MTLNOVEL Chapter 611 His Shadow - IV
Seraphina nodded vigorously, "I can't stay here all the time, patrolling twenty-four hours a day."
"But the civilians in the lower district have gained experience, Miss Fenrir."
Marlina took Seraphina's hand, bringing her five fingers together and slowly forming a fist.
"They will come to understand, though perhaps vaguely, that unity is beneficial—if they can't unite to commission the Executioners, then they must unite to combat those villains themselves."
...Just like in the Crimson Frost territory, where those ignorant civilians "united" to fight against Mr. Ansel.
Marlina gazed at her sister, a cold glint flashing deep within her eyes.
Seraphina, oblivious to this, simply found Marlina's words exceedingly reasonable, her eyes sparkling as she said, "Wow, that's really possible!"
Of course, waiting for the commoners to unite spontaneously... that's impossible.
The commission merely plants the kindling in their hearts, and to ignite it, a fuse is needed—a heated, burning fuse.
By presenting an innocent victim, tormented by the dark forces of the lower district, the more tragic the outcome, the better, and using this tragedy to incite the crowd to revolt. By emphasizing the idea of "united commissioning," both overtly and covertly, they could stir up the fervor within, igniting that pile of kindling.
The success rate might not be high, but it's worth a try.
These thoughts, Marlina would never share with Seraphina.
From the very first step—presenting an innocent victim—Seraphina would immediately reject the plan. She would only think of saving everyone she could, never standing by idly while someone suffers before her eyes.
Yet, she cannot possibly save everyone.
Marlina, gazing at her beaming sister, softly said, "I will handle the specifics. Don't worry, Miss Fenrir."
"Hehehe... I know! I always know! My Marli is the most reliable!"
Seraphina joyfully enveloped her sister in a bear hug, nuzzling happily, like a real puppy, her mind filled with beautiful daydreams of the lower district's future.
Marlina, gently stroking the girl's hair, viewed the scenario she painted as nothing more than an experiment with a reasonable chance of success, worth attempting.
She wanted to see if the people of the lower district could be saved.
By cutting off assistance from extraordinary beings, she aimed to piece together their human dignity from their shattered selves and broken values, rather than relying on the grace of the extraordinary.
Marlina vaguely felt... this was the path Ansel sought to forge.
The world's sickness wasn't solely due to the one-sided dominance of the extraordinary over the ordinary, but a mutual distortion. Experience more tales on empire
Before the ordinary could stop being mere playthings of the extraordinary, they first needed to … awaken to self-reliance.
Even if, objectively, they could never achieve equality with the extraordinary, even if their inferiority was an absolute certainty, they needed a deep-seated resolve for resistance and anger.
Much like the Empire's social structure... where the heavily emphasized social classes blurred the lines between the extraordinary and the ordinary. The commoners' resentment towards corrupt and incompetent lords was genuine, heartfelt. But in the Western lands, how many ordinary people waiting for blessings truly resented the extraordinary from the bottom of their hearts?
It was an exceedingly difficult and utterly directionless path, but Marlina had long resolved to walk it to the end with Ansel.
Here, in Dispute Fortress, in the lower district, was her testing ground. She would explore the correct path step by step, laying the most solid foundation for Ansel's journey.
And also...
After Seraphina left, Marlina sat down, opening a locked cabinet containing her personal notebook.
The girl precisely turned to a specific page and began reading once more.
Executioners, Knell, Faust...
These pieces of information were precious, highly confidential data she had asked Rhine to send.
Marlina was convinced that Ansel's stay in Dispute Fortress held deeper meaning. She conducted thorough investigations into all the factions here, finally focusing on the guild of the Executioners through the information provided by Rhine.
To change everything, both the ordinary people and the extraordinary beings must be transformed.
Marlina knew well that her current abilities only allowed her to make minor changes among the ordinary. How to change the extraordinary... that was naturally up to Ansel to accomplish.
Through her understanding of the Executioners and Knell, combined with the advantage Ansel gave her—the liberty to use the image of Faust—Marlina quickly deduced a possibility: Ansel did not want Faust to become a fixed image, or rather... he wanted to have full control over such a right.
Hence, even lacking some crucial information, Marlina further inferred Ansel's intention: to achieve perfect control over Faust's image by manipulating Knell.
So she set up a very simple scheme, threatening the vice president, Swordfish, to halt the acceptance of civilian commissions, thereby partially severing the civilians' dependence on the extraordinary.
She also anticipated that Swordfish would definitely inform Knell of this matter, and Knell would not miss such an opportunity to probe Faust. The fish would thus take the bait.
Although she didn't know exactly how Ansel would control Knell, Marlina had no doubts about Ansel's abilities. She was entirely certain that this posed no problem for him and was even something he had foreseen.
Next... Ansel would gradually exert Faust's influence in the realm of the extraordinary; meanwhile, she would control the civilians of the lower district, bit by bit practicing and exploring ways to correct this twisted world.
This would not only help her accumulate experience but also assist Seraphina in escaping this quagmire and continuing her journey, while laying the foundation for future reforms...
Mr. Ansel, truly remarkable!
Thinking this way, had Mr. Ansel always taken on those civilian commissions as a hint? A hint to me that the civilians shouldn't overly rely on the extraordinary?
Hugging her notebook, Marlina dreamt admiringly of the greatness of the one she followed.
However, the girl did not know that this time, at the crossroads, Ansel... had not considered walking in her direction.
Much like a shadow, distinct from the person's actual path, under the blazing light.
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