Falsifying history is good business

A dimensional door opened again in the small branch of the Yaruga River. Lin You stepped out of the door, but his feet went soft and he was submerged up to his ankles in the mud by the river. He shook his feet in disgust and complained, "What are you doing in this rotten fishing village?"

Dandelion, who followed him out of the door, replied, "It's hidden, it's close, and the living conditions for smugglers are pretty good."

"I can understand that Ciri wants to hide from her biological father and other ambitious people who covet her identity and bloodline, but why do you want to hide with them? Your public identity is an internationally famous bard. Even in wartime, as long as you put on the banner of collecting folk songs, you can get a place in any king's central military camp, right?"

Lin You shook the shoes for a long time and found that there was always some mud on the uppers that could not be shaken off, so he used the "Clean Up" function in annoyance; as a result, the foot that was stepped on the mud was as clean as if it had just been taken out of the shoe cabinet, which made the other shoe that was not stepped on the mud look unclean, so he had to use the "Clean Up" function on the other side as well.

Dandelion said, "If only the king of the northern countries was here, I would go; but the problem is that there is also the emperor of Nilfgaard here, and they have formed an alliance, so it is not convenient for me to appear in any of the central military tents."

"What does Enxier want to do? Among so many monarchs, he is probably the only one who knows your true identity. How dare he provoke you?" Lin You couldn't hide his curiosity.

"It is precisely because he knows my true identity that he keeps sending people to look for me, openly or secretly. Sometimes I even wonder, if Dandelion had not angered Grand Duchess Toussaint by his bad habits, would Emhyr have instructed his distant cousin to marry Dandelion openly so that he could stay in Nilfgaard forever." Speaking of this, the other Dandelion was quite helpless.

Lin You understood: "When you show courtesy to others, you must ask for something. So, the emperor wants something from you?"

"You mentioned 'fate' to him before. I guess he misunderstood the meaning of 'fate' and thought I was some kind of prophet or fortune teller." When Dandelion said this, he suddenly imitated a deep and majestic tone, just like an emperor with great power. "My destiny is the destiny of the empire, and the destiny of the empire is the destiny of this continent. The world needs the guidance of civilization, just as I need your guidance."

"Haha, I guess this is the letter Enxier wrote to you? You are worthy of being the emperor. You always put on airs when asking for help." Lin You mocked.

Dandelion spread his hands. "I understand. For an emperor, there is no such thing as privacy. No matter how private the letter is, the chance of it being exposed in the future is close to 100%, so we can't put our humble attitude on paper."

"That's true. He himself has experienced a similar privacy leak, right? He was once the son-in-law of Cintra. Although he killed almost all the people who knew about it through massacre, he still couldn't stop the truth from spreading in the world."

Lin You did not mention at all who was directly responsible for the privacy leak.

Dandelion sighed and said, "Because of this, Emhyr's nickname is no longer 'the white flame dancing on the graves of enemies', but 'the raging fire that burns all malice'. However, it is also because Ciri's true identity was revealed that he would wishfully regard you and me as prophets. If we are not prophets, how can we dig out such a deep secret?"

“When a person tries to seek help or advice from fate, it means that he has begun to lack self-confidence.”

"What about you?" Dandelion suddenly changed the subject. "After the gods left, you came back here on the pretext of checking the stability of the space after the space-time gap, and kept looking for topics. Do you lack confidence in what you really want to say?"

Lin You laughed at himself: "You figured it out. Was I so obvious?"

"I don't want to say how well I know you. In fact, we have only been in contact for a few days in total. But please don't forget that you and I share the power of the destiny of this world. Any of your thoughts and actions, including any hesitations, will affect your own destiny." Dandelion looked at Lin You, with a seriousness on his face that a bard would never show. "So you might as well be frank and speak out your doubts."

The Supreme God of Fate stopped in the middle of the path, which was quite a distance away from the house where He had previously had dinner with Geralt and his family of three. It was about a distance that even the witcher's keen senses could not clearly hear His words.

"Isn't the question I want to ask obvious?" Lin You glanced up at the sky. It was the middle of the night, and the crescent moon had already set, leaving only the stars in the sky. "The relative speed of time has changed. Other gods may be slow to react to this, but you certainly won't. You were caught off guard by the space-time rift. You won't and shouldn't continue to ignore external changes."

Dandelion seemed to be amused by this question. He seemed unable to understand why Lin You would ask such a question, so when answering, He deliberately used the same wording: "Isn't the answer you want obvious? This world is just a connection point to the outside world. The changes in time and space here cannot drive changes in other worlds. The real root is in the big world. The speed of time in the big world has changed, driving us to change as well; therefore, I am not the one who is responsible for this and can give you the answer."

Lin You asked again: "Can't you give an answer or a reminder? You seem to have naturally accepted the reality that your world is dominated by the big world." "From my point of view, when the will of the big world awakens, this reality is acceptable. It means that our world finally has a solid foundation..." Dandelion was talking, but suddenly he thought of something and stopped talking subconsciously.

“I understand. You are not worried about the change in the speed of time, nor are you worried about not being able to discover this change in time. What you are really worried about is that this change itself is designed to target you.” After all, he is the Supreme God of Destiny. With just a flash of inspiration, he quickly guessed the truth.

Lin You remained silent and did not deny the other party's words, which made Dandelion even more surprised.

"The change in the speed of time is really aimed at you?"

"I guessed." Lin You said "guess", but his tone was firm.

Dandelion asked, "Why do you guess that?"

Lin You asked back: "Who do you think can control the flow of time in the big world?"

"Of course, it's the ones who lead the Great World Plan; God and Chronos, as far as I know, they are the specific executors."

"You missed one," Lin You corrected, "and there is also the will of the big world. In the past, the speed of time in the big world was basically left to its own devices. Whether it was fast or slow was often determined by the background and number of stories that had been integrated in the recent period. However, if you want to intervene and adjust the speed of time purposefully, you must get the consent of the three of them at the same time before you can implement it."

"Are you trying to say that the changes against you this time were carried out by the three of them working together?"

"What I want to say is that the fact that the three of them secretly interfered with the flow of time proves that their actions were at least to some extent aimed at me."

Dandelion was surprised by Lin You's judgment. He said, "You have described to me the fierce intrigues between the major gods in the past. Do you think this time, like in the past, it is also a struggle for some kind of interests?"

"Same as before? No, not at all." When it comes to the crux of the matter, Lin You's irritability is evident in his words. "The three major pantheons in Europe are causing trouble one after another. Although it is troublesome, I never feel embarrassed; because I know that I have a stronger backer behind me. As long as I stand firm, the final result will not be too bad. But now..."

Dandelion added: "Now, the original backer has become the biggest problem, and you can't find a new, reliable backer?"

"To be precise, I can't find the right position. In the past, I could stand on the side of God and Chronos, because standing with them is equivalent to standing on the side that conforms to the interests of the majority of gods. But when God, Chronos, and even the will of the world have other intentions, which side should I stand on?"

Lin You shook his head and smiled bitterly, his eyes full of helplessness and impatience;

"You should know, my brother; although I am countless times stronger than when we first met, I still do not have the qualifications and ability to be completely independent - at least not when facing the combined forces of the above three."

Dandelion understood: "In short, even though you know that God's position is problematic, you don't want to be the first to oppose Him; that's why you feel embarrassed and are reluctant to return to the big world."

"The one who stands out? If you're Chinese, you know you can't be one of them." Lin You said as a matter of course. (End of this chapter)