Cthulhu Gonfalon

The Dahl family's style was to be insidious and vicious on the outside but stay united on the inside. So even at high-level family meetings such as this one, the young people were similarly given opportunities to speak—of course, speaking freely without inhibitions was impossible because seniority was still seniority.

The moment this young knight-to-be spoke his mind, the entire conference hall fell into silence with no one criticizing him.

Everyone was in deep thought, pondering over whether his suggestion was dependable or not.

After a while, the knight who oversaw this winter's clean-up operation said in a low voice, "Come to think about it, that seems pretty good. The Church of the Void Mask is very united internally. Their Majesty is also a very generous and caring god. If we are to pledge allegiance to them, we should be treated well."

"And the crucial thing is that their Majesty is strong and often takes action," said the elderly knight as he nodded. Then he said, "Everything else is apparent. He is very strong, so strong that he could protect our family. And he often takes action to protect his followers; that is what matters the most."

He paused for a moment, then continued to say, "It might be because you all are still young and have not witnessed that one occasion where he had a furious outburst by the edge of the East Sea. At that time, the entire Main Plane was hit by a surging storm. Even from Dahl Hill, one could see the dark clouds rolling in the sky as they headed straight towards the east. There were also roars of fury that shook the heavens and earth, and even the mountains were trembling. Then with one strike, he broke through the sky and soon after, the God's Kingdom of the Goddess of the Ocean crashed into the ocean. Before that, the God of Storms had already met his end… At that time, I was still a young knight attendant at an age that was slightly younger than the youngest one in this hall. Though it was across mountains and rivers, I could still vaguely feel a little bit of his mighty power. But just that bit of power was enough to make my legs tremble. I couldn't even keep myself steady."

He picked up the glass in front of him and wanted to take a sip, but his hands seemed to be trembling beyond his control. The knight beside him hurried over to hold him. Then this knight picked up the glass and slowly fed him with a sip of wine. This calmed him down.

"Later on, we learned that he was furious because Leon Igor, the archbishop under him, was besieged and killed by the followers and pontifices of the former God of Ocean, and the God of Storms served as a behind-the-scenes commander of that battle," the elderly knight said with a deep sigh. There were still traces of fear in his eyes as he said, "These two gods were annihilated by him because of this reason."

He was deeply silent for a moment and then, with a slightly lower voice, he said, "If we really have to choose a side, we should take the side of one with such power. I'm all for it!"

The crowd looked at one another, and everyone nodded.

They were relatively young, so they certainly would not have seen how Sui Xiong flew into a rage and demonstrated his power by killing two gods years ago. But from how the elders in their race reacted, they could tell that there was no way this could be faked.

A master who was willing to kill two gods for his own archbishop, indeed, who could be more reliable than him!

"That is where we have a problem," said Baron Dahl as he smiled. "We all know that His Majesty, the Void Mask, is a good god. He doesn't mind whether his followers abide by the law or do as they please, but he does implore his followers to honor and abide by the Way of Goodness. Even if they are taking a neutral stand, they should at least be more inclined towards the good."

As he spoke, he looked around, and his gaze swept across every face in the room. On most people's faces, he could see worried and uneasy expressions.

"We're all family here, so there's no need for me to sugarcoat what I'm going to say. The roots of our family stem from our smuggling business. Out of these many businesses, quite a number were shady, sinister and vicious. Hey, hey, even without mentioning our businesses, in normal daily life, most of us would be far from being called good people."

"More than simply 'not good people,'" said his younger brother, who had changed his profession to become a scholar. Laughing bitterly, he said, "If anyone cast a spell here to detect evil, I bet the number of bodies among us that won't give out a red light (red light signifies evil) will most likely not even be able to fill up one hand."

"Yes, if we want to change and place our belief in the Void Mask, we must turn over a good leaf. From then on, we must perform good deeds and do good things. We must change all our old habits," said Baron Dahl as his expression became serious. "This is no small matter. Look into your hearts and ask yourselves, are you all able to do it?"

"Even if we think we can't, we still must do it!" said the elderly knight in a low voice. "Now the aristocrats and the merchants are reaching the point of bloodshed. If we still can't find a strong backing, the moment we jump out of this storm, we might find ourselves ending up with a broken family as a result of our carelessness! To mend our ways, to abandon evil and do good, indeed, these things are not easy, but it's still better than losing our lives!"

His words carried such weight, but no one rebutted.

They were in a perilous situation. Everyone knew that. Now the Dahl family must find a reliable backing. Anything else had to be ignored.

"How about looking to the Church of the God of Aristocracy?" a knight, who frequently went out, said thoughtfully after a while. "Rather than pledging allegiance to the aristocratic party, it's better for us to pledge allegiance to the Church of the God of Aristocracy."

"This is quite a good idea, but the Church of the God of Aristocracy is not reliable," lamented the elderly knight. "Over the years, they might have done many great things, but their major failures outnumber the great things they have done. If we are to rely on them and meet with an unfavorable situation, they may abandon us at any time."

"To the big shots, ridding the small to protect the big is a matter of course. We had our fair share in such situations. But this time around… it is our turn to become the "small" ones who might possibly be abandoned…"

The knight who made this suggestion sighed and hung his head low.

Indeed, it was just like how the elderly knight had said. Though powerful, the Church of the God of Aristocracy was not very reliable. Times in which they abandoned their partners had been frequent throughout the years.

If everyone were to entrust their lives to that church, and then an unfavorable situation cropped up which caused the church to abandon them, the Dahl family would not only be broken up, but they might even face the possibility of having their bloodline completely cut off!

In comparison, the Church of the Void Mask was much more reliable. No matter how serious or how unfavorable the situation was, everyone would still be left with that one last option of "abandoning the land to save the people." So long as they brought their family's fortune with them and escaped to Void City, then no matter how the aristocratic and merchant parties fought one another, the two parties still would not be able to do anything to them.

"In fact, I'm thinking… now, we could start moving over to Void City progressively, how about it?" said the baron's brother, as though he was muttering to himself. "It's good to preserve at least some of our vigor."

"This idea is indeed a good one, but it's not going to work," said Baron Dahl as he shook his head. "The Transportation Portal to Void City is in the capital. Now with such a situation, we can't even hide away from the capital fast enough. To make our way over voluntarily would be courting death, wouldn't it?"

His brother sighed, silently shook his head and felt very helpless.

"Seems like we do only have one choice left," said Baron Dahl as he looked around. He saw that everyone had bitter but relaxed expressions. So, he too had to sigh. He slapped his palm onto the table once, and the final verdict was made.

"Tomorrow, early in the morning… no, later after we have eaten supper, we will go to the temple of the Void Mask!"