Volume 3

Chapter 42 : Uncertain Future (7K)

Aside from the two Grand Dukes in the North Lands who had already declared independence, the other eleven… strictly speaking, ten Grand Dukes, had all quietly begun to take action.

After the Day of Cataclysmic Fire, the other princes and princesses who had left the Imperial Capital early inexplicably popped up one after another.

All of them claimed legitimacy, asserting that they could temporarily manage the current chaotic Empire for her before the great Her Majesty the Emperor returned.

But in reality, there were only two Regent candidates truly being considered by the other Grand Dukes, only the two most suitable ones personally identified by Anselm.

The situation in the Empire was developing just as Anselm had predicted.

The monstrous flames of war ignited in the West Kingdom had indeed slowed down significantly because of Diana’s declaration of regency.

Anselm handed the briefing to Mingfuluo: “Seeing this, will you be happy that I did a good deed?”

The scholar lady, who was dealing with some strange apparatus, glanced at the briefing and said casually: ” This is clearly just incidental to your plan; you didn’t take this as a starting point…”

“That’s not what you said last night. You were clearly obediently licking my throat while softly—”

“Shut up!”

Anselm laughed heartily and went to tease Mingfuluo’s reddening earlobe, only to be swatted away single-handedly by the latter whose face was even redder.

The young Hydra quit while he was ahead.

He re-examined the briefing personally sent by Raven, taking in the most important words.

Audruankasa… one of the eleven commanders of the Revolutionary Army, and also the only Revolutionary Army commander active in the West Kingdom.

Three days ago, Blood Dust and Sky Soil simultaneously announced a halt to the battle between their regular armies.

While both sides were drafting an agreement, Audruankasa raided the blood bank that Grand Duke Blood Dust treasured, successfully hijacking hundreds of victims.

Before Grand Duke Sky Soil could be happy for half a day, this Revolutionary Army commander immediately penetrated deep into the rear of Grand Duke Sky Soil’s territory and blew up his largest alchemy weapon arsenal.

And the most decisive part about this commander was that, in order not to let Blood Dust and Sky Soil think they were stabbing each other in the back after signing the armistice agreement, she left behind her identity, purpose, and even tracks.

In this way, she briefly tied the two Grand Dukes, who could originally only be considered reluctantly ceased fire, together.

Now, in the place where the two Grand Dukes were fighting, countless refugees were seizing this incomparably precious armistice opportunity to flee frantically in all directions.

Undoubtedly, this was a world twisted to the extreme, but no matter how twisted the world was, there would always be people upright enough not to be twisted.

The composition of the Revolutionary Army was very complex, but generally speaking, their determination was unquestionable.

“Hit should have a lot of common language with this commander.”

Flames ignited at Anselm’s fingertips, burning the briefing to ashes.

In his mind emerged the image of his Miss Wolf rampaging freely in the rear of the two Grand Dukes, laughing loudly while heroically saving countless victims, and a smile unconsciously appeared on his face.

Perhaps it was purely joy because of Hitana’s appearance, or perhaps it was relief because there was not only one Hitana in the world.

However, Anselm naturally would not analyze the cause of that joy in his heart, so he did not realize his subtle changes.

“That Revolutionary Army commander?”

Mingfuluo fiddled with the things on the workbench and said without looking up: “I don’t think that’s a good thing.”

“Hmm, is that so?” Anselm raised his eyebrows slightly, “Clearly you’ve been hoping for me to become better these days, how come you’re opposing Commander lady’s heroic behavior now?”

“Do you take me for your kind puppy?”

Mingfuluo rolled her eyes.

Although this action with a few hints of liveliness was ungraceful, it still made her look rather cute.

“The struggle for the Regent you provoked is already enough to make the two Grand Dukes temporarily truce. There is no need for her to risk her life to arouse their anger, to fight for opportunities for the so-called… ‘more people’.”

Anselm tilted his head: “Is this reminding me that there is no need to be affected by critical choices, such as life safety… because of those words you said?”

“You said this yourself, it has nothing to do with me.”

The stubborn denial as always proved that Mingfuluo indeed thought so.

Unlike Hitana’s “absolute”, Mingfuluo Zege, who chose to live for herself with Anselm’s help, was still looking for her own path.

She realized that blindly and self-righteously creating cold value was absolutely unreasonable.

Therefore, on the road to changing herself, she also hoped that Anselm, who used unscrupulous means to fight against fate, could also change.

But this did not mean that Mingfuluo had given up on sacrifice and inexplicably became a saint who wanted to save everything.

In her heart, there was still a scale called sacrifice, only that she no longer fell into demonic obsession like before.

The current Mingfuluo could accept the existence of loss, but the premise of acceptance was that this loss could not be too severe.

In the process of fighting against fate and changing means, if acting gently would cause Anselm to suffer irreparable huge losses and irreparable huge mistakes, then Mingfuluo would rather Anselm act according to his own plan.

“…After all.” Mingfuluo muttered to herself in a very light voice, “I am also a selfish guy.”

Mingfuluo believed that, to some extent, she was not doing this for the suffering people in this world, but just hoping that Anselm could break free step by step from that cold and dark past.

“A selfish guy wouldn’t put so much effort into others.”

Anselm picked up the small object Mingfuluo placed on the workbench and examined it carefully: “Is it finished?”

“Just missing the final practicality test.” Mingfuluo looked up at Anselm, “Accompany me to the Lower District?”

“I don’t seem to have another choice, Your Majesty the Queen.”

“Don’t call me by that title!”

“Clearly you were still— last night”

“Don’t mention last night!”

Facts proved that even though she was five years older than Anselm, Miss Mingfuluo found it difficult to show the boldness of a big sister, whether in appearance or inside.

The little thing Mingfuluo created this time was also very simple.

As long as there was an idea, creating it was not difficult.

Simply put, it was a surveillance system.

The square little object Anselm picked up could detect all violent incidents and transmit them back to the system hub in the first instance, marking the location so that the hub could immediately send people to deal with vicious violent incidents.

This small box could be concealed, could and only could detect all violent incidents within a radius of fifty meters, and did not have other voyeuristic functions.

Compared with traditional malicious detection spells, it had stronger flexibility and an irreplaceable ultra-cheap advantage.

It was not difficult to shroud an area in malicious detection spells, even much simpler than making these little gadgets.

But in terms of long-term Ether consumption, when the domain expanded to a certain extent, no matter how much the spell simplified consumption, it could not be compared with these ordinary mass-produced items.

Anselm sat on the roadside bench holding Mingfuluo, watching two drunkards walk into the alley.

Not long after, the round lamp in Mingfuluo’s hand suddenly emitted a dazzling red light and buzzed, simultaneously projecting the image of the drunkards fighting each other, and marking the specific location in the center of the image.

“Looks quite successful.” Anselm, resting his chin on Mingfuluo’s head, said, “What do you think, Aluo?”

Mingfuluo was undoubtedly an unquestionable genius.

This otherworld violent incident surveillance system was not something Anselm reminded her of using knowledge from that world, but something she figured out herself.

The setback of the Soil Enhancement Potion plunged Mingfuluo into a very long period of anxiety and hesitation.

She didn’t know what to do to bring better changes to this world, fearing a repeat of the Little Pelican City incident.

But the success of the purifier some time ago brought inspiration to Mingfuluo—if the things she created would cause unavoidable negative impacts due to the unpredictability of human nature and the entanglement of interests and values… then, wouldn’t it be fine to minimize the “value” of those things as much as possible?

The purifier solved the environmental problems of the Strife Fortress Lower District, and how much secular benefit could solving this matter have?

Similarly, this surveillance system aimed to maintain order in the Lower District.

How much profit could be squeezed out of maintaining order?

The only problem was that the transcendents lost their “toys” and might do some bad things. But this problem had already been solved by Anselm.

“It’s passable. If better materials are used, I can make the detection range larger, and it should be possible not to be limited to violent incidents only. Other vicious incidents should also be testable…”

Mingfuluo appeared not quite satisfied, thinking that the conditions of Strife Fortress limited her ability.

“This is already very good. If Hit saw it, she would probably be happy enough to lift you up and spin you around.”

“Then I will definitely beat her up, you are not allowed to stop me.”

Anselm couldn’t help laughing: “You forgot? You hit her a few times, and she won’t feel anything at all.”

“…”

Miss Mingfuluo remained silent, her face written with the expression “That guy’s Spiritual Essence is really disgusting.”

And Anselm looked at the dark street in front of him, a hint of emotion emerging in his eyes.

This is the destined hero.

Of course, he would not think that this thing alone could change the Lower District, but undoubtedly, Mingfuluo’s small creation could advance the arrival of order countless times.

At the same time, as absolute force suppression, Hitana could withstand enough pressure in higher-level fields to promote the emergence of change.

Expanding from the Lower District of Strife Fortress to a larger territory city, things might not be so simple.

Expanding to the Empire, expanding to the whole world even more so, but Mingfuluo and Hitana were also far from reaching their peak.

With their help, everything seemed to suddenly open up.

If there was only one problem… It was that both Mingfuluo and Hitana were somewhat superficial because of their youth and did not consider deeper issues.

However, this kind of superficiality wasn’t bad; at least this superficiality was for the civilians to live better.

Anselm couldn’t help thinking, if there were no Mingfuluo and Hitana, how would he deal with the Lower District?

Simply maintaining order would not work.

To change this place where bad practices die hard, strong medicine must be used.

First, they must be made to slowly possess independent consciousness, recognizing their value and power as individuals and in groups.

The simplest awakening method was none other than letting them obtain the qualification to continue living in the most primitive way, using anger and violence… Hmm, get some gang leaders out to constantly apply high pressure.

When the pressure reaches the peak, detonate the conflict in one breath, then secretly have people fuel the flames, letting both sides fight a bloody battle, making these numb people win with difficulty…

The “villains” had better be their own people too.

They were too weak and ignorant.

There was no need to deliberately pursue the impeccability of the plan.

Being able to manipulate the villains, letting them show enough weakness and fear, allowing these people to gain pleasure from this victory was what mattered.

In this way, they obtained proof of living.

No matter how morbid and numb the heart was, there was also a beam of light.

Although this chaotic battle would inevitably cause casualties, but—

Anselm’s thinking came to an abrupt halt.

He narrowed his eyes slightly, seeming to have thought of something.

“Aluo.” The young Hydra said softly, “Do you want to install this thing right now?”

“Of course.” Mingfuluo answered without thinking, “Since it’s confirmed to be useful, then of course the sooner the Lower District is covered with these surveillance systems, the better. It seems to be becoming chaotic here again; this is not a good thing.”

“…”

After a brief silence, Anselm slowly rested his chin on Mingfuluo’s shoulder: “How about waiting a while longer.”

Mingfuluo tilted her head to look at the face close at hand, her expression slightly puzzled: “Why wait a while?”

“Because this is… not very friendly to Marina.” Anselm said warmly, “She is a very serious person. The purifier is harmless, but this surveillance system will make her think she completed my task with your help.”

“…Is she such a person who splits hairs? If it were her sister, that would be more like it.”

Of course not, Marina was naturally not a person who split hairs, but…

But her thinking and my thinking were the same.

And if the estimation was not wrong, this recent period should be the time Marina prepared to detonate the conflict.

If Aluo installed these things, then Marina’s plan would be tantamount to declaring failure.

Failure…

After all, do I really have to continue according to the original idea?

Does Marina have to do this to achieve results?

Although what Aluo brought was just simple stable order, not changing the mentality of the civilians in the Lower District, with this order, I could also find other ways to change their concepts on this basis.

With their help, this was not difficult.

Sacrifice by deliberately inciting conflict… can be avoided, unnecessary.

“Anselm?” Mingfuluo suddenly spoke, “What are you thinking? Is Marina related to this matter?”

The keen scholar lady quickly noticed Anselm’s abnormality, and the young Hydra, after a brief silence, chuckled and shook his head.

“Nothing, since Aluo you said so… then let’s deploy it like this.”

A cheerful smile appeared on Anselm’s face: “Indeed, there is no need to consider too much.”

Ultimately, I still thought too much.

As Hit’s sister… She is essentially kind.

She doesn’t want to do this from the bottom of her heart, but because this is the best choice for me, she would push it forward like this.

If there is a better choice, she can definitely accept it.

Marina, you should be able to understand my current choice just as you understood me at any time in the past.

Thinking like this, Anselm suddenly saw a guy on the street who was out of place in the Lower District, seemingly a refugee.

Mingfuluo also noticed him and couldn’t help whispering: “Fled all the way to the rear of Grand Duke Lapis Lazuli. Don’t know how difficult his journey was.”

She turned to look at Anselm, her voice softening a lot: “But at least, he won’t die under the slaughter and plunder of the battlefield and adventurers, thanks to you, Anselm.”

“Thanks to me… hmm, let it be so.”

Anselm’s face still wore his usual gentle smile, only for some reason, deep in those sea-blue eyes reflecting the refugee’s figure, there remained a slight trace of confusion.

He triggered the Regent incident, causing Grand Dukes Blood Dust and Sky Soil to temporarily truce, which directly saved hundreds of thousands or even a million people.

Undoubtedly, this was something to be happy about.

Anselm, who used to be physically and mentally pleased just by doing random commissions, should reasonably be even happier for his “salvation”.

When he talked about this with Mingfuluo, he also showed obvious information.

But for some reason, when gazing at that refugee, knowing that if he told him everything, he would definitely worship him and treat him like a god, after truly facing this person “saved” by him…

This time, Anselm did not feel any happiness.

When taking over all the alarm hubs from Mingfuluo, Marina’s expression did not change at all.

“Remember to give me feedback in time if there are any problems. Anselm and I have already set up all the monitors. As long as there appears—look, just like this.”

Mingfuluo pointed to the round lamp in the box that suddenly lit up and made a piercing sound: “As long as a violent incident occurs, it will emit—”

Before she finished speaking, among the many alarms in the alley, another one made a sound, and then one after another, they rang continuously.

“…Is the security in the Lower District this bad? Didn’t adventurers sweep through it before?”

Mingfuluo looked at the box of indiscriminately ringing alarms, and for a moment even thought there was something wrong on her side.

The scholar lady dropped a sentence “I’ll go check first”, and then hurriedly disappeared.

A few minutes later, she returned again, her face very ugly.

Obviously, she already had an answer between whether the security in the Lower District was bad or her creation had problems.

“Marina, these things are handed over to you.”

Mingfuluo’s expression was very solemn: “I am different from your sister. Compared to personal power, I hope more to establish an order. Hope you can make good use of it.”

“I understand, Miss Mingfuluo.” Marina smiled softly, “I will not fail Mr. Anselm and your expectations, please rest assured.”

Her delicate and pretty, gentle and quiet appearance was too persuasive, carrying a magic that made people subconsciously trust and get close to her.

Just looking at her expression and listening to her voice, Mingfuluo’s trust in Marina increased by several points out of thin air.

The scholar lady didn’t even feel there was anything wrong.

Simply exactly the same as a certain devil who dominated human hearts.

“You are much more reliable than your worrisome sister, I know.”

Mingfuluo nodded, then looked behind Marina, hesitated for a moment, and still asked: “Speaking of which, where did she go? Usually, if Anselm comes, she would have rushed out long ago.”

“The battle with Mr. Faust is approaching, Miss Fenrir is seizing the time to temper herself.”

Hearing this sentence, Anselm suddenly looked at Marina.

“Is that so…”

Mingfuluo didn’t notice anything, just frowned involuntarily: “No wonder the security has become worse again. Doesn’t she care about these things the most? How come she doesn’t care anymore once she thinks about being able to fight Anselm.”

Marina quickly explained: “This is not Miss Fenrir’s problem, it’s me who failed to handle it well…”

She found Anselm looking at her at this moment, so she quietly blinked at Anselm very innocently.

“You don’t need to take the blame for her… forget it, anyway now with this thing helping you, the security in the Lower District will improve very soon, and you can immediately stay away from the prison.”

“Thank you for your help, Miss Mingfuluo.”

Thank, your help.

Marina, with her head lowered, moved her lips expressionlessly.

Until Mingfuluo and Anselm finished greeting and left, she slowly raised her head.

She looked at that box of alerters, watching the alerters continuously prompting the occurrence of violent incidents, without the slightest fluctuation on her indifferent face.

“Creating this kind of thing at this time…”

Knuckles gripping the alerter turned slightly white, Marina muttered to herself: “I really want to thank you, Miss Mingfuluo.”

Two or three seconds later, she slowly exhaled, and quickly adjusted her emotions.

“Mr. Anselm did not stop or delay Miss Mingfuluo from setting up these things, which means he acquiesced to Miss Mingfuluo’s choice… Did he deny his own path?”

Marina, whose eyes were completely scarlet due to that flashing red light, had an increasingly hoarse voice.

“No, not denial, but more choices.”

The young girl twitched the corner of her mouth, facing those alerters, facing the things she could never create in her lifetime but someone else could produce a box of casually, revealing an exhausted and powerless difficult smile:

“This is the best choice in Miss Mingfuluo’s mouth.”

“She is really… a person who does what she says.”

Since Anselm had already chosen this, Marina would not have any objections.

Even if unwilling, she would obey Anselm’s will.

Only, when Marina silently took out an alerter alone, watching the brawl image projected on the round lamp.

When everything at present was being pushed by her towards the impending explosion of chaos due to Hitana’s temporary departure, an unprecedented resistance rose in her heart, resisting that… obedience.

Is Mr. Anselm’s choice necessarily worse than the order provided by Miss Mingfuluo?

Is the option without sacrifice necessarily a good option?

Clearly, intensifying the conflict in the Lower District was Anselm’s idea, and acquiescing to Mingfuluo establishing a surveillance system was also Anselm’s choice.

Facing different choices made by the same person, Marina chose to divide Anselm into two.

“Mr. Anselm…”

Marina seemed to be facing, watching these two Anselms who made different choices at this moment.

“Do you want to continue according to Miss Mingfuluo’s proposal from the bottom of your heart, or…”

She murmured as if sleeptalking: “Or, actually still haven’t made a decision?”

The piercing alarm sound seemed to never stop, just like the distortion and chaos in the Lower District would not stop permanently because of the appearance of this thing.

“If you have really made a decision, you wouldn’t put the right of choice in my hands. And if you harbor hesitation and doubt, that means… you actually don’t want to make changes, Mr. Anselm.”

Marina, whose eyes gradually became clear, slowly closed the box full of alerters.

“Although I don’t know what caused you to hesitate so much, you won’t be wrong.”

“If there is a mistake, it is also my misunderstanding, not your mistake.”

Marina Lansmarlos always implemented her will. Once determined, she would not hesitate.

So, the next day, Anselm went to the Imperial Capital as Hydra again.

The Lower District of Strife Fortress, blood flowed like a river.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep