After a two-day journey, Joseph returned to the city of wealth after a long absence.

To his surprise, after a month, there weren't many changes.

A month ago, it was ruins; A month later, it was still in ruins.

The once prosperous city of wealth has now been burned to the ground. The wails of the people in the fire had not yet passed away in Joseph's ears.

…… Did they know that they didn't have to die?

The corners of Joseph's mouth curled with a hint of mockery.

Unlike Roland, he has a considerable affection for this rich city.

What is the difference between superior and inferior people? There will be a hundred answers to this question for a hundred people. For Joseph, the difference between superior and inferior people was that they raised more needs.

Humans are social creatures. Without the group, you are nothing. Whether it's the invention of the wizard or the knick-knacks of the alchemists, they are all for human use. Isn't the reason for the existence of this kind of new gadget because of the needs of other people?

If something no one needed, it wouldn't have been invented in the first place.

It follows from this that the source of the world's progress is precisely the "need" of people - something indistinguishable from greed.

In Joseph's view, the people of the City of Wealth may indeed be "sinners," but they are definitely not "inferior." In Joseph's eyes, they were all quite great men.

It is because they have raised more needs that the world will progress as a result. They needed more food, and the world had more food; They needed more entertainment, and so theater troupes and circuses were born. Their needs directly contribute to the progress of the world, and as for who the new products are given after the progress. So what does it matter?

According to the philosophy of the dark gods, the strong deserve more resources. Moreover, mortals have only been alive for a few hundred years, and when they die, the wealth they have seized will naturally be dispersed.

Just like the king. The perfect king in Joseph's mind should be a king with great ambition. The king desires more than anyone else. Hope. To be happier than anyone else, to live more realistically than anyone else, and to be admired by all people.

Only in this way can people be led by the king. People are eager to live after having higher power, people are eager to be close to the king, so people will have ambition in their hearts, and there will naturally be motivation in their hearts to move forward, and they will instinctively climb up, hoping to achieve a higher position. Have a higher level of "need".

From Joseph's point of view, the City of Wealth was undoubtedly the center of the world—not the rumored city of despair or hell within hell, but a real holy place for human progress.

Such thoughts never dissipated in Joseph's mind. This was the source of Joseph's resentment against Roland.

Such a holy place, the most prosperous city of mankind, the center of the world, was destroyed by that guy for such frivolous reasons?

What is saved, what is purified...... All of this seemed to Joseph to be nonsense.

At first, he thought Roland was the kind of pure destroyer - some people wanted to see the world burn. Joseph expected something to change from such an anomalous Roland. The value he creates, the desire he calls out. The response is boastful, unusual, dazzling.

But then. Joseph regretted it.

Roland was by no means the king he had in mind. He wanted to be a somewhat extreme Templar rather than a demonic monarch who had gone crazy and left office.

Can knights save the world? Don't make a fuss, this world doesn't need knights for a long time.

Standing at the gate of the City of Wealth, Joseph looked at the pale golden liquid spreading through the city, closed his eyes and prayed quietly for the city.

The world is sick. There is no cure and is on the verge of extinction.

If those fools who still think that the world is always peaceful and happy, open their eyes. A look at the southern coast of Titan shows that the world is already on the verge of destruction.

The "ends of the earth" have been curled up since 800 years ago, and have begun to gradually collapse, fall, and distort.

The southern states that existed 600 years ago have long since been crushed and destroyed by the edge of the world. Until now, the shattered sky from afar is still approaching Titan at a rate of thousands of meters per year—approaching this "civilized" world.

You can see it from the southernmost island of Titan, if you look south. The sky in the distance was a barren purple as if it had been wounded by necrosis. The sea level curls upwards and slowly collapses at a rate visible to the naked eye.

In no more than ten years, Titan will be crushed to the edge of the world. This is why the Titans are always in high spirits trying to start war.

Not because they are greedy for more, but because they don't want to die. That's it.

It's just a bunch of cowards.

This is what Joseph said about them.

Thinking of this, Joseph couldn't help but sigh.

If Roland can't rely on it, who can the world rely on?

Although he hates Roland very much, and even vaguely hates Roland, he has to admit that he should be the protagonist of this era. With the support of his mentor, Roland could not fail. Unless there is something terrible in this world that even the Sages can't contend with.

But is that possible?

Joseph smiled self-deprecatingly.

I want to break free from Roland's constraints, I want to live according to my own ideas, but I don't want to lose the benefits that I lost after staying away from Roland. After all, he's just a mortal, not like the monster in Kakarit.

If it hadn't been for the mentor who asked him to assist Roland, Joseph would have betrayed Roland a long time ago. Born under the shadow of the god of darkness, he is well versed in the art of betrayal, and has long been very skilled in it.

But, since Roland offered the cardinal's price, let's do it for him again.

Joseph opened his eyes and watched the golden halo of water in the morning light ripple in circles under the wind, and for a moment thought that the water was full of gold.

"Wait until I become a cardinal......"

Joseph muttered, and pale ambition began to burn up at the base of his pupils, and then it was well hidden again, regaining the usual cloudy gaze.

This time, let's help Roland's kid get the information first. Since he has made such a temptation. If he didn't respond, Joseph himself would have thought he was stupid.

This time, though. Do one last thing for him and stop it.

As a cardinal, if you go out independently, you will probably be able to attract a lot of congregants, right?

With this in mind, he stepped into the city of wealth filled with flowing golden flames.

He walked on the water, but he didn't make any waves. He was like a phantom, without making any sound, his body gradually became transparent, and the sense of existence of the whole person dropped again and again. At the end of the day, even if you stare at him carefully, you will lose his trace in the slightest blink.

It's just that he didn't notice that his shadow seemed to have become a little heavier since last night. (To be continued.) )