A dull longsword and a heartbroken villager

"Hmph~Hmph~Ha~" An eerie melody drifted from the mouth of the clown by the campfire.

"Waaah!" A pitiful cry came from Miqiu's mouth.

"The big rabbit is sick, the second rabbit goes to see, the third rabbit buys medicine, the fourth rabbit brews it~" The clown hummed a song as he prepared to throw the rabbit into the fire to roast it.

He seemed to have completely disregarded processes like removing the fur, as if simply throwing it in would produce a perfect roasted rabbit.

The clown who exudes an odd aura is none other than Jonathan.

At that moment, he was preparing to try to fill his stomach.

Although he had never tried cooking in this reincarnation, he felt that with his memories, he could definitely make a great meal.

"Hey!" Suddenly, the clown released the rabbit and looked in Bray's direction with surprise.

The fact that it was a guest made Jonathan extremely happy.

"Eek!" The rabbit, having narrowly escaped death, quickly kicked its legs and flew away from the terrifying clown.

"Don't run away!" Jonathan, who had been trying to talk to Bray, cried out in agony.

His mask was changed to one with a sorrowful expression.

Moreover, the mask's appearance is very similar to a certain world-famous painting.

The person in the painting, standing on the bridge, twisting and shouting, looks exactly like Jonathan.

No matter how earnestly he tried to persuade the rabbit to turn back, the rabbit wouldn't turn around and disappeared in the blink of an eye.

After realizing that he could never catch the rabbit he had missed, Jonathan let out a long sigh.

He stood up, took off his top hat, and bowed deeply to Bray.

“Good afternoon, Mr. Monk,” Jonathan said to Bray in a gentlemanly tone.

After saying this, he slowly put his hat back on.

"Well then, cough cough." He cleared his throat and slowly opened his arms.

“Congratulations, Mr. Ringholder, you have opened the door to a new world!” Jonathan said with great emphasis.

Behind him, cannons fired in unison, "celebrating" Bray's arrival. "Bang bang bang!" The continuous explosions of the cannons surrounded Bray.

Bray looked at Jonathan expressionlessly, showing no sign of being happy at all.

He ran into Jonathan again, and since they met, it meant that the other person had a lot to say.

While there may be some necessary elements, most of the estimates are just nonsense.

Bray never believed that meeting Jonathan was a "coincidence," or if it was, it was a "coincidence" created by Jonathan.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!!" This time, the sound didn't come from the cannons, but from Jonathan himself.

He imitated the sound of cannon fire, as if trying to add more expression to Bray's face.

“Mr. Ring-Holder remains as indifferent as ever.” Jonathan snapped his fingers, and the ceremonial cannons that had appeared around them vanished instantly.

The farcical scene just now felt like an illusion.

"The guy who was supposed to be the 'gatekeeper' got beaten up by the doubles team, Jonathan said, squatting down and starting to draw on the snow with his cane."

He first drew a stone wall with a smiling face, and then drew two stick figures.

"You know what? Although He isn't particularly strong in actual combat, even Lord Ummkandar is helpless against Him."

“Because basically no one can truly observe Him,” Jonathan said.

After finishing these drawings, he didn't hesitate to erase them with his hand and redraw an open door.

"Therefore, it is not an exaggeration to describe Him as 'strong'."

"That one always stayed quietly in place, without causing any trouble, so Ummkandar often entrusted Him with important tasks."

It was precisely because they were so difficult to deal with that Ummkandar sent them to hide the "Alliance of the Gods".

However, He happened to encounter Bray, who was his nemesis in every sense of the word.

"Oh dear, he is a grown man worthy of respect."

“Now that I’m telling the little man he’s dead, it suddenly makes me a little sad,” Jonathan said, pressing down his hat and speaking in an unusually melancholic tone.

It was as if the master of the maze was his best friend.

However, anyone who knows Jonathan knows that he is not friends with any Silver Saint.

Everyone speaks with this regretful tone after they die.

I guess they felt that the world had lost another possibility of "fun".

"What do you want from me?" Seeing Jonathan start to get to the point.

Rather than listening to Jonathan's nonsense all the time, Bray would rather he say something useful.

If we let Jonathan talk on his own, another day will probably pass.

"Ah, I almost forgot." Jonathan then looked as if he had just realized something.

"It's all because I got too excited after seeing Mr. Bijing, and I forgot about the important matter."

"After all, even though I'm a nobody, I'm still a fan of Mr. Zhijie." He said, kicking away everything he had drawn.

“But Mr. Monk, have you been a little bored lately?” He changed the subject, not answering Bray’s question, but instead asking Bray a question in return.

“What does it matter to you whether I’m bored or not?” Bray replied indifferently.

“You can’t find any fun in this kind of child,” Jonathan shrugged helplessly.

I thought that after a few years, Mr. Bi would become as interesting as before, but it seems that he didn't do anything particularly interesting.

"It's like watching action movies every day, but occasionally wanting to watch a detective drama," the Joker vividly described.

To help Bray better understand just how bored he was, he even created two clowns that looked exactly like him.

One was wielding a gun and sword, while the other was dressed as a detective.

"Overall, nothing particularly unexpected happened," Jonathan said.

Throughout his journey, Bray has primarily focused on assisting the safe zone and eliminating Silver-ranked individuals, without revealing anything particularly unusual.

For Jonathan, who seeks the "unpredictable," it was quite boring.

He sincerely hoped that Bray could put on a unique stage play.

"Everything a little man does is for the sake of being more interesting. Being boring is unacceptable, it's forbidden." Jonathan was standing still, yet he gave the impression that his face was practically touching Jonathan's.

It was a strange sense of oppression, exuding a faint terror.

The moral decay and the collapse of order were all within Jonathan's expectations, and he found nothing surprising or noteworthy.

But Bray shouldn't be like that; he should be doing something that makes him think, "Wow, that's awesome!"

"So, I'm asking you, what exactly did you come to me for?" Bray repeated his question tirelessly.

“I am here to guide you, sir,” Jonathan said, spreading his hands.

Mr. Bijingren is indeed too hasty. Can't he speak to others properly?

In that case, daily life would lose a lot of its fun.

“…” Bray didn’t speak immediately, but stared at Jonathan’s mask with his right eye.

He really wanted to see through the mask and glean something from Jonathan's expression.

Although he could have done it with his cunning, he gave up after thinking about it.

Trying to understand this clown is perhaps the most foolish thing to do.

When you can understand the thoughts of a madman, you also have the potential to become a madman yourself.

Why did you do that?

"Hmm? Why is Mr. Monk still saying these things now?" Jonathan came to Bray's side a second later.

However, even though we were right next to each other, there was still a distance between us.

Ultimately, he was still afraid that Bray might suddenly strike him.

Now, if Jonathan gets too close to this casual strike from the ring-bearer, he won't be able to dodge it easily.

He danced, circling around Brae, as if some kind of joyful circus music were playing in the background.

"Didn't I say that I would help you, Master of the Precepts?"

"I said that a long, long, long time ago."

"I'd like to see what you'll do after you've found the 'Unity of the Gods'!"

"Faced with a group of silver coins, what choice will Mr. Bijing make?"

"Will you fight like a tough guy against an enemy with no end in sight, or will you choose to negotiate with them?"

“These little people want to know, and it would be even better if Mr. Monk could show them a different development!” Jonathan jumped up and said.

“…” Bray scrutinized the deranged Jonathan.

“That’s the way you should be going.” Jonathan pointed southeast with his cane, a meaningful smile appearing on his mask. “It really is that way.” Seeing that Bray still didn’t move, Jonathan repeated himself.

"It's southeast of the Northern Continent, please go this way." To get Bray to leave, Jonathan even made a gesture of farewell.

Bray simply sized up Jonathan without taking any action.

"I swear to God I have not lied." The Joker thought Bray thought he was lying, so he began to swear.

He hated lying, and that lying was wrong, so the direction he was pointing was the location of the "Alliance of the Gods" headquarters.

“How do I know you’re telling the truth?” Bray said.

So Jonathan touched his mask and began to seriously consider the question.

Yes, how can we make Mr. Bishi understand that he is an honest person who would never lie?

Words alone are not enough; the Joker needs some evidence to prove himself, even though Jonathan has never lied to Bray.

“Ah, I’ve got it.” Jonathan had a sudden inspiration and knew exactly how to tell Bray what he needed to say.

“If you go in this direction, Mr. Monk, you will surely see a magnificent palace.”

“Those are buildings created by you gentlemen in imitation of our civilization,” Jonathan said.

"The 'Unity of the Gods' is right there."

“If you, Mr. Monk, can’t find the palace even after walking to the seaside, then it proves that I lied to you.” Jonathan crossed his arms and nodded to himself.

"Since you don't have a clear goal right now, why not give it a try?"

"This is free intelligence, intelligence that won't leave you at a loss," Jonathan said enthusiastically, as if he were selling a product.

"Why don't you give it a try?"

“…” Bray fell silent, convinced by Jonathan’s words.

Because that's exactly how it is right now; Bray has no idea what the next step should be.

Jonathan offered a solution, saying there was absolutely no harm in trying it himself.

Even if there are traps there, it won't do any harm.

After all, if Bray just wanders around aimlessly, he might still encounter a trap, so it doesn't make much difference.

If you really want to pinpoint the difference, it's probably the difference between "the trap" and "Jonathan's trap".

"Ahhh, that's exactly the look in their eyes!" Jonathan clapped his hands happily.

He didn't need Bray to say much; he could read enough from those dead fish eyes.

Those are dead fish eyes full of emotion; you can tell whether Bray has made a decision just by looking at his eyes.

At this moment, Bray must have already decided to head southeast.

Just look at those "bright and piercing" dead fish eyes!

"Then let's not delay, let's set off now." Jonathan clenched his fist and cheered Bray on from the side.

“I promise you, you will not encounter any more strange enemies along the way,” he said mysteriously to Bray, tapping his feet.

"There were no tough battles, no troublesome events, in short, nothing that could possibly stand in our way."

"This will be a broad road, a road leading to the end of the 'struggle'!"