Chapter 598: I Bet My Right Arm on the New Era

Readers do have a higher tolerance for children, but only when there is a legitimate reason.

Isak rushed out at this moment because he felt betrayed. Readers could understand this emotion, but understanding does not mean approval.

They could understand that Isak, as a child, lacked self-control and couldn't comprehend very complicated matters, but this was still not enough to make the readers' blood pressure drop. Isn't this just causing trouble?

Everyone in the story also followed Isak out from behind cover. After all, if they didn't come out and stand their ground right now, the Gilded Brigade might hurt the child.

Rahman looked at Cyno and the others and said:

["Dehya, you would be better off becoming my helper instead of siding with them. You've seen it yourself—I have the means, and my ideals are nobler and more glorious than theirs."]

This line made the readers laugh. What nobler and more glorious? You don't even need to say it—we can all guess: reviving the Scarlet King, right?

Rahman probably didn't know that every time the Traveler resonated with a Statue of The Seven, they would "hear" one sentence:

"As long as you do not lose your nobility, the entire world will open up for you."

The Traveler was fully qualified to make the hand-accordion gesture and say, "No one understands nobility better than I do."

As for Dehya, she would never stand with these people.

[Rahman: "No matter. Whoever stands with whom will not affect our great undertaking of awakening the Scarlet King. When the ancient king returns to this land, everything can begin anew."]

See? I told you his ideal was definitely reviving the Scarlet King. You could guess it without him even saying it.

Dehya was a brains-type person. She naturally saw the situation clearly and understood what "rulers" really were.

Just like mentioned earlier, these Gilded Brigade people had never treated the village guardians as human beings either.

If they became the rulers, they actually wouldn't be much better than the Akademiya. The only difference would be that now the rainforest people would be the ones discriminated against and exploited.

In the readers' minds echoed Zhongli's words: "There is really no benefit in worshipping a dead god."

This was clearly Sumeru's story—how come the value of Zhongli's words kept rising nonstop?

Unfortunately, Rahman in the story didn't know Zhongli's words, nor did he know that reviving the Scarlet King was a false rumor.

Right now Sumeru was complete chaos between three factions. The Traveler's side belonged to the Dendro Archon faction, and now the Scarlet King faction's Gilded Brigade had attacked the Akademiya faction's people.

Overall, Dehya still leaned more toward the desert side, which was why she came to negotiate. Unfortunately, the negotiation broke down—Rahman wouldn't listen to her at all.

[Rahman: "We have waited for this day far too long. The sun and moon no longer shine, the earth is broken and cracked… And now, fate has dealt me the trump card against the Akademiya."]

["With these scholars, we can turn the tables on them and storm straight through to the other side of the Wall of Samiel."]

This was the disadvantage brought by the information gap. Rahman didn't even know that the "trump card" in his hand had been handed to him by the Akademiya itself.

Readers, standing in the god's-eye view, had the most information and naturally thought Rahman was very foolish.

But if you stood in Rahman's shoes, the desert had indeed endured for far too long.

They knew the chance of reviving the Scarlet King was very small, but they had to consider whether this might be the only opportunity in their lifetime.

Dehya knew more than Rahman did. She reminded Rahman that he could cross-check the accounts with Cyno and Alhaitham behind her and really understand the gap between desert and rainforest.

If they actually did cross-check, they might even incidentally learn that both desert and rainforest people were actually the exploited ones and didn't have to be enemies.

But Rahman had absolutely no intention of communicating with them. He deeply hated the people of the Dendro Archon.

["You lowly, despicable traitors—your god betrayed the Scarlet King and sold out justice. The people of the desert will never again believe a single word from the Dendro Archon's followers!"]

On this point, the people of the desert actually agreed quite a bit.

Life had gotten better now, so their will to resist had indeed weakened.

But precisely because of "the Dendro Archon is a betrayer," the desert people still had no faith in the Dendro Archon.

The story did write that the various miracles of the Dendro Archon in the desert had indeed changed their view of her somewhat—but it still hadn't reached the level of trust.

Nahida basically gained no benefits, but she took every single one of Greater Lord Rukkhadevata's "pots" on her back without missing a single one.

Fortunately Nahida was strong enough. Greater Lord Rukkhadevata's "pots," the holes left by the Akademiya, and the aftermath of the Doctor's chaos—she caught them all.

If there had been even one tiny mistake in any of these, Sumeru would have been on the verge of destruction.

Of course, being able to catch all of these things wasn't just Nahida's achievement alone. The Traveler, Alhaitham, and the others also made indispensable contributions.

Just like Alhaitham in the story—at this moment he was about to start "exerting himself."

[Alhaitham to Rahman: "Do you think that just with that batch of scholars, you can negotiate with the Akademiya?"]

["These people are not qualified to be your bargaining chips, but I can reluctantly serve as a hostage."]

Alhaitham was right. The mad scholars really weren't enough to be bargaining chips.

And he himself actually wasn't enough either, because the Akademiya and he were not on the same side.

But that didn't matter. The Gilded Brigade didn't know this intelligence anyway. He was playing the information-gap card.

Although he kept saying he wouldn't save others, what he actually prioritized was the method that would save the most people.

If they solved it with force, the Gilded Brigade had more people but definitely weren't a match for the Traveler's side.

The problem was that they didn't know where the village guardians had been taken. To protect the village guardians, this matter needed to be resolved peacefully.

If it could be resolved peacefully, everyone might even become "friends," and then they could unite everyone who could be united.

If it couldn't be resolved peacefully, that was fine too. With Alhaitham's combat level, it was hard for anything unexpected to happen. It was practically a "free plan."

Right now, as long as Rahman chose to exchange hostages, they would win no matter what.

To make Rahman tempted, Alhaitham even said he could join the Gilded Brigade side.

Honestly, this condition was pure "free lunch." From the beginning he had been part of the anti-Akademiya force. The only change was that his title prefix went from Dendro Archon faction to Scarlet King faction.

That kind of change didn't matter at all, because the Traveler's side knew that reviving the Scarlet King was a rumor.

In other words, Alhaitham didn't pay anything from start to finish—and he even prepared a "trap" for the other side.

However, Rahman refused. He didn't trust Alhaitham.

Rahman's refusal actually accidentally found the optimal solution to break the "trap."

[Rahman: "Hypocrite! Every single person from the Akademiya—no, every single person from the other side of the Wall of Samiel is like this! I said it already—I will not believe a single word from the Dendro Archon's followers."]

Rahman didn't trust people who believed in the Dendro Archon. Then what about Dehya? Could he trust her?

[Dehya stepped forward and said: "I am willing to bet my right arm as guarantee for these people."]

===

Character Voice · Nahida: About Not Being Trusted

"I can understand their feelings, but I believe Greater Lord Rukkhadevata was absolutely not a betrayer."