When the plot-skips players into the game world

Iris Flower, Laisser. Lam Champagne Church.

When Aiwass and his group arrived, it was already late at night.

"The name... sounds strange."

Yulia murmured, "Sounds like some kind of wine name."

After all, it was Yulia's first time abroad. And her first trip abroad was to the Land of Love and Beauty. Although Laisser was not considered the art capital of the Iris Kingdom, the various novel and magnificent buildings made her involuntarily widen her eyes.

Aiwass smiled and reached out to stroke Yulia's hair, holding the girl whose eyes seemed to contain stars in his arms.

"—Ah, because it actually is a wine name."

Answering Yulia was Arsene.

Speaking of this, he clicked his tongue, "Honestly, this wine is mediocre. Otherwise, they wouldn't be advertising it."

Arsene didn't feel this was something worth bragging about; he even felt a bit embarrassed.

"Because Iris and the Holy Nation have a bad relationship... or rather, their relationship with elven people isn't very good, so the Holy Nation hasn't appointed Elf Bishops in Iris."

Aiwass answered softly, "Of course... I think one important reason is that Iris is one of the few human countries that accept dwarves, and elves have always been cold toward dwarves."

At this point, Aiwass couldn't help but laugh.

He recalled a joke — part of Iris's culture resembles that of his previous life in France. In France, there's a famous saying: only women, dwarfs, and foreigners can save France.

The presence of dwarves indeed allows the Iris's admiration for the Path of Beauty to develop technology normally. The Iris's worship of art is like the previous life's nations' worship of sciences... it's on the level of "no matter your talent, if your academic performance is good or you're smart enough, you ought to study art."

In such circumstances, technological stagnation and industrial backwardness are the norm.

If it weren't for the dwarves, their technology would be far more behind than neighboring countries. It's precisely because of the military optimized by dwarves that even the fully armed Star Antimony dares not invade Iris lightly; armed with these weapons, its surrounded by sea, Avalon — which should have the foremost navy — breaks upon clashing.

From this point of view, the dwarves have indeed done their best. Without them, Iris might have been annexed by Star Antimony fifty years ago.

"But even when there's no sponsorship from the Holy Nation, the church is a necessary existence. Even with many witches providing magic potions, the higher-ups in Iris don't need the priests' healing that much... But without the church's protection, the undead would really be too numerous.

"Even though a Priest of the first level can officiate funerals, it is about a nation's population — Iris's population is considerably larger than Avalon's. Even if it's just for purifying the undead and letting the deceased rest in peace, a certain proportion of Transcendent contributors is needed."

Aiwass spoke softly: "And devotion... needs money."

This point also made Aiwass feel quite ironic.

Just like how alchemy on the Path of Balance burns money, the Path of Devotion also needs money — as individual Path of Devotion Transcendents might not need to spend much, but at the church level, it costs a lot. Uniforms, holy statues, churches, consecration and ritual materials, ordinary clergy's salaries, plus expenses for maintaining nursing homes, orphanages, or church schools… it's a large amount of money that must be spent continuously.

With witches competing for business treating dignitaries and the Son of the Moon largely unwilling to accept priests' healing, it becomes hard for priests—whose levels are generally lower than in other countries—to earn enough.

—In these circumstances, priests can only rely on "sponsorship."

"Lam Champagne Church is sponsored by 'Lam Brand Champagne'. The church was built by them, and the attached church school, welfare homes, and charity halls also have their financial support."

Arsene scoffed, "Willingness to fund the construction of churches is great for a company's reputation... But the problem lies here. Among capitalists, there are hardly any philanthropists. Most of those who need to fund the construction of churches usually do so because they are morally bankrupt, trying to balance their reputation.

"For instance, Lam Champagne — they had a 'stolen formula' scandal about thirty years ago. A century-old champagne brand, 'Saint Reilo Champagne', publicly accused them of stealing, copying their formula. Those who have drunk both champagne brands can note the similarities and differences—Lam Champagne's quality has shrunk by a third, the materials used are significantly inferior… Nowadays, their quality has deteriorated even more, adding synthetic flavors for enhancement; I even suspect their alcohol might be synthetic too. Of course, their prices are only a third of the classic 'Saint Reilo Champagne', and they haven't increased in thirty years.

"Just because they were criticized nationwide, they funded the construction of churches and welfare homes to try to divert attention. This tactic works well, after all, some people just need cheap wine. They aren't short of supporters, and such 'sacred sponsorship' becomes a selling point for whitewashing. Now thirty years later, 'Saint Reilo Champagne' has gone bankrupt, and young people don't know about the scandal."

"...Sounds quite interesting."

Sitting beside reading a book, Sherlock raised his head when he heard the topic.

He glanced at Aiwass, briefly stating, "This is essentially letting the church endorse them, isn't it— in exchange, let a portion of the ill-gotten gains be plowed back into society."

"Yes," Aiwass nodded, "After all, low-level contributors have an invincible reputation in the folk. Most people don't know how demented the Path of Devotion becomes at higher levels, because ordinary folks can't reach above the fourth level.

"Especially with so many poor people in Iris... stable daily porridge provision from charity halls can offset any bad reputation. So many people live by them; if the company closed down, how many would starve to death? Aren't these starving people their voting base?

"So regardless of how bad their reputation is, how solid the brand and quality of Saint Reilo Champagne are, or how overwhelming the evidence is, the Iris Council can't — and doesn't dare make a move against Lam Champagne.

"I know you dislike such immoral businessmen, Arsene. But actually, there's no need to be too concerned about this... Though the initial intention is bad, at least the result is good, isn't it?"

"...But, Aiwass, do you think this is right?"

Isabel frowned slightly, feeling somewhat confused.

As an Avalonian, she felt the Irisflower People's approach of doing illegal acts first and then using money to buy fame to protect themselves was simply absurd—this would have been quickly resolved by the Arbitration Hall in Avalon.

Yet she couldn't quite articulate it. Because these people indeed saved tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands through this means...

Using illicit money to bestow favors, allowing the benefited poor to protect themselves—

Stealing and plagiarizing recipes is evidently wrong, causing a century-old reputable brand to close down is even worse. Yet a considerable portion of their profits are used to sustain social welfare undertakings...

On her way to the Vandome Mansion a few days ago, Isabel saw the Lam Champagne Welfare House and Lam Champagne Alms House. She didn't see inside the welfare house, but there was a long line of hundreds of people waiting for porridge at the door of the alms house.

It was a kind of salty porridge with onions, small amounts of fish, and plenty of rice. It was not nutritionally rich, but at least it was possible to survive on porridge alone. She even witnessed poorly dressed children taking a portion of porridge, finishing it, and then returning to the end of the queue to stand in line again—intuitively it seemed against the rules, but others showed no response, indicating it had become a norm.

It's precisely because they have sufficient funds that they don't care about such trivial matters.

And the reason they have ample funds is that the quality of Lam Champagne is deteriorating, costs are dropping. As profits increase, there's also a need for whitewashing... But this is clearly wrong.

Saint Reilo Champagne was driven out because its taste was similar, leading to its closure—if they were willing to take out some funds to sponsor the Holy Church, doubtlessly it would smooth out the differences in this regard. However, they didn't do anything wrong, there is no need for them to do so... And their quality is robust, so there's no profit competition with Lam Champagne.

Those who did wrong were supported; whereas those without any wrongdoing ended up with nothing.

This caused Isabel's mind to crash, entering a deadlock.

"There aren't so many 'right' and 'wrong' in this world, Isabel. Although you don't have a desire for Authority, you are still immersed..."

Aiwass said calmly, "Because, quite frankly, this is the Irisflower government's issue. They leave so many people homeless, without clothes or food, wandering the streets. These immoral businessmen can clean their names in this way because they are taking on responsibilities that should have been handled by the Irisflower government.

"It's like the street gangs in Avalon. Isn't it because the Supervisory Bureau can't maintain the order in Lohar District that a new local order emerged? Since local residents chose them, it indicates at least they are irreplaceable.

"If truly wicked corporations are to disappear, it's only when the Iris Council takes responsibility—finding ways to solve the widespread slums. Impose taxes and fines on corporations, use the funds to support public welfare undertakings and sponsor the church. After all, eliminating undead from the city benefits everyone... this should have been funded by the nation."

"Since they don't want to pay, don't want to manage, don't want to save people—when someone else does it, don't blame him for acquiring support he shouldn't have received. Originally, this support should have belonged to the Iris Council, shouldn't it?"

"... Is this a form of Dedication too?"

Arsene seemed enlightened listening to Aiwass: "Using the interests of others to help others... So the church keeps silent?"

"Hmm. Justice is not Dedication, Justice is Authority. Though it's a form of hypocrisy, hypocrisy is better than pure evil."

Aiwass nodded slightly, "But in the end, it's because this land itself is sick. Son of the Moon, Hawkeye... they aren't the people's choice. Nobles, councils... they never cared for these grassroots masses. When everyone is devouring others, right and wrong don't exist. Because from the beginning, you can't choose the 'right'. "

"People take evil for granted, slaughter as expected, dying as natural. And wanting to cure the disease requires removing the lesions. But these lesions are on them... clearing the lesions demands killing."

Aiwass looked at the empty Lam Champagne Church, with only candles flickering.

According to intelligence, the Blood Celestial Marshal is beneath this sinful land.

When he arrived here, the Blood Celestial Marshal would surely have sensed his presence.

Yet the Blood Celestial Marshal showed no response.

Perhaps laying an ambush for Aiwass, or perhaps wanting to talk to him.

Aiwass decides to trust the Blood Celestial Marshal this once—with Don Quixote's protection, he finds the confidence to choose trust.

His gaze is profound: "So that's why I said, Yulia chose an extraordinarily arduous Path.

"She wants to give these people a way out... which essentially equals trying to oppose the entire era alone, to counter the evil, greed, and Void in millions of hearts. She wants to save people through killing, yet bear the hostility of those saved...this is much harder than killing people to save people and bearing people's praise."

"Should she succeed, it will undoubtedly be a monumental achievement spread through the ages—accomplishing becoming Celestial Marshal, becoming Candidate Pillar God."

This perhaps is why Hourglass chose Yulia.