Free Web NovelChapter 594: Chapter 593: Post-reading Thoughts_1
Aiden sat alone in his seat, draining the tea from his cup in one gulp.
There was still half an hour left until the end of the lunch break, and he had a little time to think quietly by himself.
Sitting across from the current Deborah, there was a sense of distance. It seemed that "Deborah" herself could feel it, too; she was different from the past Deborah who naively pursued pure justice.
Deborah’s story had ended with the conclusion he wrote—objectively speaking, a somewhat regrettable ending.
"This was also her own choice, you’ve done your best to offer her better options."
He tried to console himself in his mind, but it was useless. ƒree𝑤ebnσvel.com
He was a very practical person who found it difficult to deceive himself.
In the end, the tragic setting specifically bestowed upon Deborah by the "existence" ruler was still an unsolvable problem for mortals. He tried hard to rewrite it, but the ending was still not completely satisfactory.
This left him feeling somewhat unwilling to accept it, and this sense of reluctance faintly made him aware of a reality: the game prepared by the ruler was almost impossible for a mortal to complete perfectly without it being specifically rigged in their favor.
Unwillingness was just a minor issue. If the opponent was the ruler, pride was useless; if one could win by abandoning their pride, then the price was already pitifully small.
The key lay in the fact of the power gap, the ruler’s power was overwhelming to mortals, this was true for the "existence" ruler, and so it was for the scheming goddess.
If the scheming goddess had in fact gone all out from the beginning to prepare a tragic ending for him, did he really have a chance to escape her game?
The path to becoming the ruler of "order" was laid out by the scheming goddess herself, and it was part of her game. Reaching the end of this path would not free him from her scheme.
Why didn’t the scheming goddess mind one of her chess pieces becoming a ruler on par with herself? After all, he never disguised his intention to rebel.
The only possibility Aiden could think of was that there must be some kind of trap on the path the scheming goddess had laid out for him.
Without finding this trap, his ending would also become an unsolvable loop.
However, having said that, he was still just a step away from becoming a saint.
Before Deborah left, she imparted the divine word of "law" to him and transferred some divinity to him, only keeping a small part for her own existence.
"I no longer need the power of ’law’; I hope my strength can be of help to you," Deborah had said at the time.
Having lost the evil thoughts of killing and the pursuit of becoming the messenger of justice, she also lost her obsession with power.
Now he was only a little short of divinity.
After dealing with the Harvest Mother Cult incident, in terms of divinity, Aiden was only a step away from sainthood. He had paid a bit in the transaction with Qiqimora, then earned it back from the affair of the smiling scales but also used a bit of divinity to activate the "substitute" divine word.
Even with the divinity endowed by Deborah, he was still just a little short of becoming a saint, and he still had to reclaim the divinity given to Veronica.
Just as he was thinking, he suddenly caught sight of a man pushing the door and entering the shop.
This was an exceedingly ordinary occurrence, but Aiden found himself inexplicably drawn to look at the man.
The dark-skinned man, dressed in old leather and linen clothes, had his untended long hair wrapped in a headscarf and casually draped. Around his neck hung several strands of necklaces adorned with beast teeth, giving off an exotic flair. He looked like a pioneer from the Northern Continent or perhaps a crew member working odd jobs for a privateer or merchant ship. Such attire stood out in a big city, but at most it would only prompt a second glance.
Yet once Aiden shifted his gaze to the man, he found he could not look away.
It wasn’t just him; the other people in the cafe all subconsciously turned their attention to the man, even the clerk who had been facing away from him, standing behind the counter and arranging shelves, inexplicably turned around.
The man exuded an aura that was overwhelmingly present, making it difficult for anyone to ignore his presence.
The man glanced left and right, then suddenly met Aiden’s eyes. He smiled at Aiden and walked straight over.
"Good afternoon, Mr. Watcher," the man greeted him with a polite smile but then presumptuously took a seat opposite Aiden. "I’m a fan of your book."
"Are you... ’Dreamweaver’?" Aiden recognized the man’s identity immediately.
As far as he was aware, besides himself, the only person who knew that the fairytale investor "Watcher" was him would be "Dreamweaver."
After that letter, "Dreamweaver" had not contacted him again.
Aiden was somewhat taken aback. He had considered the possibility that "Dreamweaver" might contact him again, but he had not expected the man to come and see him in person.
Nevertheless, he felt no panic at facing a ruler; after all, he had already encountered three rulers, two of whom were in his prison.
"Indeed, I have always looked forward to meeting you face to face," Dreamweaver said with an open laugh. "I really like those stories of yours."
"Those stories aren’t mine; I’m just a transporter," Aiden corrected.
"I know," Dreamweaver nodded. "Those stories you transported from another world have truly healed me, they alleviated the boredom I felt in this world."
"You know where I come from," Aiden narrowed his eyes. "You really know Melissa?"
"When I first met her, her name was still Melindale," Dreamweaver admitted without hesitation. "We might be considered friends, I suppose, as we share similar interests."
"You mean similar stinks," Aiden remarked.
"You could say that and not be far off!" Dreamweaver laughed heartily.
"So, esteemed personage who shares a stink with that scheming goddess, what is it that brings you to me?" Aiden asked bluntly.
"You must have read the stories I’ve created by now," Dreamweaver glanced at the magazine next to Aiden. "Both the ones in books and in reality."
"Yes," Aiden said, "from what you’re saying, Deborah was really your creation?"
"Hmm," Dreamweaver responded casually, not seeming to be very concerned about Deborah. "I really liked the stories you submitted, and even though they weren’t created by you, I appreciate your taste." "So I wanted to hear your thoughts on my stories, a sort of reader’s response."
"Then, can I be completely honest?" Aiden verified, looking into the other’s eyes. ƒree𝑤ebnσvel.com
"It would be meaningless if you weren’t honest," Dreamweaver smiled.
"Well then, here goes..." Aiden paused for a moment, then said seriously, "Honestly, I think they’re okay."
