Chapter 753

Chapter 17 The City of Folly, Part 2

At noon, the rain stopped.

I walked alone from the northern part of the city through countless muddy streets, swaying towards the direction of the west. The alleys of Aletheon City were intricately connected, and sometimes I would accidentally get lost. I wanted to stop passersby to ask for directions, but most of them would ignore me or even drive me away. Later, I bought a map of the city from a dirty little boy with scabs on his face, which finally made me understand the location of Jasmine Street.

That map cost me ten copper coins. It wasn’t expensive, but neither was it cheap. In the Port City, ten copper coins could buy two palm-sized pieces of rye bread, which was considered a high price after the famine year when food was scarce. However, if one was frugal, ten copper coins would still be enough to buy the basic daily food for an ordinary person. But here, this amount was only enough to buy a small crumb of bread.

Of course, that was only if someone was willing to sell you a crumb of bread.

At such prices, if the commoners in this city rebelled tomorrow, I wouldn’t be surprised at all.

But for me, these things wouldn’t have much impact. At most, I would just have to spend more time hunting beasts on my way to the Castle of Silence. That was all.

I walked while looking at the map, not in a hurry. After all, I wasn’t very hungry at the moment—I hadn’t really felt hungry for a long time.

Since my “rebirth” in the East Continent, that sense of hunger controlled by the power of the Abyss had never appeared again. Even if I didn’t eat for several days, I wouldn’t feel anything wrong…

As for whether I could endure longer, I hadn’t tried and had no interest in trying. Why make things so difficult for myself?

When I saw delicious food, I would eat as much as I could, without worrying. No matter how much I ate, I never felt full—yet the joy and satisfaction that came from deep within, whenever I enjoyed a hearty meal, remained something I couldn’t resist.

I think the reason might be that the energy contained in my body had become incomparable since that “rebirth” in the East Continent.

In the beginning, I could use the method of “eating” to take advantage of the characteristics of chaotic power, absorbing some special nutrients contained in life through the dead smoke—the white smoke—to replenish the energy consumed and gradually increase the power of the abyss within my body. But now, those nutrients were negligible.

Even if I ate a year’s worth of food in one sitting, or swallowed every living thing in the entire forest… Although I wouldn’t actually do such a thing, if I did, it would likely have a negligible effect on the massive vortex of energy within me.

So, eating or not eating, it didn’t matter much to me.

There wouldn’t be too many problems with it.

I guess…

If there’s still room for my strength to improve, then perhaps I should eat something else… something more special.

Like the Abyss.

Or perhaps…

Those so-called deities.

Anyway, no longer by eating ordinary food or life.

Of course, these are just my speculations; whether this is actually the case would require further verification, but at present, I don’t have much desire to verify such matters.

Regardless, the issue of eating isn’t really a problem for me anymore. I can eat when I want and not eat when I don’t—though in most cases, when I smell delicious food, I still have the desire to try it. But that desire isn’t as uncontrollable as before; even if I really want to eat something, I can choose not to. That’s something I can do…

right?

In any case, I won’t feel too hungry.

So, even if I can’t buy anything in this city, I won’t be troubled by it. Food is more like a way to find satisfaction in life rather than a necessity… This has been my feeling over the past six months or so.

But if possible, I’d still like to buy some food here.

On my way to the western part of the city, I took out the coins from my bag again and counted them, finding that I only had less than twenty silver coins left—I did have one gold coin, but currently, especially in this city, with my identity, I couldn’t exchange it at the bank, making it hard to spend even if I wanted to.

Less than twenty silver coins…

What could I buy?

I need to stay here for a few more days at least, gather some information, and then leave… Accommodation costs also need to be factored in…

“Sigh—”

I let out a light sigh.

A bit melancholic…

Thinking about the hundreds of thousands of gold coins still in the bank, yet these gold coins might never be retrieved, or perhaps they’ve all become invalid after my “death”? There may be difficulties in the future due to money issues, and thinking about this, I feel a bit discouraged…

Without money, I can’t indulge myself and buy whatever I want to eat on a whim.

…Maybe I should just find those bandits hiding in the mountains and rob them?

Working is out of the question…

I kept thinking about these things as I walked, not knowing how long I had been walking, when suddenly I heard a commotion in the distance. Looking up, I followed the sound and saw the solemn dome of the cathedral behind the street ahead.

And there seemed to be quite a number of people gathering over there.

The parish of Alereth City…

I couldn’t recall having been here before.

I tilted my head in thought, realizing that I had been distracted by thoughts of food and hadn’t paid close attention to the path on the map in my hand. It seemed unlikely that I should have wandered into the parish by mistake, although there was a small chance that someone might recognize me.

It would be better to leave this side as soon as possible…

Though I thought so, driven perhaps by curiosity, I found myself moving towards that direction.

There were so many people…

Crossing the street and entering the small circular square in front of the church, it was nearly impossible to go any further. The square was packed with kneeling, devout believers—most of them were raggedly dressed or even half-naked, emaciated from hunger, their spirits worn down, one tightly pressed against another, filling up almost the entire square.

Despite this, more people continued to arrive from all directions.

I wrapped my cloak tighter around me, hiding at the back of the crowd in an inconspicuous flower bed corner, then stood on tiptoe, gazing toward the steps in front of the church doors.

Many white-robed clergy members were standing there. An elderly man with a white beard—an apparent priest or bishop—was delivering a sermon loudly to the praying people below him in the light of the holy glow.

“…Children of God, the great deity’s love for you is eternal and everlasting. Those who are lost in the valley will be guided onto the right path; those who are alone in the wilderness will have a guiding light… Thus, you will be strong and fearless, you will forget your suffering, your days on earth will be brighter than noon, even in darkness, like dawn…”

His words were powerful and resonant, as if they would fill anyone listening with strength. The faces of the confused people below gradually shone with light. They believed that everything was destined, and as long as their hearts were sincere, the deity would eventually guide them to the right path and bring them salvation.

I listened for a while but felt rather drowsy.

Hypocritical…

“Liars!”

Suddenly, someone shouted loudly.

“What kind of salvation? My wife died, she starved to death! I prayed devoutly every day and worked hard! My leg was crushed by a stone, and they rejected me! I have nothing left—”

“But where is my salvation?!”

He started throwing stones at the old man on the steps. At the same time, a group of people suddenly rushed out from a nearby street, quickly pushing their way into the crowd, shouting, “Nobles’ lackeys, dogs of power!” They began throwing various objects at the old man on the steps, and some even tried to run up the steps with buckets, only to be kicked far away by a quick-thinking knight nearby, the contents of the bucket splashing all over them, emitting a foul odor.

The scene turned chaotic in an instant.