Shadow of the Evil God

There are many kinds of rule-breaking. The most common kind is seemingly eccentric and uninhibited, but in reality, it's just a childish rebellion, completely unworthy of attention. But if you take a few more steps, things will suddenly become completely different.

The book Gouzi brought was called "The Origin of the State and Political Power." At first glance, it had a strong flavor of early Enlightenment thought. It seemed a bit of a waste to have it on his desk, but it would be much more interesting on Artinya's desk. To him, questioning was a normal thing, and appreciating and even encouraging those with convictions to question was also natural.

However, it still depends on the timing.

"So where would you like to start, Princess?" Cesar asked her.

"I thought I would be the first to ask you that question."

"You don't have to act like you care about my opinion. It's too deliberate."

She withdrew her smile. "You think I'm the one who's leading the conversation, and that makes you unhappy? Well, maybe... Over the years, I've rarely met anyone who needed me to obey. People can only choose between pretending to obey me and actually obeying me. As long as I show a little respect in the conversation, they will be satisfied. What's different about you?"

"I don't think a complaint or two deserves undue attention, Princess."

"Really? Then I'll have to guess. If I'm right, tell me what you're thinking, and don't complain that I'm exaggerating, okay?"

"I want to start by figuring out how to solve Gonzalez's problem," Cesar said.

"Alright," Artinya said with a hint of regret. "Since you don't want me to guess, we can wait for a more opportune time. Back to Gonzales, I can provide the initial funding for you to hire suitable mercenaries, provided I participate in every negotiation, and the terms must be signed by both of our names, not just yours. As for subsequent supplies and support, you can either ask Anne to add some leverage and negotiate further with Grand Duke Urbino, or I can lead the talks with Domini's team."

"I don't think Dominic is going to be very friendly with me," Cesar said.

"I'm well aware of your family's grievances. I can guarantee that most of the young officers in this team will obey me. The only veteran commander is a vacillating fence-sitter, so you don't need to worry too much. There are people who have opinions about you, but they are not many, and they won't cause much trouble."

"Can you tell me about the direction in which a fence-sitter might swing?"

"So far, it's based on your demonstrated combat capabilities. He's quite impressed with you and asked us to analyze you as a case study. He hasn't commented on anything else."

"You don't think I can solve all of Gonzales's problems, do you?"

She laughed again. "You're always so cautious when it comes to the really important things," she said. "Of course, there's nothing wrong with that.

But you don't need to be wary of this Dominican army. I can't guarantee everyone's purpose, but including myself, most people's goal is to find out a smuggling route from Dominican to Olidan."

Cesar thought of the purpose of their long-distance raid, "the smuggling route and

Is it okay, Dominic?

"The king himself wants to find out who is smuggling arms and supplies."

"You mean the money didn't go into the royal family's pockets."

"No one knows who pocketed the money," said Artinya. "Now you've guessed it—and you're not the only one who wants to question these prisoners."

Cesar thought that if a group of xenophobic Olidan nobles attempted to use parliament and law to limit the king's power, they certainly couldn't count the Dominican royal family as an ally. If war truly ignited, the Dominican Kingdom might even put aside their differences and send troops to support Evered IV. Of course, the nobles wouldn't fail to anticipate this. To prevent the Dominican Kingdom from prematurely intervening in the war, using the queen's name to conceal their intentions was crucial. This cover-up would continue until the day they could no longer conceal their true intentions and were forced to raise their own slogans.

"Well, let me put it this way," Cesar said, "Can this army of Domini draw some attention so that I can rush back to Gonzales with my troops? I want to capture the fortress before the impact of this matter spreads and deal with the Governor first."

She paused. "It sounds like a mutiny."

"Why not?" Cesar asked. "I just want to mutiny. I don't need any reason or evidence. As long as I storm the Governor's Palace and capture Vermeer and his men, I can solve most of the problems in Fort Gonzales."

"What if Vermeer gets the message to the king first?"

"Is Vermir closer to the king, or are Grand Duke Urbino and his only daughter closer to the king? If your sister could speak to her father and show him my spoils of war and the evidence I've gathered from interrogations, this wouldn't be a mutiny; it would be treason, preemptively seizing the kingdom. No matter how well-intentioned, without first addressing the paralyzed Fortress of Gonzales, there's no way to resolve the troubles of Gonzales. Without addressing Gonzales, there's no way to deal with the war and conflict that's spreading across the kingdom, or to seize the opportunity to rise up."

Chapter 134 Where Time Stands Still

......

Waking up without a knife was a strange feeling, but weapons were useless in a place where time didn't matter, surrounded by the dead from the previous era. Ajeh had been in the Kuna temple for two days. According to Jirola, two years might have passed in the outside world, or only a quarter of an hour. Only after she left the temple would all the uncertainties be confirmed.

She rested her head on her hands, lying flat on the comfortable temple couch, gazing up at the burning candlesticks, her mind racing. Traveling through the ordinary wilderness wasn't difficult, but the more information she gathered, the more difficult it became to fathom the region she was headed for. She didn't mind herself, but the problem was the person beside her, the one that the man had picked up and then discarded. Without her, Aya would be swallowed by the wilderness, and with her, her fate would be uncertain, a constant source of hesitation in her half-sleep and half-wakefulness.

He pulled the dying person to his feet, filled her with curses, and then left her there and walked away. Some might call it impulsive, but Ajeh said she had never seen such irresponsible behavior. She couldn't let go of Cesar just because she had absorbed some memories from him. It was hard to imagine how he could just forget about her after completing his task.

The temple room was spacious, warm, and bright, but the day and night on the mountaintop were not continuous. She had already experienced two long nights since she arrived, and now, as she opened and closed her eyes, the sun rose and set quickly outside the window, and the stars moved like clouds in the winter sky, revealing a vast expanse of white snow.

Ajeh put on her coat and boots, then went to the window and looked out for a moment. Soon, she heard Jiralo knock on the door, so she invited him in. "I hope I haven't disturbed you," the priest said. "I remember my visitor from that year."

"Aren't we talking about another Ajeh? Did she visit you?"

"The other Ajeh never visited the temple. I only thought of the other visitor, and of her mention of the Firstborn," Girola said. "The Beastmen Firstborn were born only at the end of the First Age, as I told you, but then I realized that a seed doesn't necessarily hatch in the same year it was born."

Ajeh instinctively touched her chin, expecting to feel stubble, only to realize she wasn't male. "Why?" she asked.

"The flow of time can be stopped," said Girola.

"You said time..."

"That visitor from the past inherited our knowledge. She called herself a priestess and sought ancient knowledge from me. In human terms, she was a mage. All mages are our children, inheritors of knowledge we wish not to lose, and she inherited more than anyone else."

"Is that wizard related to Ajiehe?" Ajiehe asked.

"A long time ago—no, it was only a few months ago for me, but it might have been hundreds of years for you. A famous visitor came to me and asked me about an ancient cemetery where, in my time, we would bury our dead. But in her time, the cemetery had become a lake where the bodies seemed to never decay and were often visited by wild beasts.

She came to find food, and she said she had taken our sacrificial text from the belly of a wandering beast, and it looked as new as new. I also saw the scroll she presented, and I couldn't tell whether the sacrificial text came from the past, the future, or something in between.

Time lost its meaning on that scroll. I was also wondering, if something that was meant to be born or destroyed fell into that lake, would it cause something that was meant to happen in the past to happen in the future? Or... am I saying too much?

Ajiehe was completely accustomed to Jirola's intermittent chatter.

"According to you," she said, "if the seed of a firstborn fell into the lake in the past and someone in the future brought it out, its hatching would also shift from the past to the future." She pondered.

"You're right," Girola said, "but I don't think there's just one seed of the First Born. There must be a reason why the flow of time in a certain area has stopped. Some who should have been destroyed escaped their fate because of it, and those who should have been born missed their birth because of it."

"If someone picked her up, would she think that person was her father or mother?"

"I think so. From what you said, she's not like those terrifying First Borns back then. I think it must be because she was missing something when she was born. The omnipresent breath of the True God at the turn of the era is what she lacks. She's not fully grown, and perhaps she's still a child now."

"and then?"

Girola, too, fell into deep thought. "I've also discovered some fragmented fragments," he said. "Did I ever tell you that the future seen through precognitive techniques is a tangled web, imprinted with any line extending from the present?"

"I'm not a mage," Ajeh denied. "I assume you told that to the last visitor."

He shook his head. "Perhaps, I can't remember exactly. When she first visited me, she learned a lot from me. I passed on many ancient rituals and knowledge to her, and I inevitably watched her try many divination techniques. Perhaps they will be of some help to you on your journey."

"Are you referring to the visitor's predictions of events many years later?"

"Some of these visions may seem like the past to you," Girola said. "There was a prophecy about the Firstborn who missed his destiny. A Forsaken One will return, committing a monstrous crime. It will kill to survive, kill for its king, and then kill for the Fire Queen when she rises from the bones and ashes, until all that is sacred is consumed in her service. You will know him by his shadow."

"You're going too far," Ajiehe said. "I'm more concerned about one thing... What will happen to those caught in this scene?"

"Fire will burn anything it can."

"I mean, among those who are closer, maybe I can withstand the heat better... No, I mean he can withstand the heat better." She tapped her forehead, trying to get rid of her confused self-perception.

Jirallo was silent for a long moment, gazing out the window at the frozen valley, as if gathering his thoughts. Then he said, "Another prophecy foretold that she would betray her friends, and even herself, at the edge of time. I think once she knew this, she was mentally prepared for her fate."

"You mean I should go there and fish out the bodies too? If it's already happened, I'll be able to find something."

"You are one of our people, Ajeh. You can discover things she hasn't, even see into things she has done. If you truly wish to understand and master the past, you should visit that lake."

Chapter 135: There is possessiveness here

......

Cesar was fulfilling his promise to the dog when the wolf's shadow loomed from behind him. Honestly, he'd been overthinking things lately, forgetting many of the things he'd said. If she hadn't stared at him with bloodshot eyes late at night, he'd have relegated those words to the back of his mind. Sometimes, he felt like he'd forgotten something he shouldn't have, but this strange feeling was recurring, and he didn't dwell on it for long.

He sat leaning against a tree, one hand gripping the hilt of his dagger as he bled from his wrist. After a while, the blade was stained with his own sticky blood, gleaming dimly in the moonlight. The cold night breeze was quite biting, but he felt it wasn't the cold itself, but the chill from the man beside him, gazing off into the distance and muttering to himself.

Cesar listened to Ajeh mumbling to himself as the dog climbed on top of him, biting and licking his bleeding wrist. He heard the creature speak some incomprehensible words, such as the Forsaken, killing and sin, as well as fire and ashes, with the flavor of a mad prophet speaking of revelations and omens.

"What are you mumbling to yourself?" Cesar glanced at Ajeh. "Some fatalistic narrative?"

"Yes, what do you think about that?" She turned around and met his eyes.

"Me?" He pondered her mumbling for a moment. "I feel like we're already in this state, so why should we care about killing and sin? I'm more afraid of losing all the supplies and property of the Imperial Princess and the Duke's eldest daughter. Not only will I be left penniless, but I'll also be chased by a dozen mercenary gangs for debts. If you told me you foresaw this scene, I'd be terrified and unable to sleep at night."

Ajiehe looked at him strangely for a moment, then said, "I'm talking about your views on fatalism."

"Compared to accomplishing a specific thing, perhaps I am more interested in verifying the truth of this metaphysical theory. You know what I mean." He put down

dagger.

"You mean to deliberately go against revelation and omen, to test how fatalistic fatalism really is."

"If it's necessary," Cesar agreed. "Don't you think this is a rare kind of academic research? Not everyone can be the protagonist of a prophecy."

As he spoke, he pulled the book, highly esteemed by the nobles, from his pouch. He flicked through the pages with his right hand, but it was difficult to concentrate. The dog's grip on his wrist tightened, its teeth biting deeper. Her tongue split into strands that stretched beneath the skin, looking like protruding veins.

"You're being too indulgent with this thing," Ajeh said. "Do you even want to raise it into a human?"

"I want to know a lot of things, for example, whether the Faceless can produce something from the thinking personality they draw on. Isn't this a credible motivation? If my idea is confirmed, then she is the first Faceless to have a soul. Based on this sample, I can even use her to discuss the cause of self-awareness."

“What about outside of academics?” she asked.

Cesar set the book aside, realizing the dog could no longer lick the wound on his wrist, only lingering with kisses. But she wasn't satisfied, and her hand slowly slid up his neck. He could feel her long, delicate fingers, almost boneless, tracing across his chest and shoulders like a water snake seeking food. Seconds later, he felt a gentle bite on the side of his neck, oozing a rosy red bead of blood. She kissed it, licking it clean, then bit his right earlobe.

In about half a minute, he had a string of almost painless little wounds and several kisses on his body, like mosquito bites. She was like a picky child tasting food, finding a place to take a light bite, sucking out a few drops of blood, then moving to another place to take another light bite, sucking out a few more drops of blood.

"If you insist I admit my motives aren't pure, then they certainly aren't," Cesar said. "There's possessiveness here, and a lot of simple, straightforward, intense carnal desire. Of course, there's something else as well." At this point, he noticed Ajeh gazing into the distance. "What are you looking at? Is it related to what you were just mumbling?"

"It's true that they are closely related," Ajiehe replied, "but I don't want to talk about it. Perhaps you will know it someday in the future, but it certainly won't be me who tells you."

"Really? I thought you were looking in the direction of the military camp because you wanted to eat people."

"I do desire to satisfy the hunger of my soul." She glanced sideways. "If you will loosen the chains that bind me for a while, I will return at dawn, and by then, only a few insignificant dying people will be completely dead."

"No," Cesar replied to her with the same words he used to reply to the dog, "If the chain around your neck wasn't in my hand, this matter really wouldn't have anything to do with me, but since your chain is in my hand, don't even think about daydreaming about it."

"There's really no trust between us, Cesar."

"How can I refute what you said? I trust you so much that I think you will definitely do something I don't want to see. How about this, I have many more children, if you want..."

"Are you really acting recklessly just because you're not afraid of death?"

"I nearly turned into charcoal on the battlefield. I think as long as you don't chew me up and eat me, there's nothing to be afraid of." Cesar said, turning his back to Ajeh. "I heard from the hunters that when facing a hungry wolf, don't turn your back on it and run away. If you mind what I see or think this is more in line with your habits, I can just close my eyes and you can do whatever you want."

"You'd better not think I'll be coy and refuse."

A certain tangible gaze made him shudder, and he became more certain of where the night's chill came from. He felt the sharp claws graze the back of his neck, followed by an intense burning and stinging sensation, as if the creature was full of resentment and deliberately wanted to make him feel pain.

Before he could endure the pain, Gouzi's eyes suddenly widened before him. Her expression was filled with discontent, as if she were accusing an unfamiliar creature of stealing her food. Cracks like white porcelain appeared from her cheek to her neck, and her fingers were split into sharp segments. He was completely convinced that she would unravel like a coil of rope in the next moment.

Cesar hugged Gouzi's slender waist and shoulders, kissed her forehead, and touched her lips. After a long time, he felt the cracks on her body gradually disappear, and her hands dropped and pressed against his chest.

As he soothed the creature before him, he felt the beast's sharp teeth pierce his skin and scrape against his bones. His tolerance for pain was much stronger now, but the sensations of Ajeh's predatory behavior were still too intense. Firth's outburst at Noyen pales in comparison. But she had already helped him so much on the battlefield, so what was the harm in venting a little? He had to endure it.

The wolf's claws that he had used as cat and dog paw pads gradually tightened, digging into his flesh and pricking his shoulder blades.

"According to your taste buds, what do you think the blood in my neck tastes like? Can you give me a more vivid metaphor?

"Is it?" Cesar asked Ajeh, and received a look that was difficult to describe. "I want to make sure you're not just venting your emotions." He immediately added, "I hope this is more like a wine tasting, not just guzzling it from the jar.

"I didn't care what was in it, and I ended up smashing the jar, you know? Can you focus on tasting it instead of biting and scratching it?"

Ajeh raised her eyebrows slightly. "How can I show I'm concentrating on tasting it?" The breath of blood from her mouth caressed his lips, so close that he could kiss them with a turn of his head. The dog glared at her again. "I've never heard of a piece of meat asking a predator to comment on its taste."

Chapter 136 She must have thought of you as her father

"The experience of being eaten is very novel," Cesar said. "I never thought I could feel this. Now that I'm experiencing it, I need to find more ways to participate."

"I think the madness in your heart is closer to the definition of madness than the curse of the Tao. What do you think, Cesar?"

"Really?" he said. "I don't know how you could think I was above Analik's curse. But I suppose I was just drifting along, grabbing a few branches to make a little raft for myself."

"Neither the chosen ones of the Yestren School nor the chosen ones of the Kasar Empire's War of Succession can be called a few small branches."

Cesar grasped Ajehe's open paw, trying to pinch the pads between them, but she scratched through the flesh, his fingers almost touching the bone, and he had to pull them back. He placed his bleeding index finger on the dog's lips, watching her suck on it gently. He felt her licking slowly, her bright upper lip tilting upwards slightly, gleaming with a bewildered luster.

"You forgot to mention yourself," he said. "Besides, I merely mailed a fabricated academy letter and scraped together a disastrous victory. Those two offered me an olive branch, but in reality, they simply saw a useful man in their ranks. It's not much different from my seeking out the Knight of Varedo and spending the night conversing with him. In Varedo's eyes, my friendship with him, despite his failures, and my use of him as a commander in achieving victory after victory, was remarkable, but that's all I saw. The same applies to your approach to their attitudes."

"I've never met anyone who looks at the world from a perspective like you do, but it's an interesting way of thinking."

"I just want to use reason to judge other people's true attitude towards me," Cesar said. "With this understanding, which is not related to personal feelings, I can start to change my status in other people's eyes."

"You've had enough side-tapping, Cesar," Ajeh said, and of course she saw that the same applied to herself.

"Yes, I'm trying to be more proactive with you," Cesar agreed. "Because you're interesting, I want to make our relationship less boring. You can hurt me as much as you want before you're completely satisfied. You know, you've saved my life more than once, so this is both reasonable and will make things more interesting."

Ajeh's face was devoid of any smile. She said, "You can choose suicide. This method of self-harm is the most interesting. The knife is right next to you. Go pick it up."

"Why don't you pick up the knife?" Cesar asked.

As she spoke, Gouzi leaned forward and gave him a long, numbing kiss, as if to offer him hope for life. Her soft, bright red lips had a rich, bloody scent, and her saliva was sweet and sticky, like thick, fragrant spiced wine on her nimble tongue. This sweet, smooth tongue was a wonderful comfort to him in this moment of unbearable pain. She knew this, so she quietly slipped this scaleless little snake in during the kiss, licking his lips and teasing his tongue, wrapping it around her until it felt both numb and tingling.

"You've spoiled this dog too much," Ajeh said. "Besides, I use the knife to kill people, not just to play around."

Cesar listened to Ajeh's words while holding the dog's lithe body in his arms, burying his face in her warm golden hair and sighing. He casually placed his fingers on her face, kneading her cheek against his chest, but when he heard this, he said:

"I think being coquettish is a very spiritual behavior. If you have come into contact with other Faceless People, you can try it now and see if she is wiser than you think."

She remained noncommittal. "I'm not interested in soulless things. This is just a thing."

"But you've never spoken to Phils either," Cesar pointed out.