Four Split Personalities

"We cannot joke about the lives of over four hundred warriors just for peace of mind."

Sin Knight sighed softly and turned to glance at the townspeople gathered in the square, saying calmly, "After considering all details and weighing all possibilities, the answer is actually not difficult to come by. What we have before us is a balance scale, on one side, over two hundred civilians whose number may include many rebels, and on the other side, over four hundred warriors including us. After discarding any wishful thinking, we can only choose one side. We cannot afford to take the risk; the innocents are doomed to be sacrificed."

Veronia’s expression darkened, "But this shouldn’t be something you have to bear alone."

"No, in fact, this isn’t something anyone should bear, including the rebels."

Sin Knight gave a faint smile and shrugged, "But if we must choose someone to give this order, to take on this responsibility, believe me, no one is more suitable than I am. Do not forget that after all, you two are nothing more than officers directly under Duke Fossai. On the other hand, I hold a noble title and am fortunate to have gained the favor of Duke Galos. The same responsibility, if it ever comes to be pursued, at least I would still have the chance to explain it all. But if it were you two... forgive my bluntness, if things get out of hand, neither of you would get out unscathed."

Veronia and Varez both opened their mouths but found themselves unable to say anything. After all, they had indeed had such thoughts before and even secretly criticized Sin Knight for it.

And now, ironically, the same reasoning was being used by the other party to persuade them, who were originally reluctant.

For a moment, both Veronia and Varez felt a complex mix of emotions.

Admittedly, during times of war, there have been far too many acts of wholesale slaughter in covert operations for self-preservation or to lock down information, even outside of this game, and not to mention the history of real-world wars.

This has nothing to do with morality, good and evil; it’s just a simple multiple-choice question. And faced with the choice of ’I die, you live’, the vast majority would rather ’you die, I live’.

Still standing by Sin Knight’s side in his capacity as ’Housekeeper Dao En’, Li Fu lowered his head and smiled slightly. He was well aware that from the moment Mo stepped into this town, the fate of the people here had been sealed—the only difference was what sort of process they would go through.

And then he witnessed the entire process. Despite maintaining a proper distance, to Li Fu, who possessed an abundance of secret techniques from Sky Pillar Mountain, this meant nothing; he saw a perfect performance unfold, and though he could only vaguely sense His Excellency’s intentions, it did not hinder the ’Soul of Abel’s’ genuine admiration for the latter.

To be honest, the details just now might seem trivial on the surface, but they could very likely trigger a series of pessimistic chain reactions...

Of course, the so-called ’pessimistic’ solely pertained to the stance of Li Fu·Astor before; it had nothing to do with his current self.

Although this new partner was far from being as sincere as His Majesty William, and even made him feel a chill, it was precisely this chill that filled him with confidence in their future cooperation...

His Excellency didn’t care who gave the command; what mattered was who made the decision. No matter who investigates, no matter how many means are exhausted, they can only hear what he wants them to hear, see what he wants them to see, and know what he wants them to know.

To be honest, once he made up his mind to stand by Sin Knight’s side, the latter in fact needed not do anything extra to remain unassailable. Yet, he still did not overlook any detail, without revealing the slightest flaw.

[Nobody can stop him, not the rebels of the Kaunda territory, not William Bohe... not even Sky Pillar Mountain, perhaps!]

Having prepared himself to continue playing ’Dao En’, Li Fu·Astor silently laughed, his eyes twinkling with excitement.

...

Ten minutes later

Sin Knight stood on the square with ten ’executors’, including Veronia and Varez, before the over two hundred people, silently watching their faces mingled with fear and shock.

"Veronia, Emre, take the children away."

Sin Knight unsheathed his Longsword silently, his voice as cold as frost.

"Yes..."

Neither hesitated and quickly walked into the crowd to carry out the order.

"What... what are you doing?!"

A half-beast woman stared straight at her child who was being forcibly taken away for a long while when suddenly, she screamed out loud, "Give Kai back to me! Give Kai back to... ugh..."

Blood splattered. Just as the children led away by Veronia turned the first corner, the woman clutched her neck and slumped to the ground.

"Twenty minutes..."

Mo gently shook off the blood on the tip of his sword and said indifferently as he looked back at the eight people: "Begin."

...

Five minutes earlier

Game Time PM 19:26

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[Connection complete, reading character information]

[Welcome back, Merlin the Chaotically Evil. You will be loaded into The Realm of Innocence. Have a good night.]

...

"Another ’night’, huh? Perhaps I really should cut down on the time spent in the lab, heh, not that those guys who only dare to play with the true nuclear genome are worth caring about."