Chapter 219: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (4)
“…….”
Purple quietly swallowed.
His mouth was dry.
As he reached for the water on the podium,
Thud.
He knocked over the cup, and the script he had prepared was soaked.
It was as if their ankles were firmly caught by Cain’s appearance.
He wanted to tear the paper to shreds and kill the hero right there, but Purple endured.
Temper is momentary.
But patience is eternal.
He knew his temper was like fire. But his reason was like ice, and it was always reason, in the name of patience, that won.
“Hero.”
He cleared his throat.
Looking at the public opinion clearly divided into two, Purple felt the need to turn the tables.
A sidelong glance.
On one side of the circular auction house was the VIP room for Morning and Aurelia, and on the other side was the hidden VIP room he had prepared.
He thought he had done well to summon ‘him’ at great expense just in case and continued speaking.
“You are right.”
“……!”
Purple, who had been refuting, took a step back. At that moment, silence fell over the crowd once more.
The Purple in front of them was supposed to vehemently deny, say no, and instill a sweet future.
His role was to shower them with hope, like the rain of gold that had just poured down.
“Money, education, all of it, like social status, requires a certain degree of birthright. For example, my son will live well because he will inherit my wealth.”
Cain’s eyes narrowed.
Purple’s response was more sophisticated than he thought, something that an experienced politician would not be able to do.
‘No. The Seven Wise Men must be even more experienced than those people.’
They were the ones who had traveled all over the continent, using tricks to conduct business.
Not only that.
It was he who gathered merchants from all over the world and declared the ‘Delft Declaration’, establishing a city of merchants independent of the national system.
He.
Purple.
Purple, who was the left seat of the Seven Wise Men, the world’s top seven merchants.
Purple, who occupies the top spot among them, began to speak slowly with a regretful smile.
“But there is opportunity in our future. Yes, birthright is important. Environment is important, and the resources are important. But think about it.”
He set the overturned water glass upright on the podium.
He held the clear cup high, with only a finger’s width of water remaining. As the dazzling lights of the grand auction house reflected off the transparent glass cup, it was as if Purple was holding a holy relic.
“I don’t think I need to explain more about the world today. Is there hope in the present that you feel every day? Will your son! Your daughter! Be able to live well the harder you work?”
Clang━!
Purple let go of the glass.
The cup, once wrapped in all sorts of brilliant colors, fell pathetically and shattered as it hit the floor.
“It’s impossible. Because there is no opportunity, no hope.”
“…….”
“The old system with a closed ceiling. Our world where everyone has a chance. Yes, there will be problems. But hero!”
Purple’s voice rose a notch.
Meeting Cain’s bright purple eyes, Purple had a strange thought.
Just as the ‘Delft Declaration’, which he had committed to when he was young, calling for independence to the whole world, became a milestone in history, perhaps he would set up a second milestone today.
“Do you want to protect the old system of despair?”
Will it be ‘The Great Debate of Mytilene’?
“Or do you want to join us in the world of hope we will create?”
Or will it be ‘The Humiliation of Mytilene’?
Now all eyes were on Cain.
“…….”
Cain couldn’t open his mouth.
What could he refute with a world that embraces even its shortcomings and can purify itself?
Purple decided to put the wedge in at this point.
Click.
He snapped his fingers lightly.
Shhhurururuk━.
The blackout curtains that were closed in the distance are drawn. In an instant, half of the lights in the grand auction house move and illuminate the place.
What’s there is.
The second prince of the Empire, Estilt Kreuz.
He was staring at the grand auction house with a stiff expression.
“It is the second prince of the Empire. He is the prospective leader who will lead our imperfect world.”
At that moment, the silent space began to explode with noise.
“The second prince?”
“Isn’t it treason to appear like this?”
“This is a neutral zone. It’s not bad since he’s been in a full-fledged power struggle with the first prince.”
“I think he would be better than the first prince, who is supported by the nobles…….”
“It would be better if someone who knows us well becomes His Majesty the Emperor.”
All sorts of opinions came out.
Contrary to what he had heard, Estilt was embarrassed by Purple using him as a shield, and the hero responding from across the room was burdensome.
“We are ready.”
Purple spoke again when the commotion died down a bit.
“From top to bottom. We have all become one, in sympathy with freedom and for the next era of mankind.”
From left to right.
Except for a few of Cain’s party, most of them began to be impressed by Purple, who had meticulously set the stage for today.
“Hero. Adversary of the Demon King, witness of history, and protector of mankind!”
Purple looked at Cain again.
A young face.
He hated the fact that he had spent his time at that age carrying luggage at a trading company that no longer existed, while Cain was revered just for pulling out the holy sword.
He had heard the stories that Cain had gone through, but it couldn’t be just the power of the soul.
Humans have limits.
At least in Purple’s world, you have to reach a certain age and train constantly to overcome your limits.
But Cain.
That young hero.
He broke through adversity and hardship that would have killed an ordinary person a hundred times over in just two seasons, spring and summer.
How is that possible?
Purple’s reason and rationality could not acknowledge the hero.
No, it shouldn’t be.
Because in the world of common people, such an irregular monster should not exist.
“Do you oppose us?”
Sweep.
Heads turned.
At first it was one, but soon, as if it were contagious, the heads of tens of thousands of spectators turned to Cain, who stood high above them.
[‘Winter’ awaits Cain’s answer.]
What is furthest from human reason and rationality?
Even the Holy See is run by the will of man, so it must be the flow of this world, so far away that humans cannot reach it.
[‘Summer’ awaits Cain’s answer.]
〈Sacred Treasures of the Four Seasons〉.
Their existence is proof, a symbol of saving the world.
And Cain, the owner of ‘Winter’ and companion of ‘Summer’, slowly opened his mouth.
“You are not wrong.”
He takes a step back, just like Purple did a while ago.
Purple’s eyebrows twitch as he notices Cain’s rhetoric. He clenched his fists at the words that a boy of that age could never utter.
Someone who cannot be measured by reason and rationality.
“The direction you are going is not wrong, but you are wrong.”
“…….”
“You tried to massacre hundreds of thousands in Märchen.”
“……!”
“You tried to assassinate the King of Airian and killed the Queen.”
Cain spoke calmly.
In a steady tone.
He spoke the plain truth.
Every disaster involving the Commons.
“You are using witches, only to use them as useful materials.”
“You offer money to the upper ranks, but tell the Commons like you to sacrifice themselves for your beliefs.”
“You━.”
Cain’s words continued endlessly.
Morning nods.
Aurelia quietly makes the sign of the cross.
The Empire, the Holy See, and Airian.
Cain began to speak calmly about the events that were sure to have involved them in each region.
“You are wicked, incompetent, and all talk.”
“……You’ve been thoroughly brainwashed.”
Purple desperately willed his stiffening lips to relax and raised his voice again in a truly regretful tone.
“And you are evil.”
“I know how much the Empire and the Holy See have been stirring up a young hero. Hero, you are making a big mistake right now━.”
“And you are weak. The Demon King has already appeared in the world. And not just one like before, but four.”
There are already four that Cain knows of.
The representative of pure white and summer.
“The Demon King of the West, Oleciren.”
The representative of jet black and winter.
“The Demon King who settled in the East beyond the Great Wall.”
The representative of crimson and autumn.
And the one that the hero Abel defeated.
“The Demon King who exists in the far south across the sea.”
And lastly.
The most fearsome one who devoured Abel and seeks to ruin this world with his flames, not a gentle end.
Sweep.
Cain raised his index finger and pointed it directly at Purple.
“And the silver Demon King that you all so desperately desire.”
Purple’s eyes widened.
He didn’t know that Cain, even if he was a hero, would know about ‘Him’.
Even Cain wouldn’t have known about the fourth Demon King if he hadn’t crossed the world line.
“This world is already unstable. I am the only hero, but there are four Demon Kings. An unprecedented crisis, which has never existed before, is targeting the world of mankind.”
“…….”
“But what can you do?”
At the hero’s solemn question, Purple looked around him.
The core members of the Commons, gathered here for the first time, all had different expressions on their faces, but the one thing they had in common was surprise.
They thought they had analyzed Cain well enough, but they had no idea he would be such a perfect hero.
“Can you save the world?”
“We can━.”
“You, who awaken ancient devils at will and skin innocent golden goblins and swallow them whole?”
The corners of Cain’s lips lift.
Public opinion had begun to slowly turn in Cain’s favor.
It was pointless to try to refute with detailed and logical arguments in a place like this.
Something clear that anyone would know.
Something emotional that could be intuitively empathized with.
Cain aimed for Purple, who was trying to fight with logic and reason, as if he had made this speech hundreds of times before.
‘And he actually had.’
Something that the Lord of the East of the Great Wall would have had to do even if he didn’t want to. The seasoned experience of the previous world line shines through.
“We are us.”
Purple reached out his hand.
It was meaningless for them, whose integrity had been damaged by Cain’s attack, to say anything.
He pointed to the second prince, whom he had brought with him to conspire about the future, and shouted.
“Our power and justice are recognized even by the second prince.”
Purple, who had so vehemently criticized the old system, had to rely on the authority of the old system when it mattered most.
That’s why he brought the second prince.
The second prince, Estilt, slowly picked up the loudspeaker placed in front of him.
And he glanced once at Purple’s burning purple eyes staring at him and Cain’s violet eyes looking down at him as if it didn’t matter what he did.
One place where he once believed his convictions lay.
The other, a boy who threatened him to choose sides.
Between the two, Estilt slowly opened his mouth.
“I, too, agree with the hero.”
“……!”
“The direction is right, but I’m not sure if the method is right. I recognize your power and justice, but I don’t know where to use it.”
Cain smiled.
Purple’s face crumpled horribly.
“And it is very inconvenient for me to be used like this, Master Purple. Are you trying to make me accused of treason and call me the next leader without even discussing it?”
“…….”
“The future of the Empire is to be decided by His Majesty the Emperor. I will only follow that.”
And the second prince put down the loudspeaker and turned away.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream is over.
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