Shadow of the Evil God

That was the White Nightmare that Cesar thought was dead. It was floating behind Askrid. Its empty, dark mouth was moving slowly, and a distant voice came out, as if it was humming some lingering ancient words.

Musali took a breath and said, "How come this thing is still alive and unharmed?"

"It seems that its existence itself is not here..." Ajiehe said as she studied the White Nightmare. "Maybe it's just a reflection in a mirror, a moon in the water."

"There are some differences, but your guess is correct," Askrid said. "As for it, you don't need to know too much about it. Just know that it's called Legosius."

"What is this?" Musali asked. "You are sending a demonic creature summoned by sorcery to negotiate with me?"

Although the white nightmare floating behind him made Cesar's eyelids twitch and he felt that the scene in the tower was absurd to the extreme, Askrid was very calm, as if he was sure that Musali would not care about this matter.

Askrid said, "With your travels across the world, I imagine you've seen many records of mages privately summoning demons, Chief Musali. In a sense, these demons of varying degrees can reveal the depth of a school. With your knowledge, it shouldn't be difficult to discern the difference between Legosius and its kin."

"Where did you find a school of thought to support you? And you even treated the results of your exploration of taboos as a gift?"

Cesar realized Musali had misunderstood the facts. He hadn't assumed Count Thane was a cultist exploring taboos, but rather that he had enlisted the support of a school of magic, and as a token of their goodwill, had gifted him with a precious demon. Of course, given the Count's own inhumanly advanced magical skills, and the fact that he hadn't revealed anything, this was indeed hard to believe. Considering that they had enlisted the support of the Kingdom of Olidan and a separate school of magic, it made much more sense.

Askrid paused, seemingly realizing something was going on. "Like I said," Noyen's military commander nodded, "everyone has their own secrets. I won't question you, and you'd better not question us. Here's part of the secret: if someone has already secured the support of another kingdom, why can't they find more, right? Of course, you can become a supporter, too. We welcome anyone who isn't interested in usurping power, and we'll do our best to provide what you desire."

"what do you want to say?"

Hearing Musali's question, Askrid grinned beneath the shadow of the White Nightmare. "The stories of your journeys and your purpose in traveling the world have spread to many places. Combined with what others who have met you have privately revealed, we know more about your purpose than you do yourself."

Cesar didn't know the purpose of Musali's travels, but judging by Askrid's words, the Noyen commander had likely questioned many people after fleeing to Olidan. Originally, he was trying to understand the enemy commander as a means of communication between the two opposing sides, but now that it was being put to this use, it was a welcome surprise.

Seeing that Musali didn't answer, Askrid spoke again: "Are you speechless? Then let me make one more statement. No matter how rigidly the royal family sets the terms of your transaction, we in Noien don't care. Olidan has a large number of standard gunpowder weapons waiting to be exchanged for money and supplies. We can sell them to you directly through Noien's channels, and the casting and production processes can also be negotiated. I don't know what you want in other aspects, but in terms of military..."

"This is impossible." Perhaps because it was too wonderful, Musari seemed to no longer believe what the other party said.

Perhaps because his sincere speech was interrupted, Askrid glared at the grassland chief for a while, as if shocked by the other party's suspicion.

Seeing that things were not going well again, Cesar quickly interrupted their eye contact.

"You have to understand one thing, Lord Chief. In the entire multinational confederation, Noyen isn't a particularly important commercial city. It's just a large settlement and a famous mining city-state. However, if the Sassulai people join in and make this the only trade route across the east and west sides of the Sheltering Abyss, then things will be different."

Mussari turned and stared at him. "I don't know how it could be any different. It might be different for us, but what difference could it make for you?"

Cesar noticed that this man was indeed suspicious, perhaps because of his upbringing. He began, "You thought it wouldn't make any difference, but you were the one negotiating terms with Dominic beforehand, plucking these pitiful benefits from them like picking mud from between your toes. But Olidan is different." He paused.

Actually he

He didn't know what was different about Olidan, but since Askrid had already let him know, he pretended to know and began to extend the story and make up some plausible assertions.

As long as the preliminary armistice agreement can be

Get it out...

"Olidan hopes to trade its excess gunpowder and weapons for gold and scarce materials," he continued, "and Olidan doesn't care where they come from. Do you understand? The entire Confederation is short of money. To cope with the war in the north, Dominion has forced the southern border fortresses to tighten their belts and pay heavy taxes. Now, if you come here with the Sassulai people's hope of trade, this will bring a major change, almost breathing life into a stagnant pool. Olidan needs people to absorb their unused weapons and gunpowder. The larger the quantity, the better. If it can be maintained for a long time, then it doesn't matter if they bring some production and casting technology - they have already sent troops for this purpose. Can't you see how important this matter is to Olidan?"

"Then why didn't Dominic react at all?" Musari continued to argue.

"Perhaps it's because their king is stupid," Cesar pondered. "Perhaps it's because Dominic has been busy with court struggles in recent years and hasn't paid attention to this aspect. Otherwise, there wouldn't be so many people writing poems attacking the royal family. Perhaps they saw you were having secret talks with them but didn't understand the truly important points, so they wanted to use this opportunity to secretly control you and lie to you. There are actually many reasons that can be thought of, but are they important? Isn't it enough to know that there are people who are more anxious, whose goals and methods are more direct?"

At first, the Nightmare hung idly in mid-air, wings folded, motionless, as if floating in an invisible vacuum. Now, its body shattered and reformed, like porcelain shattering and gluing back together. Cesar instantly felt a difference in the temperature of his skin, as if invisible rays of light were falling on him, drawing on his warmth. The Nightmare, Legolas, must have understood what he was saying, and its attention was now focused on him.

God knows what this thing is thinking.

A long silence stretched across the tower room, but neither Askrid nor Musali spoke. Cesar felt that things were almost done. He had taken the lead, and the rest was up to these men to negotiate the treaty between the two armies. As long as they could reach a truce at this point, he would have no further responsibility for what happened next.

"Then, if you agree, I hope you can appease the other tribes," Askrid said. "If you want to tell the outside world something, we can also make one up on the spot."

The author says:

Author's note: My ass went from severe pain and bleeding to constant severe itching, which is considered an improvement.

Chapter 88: Promises and Vows

"Yes, but I need a guarantee..." Musali mused. The moment the grassland chief's eyes turned to Cesar, he had a very ominous premonition.

"What do you mean?" Askrid also understood.

"The person who has made the greatest impression on me since the siege..."

"You mean to take the Earl's child as a hostage."

Cesar no longer had the energy to speak. If this were the old count's real child, some people might hesitate for a while, but when it came to him, he would naturally let him serve as long as he could.

Musali nodded in agreement. "Only some are—the rest are guests. The others can return to the inner city, but he must stay until the treaty is signed."

"You mean protons."

"Yes, he can move freely in our military camp. As long as he doesn't go far, I promise that no one will bother him."

......

Olidan's army did come.

Although Cesar didn't want to admit it, if he had followed Musali's advice and escaped, he might have reached the city controlled by the Origin Society. As the treaty hadn't been signed yet, the grassland people naturally wouldn't end the siege before Olidan's army arrived. As a hostage and envoy, Cesar had no choice but to stay in their camp. As for his range of activities, as Musali said, it extended from the camp outside the city to the entire occupied Lower Noyen.

That being said, if he really wanted to travel in a place where every tribal noble had a portrait of his head, he still had to be accompanied by someone. Traveling alone was unacceptable. Even if he was accompanied by someone, the people of the grassland would still keep a cautious distance from him, staring at him with surprised eyes. Not only that, they would also discuss him in a language that he could only understand fragments of. Every once in a while, Cesar would ask the people who were captured by Musali to work for him questions:

"Your military camp is full of Frank slaves. What's so special about me being here?"

After getting various forms of perfunctory responses from different people, someone finally offered an actual explanation.

"My brother is weaving an image of you, saying that you emulate the gods. He exaggerates your bravery and sincerity, and fabricates stories about your growth in conspiracy and danger. It seems that the more moving the story is, the more meaningful it is for you to stay in the military camp as a hostage in exchange for a ceasefire." Ajiehe explained.

In fact, for a long time, Cesar wanted to find this person to ask about the existence that possessed her in the past, but he never found her. As a blood relative of the chief of the Khazar tribe, Ajehe's existence itself was unknown in the grassland.

She was a strange figure in the tribe. No one knew where she was, or what lay beneath her thick felt coat. Rumors swirled that she was a child of the Kuna people. The military camp was clearly only this size, and her tent was right there, yet it was always empty.

Today was an exception. Olida's army was approaching, so Musali grabbed her and took him on a long walk, from the Hazar camp outside the city to the highest section of the city wall. When they first met, Cesar asked her why she was always missing, and her answer was very direct: she just didn't like seeing people.

"They made up this story for me?" Cesar was surprised. "As someone who knows the truth, don't you think it's ridiculous?"

"It's just the right level of absurdity now," Ajeh said. "Any more absurd, and it'll just be recorded in unofficial history." As if sensing Cesar's surprise, she thought for a moment and continued, "The difference between the history I've seen and the history recorded in books is almost like the difference between your real experiences and the stories Musali made up for you."

"What is the meaning of the history you see?" Cesar asked him again.

“I can’t really say,” she said. “It’s a question of what historical account the person writing it needs.”

"Just like the Sassulai people and the Noyen need a reasonable ceasefire story." Cesar had to agree.

"That's a really perfunctory answer." She said something inexplicably, as if she was talking to herself.

"Isn't your answer quite perfunctory?" he asked. "I thought you'd have spoken differently after witnessing so much history firsthand."

"I'm just observing other people's dreams, not experiencing them myself. And the more similar dreams I have, the less real reality feels. What can I do about it?"

"Other people use reality to negate their dream experiences, but you do the opposite, using dreams to negate reality," Cesar commented. "So, what was so perfunctory about my answer?"

"Because," Ajeh replied, "I'm asking you for your opinion on this matter, not for you to agree with me."

"Your brother has already made up a fictional story about me. What's the point in thinking about how I should react?"

“Don’t you care about your own authenticity?” she asked, turning to him. “At least the part of yourself that’s true to you.”

"Because it only fuels my habit of doubting everyone and everything," Cesar replied nonchalantly. "I never trust anything that seems unquestionable, including historical records."

"Including yourself?"

"Yes, even myself."

"So your attitude is that since there are already so many false things, it doesn't matter if there is one more."

Cesar thought of the dog and said, "Sometimes appreciating these extremely fake things may be more interesting than appreciating real things. If you know it's fake and then appreciate it, it will find it more worthwhile to savor."

"You can do whatever you want, but I want to record the true situation of this matter for myself." Ajiehe replied, "If not for others, then for myself."

Cesar stared at her in even greater surprise, but she remained silent, and his expression beneath her mask was unrecognizable. They left his tent and prepared to head toward the city of Noien. The recent heavy snow had continued, leaving the vast expanse of white outside. The city walls glared in the early morning sunlight, and the mountains and hills were covered in a blanket of snow, stretching to the horizon.

With nothing else to do, the steppe people organized large hunting teams to hunt deer and birds nearby. The carcasses of various beasts could be seen piled up like mountains in the camp. Based on the number of hunting teams he had seen and the size of the steppe people's army, it was likely that the hunters of Noyen would not be able to hunt anything in the wilderness outside the city for a long time.

"I want to take the long way up the wall through the woods," Cesar said. "I don't want to go through the area where the tents are the most in the camp and be watched by the crowd."

"You care?"

"I see you don't like seeing people either. If you can stand being stared at everywhere, then I don't mind."

"why?"

"Because you can definitely divert at least half of the discussion and attention. If it were someone else, I would have to bear the entire burden." Cesar shrugged.

Ajeh made no answer, but she began to lead him the long way toward the woods.

"Do you have any idea what's possessing me now?" he couldn't help but ask as they walked through the woods.

"I have no idea at the moment," Ajiehe said without turning her head. "I visited your tent several times at night, but she didn't seem to want to come out to see me. Although we are blood relatives, we are not friends. If she doesn't intend to reply, there is nothing I can do."

"What did you say?" Cesar was even more surprised. "Did Gouzi get beaten up a few days ago because of you? I always thought it was Dominic's assassin who couldn't help himself. Why is it that when I brought people to look for you, you were nowhere to be found, and yet you came and went as you pleased with the place where I slept?"

"Really? But it doesn't matter. I asked someone to send some herbs over. That guy looked insignificant, but his attacks were deadly. I couldn't stop myself at that time."

"I know why Musali gets a headache when he sees you." He immediately commented.

"He will have many headaches, and I am no exception." Ajiehe said, "As for my blood relatives attached to you, they will be with you when she is born.

Until this is properly resolved, I will search everywhere for a solution. If there is a way, I will come to you."

"everywhere?"

She stepped on the snow and slowed down her pace.

"Go to all the places in the world that I can go like my elder brother." She said, "Now that I don't have that curse on me, it is indeed much more convenient.

I want to thank you for that, Cesar."

Cesar thought this man was really strange and difficult for him to understand.

"Will you come with us?" he asked.

"No thanks. People like you will go to the same places as my elder brother, and I will avoid his footsteps wherever I go, and of course I will avoid your footsteps as well." Ajiehe said.

She quickened her pace, and Cesar followed.

"Noble palaces and large cities aren't that bad either," he advised. He had never seen anyone who could subdue a dog without making a sound, let alone one where the dog didn't even know who had knocked him down.

"It's not that I hate them, but the palaces and buildings that you are so proud of are nothing more than stones stacked in different ways to imitate the branches of trees in the woods in my eyes. They don't look much different, except that the former is dyed in various colors, which makes people upset, while the other, although monotonous, is much more comfortable. When it comes to traveling, you should always choose a path that makes you feel comfortable, don't you?" Ajiehe asked back.

"I will follow the path that makes the people around me feel comfortable," Cesar said tit for tat.

"Really? Then where are the people with you going? Give me a general direction so it will be easier to find them later. If I make any discoveries, I will come visit you and leave you what I found during my journey."

"Don't you think it's troublesome?" Cesar asked back, "I'm not asking for any promises or gratitude from you. The fact that she possessed me was an accident I brought upon myself."

"It is troublesome. But it's too much to complain about it being troublesome. Compared to the practical help you've given me, promises and vows are weak and powerless. I think since I have the opportunity, I should just treat it as an opportunity to change my life."

Chapter 89: Stop Fighting

This was truly wonderful. Cesar had made more than one vow many years ago, but now that he was here, none of them could be fulfilled. Even after arriving here, he had promised Fils that he would be immune to the corruption of his soul. Even now, he was no longer able to resist the erosion of this red mist-filled alien world.

It could be said that it was the altar beneath the Earl's castle that opened a new chapter in his life, pulling him from certain death to the precarious edge of the precipice. Compared to the kindness of the little witch who repeatedly pulled him back from the abyss, his own vows and promises were, in fact, weak and powerless.

This guy before him was willing to sacrifice his life for hers, and spend the rest of his life trying to find a chance for him to be rescued. He had been helped so many times without realizing it, and in the end, he could only make weak vows and promises. Honestly, he didn't even know how many chances he had left to fulfill them - given the situation he was forced to face, it was hard to say whether he could really go to the city controlled by the Origin Society as he had promised.

They climbed up through a gap in the city wall that had not yet been repaired.

"If I were to say that now," Cesar said, "it would be like a daydream."

"When I was stuck in the mud, I was daydreaming all day, hoping to go wherever I wanted to go," Ajiehe said. "It seems like you've just discovered for the first time that you can only dream."

After a moment, she added, "I suggest you take a few steps to the left."

Cesar didn't pay attention to her words, and then he missed a step and was almost dragged to the bottom of the city wall by loose bricks.

"You can foresee the future?" He stared at her in surprise.

"I can sense what's going to happen soon," Ajiehe said lightly.

"That's fine," Cesar said. "As for whether I dream or not, I used to daydream while trapped in the quagmire of Noyen, wanting to escape the city. Then I made friends with many people and tried to use their power to help me escape, and I was on the verge of success. Later, I had countless opportunities to just walk away, but I couldn't just throw away everyone I knew like tools and walk away on my own."

"You're getting too close to too many people."

"Then you're just too reclusive and never get close to anyone," he replied, "not even your own blood relatives."

"It's tiring enough to experience the memories of countless dead people from the ancient dynasties to the present day. I don't have time to have too much interaction with the living people." said Ajiehe.

"I thought the dream you mentioned was just the snake's dream."

"When it was still young, it absorbed the memories of the dead, accumulating more and more, and forming a vast ocean in its consciousness, but it itself is just a drop of water."

Cesar felt that the black snake would never wake up until its death.

"So you actually already have a vague roadmap." He changed the subject. "When you travel, it's more like retracing your past steps than exploring the unknown."

"This journey does have a general route," Ajeh told him, "but if you were to take it, you would definitely change the route, even if you were just there."

"Don't act like I'm special. There aren't many people like you who can go wherever they want. After all, there aren't many people like you who are so alienated from everyone." Cesar complained.