Shut up, brave man! I don't want to atone for my sins to you!

She couldn't help but nod, agreeing with Crazy John.

Because it is.

"So," she couldn't help but ask, "So that's why you want to assassinate the emperor? Because you also believe that all of Diesel's abnormalities come from the emperor?"

But to her surprise, Crazy John shook his head.

Then the old gentleman extended a second finger to her.

“That’s the second point I want to correct you on.”

"I didn't intend to assassinate Your Majesty, but I have already put it into action. In the past ten years, I have tried ten times, and the result each time was..."

Mad John looked up, his sight seemed to be able to penetrate the walls of the tavern, across the vast distance, and finally to the depths of the palace, falling on the emperor on the throne.

His gray pupils were slightly out of focus, and his expression was dazed for a moment, but turned into a bitter smile the next moment.

"I'm sure you two are aware of this," he put down his wine glass and spread his hands, mocking himself, "The emperor is still sitting on his throne, which means that all my ten attempts to assassinate His Majesty in the past ten years have ended in failure."

"..."

Lacey stopped talking.

This sudden information really surprised her.

Did Crazy John have tried to assassinate him before? And he had already tried to assassinate him ten times... Even if he drew a card, he would have to get an SR card ten times, but for Crazy John, the final result was nothing.

As Lacie thought about it, she slowly realized another problem.

Lost in thought, she subconsciously wanted to bite her nails, but her hand was now tightly held by Charles, and their fingers were intertwined.

She couldn't bite her nails anymore, and felt a little annoyed, so she quickly glared at Charles and thought, "If you hold on to my hand again, I'll use your claws to grind my teeth!" Then she turned around and asked Crazy John:

"But why are you safe and sound?"

The witch stared at the old gentleman, narrowed her eyes, and her tone became strange:

"You have assassinated the emperor ten times in succession. As the saying goes, you can do it once, twice, but not three times. Even if the emperor has a good temper, I'm afraid he won't be able to forgive you. After all, you have violated the emperor's majesty."

However, Crazy John smiled bitterly and replied:

"But His Majesty did forgive me. He even forgave me ten times in a row - perhaps because no one knows about it. You should also know that in the eyes of other Diesel people, I am just a madman who wants to assassinate His Majesty, nothing more, and I don't even have the courage to try."

But in fact, he has tried it many times.

For a moment, Lacie didn't know what to say.

She seemed to have obtained useful information from Crazy John, but also seemed not to have. The truth of everything was still confusing and there was no sign of it being revealed.

So her eyes involuntarily wandered to the cane left by the old investigator.

“Will it bring us the answers to all our problems?”

The witch couldn't help but think.

At this moment, she suddenly heard Charles beside her say:

"I think there must be other reasons why His Majesty the Emperor did not try you for your crime of usurpation..."

"For example, the one you told us about before, the one who went to the White Tower with you to study, your former 'master' - if I'm not mistaken, he is the current Emperor of Diesel, right?"

Lacie was stunned for a moment, and then she felt a little complicated, but at this moment she didn't have time to think about anything else, so she turned around and looked at Crazy John.

She believes the truth is far more important than anything else.

Just as Charles guessed, Crazy John showed a complex expression of surprise, trance, stupor, and nostalgia, and then said softly:

"As expected of you, the hero, you even noticed something like this..."

Then, he picked up the wine glass at hand, gently shook the turbid yellow wine inside, and admitted with a wry smile:

"Indeed, it was His Majesty who went to study with me in the White Tower. Perhaps it was because of the relationship between master and servant and classmates that he forgave my crimes of usurpation time and time again."

"That's it..." The old gentleman paused, and suddenly glanced at the cane that was placed alone on the wine table. Then his voice slowly became dull, "I don't know if the friendship in the past can still make him..."

"——Let him forgive me for my crimes of usurping the throne a few more times."

[To be continued]

-

35. Be obedient

Lacele thought that Crazy John had a really good relationship with the Emperor, so good that even something like assassination could be forgiven.

But then she thought of her and Ciel——

No, it should be said that it was the priest and Charles.

If the priest were alive and were to assassinate Charles several times in a row, I'm afraid that even if Charles didn't know the reason, he would choose to forgive the priest.

so……

Laceel's expression turned strange as she looked at Crazy John.

"Are you also the white moonlight of the Emperor?"

she thinks.

Charles and Crazy John obviously had no idea what a ridiculous conclusion she had come to, but she herself was so amused by it that the corners of her mouth rose unconsciously.

But as soon as she started laughing, she realized that Charles was laughing with her.

The guy smiled as if he thought she was cute.

Lacie was a little annoyed and angry, and subconsciously stretched out her other hand, grabbed Charles' thumb and twisted it hard.

However, nothing happened - with her weak physical strength, she could not pose any threat to Charles.

But perhaps in order to let her vent her anger, Charles cooperated with her considerately and bent his thumb.

Lacele was not very angry at first, but now that Charles cooperated with her, she was almost driven crazy.

It's not very harmful, but it's extremely insulting.

"Fuck you, you stinky hero!"

She gritted her teeth, snorted coldly, and immediately turned her head away from Charles, and asked Crazy John:

"So you approached us on purpose in the beginning? You wanted to use us, and the White Tower behind us, to solve Diesel's abnormality in one fell swoop?"

Crazy John obviously knew what she was talking about, so he nodded slightly awkwardly:

"Yes, that's true... Since the two of you first stepped into Diesel, I noticed you two. I noticed the emblem of the White Tower on your cloak, Miss Mage, and the holy sword on your waist, Sir Brave."

"Of course, even I didn't expect that the White Tower would entrust the brave warrior and Miss Mage to come to Diesel together," he said frankly, "But no matter what, this is undoubtedly a good thing for me, because Diesel's condition may have really deteriorated to the point of..."

He paused and laughed at himself:

"——The situation has deteriorated to the point where it can only be resolved by a hero."

Upon hearing this, Lacie subconsciously looked at Charles and saw a slightly solemn expression on his face.

Then, she thought about the level of incident she and Ciel had just dealt with—

The elves and the mad mother, the spreading pollution and the terrifying harm that is no less than that of gods, if they continue to develop, may even pose a threat to the entire Pan-Continent.

"Damn it," the witch couldn't help but mutter, "Diesel's abnormality shouldn't be that serious, right?"

In order to prevent Murphy's Law from taking effect and her fantasy from becoming a reality, Rachel quickly gathered up the messy ideas in her mind, tightened her face, and told Crazy John:

"Diesel's situation is far from being that exaggerated. According to the intelligence obtained from the investigation, the abnormality between the emperor and his subjects is most likely just a mass urging..."

She suddenly paused here.

Because she thought of the wishing well.

That wishing well is located in the square next to the tavern and is suspected to be a limited wishing machine.

Her expression quickly became complicated.

No matter how simple the situation is, once a wishing machine is involved, it will most likely become dangerous in the end.

Because no one can predict what wish someone will fulfill with the help of the wishing machine, and what price they will have to pay for it.

Wealth, love, power, beauty...

After the limited wishing machine appeared, before the relevant research on the limited wishing machine was completed, the limited wishing machines in various human countries caused countless disturbances, the most serious of which almost subverted the entire Pan-Continent.

Therefore, due to the existence of the limited wish-granting machine in Diesel, Lacie suddenly felt that the cloud of mass hypnosis hanging over all Diesel people became chaotic.

"The truth may not be that simple."

The moment this thought came into Rachel's mind, she couldn't help but stare at the gray eyes of the old gentleman in front of her and asked abruptly:

"Do you know about the limited wishing machine?"

Crazy John was stunned for a moment, then nodded:

"I've heard that all human nations seem to regard it as some kind of important strategic reserve. The status of a country with a limited number of wish-granting machines is naturally higher than that of other countries."

At this point, he showed a complicated expression:

"Even a small and backward country like our Diesel can pose a threat to a powerful country like Victoria as long as it has a limited wish-granting machine."

Rachel understood what he meant.

If Victoria really wants to annex Diesel, which has a limited number of wish-granting machines, and Diesel decides to resist to the death, then the worst outcome will probably be the destruction of both countries at the same time.

All Diesel's Emperor has to do is make a wish to that limited wishing machine.

As for the price of fulfilling the wish...

If I don’t make a wish, the country will probably be destroyed. At that time, who will care about the so-called price?

Rachel suddenly had a very hellish idea——

If Victoria's excuse for annexing Diesel is that "Diesel is suspected of possessing a limited wish-granting machine of unknown origin", then when the Victorians declare war on Diesel, they might be "surprised" to find that the Diesel really do possess a limited wish-granting machine of unknown origin.

That would be great fun.

But now is not the time to think about that.

Rachel quickly made her expression serious and asked:

"You told us that the wishing well in the square next to the tavern can fulfill everyone's wishes, and it seems to be true. We believe that the emperor's abnormality is related to the wishing well..."

As she spoke, she observed Crazy John's expression, trying to catch some unusual changes from the old gentleman's face:

"——We even suspect that the wishing well may be a limited wishing machine."

Crazy John was stunned when he heard this.

Immediately, under the gaze of the two, he couldn't help but laugh:

"Then I don't know. In fact, I made up the phrase 'that wishing well can fulfill everyone's wishes' in order to make outsiders like you notice Diesel's abnormality. And that wishing well..."

The old gentleman showed a cunning expression that didn't seem fake:

"Since you two have doubts about the wishing well, you must have done some research on it. And I guess no matter which Diesel you ask, the answer you get is -"

"'That wishing well can't fulfill anyone's wishes'. At least for us in Diesel, it's more like a decoration. Although we throw coins into it almost every day, no one expects to have any wishes fulfilled through it."

"Because everyone knows that there is nothing more absurd than expecting a well to fulfill your wishes for no reason."

Upon hearing this, Lacie subconsciously looked at Charles.

They saw the confusion in each other's eyes.

Obviously, Crazy John was lying, and perhaps he didn't know the nature of the wishing well.

But in any case, the body of the priest that suddenly appeared in the coffin after Charles made a wish was real, which was enough to prove the abnormality of the wishing well.

But why?

Why did the old lady they had asked before, or Crazy John in front of them, both declare in unison that the wishing well could not actually fulfill anyone's wish?

Lacey felt something was wrong.

Because even the most ordinary wishing well, which has absolutely nothing to do with the limited wishing machine, has the potential to "realize" people's wishes.

As long as enough people make wishes, there will always be wonderful coincidences and someone's wish will come true by accident.