Cthulhu Gonfalon

In this world, many things were wrong, but people still did the wrong things for some reason.

For example, a soldier on the battlefield didn’t need to consider whether his fight was just or evil. First, he had to live. Otherwise, everything else would be useless.

For example, in the face of a patient who was dying, a doctor didn’t need to consider whether the patient was a good person or a bad person. The doctor didn’t need to ponder whether it was right or wrong to save the patient. As long as the patient was saved, the doctor would be relieved.

Also, for example, a spy like Wood. What he had to do and what he could do were only one thing.

“Go back with me,” the official said after being silent for a while. “After going back, I’ll go to the internal court to accuse him of undermining federal order and damaging federal interests. By then, you will be a very important witness.”

Wood said, smiling, “I was waiting for your words!”

Wood walked over to him and patted his shoulder. Wood said, “Don’t be so nervous. I never thought about fighting with the federal companions. I’m bringing you here for nothing but your words.”

“However, what are you going to do specifically?” Wood asked. “It is not easy to accuse that guy. Do you have any reliable evidence?”

“You are the evidence!” the official answered. “Aren’t you reliable?”

“I used to be reliable, but now I’m not,” Wood said, shaking his head.

After thinking for a while, the official frowned.

In addition to Wood, he didn’t have any reliable evidence to prove that the director of the Intelligence Service had done something harmful to the federal interests due to his own selfishness.

“We could use magic to detect his lies,” he said. He didn’t give up. “Even if I have no evidence, magic detection can prove anything!”

“Don’t rely so heavily on magic,” Wood said, sighing. “Magic is not omnipotent. You also know that the result of magic detection can’t be used as evidence in court.”

“The internal court doesn’t have so many rules. Torture and magic detection are all available,” the official said.

Wood said, sneering, “According to the identities, tell me, if those methods are used, which person will those be used on?”

The official was stunned and then sighed deeply.

As Wood had said, according to their identities, even if torture and magic detection were used, those methods would be used on Wood and the official, not the director.

There were no rules like, “No punishment for officials, and no politeness for common people,” in this world. However, people in this world did that more thoroughly than people in the feudal era on earth. The idea of only kings having power, aristocrats having power and obligations, and civilians only having obligations was almost universal. Many people thought that this was a matter of course, the same as the rising sun and cold weather. Only the newly-built Republic of Northwest, under the leadership of Sui Xiong, denied that rule.

Although the Mifata Federation used the federal system, it was still a Federation of feudal territories. The feudal privilege system was still regarded as a standard here. Wood and the official hadn’t entered into the top class of the Federation. However, the director of the Intelligence Service was one of the top classes with the highest status. According to this, it was difficult to accuse the director and incriminate him.

“But, I have to do something before I give up!” the official said, clenching his teeth. “That guy dared to do such thing. I can’t spare him!”

“Of course you can’t spare him, but your approach is wrong,” Wood said, smiling. “I will go back with you, but you don’t need to go to the internal court to accuse him. You just need to find an opportunity to take me into the inner tower and meet the Great Mentor.”

The official was stunned, and then he suddenly understood Wood’s idea. The official couldn’t help but laugh.

“You are right! The status and identity of a mortal are meaningless to the Great Mentor. As long as you can see His Majesty, or as long as you can successfully reach the audience chamber to apply for seeing His Majesty, the status of that guy will be completely meaningless!”

“Moreover, as long as the gods want it, mortals can’t conceal secrets in front of them. In this way, evidence is not a problem anymore,” Wood said.

The official nodded repeatedly. Now he felt that there was some hope. They would surely win.

According to Wood’s identity, it was extremely difficult to accuse the director and incriminate him. However, it was not that difficult to reach the audience chamber to apply for seeing the Great Mentor.

This was equivalent to changing the goal from becoming the richest person in the world to just making a hundred million dollars. Although the difficulty of both was quite high, the latter one was at least possible to realize. The former one was basically unbelievable.

On the earth, fewer than 100 people were qualified to challenge the title of “the richest person in the world,” or to fight for this title. However, if the goal turned into having a hundred million dollars, then more than 1,000,000 people could fight for it.

At this time, Sui Xiong was invisible in the air. Seeing this scene, he couldn’t help but nod.

Although Wood was a bit unlucky, his head was still very clear. He knew what he should do to achieve success. In other words, he knew what he had to do the increase the possibility of success.

In Sui Xiong’s point of view, his plan was still very promising.

In fact, Sui Xiong could help him. For example, he could go to talk with Le-Peyroux, the God of Spellcaster. He believed that as long as he showed up, such a small request was not a problem at all.

But he couldn’t do that.

If he did that, he would disrespect Wood’s loyalty to the Mifata Federation.

This was different from the last time. Last time, he had used his Divine Power to create panacea to save Wood, but it had been at the request of Great Governor Felix. The one he had saved was the Great Artist of the Republic of Northwest. That was reasonable in any case, so even Wood couldn’t say anything. However, if he showed up this time, he would be helping the spy of the Mifata Federation. In this way, even if Wood could defeat that intelligence director, his betrayal to the Federation would become a reality.

What betrayal was more serious than colluding with the Void Mask? None. The Void Mask was the top one of the Republic of Northwest. If Wood colluded with him, he would be considered as seeking refuge with the Republic of Northwest.

Therefore, he couldn’t show up. He could only look on at Wood.

Wood had acted as if he had been tired of living before, so Sui Xiong had been a little worried about him. He had been afraid that Wood would run back to his hometown to court death. Wood might be thinking, “If I die, I must die in my hometown.” Now it seemed that he didn’t really give up on himself. He was still trying to survive and win, so Sui Xiong was relieved at this.

Since things had been discussed successfully, Wood left with the official. They didn’t return to the Intelligence Service. Instead, they went directly to the inner tower, the core of the Highest Tower. They planned to go directly to the audience chamber.

As the saying went, speed was important in a war. No matter how powerful the intelligence director was, he couldn’t use his powers in such a short period of time. They only needed to seize the opportunity of the time delay to meet His Majesty before the director reacted. Then, they would win.

They walked hurriedly in the street of the Highest Tower. However, before they covered less than 1/3 of the road, they were blocked by a person.

“Wood, I haven’t seen you for a long time,” a middle-aged man said, blocking their way. He was wearing a thick and formal robe embroidered with complicated patterns, and he was holding a golden wand. His robe was bright and colorful, and the wand in his hand was dazzling. There were at least seven or eight circles of magic halos on his body. It was clear that he had used all kinds of buffs before he blocked them.

Seeing him, Wood and the official became nervous.

This man had been a spy. However, during a mission, he had encountered a lich that had been in seclusion for many years. The lich had been a wizard. In order to avoid death, he had turned himself into an undead monster. However, the lifespan of a monster was still limited. No matter how he had delayed his death, he had finally reached the day where his life had been exhausted. In desperation, the lich had tried to use his own soul to devour the soul of others. In that way, he had changed bodies and continued his life.

After a long period of time, his soul had gotten weaker. He had lost to a determined spy in a mental battle.

Therefore, a lich who had been afraid of death had disappeared in the world, and a spy who was good at spells had appeared.

Soon after, the spy had changed his job. He was no longer a spy. He became a mage.

“Seems that you have a good life,” Wood said in jest, looking at that guy carefully. “You are wearing the Robe of Law.”

Although he was saying that, his heart was shaking.

The Robe of Law was a very special instrument. In other places, it was just an ordinary powerful robe. It could provide the owner with the defense that was no weaker than that of heavy armor. Moreover, it could greatly reduce the possibility of failing spells. It could also reduce the back-flow damage of the failing spells. However, inside the Highest Tower, its power was comparable to that of an artifact!

This robe had a special effect. As long as it was inside the Highest Tower, it could connect to the Great Magic Pool of the Highest Tower, and it could extract magic power from it. It could even turn the magic power directly into spells, skipping the process of casting.

In other words, as long as you were inside the city of the Highest Tower, the mage who was wearing this robe could use any spell at will without casting. The spells could be directly displayed.

This power was almost comparable to the power of an artifact. Only a talented Master like Le-Peyroux could create such a wonderful instrument and such a powerful combination.

Being blocked by that guy, Wood, and the official had to give up their plan.

“What do you want?” the official asked with a low voice.

“Do you need to ask me?” the former colleague said with a smile. “I just received an urgent message, saying that the former ace spy, Wood, who betrayed the Federation and killed his colleague, appeared in the city. He is going straight to the inner tower, and he may destroy the city. As a result, I didn’t say anything and rushed here. Tell me, what is it that I want?”

He looked at Wood again. His face was smiling, but his eyes were cold. He asked, “Wood, did you really kill your colleague?”

“Why don’t you ask about the betrayal first?” Wood asked without answering his question.

“Killing your colleague means betraying the Federation,” that guy said, looking at Wood coldly.

Wood was silent. After a long time, he sighed deeply.

“Can I defend myself?” he asked.

“I am not a judge,” the former spy, the current mage, said. “I don’t want to hear your defense. Now I will give you two choices. The first one is to fight with me. You killed a colleague anyway, so you won’t care about killing one more. Besides, I was your former colleague who quit this job. As long as you kill me, no one can stop you, and you can do anything you want by then.”

Wood smiled bitterly. He said, shaking his head, “I want to hear the second choice.”

Of course, he wouldn’t choose to fight. In the face of a great mage who could freely cast any spells and even omit the process of casting—only a madman would choose to fight!

He was only a high-level spy. Even if he was a Legendary Master, in the face of such an enemy, he would be more likely to lose. If he lost, a Legendary Master could escape. However, he wouldn’t have a chance to escape.

“The second choice is to surrender now,” that guy said. “According to your identity and your contributions, you can at least keep your dignity.”

“It seems that the two choices have the same result,” Wood said with a bitter smile. “The difference was between being caught honestly or being beaten and then being caught.”

“Right, choose one,” the former spy said.

After being silent for a while, Wood said, “Can I ask you a few more questions?”

“Yes. Anyway, time is on my side,” the former spy wearing the Robe of Law said confidently.

“How did you know that I was in the city?” Wood asked. “No one should have known about this.”

“No one?” that guy responded, stunned. Then he laughed, “What gave you such a ridiculous idea? If you didn’t want others to know about it, then you shouldn’t have done it. Did you really think that your actions could be hidden from the Federation?”

“We are all spies. Don’t tell me that,” Wood said disdainfully.

The former spy said, smiling, “Well, then I will tell you the truth. The intelligence director contacted me. For that, he used the emergency contact channel. Fortunately, this information was indeed worthwhile. Otherwise, he would definitely be in big trouble.”

Wood frowned. He was not surprised by the result, but he didn’t understand how the intelligence director knew that he was in the city.

It had been a short time since he entered the city. Even if a spy was supervising him, that spy shouldn’t have enough time to report to the director.

He thought hard, but he couldn’t understand why.

Just then, a voice came.

“You still don’t understand? In fact, you have been under my supervision.”

Wood turned back and saw the intelligence director coming quickly.

“What do you mean?” Wood asked in a low voice.

The intelligence director smiled. He said, pointing to the bodyguards of the officials, “These people are carrying a special instrument. They can report the news to me at any time. Not long ago, when you were laughing and discussing, I already got the news.”

Wood understood why. He sighed deeply.

“I see! It seems that I have no choice,” Wood said.

“You have a choice. This is your choice,” the director said, shaking his head. “I admit I was jealous of you, but then your performance got worse and worse. I’m no longer jealous of you. I want to kill you for the interests of the Federation.”

Wood said, nodding, “Perhaps…”

Before he finished his words, his figure disappeared. Wood turned into a bright light and then rushed towards the intelligence director.