Chapter 186: Chapter 186: Sophist
“It seems we first need to address the living’s repulsion toward the undead creatures…”
Looking at Anwina, who was pitifully peeking out from just a small part of her head encircled in Alaya’s feathers, and then turning to glance at the three humans in a dazed state, I muttered to myself.
“This is impossible!” Uncle Knight shouted, having recovered his wits.
“Please, can you not say something so uninspired?” I shook my head, “If humans just keep saying ‘impossible’ in the face of new things, then there’s no hope for the whole world.”
“But… but…” Uncle Knight fell silent, but Victor stuttered, “An undead creature using Holy Light, even… hiding under the wings of Lord Angel…”
“She is my disciple,” Alaya immediately revealed a holy smile, then tenderly stroked the shivering head of Little Ghost next to him and said, “She’s also my sister…”
I distinctly noticed Alaya’s wings twitching unnaturally. Looking at how Anwina was pulling the feathers around her to her side from underneath Alaya, from such an uncomfortable angle… I suddenly realized that Angel Sister might have cramped her wings…
Unfortunately, the rather slow Ghost Maid seemed completely unaware of the unnatural angle she was forcing Alaya’s wings into, and instead burrowed even deeper into them…
Considering I couldn’t allow the noble and pure image of Angel Sister to crumble, I had no choice but to pull out the slow maid before Alaya burst into tears, holding onto my own maid while saying to the still shocked trio, “Perhaps it’s better to explain our plan now.”
After hearing my idea about forming the “Salvation Army,” Jaina already knew and thus showed no surprise, while Victor and Anthony looked somewhat hesitant.
“Uniting all the intelligent beings of Azeroth to fight the enemy is indeed a great plan,” Victor said carefully, “and we too hope to join more allies, but including the undead creatures as well…”
As for the Holy Knight Anthony next to him, his reaction was much clearer: “I cannot accept being aligned with the undead in any way!”
He completely disregarded Anwina’s feelings…
Feeling the slight tremor in the Ghost Maid sitting beside me, I immediately comforted her by holding her ice-cold hand and whispered, “Don’t be afraid, he’s an idiot…”
Meanwhile, as Alaya, who was nonchalantly preening his feathers on my other side, looked up and said to Uncle Knight, “Is it because you feel inferior not being able to wield the true Holy Power like my Ghost Sister?”
Sharp! If I didn’t know Alaya had truly misunderstood the situation due to his thick-headedness, I might have thought he did it on purpose!
Uncle Knight’s face turned beet red, but he couldn’t respond, not only because it was true — Anwina had indeed just used a Holy Light Skill that not even a Holy Knight might master — but also because these words came from an Angel, a genuine Holy Spokesperson. Facing this girl who was almost an embodiment of Holy Light itself, Anthony didn’t dare show any disrespect…
“I understand the living’s repulsion toward the undead, but I still have to say, your prejudice is too harsh!”
Facing my somewhat stern rebuke, Anthony clearly had thoughts but could only express his frustration while restraining himself, “Thank you for your teachings…”
He really was a straightforward Holy Knight, his lies as painfully obvious as Little Baobao hiding behind the sofa after accidentally breaking something — and that really was quite an apt metaphor…
“I know you’re not convinced, and that’s fine. You can ignore mine and Alaya’s positions for now and speak your own mind.”
Even though the cunning Victor and the sharp Jaina next to him kept making signals to him, Anthony responded without hesitation, proving again that Holy Knights generally can’t be anything but straightforward…
“Undead creatures are impure and evil! The doctrine I’ve learned also states that Holy Light and the undead cannot coexist!” It appeared Anthony was a rather radical Holy Knight — in fact, ever since the Undead Catastrophe ravaged, ninety-nine percent of the world’s Holy Knights had become this somewhat extreme sort. There was no choice; the Living World had almost been swallowed by the Undead Catastrophe, and as the innate adversaries of the undead, Holy Knights naturally loathed these breathless ‘creatures’ deeply.
Okay, I knew this Uncle Knight was one of us, and his statements were a consensus among humanity in this world, but… this theory was really quite irritating.
However, I wasn’t planning on overturning this almost universally acknowledged principle anytime soon. I just wanted to change the old-fashioned Uncle Knight’s view for now.
“According to your theory, are all undead creatures evil and impure?”
“So, my maid is an undead creature, but you think she is evil?”
“That…” Anthony immediately stumbled over his words. Even though he was radical and set in his ways, he knew that the ghost girl in front of him was a servant of the “Divine Envoy,” simply put, a Divine Servant. And with Alaya who was always protective of Anwina beside him, Anthony certainly did not dare to openly claim that God’s servant was evil.
To be honest, Anthony still couldn’t understand and couldn’t believe that the Divine Envoy and Angel favored an undead creature so much.
Seeing Anthony’s expression, I knew that although he dared not openly accuse Anwina of being guilty, this old-fashioned fellow certainly still believed that all undead creatures, including Anwina, were sinful.
“I want to know, what are the standards in the doctrines you have learned for judging whether someone is guilty?” I suddenly changed the topic, bringing up the Holy Knight’s statutes on “justice and judgment.”
Although Anthony was quite choked by my abrupt question, when it came to the fundamental knowledge of a Holy Knight, he immediately perked up and adjusted his posture before speaking, “Harming others, betraying friends, infidelity, injustices, greed… and so on, all are considered sinful.”
“Well said, then do you think Anwina has violated any of those statutes? You must list at least one, otherwise you violate one of the Holy Knight’s statutes: framing the innocent.”
Anthony’s face immediately turned bright red, clearly choked by the Holy Knight statute I mentioned.
The upright Uncle Knight looked embarrassed and racked his brain trying to find any fault Anwina had committed, but “do not frame the innocent” hung over his head continuously. After a few minutes, the knight in front of us was already sweating profusely.
Actually, I was somewhat cheating, because Anthony had never met Anwina before, he naturally couldn’t list any so-called sins of Anwina. However, since he had from the beginning decided that Anwina was an evil undead, then as a Holy Knight, he must be able to accurately point out what mistakes Anwina had made, so in this regard, I was not really making it difficult for him.
“It is clear, you cannot point any out, or rather, you are judging entirely based on the inertia thinking that ‘the undead are evil,’ without considering whether this judgment is reasonable. Now think carefully, when you judge that all undead should be purified, do you really dare swear in the name of the Holy Light that all undead creatures in the entire world of Azeroth have committed at least one mortal sin?”
“…No, I dare not assert such a thing,” Anthony answered reluctantly but honestly.
This is what I appreciate about Holy Knights, although they might be old-fashioned and fanatical, if you are truly just, they, even reluctantly, will admit their wrongdoings.
Actually, the point I mentioned was quite obvious, and any slightly rational person could easily think of it. However, the problem is, in this world, the living’s aversion to the undead has reached such insatiable levels, under these circumstances, not to mention that most people have deliberately ignored whether those unfortunate undead creatures are truly all guilty, more importantly, even if someone thought of this, would they dare to bring it up publicly?
It’s like shouting “Long live Hitler” among a group of Jewish survivors after World War II.
So when someone suddenly put this issue bluntly in front of Anthony, this upright Holy Knight immediately became helpless.
“To judge whether the other party is guilty, the premise is whether the party has made a mistake, but why are undead creatures specifically excluded? Just because of a ridiculous habit, they are treated as heretics? As criminals?”
“But the Undead Catastrophe…” Anthony, although already deeply ashamed, still insisted on mentioning this very sensitive topic.
“I admit, the majority of the undead are minions of the Catastrophe Army, they are the deadly enemies of all living beings, but—does that mean all the undead in the entire world are minions of the Catastrophe?”
Faced with my questioning, Anthony was speechless, and even Victor and Jaina beside him showed embarrassed expressions.
“I want to know, what evidence do you have for treating The Forgotten as an evil faction? Is it because they have broken free from the control of the Necromancer King, so you consider them evil? Does that mean, any undead creature, once they no longer obey the Necromancer King’s command, they are guilty? That is to say, the most important doctrine you accept is: ‘Long live the Necromancer King!’?”
If Lin Xue were here, I might immediately face the world’s most powerful barrage of ridicule… This method of concept substitution and obfuscation seems to have reached a certain extreme…
“It’s not like that!” Faced with my almost terrifying questioning, Anthony almost screamed out of control but immediately realized his rudeness, showing an ashamed expression.
“Of course, I know that’s not your view, but to be honest, as an outsider without your kind of inertia thinking, when seeing The Forgotten who have broken free from the control of the Necromancer King being attacked by human Holy Knights, we almost thought you were assistants to the Necromancer King…”
Assistants to the Necromancer King?! Anthony was shocked awake, indiscriminately suppressing those who were already free undead, wasn’t that precisely helping the Necromancer King clean up the traitors? Could it be that the so-called justice I always upheld was foolish to this extent?!
“So, although I understand your hatred, could you please be a little more clear-headed and take a good look at whether those undead you summarily execute are really guilty…”