Secret: The years I served as a foreign aid for the Aurora Club

Chapter 393 The Anchor of Humanity

713
After successfully hunting down Chonas Kilger, Klein now possessed a demigod-level secret doll, something he had never dared to imagine.

He let the other party use some of the simplest "twists" with great interest, and after satisfying his desire, he put away the new secret doll.

Klein was not in a hurry to sacrifice the items he obtained to Sefirah Castle. Instead, he patiently returned to his room to wash up and prepare for bed.

Soon, he lay on the bed, twisted Qonas Kilger into a ball of flesh and blood, and put it into the body of Enuni, who was wearing the "Blood Flower" ring. After finishing the work at hand, he stared at the exquisite ceiling of the bedroom, and his heart was filled with special emotions.

"I got a lot of intelligence... useful intelligence."

"Once the arrow is shot, there is no turning back. Although I think I have made up my mind a long time ago, I always have a kind of inexplicable worry..."

Klein sighed and closed his eyes.

He knew what he was worried about.

From a long-term perspective, George III's deification would be of great benefit to the Kingdom of Loen. Now the conflicts between the gods had intensified to the point that he could see it. One more god for the Kingdom of Loen would mean one more fighting force, and one more guarantee for the safety of the people - not all of them, but at least most of them would be protected.

"Now the fighting power among the gods is expanding, well, or involution. The anchors within the Kingdom of Loen have basically been divided. Only new lands can provide enough people and anchors for the upcoming 'Black Emperor'. After George III becomes a god, he will definitely attack other countries together with the God of Thunder... In this regard, I can boldly guess that the country that George III attacks may have preserved the Sequence 1 of the 'Arbitrator'."

"George III would acquire new anchors through war, and actively seek sequence oneness and uniqueness of adjacent pathways..."

"The Black Emperor may also have his own unique instincts. If he cannot become a dual-path true god, it means that he will be firmly suppressed by the God of Thunder... Never mind, I am just guessing, but war is inevitable."

Klein thought of another aspect and frowned even more tightly, and even lost some sleepiness.

"Similarly, if George III fails to become a god or dies, other countries will also try to attack Loen... However, with the God of Thunder currently around, the possibility of a foreign invasion is low, unless it is the one who replaces the God of Steam and Machinery..."

Thinking of this, Klein felt relieved, but he felt even more uncomfortable and unable to breathe.

He could not forget the glimpse he had taken in Trier, when he saw the foreign capital with nine out of ten houses empty, when he heard Ms. D say that the total population of Intis was now only about the same as the original population of Trier, when he saw people living in stacked containers and makeshift tents, burning the remains of the deceased day and night...

He had never felt such fear before, and the anger that followed made his hands tremble.

These scenes gradually overlapped with other tragedies he had seen in the past. He thought of the little girl from the southern continent with big eyes and her disabled uncle, the plantation life described by Richardson, and those people walking in the wilderness in ragged clothes. They had no idea where hope was, but they could not stop. Death was infinitely prolonged by numbness.

Disaster and suffering never go away.

Death and sorrow also march side by side with all of us.

Klein felt as if his eyes were getting hot. The emotion called sadness made him want to cry, but he smiled instead.

He could still feel pain, and he was not yet able to turn a blind eye to these things... He felt happy and doubly sad for his remaining humanity. Klein smiled and covered his eyes with his arms. Although he had gained divinity, fortunately his feet were still on the ground.

The ability to feel the pain of others, to remember that one is only human, is his anchor.

The essence of his humanity.

"Should I hate the God of Thunder too? Hey...his flood destroyed a country in just a few minutes."

That means the death of millions or even tens of millions of people, and even the destruction of a country.

In comparison, even George III, who sacrificed probably less than 100,000 people, seemed merciful.

The reason why Klein felt horrified was simple, because Backlund was also the capital of a country. If the God of Thunder dared to do this, it meant that other gods would dare to do it too. His eye sockets were still getting hot, and he covered his face with his arms for a long time without taking them down.

"Haha, being angry is useless, and being afraid is even more useless. I haven't become a god yet, so I won't think about these things for now."

"Well, my ultimate goal is to prevent George III from becoming a god. The current destruction of the deification ceremony is just one part of it."

"The failure to give birth to a god for the time being will not greatly weaken Loen's national strength. After all, He has not yet become the 'Black Emperor'. If this ceremony is successfully stopped, George III will be alert and may not try again in the short term. I can use this time to continue working hard to advance... Well, it probably won't take too long, but this is not the first time I have faced such urgency, haha."

After a moment's silence, he suddenly muttered to himself:
"What exactly do I want to do?"

“Why would I do something so thankless?”

After a few seconds, Klein smiled self-deprecatingly.

Perhaps, I just want enough power... I want the power to make some changes, I want the power to at least allow the people I can protect to not have to live in fear of the majesty of the gods.

He adjusted his mood, controlled his facial expressions, and prepared to fall into a peaceful sleep.

A dreamless night.

……

In a two-bedroom rental house in the East District of Backlund.

Xio sat on the unstable chair, staring out the window in a daze, his expression unusually gloomy.

Fors took a sip of water, walked over to sit opposite Xio, and blocked her sight: "You seem to have lost motivation all of a sudden?"

"Is it because of that answer that you don't know what to do next? Is it because the king is out of your reach?"

Xio's eyes moved, and he slowly came back to life and said:
"Whether it's restoring my father's reputation or seeking revenge, when facing a king, the hope is so slim. I can't think of any way to accomplish such a thing..."

"That's because you are still too weak. When you reach Sequence 4 and become a demigod, you will find that there are many ways, but they are more dangerous!" Fors comforted her in an encouraging way. "Also, you can use others, just like Sherman's monitor. She also wants to know who Viscount Stratford is loyal to. She must be very interested in the king's secrets."

"Sherman..." Xio repeated the name, and his mental state suddenly recovered.

"That monitor is one of the murderers of Sherman." Xio said seriously.

They have found a place to bury Sherman, and Fors has been flipping through "Lemanno's Travel Notes" to comfort his soul.

Fors nodded immediately:
“Yes, that’s what drove her to investigate the king’s secrets and touch upon potential risks.

"Didn't you say that she might be monitoring our previous residence? Then we can find an opportunity to disguise ourselves and return there. We can drop a piece of paper into the mailbox and write that Viscount Stratford is loyal to King George III and that George III is hiding a big secret. In this way, I believe that person should be able to see it."

Xio thought about it carefully, nodded solemnly and said:

"it is good."

After discussing what to do next, Fors stood up and pointed at the copper-green cross.
"We have received help from Mr. Fool many times. It's time to show our sincerity. I plan to sacrifice it to Mr. Fool now. Do you have any objection?"

"No," Xio answered without hesitation.

……

At noon, Richard opened the door and stared at the sun outside, feeling a strange sense of confusion.

"I feel like I'm in a bad mood all the time, my emotions are out of control, and I can't be happy at all."

"Is this considered the effect of the potion?"

The Bound God left a seal around him, preventing His spirituality and emotions from affecting places outside the room. Otherwise, the entire city might have been dragged by His spiritual power into chaos and extreme madness of extreme joy and sorrow.

He clicked his tongue, pressed his brows together, suppressed all impulses, good or bad, and walked out slowly.

He hadn't come out for fresh air for half a month, and now he urgently needed to know the situation in the country and the impact of the war between gods.

The weather is gradually getting colder, but this is a minimal change for the southern continent.

However, the chaos of ocean currents, uneven rainfall, and changes in fish activity caused by the war between the gods will cause the economies of coastal cities to suffer a devastating blow. The battle between the two gods also caused rain clouds to rain heavily over the southern continent. It only took a moment for the weather to go from sunny to rainy, and everyone within the rainfall range was forced to take a bath in an instant.

In the next year or even several years, port cities must be prepared for not being able to catch fish and not being able to carry out long-distance cargo transportation. Unfortunately, the more prosperous ports in the current territory of the Highlands are all ports. The civilization gap between the northern and southern continents feeds overseas trade, and imported goods are basically good things. The senior leaders of the Rose School who still have brains are trying to deal with this problem, but their remaining brain capacity can only think of the simplest solution - turn spiritual things into food, don't you see that the cells are still crowded?
“I think this is a bit too extreme.”

Balanca wanted to reject this proposal, but he couldn't come up with a better plan for recuperation at the moment. Seeing his subordinates becoming more and more self-indulgent, he began to miss the monastic disciplines of the ancient Highland Kingdom.

It has to be said that in the absence of external enemies, the Highland Kingdom can really do without looting.

At this moment, many fishing boats were returning to the port one by one, as there was basically no fish to catch. It was not yet noon, but there were already many idle people in the port. The doors and windows of the shops were open, the shelves were empty, and the bosses were dozing on the counters.

When a fishing boat approaches with a few fish hanging on the net, the surrounding fishermen will look at it with envy.

The city is filled with an air of sadness and numbness.

Someone knocked on the door of the shop. The half-asleep boss shivered in shock, rubbed his eyes and looked at the person who came. He saw a tall man, which was somewhat rare in the highlands, with an angular face of a foreigner.

The boss was startled and woke up instantly.

He immediately stood up, stood behind the counter with an apologetic smile, and greeted the customers with a few words of Feysac that he had heard.

The guest looked at him without any expression, and asked casually in fluent Highland dialect:

"What do you have for sale now?" The boss was startled and felt a little embarrassed. However, he was more fond of the customer because of the dialect, so he took the initiative to answer: "There is nothing to sell now. Tell me what you want to buy. Maybe I have more."

"Is there any cigarette?"

The boss shook his head, but thinking of the little hand-rolled tobacco he had at home, he nodded hesitantly: "There are still a few pounds of tobacco."

The customer nodded and asked, "Do you have any seafood?"

The boss laughed and pointed outside: "We have to fish it out first."

The guest frowned slightly: "It's completely impossible to catch anything now?"

"Yes, but it's not enough for my family, how can I expect to sell it?" The boss was a little surprised that the visitor actually knew about the current situation of the port, but he still shook his head and said, "I won't hide it from you. I don't have anything else to sell. I don't have flour or wheat. I just have some sea salt that I dried at home and some homemade tobacco. If you don't want any of them, then I can't do anything."

The fishermen make their own sea salt? It should be called sea salt crystals... It contains a lot of harmful substances, and the quality is very low and very turbid...

The guest hesitated for a few seconds and asked: "How much flour do you think you can get from the things in your house?"

The boss was stunned again.

The boss suddenly realized what this meant, and asked with some expectation and some fear: "You, you, you have a way? I have two children at home. If this continues, they will starve to death. If I sell them, my family will have a way to survive, and the children will have something to eat..."

After saying this, he felt a little regretful, worried that he had misunderstood the guest's meaning.

The guest nodded without any surprise. "It's not allowed by law now, I don't do human trafficking, but I have a batch of wheat in my field that I haven't sold yet, and my family wants to eat some seafood, so I came here to ask. I want both your sea salt and tobacco, do you have any seafood in other stores?"

As he spoke, he rummaged in his pocket and actually pulled out a handful of yellow wheat with full grains.

"Whatever you have, I want it all. I'll be waiting for you at the port."

The boss was disappointed at first, then nodded vigorously and rushed out of the store through the small door.

The customer observed the bare-walled shop for a while, and helped the owner repair a few hidden dangers of house collapse so that the small house could last another twenty years. Then he caught a spirit and rolled it into a big sack of wheat, strolled out leisurely, and waited for others at the port.

After the shop owner rushed out the door, he hurried to another shop in the town that he was familiar with. A middle-aged woman who was dozing off was sitting behind the counter. When she saw her neighbor rushing over, she smiled and greeted him, "What's the hurry?"

The boss ran over like a flash, slapped the counter, and searched around, scaring the middle-aged woman:
"Hurry, hurry, take out all your stuff!"

The middle-aged woman looked at him doubtfully.

"You changed your profession to robbery? Why would you rob me? Why rob the old Foley next door who is always against us?"

The boss realized that something was wrong with his words, and quickly organized his words to tell the story. The middle-aged woman widened her eyes in disbelief and asked, "Aren't you afraid that this is a scammer?"

"How can a liar like my stuff? The sea salt is full of sand and dregs. I can't even filter it out myself, and the smoke is choking. If anyone else can tolerate it besides me, whoever likes it can take it."

As soon as she said this, the middle-aged woman also stood up and counted the things in her shop. She found a small sack of seafood and dried fish that had been dried yesterday. A smile suddenly appeared on her dark face, but after seeing the boss's envious and disappointed expression, she put away her smile. Without hesitation, she took out a small bag, grabbed half of the wheat, and stuffed it into the boss's hand.

"What are you doing!" Surprise, hesitation and joy mixed together on the boss's face. He wanted to push these things back, but his arms uncontrollably grasped the dry goods.

"Here, you have two little mouths to feed at home. If I eat enough, my whole family won't be hungry."

The middle-aged woman did not give him a chance to refuse. She quickly packed up all her things and ran out barefoot in another direction.

The boss quickly shouted, "Go to the square!"

"I know!" the middle-aged woman responded, "I'll go inform old Foley! He hasn't eaten for three days, and I don't know if he's still breathing!"

The boss was stunned and clenched the small bag in his hand. He gritted his teeth and started knocking on doors one by one.

The guest had limited wheat, and if he told one more person, he would get less. He knew this, but he still insisted on waking up the entire dead town.

……

"This fish for five pounds of wheat, what do you think?"

Richard bargained earnestly with the fishermen at the port, but unfortunately, no matter how much he quoted, they would just nod excitedly.

The fisherman whose fish He bought was also nodding vigorously. If the fish was replaced with wheat, and the wheat was ground into flour and made into dry food, their family could eat a little bit every day by soaking it in water, and it would last for a long time!
Richard bent down and used a borrowed bucket to scoop an exact pound from the sack at his feet.

The fisherman who didn't bring the container looked embarrassed and hesitated before putting his hands together to take it: "I, I'll make a few more trips."

"Oh, that's not necessary."

Richard rolled up his sleeves to his joints, reached in and rummaged in the wheat sack. Amid the surprised and shocked gazes of the crowd, he pulled out what appeared to be a used iron pot from the sack, and then filled it with wheat, making it exactly five pounds.

"I think this fish is pretty good. I've used this pot at home for a long time, so I'm selling it together this time."

The fisherman had only used such a good iron pot when his family was the richest. He was a little slurred for a moment: "Okay, I, I still..."

"No need to return it. I can go back and cook some porridge. I'm going to throw it away anyway." Richard said, ignoring the other person's expression. He waved his hand and turned to another fisherman with expectation on his face. He looked at his old fishing net which still had some harvest. "How much are you willing to sell to me? All of them? Well... three of them are not too big, but they still have some shells. Ten pounds of wheat, no more."

The fisherman nodded frantically, fearing that if he was slow, this generous customer would lower the price - but he could still lower the price! Even if it was only two pounds, he would still sell it!

Richard nodded and watched the fisherman drag an iron bucket from his old fishing boat, pour out the water in it, and then carefully clean it (still not very clean), and then put it at His feet with expectation.

Richard pondered for a few seconds, put the fish aside, bent down, picked up the iron bucket and weighed it a few times. He shook the bucket once, and the deep-rooted dirt and rust on it fell down like rain. After shaking it several times, the bottom and surrounding of the bucket were covered with dirt. Richard poured out all the dirt in the bucket, then accurately weighed ten pounds and exchanged it with the other party, ready to find the next buyer.

He looked at the other fishermen who had caught nothing, his eyes full of envy and jealousy, and for a moment he could not think of a better solution.

But we should do as much as we can for now, and let them have food to eat and survive first… The ground shook slightly, and Richard glanced outside and saw a group of people running over from a distance, led by the boss just now. However, the other party was holding a small bag of dry goods in his hand, followed by many people carrying goods, and the wrinkles on his face piled up with laughter.

Seeing the other person's smile, Richard also had some realization, the corners of his mouth curled up slightly, and he regained some of his original feeling.

So He pointed at the small bag in the other person's hand and asked the boss:

“Are you selling them all?”

The boss nodded vigorously: "Sell! Sell all!"

"I also brought the sea salt and tobacco from home! Take a look and see how much they can sell for."

On his way here, he had seen the fishermen leaving with wheat. He felt very nervous, but was happy for the people around him who were getting food. However, he was also worried that the customers had already exchanged the wheat before him. Only when he saw a full bag at the other party's feet did he feel relieved.

Richard saw through his mood and thoughts, glanced at the other people out of the corner of his eyes, and said with a smile:

"Dry goods are easy to preserve. I want all of them. Twenty pounds. What do you think?"

He saw the boss's face suddenly burst into an explosive smile.

Everyone around was excited. The numbness and silence were swept away at this moment, and almost everyone suddenly came alive.

"Sir! Here I have some fresh clam shells! They are as big as a fist!" A hand was raised high in the crowd.

Someone else shouted, "I have dried fish, dried meat, and lots of seafood!"

"I have handicrafts, wind chimes made of shells..." A weak child's voice came to His ears.

Richard raised his hand, and the people around him suddenly became quiet, nervously waiting for the generous guest to speak.

Just listen to the other person say:

"all I want!"

TBC
--------

"Is it true that the strangers brought a lot of wheat?" Someone else said, "Then why don't we do something? Anyway, no one will come here, and it's next to the sea..."

"do not talk!"

The boss's heart began to beat violently, and the yellow wheat flashed through his mind. Then he sternly interrupted the fisherman with evil intentions: "Sell it or not, don't say anything else!"

"Don't you want to? Don't your children want to eat? That's wheat, do you know how long it will last?" The man asked back with very tempting words, "I'll do it for you, I'll give you the big share, and I'll take 10%!"

The boss' eyes suddenly widened, his eyes were bloodshot, and his huge anger scared the fisherman, who subconsciously took half a step back.

"Forget about it if you don't want to sell it. I was wrong." The boss squeezed out a few words from between his teeth and turned away angrily. "People like you will be punished by the Bound God sooner or later!"

"I'll sell it, I'll sell it! Hey, don't be angry!"

The frightened fisherman quickly took his small bag and followed, saying softly and hard: "I said something wrong, I confess! I was bewitched by the devil, please don't take it to heart - I will never say it again, praise Yong, no, praise the bound god!"

(End of this chapter)