Shadow Slave novel Chapter 2151

Warden remained silent for a while, looking at the sprawling expanse of the castle, the beautiful lake beyond, and the dark palisade of twisted trees in the distance.

The castle was still teeming with abominations, the depths of the lake hid horrors beyond description, and the forest itself was one enormous, slumbering monster… now that the vermilion dragon was gone, there was nothing left to keep that monster in check, and it would probably come to life soon.

And yet, Jest had never seen the young knight, Warden of Valor, look troubled while braving the perils of this nightmarish land.

He looked quite troubled now, though, while thinking about the real world.

Eventually, Warden sighed.

"Now that I have a son, I can't help but think about the future. Both the distant future and the immediate future… all I can see ahead is trouble."

Jest raised his eyebrows and chuckled.

"Check your eyesight, maybe?"

Warden shook his head.

"The distant future is too hard to predict, because the nature of how we live our lives has fundamentally changed. I am not talking about the Nightmare Spell and the Nightmare Creatures — I am talking about ourselves. About humans. Human lives have always been shaped by those in power, and therefore, established power structures had remained more or less the same for thousands of years. But now, all those structures have become meaningless."

The young knight raised a hand and made a fist.

"That is because there seems to be no limit to personal power anymore. We were mundane people not too long ago, but now we are Awakened who possess superhuman strength and mystical abilities. It is reasonable to assume that there are higher rungs on this ladder — there are Fallen monsters, after all, and Ascended Memories. So, someone will find a way to grow even more powerful sooner or later, and then even more powerful after that."

He paused for a moment and looked at Jest somberly.

"The framework of humanity is built upon the principle that an individual can't defeat an army, though. It's the fundamental principle… remove it, and the whole structure will collapse. We, Awakened, are already so tough that killing us with conventional weapons is a tall task. What about Ascended? What about those who will one day transcend even that theoretical frontier?"

Warden shook his head with a wary expression on his face.

"The nature of power itself will change. So, the shape of our lives will be changed, as well… for better or worse."

Jest blinked a few times and stared at the young knight for a few moments. Then, he raised a hand and pointed an accusing finger at him.

"You're… you're from a rich family, aren't you?! Damn! That explains so much!"

Warden tilted his head in confusion.

"That… is not a reaction I expected."

Jest let out a laugh.

"Listen, all these profound contemplations of yours are a dead giveaway. Only spoiled brats from bureaucrat families have enough time to waste it on learning fancy words and studying philosophy. The rest of us are too busy making a living, and a miserable one at that!"

Warden blinked.

"That's not philosophy, though? That's mainly history and a bit of sociology. A smidgen of anthropology, at best."

Jest pointed again.

"See! Fancy words!"

The young knight coughed and looked away with a hint of embarrassment.

"...My parents were engineers, to be precise. Not bureaucrats."

Jest grinned.

Military engineers were also elites. And although Warden did not say that his parents had belonged to the army, there was no doubt that they had — after all, everyone worth anything used to be conscripted, back when the regime still existed.

Before the Nightmare Spell.

"Anyway, that's what you are afraid of? That your son will grow up in a world ruled by a handful of tyrants who can annihilate armies single-handedly?"

Warden grimaced.

"It's a gross oversimplification, but basically… yes."

Jest laughed.

"What's the problem, then? Isn't there an obvious solution?"

The young knight raised an eyebrow.

"There is?"

Jest nodded, then shrugged with a confused expression.

"Well, of course. You just have to make sure to become one of those omnipotent tyrants yourself."

He himself would undoubtedly die an untimely death by harboring such ambitions… but if it was Warden, then it could actually be possible. If anyone was capable of gaining great power in this dreadful new world, then it was their intrepid leader. After all, the guy was already ostensibly ruling the castle and had a large group of powerful Awakened following him.

Warden studied Jest for a few moments, then smiled strangely.

Warden looked at him silently for a while, thinking about something.

Eventually, he shook his head.

"No way, have you been an optimist this whole time?"

Jest scratched the back of his head.

"Have my sunny personality and amazing sense of humor not relayed that? Anyway, I do understand your concerns. There are crazy people everywhere, and many of them have Awakened, as well. There are already horror stories being told about the guy who controls the train tracks. The factions formed by the former members of the secret police is… very creepy, too. And those fanatics going around trying to convert people, they're the creepiest! Honestly, what we need to do is gather the guys that reside in the castle out there in the real world, as well, and form a faction of our own. Better safe than sorry."

Warden remained silent for a while, then smiled.

"...You're just saying that because you want my help in retrieving your girlfriend, right?"

Jest grinned.

"She's from the castle too, is she not? More than that, her Aspect is quite useful… unlike mine. If you want to become one of the omnipotent tyrants of the distant future, you'll need people like her."

Warden lingered for a while.

Eventually, he shrugged.

"Well, why not? Let's gather a team of reliable people and go on a trip to the north. We can invite more of our fellow Awakened who reside there to join us in NQSC, as well. I'm not sure what shape the future will take, but if we want to even have a say in what happens to us, we need to consolidate our powerbase first… building a reliable foundation is the most important step, after all. And if we want to build a bastion of safety for us and our families, we will need a truly robust foundation."

Jest grinned, prompting Warden to look at him with suspicion.

"...What?"

Jest shook his head.

"No, no… it's nothing. It's just that, speaking of robust foundations… uh… wait, I almost have it!"

There was definitely a joke in there!

Warden took a deep breath and turned away.

"Right. I'll be going then… let's meet in the real world, when we wake up." _{freewebnσvel.cѳm}

The goal of their trip to the north was quite simple — to gather a few of the Awakened following Warden from there and bring them all to NQSC.

However, many things changed as a result of that journey, and both of them were changed, as well.