Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 1037: Chapter 1036: Further Awakening

Cold Month 15th, Cecil Castle was already beginning to be filled with the atmosphere of victory.

For ordinary citizens, the complex entanglements of interests between nations are too profound, and the knowledge involving gods is too distant. Many cannot understand the many truths behind this war, but a war ending in victory is always worth celebrating—even though the official ceasefire announcement has not been released, and negotiations between the Typhon and Cecil have not even begun, many good news have started to spread in the big cities with convenient communication. In this last month of winter, these good news invigorate people’s spirits just like the upcoming Revival Month.

Near the Imperial Academy, a tall young man with short silver hair was quickly walking down the street.

The snow that had accumulated on the streets a few days ago had been cleared away, and dirty snow piles were nestled under the street trees on either side of the road, ready to transform into new nourishment for the trees when the weather warms up. A few children in thick winter clothes were running back and forth between the snow piles, playing snowball fights with the dirty snow without caring whether their clothes got dirty. Meanwhile, some citizens on holiday lazily walked by, with some standing at doorways discussing various recent news circulating in the city—mostly about the war at the border.

Ordinary people’s understanding of war is always very superficial. Even if they may have experienced a displaced life themselves, they still cannot accurately describe this major war between the Typhon and the Cecil. They discuss the Empire’s victory, the enemy’s retreat, and rumors of gods losing control and church pollution in their own understanding. These voices reached the ears of the silver-haired young man, who then showed a helpless smile, quickened his pace, and soon crossed this not very long street.

He arrived at a clean and tidy street-side residence, glanced at the doorplate number in front of him, stepped up a few steps, and took out a key to open the door. A warm current of air rushed in immediately.

The young man stepped into the house, and the warmth brought by central heating quickly dissipated the cold accumulated on his journey. He craned his neck to take a look in the direction of the living room, while casually taking off his coat and hanging it on a hook on the nearby wall—footsteps quickly came from the stairs, and a familiar voice sounded moments later, "Hi! Fendil! I heard the door open and guessed it was you coming back!"

The silver-haired northern heir, Fendil Weld, looked toward the sound and saw Elywen Franklin, who looked tired with slightly messy hair, walking over. He smiled slightly, "You look as if you haven’t slept for a year."

"I’ve been completing coursework assigned by my mentor—some calculations on magic power loss in crystals... hah, nothing worth boasting about, it’s nothing compared to what a ’great hero’ just back from the battlefield must have experienced." Elywen, with short brown hair and slightly shorter stature, came up to Fendil, glanced at the officer’s coat Fendil had just hung on the wall, and a trace of admiration appeared in his expression, "You’re someone who has been on the battlefield now."

"Don’t say it like that," Fendil quickly waved his hand, "I’m just an ungraduated officer cadet—His Majesty assigned us to second-line corps. Most of the time, I and other officer cadets, as well as new recruits, were busy on the supply line between Winterhold Castle and Winterwolf Fortress. Apart from being a bit nervous when transporting supplies to the artillery positions on the front line, I have hardly been truly exposed to the battlefield and cannot claim any military achievements."

Elywen couldn’t help but scan Fendil up and down, "I didn’t realize you’re such a modest person."

Fendil laughed and, while walking towards the living room, casually said, "If you had a strict aunt, you’d be as modest as I am too—she sent me a magic web message specifically when she found out I was going to the front lines as an intern officer, basically with one thing to say: if I dared to replace merit or boast about battlefield experiences, she would freeze me and hang me on the highest tower of Bitter Winter Castle..."

Elywen immediately shrank his neck, "I feel like Lady Victoria would actually do that..."

"She certainly would—so we better not continue discussing this terrifying topic," Fendil plopped down on the soft sofa in the living room, the feeling of relaxation soothing his nerves and muscles that had been tense since leaving the front lines. He glanced at his friend coming over, with a look on his face he only showed when asking for help, "Elywen, I need your help with something..."

"Me, help?" Elywen pointed at himself in surprise, "Is it about math and mage course work again? You still have those kinds of courses in your second phase of the officer cadet program?"

"Of course not," Fendil quickly waved his hand, "I just need your grammar proficiency—you know, I’m not good at this."

"Grammar?" Elywen frowned slightly, understanding Fendil’s request, "Fendil, did you meet a girl in the military who moved your heart? But I must remind you, love letters are best written personally..."

"Stop, stop, stop, it’s not that either!" Fendil was both amused and exasperated by his friend’s overly imaginative mind, waving his hand forcefully, "This is about something serious, assigned by superiors, but I feel a bit at a loss, so I’d like your help. And don’t worry, it doesn’t involve secrecy."

Elywen hesitated a bit, but seeing his friend’s serious look, he nodded, "Well, it depends on the specific content of the help, I reserve the right to refuse."

"It’s simple, His Majesty wants some of us who experienced this war to write something," Fendil slowly organized his language, thinking of the celebratory atmosphere in the city, as well as those citizens discussing the news on the streets, "About who this war was fought with, why it was fought, the consequences after the fight, and how this war is connected to people of all social strata—I know how to say it, but I need your help to polish the content."

Elywen listened seriously to the content his friend mentioned, but couldn’t help showing a hint of curiosity, "I understand what you want me to do, but... why do this?"

...

"Let’s call it a step towards further ’awakening’, to free people from the mire of ignorance and blindness," in Cecil Palace, Gawain returned to his familiar study, with Amber as usual standing by his side, and his words were meant for this inquisitive half-elf to hear, "In fact, we should have done this before the war started—it’s just that changes exceeded the plan, and we couldn’t catch up in time."

He glanced thoughtfully at Amber, who was thinking, and seriously explained, "To let intellectuals in the military summarize common knowledge about the war, to sort out the thread behind the war, to have the propaganda department conduct a ’war analysis’ for citizens, telling everyone with whom and why we fought from the aspects of motivation, meaning, and long-term impact, telling everyone why we achieved victory, why we obtained peace. In a way, this is as important as the knowledge dissemination we have been committed to."

"I think I understand your idea," Amber mused seriously for a moment, her ears even drooping a bit in thought, but ultimately, she understood Gawain’s idea, "it’s that concept you mentioned before... the nation, ethnicity, society—people must first understand what kind of collective they belong to, to establish an identity with this collective, and further establish a relatively long-lasting cohesion...that’s the idea, right?"

"That’s a big part of it," Gawain was delighted that Amber seriously remembered the things he usually taught her (though she would often remember a bunch of things she didn’t need to remember at all), "We need to build a more progressive and open society, which requires us to have more progressive and open social members, and in this regard, both Typhon and Cecil are far from enough. People need to know more reason, to think more, and to be able to discern right from wrong, rather than facing social changes in a state of ignorance and eventually attributing these changes to heroes, emperors, or ’heaven’s blessing’—if such a situation really occurs, then many of our efforts would be in vain."

"I understand what you mean, but it’s not easy to achieve," Amber pouted, seemingly not very optimistic. "Those who can think rationally and discern right from wrong are always a minority. Even if tens of thousands of scholars tirelessly explain how the world works, millions of people will still continue to remain blind. What’s more, they will misinterpret, take your teachings out of context, or intentionally distort them. After all, what you are teaching them now is no longer just simple spelling and arithmetic, but the intricate structures deep within the nation and society."

"Indeed, those who can think rationally and discern right from wrong are always a minority... But even if we can change just one percent of the people, the impact on the whole society would be enormous," Gawain leaned back in his chair, fingers interlocked, and placed them relaxed in front of him, "Moreover, the more important significance lies in giving ordinary people the opportunity to think—regardless of whether their thoughts are profound or shallow, right or wrong, the act of thinking itself is what matters most.

"We need to let everyone know that everything in this world follows certain laws, from their daily lives to the wars between empires. These are all explainable, and further natural phenomena and social changes should also be understandable. Once this concept gradually takes root, we can finally take a breather."

Amber blinked: "Even if a bunch of foolish people debate a pile of stupid questions with muddled minds after reading the newspapers, it’s better than having them shout ’God bless’ when faced with incomprehensible things?"

"Your summary... is really spot on," Gawain looked at Amber with some surprise, "I hadn’t thought of such a good summary."

"I usually study hard too, you know!" Amber immediately placed her hands on her hips in delight, "The concepts you usually talk about are all complex and hard to understand, and I don’t want to be ridiculed by Aunt Heidi and Rebecca every time."

Gawain looked at the half-elf with an amused expression. He was already familiar with her character, knowing that a little praise would always make her smug, but at least this time she truly understood his philosophy, so allowing her to feel self-satisfied for a moment was no big deal.

While Amber was basking in her triumph, Gawain fell back into his thoughts.

He had now returned to Cecil Castle, but the "war" between Typhon and the Cecil Clan had not yet truly ended. The two empires had ceased fire, and the Typhon Empire agreed to the conditions for a ceasefire negotiation in the neutral elf territory. Emperor Rosetta Augustus had sent a personally signed letter acknowledging the "Commonwealth Alliance" plan in his personal capacity. However, both the ceasefire negotiations and the establishment of the "Commonwealth Alliance" would require some time.

Emperor Rosetta Augustus had already returned to Aldernon. In this disaster, which had mobilized the entire nation, the Typhon Empire had paid a huge price. Now Rosetta had to find a way to stabilize the precarious domestic situation. Fortunately, he had prepared in advance, decisively eliminating almost all domestic opposition, and controlled all key aspects of the country with absolute military power. The aristocratic military forces, including Duke Ferdinand Wendell, firmly stood by the royal family. In theory, as long as these military aristocrats remained firm, the situation within Typhon would not deteriorate. With trade resuming between the two nations and the economy warming up, everything would improve.

On the other hand, Gawain and Rosetta also sent out "invitations" to the countries with which they had diplomatic relations, urging them to send representatives to jointly address the changes in world affairs.

The war on the Typhon-Cecil border had devastated the entire plain and shaken the whole world. Even though no more countries were drawn into this disaster, countless eyes were focused on this war and the shocking "Mad Gods" in the final battle. Gawain believed that every country concerned with this war had its own means, and their rulers should have caught wind of the secrets behind this divine disaster—most of them should now be trapped in a complex mindset of fear and confusion. Now... Typhon and the Cecil Clan would officially disclose this divine disaster.

But regarding the specific content to be disclosed... it requires careful consideration and cautious handling.

Gawain must consider the still stable and normal gods and their churches, preventing the disclosed information from being excessively provocative, causing the gods behind these churches to show signs of instability. At the same time, he must ensure that the information disclosed is substantial enough to shock the world and alert national leaders to the fact that gods are not flawless protectors, making them realize that gods also have hidden risks of losing control.

While considering these issues, another matter continuously occupied Gawain’s mind:

To eliminate a mad War God, Typhon and the Cecil Clan had already paid a huge price, but there were far more gods in this world.

Such costs—how many more times can all mortals collectively pay them?

Not to mention the immense hidden risks behind such head-on elimination—after a divine seat is vacant, if the subsequent spiritual reconstruction and ideological guidance for the masses do not follow through, if many ordinary people still habitually venerate the corresponding gods and attribute things to them, the fallen gods will eventually return to their divine places, rendering the enormous sacrifices made to eliminate the Mad Gods meaningless.

It was precisely due to this concern that Gawain considered further enlightenment for the entire population, pushing forward efforts to analyze war and explain political and economic principles, but he knew that even this would not be enough.

Overall, he worried about two things: First, the sheer number of gods in the world; even if mortals could slay a god once, it would be nearly impossible to sweep away all gods. Second, he worried that subsequent spiritual reconstruction would not keep up, and people’s habitual prayers and blind reverence for unknown entities would allow gods to reclaim their divine seats.

As he pondered, he instinctively scribbled on a blank sheet of paper with his pen, starting with a few random letters, followed by some hastily written words.

Amber, having just returned to her usual self after her smug moment, noticed Gawain’s actions. Curious, she leaned over to take a look.

An unfamiliar term caught her eye:

God Authority Council.

(The special episode of the "Record of Unusual Creatures" animation needs more support. The current view count isn’t optimistic—it requires at least ten minutes of viewing to count as a view...)