61

Edward threaded the line through a roller, one end attached to the edge of the cradle and the other to the footrest of his piano.

“…… What are you doing? A voice came from the cradle.

"I want to work. This allows you to shake the cradle with just a pedal, and my wife has praised this idea. Edward sat down at the piano with a pencil behind his ear, his right hand playing a few scales on the piano that he had just adjusted the pitch, and in his left hand a dozen stave papers.

"Have you ever thought I'm actually a mythical creature?" The true Creator feels that he has nothing to say, with the left eye saying that you have a problem and the right eye saying that there is disdain. He grabbed the edge of the cradle with his hand and propped up his upper body, watching Edward busy on the piano, writing and drawing on the staff from time to time, and couldn't help but say, "You're really laid-back, you still have time to deal with work." ”

Edward glanced at Him, "Your God has been down for six days, have you decided when to reimburse me for my clothes and travel expenses?" My clothes were couture from an old tailor shop in Queens and cost almost a hundred pounds. ”

"......," the True Creator was silent, "next time, definitely." ”

"In the hundreds of years since you went crazy, your followers have commissioned me to write more than a dozen hymns and masses, and if you hadn't been able to get together the actors, they would have even commissioned me to write operas related to the holy scriptures, and they didn't pay for it, do you know the price of my creation? I'll give you a discount, two thousand five hundred pounds to settle off. ”

The true creator who looked through the ledger slowly lay down: "I'm a baby, you go and tell the person in charge of the Aurora Society." ”

The relationship between the two evil gods has become stronger because of money.

In the quiet study, the Abyss Angel recalled the general content of the play he was going to work with Miss Falth Wall, a comic opera, consisting of a warm and beautiful beginning of the hero and heroine in love, the tear-jerking process of the hero's death, and the ending of the great revenge.

Then there should be ...... in the overture that hints at the plot of the whole play. A wind instrument plays a low voice representing a calm male protagonist, and a string instrument plays a lively and playful high voice representing the female protagonist. Interweaving them together, following the twists of the plot to construct the whole piece, the orchestra is arranged according to the situation, and when the time comes, it will be cut according to the detailed script, and it is expected to be handed over to the theater by the end of this year.

"Now the people in charge of the Aurora Society are running around because of your previous global broadcast, otherwise you wouldn't be here with me."

Edward quickly drafted the main theme in eight bars: "The brief cessation of whispering, the euphoria of the shepherds' way through the upper echelons of the group, is already very suspicious, and if you stay in the aurora will cause even more commotion, when the steam night storm will send you to death." ”

"The Aurora Society has been in turmoil lately." The True Creator calmly replied, "I want to reinvent the image, reclaim the brilliance, and connect my present self with my past self." There are some believers who believe that I am only doing evil for the sake of righteousness and fearlessness. There was also a part of the devout believers who rejoiced in my declaration, and there was a struggle between the two factions. ”

"However, the strength of that faction is not strong, and the Dark Sage is still watching in order to be able to catch them all. They are all my anchors, and it is best to be able to exhort and influence nature, and if it really doesn't make sense, I will dispose of it. ”

"Sounds like good news."

"When Tingen was in time, you wanted to slaughter the city and get promoted, right?"

"That's right, if I succeed, six of the nine massacres will be completed, and I am seventy percent confident that I will succeed in the promotion." Edward replied casually as he played and improvised harmonies, "If I succeed, that city will probably become a Jedi of life, a hunting ground for the dead, a projection of the abyss on the earth for at least five hundred years." ”

"So what are the actual casualties?"

"As of today, all the effects I left behind have been purged of the church, with a total of 4,351 casualties. Very little, in my style all along, at least a zero to the end. ”

His piano hand stopped, and suddenly tilted his head: "Wait a minute. ”

"My disobedient student came to me." Edward said, "He came later than I thought. ”

62

Today is the sixth day since the tragedy, and Ademisore is sitting on the steps of the workhouse's door, staring at the sun in the sky with misty eyes, and the children are chattering and playing in the street after their lunch lessons.

Just as he saw in the river of fate, Tingen was flooded by the sea of blood, but there was red moonlight sprinkled again, except for a few people who were swept away by the sea of blood, Tingen was miraculously preserved. Only a few of the workhouse's perennially infirm and sick people died in the disaster, as if asleep with serene expressions. The abbot, who was over 70 years old, gave them a summary funeral, notified their relatives, and sent their bodies to various churches according to their faith, where the priest held a collective requiem and then buried them.

In a trance, he heard hurried footsteps behind him.

Flats, this is the dean's footsteps. He looked back and saw the dean hurrying out to meet a young man with dark gray hair who had just arrived at the door of the workhouse. The young man was dressed in some old, outdated coats, covered in dust and smelled of engine oil characteristic of steam trains. The dean walked up to the young man, and said something anxiously, and the latter listened with a serious expression, and the two entered the workhouse.

"Chief, you're finally here." In the workhouse's director's room, the old woman closed the door. She looked sad and clutched a blue handkerchief in her hand, "Last week Tingen was in crisis, and the half-"monster" Ademisore was the first to see the precursors of disaster, but we tried our best to avoid the crisis, and the church counted the death toll at more than three thousand, but it was impossible to calculate how many people died in the disaster. ”

Richard nodded, "What are the results of the church's investigation?" ”

The dean replied: "It was the panic caused by the robber's firearm, coupled with the accidental fire in the street, that caused some pessimistic people to lose the will to live, which in turn led to the death of the drug in their sleep." ”

"Dead in your sleep...... Richard repeated softly, thoughtfully, "and what is the news we have heard?" ”

"Previously, a lady suspected of being a "witch" died unexpectedly, and the death was tragic, and in connection with this incident, the investigation result of the extraordinary people of the church was: "Demon"." The dean thought of something and immediately added, "The church believes that the witch's death is a ritual to please the demon together, and as for how the results of the subsequent investigation were reached, the church has not announced it, and we have no clue. ”

Richard's eyebrows furrowed, and he stretched them out again, and he showed a thoughtful expression, and then asked for details: "Is the workhouse enough for this month?" I looked at the ledger, and I only lost fifty pounds in August, which is a big improvement from July. ”

"The children are all very good, there were no casualties in this disaster, and little Alia, who has been admitted to the grammar university, is also very safe, she ......works hard," the dean was stunned, and the sadness on his face was finally diluted by joy, "We took an order from the church welfare institute to let the children help process some simple clothing semi-finished products, so as to earn some money to subsidize expenses." Chief, this year has been ...... It's September, and winter ......"

"I have just returned from Fenerport, and thanks to the merciful Mother Earth Goddess, I have raised enough funds for the winter and New Year start-up to order direct cotton in bulk from Intis collaborators. This year, you can almost renovate all the beds, and you still have money to make some cotton clothes, so everyone can have a warm New Year. ”

The Angel of Temperance had already prepared, took out a small notebook from his pocket, wrote and drawn, and then counted a full fifty pounds from his suitcase and placed it on the dean's desk. The dean was startled, and hurriedly stuffed the banknotes back into Richard's hand: "What are you doing here?" We have a lot of money this month, and the children can afford to eat vegetable soup and wheat bran bread with meat cubes, and we don't need your subsidy! ”

"This is a subsidy for the emergency in Tingen, and the relatives of the deceased in the workhouse need some money to soothe their wounded hearts."

Hearing this, the old woman's smile suddenly became a little bleak.

"Chief, five of the six unfortunate people who died were those who lived in the workhouse all year round, dragging the sick bodies to help us."

Mrs. Dean replied softly, "There is only one little girl whose parents are still alive and who only came last month." She had been frail since birth, and later became terminally ill, and the prayers of her parents could not convince the gods to bless the child. Her parents, who were in business, spent almost all their savings to treat her, and finally had to send her to us. On that very day, she died, laughing, but with tears on her face. ”

"After her death, her parents calmly accepted the bad news and took the body and all the belongings and buried them in the cemetery."

“…… Life is a parade of pain and happiness, we cannot fight death, but at least let people have good memories. Richard lowered his eyes and prayed slowly, "Now that she has finished her journey, she has found peace, and there is no more sorrow and cold, bless her and praise the Lord." ”

"Praise the Lord." The old woman also closed her eyes and prayed quietly.

After a moment of silence, Richard left the Dean and left the Dean's office.

He went to the secluded prayer room in the corner of the floor, closed the door, got down on one knee, and quietly recited the honorific name.

"You are the withered nature, the monarch of the deep darklands."

“…… Your Merciful Highness Edward Vaughan – Lord, your devout believers ask for Your gaze and for Your answer. ”

After repeating it three times in a row, and waiting for several more minutes, a strange gaze finally came, and the small prayer room was dim for a moment, and the sunlight shining through the window became pale and cold.

"Richard Ernst."

The Angel of Temperance had a corresponding hallucination in front of his eyes: a flowing black mist, and a figure looming behind the black mist.

His teacher asked, "What's the matter with you?" ”

63

"What's the matter with you?"

When I asked Him this, I could actually guess even if I didn't ask. He offered to pray to me either for a sacrificial ledger, or for some financial assistance, or for some permissive message, which has been mostly nonsense since He became an angel. But this time, I can imagine that His question should be: Why did you kill innocents?

"Lord, why did you come down to Tingen and take away people's souls?" Richard half-knelt on the ground and hung his head deeply, "Thank you for your response." ”

"This is a ritual for my ally, the True Creator, to descend to the earth." I replied to Him, "Enough death and soul for a true God to come down is the least price." ”

“…… You have fulfilled your promise to give peace to the desperate and life-loving unscathed, and thank you for your mercy. ”

The tone of the Angel of Temperance is full of special emotions, sadness and helplessness, I understand his mood very well, I have not been used to being a demon for 200 years, and I still think that I am different from other crazy demons, and I still insist on believing that I can use "human nature" to restore my compassion and kindness, and I am also very sad and helpless. But if most of the people in the world are "hypocrites", then Richard Ernst is indeed one of the few "good people" who is qualified to condemn me. But this kind of order and goodness has been raised by the "demons", and this matter must not be known to the Seven Gods and the people outside, otherwise I may be ridiculed by them to the end of the world.

The conversation after that was very simple, He continued to admonish me and condemn me, I did not play demonic tricks with Him, and I freely confessed that all the four thousand three hundred and fifty-one human lives were a new blood debt on me.

He's good, annoying but useful, so I'm not going to take him back for now. After a worthless conversation, He said goodbye, and I said goodbye and cut off contact, all for five minutes, which has been the norm for a hundred years.

The work continues, and the soundtrack for an opera is not even the overture yet complete. I looked at the manuscript paper in my hand and remembered that I had returned home yesterday, and that I should write a letter back to Miss Falth Wall, asking her how she was doing, and by the way, making an appointment to check on the progress of the script.

TBC

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A transitional chapter that takes place during the day on the day of Crane's awakening.

* Strictly speaking, the King of Decay actually has no gender, there is no one, and he has been a mythical creature for tens of thousands of years, he is "him", and his gender can be defined by himself.

* In the follow-up episode, others will condemn Edward's indiscriminate killing of innocents in Tingen (you can guess who), but at that time, Edward did not admit it calmly, but used demonic sophistry to trick the other party into falling into his own logic, trying to make the other party lose control due to the collapse of his faith. Although it was not entirely successful, it also planted the seeds of doubt and vacillation, which sooner or later would detonate his mind.

But Edward would not do this in front of Richard, because there was no point, and Richard was indeed the one who was qualified to condemn Him, and He did not bother to defend himself.