Crimson Servant

"Merlin, you seem to have completely accepted that this world is a lie." John found that the brass dragon was not as emotional as when he first discovered the truth, and even became hostile to John. Today, Merlin can easily pronounce the term "Lie Country" and no longer emphasizes the authenticity and uniqueness of his world.

The brass dragon looked at the curious magician under his head, and had strange thoughts in his heart. Is this young man who serves the Crimson God so sure that I won't be angry? As long as I open my dragon kiss, I can give him a blast of hot dragon breath from the top of his head.

Of course, Merlin wouldn't do that.

His tail waggled slightly, and its spines slid along the edge of the bookshelf.

"At first, I really couldn't accept it. After you left, I was depressed for a while. I fell into a long and painful philosophical meditation, thinking about myself and the meaning of the world. Until my body began to protest, and my muscle memory drove me towards the depths of the library. place to clean up the dust from those antique books on display.”

"Maintaining these carriers of knowledge is my favorite job. It empties my mind and allows me to stop thinking about the things that make me depressed. In the process, I wake up, even if these things are just my misunderstandings. I know, even though that knowledge may be false, maintenance work still makes me feel happy.”

“What’s important is not truth or falsehood, what’s important is feeling.”

"John."

"I have spent a long time on these nihilistic things, and my tears and joy have all stayed here. In my eyes, they are no longer illusory, they have been given real meaning by my love."

"Even if my existence may be an illusion, even if my life, my body, and my memories are all made up of fiction, the emotions that link us and maintain our existence, and the resonance with a virtual soul, are still real."

"Even in a false world, psychic energy can still function normally."

"Because the mind is cognition, there is no truth or falsehood in cognition, only error."

"My true friend, our hearts are connected, and truth and falsehood lose their meaning."

"If one day I am destined to perish, you will remember, the dragon in the library, that I was a friend."

…

"Merlin, do you know the power of the Knights of the Round Table, [Holy Word]?"

The brass dragon rubbed its jaw on its claws, and the blade on its jaw rubbed against Merlin's scales, creating a spark of metal collision.

"I'm sure I've never heard of this term. Can you explain it in detail? John."

John shared the information told by Bella the Pixie to Merlin.

"Morgan...has she become the queen?" Merlin said meaningfully, raising his head and looking at the skylight filled with sunlight.

"You know Morgan." John said the obvious answer, Merlin's vast knowledge proving that his experience was extraordinary.

"Morgan, you were once my student. Remember, I worked as a court wizard for a while. I was loyal to Cameron. I taught Morgan, who was the princess at the time, some occult knowledge and the history of the decline of magic. , she used to be a very cute child." Merlin said fondly.

"So, John, the effect of the [Holy Word] you mentioned is somewhat similar to the [Blasphemy Prayer]."

Blasphemous prayer?

Merlin didn't pause as he recounted the past history.

"Cameron's royal city is built on an ancient buried ruins. The long history of that building can even be traced back to before I was born. During the reign of King Uther, Morgan's father, the royal city excavated the secret entrance to the ruins. , entrusting me, who was the palace wizard at the time, to investigate."

"When you enter the dark entrance room, you can clearly feel that the divergent consciousness is suppressed, as if your thoughts are locked in the physical body. It is a deep and depressing feeling. It is good for meditation, I Name that place the Room of Silence.”

"After detecting that there was no danger, I took Morgan deep into the ruins, passed through the Silent Room, and after a long and boring passage, we arrived at a place that looked like an altar."

"We found some stone slabs around the altar, and there were only a few concise but eerie texts on them. Based on the arrangement of the stone slabs, which corresponded to the known stars, I found the counterpart to the description on the stone slabs."

"Lost Gods, those stone tablets describe the gods who have disappeared from this world. Those terrible wills engraved with words carry a strange but powerful energy. Dangerous but tempting, like a poisonous pastries."

Merlin looked at John with lingering fear and asked a question.

"John, can you name the Crimson God?"

John nodded.

"The ominous red mist, the crimson god, the corruptor, Veltis."

Merlin nodded and gradually began his personal analysis.

"The honorable name of a god is usually in three paragraphs. The first word is the incarnation of the god, which is the image of the god displayed in front of mortals; the second word is the name of the god, which is the title of the god by mortals and the direction in which faith gathers. ;The third word is God’s authority, the responsibility and power of God.”

"And the words on the stone tablet are the fourth word that shouldn't exist."

"The essence of God. It separates the humanity of God from the incarnation and separates the believers from the concept of showing power by essence. A dangerous concept. Gods cannot be separated from believers. Gods disappear without believers, so the fourth word should not exist. It would be the greatest blasphemy to reveal its true nature before God."

"There is no doubt that the gods will inflict the most severe divine punishment on believers who pronounce the fourth word."

"So, I call the fourth word [blasphemous prayer]."

John's mouth opened wide, he understood what Merlin meant.

"However, there are no gods in this world. Therefore, mortals can speak blasphemous words without being punished by the gods."

"Not only that, but they gain their power from blaspheming the gods."

"This is why the Lord Knights are powerful. They gain their power by blaspheming the gods."

"But where does their power come from? The gods will not pay attention to these blasphemers at all."

"No, there's another one."

John only felt that his hands and feet were cold. This world was not without God. There was another one, the last one, and the only one. Allowing the spellcasting of the Crimson Power to corrupt the Book of Lies, the existence like the Crimson God Veltis is the only god who maintains the Kingdom of Lies.

Merlin exhaled a breath of hot breath, but John's cold heart was not relieved much.

"That altar was a blasphemous ritual from which Morgan's knights derived their power."

"Let's regard that power as the resentment of the creator of this place towards the gods."

"Not the [Holy Word], but the [blasphemous prayer]."