Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
For the civilians, or for the lords?
Sui Xiong realized that he had spared much thought on this.
Originally, this should have been a matter of concern, of course. Whether it was his moral principles as an earthling, or the need to propel the development of this world, he needed to do things from the standpoint of the civilians.
But in recent years, especially after the Mystery God System was destroyed and many churches from the Void God System started to spread their teachings comprehensively within the Mifata Federation, Sui Xiong grew more and more concerned about missionary work. This gradually shifted the focus of his work.
Even… the focus of his thoughts also changed.
Why did he want to help the lords continue living? Just to expand his sphere of influence, to promote his church?
In that case, why would he have imposed limitations on the Life-prolonging medicine that Slime Alchemist, Wendy, had created previously? He could have directly launched that kind of potion that could endlessly prolong people’s lives, would that not be a better way? So long as he had a firm grasp over that potion, would those decrepit aristocrats dare to do anything to him?
He was no longer the same as before. He had enough clout. At least within the Main Plane, he feared no challenge at all.
Did this mean he had to change his tune and direction?
Of course not!
How those old lords, who had outlived their usefulness, continued living was no business of his at all!
It was good that they could support their own churches, but it also did not matter if they could not. Waiting for maybe another eight to ten years, or at best, 30 to 50 years to pass—would they not die by then?
When they had died, the next generation of lords might not necessarily support the Church of the Void Mask. Even if the next generation was not supportive, he could always wait for the next generation in line.
Who knew, maybe after waiting up to the nth generation, the family clan of this lord would have reached its end. On the continent, generally, the lordship within a family clan would be handed down for five or six generations. Then a hundred to two hundred years later, they would almost have reached their end.
There were many reasons why they had to meet their end. The most common one was war, followed by political struggles and the likes of them. On more than one occasion, there would be a situation where several heirs of a particular lord contended with one another overtly and covertly, and the conflicts had intensified so much that they were killing one another. Then the immediate heirs would die, thus leading to the posterity of that family being cut off. The king would thus be outraged, and so he would get the rest of the aristocrats who were related to his family to inherit the territories of the dead.
Generally speaking, a king should never dictate the inheritance rights of a lord. This was the rule, and it was also an implicit rule that the various lords recognized. But in such situations where the successors were creating such an absurd commotion, even to the extent of directly severing ties, as the alliance master of the lords, the king had the right to come out and mediate. He also had the right to mete out punishment to families who went overboard and who broke the rules.
So generally speaking, even if the aristocrats were to struggle over inheritance rights, they would still observe the rules and allow the defeated party to walk away with some dignity. They also would not go to the extent of hurting people. But the longer the family’s inheritance was, the more the conflicts accumulated, and eventually, it would become impossible to stop them. Therefore, an extensive family clan with a long historical standing would almost have reached a dead end by then.
Of course, these things had nothing to do with Sui Xiong. Anyway, whether these noble lords were prosperous or down on their luck, whether they had many children and grandchildren or were left with a family that was broken and decimated; either way it was really none of his concern. As a god with eternal life, it was completely unnecessary for him to pay attention to these lords.
Above all, he also did not want to pay attention to these people.
From his point of view, these lords were, frankly speaking, almost as good as parasites that clung onto their people, sucking their blood dry. There was no essential contribution to the society that they had made to deem them indispensable. Look at the earth—the places without lords were generally developing better than the places with lords. The former had oil beneath their feet, but there were no signs of them developing into democratic and strong societies. On the contrary, all kinds of phenomenal works and monstrous things had appeared in large numbers.
Entering the 21st century, yet still upholding the values and moral principles of the 7th and 8th centuries, eliminating and destroying all the terrorist organizations who did not accept this old, aging theory—the origin of this group of people was none other than the carefree noble lords who lay over the ocean of oil.
Of course, among the lords in this world, there were also some who were enlightened and made progress. They put in the effort to strive for the benefit of the people, but they were unable to establish their practices for good. They could not ensure that their mindsets and practices would still be observed after their deaths and be handed down from generation to generation. On the contrary, after the deaths of people, the cessation of governments was the norm.
In the eyes of the descendants of those wise lords, they saw how the other lords indulged themselves with fine wine and sensual pleasures, how the other lords were relaxed and carefree, and how the other lords did whatever they pleased in a most wanton manner… Each descendant would wonder why he should be subjected to all kinds of restrictions. Why should he restrain himself so much that he can’t have any fun? Why must he put in so much effort and work so hard?
So it was still a situation with bad money forcing the good money out of circulation.
Sui Xiong felt that this was something inexplicable. Anyway, he was never able to find a solution, either from the textbook or the Internet. When he was in college, even the professors who were well-read and had extensive knowledge about things from past to present were unable to come up with any solution—oh, there was a way. Their solution was a revolution.
By the way, during Sui Xiong’s days in college, there were two professors who had the deepest influence on him. One was a thoroughly true-blue humanist while the other was a resolute Bolshevik…
Sui Xiong did not want to be a part of any revolution in this world. He felt that he was simply not cut out to be a member of a revolution. But he was also unable to force himself to accept and fancy those people who trampled upon others, who indulged in fine wine and sensual pleasures, and who acted like tyrants.
So he had no choice but to turn to republicanism, albeit how untimely it was. It would almost be like single-handedly created a republic. This might perhaps be the first republic to appear in this world, and Sui Xiong would be propelling it towards continued progress.
So now, was he going to change?
Of course not!
His thoughts came to a halt, and Sui Xiong could not help laughing.
“I’ve been taught a lesson…” he said to himself with some degree of self-depreciation. “I’ve always thought of myself as a man of vision, yet I’m, after all, nothing more than a mere earthling.”
After laughing, he bowed to the infinitely dark and gloomy underworld, said his thanks and turned to leave.
The next day, all the temples and altars of the Church of the Void Mask received divinations.
The divination reminded them not to neglect the core of the Void Mask’s teaching just because the preaching work was currently in a favorable situation. They must bear in mind that only by allowing the people to achieve happiness, could they truly achieve development and progress. This was the foundation on which the Church of the Void Mask was established. If the balance of weight was reversed for the sake of preaching work, then no matter how widely they managed to spread their belief, it would still be a failure.
This divination shocked many of the bishops, many of whom decided to shut themselves up and reflect upon their mistakes in solitude. Because of the change in situation, many bishops were gradually shifting the focus of their work in the direction of the noble lords. They felt that so long as they could convince the lords to place their belief in His Majesty, they would be able to promote their church rapidly. But it had never occurred to them that beliefs originated from recognition. For a high-and-mighty lord to truly acknowledge this concept of development and progress—that was simply easier said than done!
Even if this lord agreed now, would he change his mind in the future?
Even if he did not change, what about his children and his grandchildren?
By contrast, it would still be more plausible to get the people to acknowledge and agree to this concept. After all, people would always have needs in this area.
At some point in time, the entire Church of the Void Mask began to make a massive adjustment…
