"No wonder, I can assure you, Primate, that Mars is doing quite well, though in some aspects, he’s also having a hard time." The word "hard" made Malin pause for a moment, but seeing the smile on the girl’s face, Malin understood. It seemed there was no need for him to worry about the boy anymore. So Malin turned his attention back to everything before him. Why would North America have two futures, he wondered. What kind of variables could exist on this land of death? Then, Malin thought of something: "Oh, children." "Yes, Primate, do you have any questions?" Peggy asked, looking at Malin. "The future you’re in, it’s a pioneering one. New Washington in North America was developed by immigrants from Carterburg, right?" Malin asked. "Yes, it was developed by immigrants from Carterburg. Not just here, the entire North America was pioneered by immigrants from Westland and Eastern Land," Peggy replied, looking at Malin. "Primate, have you confirmed the reason?" "I think so," Malin replied, watching everything before him vanish with his thoughts. "As expected," Malin sighed, turning to look at the girl before him. "There won’t be such a future anymore, my child. Among my descendants, there cannot be evil people. I personally destroyed that future... personally erased it all." Saying this, Malin felt as if something was added within his body. Realizing his transformation, Malin sighed deeply. So this is Fate’s choice. Meanwhile, over on Peggy’s side, her body was dissipating. She approached Malin and reached out to embrace him: "I feel my dream collapsing, my Primate, it seems we are to part. I want you to know, even though we’ve never known who you truly are, even those who’ve seen you forget your visage upon returning to reality. But I still want to tell you, we never gave up. We’ve followed your footsteps just to know whose children we truly are." After speaking, Peggy vanished before Malin. Malin sighed and sat down on a broken bench beside him. The square was rapidly becoming more and more dilapidated. In Malin’s eyes, winter passed and spring came, then it was late summer and early autumn. This ruin welcomed the rising and setting of the sun, year after year in cold solitude, until Malin stood up. A wolf girl appeared in his sight. Her armor was slightly damaged, and her longsword had nicks, but this old girl and her friends still made their way to the square. There, they hoisted a Carterburg flag onto the central sculpture. "We are likely the first group to arrive in the new world after the great destruction. On the other side of the continent, the Thanan from Eastern Land should also have landed around the same time as us. Everyone, let’s work hard to build our new home." Jessica’s voice sounded much more mature. In front of her, the young adventurers began to applaud. A new era, a new future. Malin watched this city slowly being cleared, gradually gaining life. Craftsmen repaired the underground power center, allowing this place to have electric light for the first time at night. Streets were renovated, and the city was rebuilt. The ruins of buildings were leveled. Although skyscrapers couldn’t be constructed, the pioneers of that era gave their all to create a new city. In Malin’s eyes, Jessica gradually aged. She eventually stepped down as mayor. Her fur gradually turned white, she became bent, and it became harder and harder for her to recognize whether it was her great-grandson or great-granddaughter appearing in front of her. The Haus family took root in this city. The children of the Haus family organized new expedition teams again and again, searching and exploring. But in the end, Jessica found it extremely hard even to stand. On the day she lay dying, Jessica, who never remembered Malin’s name throughout her life, called out Malin’s name while unconscious. At the moment when tears rolled down the corner of her eyes, Malin ended his deep dive. I’m sorry, my beloved ones, I didn’t accompany you in the last moments of your lives. It’s something I owe you, please forgive me. ...When Malin woke up, he found tears still hanging from the corners of his eyes. Beside him, Maya had long fallen into a deep sleep. Under the starlight, a satisfied purr came from Malin’s little leopard, making all his hesitations about his recent choice completely disappear. My sacrifice is to make this world better, not to let the evils that once happened on this land repeat again. I cannot give those liars, those scoundrels, those butchers a chance to come back. With this thought, Malin watched as his little leopard closed its eyes once more. Every second of life is a unique second, worth cherishing. "Is Prince Malin still not awake?" Onor looked at the intelligence in his hand, uncertain if he should go upstairs to call the Knight Commander, and turned to his colleague Emil. The latter smirked foolishly, turned his head, and played dead in one smooth motion. Onor then looked at another colleague, Konsair. The big cat glared, turned his head, and played dead, performing explosively. Are you still the brave Knight Commanders? Onor looked at them with disappointment. But footsteps coming from the stairs fundamentally relieved Onor’s anxiety. He turned and saw Prince Malin and Lady Maya walking down. Apparently, the two had spent the night on the rooftop, though Onor didn’t know why. But according to the Thainan mages, this was called using the sky as a blanket and the earth as a bed. Using the sky as a blanket might be right, but using the earth as a bed? Come on, this is a dozen stories high! Even looking out from here makes Onor dizzy for no reason. However, these had nothing to do with the intelligence in Onor’s hand. He walked towards Prince Malin and handed over the intelligence he held. "Prince Malin, Lord Jason found a human nation to the west. They’re survivors, and this land, once polluted by Chaos, still shows traces of civilization." Onor paused, for he saw Prince Malin accept the intelligence and flip through a few pages, revealing a smile that seemed unsurprising. So false it made him feel inexplicably afraid. "Lord Onor, you’ve surely read these, haven’t you?" "Yes, Prince, we’ve all read them." Onor recalled the contents of the intelligence. This land’s human nation, rather than a nation, was more like a State Church worshipping an unknown Evil God. This nation had no King, no leader. The Primate ruled this vast Church. Slavery was legal, and many were born slaves... forever slaves. And those high-ranking so-called citizens bore many signs of chaos pollution. Perhaps one day, the Church of Justice could purify these people’s pollution. But to Onor, such efforts felt too much like a loss. And yet... why not try? Onor thought of this and noticed Prince Malin holding the intelligence out to him. The Knight Commander reached out to catch it and then looked at the prince: "Lord Jason believes this nation shouldn’t be left behind. It must be entirely purified. What do you think?" "And you, Onor?" Prince Malin countered. This made Onor think for quite a while. Finally, he shook his head: "Prince, they’re still humans after all. If we can, why not try to save them?" Then he saw the radiant smile on Prince Malin’s face. The prince smiled and walked toward the elf bringing the breakfast cart. "Lord Onor, you’re too kind-hearted, so kind you’ve forgotten these are devouring demons." Hearing this, Onor seemed to hear the declaration of judgment. "Tell Jason, let him decide how to purify it. I’ll sign the extinction order for the destruction of the slave owners, hoping he can complete his mission."