The Path to Lordship Begins in the North

The trial of the raven began soon afterward.

Considering the nature of the Black Crow Secret Society and to prevent anyone from rescuing them or sneaking into the capital, Lind chose to execute them directly.

Raven became, with great honor, the first high-ranking professional to be executed by those in power in the secular world in all these years.

As for the Black Crow Gang, the two sides already had a lot of unresolved issues, and Linde hadn't even had a chance to settle accounts with them before they came knocking on his door.

Capet made a very firm statement to the liberated high-level professionals that he no longer welcomes those who barge into other people's homes without a word.

Of course, Linde would be very happy to cooperate.

Deborah witnessed the entire trial being conducted by the Tribunal, which consisted entirely of Lind's personal guards and possessed equipment that even Deborah couldn't name. This made Deborah somewhat worried as she held the Holy Grail in her hand.

Deborah had heard the elves of the tower talk about the era of the Old Empire. The technology of the Old Empire was very advanced, but it did not follow the same path as the Cape. Magic was still something high and mighty, unlike now, where even ordinary workers in factories can come into contact with magic.

"What are you thinking about?"

Lind's words brought Deborah back to reality.

"Don't worry, the power of the Inquisition is generally not used. Only those truly lawless high-level professionals will resort to the Inquisition."

Linde thought Deborah was frightened by the fact that a high-ranking professional had been executed so easily, so he made a point of comforting her.

"To be honest, this was entirely a case of 'the enemy is not prepared,' because we were able to succeed by lying in ambush beforehand. It would be quite difficult to capture a highly agile professional with such a small loss. If conditions permit, I would still prefer to resolve most high-level professional conflicts through communication."

After saying that, Linde glanced at Deborah. This meeting was originally proposed by Deborah, but seeing that Deborah didn't seem to have thought of what to say yet, Linde could only continue the small talk: "I'm very curious about how your Tower manages those professionals. Can you tell me?"

Shifting the conversation to something the other person is familiar with can help ease their tension.

“The methods of managing these professionals have gotten out of control.”

Deborah shook her head and continued, "Of course, the God of Contracts can only manage those professionals in our tower who have changed their faith. As for the high-level professionals now, most of them are non-official members and are not forced to change their faith, so they are not managed by the God of Contracts."

After speaking, Deborah briefly introduced the Tower's system to Lind.

How are these unofficial staff managed? In addition to managing the staff within the tower who are the core of the faith in the God of the Covenant, the tower also establishes cooperative relationships with these unofficial staff.

The Tower possesses vast resources and hidden knowledge, including many ways to help professionals enhance their power—things that are unavailable or difficult to access in secular countries.

Inside the tower, you can easily obtain these resources simply by going out on field missions, completing tasks, and assisting the tower in research.

In addition, those inside the tower who have already converted to the new faith, unless they are mentally unstable, will generally choose to obey.

If you want to slack off, that's even better; The Tower has plenty of ways to make it comfortable for you.

Whether you seek power, forbidden knowledge, or simply want to live a carefree life, the Tower can grant your wish, as long as you are willing to abide by its rules. Even if you can't let go of worldly attachments, the Tower will turn a blind eye as long as it's not too excessive.

The only people the tower doesn't welcome are ambitious people.

To be honest, the management style is a bit like a sect in the world of cultivation. Everyone is on missions while secretly cultivating, all in order to reach the so-called pinnacle of magic and knowledge.

"If that's the case, why doesn't the Tower rule the world directly, instead of hiding inside the tower?"

Lind shrugged: "Wouldn't it be easier for you to manage this continent if you directly ruled it?"

"We could even make that God of Contracts the mainstream faith, then no one would dare to break their faith."

Deborah shook her head and said, "No, the God of Contracts is not as intelligent as you think. How can you distinguish between subjective and objective betrayal of a contract? What if someone uses the God of Contracts to control others by exploiting the traps in the contracts? From its inception, the God of Contracts was destined to be a tool used only on a small scale."

"Even our God of Contracts needs to be maintained and updated regularly, let alone widely promoted and used to rule the world."

In other words, the God of Contracts' effects are coercive, which makes sense, as only with sufficient coercion can it control those high-level professionals.

"As for why we don't rule the world, I understand what you mean. It seems that with so many high-level professionals, ruling the world would be a very simple thing for us."

"Regardless of whether this is true or not, perhaps the world and you have a misunderstanding about our Tower. Our Tower's primary job is not to restrain and manage these high-ranking professionals; this is merely an incidental measure to achieve our ultimate goal."

This actually touches on the essence of the tower, but after touching the Holy Grail in her arms, Deborah still decided to explain it to Lind. After all, although Lady Anna's judgment was a bit outrageous, the result was correct, and this governor could be trusted. Moreover, now that the God of Contracts was paralyzed, there were many things Deborah could talk to Lind about.

"Actually, some of your subordinates have already come into contact with this knowledge—are you familiar with the collective unconscious?"

Linde nodded and said, "Individual consciousness, subconsciousness, and collective unconsciousness, right?"

Deborah was about to continue speaking, but after hearing Lind's words, she opened her mouth wide and stood there stunned.

"Where...where did you come across this knowledge? Have other colleagues from the Tower already been in contact with you? Or have the nuns' research on dreams reached this level?"

This was the first time Deborah felt that Lynd was such a stranger, as if she didn't know the governor in front of her at all.

Seeing Deborah's expression, Lind tried to continue, "What I know might be different from what you know, but you should listen to it first."

"If we compare an individual's consciousness to a small island on the sea, then the subconscious is the island's underwater extension, connected to the seabed, and the boundless seabed is the collective subconscious, right?"

"Your analogy is quite novel."

Deborah said, "And it's much easier to understand, you're right."

"The collective unconscious, which you call the seabed, is what we refer to as the ocean of consciousness."

"That is, the true source of human dreams and beliefs."