Chapter 67: Teaching by Personal Example

Chapter 67: Teaching by Personal Example

All at once, the muscles in Wendel’s back fully tightened, entering a state as though they might explode at any moment.

Shock and suspicion surged through his heart, and several guesses flashed through his mind, impossible to suppress:

“Are the residents of Utopia monsters wearing human skin? Do they normally look ordinary, but once they encounter a logical blind spot, they display a side different from ordinary humans, ignoring places where obvious problems exist?

“Or did that station worker already realize I was lying, but simply did not want to deal with me, so he deliberately pretended not to see it and let me leave? But why would he do that?

“Mm. Carrying a suitcase to the station washroom can be explained as fear of losing one’s luggage, but the entire platform is covered. There was no need at all for me to take out an umbrella in advance. And besides, the rain had long since stopped…”

Wendel’s gaze instinctively turned outside the window. He saw bright sunlight shining over the current platform, where traveler after traveler waited in orderly fashion behind the safety line. It was completely different from the gloomy, dim feeling Utopia gave.

Phew… He exhaled, and his body abruptly relaxed a little.

This place is not Utopia… I have already left… Wendel muttered inwardly while raising his hand to wipe away the cold sweat that had seeped from his forehead.

When he had recalled his own oversight just now, it was as though he had fallen into a nightmare from which he could not wake no matter what.

After recovering for a while, Wendel stood and decided to go to the platform to smoke a cigarette and soothe his mood.

The tobacco calmed him well, allowing him to again review his experiences in Utopia.

During that process, an idea about what he had encountered suddenly came to him:

“Perhaps because I sincerely helped Tracy, that station worker deliberately ignored my problem and let me leave?”

Compared to the thought that every resident of Utopia was a monster wearing human skin, Wendel was more willing to accept this explanation.

Just then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw the conductor speaking with a group of people in a corner.

Wendel quietly moved a few steps closer, wanting to hear what they were saying.

With his hearing, which surpassed that of normal people, he faintly heard part of their conversation from a distance that did not draw suspicion:

“We last night… station… Utopia…”

“Kingdom… doesn’t have…”

“Please keep this confidential…”

Wendel’s eyebrows moved slightly. Combining this with the description in the document he carried, he roughly understood what those people were telling the conductor.

They were saying that there was no Utopia Station at all within the kingdom, and that the steam train’s condition last night had been “missing”!

At that moment, intense lingering fear once again welled up inside Wendel. He felt that being able to leave Utopia alive was already the greatest possible fortune.

…

Alfred spent nearly a week traveling from Eskosen Harbor back to Backlund.

That was because, along the way, he had visited the families of fallen comrades, old friends, elders who were spending their holidays on their estates, and certain business partners of his family.

“This is even more exhausting than taking part in battle,” Alfred complained to his father, Earl Hall.

Earl Hall smiled and pointed toward the stairway.

“Go back to your room and rest first. We will talk in the study later.”

He was very satisfied with his second son’s mental state and the progress of his growth.

Alfred looked around, smiled, and asked,

“Where is the most dazzling gem of Backlund?”

He paused briefly, then added,

“And where is Hibbert?”

Earl Hall smiled.

“Audrey has gone to her foundation. She will only return this afternoon. She has been complaining that you could not provide a confirmed itinerary, leaving her unable to know when exactly you would arrive.

“Hibbert is now a cabinet secretary. He is extremely busy.”

Alfred nodded and said nothing more. He returned to his room, took a bath, and changed into a shirt, waistcoat, and formal attire.

“I prefer the casualness of East Balam.” He looked at himself in the mirror and smiled at his adjutant.

“This version of you has more noble bearing,” his adjutant said while handing over a document. “General, this is from MI9.”

“MI9?” Alfred thoughtfully broke the seal on the envelope. “Did they get investigation results on Utopia so quickly?”

Before his words had faded, he had already taken out the document and begun flipping through it with a rustle.

During this process, Alfred turned the pages more and more slowly. In the end, he returned to the beginning and read it again.

The investigation report’s main contents were divided into two parts:

First, the MI9 member escorting Alfred’s report had mistakenly entered Utopia, witnessed a murder case, and forcibly left at midnight, returning to the steam train. Second, on every railway line from Desi Bay to Backlund, no station called Utopia existed, and there was no harbor called Utopia in the Berserk Sea. Subsequent investigators had found no trace of it.

Neither of these two points exceeded Alfred’s capacity to bear. What truly surprised and stunned him was the criminal in that murder case.

Her name was Tracy. She was the owner of an inn, had received a secondary education, and had graduated from a grammar school. Afterward, she had become a certain merchant’s mistress and had recently been trying to break free of that identity.

This matched the Tracy whom Alfred had met, the owner of the harbor inn, in every detail.

Thus, Alfred judged that the murderer was precisely that Tracy—the beautiful woman who had received a degree of education and played sorrowful music in the night.

“So that is the story behind her?” Alfred muttered soundlessly.

This made the residents of Utopia seem abnormally real, not at all like mere illusions as Alfred had once imagined.

In other words, after outsiders left, Utopia’s residents still had lives of their own. They had their own love, hatred, pain, and sorrow. They had all kinds of experiences.

Apart from Utopia seemingly not existing in the real world, that place was basically no different from an ordinary town in the Loen Kingdom.

Perhaps Utopia truly exists, and everyone there is real. It is only that, to enter it, one must be at the right time and in the right place… Alfred nodded almost imperceptibly, feeling rather emotional as he put away the investigation report MI9 had sent back.

For him, the matter ended here. He had absolutely no intention of investigating further.

One must know that on the Southern Continent, countless eerie incidents and phenomena existed. Excessive curiosity would only bring danger beyond imagination.

After tidying his clothes and emotions, Alfred arrived outside his father’s study and bent his finger, knocking on the carved wooden door.

“Come in,” Earl Hall’s voice came from inside.

Alfred adjusted his blond hair, pushed the door open, entered, and found a seat.

Earl Hall looked at him with a smile.

“You have already become a man.”

“No one says such things to a man.” Alfred replied without any reserve.

“In my heart, you are still that somewhat rebellious young man.” Earl Hall smiled. “You are already a Sequence 5 Beyonder?”

Alfred answered with a pun:

“Yes. I am already a true knight.”

Earl Hall nodded, then suddenly sighed.

“You must have experienced a great deal of pain.

“As far as I know, whether it is potions or war, both bring people serious harm—from the body to the mind.”

“Everyone’s life contains a great deal of pain.” Alfred said with some emotion.

He used a Loen-style euphemism.

After a pause, he added,

“Compared with when I left Backlund, my current state is actually better. As long as one grasps the proper methods, at my level, there is no need to worry too much about the impact of madness.”

Earl Hall did not continue the topic. Instead, he said,

“Your sister has also become a Beyonder.”

“Hm?” Alfred was first startled, then seemed to remember something. Rather annoyed, he said, “I thought she had really only changed her interests.”

“It seems Audrey’s adventures received some help from you.” Earl Hall looked slightly enlightened. “I hope you can speak with her. Tell her just how dangerous, mad, and painful the path of Sequence potions is. Make her stop at her current level.”

Without the slightest hesitation, Alfred responded,

“I will do it.”

That evening, inside Audrey’s private little study.

“Alfred, what did you want to see me about?” Audrey, who had changed into home clothes, led Susie as she opened the door for her elder brother.

She had already been waiting here for him for several minutes.

“There are some things I want to remind you about.” Alfred entered the study and casually pulled over a chair to sit down.

Audrey smiled faintly and pointed at the golden retriever.

“Do I need to have Susie leave?”

After glancing at the golden retriever, who was already obediently crouched to the side with eyes full of humanity, Alfred could not help laughing.

“No need. I think it probably will not eavesdrop on our conversation.”

“She,” Audrey casually corrected.

When this noble young lady sat across from him, Alfred sincerely sighed inwardly:

After not seeing her for several years, his younger sister had completely shed her immaturity. Whether in appearance or temperament, she had reached a level that inspired admiration. She was no longer the little girl of the past.

Alfred withdrew his gaze and asked in a seemingly casual tone,

“I heard you became a Beyonder?”

“Mm.” Audrey nodded frankly.

Alfred had originally planned to ask which Sequence she was already at. But after thinking it over, he felt that would be too direct and might trigger resistance. He weighed his wording and said,

“You should be a Beyonder of the Spectator pathway, right? The Rainbow Salamander has similar abilities.”

That Rainbow Salamander was precisely the gift Alfred had given his younger sister.

After Audrey gave an affirmative reply, Alfred jokingly asked,

“Can you now provide treatment in the psychological domain? The vast majority of Beyonders, myself included, need help in that area. Mm, I forgot to tell you: I am already Sequence 5 of the Arbiter pathway, a Retribution Knight.”

Audrey pursed her lips and smiled slightly.

“I am a qualified psychiatrist and have received professional training. You may verify that with Father and Mother.”

She is already Sequence 7… Alfred’s expression gradually became serious.

“Audrey, there are some things I must remind you of. What potions bring is not merely power.”

At this point, he paused, observing his younger sister’s reaction. He discovered that Audrey showed not the slightest impatience and listened very seriously.

“Every potion contains madness, which can lead to losing control… I have seen similar situations before, more than once… They happened to my enemies, and they also happened to my friends. No group is exempt…” Drawing on his many experiences in East Balam, Alfred gave a detailed explanation of the dangers of potions.

During this process, he discovered that not only was his younger sister Audrey listening attentively, but even the golden retriever Susie remained extremely quiet.