In response to Harvey’s question, Ashe sat in the sunlight outside the shade, looking at the necromancer with a peculiar expression.
“You’re not the type to talk behind soone’s back. If you have an opinion, you always say it directly. If that’s not enough, you’d even bring Alice along to say it with you,” Ashe remarked. “Igor hasn’t offended you recently, has he?”
“I have no issues with Igor,” Harvey replied. “I’m just curious about your thoughts.”
“Why?”
“Ashe, you’re a good person,” the necromancer said. “Whether or not you were a cult leader in the past, from the mont I t you, you haven’t seed like a bad person in my eyes. Valcas, Igor, Lise, Annan… you’re not a naive do-gooder, but you’ve never done anything evil. You’re so clean that you don’t seem like soone from the Blood Moon.”
“I think Igor wants to ask this question too, but he’s just afraid to. For the two of us, who are notorious death row inmates, how do you see us?”
“I just ca up here to sunbathe, not to answer such an important question…” Ashe rubbed his temples. “In your words, from the mont I t you guys-“
Harvey interrupted him, “In Gospel, we were restrained by Annan, and we couldn’t help it. After coming to Senlo… you haven’t forgotten why we were driven out of the Food Factory Town, have you? Silver lantern’s framing is just one of the reasons; our unruliness was the main reason.”
“But you also considered the impact.”
“That’s why we couldn’t catch the Silver Lantern,” Harvey said. “Didn’t the Con Artist know that the gas station could beco a weapon of mass destruction? With the ntal sorcerer’s abilities, why would he lead the Silver Lantern to a sparsely populated area instead of turning a crowd into his weapon?”
“Even if we couldn’t catch the Silver Lantern, we would definitely find a way to neutralize the Blood Seed,” Ashe said earnestly. “I promise.”
“The point isn’t that, it’s our true nature,” Harvey said, stroking Alice’s head. “Do you think I’m satisfied with only one Alice? Now, with no Annan to constrain us, and Senlo lacking even a unified governnt, I have limitless materials at my disposal… If it weren’t for being with you all, to fund my research, I might have joined a cult that didn’t interfere with my work, becoming their enforcer and bringing necromancy disasters to this land.”
“The Con Artist is the sa. This world, where order and chaos coexist, is a perfect heaven for him. Here, he can freely wield his wit, sches, and tactics, playing everyone like pieces on a board… Had he arrived here alone, he would probably already be a leader within the Four Pillars Cult.”
Ashe said, “But you didn’t do that.”
“Yeah, we didn’t. Why is that?”
Alice took Harvey’s cigarette butt and swallowed it.
“There’s a slight difference between the Con Artist and ,” Harvey said, chewing on a chocolate bar. “I’m like a fallen leaf in a river, drifting with the current, indifferent to whether the end is the sea or a swamp; but he is a fish swimming upstream, potentially turning into a bird that flies… He holds his fate in his own hands, never drifting with the tide.”
“But one thing we share is that we’ve never seen others as people. Talking corpses, usable artifacts… that’s all they are.”
“If soday we do sothing you cannot accept, how will you treat us?”
Ashe replied, “That kind of hypothetical is so boring, like a relative asking a child what they would do if their parents didn’t want them anymore.”
“Have you forgotten we are Blood Moon people…”
“Oh, but you get my point.”
“Take the Food Factory Town as an example,” Harvey said. “If Igor were willing to drag the whole town into battle just to catch the Silver Lantern, if I chose to transform into a plague-spreading Dragon Lich rather than a Nether Knight to intercept the Silver Lantern… what would you do?”
Ashe looked at him calmly, without speaking.
Harvey consud most of the chocolate bar, then Alice swallowed the final bite.
“When you hesitate, you’ve already made a choice in your heart,” he said. “We are no longer prison break companions, nor are we slaves bound by a pact, let alone comrades you can trust unconditionally.”
“No, I’m not hesitating; I’m just surprised that you nearly killed the Silver Lantern even while being so restrained,” Ashe said, clenching his fists. “Next ti we encounter the Silver Lantern, we will definitely take it down!”
“Hmm?” Harvey blinked.
“I understand what you an,” Ashe continued. “If it weren’t for worrying about , your actions would surely be much more ruthless than they are now. I’ve never doubted the malice in your hearts. How could soone nurtured in the environnt of the Blood Moon not harbor a misanthropic nature?”
“So, I’m honored to be your consideration,” the Cult Leader chuckled. “It feels like I’ve beco your guardian.”
“Trust should certainly be placed in soone worthy. Since you’ve handed
the chain, how could I refuse to beco your shackle? Even if, as you said, you end up doing sothing I cannot accept…”
“I would still be able to subdue you instantly,” Ashe’s eyes glead. “Don’t underestimate , necromancer.”
Harvey paused and couldn’t help but laugh. “I look forward to it.”
He reached over to Alice and rummaged for sothing. Just as Ashe wondered if he should turn away, Harvey pulled out a harmonica.
“Where did the harmonica co from?”
“A product of the Transcendence Temple,” Harvey replied. “Their best-sellers are luxury items with a high craftsmanship threshold. Unfortunately, this is a chromatic harmonica, and I used to play the tremolo harmonica.”
“Oh… wait, you used to play the harmonica?” Ashe frowned. “We’re all so familiar with each other that I won’t praise you even if you’re boasting.”
Harvey pressed the slide button with his thumb, and a lodious tune began to play. It sounded sowhat familiar, possibly a song he heard at Shattered Lake Prison.
In the shade, the dark-skinned, curly-haired young man played his harmonica, with sothing that looked like a beautiful girl nestled beside him. But knowing it was the necromancer and his corpse made Ashe feel even stranger-compared to an ordinary necromancer, one who could play the harmonica seed even more terrifyingly abnormal.
Surprisingly, Harvey played quite well. Ashe leisurely lay on the grass, savoring the rare mont of relaxation. As the music ended and Ashe sat up yawning, he noticed a crowd of Transcendence followers around them.
These children looked about ten years old or younger, all wearing the sa blue and white uniforms, though with far fewer external prostheses, featuring only on their ears and the back of their necks. They looked at Harvey curiously, their eyes urging him for an encore.
“Why are there so many kids here?” Ashe asked.
“This is the basic education level,” Harvey replied. “All children under twelve attend classes here; this area is actually their playground.”
So you’re smoking in an elentary school’s playground…
“So what now? Do we play another song or leave?”
“Let’s do one more, and then we’ll go.”
As Harvey began another tune, Ashe suddenly realized he recognized it. It was the the song from a show he watched with Freya, morable due to its catchy rhythm. He began clapping to the beat, which soon spread to the nearby children, turning the playground into an impromptu music class.
When the song ended, and as Harvey was preparing to stand up and leave, a little girl ran over and gave him a quick kiss.
Alice, who had been tense and ready for action, finally relaxed. Harvey looked at the girl curiously, while she blushed deeply before stamring out two words: “Beautiful… tune!”
She quickly ran back to her group of friends, exchanging expressive glances with them without uttering a single word. They were communicating through the intelligent computing hub, bypassing the inefficient verbal exchange.
It seed she had been frozen earlier because she hadn’t comprehended her actions-while the intelligent hub could diminish self-awareness, it heightened impulsive reactions. Put simply, Transcendence followers often acted physically before their mind caught up to their intentions.
Watching the children disperse, Ashe suddenly fell into deep thought.
“Let’s go, what are you thinking about?” Harvey asked as he returned Alice to the coffin.
“I was just contemplating whether, as I pity their future loss of self-awareness, they might also pity
for never having the chance to evolve into a more intelligent being.”
“They absolutely do,” Harvey agreed confidently. “Just like I pity you for not diving into the Necromancy Sect and instead sticking to mundane choices.”
“Yeah, you have your interests, they have their ideals to follow, and even I have my guiding light,” Ashe replied. “If reality truly is just an illusion…”
“I am still the protagonist, one whose role I won’t let anyone deny.”
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