Life has dealt a heavy hand to a weak demigod like me.

"Besides, this is also an opportunity for me." El removed Endsworth's hand from his shoulder. "The distance between you and me is only one step away, but how many people can't take this step in their entire lives?"

"You may disregard ten thousand pounds, for it is but the income of a year or less to you."

"But I can't. I don't want to live like this forever." "I also want to have a beautiful manor outside of Moroston, I also want to drink red wine from Bader Manor every day, I also want to wear clothes handmade by Mendel, and use a gold watch from Beedley."

"Endsworth, we are friends, but... everyone has his own way."

After saying these words, White staggered into the apartment.

After hearing his words, Endsworth seemed to have aged ten years in an instant.

He pointed at White's back with his body trembling slightly, as if he wanted to say something, but in the end he didn't open his mouth. In the end, he could only squat on the ground. Charles seemed to hear faint sobbing sounds.

Everyone has the opportunity to choose, and everyone has his or her own path.

Endsworth knew this.

but...

This is war...

Especially at times like this.

Endsworth's face turned even paler.

"Rocks, come and talk to me..."

After a long time, Endsworth noticed Charles standing beside him. He gave a forced smile and then tried hard to stand up.

But at this moment, he seemed to have lost all his strength. No matter what he did, he could not get up from the ground. He had to continue sitting on the ground helplessly.

Charles hesitated for a moment and did not help him, but sat down with him on the ground in front of the dormitory building.

"I'm sorry to have made a fool of myself..." Endsworth looked ahead with lifeless eyes.

"professor..."

"Don't worry about me, I'm fine... I just... feel a little sad."

"In a week at most, or even sooner, Hotlat will be facing a war."

"I know. Miss Peroz just mentioned it to me. She is as depressed as you and feels very guilty," Charles said.

"It's not her fault." Endsworth gave a slightly sarcastic smile.

The desires of the human heart are endless.

Even though the war was provoked and was constantly fueled by big businessmen and emerging aristocrats behind the scenes, it was the old aristocrats and the royal family who really held the torch.

The emerging nobles and big businessmen valued high-level extraordinary characteristics, while the royal family and the great nobles valued the thousands of miles of fertile land of Hotlat and the price paid by the other party after victory in the war.

Horcruxes, holy relics, races with extraordinary bloodlines, extraordinary characteristics...

"Black Flame has appeared... In the entire world, this is the only place where war is truly about to break out..."

"It was clearly a blessing from the gods... but it became a cause of war."

“Oh…human hearts…”

Whether it is black fire or thousands of miles of fertile land, it can be regarded as a blessing from the gods.

But when these blessings came, the harvest was not gratitude but war.

Nothing could be more ironic than this.

"Actually, whether there is war or not doesn't have much impact on you, right?" asked Charles.

For a country, high-level extraordinary people are those who stand at the top.

Regardless of the outcome of the war, Endsworth has the right to make his own choice.

Even regardless of whether the war is won or not, he can make huge profits for himself without doing anything.

"That's true... These things never have a big impact on me."

"Even if this place is engulfed in flames of war, I can still go to the City of Eternal Night every day."

Endsworth's expression was a little ferocious and a little depressed.

"This matter has no impact on me, and it doesn't have much impact on you, but what about them?"

"How many people do you think will die in this war?"

"Five hundred thousand? One million? Three million?"

"Those high and mighty don't care. Human life is just a number to them."

“As long as there are resources, people are like grass, which can never be cut down.”

"They have no choice but to be slaughtered. They can't resist, and there's no way to resist. This is because ordinary people without power, wealth, and rights are like this no matter where they go."

"Perhaps in the eyes of those high and mighty, they are not human beings, but merely grass, and the meaning of their existence is nothing more than feeding the livestock they raise."

"As forage grass, they only need to feed the livestock. As forage grass, they don't need to have their own ideas. As forage grass, they should be grateful just to be allowed to take root in the land."

"The war is about to begin, and they are the ones who will be most affected."

"but..."

“No one cares what they think.”

Endsworth slowly stood up, and a few tears fell to the ground.

He is a hundred years old and has experienced a lot.

Among them is war.

Small conflicts and local wars made him unable to let go and forget them for the rest of his life.

This time, the scale of the war is ten or even a hundred times greater than that time...

-

Chapter 85: Endsworth's Past

Those who have seen the cruelty of war rarely want to see it again.

Some people will be excited by this cruelty, but more people will be disgusted.

After all, killing one's own kind will make people feel uncomfortable no matter which race they are.

"Locks, have a few drinks with me."

After a moment, Endsworth seemed to have recovered. He slowly picked up his cane and stood up, his expression returning to calm from its original ferocious sadness.

Charles nodded, but felt a little strange in his heart.

Today is really a good day for drinking.

As a professor, Endsworth naturally has his own apartment on campus.

However, because he had his own manor and residence outside the school, he did not stay here for long.

Compared with the luxury of the manor, this place seems very simple or even crude.

Apart from some tables, chairs, beds and stools that come with the apartment, as well as some cheap-looking things, this place doesn't feel like the treatment a professor should have.

"This apartment was assigned to me by the school not long after I started working here." As if sensing the strangeness in Charles' heart, Endsworth opened the wine cabinet, took out a few bottles of cheap wine, and smiled with a hint of nostalgia.

"I bought this wine cabinet with my salary from the third week of the second month, and I also changed the type of wine after I started working here."

"Before I started working, for a long time, all I drank was the cheapest watered-down barley beer."

How did you feel when you drank this kind of wine for the first time?

Besides feeling heartbroken, there's probably a hint of satisfaction as well.

Drinking this wine means that he has climbed out of the bottom of society.

"I haven't told anyone about my past. They probably can't imagine that I could be so... so... humble." As Endsworth drank cup after cup of bitter wine, some words slowly came out of his mouth.

"Maybe it's because I crawled out of the mud, but my eyes always can't help but stay there."

"I know what El is thinking."

"War is indeed an opportunity in many cases, and everyone, including me, has benefited from this opportunity."

Endsworth's father was a laborer who became a militiaman during border conflicts.

His two older brothers, sixteen and fourteen, also followed their father into the militia.

My father died first, and my two older brothers died a little later.

For their deaths, Endsworth received compensation.

The three of them had about fifty pounds together. In order to prevent the money from being robbed, the twelve-year-old abandoned his home at night and bought a ticket to Moroston.

Here, he got many opportunities, including learning.

If it weren't for the war, he would probably have stayed in that small border town all his life and become a worker like his father.

But is this opportunity really a good memory for him?

Charles didn't think that was the case - as he spoke, turbid tears fell down Endsworth's cheeks again.

"When I was little, I had a friend. His family was better off than mine. His father and brother both worked in factories, and his father was a small boss. So he had the opportunity to study."

"He often told me about school things. The one that left the deepest impression on me was the first story he told me, about the high priest, Charles Rocks."

"He told me that he must be like his ancestors in the future. He must rise from a commoner to a noble. Then he will change his name to Charles to thank his ancestors for inspiring him." Endsworth couldn't help laughing.

Changing one's name to express gratitude is something that probably only children would do.

"When I left there, he secretly stole a piece of black bread from home and gave it to me as a last gift."

"At that time, we agreed that whoever became a noble or wealthy person in the future would hire the other as his or her butler."

It sounds funny, but in the city they were in, or in their eyes at that time.

The noble lord is the most powerful person, and the butler beside him is the second most powerful person.

After all, the owner of the factory where their father worked would also bow and scrape when he met the noble lord's butler.

This agreement could not be fulfilled. Even before Endsworth said it, Charles already knew the result.

Charles had been to the Endsworth estate several times but had never met the butler.

"I am considered a rich man now, but I will never be able to have Downton as my housekeeper." Endsworth gave a self-deprecating smile.

"A few years after I left, the conflict broke out again, the city was blockaded, and food prices skyrocketed to the point where even if you had money, you couldn't buy it."

"He starved to death."

"In fact, food is not that scarce. The nobles and merchants have a lot of food. These stocks were specially transported there by the country in preparation for a long-term confrontation."

"Enough to feed an entire city for years."

"It's just that they would rather let those things molder in their warehouses than take any of them out."

"Because they feared the war would last longer than the MPs imagined, and in order to maintain their dignity and rights, others would die."

"The two wars I experienced, or rather, they weren't really wars, but small-scale conflicts, lasted less than a year in total."

"More than half of the people in that city were devoured."

“This time…how many people will be devoured?”

The damage caused by war and the deaths on the battlefield are never all, and they only account for a small part.

"Professor, you've done your best." Charles comforted him.

"But still, nothing has changed." He shook his head dejectedly.

“No, at least you can help more people get through this difficult time.”

"The world is not subject to personal will. As long as you do your best, you will have a clear conscience."

"Professor Endsworth, you don't need to place too much burden or responsibility on your shoulders."

Although he could not prevent the war, Endsworth could at least prevent half of the people in Moroston from starving to death.

At least because of his face, the price of food in Moroston skyrocketed, but it definitely did not reach the point where it was impossible to buy it even if you had money.

“I know the truth about many things.”

"Just like El's choice just now."