. As for things like statutes, most of the content won't matter. But when it comes to corruption, bribery, and fraud, which everyone engages in, most people want to know how to do it more easily."

She pondered, "How can we change the public's needs, sir? According to you, even if we put in enormous effort to restore, edit, and translate books, most people won't need them, most people won't read them, and most books will be ignored. In the end, there won't even be anywhere to store them, and they'll just pile up in warehouses, waiting for rats to gnaw on them."

Cesar suddenly realized that this pragmatic approach might represent the thinking of many of the Empire's nobles. In this light, it was no surprise that the Great Library of the Kasar Empire was burned to the ground by the Beastmen, with no military support.

"It's going to take more than a few words to explain this..." Cesar said to her, "Let's sit down and talk. Are you sure you want to wear this?"

The princess glanced at her pajamas. "It doesn't matter," she said. "I have no intention of going out today. I didn't sleep a wink last night. Maybe I'll just fall asleep later. Did you know that elders often tell stories to their younger children at their bedside until they fall asleep, sir?"

"You don't look old enough to listen to stories, Aya."

"You don't look like you're old enough to tell stories, but don't you still tell them every day?"

Cesar had no choice but to go to Artinya's bedroom in the castle.

He pulled her chair over to the bedside and sat down. The red silk curtains on her side seemed to have remained hanging, leaving the bedside dark, living under the oil lamp. Out of respect for her personal habits, he left the curtains open and lit the oil lamp nearby. The dim glow allowed him to clearly see the bedroom.

She also had a pen and notepad next to her pillow.

Although she'd fallen asleep listening to stories from her elders and curled up in her pajamas, once the lecture began, Artinya, notebook in hand, forgot all about sleep and peppered herself with questions, seemingly endless. Cesar realized midway through that she hadn't eaten at all, having spent the entire night reading the manuscript the monk had given her, completely losing track of time. So he left to get her some cold food from the cupboard, and she even asked through the door for a glass of wine.

The princess watched him place the plate on the bedside table. Even before she began to eat, she continued to ask questions. She was incredibly focused, as if this was the most important thing, and there was clearly nothing on the table beside her. He had to lift the plate onto her lap before he saw her reluctantly put down her pen, pick up a piece of smoked sausage, and bite into it. Then, quickly, she picked up her pen and began writing again.

As always, Altinya mastered things that took others a whole day to ponder in a fraction of a second. She treated many difficult questions like a game. Meanwhile, she peppered Cesar with questions and doubts, forcing him to reconsider his own thinking. Whenever he didn't understand what she was saying, merely memorizing a few phrases, she would leave him speechless.

Because she ate too fast, her throat was choked, so Cesar poured her more wine and patted her back until she managed to swallow the food she hadn't chewed. The oil lamp by the bed emitted a scent of dried herbs and cypress, which lingered in her nose and made her feel very comfortable.

Cesar felt as if the princess treated her like a child, as if she were back in the palace, lying on a small bed. The person sitting beside her bed wasn't a teacher of similar age, but a family elder, watching over a child who hadn't slept all night. She looked like she had never experienced anything like this before.

A moment ago, Artinya had been barefoot in worn cloth shoes, sleepy-eyed, with her hair a little disheveled. Now, with renewed energy, she leaned against the pillow, but sleepiness was gone. She held up her tin cup, staring at the rosy foam rising from the red wine, and for a moment she fell silent again.

This guy's mind has always been changing, and Cesar can't figure it out.

He felt that the princess must have been incredibly mischievous and naughty as a child, relying on these bad tempers to hide her talent from others. It wasn't until she met Ferriers that people finally realized she was different from other princes and princesses.

"Perhaps there are simply too many princes and princesses, and one prone to mischief isn't worthy of attention," Altinia began. "Even when I was a child, I was vaguely aware of my parents' conflict. If someone threatened to tell my mother about my affairs, I would behave myself. But simply dissuading me would backfire, making me even more violent. Although there was a wall between my parents and me, I believed at the time that I could cross it. I just needed an opportunity, and meeting Grandmaster Ferriers was a good opportunity. Although I failed, I felt that I had to have some hope, or rather, shed some blood, before I realized this path was a dead end."

Cesar savored her words. "You think there's no opportunity you wouldn't dare take before you actually bleed?" he asked.

"How do you think I got from the North to Dominion, and then from Dominion to Olidan? It's not that there are no opportunities I dare not seize, but rather that once I identify an opportunity, I will not let it slip away." She put down her glass and reached out to grab his neck. "Just like this."

Cesar felt that this guy wanted to put him on a leash and parade him around the palace. Her every move was difficult to predict.

"The library owner is dangerous, and all the advice it gives is dangerous," he said.

"I know, Mr. Cesar," Altinia agreed. "But I thought what you wanted to do was much more dangerous. If you insisted on being bait to buy time, you shouldn't have questioned my willingness to take the risk."

"Have you already decided that you, too, will risk your life?"

"If you do something that I wouldn't dare emulate, I don't think there's any need for this student to acknowledge it."

"You're more than just trying to imitate..."

Chapter 278 Feeding Blood

......

The dog tilted its head in the tent, watching Diana's figure gradually disappear. "Although you calculated everything, securing such a large army and such a high position, when the time came, you still had to take the risk alone." She turned and looked at Cesar, who had just been transported here. "Don't you think that now is no different from back in Neuen, master?"

The Faceless One had been camped north of the fortress for some time. Because she had to carry the invisible blade, she couldn't accept the teleportation spell, so she had to wait in the woods beyond Tusos for Diana to bring her. From the smell of blood in the tent, he could tell a beast had been killed nearby. However, compared to Tusos's hunting, hers wasn't excessive, more like just another carnivore in the woods.

Cesar shook his head. "Unless I stay in Gonzales, the trials will only get worse."

He wanted more than just to move forward; his desires were exaggerated, even absurd. Not long ago, he was a dying sacrifice beneath the castle, unable to speak the language of the Franks. Back then, he had absolutely nothing, and now, he wanted to sit down at the same table with Grand Master Firiel.

Cesar knew the sheer number of threats he faced was unimaginable, but ultimately, it was because he stood too far ahead and demanded too much. The shadow of the Imperial Grand Master, the much-anticipated princess, the young mage caught up in the School Wars, and the entire territory from Gural Fortress to Gonzales—he didn't want to give up any of them, felt he couldn't do without them all. It was only natural that he attracted so many hostile glances.

Compared to all this, the blame he took for old Thane only brought about a few minor nuisances. Without the many threats he himself was involved in, his fake niece and cousin the queen would never have posed such a threat.

In a sense, these were the price he had to pay for his rise to power, the obstacles he had to face. He had no forces to rely on, no plans that had been in place for millennia. Because of this, he couldn't accomplish many things by staying in the shadows. He had to stand at the forefront, overcoming all obstacles, and only then could he succeed.

Cesar offered the side of his neck to the dog, feeding her blood. He held her in his arms, feeling her fangs pierce his skin as her soft lips kissed and sucked at his neck. She gently licked the shallow wound, the two tongue tips splitting from her tongue alternately brushing against it, bringing a numbing pleasure. Her licking, like teasing a snake, swelled the blood vessels in his neck, making the nerves sensitive and causing him to ooze out tiny drops of blood, far more than a shallow wound could produce.

Recently, her behavior no longer causes pain, but instead makes people more and more fascinated. The anesthetic pleasure is like intercourse, which is really incredible.

In his trance, he felt that the Faceless Ones' role in the Kuna genocide was far more than just a skin-changing spy. If this could bring a paralyzing pleasure, then watching someone being eaten alive would be just as satisfying. Imagine someone with a hazy, blissful smile on their face while watching their own stomach rip open, their heart exposed, and their spine gradually reduced to a bloody skeleton as their loved ones devour them.

This scene is more than just bloody.

Cesar stroked Gouzi's waist-length blonde hair, tangling her blood-tinged ends around his fingertips, feeling his emotions being consumed by her. He found the flow of blood intoxicating, and when her soft tongue licked the wound, the pleasure of blood loss extended along the veins to the back of his head. He couldn't help but lie down on the ground, enjoying her sucking his blood.

When she raised her head, her pupils seemed to be oozing blood. Not only were her lips a vibrant crimson, but her fair skin was also stained a faint pink, as if the many limbs mimicking human skin had been stained by him. Her flawless body stretched slightly, her cheeks cracking like shattered porcelain, then mending again, like a bud flowing with nectar, closing into a human form. Her skin shone in the hazy evening light, utterly alluring and eerie.

"You've been getting more and more..." Cesar caressed her soft cheek, his fingers brushing across her bloody lips. "Are all your people like this too?"

She sat on him, looking down at him, her hand resting on his chest. "No, you fed me too much blood," she said. "I mean the Overmind's blood. It would cause our previously stable bodies to grow, undergoing changes I couldn't quite grasp. For so long, I've been a consumable, replaced by the next, making no difference. No matter how many of us we replace within a given skin, others will think it's the same original. In reality, there's no difference."

Cesar stared at the dog for a long moment and said, "You can ask for more later."

"Huh? Why?"

"It would be better for you to become different from your kind, rather than being replaced by another artifact that I can't recognize after you die."

"You're so concerned about individual uniqueness?" She tilted her head, seeming nonchalant. "I think that's meaningless. Even if I were replaced by someone else, it wouldn't make any difference in your eyes."

"Then go make yourself more distinctive." Cesar sat up, pinched her cheek, and pulled out two slender and soft limbs. "Use my blood to replace all the blood in your body."

"You have so many incomprehensible requests, Master.

I'll listen to whatever you say, but if I continue to grow up like this, I don't know if I'll end up in a bad situation. It's hard to say, right? I have no instinctive memory, so it's certain that nothing like this has ever happened before."

"Then you go and be the first one."

"Are you sure?"

"I am sure."

Cesar stood up, took a deep breath, and covered the wound on his neck with his clothes. Then, with a sigh, he walked towards the camp outside the tent. Although he tried his best to understand and accept the life ethics of the aliens, when it actually happened to him, he still couldn't accept it. Individuals could be replaced at will, the difference being who they wanted to play? How could he accept this?

The Faceless One emerged from behind him, shaking her head in the evening breeze before donning her hood and using the mask to hide her pink cheeks. She looked like a drunken human.

Cesar looked at her from the side, noting that initially she had been only slightly shorter than him, but now, to him, she looked like a petite young girl. It wasn't that she had shrunk, but rather that his body was becoming increasingly affected by the soul, making it increasingly difficult to suppress the shift in form. He had heard that the Kuna nobles were almost always half a body taller than the common people, and that the royal family could even bend down and pick up their people, playing with them like children. He didn't want to end up in that situation himself.

After this incident was over, he would have to ask Diana and the others to shift their research focus towards him. If she was no longer tall enough to reach his waist, it would be too late to say anything.

Chapter 279 Territory Turmoil

......

Since many officers were focused on escaping and had no intention of checking the military rosters, Cesar and Gouzi easily infiltrated the main force. From what he could see, the person who had been most attentive to the rosters recently was Altinya, who had nothing to do with the area.

Perhaps because Tusos had fled at full speed, the remaining officers had some idea of ​​the upcoming defense of the territory. Cesar had expected to witness the militia's complete collapse on the surface like refugees under attack, but instead he found himself sent into a tunnel, a very deep one, practically a mine.

Cesar's first assignment was tunneling. The two of them were kneeling in the newly dug tributary, hammering wooden beams while listening to distant voices. This was, in fact, a historical, shallow mine, more like a restored ancient tunnel than a war tunnel. Lately, he wasn't the only one forced to take on tunnel construction; the officers closest to the front had devoted the majority of their manpower to tunneling.

It seemed that they had heard rumors that they could not escape the zombies on the surface, so it would be better for them to hide in tunnels so low that they had to crawl on their knees until the zombies were gone.

"Master, you really want to see the most dangerous scenes wherever you go," said the dog. "Do we really need to stay at the front line?"

"I just want to make an assessment of the overall situation of the Corpse Eater Army," Cesar replied. "By evening in the wasteland, I will be able to report my observations to Diana. Then, she will convey the actual situation to the fortress."

"If you get so close, you may not be able to escape safely," she added.

"There is always a way," Cesar replied. "Let's dig the tunnel farther first. I've never been a soldier digging tunnels for others." He knocked on the wooden beam to make sure there was no creaking before moving forward, because that sound would cause a series of crackling sounds, followed by collapse and burial.

Most underground mine tunnels were low and difficult to navigate, requiring miners to crawl far forward on their knees, then crawl back again, dragging carts laden with ore. The tunnel he had traversed beneath Neuen was essentially the main thoroughfare of a large mine. The branch tunnels used by miners to explore and extract minerals were not nearly as wide or easy to navigate.

Cesar worked very hard, and for this purpose he even consulted the former miners who were now militiamen of Tussos. He wanted to understand everything he did, whether it was the living conditions or the working conditions of the people, just as he had done carpentry work like a real carpenter in the wilderness.

To a large extent, Artinya is imitating his habit.

As far as he knew, the safety of tunnel excavation depended primarily on the integrity of the arched structure between the main and secondary tunnels, and whether it properly supported the forces. The primary support for the secondary tunnels came from the shear force provided by the wooden arches and the load-bearing wooden planks attached to the walls. If the weight above the secondary tunnels was insufficiently supported, they could collapse in an instant, burying everyone beneath the mud and rock. However, this could also be temporarily halted.

During this period of respite, pressure builds until it erupts, transforming into the former state. Miners' experience is mainly focused on judging the latter state, such as the creaking of wooden beams, whether the arch is buckling and cracking, and whether soil is falling from subtle cracks.

Cesar dug along the solid soil and found a skeleton on the way. It seemed that the tunnel collapsed due to a mistake in digging a branch tunnel, and then buried the dead workers there. He dug away the collapsed soil and rebuilt the basic load-bearing structure. Then he moved the bones and soil into a cart and prepared to push it to the rear entrance of the branch tunnel.

The entrance to the branch road is a very deep trench. People can explore the surface from the sloping slope to resist the enemy's charge, or retreat into the trench to avoid artillery bombardment.

From Cesar's current perspective, this was a very comprehensive defense system. Initially, it was a shallow mine, then, due to years of resistance against Cleface's army, long trenches and intricate tunnels were formed. The corpses just now had been dead for at least a decade, indicating that this branch tunnel had also existed for at least a decade. As long as the garrison was reliable, they could hold off both the cannibals and Cleface's army for a long time.

Unfortunately, due to various political considerations, Prime Minister Heanria has already abandoned the army against the corpse eaters. However, they cannot abandon the army too directly, so they must pretend to leave a group of soldiers to defend the city. These soldiers are undoubtedly abandoned, destined for destruction. Most will be killed or wounded, while a small number will become refugees. Therefore, this group will only be composed of insignificant local militia and mid- and low-ranking officers. As for Prince Tussos, who was originally in charge of this area, he will return to the palace with all his elite soldiers and await news of their deaths in battle.

It seems that Heanria's plot against Artinia is already underway. To consolidate his daughter's political position, the Prime Minister will make numerous countermeasures. This conspiracy will only come to an end when the threat, or even the existence, of the princess is completely eliminated, or when both sides can deploy their armies to confront each other.

However, there is no point in thinking about it now. Cesar's area will soon fall, and he will have to wait for the next

These people were simply out of the question. There were tens of thousands of militiamen, no different from farmers, working hard with farm tools, building fortifications throughout Tussos's territory, not to resist the enemy, but to leave behind traces of their repairs after they died.

After the complete fall, or after the army has marched through the devastated territory, these traces will become achievements worthy of being recorded in great detail, and history books will give Tussos a good reputation for bravely resisting but being forced to retreat.

Interestingly, when Noyen was breaching the city, Cesar was still desperately trying to help the people in the lower city, but now he felt somewhat numb. It seemed that providing Brother Miles and those he could organize a route of retreat, along the Gural Fortress to Sodoris, was all he needed to focus on. As for the rest, he no longer had the energy to worry about the suffering caused by the dead.

The good news was that if he could escape westward with the aura of the Firstborn Beastmen, drawing the attention of the corpse-eaters, Brother Miles would have more time to organize an effective evacuation southward. Otherwise, he would only be a hindrance. After all, he was unfamiliar with the local militia and had no say in the matter.

In fact, in this era, speaking does require power. Not only that, the power in one place may not be useful in another place. Most people can only be the voiceless and silent witnesses of history.

When they visited the Duke of Urbino, Artinia waited at the military camp outside the city, knowing that her trip to Anglan would be pointless and would only cause more trouble. Cesar, now within the empire, could only serve as Artinia's entourage. Without the princess by his side, no one would listen to what he said.

With no intention of going to the barracks, Cesar decided to spend the night in the tunnel. He pushed the cart of dirt and bones behind him and lowered himself to lie on the soft thighs of the dog. He felt his eyelids droop, and his shoulders relax under the pressure of her fingers. Although he didn't care where he slept, if it could relieve his body, there was no reason not to do it.

He was about to fall asleep and walk into the wilderness when someone suddenly approached. The light of an oil lamp shone through the cart loaded with soil. "It's that monk," Gouzi leaned over and said to him.