Volume 2: Funeral Song of Crows Chapter 29: The Mad and Foolish Minister
The moment he heard the crazy laughter, William flashed to the side of the tower guard.
"Close your eyes."
He spoke simply and concisely.
"What?"
The tower keeper had no idea what was happening. He just looked around at the billowing smoke and asked in horror:
"Where does all this laughter come from?"
William didn't waste any more time talking to her and directly used the shadow spell [Blinding Darkness] to temporarily blind her.
"If you wish to maintain your sanity, do not move until I remove the blinding effect."
The sudden darkness caused the tower keeper to panic for a moment. When she heard William's words, she was about to say something, but the crazy laughter around her stopped abruptly at this moment.
“What just happened was…”
Before she finished her question, a more crazy laugh suddenly broke out. This time, the sound seemed to ring directly in her ears.
A burst of madness from deep within her heart was awakened along with this laughter, and restlessness and anxiety grew and spread in her heart. She opened her mouth to scream or shout something, but could only drag out a hoarse and weak hum.
Even though her vision was dark due to the blinding effect of [Blind Darkness], it became colorful because of this laughter. The crazy colors like a kaleidoscope kept spinning, making her feel like she would be pulled into a crazy vortex at any time...
"That's enough, Valk!"
Just before she was about to fall completely crazy, a voice appeared like lightning across the night sky, and the horrible laughter stopped abruptly.
Valk?
The tower keeper, who was pulled out of the quagmire of madness by that voice, felt confused instead of fear or shock when he heard the name "Valk".
It wasn't that she didn't know that was the name of the Mad Fool.
But this name is too far away from me.
So far back that in her impression, Valk should be a name that only exists in ancient books.
He shouldn't be able to make such a captivating laugh in his ears like this.
Then, another question popped up in the tower keeper's mind.
If the one who was laughing wildly just now was the Mad Fool, then who would be the person beside her who dared to call him by his name?
…………
The dark smoke flowed and took shape, turning into a velvet-like curtain.
Then there was wild laughter coming from all directions, as if they were in a theater at the moment.
No, at this moment they were really in a theater.
After William used [Blinding Darkness] to seal the tower keeper's vision, he looked around and found that everything around him had changed.
The originally small sealing room was transformed into an extremely spacious and luxurious theater, which could be described as magnificent and golden. William and the tower keeper were standing in the first row of the audience.
There were three empty seats behind them, and around them were faceless people sitting like window mannequins.
It’s not quite right to call them faceless people, after all, each of them has a crescent-shaped mouth on their face.
And the crazy laughter kept coming out of their mouths.
William turned his gaze coldly to the center of the stage, and the audience around him stopped laughing instantly.
The curtain then slowly retreated to both sides, revealing a dark stage. Suddenly, a spotlight came on, shining on the gray-white "Mania".
At this moment, it was squatting in the center of the stage with its knees hugged, its head buried in its arms, not saying a word.
With a "click", another spotlight hit the edge of the stage.
A clown wearing an extremely complicated king's costume appeared there, with thick oil paint on his face and an exaggerated clown hat with three horns detached, and a tinkling brass bell hanging on each corner.
The complicated costume was divided into two halves in the middle. The colors of one half were as bright as an Impressionist painting, while the colors of the other half were as monotonous as a sketch.
The clown's eyes were wide open like those of some cat, and there was no doubt that he had an exaggerated smile on his face - so exaggerated that the corners of his mouth were almost pulling up to his ears.
Valk, the jester of madness and folly.
He symbolizes everything that transcends the constraints of rules and seems extreme in the eyes of ordinary people.
He is also the god of comedy and tragedy. His moon realm is called the Theater of Ecstasy, where he repeatedly replays all the tragedies and comedies that happen in the world for his amusement.
Valk was holding a crooked scepter in his hand at this time, and he came to the side of "Mania" with funny steps .
The demon general squatting on the ground raised his head and looked at his master with a confused look.
“Hahahahahahahaha!”
When Valk saw its idiotic expression, he couldn't help but hold his stomach and burst into laughter. While laughing, he kept poking the other party with the scepter in his hand.
The crazy laughter of this Void King naturally echoed in the ears of everyone present, as if He was standing next to them and laughing wildly.
"That's enough, Valk!"
William said.
For the Void Kings, their every word and action, even if they do not deliberately use their power, will have a huge spiritual impact on the people around them. Mortals whose spiritual power has not reached the level of the God Realm will naturally be corrupted and assimilated by the realm they represent.
Even though she had blocked the lantern keeper's vision, if she allowed this mad and nihilistic king to continue laughing like this, the woman would probably only have one expression on her face in the future: "laughing wildly".
Or maybe he would just laugh until he suffocated to death in this theater.
Hearing William's words, Valk's laughter stopped immediately. He turned his head and looked at the gray-haired man with a pair of cat-like eyes.
The next moment, his body quickly turned into a vortex, twisting and disappearing.
At the same time, a young man dressed as a gentleman came out from the seat next to William. He was wearing a half purple and half gray suit, a tall round hat on his head, and holding a pure gold cane in his hand.
His attire changed from that of an actor on the stage to that of an audience member off the stage.
As soon as he sat down, he raised his hat slightly, saluted William and said:
"Mr. Disaster, it's been a long time since we last met. To be more specific, it's been one thousand and eight years, five months and fourteen days. I still remember the fire you set in my theater before you left. But thanks to you, I also watched the most realistic "The Burning of the Palace of Case" that day. I have to thank you for this alone."
"You are welcome."
William replied calmly, as if he was talking to an old friend, and he even sat down next to Him.
In William's perception, they were still in the sealed room. The mad fool beside him was just an illusion of some power that had penetrated through the moon realm rift of this star lighthouse. He was not even an incarnation.
So, instead of directly dispersing the other party, he was curious about what the other party wanted to talk to him about.
After all, as the "manic" said before, Valk had already guessed that he would come here.
And if we count from the time when the Star Lighthouse was built, Valk might have known that he would come back eight hundred years ago.
"How did you know I would come back?"
William asked straight to the point.
In response, the other party kept the exaggerated smile on his face and replied:
"No, no, no, I was actually never sure whether you would come back."
Then He continued:
"But a few years after you left, I made a bet with Beatrice. We bet on whether you would come back before the end of the Platinum Age. She bet you wouldn't, and I bet you would. The stakes were two eyes."
He said this, and with a smile he reached his hand into a vortex of nothingness. A female scream came out from the vortex, and when he pulled his hand back, there were two black beads emitting cold air in his palm.
He looked at William's dazed expression and said cheerfully:
"To be honest, I'm at a disadvantage in this bet. After all, the spider has eight eyes, and I only have two."
"Fortunately, I won."
