Chapter 2061: Chapter 43: The Living Falling Star City
"But when it comes to outward expansion, you canât be too merciful. We can tolerate everyone, but everyone also has to obey our rulesâFrom Duke of Solinâs point of view, what Iâm doing is no different from him turning everyone into parts of the Deceased Monarch. I forcibly turn everyone into People of Silverpeak, make them abandon their ingrained, backward customs so they can live better, but in doing so they abandon their own distinctiveness."
"How could that possibly be the same!"
Adalbert could understand what Ian meant; he just grumbled, "He killed everyone and turned them into his tools!"
"Iâm just not killing them, thatâs all." Ian smiled calmly, looking at Adalbert. "And instead Iâm just turning everyone into my toys."
His tone was gentle, yet for some reason Adalbert suddenly felt a chill. "You know this, Adalbert. Duke of Solin needs his subjects, so theyâre tools."
"Whereas I actually donât need them, I just need votes."
"So theyâre toys."
"Youâd better keep that part secret for me." Ian patted Adalbert on the shoulder. With Duke of Solin staying behind to watch the house for him, he prepared to leave, using Domain of Void teleportation to head to Falling Star City. "Iâm only being honest with you. On the surface, I still have to play the good Lord who loves everyone, the good His Majesty."
"Iâm heading out first. After Iâm done in Falling Star City Iâll most likely make a trip to The Empire, then to Steep Ridge Fortress. Iâll leave the domain to you and Yisen."
With that, Ian turned into radiance and vanished.
"...Ian really doesnât understand people at all."
Adalbert stared blankly in the direction Ian had left. He let out a long sigh, looked down at his own palm, and muttered, "This guy doesnât understand Terra People at all... After all these years under Fifth Energy Level rule, who still cares about that kind of thing."
"If the Domain Residents of Silverpeak knew that you actually see everyone as toys instead of tools... the vast majority would probably cheer."
"After all, who wouldnât want to be a pampered little kitten..."
Thinking this, Adalbert shook his head as he opened his terminal, preparing to handle some related governmental affairs on Ianâs behalf.
And then he saw that, aside from the Children of the Forest, who had already been peacefully settled, there was another group of Natives making trouble in the region at the border between the Abassalom Mountains and Whale Song Cliff.
This group of Natives was squatting on a rich vein of ore and refused to relocate, refused even to negotiate. They had even taken the initiative to attack the prospecting Scholars sent to survey the area, causing one death and five injuries. The victimâs soul had been recovered, but who knew when theyâd be restored.
Seeing this news, even Adalbert couldnât keep the veins on his forehead from throbbing. "Ill-mannered rioters. Our Silverpeak Domain treated them with harmony, and they really think weâre some kind of kindhearted saints?!"
"They actually dare kill our Emissaries, and now they dare lay hands on the survey teamâwho knows what theyâll do in future... These arenât just ordinary rioters anymore, we need to hit them hard!"
"Green Tide! Green Tide! Assemble a squad! Arrest all those Natives and throw them into the mines for labor reform!"
In the final analysis, even though he was a moral role model, there was still an essential difference between Adalbert and Ian.
He wouldnât kill, he treated the common folk with kindness, and he had strong empathyâbut he had no lofty "world peace" ideals. At best it was "the innocent shouldnât be caught in the crossfire."
He treated people well, but only his own people. Although under Ianâs influence Adalbert had basically come to see the whole world as his future "own people," those who had yet to submit and were still actively attacking them definitely didnât count!
Setting out at once to deal with the matter, Adalbert once again firmed up his own thoughts in his heart.
"Sure enough, Ian is still too soft. Any random weed or stick by the roadside can be a toy? That wonât do."
"Some folks simply arenât worthy of being his toysâthey need to be sent back to the factory for proper polishing!"
Ian had no idea about Adalbertâs mutterings. If he did, heâd definitely have question marks popping up over his head.
What the hell, I already barely see people as people; I even ignore some of the peopleâs traditional feelings, scorn their cultural customs, and forcibly remake one group into another. Someone this cruel, brutal, and tyrannical is actually seen by Adalbert as "merciful"?
He just never stopped to wonder why everyone he met said he was basically a born Faeâbecause the moral sense and thought patterns of Humans in Terra World were nowhere near that upbeat and sunny.
Not that it mattered, because the greatest Fairy Lord in history, Great Seer Ian Silverpeak, was about to descend upon his loyal Falling Star City!
Teleportation through the Domain of Void wasnât difficult, especially for a Fae. Falling Star City itself was a colossal teleportation hub. So long as you were strong enough to cross a sufficiently long stretch of the Domain of Void, then in theory any Fae could teleport back to Falling Star City from anywhere on the Terra Continent.
However, because the Terra Void had once been barren and chaotic, full of twisted and distorted zones, the influence of Falling Star City couldnât spread that far. As a result, there were different "Fairy Homelands" scattered across the continent, serving as gathering points for the Fae.
But with Ianâs power, he was now like the Fairy Queen. As long as he wished, he could reach any point in the Terra Void.
Amidst a sky full of streaming light and color, Ian crossed half the continentâs distance, emerged from the Domain of Void, and arrived in the real Falling Star City.