Chapter 319: The Name-Eating Lamp

The alley Sane pointed down to was named Coal Wharf alley, thrusting deep between two rows of pitch-black smoke-stained inns, one end jutting out to the river bank, the other end jutting straight into a lamppost.

The lamppost belonged properly to the city, having a glass cover, even having a brass plate engraving a number. However, the last time it lit was since the time old Jonas still had fully two rows of teeth, calculating it must also be twelve years, therefore the alley residents only used it to tie clotheslines and for dogs to pee.

Old Jonas worked the profession of copying petitions for hire before the Petition Manor, anyone having to submit a petition to three boards then he copied fully three copies, every copy one copper coin, at night returning then crawled into the hollow under the inn’s stairs to sleep. Tonight he was dreaming seeing the Royal Family opening adding a fourth board when being shined straight into his eyelids by a light streak.

[Damn it, house on fire!] He sprang up, bumping his head onto the stairs hitting a "clack" sound.

Looking nowhere seeing fire, only seeing at the alley head there were two completely strange people standing under the dead lamppost, a tall large person draped in a dark-colored cloak, the remaining more slender person was currently pressing his hand onto the pole foot. From the stone crevice under his hand, a lush green vine crawled windingly all the way up to the iron hook then sprouted out a perfectly round fruit, clear as a fish bladder. The tall large person snapped his fingers once, thus inside the fruit core popped up a pale purple light speck, as tiny as a firefly.

Several dozens of human beings currently sleeping randomly on the doorsteps sequentially raised their heads up. In Cathalan, in the middle of the night having lamplight then either a house had dead people, or tax officials went foreclosing debts. Madam Hilda doing hired washing whispered that looking at that appearance definitely was kidnappers. A coal porter guy argued what kidnapper would go lighting a lamp for people to see their faces, this clearly was the Church’s people coming down doing magic. He just finished speaking and was hissed by the whole crowd a bout, because the God of Light for several hundred years had not lit a single lamp for this alley!

The slender person squatted down before a smudgy black kid currently peeking from behind a water barrel, asked his name, then pulled out from his sleeve a piece of paper with a pencil stub, resting it on his knee writing three really large letters.

"Kit. This kid’s name."

The Kit kid held the paper with both hands, flipping it up flipping it down, then brought it up to his nose sniffing. For nine years people called his name to order him going picking dropped coal outside the wharf, yet only until now did he know his name also had a shape and form.

The vine on the pole again sprouted adding a stack of broad leaves, white as paper, dangling exactly within children’s reach. Sane jerked his chin toward the leaf stack, saying with the lazy voice accustomed to ordering thousands of troops and tens of thousands of horses:

"This lamp does not eat oil, it eats names. Anyone personally writing their own name onto the leaf then it brightens up one notch, while relying on someone writing on behalf then does not count."

The whole alley stepped back one step. Eating names then was what the hell different from eating souls! The Kit kid alone did not know what fear was, he dug his pocket pulling out a coal stub, exhaustingly traced following every single stroke onto the white leaf. His letter K tumbled kicking its heels, his letter T was as long as a hoe handle, yet he just lifted his hand up then the light speck inside the fruit already swelled as large as a candle flame, casting the shadows of several dozens of human beings pouring long down onto the alley surface.

The whole crowd held their breath for one beat then swarmed up like a broken market. Lamp lighting without losing oil money then souls just leave it calculating later! The coal porter guy from earlier even yelled that he was named Bartholomew, three times as long as that kid’s name so the lamp must brighten three times to be righteous.

"Queue up." Sane said.

He spoke very softly, yet several dozens of human beings suddenly felt their napes turning completely cold, chirpingly tailing each other forming a perfectly straight line. Kaelen glanced at him once, implying [I told you this city completely no guy knows queuing mà.]

Old Jonas stood at the end of the line, his mind spinning like a pinwheel, because this entire alley only he alone knew letters.

[Gold mine! A gold mine automatically crawling all the way to the stair hollow!]

He immediately opened his chest, hawking that whoever gave him one copper coin then he wrote the name onto the leaf for them, handwriting beautiful like printing. The first person shoving money was actually Madam Hilda, yet he finished writing and the lamp still remained completely unresponsive as before.

"Told you writing on behalf then does not count." Sane reminded.

Madam Hilda snatched the coin back even faster than when she held it out.

Old Jonas was extremely resentful. The more illiterate people were the more expensive his goods were, now this lamp forced the whole alley to personally write themselves then what different was it from breaking his fishing rod? He looked up intending to argue making it clear, exactly when the lamplight cast onto the tall large person’s face, shining clearly a purple hair with a pair of also purple eyes. Over two months now the entire Royal Capital gossiped with each other about the hair pile outside the Crown Square with a purple-haired Divine Envoy in the South, while he sitting before the Petition Manor managed to eavesdrop more than anyone else, therefore his two knees suddenly went soft like vermicelli noodles.

"You know letters?" That person asked.

"Yes... yes knowing a bit sir."

"Then from tomorrow night you sit under this lamp teaching. Exactly adding one name written by the owner themselves then the Lyra City Hall pays you two copper coins, at the end of the month having people bringing money up, signing receiving properly." Sane said: "While if you write one word on behalf of anyone then I will know."

Old Jonas was scared to the point of almost peeing his pants, however his petition-copying head still automatically mentally calculated. Coal Wharf alley had more than three hundred population mouths, two coins one name, tallying up even more than the entire winter he sat hunching his back copying petitions combined! He nodded like chopping firewood.

While the whole alley was still swarming tightly around the Kit kid, the two people had already appeared on the roof of the three-story building from earlier.

"The whole city has six hundred and thirty-four such poles." Sane casually said: "In the treasury’s expenditure ledger then every year there is oil money."

"Then every alley also has exactly one old man knowing letters like that right?"

"Petition copying workers, fired petty clerks, secularized monks, gathering up also nearly two thousand individuals, all starving for jobs."

Kaelen burst out laughing. Yesterday he still declared he went copying, turned out copying workers then this city raised ready those two thousand individuals, only a pity people forced them sitting copying one petition into three copies!

He pressed both palms onto the tiled roof. Underneath the Cathalan ground, tree roots spread away as fast as ink spreading on paper, six hundred and thirty-four dead lampposts simultaneously turned green. Sane raised his hand, thus a soundless purple lightning bolt slashed across the sky, splitting out into several hundred branches as thin as silk, every branch dropping down one light seed. Looking down from high above, the dingy gray tiled roof sea was already dotted with tiny purple specks, every speck flickering like about to extinguish.

"As tiny as mosquito eyes." Kaelen criticized.

"Only the first night." Sane pulled him standing up: "Returning, I am hungry."

Their home’s kitchen in Lyra glowed red with fire when the rooster just crowed, and this morning Kaelen made steamed rice rolls.

The rice flour basin ground since yesterday afternoon had settled, he decanted discarding the clear water layer on top, changing new water, stirring evenly then added a spoon of fat. The boiling water pot mouth was stretched with a really taut fabric layer. He scooped a flour ladle spreading a paper-thin round, covered the lid, mentally counting to ten then opened it, sliding a bamboo stick under the crystal-clear cake layer lifting it up, spreading it onto the tray, adding a pinch of wood ear mushrooms stir-fried with minced meat then rolling it up, sprinkling fried shallots fragrant deafening the nose. The sweet and sour fish sauce bowl placed beside, floating several red chili slices.

Sane demanded to try making. The God of War held the bamboo stick like holding a sword, removing tearing continuously three layers, arriving at the fourth layer then stuck completely to the lid.

"You go out there sitting eating." Kaelen snatched back the ladle.

"You criticize me huh?"

"I regret the flour."

Sane obediently hugged the plate out to the table, eating consecutively six rolls, finishing eating again detoured behind his back, resting his chin on his shoulder watching.

The cakes came out evenly, exactly every ten beats one layer, every layer paper-thin, perfectly round identical to the previous layer.

"I also thought it through already." Kaelen said, his hand still spreading evenly: "Being impatient and hasty does not help anything, conversely even pulling my leg. From now on, I will let it develop naturally, able not to intervene then will not intervene. At worst then not merging the Beastman World into the Great World anymore and it is done."

"I think it should be like that. After all the Beastman World has already self-operated and generated an independent rule." Sane rubbed his chin onto Kaelen’s hair: "As long as managing to restore faith in the Great World, then the matter of whether merging a fragment in or not is no longer important anymore."

Right at this moment, Kaelen suddenly felt his palm slightly heat up.

He opened his palm still sticky with flour.

On his palm had just sprouted up a new silk thread tuft, thinner than a hair strand. He stared intently at them, suddenly somewhat unsure:

"This is faith coming from where? Too thin, I cannot trace the origin."

Sane looked at those smoke-like golden threads, raised his eyebrows: "It is in another place not belonging to Cathalan. Someone has remembered you already."

Kaelen closed his eyes, trying to sense the praying words inside the golden silk threads. He only heard faintly like having children’s crying sounds, women’s mumbling praying sounds. They were begging him, saving their men.

Kaelen’s eyes sank, saying to Sane: "You try sensing seeing near Cathalan is there any place suddenly having much more fighting intent or killing intent? Or demonic aura is also fine. My seal still has not been completely undone, I cannot determine the direction."

Sane immediately closed his eyes, releasing his Divine Sense far away. On the sky of the Great World appeared a pair of purple light eyes. The Law kid just jumped up intending to scold, was intimidated by a glance shrinking into the pink cloud like a quail.

The bright eyes indifferently swept around once, after that locked the target onto a place demonic aura rising up billowing. The eyes slightly narrowed, the space seemed to be twisted. Sane through the Divine Sense eyes, saw clearly every scenery inside that demonic aura sky.

Very many demonic creatures were swarming tightly around a ruined Shrine. Women, old people, small children all hid behind the God statue missing its upper half body, men all stood in the outer ring protecting them. On their bodies continuously appeared wounds, but they still stubbornly fought back, not letting the bloodthirsty demonic creature crowd touch a step into the Shrine.

Amidst despair, the old people in the Shrine relied on the remaining attire on the God statue body, presuming this was a Nature Deity statue. They knelt crawling out before the God statue, mumbling praying in tears.

The women and children also learned following them, praying for the Nature Deity to have mercy.

It could be said they guessed blindly but guessed spot-on. Their sincerity had moved Kaelen currently far away a whole ten thousand miles.

Sane opened his eyes wide, saying to Kaelen: "I see a city currently being attacked by demonic creatures, they only can hide inside the Shrine praying for Deities to have mercy."

Kaelen threw away exactly the ladle, swinging his hand turning off the stove: "Go!"

The two people’s silhouettes immediately disappeared from Cathalan, appearing again already at a city of a Kingdom far away from Cathalan an immense sea region.