The black sun hangs high

Chapter 452 "Saints"

When Felix, leaning on his cane and wearing a trench coat, came out onto the street outside the house, countless eyes were immediately drawn to him.

This made Felix feel very uncomfortable.

As the de facto leader of the Dawnblade, he still preferred to keep a low profile.

In the past, achieving this was not too difficult. Although the Dawnblade was an open secret, in the eyes of many, including members of the Dawnblade, it was actually just a relatively important "spy" department. No matter how important or special its functions were, in the final analysis, it served the ideals and goals of the Dawnblade.

In this situation, Felix's personal presence is always overshadowed by the brilliance emanating from Mayer, Darthville, and Hugh.

But now it's different.

When people witnessed the light representing the favor of the goddess Mel emanating from the staff held by Felix, and completely dispelling the terrible shadow that could destroy half the city, titles such as "saint," "messenger," and even "divine favor" and "chosen one" became inextricably linked to Felix himself.

"Ugh... I feel really uncomfortable."

Under the scrutiny of various gazes, Felix frowned. He tugged at his coat and poked the cracked street surface with the cane that had always accompanied Hugh.

If he were still the young man he once was, such a movement would have revealed some awkwardness and unease. However, after his body had been severely overdrawn, he now looked no different from a middle-aged man. His thin face and figure, along with his unkempt beard, made Felix's action quite imposing. When the cane struck the ground, it even made some people who had been secretly watching look away.

"I must say, Mr. Felix, you look more like a leader now than before."

Sally's voice came slowly from the side: "The teacher told me earlier today that from now on, when you meet, you probably won't need to report anymore... Given your current image, it's more appropriate for everyone to talk together."

"It sounds like those bureaucrats; judging qualifications by appearance is not a good thing."

“See, that’s how it is… You used to say this more like a complaint, but it’s different now.”

Sally chuckled twice, then led Felix into a car, and they headed towards the other side of Watchtower City.

The Watchtower of today looks completely different from what it used to be.

Felix leaned on his cane and quietly looked out the window. He saw that the Dawn Soldiers were constantly organizing various tasks, and many residents of Watchtower were also participating in the work. Most of them wore temporary insignia and armbands issued by the Dawn Soldiers, which indicated that they were all volunteers willing to follow the Dawn Soldiers in the work of repairing and transforming Watchtower.

For those residents who still do not want to leave their homes and are willing to trust Akatsuki, this is the most suitable option under the current circumstances.

"The number of volunteers has increased significantly in the past few days."

Sally reached out and activated a crystal lamp in the carriage. She then took out a thick stack of manuscripts and said as she flipped through them, "The establishment of the Dawn Society's prestige is one aspect, but another aspect is thanks to you, Mr. Felix... Most of the city's residents are now followers of the goddess Mel. After witnessing what happened that night, they all firmly believe that you are the goddess's chosen one, and the Dawn Society, which you joined, is naturally regarded as an entity equal to the Legal Committee."

Felix instinctively wanted to describe this bizarre development as "absurd," but when he saw two volunteers helping the Dawn soldiers struggle to move two heavy boxes onto the loading truck, he had to swallow his words.

"Well... this is the only way for now."

Felix shook his head, his gaze shifting to the manuscript in Sally's hand. In just a couple of glances, he recognized it as a manuscript left by his old friend Hugh. That was Hugh's writing style; the paper was covered with all sorts of annotations, memos, and brief records, making Hugh's manuscripts very easy to identify.

"Miss Sally, is this the task the professor assigned to you? Where are you at?"

"At first it was indeed a mission, but not anymore... Well, I'm almost finished reading it. It mentions that 'Alyosha' has joined the army again, but this time it's voluntary, although his lover doesn't seem too happy about it."

"Oh, then it's almost over."

Felix nodded. He had also quickly read through Hugh's manuscript and was quite looking forward to the unfinished plot. However, now, the author of this novel was nowhere to be found, and it was unknown when he would return.

"The teacher and Mr. Daswell have already discussed it. They want to entrust the two publishing houses in the Kingdom of Delan and the Kingdom of Walter to publish this work, in three parts... Currently, these manuscripts can only support the first two parts."

At this point, Sally pursed her lips: "Hopefully he can get back in time and finish the missing third part."

"Ah."

Felix shook his head: "Knowing a writer like him as I do, delaying his work is probably already second nature to him... If he finished writing it all at once, that would be fine, but he's currently missing. Even if he comes back, there are a lot of things within Akatsuki that require his involvement, which would be perfect excuses for delaying his work."

Felix had said similar things many times before, but after he inexplicably "entered middle age," his words sounded somewhat old-fashioned.

It's really laughable.

After speaking, Felix placed the cane horizontally on his knees. As an ordinary person who had not systematically studied magic, he could now clearly feel the connection between himself and the cane. When he closed his eyes and focused all his attention on it, he could even amplify his senses without limit. An invisible force wove a huge net for him, and he himself was the master of this net, able to easily detect any abnormality within it.

Felix was satisfied because, in his current perception, he did not detect anything unusual.

His intuition told him that there were at least no Black Sun Society infiltrators in the surrounding area.

"Although I don't quite understand the underlying principles, this should be considered a good omen..."

He silently said to himself, but before the thought could disappear, a rather eye-catching "color" suddenly entered Felix's perception range. Not only that, the cane also began to tremble slightly, which was a manifestation of magic taking effect.

"Stop the car, Miss Sally!" Felix gave his order in a low voice. He gripped his cane tightly, turned his head to look out of the car, and focused his gaze on the temporary camp set up in a small square not far away: "What's that camp for?"

"The residents gathered here to prepare for evacuation should be the last few groups in this area... They will gather here and then be escorted by our soldiers to the stable villages in the rear."

Sally quickly got to work, glancing at Felix and asking in a low voice, "Any findings? Should I go get someone?"

"Okay, let's send a notification to the professor too, and we'll meet here."

With that, Felix picked up his cane and opened the car door.

He got out of the car and made a seemingly casual gesture.

Within seconds, several people scattered throughout the street, busy with their work, immediately put down what they were doing and scattered in different directions. A slight and subtle commotion quickly spread from the intersection, and a Dawn Sword task force responsible for the area went on alert at top speed.

The members of Dawnblade already have extensive experience in this kind of thing.

They knew it was time to "catch the bugs" again.

……

"Oh, you used to be a miner around here? Did you escape from the front lines?"

At the temporary gathering point, a burly woman with a child and a huge suitcase smiled at the stranger next to her and said, "It's not easy. Before, when they were arresting people everywhere in the city, they were targeting people like you who had served in the military first!"

The man remained somewhat silent as the women nearby struck up a conversation, but finally, faced with the child's curious gaze and the woman's smile, he reluctantly spoke up: "Yes, I was quite lucky; I hid in an abandoned mine nearby for a long time..."

"So, you waited until those lunatics ran away before you came out?"

The man seemed slightly unsure about the term the woman used, and he frowned to confirm, "Mad...madman?"

"Hey, those people who follow this so-called Black Sun, what else can you call them but lunatics?"

The woman waved her hand, turned her head to look at the long queue, then put her heavy luggage on the ground and sat down on a huge wooden crate next to her: "Anyway, things are a little better now. At least these newcomers don't plan to send everyone to the front lines, and they've even arranged some accommodations for us in the rear... They're all from the North, so they're more trustworthy."

I don't think so.

The man clearly didn't trust the woman's explanation. He shook his head and retorted in a low voice, "I heard they want to evacuate people from the city to work in the mines or farmlands..."

"Alright!"

The woman seemed indifferent: "A few days ago, some people came back from the farm and the mine. They said that they did need to work, but the conditions were okay. There was nothing they were forced to do. It was just normal work. Although it was a bit heavy, the Dawn Company did not deduct their wages."

As she spoke, the woman patted her thick arms: "If my unlucky son hadn't died in the mine, I would definitely have sent him to the Dawn Society's mine now. With his experience, he could at least become a foreman... As for me, I would be a cook in the mine. Pshaw, the other workers in the mine kitchens are no match for me!"

The woman was clearly very confident in her culinary skills, so she started rambling on about the snack shop she used to run in Watchtower City. This attracted the attention of several acquaintances nearby, and the atmosphere suddenly became lively. Someone joked that her cooking skills were actually just so-so, and that eating there would give you an upset stomach, but they didn't want to argue because of politeness...

The man was left standing there, silently watching the moving queue and the residents chatting in a relaxed atmosphere, his expression becoming somewhat strange.

Finally, he seized an opportunity to interject and asked, "Why do you trust the Dawn Society so much? Weren't there many terrible rumors circulating in the city before?"

"Terrible rumors? Tell me about them?"

Seeing people turn to look at him, the man coughed twice, then said in a low voice, "There hasn't been a single day of peace in the city these past few days. Not to mention the air raids, which killed many people... the Dawn Society's spies are still killing and arresting people everywhere. There are gunshots every night. I can't believe these murderers... not to mention, there are quite a few of those swordsmen mixed in with them..."

"Ah, that's the truth."

A resident in his fifties nodded: "The gunshots every night are indeed quite frightening, and twice they even came right downstairs from my building. But in my opinion, there's nothing we can do about it... Those lunatics have left behind a lot of hidden dangers in the city. They can only feel at ease after they've cleaned them up, right?"

“I’ve seen those who fired the shots; they were all young people. Although they were carrying weapons, they were all very polite.”

Another person chimed in, "I was woken up by gunfire in the middle of the night. When I looked out the window, they even advised me to close the window and not to look out. The mage in charge of the team even apologized to me on the street! Well, I've never heard of a mage apologizing to us ordinary people before."

"Anyway, I think they're trustworthy. After all, that 'Saint' is a real person! And that missing 'Baron Ernst'—an organization that can recruit people like that can't be too bad!"

The woman patted her muscular thighs, summing up the conversation: "Besides, how bad can a group of people so actively taking in orphans in the city be? I think they're better than the royal family!"

The man fell silent once again. He looked around and saw that most of the residents gathered here didn't seem to have much of an opinion about the Dawn Society. So he took two steps back and, using an upset stomach as an excuse, quickly left the queue.

He moved very quickly and soon emerged from the busy temporary gathering point. However, just as he was about to cross the intersection to the next designated location, he met someone's gaze.

He was a silent middle-aged man leaning on a cane and wearing a coat.

He stood by the roadside, his hawk-like eyes fixed on him, his gaze so intense it seemed to pin the man's body to the road of Watchtower City!

(End of this chapter)