Bonus for 200 PS, next bonus at 400 PS. Thanks for your continued support.
---
Sometimes, the gap between people is so large that it is beyond imagination.
The environment at the top level was not just more luxurious, it was also more in tune with nature. There were grasslands, lakes, mountains, and even an independently functioning ecosystem.
The nobles living at the very top each had their own private natural area, and some even built their own monasteries on the grasslands.
Caelus looked at this lush ecological world, then looked at the desolate surface he had drawn in his book.
He glanced at the nobles who casually took a bite of food and then discarded it.
He then looked at the workers depicted in his book, who drank the thick soup brewed from rotten matter with relish.
By the lakeside, Omacido Camoreja could not help but let out a yawn. As the eldest son of the Camoreja family, he should not have performed such an action that was inconsistent with noble upbringing, but with no one around at the moment, he inevitably revealed this habitual little gesture.
Of course, it was also possible that the various noble families no longer placed as much importance on the education of their elite descendants as they did in the beginning.
After all, so many years had passed, and the Empire had not interfered with the management of this place at all. As long as everyone could pay their taxes, basically nothing ever happened.
Of course, there were a few unlucky occasions when, due to the uncertainties of Subspace travel and a series of other reasons, they were directly faced with the situation of having to pay the tithe several times over.
Naturally, the supplies could still be handed over. It was just that more of the laborers below died, but that was of no consequence.
If it really came down to it, they could simply import more servitors from outside.
Omacido did not actually like fishing that much. He was just looking for an excuse to be alone, to zone out and think. Unlike his peers, who had already begun to indulge in various pleasures, allowing their bodies to gradually lose shape and become fat and bloated.
He still insisted on high intensity tactical training every day, maintaining proper aristocratic decorum whenever he was in the sight of others, and only relaxing when he was alone like this.
But he did not know why he insisted on doing so. It was simply that the education he received and the books he read as a child taught him to maintain aristocratic decorum. Besides that, whenever he saw his peers indulging in various desires, watching the expressions of craving for pleasure piled up on their faces, he felt very uncomfortable.
But he could not possibly restrain the members of other families, telling them to learn self restraint as he did, especially since even his own parents were not like that.
This also caused Omacido's reputation in the planet's noble circles to become somewhat strange. The vast majority of the younger generation called him a prig, while the older generation called him the last bastion of aristocratic decency.
"Hello."
A voice came from beside him. Omacido turned his head and saw a young man with short gray hair wearing a loose black coat, looking at him with slightly dim golden eyes.
Just judging by his loose attire, he could absolutely not be a noble, and a servant would never dare to speak to him in such a calm tone.
He did not have that foul stench unique to the lower classes, nor did he look like those petty nobles or merchants. The feeling he gave off was simply too ethereal, like a virtual projection.
"Logically speaking, I should draw the firearm at my waist right now and pull the trigger on your head."
Omacido put down the fishing rod in his hand, his face returning to the stiff, serious expression he wore when interacting with others. He looked at the presence that had suddenly appeared beside him, suspected of being a Chaos Daemon, and said, "Now, explain to me who you are."
While speaking, his hand had already reached for the firearm at his side.
"What are you feeling lost about?"
Caelus looked at the only unique noble he had discovered after observing for several days.
Omacido did not hesitate to draw his firearm, aim at Caelus's head, and pull the trigger. A guy who asked such inexplicable questions and whose tone carried a hint of seduction was definitely a Chaos Daemon, without a doubt.
But the bullet engraved with holy prayers did not cause any harm to the person in front of him who was suspected of being a Chaos Daemon. It was as if it had passed through a projection. The bullet flew straight through his head and off into the distance.
Discovering that even a bullet engraved with holy prayers could not harm the daemon in front of him, Omacido's brows furrowed tightly. He began to consider whether he should simply commit suicide to avoid being corrupted by Chaos and becoming an enemy of the Empire.
"I am not a daemon from the Subspace. Of course, whether you believe these words is for you to judge. If you are willing to continue talking with me, then sit down and put down your gun, and we can have a proper conversation. If you are unwilling, just turn around and leave. You can report my existence."
Caelus spoke calmly. After thinking for a while, Omacido sighed heavily. He had to admit that he was ultimately not like those ancestors recorded in history who possessed fanatical loyalty to the Empire. The current generation of nobles was getting worse with each passing generation, and even his so called "last bastion of decency" was nothing more than a facade.
In the end, Omacido put down his firearm, sat back in his original position, and looked at the ethereal young man in front of him.
"Then, back to the original question, who are you?"
"I come from another universe."
"Is the multiverse recorded in books real?"
"Yes. Just by myself, I have already experienced three universes where the underlying rules were different, and this is the fourth universe I have experienced. I am a transmigrator, a Traveler. Hello, my name is Caelus."
"Omacido Camoreja."
"I came up from below the Hive City. The hardship of life in the lower worker districts, compared to the debauchery of the upper levels and the romanticized lives of you top tier nobles, is too stark a contrast. Do you want to see it?"
"Why choose to interact with me?"
"Because you are an individual among the top tier nobles who is still thinking independently. I have some questions that require such an individual to answer."
"That is not a good thing. Too much thinking means there is a possibility of going astray, or even being corrupted by Chaos."
"That is true. Thinking too much can lead to philosophical contradictions, or even falling into endless nihilism."
"Let me see for myself. Until now, I have never thought about what those workers at the bottom are like."
Omacido took the book that Caelus handed over. He saw the scene drawn on the page Caelus had already turned to, along with the text used to describe it.
He saw the workers at the bottom looking as if they were tasting some peerless delicacy, drinking that foul smelling thick soup that made him feel sick just looking at the picture.
He saw workers suddenly dying on the assembly line, yet receiving no decent burial or handling. Instead, everything on their bodies that could be used was quickly divided up by the people around them, and even their corpses would be recycled and processed into biostarch.
Some corpses of people who died in more secluded corners would even be dismembered and eaten on the spot.
Omacido closed the book in his hand. After a moment of silence, he said, "Out of empathy, I sympathize with and pity them. But out of the rationality of a vested interest holder and administrator, and judging by the actual situation, I am powerless to change their plight."
"I did not come to ask you to help them change their current lives. I only came to ask you a question."
"What is it?"
"Why are you filled with such strong dissatisfaction and confusion about your current life? What is your heart longing for?"
Omacido looked into those dim golden eyes and felt as if his heart was being dissected by the other person at this very moment.
(To be continued.)
◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 200 Power Stones.
◇ If you enjoy the story, please consider leaving a review, it helps a lot!
◇ Don't forget to add the book to your library.