In the name of the true god

Chapter 123 Defining the Results

(The previous chapter has been slightly revised; the punishment for the prison guards has been changed to temporary suspension and a six-month pay cut. Thank you all for your thoughtful feedback; I am very grateful.)

The punishment of only deducting the monthly full attendance bonus and being suspended from duty during the prison's rectification period is not considered severe, and some of them even think it's a good thing.

After all, the ten gold coins for perfect attendance are not a significant blow to their original monthly salary of one hundred gold coins. Moreover, the holidays at the Royal Capital Heavy Prison are pitifully few; they can only get half a day off every two weeks. Now that they have more time, they can spend more time with their families and do other things that they are interested in and that are meaningful.

After parting ways with Captain Foster and the others, Jude returned home and slept until the morning of the next day.

Upon waking, the first thing he did was use the law of contact to check if Allen was safe.

The result was safe.

This made him breathe a sigh of relief.

Once you leave the capital, the sea is wide enough for fish to leap and the sky is high enough for birds to fly.

The longer the Saviour of God and his forty-two companions remain on the run, the less likely the Holy Church will be to catch them.

As for Allen's missing arm—

Jude considered two possibilities.

The first possibility is that Allen was left in the heretical prison after being injured.

Since Allen already knew the answer, there was no need for him to worry about it anymore.

The second possibility is that the severed arm was entirely accidental. Alan was too injured to care for it, and the other rescued wizards and resonance sorcerers were also too busy to notice it.

If so, as the severed arm rots, the connection that the sorcerers who have sided with the Holy Church can establish with Allen through the severed arm will become increasingly limited. As long as the Divine Descent Society can hold out for another ten days or half a month, the crisis will naturally be resolved.

If you can't hold on —

That's just like what his brother Connor advised him: "You've done everything you could, and whatever the outcome, don't worry about it anymore."

Yes.

Regardless of the outcome, I have already given all I could to help, and it is truly difficult to share any more of the burdens of the long-gone members of the Divine Descent Society.

Rather than worrying about it all day long, unable to eat or sleep properly.

It would be better to take a few days to rest properly and let the tension that has been building up for more than a month be released.

神教历448年11月15日、16日、17日、18日，即周四、周五、周六、周日四天。

Aside from checking on Allen's safety twice a day, Jude did nothing else that made him feel stressed or tired.

In the morning, I got up, cleaned the house, ate breakfast, and leisurely took my golden retriever for a walk. On the way back, I bought a newspaper to keep up with current events.

At noon, when the sunlight is at its warmest, I set up a folding bed on the balcony, hold my little Siamese cat in my arms, and take a comfortable nap while listening to songs on the radio.

In the afternoon, stroll around the capital, listen to opera, watch the circus, have afternoon tea, and buy new clothes—do whatever you want and indulge in spending.

In the evening, we inquired about those highly-rated restaurants and sampled classic dishes one by one, such as confit steak, truffle roasted chicken, and dairy-fed lamb loin.

In just four days, Jude spent more than two hundred gold coins.

The considerable expenditure naturally has a significant impact.

He was in a great mood during this period, and the physical and mental fatigue and tension accumulated from being in a high-pressure environment and being cautious in every step were swept away.

The more time passed, the more he wondered if he should simply keep his "heretic" identity a secret forever, live a carefree life as a wealthy young man, enjoying life to the fullest and living a carefree and happy life.

but----

It seems a little empty?

Bearing the heavy responsibility of saving forty-two of his kind, he walked on the edge of a knife almost every day, nearly suffocating him.

He could live a simple, ordinary life, but this was completely at odds with the enormous secret he harbored, making it impossible for him to truly be carefree.

Think about it.

Jude decided to pursue both approaches simultaneously.

The fat wizard's identity and the secret of possessing dual laws will continue to be explored.

The abilities of contact law and similarity law, which are firmly bound to oneself, should be improved.

However—we can no longer recklessly drag ourselves into an even bigger vortex when we lack the strength, and just make ourselves suffer.

We should focus some of our energy on enjoying life.

Let the savings of over 15,000 gold coins play their due role.

That way, even if something unexpected happens one day, you won't look back on your life and realize that you've never lived for yourself at all.

October 19, 448 (Monday), 2:28 AM.

A mysterious space.

Jude met Edmund for the ninth time.

"I survived?" Edmund noticed that Jude seemed more relaxed than usual and couldn't help but assume it was because of him.

"No." Jude had almost forgotten about it, and his face immediately darkened. "You're still dead. Nothing related to you in the past has changed."

I'm sorry.

"I'm the one who should apologize." This time, Jude wasn't angry about why Edmund hadn't killed Leonard. Instead, he calmly took responsibility. "If I could find out what happened in 426 and 427, you would definitely be able to avoid it."

Edmund wasn't a pessimist, but seeing Jude struggling to survive and so deeply troubled, he still offered a word of advice: "Perhaps—what's already decided can't be overturned. You don't need to put so much pressure on yourself."

Sometimes we have to learn to accept the pressure.

Jude was particularly stubborn about this: "Even if the outcome is predetermined and cannot be reversed, it doesn't mean you have to die."

o

"Um?"

"You were arrested and executed in 427, but who says that the person arrested and executed was necessarily you? What if it was a double? What if it was a faked death?" Jude proposed another idea. "The outcome can be interpreted in many ways. The key is actually the process, isn't it? It's like a montage technique."

"Montage technique? What does that mean?"

Jude, realizing that movies were still in their infancy in this other world, could only explain it in simple terms: "Well—for example, if we have three photos of you, the first is of you getting hit on the foot by something, the second is of you finding your lost wallet, and the last is of you crying. If we put the first and third photos together and try to tell a story, what would that story be like?"

Edmund said, "I got hit by something and cried from the pain?"

"That's right! What if we put the second and third photos together?"

"I cried tears of joy because I found my wallet?"

"Yes!" Jude nodded. "You can think of the first two photos as the process and the last photo as the result. If we change the process, the result may seem the same, but it actually provides us with another possibility."

Edmund fell into deep thought.

"Jude's montage technique" sounds very interesting.

The problem is, the Holy Church sees itself as a major threat, so how could they not distinguish the substitute?

With tens of thousands of people witnessing the execution, how could they possibly fake their death?

If I didn't die, why have I been missing for twenty-one years?

After a long silence, he sighed and said, "This is far too difficult—"

"Isn't overthrowing the Holy Church almost a pipe dream? Yet you still insist on doing it?" Jude said.

indeed----

It concerns my life and death —

His own life and death were also tied to the lives of thousands of wizards and resonance sorcerers—

Thousands of wizards and resonators are involved, and the matter concerns whether the Holy Church can be overthrown.

We should give it a try.

"What do you need me to do?"

"I haven't decided yet." Jude was very cautious about this last method. "To open up another path that benefits you and doesn't openly conflict with the historical trajectory," one should at least have a sufficient understanding of the series of events you did in 426 and 427.

"How much have you found so far?"

"It's the same stuff I told you last time."

"How about this," Edmund offered to share the burden, "I'll try to write down everything that happens next in a notebook and send it to your future self."

This seems like a good idea?

With Edmund's detailed account of his experiences, there was no need for extensive investigation into the past.

but----

"No way," Jude said, suppressing his curiosity and refusing outright.

Why?

"I can ask people who have worked with you to understand, and I can ask my brother to investigate the files at the church, but I can't just listen to what you say yourself," Jude emphasized solemnly. "Only you know best what you've experienced. If you don't describe it in enough detail, I might as well ask someone else. If you describe it in too much detail, the process will become the result."

"The process will also become the result—" Edmund felt a headache coming on.

"The process itself is made up of countless results. In short, I need to have a general understanding of your past in order to rewrite a process that will allow you to survive without affecting the original trajectory. However, at the same time, I cannot know too much, lest I lose the room to maneuver."

You have to find just the right balance between them.

"Yes!"

"But you don't know much right now; further investigation is needed." Edmund asked again, "How about I selectively write about some important events?"

"No, that won't do either!" Jude refused again. "What I learn from others are appearances that can be refuted, but what I learn from you is the essence that must be accepted. These are two completely different concepts."

Edmund then asked, "I have also provided you with information about the various prisons in Veria, as well as the wizards and resonators arrested and implicated in 419."

"This is the result."

"We overturned the results; these people were ultimately not arrested."

"No, there's another very important premise here. Before I helped you, I didn't know whether these people had actually been arrested or not. Whether I knew or not is very important."

"You know, from the moment you saw the booklet I sent you."

Jude remained silent.

He kept digging deep into how to fabricate a story of Edmund’s arrest and execution as a process of living towards death, but he overlooked the fatal flaw at the very beginning.

This is not a matter of superstition.

Whether or not a result is achieved is not determined by subjective will.

The wizards and resonators in Viria who were arrested but rescued by Edmund beforehand are the best proof of this.

But the result can be directly overturned —

Why did Edmund die despite his repeated warnings?

Isn't this a contradiction?

wrong!

He was in a daze for a moment, then suddenly thought of an argument to refute Edmund's: "What if the actual historical trajectory was that they were not arrested? It's like you saved them, but still sent me information about their arrest in order to make the logic consistent."

So, from another perspective, the booklet you provided is actually a false conclusion.

"This—they weren't arrested, so where would I get a booklet to record their arrest information?" Edmund's mind was a bit confused. "Isn't the truth of the result still determined by your actions?"

"Therefore, there is great potential to overturn the fact that you died by execution!" Jude believed that everything was a perfect closed loop.

Edmund remained noncommittal: "I feel like there's something wrong—"

Jude calmed himself down and carefully went over his reasoning, but he couldn't help feeling a bit overwhelmed: "To be honest, I haven't fully grasped the mysteries of time and causality either. We can only rely on our rudimentary understanding to try more things. If it really doesn't work, then we'll think of another way."

"Um--

"The mysterious space gradually collapsed."

"So fast?" Edmund looked around.

"We've been thinking for too long," Jude said with a wry smile. "Next time, I'll try to think things through beforehand before I tell you."

"Oh right, I haven't had a chance to ask you yet, have those of our kind imprisoned in the capital's heavy prison been rescued?" Edmund pressed for an answer.

"They've all been rescued, and the Descent of God is leading them southwest." Jude omitted the details of Allen's injury and the Church's relentless pursuit using Allen's severed arm, and made it brief, "Five or six days have passed now, so there shouldn't be any more danger."

"That's good----"

"What about over there?"

"The heavy prison in Elliott City is very difficult to breach. I led a group to ambush the priests on their way to transfer the wizards and resonance sorcerers involved, but—"

Before Edmund could finish speaking...

Jude's gaze shifted, and he found himself already on the bed in the bedroom.

It sounds like the ambush was successful.

Edmund will most likely be able to recruit dozens of his own kind in Veria, laying a solid foundation for a future large organization.

...

"call----"

He let out a long breath, put his hands behind his head, and began to think about the most complex and crucial question.

Definition of results.

If the result can be directly overturned and turned into a false result, why did Edmund's death remain unchanged no matter how much prior warning was given?

If the result cannot be directly overturned, then even if Edmund gave him the booklet and he relayed its contents to Edmund, Edmund would still be unable to save his fellow human beings.

For both scenarios to be consistent, unless—

Was Edmund's death itself a false outcome?

But what was the point of him faking his death?

Jude couldn't figure it out, and could only confirm one thing amidst his complicated thoughts—either time and cause and effect concealed an ironclad law that contradicted his own understanding, or Edmund's arrest and execution actually had some compelling reason for doing so.

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