Cthulhu Gonfalon

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

It had to be admitted that living on grass was indeed a great advantage.

A few days later, when the vocational school announced its enrollment list, Hopes came back to the school again. He looked energetic with a ruddy face while wearing his worn clothes.

He felt the sufficient life energy of the Tree of God, so he just lived under it these days. He ate the grass on the ground and some leaves that were blown down by the wind. When he was full, he either practiced martial arts or sat there for meditation.

Although he was not good at martial arts or magic, Hopes knew something of them. In the past, he had been a coward and always kept a low profile in action, so he seldom practiced them. But now he was free, and he could practice as much as he wanted.

He didn't know if it was because he was in the proper environment or because his mind had changed, but in short, he found that the effect of his practice had greatly improved—especially when he was meditating. He could clearly feel the existence of natural magic now, and those vague and unclear feelings in the past became very clear. He felt natural power flowing around him as if it went into his body with every breath, and that made him very energetic.

How wonderful it could be if I had been like this few years earlier! Hopes thought of that, but he knew it was just a dream.

The past was gone. What he had to do now was to be a good worker. He wanted to earn money to make a living, and he wanted to be a brave man with dignity so that he could live without relying on others.

These days, the life here made him think a lot. There were also poor people in the Republic of Northwest, and he had seen people with patched clothes passing by many times. However, although they were poor, they were still in good spirits. They were neither pale or haggard because of hunger, nor were they depressed because of poverty. Their eyes were bright, and they seemed very confident.

It was interesting when some poor men noticed Hopes camping under the Tree of God. They came to persuade him not to be so decadent and at least to find a temporary job to make a living. There were a lot of people in Void City, but because of its service industry, the working staff was always insufficient. As long as Hopes was diligent, it would be easy for him to find a job.

As for problems that had been normal to see in other places, such as being bullied by a boss or having difficulty getting paid on time after work—those things would never be seen here. The clergymen of the Void Mask Church patrolled around the city all day like vigilant hounds to search for clues of misconduct. They might not catch those thieves, but they surely would deal with matters such as a boss refusing to pay his employees.

The method they chose was quite simple and effective as well. They usually dragged the boss into the streets, erected some magic pillars in public as a temporary altar, and then held a public trial. In the face of the great Divine Power, His Majesty, the Void Mask, neither traitors nor deceivers could escape from punishment. It was even more impossible for them to resist it. As long as they were convicted, various devices of torture would be taken out on them.

The most common form of punishment was the tickling machine. It would not cause substantial damage to people, but nobody dared to take it as a mild and harmless punishment after they saw someone still laughing while being tickled to tears. He even peed and had a runny nose afterwards.

A fiercer form of punishment was the famous electroshock therapy char; it was a kind of chair with a rubber base and a metal frame. The one being punished would be firmly tied to it, and then as soon as the switch was on, a beeping sound could be heard. After a while, the blue and white light would appear on the metal frame, and that would cause terrible torture to the one in the chair.

It was said that the electroshock therapy chair was a very powerful magic prop. It could cure the prisoner while punishing him, and that could effectively avoid serious injury and death of the punished person. However, that might not be a good thing. Generally speaking, people who went through this punishment would be foolish for a few days, or even a week. It was said that the most tragic ones had been dumb for half a month. Not to mention the pain during the punishment, even the period of being dumb would make people extremely scared.

In recent days, Hopes had witnessed a public trial of the Void Mask Church. The punished man was a fraudster who had always traveled around and made up information about injuries or illnesses of other people's children to take money from them.

In fact, that was nothing serious if he had just cheated others for money. But the most hateful part in him was that what he had made up was something too serious. That made many elders ill out of fright!

The trial of that man was quite simple because there was a conclusive witness and there was evidence. He could not deny it at all under the Divine Power. Finally, he was sentenced to reformation through working with the Dead Souls. As the priest chanted incantations and a dark green light fell on the temporary altar, the man screamed while his body turned into that of a zombie.

Of course, this was a temporary punishment. When the money he earned through his work was enough to pay the fine, he would regain his health without any other consequences—well, assuming that working with a group of Dead Souls would not leave him any psychological damage.

Hopes was curious about the death sentence here, so he inquired about it. Then he found that there were few death penalties in the Republic of Northwest. People would not be executed, even if they were spies or organized a rebellion. Only those murderers would be sentenced to death.

But that did not mean the legal punishment here was weak. The so-called strength of law depended not only on the intensity of punishment, but also on the efficiency of finding and arresting criminals. In this respect, the Republic of Northwest enjoyed a high rate of arresting.

Families here were divided into groups with ten families per unit. In each group, elderly people were mainly responsible for taking care of children in public kindergartens and patrolling the residential areas. The residents here were from different races that had different rest times, so there were always people patrolling in the city day and night. Together with the conscientious and responsible patrol soldiers, as well as the mysterious clergymen from the church, it was very difficult for those bad guys to commit crimes in the Republic of Northwest without being caught.

Hopes loved the environment here very much. He felt reassured. So these days he slept comfortably even though he was camping outdoors. But when he went back to school, he was surprised to see that several Catmen who were poorer than him were obviously fatter than he had seen them last time.

Those Catmen were brothers, and the eldest one was Walter. They came to the Republic of Northwest on the same caravan as Hopes. Because Catmen only ate meat, they lived a hard life here. All of them were skinny due to hunger. Hopes had thought that they would be much thinner these days since they would not be able to live on grass, but he had never expected these guys to gain so much weight.

He asked about this curiously, only to find out that these Catmen had found a part-time job. They had been working as delivery men in the underground amusement park these days.

There was a huge amusement park underneath Void City called Dragon and Dungeons, and it was full of traps and Magic Beasts. Although they wouldn't cause serious damage to people, they were still a little scary to them. Tourists from all over the world who were interested in taking risks but had no strength could experience the feeling of danger here if they paid a small fee. And if they were lucky, they could also earn some rare things as spoils.

There were supplies in the underground amusement park, and they had to be regularly checked and supplemented. This was a troublesome job, so it was usually done by some part-time workers. With their flexible bodies and good vision in the dark, the Catmen were able to do their work well in the underground amusement park.

This part-time job paid more for more work, so these Catmen had made a lot of money these days. And because they had often been invited to dinner with the adventurers, they could eat meat almost every meal. That was why they gained a lot of weight lately.

Thus, this time, they just came back to cancel their registration because they had found a job that really suited them.

"Congratulations!" When Hopes heard that, he smiled. "You guys are great!"

"In fact, you can also do that," Walter said. "You're smart. It'll be easy for you to find a job."

"Who would employ a mixed race guy…"

"What you've said is true for other places, but not for here." Walter's eyes brightened. "There's no discrimination against us here. Although we can't get a response from our god, no one treats us badly here. As for race, that's not a problem at all. I've seen goblins working in ambulances here. You see, even goblins can find jobs. Are you worse than them?"

Hopes was almost convinced by what Walter had said, but he insisted on his original plan when he heard from the clerk, Sectary that he had been admitted to the major of mineral processing.

After all, a part-time job was not a long-term plan. It would be better to learn a skill first!