Chapter 432 Kavala's Method
April 1, 359 of the Pandeli calendar, sunny.
It was a refreshing afternoon, and Klose and I accompanied His Majesty on a boat trip to the center of Lake Erakle.
We took a special boat with a device like a city gate winch installed on it. The winch was wrapped with a super long iron chain, and at the end of the chain was a stone statue.
In order to make this hundreds of meters long chain, Klose worked in the blacksmith shop for many consecutive days.
The statue was of Kavala, also made of metal, probably only a foot tall but weighing at least sixty pounds.
It was a work of art made by the Finarfin family and the Finwe family together.
However, the more I looked at it, the more I felt that the statue's face looked more like Your Majesty.
Even the most skilled sculptors need references. I guess the Finarfin family carved according to His Majesty...
But His Majesty said it was Kavala and threw the statue into the lake in the middle of it.
I actually don't know why Your Majesty did this, and I didn't ask - and neither did Klose.
Klose said that as a royal guard, he should never ask questions unless the emperor tells him about it. This is the professional ethics that should be followed.
This big guy rarely speaks, but what he says always makes sense. It seems that muscle and wisdom can coexist... No wonder the people of Mettenheim can make such good weapons and equipment.
Moreover, seeing His Majesty's cautious attitude, I could realize that this was to solve some mysterious incident.
So I shouldn’t ask.
Originally, this should have been a simple job - His Majesty said that all we had to do was throw the statue down, wait two hours, and then use a winch to pull it up.
Klose also said it was easy, like fishing for sharks...
I know what sharks are, but I don't quite understand these strange recipes of the Mettenheimers, I just hope everything goes well...
However, this matter is not as simple as Klose said.
We dropped the statue in the center of the lake and waited for a few hours, and then we heard clear vibrations from the bottom of the lake - countless bubbles emerged from the entire surface of the lake, and the boat was shaking constantly, as if there was indeed a huge shark at the bottom of the lake that had been hooked.
His Majesty breathed a sigh of relief and said that the most troublesome problem had been solved.
I thought it had been a success, but soon we discovered that there was still a small accident - when Klose used the winch to slowly pull up the several hundred meters long chain, he found that the statue at the end was gone!
The statue and the rope were connected by two long rivets, the nails were still hanging on the chain, only the statue was missing.
Klose was a little embarrassed - he made the rivets and chains himself...
In fact, Your Majesty and I have both verified that the rivet is extremely strong. Your Majesty used pliers to pry it hard but it didn't loosen at all.
But it still looks like it has fallen off the statue...
His Majesty did not blame Klose. He just said in annoyance that the chain should not be riveted and the statue should be fused together. He also muttered something about pressure deformation plus vibration causing it to fall off. I didn't understand, but I realized that the job seemed to have failed.
Afterwards, His Majesty solemnly apologized to Cavalla and Malbert on the ship - His Majesty said that this was an accident, but perhaps it was also a kind of fate...
After we returned to the lakeside, His Majesty asked me to come to the center of the lake once a year on this day and throw a fish fed with the king's coin into the center of the lake.
His Majesty said this was to commemorate the beginning of a new era on the continent of Pendor.
I thought Your Majesty was joking - the continent of Pendor has not yet been completely unified by Your Majesty. You just threw an iron statue into the lake and failed to fish it out. How can it be considered a new era?
At most, it’s the anniversary of the longest chain in history being broken…
But His Majesty asked me to remember this day, so I must obey your orders.
However, I always feel that His Majesty is planning to create a new festival to promote consumption...
Your Majesty has a lot of crooked ideas.
Sure enough, right after returning to Erakle City, His Majesty could not wait to discuss with Wendy about making April 1st of each year the 'Fishman Festival'.
They open Lake Erakle on this day every year, allowing people to dive and catch fish in the lake with their bare hands. The fish that catches the fish with the "King's Coin" in its belly will become the champion and receive various rewards and opportunities...
I immediately understood why His Majesty asked me to throw away a fish fed with the king's coins every year.
This really does promote consumption, and this simple competitive activity will definitely attract many people to participate - I know how attractive the quiet and refreshing scenery of Lake Erakle is to humans.
If nothing unexpected happens, someone may come to the lakeside to build a villa soon.
Fortunately, His Majesty has also stipulated that people entering the forest are not allowed to bring any fire or weapons, otherwise I would have a headache about public security issues.
Your Majesty really knows how to play...
——Excerpt from "New Pendor Battle Diary", written by Lisadilan Aino.
…
Time goes by day by day, and it is spring again.
The trees in the Noldor Forest sprouted new green buds, meadows grew again on the shores of Lake Eraklai, and the forest that was burned black by the fire last year was regaining its vitality.
The lake surface was like a mirror, without a ripple, reflecting the distant city of Erakle, and the quiet and peaceful scene was beautiful.
Li Ang also felt that he was becoming different day by day - the keen perception he once had in the 'void' seemed to be gradually returning.
It is the ability to be aware of everything that is happening several miles away at any time, an incredibly powerful perception.
Of course, it is not very strong now and can only cover a range of tens of meters.
Le Ang already understood what this perception ability was - it was a manifestation of the power of faith.
In the past, Leon was briefly "granted" this ability by Eunomia, but what he got now was his own.
The prophet Madigan also possessed this ability. Obviously, as a prophet, he would definitely gain the faith of many people.
This is the sign of becoming a god - if this continues, within two years, Li Ang's soul will leave his body and travel in the void...
But fortunately, Kavala gave Leon a solution to the problem.
Kavala’s method was not complicated and was very simple - since becoming a god would lead to exile, wouldn’t it be enough not to become a god before death?
The human body has its limits, and no amount of faith can stop the natural laws of birth, aging, sickness and death.
Li Ang's body did not belong to him, but it did not matter, because his soul would naturally leave this body after his death... By that time, even if he became a god, he would no longer "occupy someone else's body".
But the more troublesome thing is that whether you are a God or whether you can be defined as a God does not depend on yourself - as long as there are enough people who believe in you and people think you are a God, then you can only be a God.
So how can we prevent Li Ang from being regarded as a god before he dies?
This is actually not difficult - just transfer people's worship of the "God of Wealth" from Li Ang to others.
This method is indeed based on experience that only Kavala has...
Kavala once shaped Aziz Dahaka into a snake-worshipping god in the continent of Amara because he was using Aziz Dahaka's body at the time.
But he himself did not gain faith at that time - the Snake Cult believed in Azi Dahaka, but Azi Dahaka himself had no soul, and the believers did not know that it was Kavala.
So Kavala created a "high priest" who no longer appeared in the image of Aziz Dahaka. Instead, he used the high priest as the spokesperson of the snake god, so that a large number of snake worshippers turned to worship the high priest as the "merciful messenger of God", thereby transferring the power of faith to himself.
Leon could actually do the same - but he needed to do the opposite and shape Amy, Wendy, Alina and Alice into spokespeople for the God of Wealth, so that they could be worshipped by most people.
Then, just let these goddesses who have deep feelings for you "protect" you.
Since the name Leon can mean wealth in just a few years, can't Amy and the others do the same?
Maybe it will be easier to be accepted by others. After all, the images of the goddesses are much more beautiful than that of Li Ang, a rough old man...
In other words, Leon can completely transfer most of people's admiration to Amy and others, let Amy, Wendy, Alina and Alice do good things outside to make people rich, and promote them to become goddesses representing wealth.
As for Li Ang himself, he concentrated on doing things that could easily offend others...
For example, if Amy is to enact the Industrial and Commercial Law, then Leon will be responsible for combating smuggling and offending people;
Wendy wanted to get into real estate, so Li Ang went to do forced demolition to stir up hatred;
Alina wants to develop the farm, and Leon will deal with the Bacchus who own the land and refuse to give up...
In fact, these dirty jobs are also in line with economic construction, but at least on the surface, the queens are helping most people get rich, while Li Ang is always only concerned with making money for himself, and is always offending people - then most people will no longer regard Li Ang as the God of Wealth...
Maybe it will make Li Ang a 'lucky man' in many people's minds?
He clung to the thighs of several goddesses and became a rich man and a king under the protection of several female goddesses of wealth. Isn't this a gigolo?
Apart from a few people who know the inside story, who else who is not familiar with the person would truly admire a lucky person ?
Envy, jealousy and hatred are almost the same...
Therefore, Li Ang now plans to try not to do any "good things". He leaves all the work of leading people out of poverty and into prosperity to Amy and the others.
Moreover, Li Ang was also prepared to do more things that would offend people—such as stopping people from worshipping God…
Of course, the highest priority is to destroy the last codex first.
In order to destroy the Code of Eunomia, Leon asked Klose to build a 500-meter-long iron chain, which may be the longest iron chain in the entire continent.
Klose now has a large blacksmith shop, creating hundreds of jobs - he really loves blacksmithing...
And John, the honest man who used to manage the bus fleet - he is now called 'John from McShane Collar' because this name is so common that he has to use his hometown to distinguish it - John found his life's direction in rebuilding ships, and now has a civilian shipyard with a loan.
Everyone has his or her own interests and specialties, and it is best to make a living based on his or her strengths. Li Ang has been admonishing his brothers about this truth, and this is also the teaching that the "God of Wealth" is conveying.
John was just an honest and ordinary man, with no other special skills except diving. But when Leon expressed his plan to modify a boat for deep-water operations, John quickly gave him a suggestion to install a winch on the boat - so Leon immediately approved a loan for him to build a boat.
In order to wait for John to complete the modification of the ship and for Lake Erakle to completely thaw, Leon waited until the end of March before taking the statue of Kavala to deal with the Code of Eunomia.
Originally, this matter was not complicated - throw his iron statue to the bottom of the lake close to the ring at the location specified by Kavala, and Kavala would be able to make the ring completely lose its magic power.
When the ring loses its power, the griffin will most likely come out.
So Leon had to pull the statue out of the water and deal with the griffin together with Kavala and Malbert.
The griffin would definitely attack Kavala's spirit instinctively, after all, there is a deep hatred between them...
Kavala planned to use the same method that Leon and Malbert had used before, sealing the griffin into his own soul space, and returning to the temple, promising never to set foot on the continent of Pendor again.
In fact, Kavala can return to the temple at any time now - Leon has released his spiritual consciousness, and his consciousness can switch between the statue and the temple at will.
This is not a unique ability. Every god can project his divine consciousness into his own statue, but the prerequisite is... that the god has not been exiled into the void.
Although the statues of those exiled gods still provide them with faith, their consciousness cannot escape from the void, so they can only communicate with their believers through the channel of the code through things like dreams.
Once the code is destroyed, no matter how many believers there are, it will be useless.
Kavala was different. He was not exiled, but was imprisoned in the temple by Eunomia. Although he could not escape, at least his spiritual consciousness was not affected.
However, Kavala did not dare to run away before completing the entire plan, because this was a plan determined by the soul, which was equivalent to a soul contract, and Kavala could not breach the contract.
Besides, solving the problem of the ring would mean solving the problem of Eunomia, and Kavala was very willing to do this job.
The first half of the job went smoothly.
About two hours after the statue was thrown into the lake, there was movement in the water - a big movement. The whole surface of the lake was covered with bubbles and the boat was shaking violently. It felt like a powerful bomb had exploded in the water.
This might be the griffin being released, so Leon immediately began to twist the chains, preparing to deal with the griffin.
But when Li Ang twisted the chain, he was dumbfounded...
The statue was gone... the rivets had fallen off.
The iron chain and the statue are connected by two very long and strong rivets, which can also be regarded as a kind of bolts - after all, the statue and the iron chain are made separately, and there is no electric welding in those days, so drilling holes in the statue and connecting it with rivets is a very safe way.
But maybe the water was too deep, at a depth of four or five hundred meters, the water pressure probably caused the bolt hole to deform a little bit...
If there is no movement in the water and the pressure in all directions is balanced, the rivet should not fall off even if there is a little deformation.
But there was a violent vibration in the water at that time, which produced a large number of bubbles - probably to deal with the griffin. In this case, it was normal for the rivets to fall off.
This means that Kavala and Malbert will have to face the griffin alone at the bottom of the lake...
Le Ang was also helpless. He really had no intention of going back on his word. After all, no one could predict what the consequences would be after the griffin was released.
But the problem is that I really didn’t expect it…
Li Ang could only wait on the lake for a whole afternoon until the lake became calm again.
Kavala and Malbert did not appear again, and neither did the griffin...
