Secret: Those years when I was a foreign aid for the Aurora Club

61

Edward threaded the fishing line through a roller, connected one end to the edge of the cradle, and the other end to the pedal of his piano.

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

"I want to work. This way, you can rock the cradle just by pressing the pedal. My wife once praised this idea." Edward sat down in front of the piano, holding a pencil behind his ear. A few scales popped up, and a dozen staff sheets were held in his left hand.

"Have you ever thought that I am actually a mythical creature?" The true creator felt that he had nothing to say. His left eye said there was something wrong with you, and his right eye said contempt. He held the edge of the cradle with his hands to prop up his upper body. He watched Edward working on the piano, writing and drawing on the staff from time to time, and couldn't help but say, "You are really leisurely, and you still have time to deal with work."

Edward glanced at him: "You have been here for six days. Have you decided when to reimburse me for my clothes and travel expenses? My clothes are high-end custom made by an old tailor shop in Queens and cost nearly one hundred pounds. "

"..." The True Creator was silent for a moment, "I will definitely do it next time."

"Hundreds of years after you went mad, your followers still commissioned me to write more than a dozen hymns and masses. If I hadn't been able to recruit the actors, they would have even commissioned me to write operas related to the sacred scriptures without even paying them. , do you know the price of my creation? I'll give you a discount and settle the payment for twenty-five hundred pounds."

The True Creator, who looked through the account book, slowly lay down and said, "I'm a baby. Go tell the person in charge of the Aurora Society's accounts."

The relationship between the two evil gods became closer because of money.

In the quiet study room, Angel of the Abyss recalled the general content of the script he was going to collaborate with Miss Forse Wall. It was a comedy opera, with a warm and beautiful beginning of the male and female protagonists in love, and a tear-jerking scene when the male protagonist died. The process and the ending of revenge.

Then there should be a prelude that hints at the plot of the play...a wind instrument playing the low part representing the calm male protagonist, and a string instrument playing the lively and playful high part representing the heroine. We interweave them together and follow the twists and turns of the plot to construct the entire piece of music. The configuration of the band will be arranged according to the situation. At that time, it will be deleted according to the detailed script. It is expected to be submitted to the theater for performance 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 wrote an eight-bar draft of the main melody: "The brief cessation of babble and the collective excitement of the higher-ups of the Shepherd Path have already made people doubtful. If you stay in the Aurora Club, it will cause a greater commotion. When the time comes, the steam night storm will be random Even one of the gods can beat you to death."

"The Aurora Society has been in internal chaos recently." The True Creator replied calmly, "I want to reshape my image, regain my glory, and connect my current self with my past self. Some believers believe that I only do evil for the sake of justice and with no fear. And There was a group of devout believers who rejoiced in my announcement, and a fight broke out between the two groups.”

"But that faction is not strong. The Dark Saint is still watching in order to catch them all. They are all my anchors. It is best to be able to advise and influence them. If it really doesn't make sense, I will deal with them."

"Sounds like good news."

"When you were in Tingen, did you want to massacre the city and get promoted?"

"That's right, if I succeed, I will have completed six of the nine massacres. I am 70% confident that I will succeed in my promotion." Edward replied nonchalantly while playing and improvising harmonies, "If I succeed, that city will It will probably become a desert of life, a hunting ground for the undead, and a projection of the abyss on the earth for at least the next five hundred years."

"So what are the actual casualties?"

"As of today, all the influence I left behind has been eliminated by the church, with a total of 4,351 casualties. It's very few. According to my style, at least there is a zero at the end."

He stopped playing the piano and suddenly tilted his head: "Wait a moment."

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

62

Today is already the sixth day after the tragedy. Admissor is sitting on the steps at the door of the workhouse, looking at the sun in the sky with misty eyes. The children have finished their afternoon classes and are playing in the street.

Just like what he saw in the River of Destiny, Tingen was submerged by the sea of ​​blood, but with the red moonlight shining down, except for a few people who were swept away by the sea of ​​blood, Tingen miraculously survived. Only a few people in the workhouse who had been weak and sick all year round died in this disaster. They seemed to be asleep and had peaceful expressions. The dean, who was over seventy years old, held a simple funeral for them, notified relatives, and sent the bodies to various churches according to their beliefs. The priests held a collective requiem and then buried them.

In a daze, he heard rapid footsteps behind him.

Flat shoes, these are the steps of the dean. He looked back and saw the dean running out in a hurry and meeting a young man with dark gray hair who had just arrived in front of the workhouse. The young man was wearing a somewhat old and out-of-date coat, covered in travel dust and smelling of the engine oil unique to steam trains. The dean walked to the young man's side and said something anxiously. The latter listened with a serious expression, and the two of them walked into the workhouse.

"Chief, you are finally here." In the dean's room of the workhouse, the old woman closed the door. She looked sad, holding a cyan handkerchief in her hand, "Last week Tingen encountered a crisis. The half-monster Admissor was the first to see the signs of disaster, but we tried our best and failed to find a way to avoid the crisis. Church statistics The death toll is estimated to be over 3,000, but it is 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 gun that went off, coupled with the accidental fire in the street, and the chaos that caused some pessimistic people to lose their will to live, which in turn led to them taking drugs and dying in their sleep."

"Died in his sleep..." Richard repeated softly, thoughtfully, "Then what is the news we have learned?"

"Previously, a wife who was suspected of being a "witch" died unexpectedly. Her death was tragic. In connection with this incident, the investigation results of the Church's Extraordinary People were: "Devil". "The dean thought of something and immediately added, "The church believes that the witch's death was a ritual to please the devil. As for how the subsequent investigation results were obtained, the church has not announced it, and we have no clue. "

Richard's eyebrows twisted up and then relaxed. He showed a thoughtful expression, and then asked for details: "Does the workhouse have enough funds this month? I looked at the ledger, and it was only a loss of fifty pounds in August. , which has made a lot of progress compared to July. How are the children's life and study lately?"

"The children are all fine. There were no casualties in this disaster. Little Aliya, who has been admitted to the Grammar University, is also safe. She worked very hard..." The dean was stunned for a moment, with a look of sorrow on his face. The color was finally diluted by joy, "We took an order from the church welfare home and asked the children to help process some simple semi-finished clothing products to earn some money to subsidize expenses. Chief, this year is already... September, winter... "

"I just came back from Feneport. Thanks to the benevolent Mother Earth, I have raised enough start-up funds for winter and New Year. I will order direct sales of cotton in bulk from my collaborators in Intis. This year I can almost all Renovate the bed and have some extra money to make cotton-padded clothes, and everyone can have a warm New Year."

The Temperance Angel was well prepared. He took out a small notebook from his pocket, wrote some drawings, and then counted out a full fifty pounds from the suitcase and placed it on the dean's desk. The dean was startled and quickly stuffed the banknotes back into Richard's hand: "What are you doing? We have plenty of money this month, and the children can afford vegetable soup with meat cubes and wheat bran." Bread doesn’t need your subsidy!”

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

Hearing this, the old woman's smile suddenly turned a little sad.

"Chief, five of the six unfortunate people who died were people who lived in the workhouse all year round and helped us with their illnesses."

The dean’s wife answered softly: “There is only one little girl whose parents are still alive, and she came here last month. She has been frail and sick since birth, and later became terminally ill. Her parents’ devout prayers failed to get the gods to give this child any blessing. Her parents, who were businessmen, spent almost all their savings on treating her, and finally had no choice but to send her to us. On that day, she died. She died with a smile, but her face was full of tears."

"After her death, her parents accepted the bad news calmly and took the body and all belongings away for burial in the cemetery."

"...Life is a journey of accumulating pain and happiness. We cannot fight against death, but at least let people have good memories." Richard lowered his eyes and prayed slowly, "Now that she has completed her journey and gained peace, No more sadness and coldness, 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 said goodbye to the dean and left the dean's office.

He came to the small, secluded prayer room in the corner of the floor, closed the door, knelt down on one knee, and quietly recited the holy name.

"You are the essence of withering, the lord from the deep black land."

“…Merciful His Highness Edward Vaughan—Lord, Your devout followers pray for Your gaze and for Your response.”

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

"Richard Ernst."

A corresponding hallucination appeared in front of the Temperance Angel: flowing black mist, and a vague figure behind the black mist.

His teacher asked, "What do you want?"

63

"What's your business?"

When I asked Him this way, I could actually guess it even without asking Him. When He took the initiative to pray to me, he would either sacrifice a ledger, or pray for some financial assistance, or some indulgent news. Since He became an angel, what He has conveyed is basically nonsense. But this time, I can imagine His question would be: Why do you want to kill innocent people?

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

"This is a ceremony for the arrival of my ally, the True Creator, on the earth. "I answered Him, "Enough death and souls can allow a true God to come. This is the minimum price. "

"...You have fulfilled your promise, given peace to the desperate, and left those who love life unscathed. Thank you for your mercy."

The Temperance Angel's tone was full of special emotions, sadness and helplessness. I understand His mood very well. He has followed me for two hundred years and has not gotten used to me being a devil. He still thinks that I am different from other crazy devils and still insists on believing that I am. Being able to use "humanity" to help me regain compassion and kindness makes me very sad and helpless. But if most 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 was taught by "devils". This matter must not be known to the Seven Gods and everyone outside, otherwise I may be laughed at by them to the end.

The conversation after that was very simple. He continued to admonish me and condemn me. I did not play devil’s talk with Him. I frankly admitted that these 4,351 human lives were all new blood debts on me.

He's very good, and even though he's annoying, he's still useful, so I won't recycle him for the time being. After a worthless conversation, He resigned, and I said goodbye and cut off contact. The entire conversation lasted only five minutes. This has been the normal way I have communicated with Him for a hundred years.

Work continued, and the score for an opera was not even completed yet. I looked at the manuscript paper in my hand and remembered that I had returned home yesterday. I should write a reply to Miss Forse Wall, ask about her current situation, and make an appointment to check on the progress of the script.

TBC

——————————

A transitional chapter takes place during the day on the day Klein wakes up.

*Strictly speaking, the Declined King actually has no gender. He never had 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 subsequent plots, there will be other people condemning Edward for killing innocent people in Tingen (you can guess who). At that time, Edward did not admit it frankly, but was very interested in using demonic sophistry to trick the other party into falling into his trap. logic, hoping that the other party will lose control due to the collapse of their beliefs. Although it was not entirely successful, it planted seeds of doubt and wavering that would sooner or later explode his mind.

But Edward would not do this in front of Richard, because it was meaningless. Richard was indeed the person qualified to condemn him, and he did not bother to defend himself.