"Of course... that's it." Gilbert smiled and looked at me calmly, "Did someone ask you to come to me, right? I asked this kind of question back then, but ended up eating some. Bitter.”
"Kudou...? Are you locked up too?" I asked in surprise.
Gilbert said with some surprise: "You said, 'Yeah', I only know a few people so far, but since you don't know anything, it means those people didn't tell you these things, so it's Because there are others who are at least guilty, right?”
No, not really. This can only be regarded as a small talk, more akin to fraud.
I believe that if Gilbert were still that quick-thinking sociologist, he would have been able to see this little trap easily, but it is obvious that decades of living here have partially erased his awareness of this kind of trap. Rhetoric vigilance, so...
Time does smooth things out.
Such as memory, such as habits, such as some feelings.
"But since he is an immortal, then no matter what kind of punishment, the immortal will not die, right?" I said softly.
"This matter is actually nothing new among the old people in this town. It's just that no one has done anything heinous in the past few decades, so in the end no one mentioned it anymore. ." Gilbert smiled and said, "If I were to choose the most scary moment in my life, it should be that time, right?"
He sat on the sofa, raised his head slightly, and said thoughtfully: "This is what happened when I first came to this town. This town was not what it is now. Rather, although it is peaceful, there is an undercurrent underneath. It's not that simple. Like you, I used to think that the problems here were very big, so I always questioned the original choice of the undead. Therefore, at that time, the leader of the so-called underground organization in this town came to find I hope that the questions I weave will raise the cause of the undead and call on other undead to respond to their activities."
"Having foreseen the city's current problems, I naturally agreed, but I didn't think deeply at the time, so I myself became one of the many problems in the town."
He sneered and said, "Isn't it surprising? I thought I was smart, but I didn't expect that my appearance would be one of them."
"But these are not important anymore, after all, those things are too far away for me." Gilbert sighed, "Where did we talk about? Oh yes, one of the organizers found me, Right?"
He fell into thought again.
"We hit it off immediately, and everyone involved in the organization agreed to the matter, but what was a little troublesome was how to publicize these things... After all, the founder of the town also lived here, so no matter what, this matter is of great significance to It's all very important to us, and in the end we chose the stupidest way - word of mouth. Because for us... what we lack is never time."
"After the organization further grows, we believe that the power of our representatives is enough to attract Rebeth's attention. According to my inference, she will implement at least part of our ideas to stabilize us people."
I said affectionately: "But Rebes has thought of it a long time ago, right?"
"It is better to say that she has thought of it a long time ago, or rather she has noticed it a long time ago, but she has never taken it to heart, and has no intention of realizing our wishes. She just stubbornly goes down a road that no one knows, and she will not pay attention to us. She doesn’t want to win anyone’s approval, and she will never stop because of any obstacles - our attack just made her step a little slower.”
"When we thought we could, we held demonstrations." Gilbert twirled his teacup slightly uneasily, "Then the demonstrations stopped."
"I'm not a professional, but I have never seen such an earth-shattering posture. The ground under our feet turned into mud in an instant, and then the mud fell in after all the demonstrators fell into it. , and it became a solid rock.”
That is...fossils turned into mud, and mud turned into stone.
It is a magic that I often use, but to release magic on a large scale, even I have to use a magic circle to assist in casting spells. From this point of view, Rebes's strength is obviously ready to be revealed.
Not surprisingly, it is the legendary magician.
"Are you going to accept the punishment next?" I came back to my senses and said to Gilbert who was slightly silent.
Gilbert looked at the sun outside the window and smiled at me softly: "The punishment... has already begun. People will only realize the value of something after losing it, and I also clearly understand Now you know what the so-called personal freedom is."
I gasped as if I had thought of something: "It can't be... you were solidified directly under the ground, right?"
"The undead will not die." Gilbert emphasized: "But we will also be hungry, thirsty, and long for sunlight. The undead are still human in their desire to survive, even if... … We don’t necessarily need these things.”
"Just when we thought we would be buried underground forever, things finally turned around." Gilbert said as if he was mocking himself. "We were dug out five years later when the square was being rebuilt. They needed to rebuild. Roads and squares, beautiful stone roads and brick squares were built, so they dug us up, and Rebeth found me as if she just remembered us at this time."
"'You're right, we need ways to punish evil people.' That's what she said to me, with that tone as if nothing had happened. Of course it would be annoying if it were normal, but it's a pity that at that time I My spirit had been wasted to the point of depletion, so I responded to her in a confused manner. Later, in order to dig out the big hole created by our group back then, I continued to dig deeper at her request... and it became the current prison cell. ." Gilbert sighed, "Our idea, in part, was realized in a twisted way that was completely unpalatable, because compared to ordinary punishment, I can understand the landfill better. kind of pain."
I hesitated for a moment, then expressed my feelings: "Rebes sounds like a tyrant."
Gilbert said calmly: "In a sense, she is indeed a tyrant. On the one hand, her recognition of our individual real feelings is almost zero, on the other hand, she is almost stubbornly carrying out a utopian-like She is building this place, and this contrast makes it impossible for you and me to determine what she is thinking and conceiving, and we cannot understand her."
"Then what are you doing now..." I was a little curious as to whether he had changed his mind during the past few years of being buried deep underground.
Don't mention it again, or continue to believe it.
"The prisoners are buried under the current square." Gilbert said calmly, "In addition, some extremely vicious people are also down there. This is something I only found out later."
"What does that mean?" I was quickly attracted by what Gilbert said.
Gilbert was silent for a while as if he was trying to organize his words, and then he said, "You know, Rebes once went out to resurrect some people as undead, right? I was also part of it."
"Yes, I know that very well."
"Now that you have thought about what criminals look like in this town, have you ever thought about what would happen if you knew in advance that you were an immortal outside?" Gilbert said slightly. He narrowed his eyes and said.
...maybe nothing happened, or it was like what I thought before that happened.
"Towards, another path."
"They will become extremely vicious people." Gilbert laughed heartily, "People will instinctively use their own characteristics, no matter what they are, they will make good use of them, so for those who are not good at it, they will become extremely evil people." For the dead, injuries are nothing. No matter what they do, they will not die. No matter what the injury is, they can recover quickly. They don’t even need the same food or water as normal people. Therefore, there is no good way to deal with these guys in many places. ! Of course, some people must be imprisoned at this time, but as long as these people are always lucky, those people will eventually slowly sit in high positions in the underworld! At that time, if you want to bring those guys back, what will happen to this place? The impact can be imagined.”
I asked curiously: "So, Rebes also shouldered the task of catching these guys and bringing them to justice?"
Gilbert raised his eyebrows and said: "To be more precise, he just used his powerful magic power to imprison those guys, but obviously that kind of life is no different from prison for those who commit heinous crimes. Until...a new prison appears."
"Those people are all buried, right?"
Gilbert said softly: "Yes, this is the last thing we faced. Our things gave her an inspiration, so her tyrant side came out."
"…Where is that prison?"
"Right under your feet... of course it's not that outrageous." Gilbert shrugged slightly, "After all, our above-ground space is limited, so it seems good to just use the underground space directly, right?"
"What you said is really frivolous."
Gilbert didn't look into my eyes, but slightly averted my gaze, looked out the window, and said as if he had seen everything, "I'm used to it."
Just when I was about to ask for some other details, Gilbert smiled and said: "Look, how beautiful the sun is now... Can you imagine what we would be like if we lost this lovely guy one day? What kind of life do you want?"
I was silent for a moment, thinking about what the sociologist told me about the years underground.
Although it was just a passing glance, it still revealed a desire for the world.
It's just that...his interruption seemed too coincidental, as if he knew what I planned to ask, just like when playing chess, he blocked my way out by making a move in advance.
I raised my head, looked at Gilbert, smiled slightly and said, "Being able to walk under the sun is certainly a blessing, isn't it?"
Gilbert chuckled and said, "You know, I have a habit every day, which is to spread."
"Do you know what I'm doing?"
I lowered my head and thought for a moment, then said, "Do what a... sociologist should do."
"Observe this society." Gilbert smiled happily, "I have never stopped observing this town since I came here, even though I am not the first to come here, and I have never experienced it. It is the most difficult time to build this place, but I know one thing..."
"This place has become stagnant." Gilbert exhaled heavily, "Everything here is proceeding in an orderly manner according to the path that Rebes imagined and that no one knows. However, everything is also in order. The ground slowly stopped."
"I understand." I said softly, "What you said is very useful to me."
Gilbert returned to his previous appearance and said with a smile: "Anyway, it's just the alarmism of a sociologist. It's unclear whether it can even be considered academic. Maybe it's just a kind of subjective contempt." That led to all of this.”
"At least the stories I heard are useful." I said with a smile.
"As long as it's useful, that's good." Gilbert waved his hand, "By the way, you drink tea!"
"Sorry to bother you, I have something else to do, so I won't be here for a while." I said politely.
"Are you leaving so early?" Gilbert said with a little regret.
"I'm really sorry, but I have an appointment."
"Then there's nothing we can do." Gilbert sighed, "Then I won't force you to stay."
After some courtesy, Kyle Russ and I finally walked out of Gilbert's room, and Rebeth's figure outside was becoming more and more obvious among the crowd.
She came to take us to the hotel.
I walked up to him with a faint smile on my face.
"What an old fox." I said.
Kellas looked at me in surprise and said, "Didn't you just talk to that Gilbert and you were very speculative and admirable? Why are you like this now?"
"Because it's a fact." I said: He, like Rebes, is trying his best to instill an idea in people, but Rebes's method is unquestionable, while Gilbert's method is even more subtle. , to put it bluntly, he himself probably doesn’t know whether he can succeed in deceiving him, right? "
