A Villain's Way of Taming Heroines

What is the purpose of life? This question has never had a definitive answer.

From their own perspectives, everyone offers a different response, thereby making it impossible to understand the world from another's viewpoint, and consequently, to comprehend why others make the choices they do.

Take Ravenna, for instance, who could not fathom why these farmers had so readily altered their demeanor.

The cruelty and madness they exuded moments ago now seem like mere illusions, the blood splattered on them akin to playful graffiti, and the daggers in their hands no more threatening than children's toys.

Witnessing all this, Ravenna deeply felt their sorrow, ferocity, rage, and the relief of achieving their goal.

Emotionally, Ravenna sensed their resolve arriving here: to kill Laurel, indifferent to the consequences.

How could these people, who mercilessly slaughtered all the servants in this building and have been driven to madness, released all their intentions to kill by a single sentence from Laurel?

Is such frenzied enlightenment, this willingness to kill even the innocent, so trivial, so... absurd?

"No... your words hold no sway," a farmer said, breath heavy, "If we spare you now, you'll just send someone after us!"

"But if all the other farmers are gone, who will till the land?"

Laurel countered, "Our time is precious. With ready hands available, why waste time seeking others?"

At this, he paused, chin lifted slightly, a scornful smile playing across his rugged face, indistinguishable from the other farmers:

"Moreover, I care not. "

"I care not who tills the land or who controls the fields. Even if it's those who wish me dead, my only concern is whether the grain is produced on time."

He pinpointed their hesitation, delivering the final blow to shatter their resolve:

.net

"Kill me, and you will surely die; but heed my advice, and there might be a chance... to change your life."

"If I were you, the choice would already be made."

Laurel stood, arms wide: "If I am to be killed by someone who can forsake even this sliver of hope, then I have nothing more to say."

Ravenna gazed intently at the trio on the screen for a long while before murmuring almost instinctively:

"They... shouldn't agree."

"Why?" Ansel asked with a smile.

As her thoughts flowed naturally, Ravenna softly replied after a moment of silence, "I don't know, it just feels... if they simply agree like this, it would be utterly preposterous. No, not preposterous, but... unacceptable."

The young Hydral looked down at the contemplative expression of the petite scholar, his thoughts inadvertently revealing his innermost feelings: "Unacceptable? But isn't Laurel the victim here? These two farmers should have no reason to engage in senseless slaughter. With right and wrong so clearly defined, why do you find it unacceptable for them to accept Laurel's proposal?"

He was somewhat eager for Ravenna's response.

"In this scenario, of course, it's not right, but..."

But as she watched the two farmers drop their knives and gradually adopt a sycophantic posture, kneeling before Laurel, Ravenna seemed to perceive a more metaphysical, distorted scene.

"But if I consider it in this light, their actions constitute... a betrayal."

"A betrayal of their very selves."

Hearing this, Ansel laughed heartily, seemingly very pleased with Ravenna's answer, "Their selves? And what do you think their selves are? They are merely farmers, their selves being nothing more than earning coins through farming. Isn't it precisely because they are unable to do this, that they are driven to madness, wanting to kill Laurel? Their choice perfectly aligns with—"

His speech suddenly halted, as the increasingly verbose Ansel half-squinted, stopping the topic at hand.

His role was to guide, not to truly teach... Allowing someone like Ravenna to learn too much was never a good thing.

Such events should not occur, but alas, Ravenna... had the capability. She possessed the terrifying ability to keep up with his thoughts, to keep up with a thought system accumulated over thousands of years from another world.

"That's just their identity, and identity doesn't define everything. They themselves should be some sort of... collective, a kind of..."

Although Ansel stopped his somewhat uncontrollable teaching, Ravenna still vaguely caught onto something. However, due to her limited perspective and knowledge, she couldn't delve further, yet this was already profoundly alarming.

Ansel, observing Ravenna lost in thought, couldn't help but pose one final question, "So, do you think, as a farmer, Laurel is no longer the same as them?"

"He... how could he be considered a farmer? He's already a merchant."

Ravenna shook her head, observing the two kneeling farmers and Laurel's increasingly unrestrained smile, she pondered, "By resorting to such cunning tactics to indirectly control all the farmland, he has ceased to be a mere farmer."

In Ansel's silence, Ravenna asked again, "Is this what you wanted me to see? Father... Lord Ansel."

Miss puppet glanced at other screens, witnessing the savage, primal combat, and then the two farmers kneeling before Laurel, feeling an overwhelming sense of… absurdity.

If Ansel intended to shock her, Ravenna had to admit, he succeeded.

She began to worry, even fear, what these fields, meant to alleviate hunger, would bring to Pelican City and the Watson territory.

Miss puppet, who had never truly set foot in this mortal world, unconsciously clutched at her dress.

["What, in your eyes, is the essence of revolution?"]

["What illusion are you truly chasing?" ]

These two questions intertwined at this moment, and the terrifying nightmare that Ravenna dreaded came back… stronger than ever.

If I don't know why I'm clinging to that ideal, if I don't even know what change I'm pursuing, then what—?

As Ravenna faced her fears yet sought to delve deeper, Ansel's voice rang out again:

"Do you really think that everything ends here?"

He pulled Ravenna from her most unbearable terror, only to cast her into another abyss that sent chills down her spine.

"..." Ravenna opened her mouth, attempting to analyze the current situation, "Most of the farmers have been... killed, a few survived, Laurel still controls the farmers—"

"No, my dear Helen, you should understand by now."

Ansel affectionately pressed his cheek against Ravenna's, his gentle words slithering over her, causing her to shiver involuntarily.

"You should know that the farmers were never the key, they were... dispensable from the start."

"What is important?" he asked with a smile.

"The important thing is... the potion," Ravenna replied with some difficulty, "The potion is the key to changing everything, the potion is—"

In that moment, as she spoke those words, despite the warmth of Ansel's embrace, a bone-chilling cold pierced through Ravenna's spine.

She looked at the uncontrollable joy on Laurel's face, and at that moment, she truly understood... why this man was so delighted.

The outside farmers who killed the farmers of Pelican City were unaware of the vast tracts of magical farmland here, only knowing that a group of farmers had benefited from it, driving them to desperation.

However, they could not possibly know what had caused the farmland to become this way. The farmers who originally knew the secret were few and far between.

Among these surviving farmers, there was one individual, filled with ambition and capability, who could be considered one of the primary reasons for the current state of Pelican City and the Watson territory.

How could he possibly... let go of this opportunity?

Today, only four native farmers from Pelican City and those brought from outside, who owned farmland and potions, remain.

After subduing those two farmers, Laurel immediately notified Reginald and initiated a purge within the city, personally participating in the operation.

However, he was not purging the murderous farmers.

Instead, he was... confiscating the remaining potions.

Ansel was not wrong; something of utmost importance indeed occurred in Pelican City today.

Laurel had not only seized the elusive bargaining power.

He had taken into his hands the real key to transforming the farmland, the "elimination of hunger."

Under the game's rules, where "extraordinary beings are forbidden to interfere, and all competition must be fair," who could possibly restrain this farmer, once a servant of extraordinary beings?

If no one can check him, what might he do with this terrifying leverage that could change the entire Watson territory, and to exaggerate a bit… the entire empire?

After a brief period of prosperity, everything is spiraling towards an unknown abyss.

What has caused everything... to turn out this way?

Everyone can now eat their fill, it should be an undeniable good.

Miss Ravenna, confined within the Tower of Babel, could not speak, her lips trembling slightly. She had sensed that the game was beginning to spiral out of control.

Or was it that, even with the restrictions Ansel had put in place…

The vision she had hoped for had been out of control… from the very beginning?

*

I hope everyone won't feel too disheartened about the recent plot development xD

1. I believe the direction of this episode reflects the course of human nature. It's not necessarily dark, but rather a genuine portrayal of human nature in a unique background. Similar occurrences have happened numerous times throughout history, and I guess we are at least doing somehow better.

2. The ultimate goal behind all of this is to tame Ravenna...I'M FEELING EAGER!!