"It’s really a reverse image."
When they finally went out of the castle, Wang Lu sighed with emotion.
"From a degenerate city master who colluded with Holy Light Religion to a ‘suffering in silence while propping up the sky alone for the Dragon blood’ hero who was already well past his time, Bedivere is indeed a real man!"
During the last part of their conversation, Bedivere’s hint was already obvious enough.
Suppressing the strength of the Dragon blood was a necessity, because whenever a Dragon blood reached a sufficiently high strength, they would be harvested. The Dragon City Guard selection ceremony in Golden Flash Town has been held for more than forty years, but now, the oldest Dragon blood in Dragon City Guard only came from the selection ceremony twenty-one years ago.
Where were all of the Dragon blood prior to that? Although according to hearsays some have retired, the other joined secret service and many other rumors… but who actually has ever seen them?
The so-called Holy Light Religion purification was probably aimed at the mature Dragon blood. Once they were promoted to High Order profession, it was time for Holy Light Religion to come and pick them.
"Speaking of it," Aya closed her eyes and recalled, "In these days, I’ve indeed heard people say that it has already been a long time since a Dragon Clan blood advanced to become High Order professions."
"The so-called purification is indeed farming and harvesting." Wang Lu continued to ‘tsk-tsk’. "Oh, Holy Light Religion, that is one hell of a ruthless job."
Aya strongly suppressed her anger. "I swear I will make them pay the price!" While speaking, a breathtaking imposing manner almost spilled out from Aya.
Wang Lu reached out and patted her shoulder. "Don’t be impulsive. Right now, you’re not the invincible Knight King. Do you want to begin your stand here as one against many, to directly kill the whole Holy Light Religion army? What if they found out about your identity? Not everyone is like Bedivere who has eyes but fail to see, and thus not recognize you!
"Yes. I understand." Aya soon regained her composure. "Now, there’s something that I find really strange. Bedivere has never been so helpless. When encountering a ‘thing’ like Holy Light Religion, the Bedivere that I know would rather die than live in such dishonor."
Wang Lu said, "Obviously, something or someone that is precious and vital to him has been taken and held hostage, for example… Does he have a wife, kids, or something?"
Aya was startled. "I’ve actually never heard of it. In the past, he was a loner."
Wang Lu thought about it. "According to your understanding of him, is he the kind of man who is not willing to look for a woman in his entire life?"
"Of course not. It’s just that, in the past, he has always been following me to go to war on all quarters, and thus never had the opportunity to meet someone and fall in love."
"That’s it." Wang Lu said, "It’s been more than one hundred years since that, so the hornbeam has blossomed for several times. Thus, it’s not strange for him to encounter a close female friend. And through this close female friend, Holy Light Religion managed to control him, forcing him to submit."
"But we’ve never heard of such a close female friend in Dragon City."
Wang Lu sneered. "Obviously because it must not be exposed! For example, if that close female friend in question hasn’t even reached fourteen years old, does he dare to let you hear it?"
"Nonsense! Bedivere is not that kind of person!"
"That’s childish! What do you know? It’s the kind of old man who has experienced countless of hardships but never talked about love like Bedivere that is most susceptible to be alighted by a pure and innocent little girl; light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul."
"W-What kind of absurd fallacy is this! You want to show off your literature knowledge h
ere!"
"In short, I think this is a right direction for a breakthrough. As long as we can solve Bedivere’s problem, we will basically have half of the Dragon City, this is an incomparable power. In the next few days, I will seriously investigate this, while you can just be at ease and wait for the result!"
There was no impervious wall in this world. As long as one conscientiously looked up, one could always find the clues. During the next three days, Wang Lu began to roam widely in Dragon City. Occasionally, he even slipped out of the barrack and inquired news in the business district, noble district, and other parts of the city.
If it were in times of Aya, which implemented the most stringent management, not only Wang Lu would not get any news, he would even be strictly controlled and punished. However, currently, Dragon City was like what Aya once said, like a loose sand. The management was really lax.
Since their last meeting with Bedivere, Wang Lu and Aya realized that this lax management seemed to be the intention of Bedivere. He freely spread the methods for Dragon blood while not strictly administering them, deliberately letting them spread outside in the hope that some hidden Dragon blood in Brettonia would get them, painstakingly practice them, and leave a kindling of hope for the Bretton Dragon Clan.
And now, this good intention has given Wang Lu ample space for activity. After that three days, he obtained the information that he wanted.
"Got it."
Upon arriving at his residence, he looked at Aya with a strange smile plastered on his face.
In the courtyard, Aya was practicing sword fight with Liu Li. Upon seeing Wang Lu’s unexpectedly somewhat creepy smile, she naturally couldn’t continue the practice anymore and hastily withdrew.
"What did you find out?" While speaking, an ominous foreboding filled up her heart.
Wang Lu said with a smile, "Do you remember my first guess?"
Aya was somewhat incredulous. "You don’t really mean a young girl don’t you?"
"Worst than a young girl." Wang Lu said as he fished out a stack of portraits from his pocket and sent them to Aya.
On the portrait, a tranquil looking woman was kneeling in front of a statue, sincerely praying. A snow white Holy Light Religion priest robe was draped over her body.
After a glance, Aya said, "He actually married a Holy Light Religion priestess?"
"Humph, it’s the illustrious Holy Woman Marina of Dragon City! And there’s more!" Wang Lu said, and then thumbed through several of the portraits and picked one of them. It was a picture of a childlike little girl. Her face was fifty to sixty percent similar with Marina, but she also… wore the same white robe of Holy Light Religion.
"See, it’s the whole family!" Wang Lu’s words were filled with mockery. "The wife is a holy woman, the daughter is a holy woman to be, and he himself is a faithful dog of Holy Light Religion. No wonder his hands and feet are tied."
Aya looked at the portrait in disbelief. "Are you sure?"
"Of course. These things are not difficult to check. Many old people who have been living in Dragon City for years know about these. In the past, Bedivere once encountered a powerful enemy and was seriously injured. Later, he was rescued by a young woman. During his recovery, a spark of love happened between them. Afterwards, it crystallized in the form of the little girl on the portrait, Irene. However, not long after, he was surprised to find out that the woman was the Holy Light Religion Holy Woman... Later, because of the issues regarding the two people’s belief and standpoint, they had many contradictions. It turned out that these contradictions could not be reconciled, so they simply separated. Marina took their daughter Irene to live in the church. By not publicizing their relationship, it was tantamount to a divorce. However, to say that Bedivere has really given up on his feeling… his action speaks for himself."
Towards this, Aya could only reluctantly shake her head.
What else could she say after encountering such a thing? Criticizing Bedivere for being trapped by his child’s affair, sacrificing the public for personal interest? But at the time this happened, Knight King has already turned into the soul of the brave departed and went Far East. The Kingdom of Brettonia has fallen apart, so Bedivere already has no allegiance to anyone. Accusing him for being disloyal? He has given many favors to a lot of people! Accusing him of abandoning his Dragon Clan compatriot? Combined with the present situation, the reason why Holy Light Religion didn’t try to do the purification openly, and instead left a bit of leeway, has a lot of contribution from Bedivere!
Therefore, what else could Aya say? For such a case, even the wise Knight King was in a bind.
"What are your planning to do?" Aya sought Wang Lu’s opinion.
Wang Lu replied, "Very simple, kill them. To cut off Bedivere’s trammel, pushing him from the edge."
Aya’s face was ice cold. "I do not like this joke."
Wang Lu sighed. "I also don’t like it, so let’s look at another method: find a beautiful girl to seduce Bedivere and let him fall in love to so that he can forget the impossible-to-develop-relation to mother and child."
Aya shook her head. "It’s still undoable! If Bedivere is so easy to fall out of love, we wouldn’t have to be troubled by this development! It’s obvious that he couldn’t give up his feelings for Marina."
Wang Lu laughed. "Then force him to be unfaithful. Find a chance to get him drunk, let an attractive girl sleep with him while he’s still drunk, so that another of his descendant could be born. When the time comes, his sense of responsibility will force him to do something."
Aya angrily said, "Don’t you have any open and aboveboard idea?If we do this, what’s the difference between us and that of Holy Light Religion?"
Wang Lu said, "Then let’s change our approach, which is also the approach that I am most happy to execute. It has the best of both worlds, and it doesn’t have anything despicable in it."
Aya didn’t respond with confidence. "What is it?"
Wang Lu righteously said, "Bring Marina and Irene to our side."
Aya was stunned for a moment, and then she firmly shook her head. "Although it does sound very good, it simply couldn’t be executed. Marina is the Holy Woman of Holy Light Religion, and Irene is the Holy Woman to be, so both must be very pious in their faith to Holy Light Religion, how could it easily be shaken? Moreover, if they could be convinced, Bedivere would’ve done that many years ago."
Wang Lu sneered. "You actually compare me with that Bedivere who can’t even distinguish between a man and a woman! As the founder of the number one grass root sect in Nine Regions, Wisdom Sect, my ideological propaganda is second to none!"
When he presented it like that, Aya was indeed shaken a bit. Wang Lu was not lying—his capability to incite people was indeed unequaled in the world. Forget other people, wasn’t she herself the perfect example for that?
A few months ago, she was still on Spirit Sword Mountain, relying on the array set up by the Elder of Heavenly Sword Hall to barely maintain her soul of the brave departed body. However, through dialogue alone, Wang Lu was able to give her confidence and thus gathered back the force of the oath, stabilizing her soul of the brave departed body. His ability to turn over the cloud was indeed truly admirable.
"How are you going to convince them? Although I believe you may have some expertise in the doctrinal debate, they are the core parish of Holy Light Religion. By openly preaching heresy, you’re just waiting to face the court punishment."
Wang Lu said, "Who’s interested in debating doctrine with them? There’s no point in arguing with the fanatics. What they need is not debate, but electric shock treatment. Therefore, to do this, we have to use the most drastic method."
"Specifically?"
Wang Lu patted his chest. "Display my personal charm, to let them fall in love with me."
"Humph, humph, how dare they corrupt my Brettonia Knight’s cadre, I will let them taste my, old Wang’s stick!"
The opening line of the controversial novel by Vladimir Nabokov, titled ‘Lolita’