Chapter 862

"Calm down, son-in-law. Problems aren't solved that way."

Margatan began to persuade him.

"I am calm, Aunt. Besides, I believe my way of solving problems is the simplest and most effective. You just need to give me a list."

One should use one's own strengths to attack the enemy's weaknesses. Broly excels at force, so solving problems with force is the simplest.

Moreover, this has nothing to do with indiscriminately killing innocents. After all, the people he wants to kill are all scum who harbor ill intentions toward Gray.

His wife is his bottom line. Anyone who dares touch his wife has already chosen the path of death.

"The problem is precisely that list — it's not easy to hand over."

As a Gravekeeper, Belsak's spiritual perception was comparatively keen. He could sense a bone-chilling dangerous aura from the youth, and understood that this son-in-law was absolutely not joking.

If he really handed over a list, the other party would likely truly dare to start a massacre in their own village. And judging from that display of vaporizing the shovel just now, their village's strength probably couldn't stop this person.

"What's so hard about giving it? Whoever in this village wants to resurrect Arthur Pendragon, you write them down. I'll go deal with them one by one. Problem solved, right?"

Broly looked at the two troubled people, somewhat confused as to why they were making difficulties.

"Ah, if we really went by your standard, then aside from some half-grown children who don't know better yet, I'm afraid there wouldn't be many living people left in our village."

"Wait, no. Are your villagers that bad? They're all after Gray?"

Hearing this, Broly was also stunned.

"It's not that our villagers are bad. Rather, our villagers have served and guarded Arthur Pendragon's remains for generations. To ordinary villagers, Arthur Pendragon is like a god.

And resurrecting Arthur Pendragon is a task entrusted to our clan by the Lake Immortal who bestowed blessings upon our ancestors over 1,500 years ago.

With the Arthur Pendragon factors imprinted in our bloodline, continuing to flow to this day, it is an object of faith already engraved upon body and spirit.

If you go outside now and randomly pull an ordinary villager to ask if they want Arthur Pendragon resurrected, they'd probably all say yes.

But ordinary villagers in this village inherently possess no decision-making power. They want Arthur Pendragon resurrected merely because for hundreds of years, this village's environment has been exactly that.

Even Gray's mother, Margatan, was once one of these villagers. But for Gray's sake, she chose to betray the clan's ancestral task passed down in bloodline and spiritual faith.

And those other villagers — if their children were also chosen to become the King's resurrection vessels, they might well make the same choice as Margatan.

So how can you expect me to write their names into a list and hand it to you, who wants to eliminate them?"

Belsak's words were actually somewhat idealistic.

Mothers like Margatan, who would betray ancestral faith and plan their daughter's fake death and escape for her sake, are extremely rare.

Most villagers, if their own child were chosen to become the King's resurrection vessel, would likely silently accept such an outcome.

After all, sacrificing one child in exchange for the village's support — for the vast majority of villagers, that's a profitable deal.

Of course, if Margatan hadn't lost her husband and had only Gray as a daughter to rely on, it's hard to say whether she could have betrayed the ancestral faith.

"Since ordinary villagers have no decision-making power, then just give me a list of those who do have decision-making power and are after Gray."

""

Broly felt Belsak made sense, and stepped back to ask for the next best thing.

"That's not easy to give either."

"What, you're planning to shelter people with ill intentions toward Gray? Let me tell you, Gray is my future wife. Even if you're Gray's mother and Gravekeeper master, if you don't think of Gray, I won't be polite to you either."

"No, it's not like that. Rather, as the current Gravekeeper of Brakmoa Cemetery, I am one of the people in the village who holds decision-making power."

Belsak hurriedly explained.

"Fine. You, this Gravekeeper master, treat Gray well — I know that. But aside from you?"

"Aside from me, there are the Village Chief and the clan elders. But they likewise have no intention of targeting Gray."

"They all want Gray to be the resurrection vessel, and that's called 'no intention'?"

Broly frowned, looking at the old man before him, feeling the other party was deceiving him.

"Although it sounds strange, it's true. The decision-makers of Brakmoa Village — the Village Chief and clan elders — are not targeting Gray. They tacitly permitted Margatan and me to arrange Gray's fake death and escape, and even regarding the Holy Lance being taken away from the village by Gray, they adopted a tacitly permissive attitude —"

The people of Brakmoa Village have not gone to trouble Gray outside to this day, and it's not merely because they fear Waver, the Magecraft user who can command living Heroic Spirits and is Gray's master.

After all, no matter how you put it, this is a faction famous for exorcism methods. Although some combat methods can't compare to combat-specialist Magecraft users, they still have some skill against spirit bodies. Heroic Spirits are also a type of spirit body, just a relatively top-tier one.

"So this village actually has no bad people, and no one is after Gray?"

Saying this, even Broly himself found it somewhat hard to believe.

"That's not it either. There are still people after Gray."

Belsak shook his head.

"Then give me the list of those people."

"Uh—"

"Again it's no good, right? Speak. Why not."

Two times in a row it was no good. By the third time, Broly wasn't in a rush either.

He wanted to hear just what reason Gray's Gravekeeper master, Belsak, could come up with this time.

"The people after Gray are basically all external forces. Not to mention giant factions like the Magic Association and the Holy Church, there are also other forces, large and small — Magecraft families or organizations —"

"So these people have no connection whatsoever to your village. Why won't you give me the list?"

"These people indeed have no ties to our village, but they bring us a continuous stream of money, supplies, and important personnel —"

A village surrounded on all sides by swamps, almost completely isolated from the world — by what right has it stood firm for over 1,500 years without its inheritance ever being severed?

It's because there are forces continuously pouring money and resources into this village, even transporting personnel.

And why do these forces do this? Naturally because Brakmoa Village has raised the banner of resurrecting Arthur Pendragon.

Brakmoa Village's predecessors once promised all forces who helped their village: as long as others helped resurrect Arthur Pendragon, the glory after Arthur Pendragon's resurrection would not be monopolized by the Brakmoa Clan. They were willing to share it with the other forces who aided the village.

Arthur Pendragon is merely a deceased king, but the Holy Lance inherited by the village is real. The Holy Lance's power in an age where Mystery has already fallen — many covet it. Let alone if Arthur Pendragon's resurrection succeeds, the resurrection technology that Brakmoa Village's predecessors promised to share.

If your rival invests and you don't, and Arthur Pendragon truly gets resurrected, your rival grasps the Holy Lance's power while you don't — in that situation, Brakmoa Village receives investment from all sides.

"For over 1,500 years, even though the outside world has been in constant turmoil, it has never spilled over to our village (cross-shareholding by various forces). Although our village has long failed to produce resurrection results, causing support intensity to decrease, no force has cut off support to our village — unless that force has already perished in history —"

"So, you're worried that after I deal with those people, your Blackmore Village will find it difficult to continue on?"

Facing Broly's question, Belsak nodded; as for Luvia and Gray beside him, their expressions were somewhat strange.

Blackmore Village's operation gave them a sense of deja vu; thinking carefully, isn't this exactly the kind of operation some Clock Tower Magecraft professors use?

First propose a good project, draw a big cake, then pull people to invest, take the funding; as for the funding obtained, whether it's actually used on project research or used to buy game consoles, buy good wine to drink, as long as the project accounts can pass muster, it's fine.

"But reviving Arthur Pendragon isn't actually that important to the village; it just needs a banner. If that's the case, why can't I come back to see you, Master, and Mother?"

"Gray, you don't understand this. Swindling funding under the guise of a research project is one thing, but if you swindle funding brazenly, the investors definitely won't be happy."

Luvia's Family has also invested in many Magi's research, so she understands this; pulling her Junior Sister's hand, she started explaining.

"Mm, that's about the situation."

An embarrassed look surfaced on Belsak's old face; his own village being categorized as funding swindlers — even if it's the truth — some things can be done but not spoken.

Previously, when Waver brought Iskandar to this village, Belsak didn't explain the village's specific internal circumstances.

This time, if it weren't for Broly coming aimed at solving people, and looking like his power was incomparably terrifying, Belsak also wouldn't have laid everything out clearly.

Waver doesn't know the full situation; he thinks his Disciple has trouble on her, and Gray indeed has trouble, but this trouble is smaller than imagined.

Barring accidents, before Belsak dies, he will contact Gray, let Gray return to the village, take over the Gravekeeper's work.

And after Gray takes over the Gravekeeper's work, she also won't have any Vessel of Resurrection worries; she'll probably continue the 1,500-plus-year swindling funding business together with Blackmore Village's Village Chief and Village Elders, maintaining this village's existence.

Blackmore Village's continuation plan is perfect, but for Broly, it makes him feel a bit stifled, a feeling of clenching his fist and looking around in bewilderment.

"I don't quite believe your words."

"Then I can take you to see the Village Chief and Village Elders, let them answer your questions."

After Belsak took Broly to see Blackmore Village's Village Chief and Village Elders, he directly asked the questions on the document Waver gave.

"Regarding your village, continuously performing human body modification with the Arthur Factor on descendants?"

"That kind of thing doesn't exist; it's just that some villagers, because of the Arthur Factor in their bodies, produce some changes in appearance, therefore outsiders spread rumors that we're conducting human body modification.

But actually our village doesn't even have Magi, fundamentally no such technique; the so-called Arthur Factor modification was bestowed upon us 1,500-plus years ago by the Lake Fairy Evil Face, the great Lady Morgan.

And we admit, it's just————"

"Just to swindle funding?"

"Mm.

"

Looking at Blackmore Village's old Village Chief, the way he nodded embarrassedly before him, Broly truly didn't know what to say.

"Last question: if Lady Margatan hadn't let Gray fake death and escape back then, would Gray have died in the Resurrection Ritual?"

Once this question came out, the air in Blackmore Village's Village Meeting Hall stagnated somewhat, carrying threads of chill.

A young man with a bruised face and purple strangulation marks on his neck, the Village Chief's son, looked nervously at his own old father.

Worried that one wrong answer, his own old father, would be casually wiped out by the person before him.

"Yes, if Margatan hadn't let Gray fake death and escape, that child Gray should have died in that year's Resurrection Ritual."

Swindling funding also requires putting up capital; as the saying goes, you can't catch a wolf without risking the child; compared to the village's continuation, one person being sacrificed in a Resurrection Ritual that's most likely to fail is completely permitted.

"But if Gray really died in that year's Resurrection Ritual, we would also take good care of Gray's mother, and wouldn't let the person who sacrificed for the village die in vain."

Words falling, Broly flicked a finger, and the old Village Chief's body, as if hit by a compact car, flew backward directly.

"Father!"

The young man ran over, hugged the old Village Chief covered in blood, discovering he was still alive, only then breathed a sigh of relief; just as he raised his head, he looked at Broly with some resentment.

"You all should be glad that the attitude taken toward Gray after she broke free from the village was tacit permission rather than pursuit; otherwise, everyone present would be a corpse right now."

Broly scanned a circle, didn't care about the Village Chief's son's gaze on him, directly asked: "From now on, if my wife Gray misses her mother and plans to come back here to visit relatives, what should you do?"

"Help me up."

"Father————"

"Smack~"

The young man's head took a slap; the old Village Chief covered in blood, after being helped up, used all his strength to say: "We will raise both hands and both feet in agreement; this place will forever be that child Gray's hometown."

"Good. If I discover you go back on your word later, even if you're wiped out by me, I reckon there won't be any complaints, right?"

Blackmore Village's decision-making layer, the Village Chief and a group of Village Elders looked at each other's bruised faces; the answer was already self-evident.

Discovered swindling funding by other Factions, resources cut off, the village at most faces a death sentence with reprieve; but this one before them, at a glance he's the type for immediate execution of the death penalty; if they don't obey, their own village might directly face extermination.

Weighing the light against the heavy, everyone sees clearly.

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