Raise Joan of Arc to be an empress, then discard her.

From a historical perspective, the 30th anniversary of the accession to the throne of the Kingdom of Lucerne was also an extremely important day, a turning point in Lucerne's history. On this day, Sorens Overland II, who would later become known as the "Mad King," began to reveal his mad and cruel side, but those living through history would not know this.

The King's 30th anniversary celebration is equivalent to the country's national day, a celebration for all. On this day, no one will accuse you of blasphemy or indecent behavior. On this day, people from the countryside can dance with the city dwellers of Asgard. There will be celebrations and performances in every place, and each region will elect an ugly king.

It is said that the coronation ceremony was originally solemn and grand, but under the influence of an enlightened king, the coronation ceremony gradually became a day of celebration with the people. The people of Lusset also regarded this day as a carnival, drinking, singing, dancing and reveling to their hearts' content. The desires and hardships of the summer solstice fast were to be repaid in this carnival.

The Sacred Heart Cathedral also held a grand event, as the king was crowned there. Joan of Arc, as a saint, should have been very busy, but after finishing her work, she secretly ran away with Aaron to participate in the carnival in the streets of Esgard.

When Joan of Arc ran away, she was still wearing the solemn and sacred clothes prepared for her by the Sacré-Cœur Basilica, with gold chains on her wrists and ankles, and makeup still on her face. There seemed to be a kind of smug excitement in running away with such a saint.

They went together to a bakery some distance from the church. The bakery had freshly baked, delicious, and soft bread. Today, people were not bound by their usual restrictions, and everyone was very happy. The entire bakery sang together, and even the bakery staff sang along while making bread, their faces beaming with happiness. In this atmosphere, the other customers were also very happy.

Aaron was a regular customer of the bakery. The bakery owner knew Aaron and even knew his identity as the Obsidian Knight, but she was not afraid of Aaron. When she saw Aaron come, she joked that she would give him some bread to thank him for protecting the city all the time.

The proprietress really did bring over a large plate of freshly baked bread, giving Aaron the impression that he could eat his fill there today. Aaron was stunned by the proprietress's generosity, and the other guests also boasted that they would treat everyone present to a drink.

Aaron didn't have any special feelings for Asgard, but he felt that Asgard's festivals were unique among all countries. No other country or city had the same festive atmosphere as Asgard, nor did the people of Asgard show the same respect and joy for their festivals. As long as the people of Asgard felt that today was a day worth celebrating, they would enjoy themselves to the fullest and go all out, making even the saddest person forget their sorrow here.

"There's still an Ugly King parade in the streets right now, everyone come and see!"

While people rushed out to see the Ugly King, Aaron left behind a few banknotes and quietly slipped away with Joan of Arc to go play elsewhere. However, there was still a highlight to be had today: the King's coronation ceremony held in the square.

Such a lively ceremony was not only held by the king and the nobles, but also planned to be held with all the citizens of Asgard. The entire square could accommodate 100,000 people. Coming to such a densely populated place would make one feel that all the citizens of Asgard had come.

Indeed, the difference is not significant. Even if not everyone can squeeze into the square, half of Asgard's population is paying attention to the celebration in the center of the square. The 30th anniversary celebration should be more prosperous than any previous celebration. The royal palace and nobles will distribute free wine and food in the square, and even the beggars and commoners of Asgard can feel the festive atmosphere.

Chapter 70 The 30th Anniversary Celebration of the Throne: A Year-Long Carnival!

During the celebration, Aaron unexpectedly reunited with an old friend he hadn't seen in a long time.

Matthias Gancebourne, Aaron's classmate at the Holy College.

He told Aaron that he had become the youngest diplomat in the Department of Foreign Affairs, which pleased Aaron and surprised him.

Lusset has always been a country with a very clear class distinction. Military and high-ranking official positions are mostly held by prominent families, while diplomacy is controlled by nobles. Yet, Matisse, as a person from a humble background, entered the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at a young age, which shows that his performance must have been outstanding, and he was even capable of breaking through the prejudices of the aristocratic families on his own.

“But I still can’t compare to you. You are now the Obsidian Knight, and you may become the Grand Master of the Obsidian Knights in the future.” Mattis smiled shyly, his smile just as it always was.

Aaron wanted to talk to Mattis a little more, but when he saw him carrying a briefcase and wearing a crisp diplomatic uniform, he knew he was busy. Mattis proudly told Aaron that he had been given an important position by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but he couldn't tell Aaron about it yet.

"An important mission?"

Aaron thought about it carefully, wondering what important task Mattis was referring to. The fact that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which was controlled by nobles, would entrust such an important task to a young man meant that Mattis was indeed very outstanding.

He wanted to chat with Mattis a little longer, but Mattis patted him on the shoulder and prepared to leave, saying that they would have a chance to meet again in the future, and waved goodbye to Aaron with a flourish.

At this moment, the important figure entered the circular square, and the celebration began. The people in the circular square were in an uproar, and Aaron saw the scene of the people cheering.

His Majesty the King, dressed in a red cloak, stood on the high platform, with the grandmasters of the three knightly orders, the bishops, high-ranking officials, and the Queen standing around him.

Looking at the imposing figures on the high platform, everything was proceeding according to plan. The knights, officials, and bishops stood majestically beside the king, receiving the worship and cheers of the people. Only Aaron noticed something unusual: the king's attire was quite special today.

The king's attire is usually prepared by his own court ladies, but the king himself doesn't really care much about his clothes and ceremonies, leaving everything to his ladies. However, the king standing on the high platform is wearing a red scarf, which is unusual for him. Red is the king's favorite color, so it's clear that the king dressed himself up and had obviously prepared carefully for today.

In Aaron's mind, the king had never liked participating in such ceremonies and activities, and would often act in a very formal or even perfunctory manner, but today the king seemed to be doing his best.

Once the circular square had quieted down a bit, the king solemnly announced various celebrations and initiatives from the high platform. For example, for several days, there would be no limit to the amount of alcohol in Asgard. People cheered, and even beggars and commoners could come to the square to receive food. People continued to cheer. Finally, the king announced that this 30th anniversary of his coronation, which was also the kingdom's national day, would last for a whole year, until the same time next year. During this period, all citizens should put down their work and revel in the festivities!

This time, the longest cheers ever heard came from the square, which stunned Aaron and Joan of Arc. They wondered if they had misheard. The carnival lasted for a year. They couldn't have misheard, could they?

Many people in the Prototype Square noticed something unusual, but their unease was drowned out by the excited shouts of the crowd. The revelry would last for a year! What exciting news, Your Majesty the Wise and Powerful King.

"A year of revelry...?"

Aaron still didn't understand. Did they really want the whole nation to celebrate for a year? What about production? What about the army?

At this moment, of course no one paid attention to his abnormality. Aaron and Joan of Arc were like mayflies mixed into the sea, drifting with the tide. He felt the crowd becoming more and more excited. Some people screamed loudly, and some even cried out in excitement. The shrill sounds made his ears hurt.

Aaron sensed something was wrong and looked up at the high platform. His spiritual perception was far beyond that of ordinary people. When he released his senses, he quickly discovered that there were superhumans sitting on the high-rise buildings around the Prototype Plaza. They were constantly releasing spiritual energy towards the people in the Prototype Plaza, affecting their emotions.

How dare someone do this? Aaron was taken aback and instinctively wanted to stop them, but when he looked up, he saw the king standing on the high platform with a strange smile on his face.

Suddenly, an explosive possibility popped into Aaron's mind: Could these superhumans... have been arranged by the king?

How dare they do such a thing...?

Aaron's gaze swept over the others on the platform, over the Omniscient Sword and the leader of the Blazing White Knights. His eyes swept over their faces, trying to find out if they knew about this. But they just stood like statues beside the king. They were majestic, but like stone statues, they had no thoughts of their own.

An ominous premonition spread through Aaron's heart. Even when facing a formidable enemy, he did not feel cold-hearted. He subconsciously tightened his grip on Joan's hand.

Joan of Arc also sensed Aaron's unusual behavior, because she suddenly felt Aaron clench her hand. Joan of Arc was startled, and she clenched Aaron's hand in return to calm him down.

“Let’s go…” Aaron whispered to Joan of Arc. Joan of Arc nodded. She also felt slightly uncomfortable in the excited crowd and agreed to leave with Aaron.

A carnival is still a carnival, and everyone is immersed in the festive atmosphere. The king's words about "celebrating the whole year" did not attract much attention or discussion. People probably thought that celebrating the whole year was just about hanging colorful banners and flags all year round, and at most setting off fireworks occasionally. No one was really worried about this.

Aaron later learned that the king's original plan was for the whole country to celebrate for three years, revel for three years, and have a three-year holiday. During this period, except for designated people, no one in the kingdom could engage in production activities. Except for facilities necessary to maintain the kingdom's survival, everyone had to take a holiday to participate in the revelry, and all facilities would be shut down.

When the king proposed this insane idea, it was met with strong opposition from his ministers. In the end, the king had no choice but to agree to change the three-year carnival into a one-year carnival. Even so, this one year still left a deep mark on the history of Lusset and is known as the beginning of the Mad King's madness.

For the first thirty years before the Mad King went mad, he was the supreme ruler of the kingdom. He was called the Wise King by the people and was even worshipped as a god.

The king possessed a powerful omniscient book, and the king himself was an omniscient and omnipotent god. Moreover, the king was only twenty years old when he ascended the throne.

The young king was in his prime, ambitious, and eager to make his mark. Lucretia, under his leadership, experienced rapid growth and enjoyed thirty years of prosperity. Because he possessed the Book of Omniscience, although His Majesty occasionally had sudden, outlandish, and even fantastical ideas, with the assistance of his ministers, his decisions and commands were always correct. Gradually, both the people and his subjects became accustomed to the king's correct decisions, and stopped thinking for themselves, choosing instead to unconditionally trust him.

Because the king possessed the Book of Omniscience, he could always see things that ordinary people could not see and foresee situations that his people could not foresee. He was the king, the wizard, and the ideal philosopher-king. Gradually, no one questioned his correctness anymore.

However, when later historians re-examined that period of history, they discovered that the king's madness had actually been revealed as early as thirty years prior, but people had been so engrossed in the king's omniscience and omnipotence that they had not noticed it.

Aaron may have been the one who noticed something fishy beforehand, but there was nothing he could do about it.

On a cool summer night, Aaron walked to the secret base of Project Catfish.

The festival celebrations continued, but Aaron remained unaffected, possessing a "certificate of employment" issued by the kingdom, proving that his work was still necessary for the country during the grand carnival.

Not knowing whether to be happy or unhappy, Aaron sighed softly. Just then, a man in a white coat walked up to Aaron.

“Jerome Bescon, the technical lead for Project Catfish.” The man in the white lab coat shook hands with Aaron.

All preparations for Project Catfish were complete. The young man who ran from the casino into the hotel had passed the medical examination, received a large bounty, and officially entered the secret experimental base. However, this was the first meeting between Aaron, the chief person in charge and the technical person in charge of Project Catfish.

"Want a smoke?" Jerome asked Aaron.

"I don't smoke."

Wisps of white smoke rose into the night. Jerome slowly exhaled the smoke, and Aaron asked, "What do you think the chances of Project Catfish succeeding are?"

“Oh? You mean the probability of successfully researching self-destruct technology?” Jerome shrugged. “Anything is possible. Theoretically speaking, if we can inscribe spiritual energy patterns on ordinary people and turn them into superhumans who can self-destruct, then we’ve succeeded.”

"The best-case scenario is that we develop a method to stably control these self-destructing spiritual energy patterns and can mass-produce them, widely imprinting them onto ordinary people who haven't received the blessing. Then we can create a self-destructing army."

"As for the power of the self-destruction, we certainly hope it will be as great as possible. If we can achieve this, we, the Catfish, will have achieved great success, and you and I will both be remembered in history. Lucert will also be famous for its self-destruction legion."

"Is this what those big shots want? After all, war still relies on superhumans, but if your research succeeds, it might change the battlefield landscape and eliminate the need for superhumans. Besides, when it comes to population, Lucert has never lost to any other country," Aaron said.

Jerome stubbed out his cigarette and said to Aaron, "Lord Aaron, although you are the person in charge, you don't want Project Catfish to succeed, do you?"

Aaron did not avoid Jerome's gaze, but his eyes had already given him the answer.

"I don't actually think that self-destructing soldiers are a good thing. This technology will not make the world a better place, because it will make people less and less human, and more like creatures in nature."

"Do you know worker bees? Worker bees can only sting once because their stingers are connected to their intestines. They die after stinging, but when invaded by enemies, they will bravely expose their stingers because their mission is to protect the hive and the queen bee. They have no other purpose."

I always felt that after all these years, humanity had finally made some progress, and it seemed like we were finally starting to understand why we live, but then the world suddenly came up with this kind of technology. What a messed up world!

“But you still want to study this technology, and even become the person in charge of it,” Aaron said.

"Because even if we don't research it, others will. Even if we have a change of heart and feel that what we're doing is wrong, can you expect my words to convince Castleland, Chernog, and the Kingdom of Doc? Those greedy kings won't listen to us; they'll only do their best to research it, believing that their countries can change the world through this technology. So we must keep up."

"It sounds like the world we live in is truly hopeless."

"There's nothing we can do, that's life, my friend. To others, we're high-ranking and powerful, big shots in Esgard, but we know that we can't really change anything. No matter how high we climb, we can only take orders from others."

"Yes, you're absolutely right. Anyway, I had a very pleasant chat with you today, and it even makes me feel that we can continue to work together happily in the future."

"I was initially worried about what kind of person you were, but after talking to you about these things, I suddenly felt that we could work together happily and the Catfish Project could proceed smoothly."

Jerome and Aaron shook hands, but this time their handshake was no longer just a formality; they both used some force. At this moment, they were fulfilling the true meaning of a handshake.

Although the country is still in the midst of a year-long celebration, students now only have to attend classes for half a day and have the afternoons off. Even Joan of Arc goes to school during the day and church in the afternoon to maintain this lifestyle, but Aaron's life has not been affected much.

He continued to work every day and also had to deal with the aftermath of the High Cliff Valley incident, among which his relationship with Chernobog was somewhat troublesome.

Chernog sent its Griffin Legion to secretly attack High Cliff Valley and instigated a riot in Lister, which was an act that was close to war. The two countries had almost broken off relations at this point.

However, this matter was not made public, the public was unaware of it, and nobles and those who experienced it were all silenced and forbidden from speaking out.

This incident was tacitly kept between the high-level officials of the two countries. The matter of the High Cliff Valley and Lister became a bargaining chip on the diplomatic table. Both countries sent their respective diplomats to discuss and negotiate on this basis, and it was not impossible to reach a good result.

However, one day during the Carnival Year, the King revealed the incident to the public while the crowd was gathered. The King also emphasized that a hero of the kingdom had stepped forward and foreseen the foreign invasion. Aaron seemed to be about to be pushed into the spotlight once again.

Chapter 71 Execution

This was a secret that had been kept under wraps, but now the king has revealed the truth.

Chernogue invaded our country a month after the summer solstice and plundered the mines of Lusset.

Chernog has been secretly sending spies to infiltrate our country, hoping to provoke conflict.

The riots in Lister and Levant were instigated by enemy countries.

The country's nobles were besieged on the plains of Lister. Enemy spies colluded with the country's nobles, intending to kidnap them and threaten the nation.

It was a hero who appeared and prevented this tragedy.

Each of these events was explosive news, enough to make the front page of the newspapers, and now they were being revealed by the King in rapid succession, just before Lusset was about to send diplomats to negotiate with Chernobog.

Some expressed concern that giving a speech at this time might affect the negotiations, while others confidently said that the king was doing so to increase his bargaining power at the negotiating table. Only when the whole country was united in its hatred of the enemy would Chernobog be afraid, and the diplomats would have a better position at the negotiating table.

The people were indeed filled with a sense of shared hatred and indignation. Some people clamored not to negotiate with Chernobog and to let them see how powerful Lusset was. But at this moment, the diplomats sent by the king made a dazzling appearance. They came to the king's side, and the king personally received them, straightened their clothes, and called them warriors.

This must have been the most glorious moment of Matthias Ganceble's life. Although he looked at the enthusiastic crowd below and felt somewhat uneasy, the king's strong hand on his shoulder quickly comforted him. At the same time, he thought that he was now a hero of his country, and he was about to go to the negotiating table to take a piece of meat from the enemy's mouth. He was going to fight for his country's interests.

Thinking of this, Mattis felt a surge of pride. He faced the crowd below and waved to them. To his surprise, the crowd responded even more enthusiastically. Mattis's face flushed. At the same time, he also saw Aaron looking at him with worried eyes from below.

Mattis also smiled and waved to Aaron, clearly stealing the spotlight from Aaron this time.

After the frenzy subsided, the king held a send-off ceremony for the diplomats, and the enthusiastic crowd escorted them all the way to the train station, hoping for the heroes' triumphant return.

After the diplomats left, a new wave of searching for the hero began, with people eager to know who the person was who had stopped the enemy invasion and saved Lister and Levante.

The newspaper and the public worked together to find the hero through various channels, and they even ran the headline "Heroes should not be buried," and the whole of Lusset was swept up in a search for the hero.

Beforehand, Aaron had demanded that everyone keep his identity secret, citing the state secrets involved. As a result, Aaron's identity was not exposed, but the public's enthusiasm for finding the hero remained undiminished. Although they did not find Aaron, they found other people.