Chapter 178 – Their Respective Futures
Dark night. Darkness. Black Church.
“Ah, I’m sorry, please forgive me, please forgive me once, Your Holiness…”
The candles of the church burned at the edge of the night, and the whole night seemed to shake as darkness crowded in from all sides, pressing down on him.
The priest who had committed the sin of embezzlement lay shivering and trembling on the floor, his whole body already convulsed with fear.
The Pope, dressed in black vestments, sat high on the throne, his black eyes like an abyss.
“I know it is cruel, the crime is not heavy enough to be punished by death, it is unfair to you. But,” he looked down at him, “perhaps because I was too patient with people before, now I do not want to be patient with anyone other than my Lord…”
“No! Your Holiness! Don’t—” The begging for mercy turned into screams at the end, and then the whole hall became silent again, only the sound of dripping water from somewhere, tick, tick, in this darkness seems quite eerie and scary.
Monroe closed his eyes, immersed in the silence.
He heard a rustling sound in front of him, he heard the church emissary Leona Bell reporting the recent situation, and he also heard himself subconsciously speaking a reasonable judgment and making a subtle layout. Although he said this, but he didn’t open his eyes, his thoughts seemed to float above his head, looking at himself quietly.
He had looked at himself many, many times before. Monroe thought.
When he was bullied by noble children at the church school, Teresa asked him why he had to endure those, obviously he could beat them. He replied that it was not because of patience, but because it was the price that the low-born would have to pay to climb up. Monroe was right, he was always right. But the world won’t pity him for doing the right thing, the world has left him cornered.
He never knew where he was going, even though he was doing very well. After being adopted by the church, he went to the church school as usual, and then got one of the best grades. Then he went to the customary way to become a priest, and then was crushed. Then he tried the path of a paladin according to the custom, and then became a paladin as a matter of course. Instead of going with the flow, he went with the flow, just like everyone else in this era. But he was good enough, he had no special hobbies, and he put all his energy into self-improvement. So, the better he was, the more those people hated him. He didn’t understand, no one told him why, everyone around him put on a compassionate religious look, the teacher told him that he should love everyone mercifully, the captain of the knight team told him: you need to unite, you need to love your fellow man, it is your fault that others are hostile to you.
Compared with Leona Bell’s tortuous experience and Spike Elektra who climbed out of the dead, Monroe’s past is not vigorous, but it is terrifying. It’s easily reminiscent of Gaslight, the stage play in which a husband manipulates his wife’s mind to make her think she’s gone mad. One of the plot points is that the husband often lights the gas lamp in the attic. When the wife asks, the husband says that it is all the wife’s imagination. Things like this deny your reality time and time again, and make you gradually begin to doubt yourself. Is it your own fault? Why do others say that? Sure enough, you have a problem. If you have a problem, change it… Gradually, you can’t tell what the real reality is, and you can only accept the reality defined by the other party.
On Earth, this phenomenon often occurs in family education, and also in some companies, with a kind of brainwashing nature.
In another world, the church will often use this method to treat its own believers.
Monroe, as a person with very good objective conditions, but who the church wants to erase the past, will naturally be brainwashed and tortured ruthlessly by various means. The higher-ups were able to pinpoint his shortcomings – he believed in the Church, adhered to the rules and virtues, so they could do almost anything they wanted to him by seizing this point.
What a horrible experience that was.
The Pope was a bit impressed with Monroe. He knew that most of the credit reported by the current bishop of the Holy City, Royce, actually belonged to Monroe. But the Pope didn’t care, because being able to put people’s credit on himself is also a testament to his ability. In his opinion.
What was Monroe thinking at a time like this?
Constant self-doubt, constant denial from others, and because of his charisma, he also has a group of followers around him, the most prominent of which is Teresa Shelley. For Teresa, Captain Monroe redefined the meaning of the paladin for him. In the eyes of Monroe’s followers, Monroe is the incarnation of the paladin. They even only see Monroe, not the Pope.
– But all of this was a burden to Monroe, and only made him more confused.
The only thing he could hold at the time was the sword in his hand. He kept building credits. He was injured in battles, and while his body was lying on the hospital bed many times, his soul was examining himself. What am I doing and where is my future going?
At that time, he was actually vaguely aware that his future was not inside the church, and as a man who had been brought up with such treatment, it was a remarkable thing to have such thoughts.
One of the big reasons he volunteered to complete various outstation missions was actually to explore his future. Later, going to the Demon Realm to guard the Demon King was actually one of his attempts.
We all know the result of the last attempt.
Hill completely cut off his back and showed him what the church he had been fighting for really looked like. Everything came crashing down, the fog parted a path, and Hill held out his hand to him, come, come to me.
He still didn’t know where his future would lead when he took Hill’s hand.
But he knew who his future will be with.
So, he said to him:
“My allegiance is not to the demons, nor to the lower world.
My allegiance is to you alone, Hill.”
Everything after that, whether it is in power or becoming the Pope of the Dark Church, is something that will not stir up much inner turmoil for Monroe.
The most important thing is that Hill told him more than once, you are right, you are excellent, you deserve better, you can do what you want to do.
Acquaintance, enemy, friend, superior, lover… Hill means so much to Monroe. Because of too much, this relationship is not pure, but because of too much, the relationship is deeper and more obsessive.
Now, what guides him forward is no longer those things on the outside, but Monroe’s own heart that is no longer entangled in the fog.
一一
The ‘Birds of Dawn’ charity organization has grown under the control of the Old Jackson’s son, Jefferson Jackson, and it has hosted many charity dinners at the Magnolia Empire – this is for the benefit of Hill, and those stars that Hill made will also take turns to attend these banquets. They will take the lead in donating, and then encourage other nobles to donate as well. In addition to having dinner parties with these stars, these nobles will also have their names published in the “Demon Realm Magazine”.
“Mayor, please help me,” said Jefferson Jackson.
The mayor standing opposite him is the local emperor in this area. They had formed a civilian army, this place had always been a hard case, and no one bothered to take care of it. It was bad enough externally, but it was even worse internally. Those commoners had become his private property, as miserable as sl*ves, and he also enforced an ancient right – virginity. Every girl who wants to marry in this land must give him the first night.
“Master Jackson, we have to survive too, so why do you have to get involved in this? Those commoners in town are as loathsome as rats, they steal, swindle and do everything, they have to be regulated with a harsh regime,” the mayor said. He was emboldened by the fact that the Magnolia Empire was different from Mulheim, where the nobles had a particularly large number of private soldiers on their hands, but that was not the case in the Magnolia Empire. The big nobles don’t bother with the commoners, and the young men may be hot-blooded for a while, but they’ll calm down when they see this. What, do they dare to do the killing themselves? Could it be that he would make a report to King Magnolia for such a trivial matter?
One has to admit that the mayor has a fairly accurate grasp of the psychology of most nobles in Magnolia City.
It’s a pity that he met Jefferson.
But it is also fortunate that he has now met Jefferson.
After listening to the mayor’s words, Jefferson Jackson didn’t even blink his eyes. He drew his sword and stabbed the guard next to the mayor, killing him. Then he said the second sentence and repeated the first sentence. : “Mayor, please help me.”
His tone was still the same as before, with a pitiful feeling, as if to win the sympathy of the other party.
Blood dripped down from the tip of his sword.
“You—you…” The mayor’s eyes widened in astonishment. He didn’t expect this Jefferson, who looked no different from other noble young masters, to be able to do such a thing.
Is this really the weak noble young master from Magnolia City? Aren’t those noble young masters worse than the other?
“We’re willing to save everyone,” Jefferson smiled gently. “After all, we’re a charitable organization.”
When he said “charitable organization”, he raised his sword and stabbed another of the mayor’s guards, who fought – and died after just a moment. Jefferson has studied swordplay since childhood, and he is very high in terms of swordplay skills alone.
“So, mayor, will you help me?”
He said this just as he pulled the sword from the guard’s chest, and blood trickled down from the body, pooling into a small stream under Jefferson’s expensive sheepskin boots. He smiled at him, a smile that was actually similar to the one at the beginning.
This person…
The mayor involuntarily took two steps back and nodded in horror.
When Jefferson came out of town, the snow was flying, and the snow melted immediately on his clothes, as gentle as a shower of rain. He looked at the gray sky and smiled suddenly. After spending so much time in front of the big bosses, it was time for him to do something decent too. He also found his way forward.
一一
The Caribbean Sea was rolling with turbulent waves, and looking at the dark clouds that gathered unnaturally, experienced pirates knew that this was the power of magic, not nature. The distant waves seem like ten thousand horses’ galloping white hair, rolling and flying, the waves seem to be able to easily swallow the ship.
“Are you crazy, Rod?! Are you going to start a war?” Captain Flynn roared at Captain Rod of the Deathbird while standing on the Gold ship. His voice torn apart by the sea wind, but because he was shouting at the top of his voice, it reached to the other side.
“If you surrender, there will be no war, Master Flynn.” Captain Rod responded on the deck. His voice was not high, but under the instigation of magic, it could sound close to everyone’s ears.
“I guess you must be crazy. I know there are people backing you, but I didn’t expect you to attack one of the four pirate kings.” Flynn murmured, “Sea God above, stop this storm, Rod.”
“I don’t want to be careful and patient anymore,” Captain Rod said with a sigh.
“What? Do you think you used to be cautious?” Captain Flynn’s mouth twitched. “In the past, you broke the commandments and attacked pirates. You have been doing this kind of thing all the time. Everyone says you are a freak among pirates. Do you actually feel that you were careful before?”
Captain Rod pondered for a few seconds and responded, “I have not driven you all to extinction, which is indeed careful.”
Flynn almost fell from the Gold ship, this guy is simply crazy! He thought angrily.
But Flynn had no choice. He understood that he himself was the weakest of the four pirate kings, and that his fighting power was completely built up by magic crystal. Today, the Gold is not as good as the Deathbird in terms of equipment, personal combat power, and spells. In addition to the prestige of the Deathbird today, the Gold is not as good as the Deathbird. Flynn’s mind changed sharply and said, “My friend, I think you should calm down. You can’t sweep the entire Caribbean Sea with one person, not even Captain Jack.”
“Why not?” Captain Rod asked back, and then he raised his voice with a solemn voice: “I want to re-establish the order of this sea.”
“You’re crazy,” Flynn murmured.
“No,” said Captain Rod.
“Are you sure you are not crazy? You, a human, are going to sweep this sea, are you sure you are not crazy?” Flynn said out of control.
“Well, maybe a little crazy,” Captain Rod replied.
Flynn was almost driven mad by Captain Rod like this: “You’re really mad,” he repeated it again.
“But it feels good.” Captain Rod drew out his saber after he finished speaking, with a cruel smile on his face, “Surrender or die, choose one, my friend.”
Flynn gritted his teeth and said, “I surrender.”
“Wise choice.” Captain Rod raised his hands, the waves gradually subsided, the dark clouds dissipated, the sea returned to silence, and the sun shone from the split clouds. This scene was like a miracle, and the pirates of the Deathbird immediately began to cheer.
Flynn watched this scene in a daze, and he found that his previous dissatisfaction with Captain Rod was completely gone.
Such a powerful force far exceeds the power of human beings, and it is normal to do things that humans cannot do…
Captain Rod turned around and smiled at him suddenly, “That’s a good boy.”
He stood in the setting sun, the setting sun pulled his shadow long and cast it on the deck, and the shadow looked extremely hideous.
…This is a pirate captain who cooperates with the demons.
Flynn involuntarily shivered a little, and then suddenly had such a realization in his heart.
As far as Captain Rod is concerned, what he is doing now is to follow the orders from Leona Bell and recruit other pirate groups as much as possible, so that the power of the Dark Church occupies an absolute position among the pirates in the Caribbean Sea. Now that the Plague Islands are under the control of the Dark Church, the Magnolia Empire spreads the faith of the Dark Church among the commoners through the “Bird of Dawn” charity organization, so Captain Rod’s mission is not impossible. He also has the right to mobilize demon soldiers on the Jackdaw.
He doesn’t need to mobilize the power of the demons with the Gold, but when he fights Duncan of the Invincible, he needs to mobilize the demon soldiers.
After brewing for too long, Hill has begun to stretch out his claws to the human world—really, claws in various senses.
“Carl, Jack, I’ll leave it to you next,” Captain Rod turned and returned to the cabin.
“Yes, Captain,” the two said in unison.
Carl is the apprentice of Captain Rod and the one who played Will in “Pirates of the Caribbean”. He is already excellent. After experiencing various things, he has become more and more mature and can be on his own.
Jack used to be the pirate at the bottom of the Deathbird. He played a miscellaneous role during the filming of “Pirates of the Caribbean”. He is a typical pirate who has been influenced by a lot of demon culture, from “The Evil Monarch” to light music, and that murder caused by light music in the tavern, and later participating in “Pirates of the Caribbean”, he felt the pirate spirit up close… Finally, he has really grown up, and the chief mate plans to train this young man who started from the bottom to become a future chief mate. But Jack said in a joking tone: “My name is Jack, I want to be a captain in the future.”
The chief mate laughed: “Carl, did you hear? Someone is going to compete with you for the position of future captain!”
“I heard.” Carl said vigorously: “I will beat him physically and completely and show him why I am Captain Rod’s disciple.”
“You’re aiming for the captain, and I’m aiming to surpass the captain.” It’s just boasting, the pirates are very good at boasting. “So, you are destined to lose to me, Carl,” Jack said.
“You kid, watch me beat you now!”
“Come on! Who is afraid of who!”
Seeing these two teenagers fighting together, the chief mate kept laughing. When he turned around, he saw that Captain Rod was looking here, and his eyes were a little soft.
The chief mate was startled. How nice. Now, the atmosphere on the ship is really much, much better than before.
This is also one of the reasons why the chief mate supported Captain Rod to join the Dark Church without any qualms.
Everyone is growing, everyone is maturing, everyone is on their own, everyone has become someone who can hold up a piece of the sky for everyone else.
In the end, under the leadership of Hill, these people will hold up the sky of the entire continent.
