How can a retired savior be considered retired if his price drops to 40,000?

Chapter 27: Provide psychological counseling to the original body in question

"It's such a bad way to say hello - I thought we had a common language, so we could get along better. It's true."

Said this by a frivolous man with long white hair and white robes, yet somehow leaving a colorful impression on others.

Conrad Coates had left several deep claw marks on the wall behind him. I wonder what Fujimaru Ritsuka would say when he saw this when he came back.

Undoubtedly, this was Coze's reactionary behavior after he was troubled by a prophetic vision and realized that the scene he saw had been altered by external forces. However, attacking a shadow that does not exist here would obviously have no results.

The candidate for the crown, the Flower Magician, Merlin, still stood there with that light smile.

The several violent attacks that Curze launched in an instant only hit the shadow made by the illusion, passing through without any hindrance and landing on the wall.As for Merlin himself, who is not here at all, his hair is not even messed up.

"Although this is the first time I'm officially talking to you, haven't we met in the illusion trial a long time ago!" Old God Merlin complained on the ground, "I am completely on the side of Chaldea, and you should do this You should know!"

"Shut up, alien," Curze scolded through gritted teeth, "You've crossed a line."

He identified this figure, this face.Merlin, the legendary magician, a hybrid of human and dream demon, possesses the clairvoyance to observe the "now", and temporarily supports Chaldea, who enforces the survival of humanity out of his own needs and preferences.

He knew this information in the illusion, but that was all.Something engraved in his genes made it impossible for him to have a good impression of Merlin, a creature that preyed on human emotions, let alone to deepen understanding and establish a connection.

In fact, barely coexisting peacefully with it is the biggest concession that Coze can make.

"I know that what I did is indeed a bit excessive, but the problem is that Ritsuka has basically exhausted these moderate means of persuasion, demonstration, etc. Judging from the results, it doesn't work at all, right?" Merlin's tone was unapologetic, "So I thought, if you can't change your habit of blindly believing in prophecies, then just change the prophecy that you blindly believe in!"

"False prophecies are meaningless. You just want to use them to manipulate my behavior." There was a clear threat in Kurtz's voice.

"I don't deny my purpose, but I must question the first half of the sentence." Merlin, who completely ignored the other party's threats, retorted calmly:
"The prophecy itself does not matter whether it is true or false. After all, you cannot prove whether something that has not happened yet is true or not. A prophecy is just a prophecy, and its meaning is determined by the choices of the people in it - and you always choose bad That side, this is so unbearable!"

Coates rolled his eyes away in disgust: "You all have the same argument."

Fujimaru Ritsuka had said similar words to him dozens of times.He can definitely guess what further arguments will be made next: something like "even if the outcome is destined, the process has its own meaning", "making changes in the process may affect the results that have not yet come" and so on of--

"I know what you want to say, and I've tried it too." Coz's expression showed a sense of boredom and exhaustion, "I don't know what results this kind of behavior would achieve in your original universe, but In my face, things just got worse because of it.”

When selecting the eighteen Night Lords in the Chaos War Gang, if Curze had been allowed to judge based on the omens he had seen, he would have directly killed them there, but Fujimaru Ritsuka stopped this at that time. behavior, he acquiesced to this change; when he found Savita on Jestal, he should have escorted his most admired heir to board the ship and leave, but Fujimaru Ritsuka thought that he should respect him more He also tried the other party's choice.

The process may have changed, but the result is no different, or even worse - the 18 selected people will still be executed by him, and this time their souls may also be swallowed by Chaos; and Sevatar originally died in battle His fate was pushed to an even more dishonorable situation.

This just reaffirmed one thing for Curze: the act of struggling with prophecies never meant much.Even the act of trying to make sense out of it doesn't make sense.The malice and cruelty of the universe itself is beyond human imagination. It seems that there is always an invisible hand controlling the wheel of fate, so that things can only evolve in the wrong direction.

"I admit that the operating rules of the two universes are somewhat different. The subspace on your side is indeed very malicious to intelligent creatures... However, things have obviously not progressed to an irreversible point. Are you sure you want to give up like this?"

Merlin's unreasonably angry voice still echoed in the corridors of the Stormbound, causing Conrad Curze to growl irritably: "You careless monster! What do you understand?!"

However, while scolding him like this, he also knew that these words were not just for Merlin.

The Midnight Ghost is just a monster that is incompatible with humans.

From this point of view, Merlin's words at the beginning, "You and I have something in common," are not wrong. After all, they are also outside human society in a sense, but one is relatively pure. The observer is the judge who spreads fear.

Of course, this sentence is not correct, but the heartless dream demon cannot well understand the most essential difference between the two of them, and Konrad Coates, who sees this clearly He just firmly held his strong dislike for the other party and did not intend to explain it.

The fundamental conflict is that as an alien pretending to be human, a hybrid of human and dream demon, Merlin himself only has a half-baked self.He understands but cannot have feelings, and cannot distinguish between good and evil at all; however, Konrad Curze, as the primarch, was a planned life created with a clear purpose, and was already preset with him when he was in the cultivation chamber. Emotions that are too vivid compared to ordinary human beings, and a strong view of good and evil that gradually develops to extremes in the future.

If their acquaintance did not have existences like Chaldea or Fujimaru Ritsuka as a prerequisite, then the best relationship they could maintain after that would be to live forever.

"Although I don't understand, at least I can see clearly." Naturally, a foreign body that does not produce emotions would not be angry at such an accusation. Merlin's voice was still smooth and brisk, which was really annoying in this situation. "Your genetic children all love you. Let's not talk about how this love comes from, but don't you want to work harder for their love?"

——This is the speech of a very incubus. It is provocative without knowing it, and it immediately makes Conrad Coates feel angry.

Fujimaru Ritsuka also mentioned a similar topic, but she simply mentioned it and asked for very little.She knew what Curze had been through in the past, knew that the concept of "love" was almost non-existent in Nostramo society, and knew that Konrad Curze had no way of knowing or learning it when shaping his worldview. Feelings, and even more knowing that when he was able to come into contact with the concept of "love", he could hardly believe the existence of this kind of feelings.Konrad Curze is the Primarch, and the Primarch's ability to learn is unimaginable.Therefore, he quickly understood love and how to use it after having the sample.He regards love as a weakness in human nature, and even knows how to use his children's love for him to control them - but he doesn't know how, and he doesn't bother to respond to love, and he even refuses to admit that he needs love and deserves to be loved. like.

He refused to accept the emperor's forgiveness even after his death. In his second life, he deliberately provoked conflicts with those close to him. He often ignored Fujimaru Ritsuka's natural kindness, and always treated him with some minor or minor punishment. Serious provocations may have this factor mixed into their motives to some extent.There may not be many, but they must be there.

Fujimaru Ritsuka understands this. Therefore, she does not require Coz to accept these feelings that are too heavy and difficult for him to handle, nor does she require him to respond to his children. She only hopes that he can give some basic information. Respect, whereas what Merlin said was clearly the complete opposite.

From Conrad Curze's point of view, Merlin was almost forcing him to do something he didn't want to do with something he didn't need at all.It sounded ridiculous, but it did offend him, and he was doubly offended because it sounded ridiculous.

But considering that the "Merlin" in front of him was just an illusion, Curze really couldn't make a truly effective attack on him, so he had to endure this tone after all.

"That's stupid." Finally, Curze said in a voice that reminded the listener of cold venom slowly flowing into the veins. "I won't go to such trouble to add some weaknesses to myself."

Merlin was quiet in confusion for a few seconds before he could barely follow Curze's train of thought.

"...Do you think love is a weakness? Whether it is the one who gives or the one who receives?" The dream demon's always calm voice finally became a little surprised, "Objectively speaking, love can indeed It makes people dizzy, or makes them lazy, but when it comes to weaknesses...well..."

"Love makes you weak," Coates said matter-of-factly, as if explaining that one plus one equals two, "and I'm not allowed to be weak."

"That's not the case. I have seen many forms of love. It is a very one-sided idea to just think that love can make people weak." Merlin retorted, "Love may make people indulge in it, or it may make people hesitant. It may be painful, despairing, and maddening; but love can also be transformed into the strongest armor and sword, the glimmer of light that cuts through the darkness, and the source of miracles; love can destroy A race can also create a universe."

He stared at Cozz's pure black eyes with gem-like bright and inorganic eyes, and asked bewitchingly: "Even if you don't want love, are you just using love and not wanting to try? If you don't want to try, your Can the love of your heirs for you help them escape from the quagmire of chaos? Can the false love stipulated in the base contract also break through the shackles of prophecy?"

Merlin did not say these words in his usual role of "guidance".At this moment, he is just acting as a dream demon, simply standing from the perspective of an observer who "makes the development of things more interesting", reaching out like this to try to guide the direction of the story:
"Before the clock strikes midnight, you still have a little time to make a decision."

He gave an ultimatum.

Conrad Coates was speechless for a while.The nature he had been forged in his previous life told him to give up immediately and stop working hard on such useless work.But the few miracles he saw in his second life gave him a tiny bit of hope.

He admitted that he was a little excited.
-
"You said 'you don't understand'." Ran Malok asked as he took Fujimaru Ritsuka to the launch area of ​​the airdrop pod, "Are there any uncertain elements in the events happening on this planet?"

"The main messenger of disaster." Li Xiang replied in a low voice, "Although it is basically certain that there must be a Tzeentch demon behind the planning and execution of this large-scale ritual 110 Terran years ago, but I really can't judge it. s level."

"Are there any distractions?"

"Not really." Ritsuka sighed, "It's probably like, 'When your enemy is just right stupid, you really can't tell whether it's an act or if it's really that stupid.'"

"..." Lan Malok failed to follow this idea for a moment, or he was shocked by this idea. He paused for three seconds before speaking, "I remember from the previous introduction... The Tzeentch camp is not based on prying into all the knowledge and secrets in the world. Famous?"

"Knowledge is not equal to wisdom, and secrets lack daily practicality. A master who has studied a certain field for a long time may not even be able to do a small thing like going out to buy groceries. Generally, we call this kind of person a person who can only study hard. Nerd'." Ritsuka explained with a sneer.

"Judging from the comparison of the subspace energy level waveforms, it is very likely that the instigator had prepared a similar ceremony on this planet 1 years ago. If the ceremony at that time was successful, a similar ceremony would be held now. , the success rate of this ritual will be increased because there have been successful precedents before, which makes sense logically - but the problem is, according to the 1-year-old data provided by the Dark Angel, then For once they clearly failed.”

"If it has been successful before, the success rate of performing the same ritual will increase. On the contrary, will the success rate of the ritual decrease?"

"That's it. I don't understand the logic of the devil's obsession with this ritual." Li Xiang nodded, "In the 30th millennium, it took such a long time to seize a planet in the material world using some roundabout means. Acceptable efficiency, because at that time the difference between reality and illusion was still very clear. But with the passage of time, the gradual integration of subspace and the material world, after No. 40 millennia, the curtain between reality and subspace has been It’s not as difficult to break through as it was 1 years ago—with these 110 Terran years, wouldn’t it be easier to directly blast nine subspace rifts in the planet and drag the entire planet into it?”

Lan Malok thought for a moment: "Perhaps the mastermind behind this matter is the demon from 1 years ago. It failed before, so it is particularly persistent on this point."

"What you said makes sense. I will add this conjecture to the possible countermeasure conditions."

The corresponding area in the ship was already in front of him, and Lan Malok spoke slowly as if he suddenly remembered something:
"One more important thing: there are no drop pods on the Lion's Mane with a level of protection that even mortals can use."

This was obviously a subtle attempt to make things difficult, but Fujimaru Ritsuka remained unmoved:
"It's okay, I already expected it." She said calmly, "As long as you open the hatch of the launch mechanism after Lion's Mane reaches low-Earth orbit."

"...Just open the hatch?" Ranmarok's tone also revealed surprise, while Fujimaru Ritsuka sounded calm, as if he was just saying that he was going to have dinner:

"Yes. I will jump directly." She said.

(End of this chapter)