Chapter 24: The Continuation of the Story and the Birth of Law

Chapter 24: The Continuation of the Story and the Birth of Law

Ten years had passed since the village chief bequeathed his position to his son.

The village finally found a path leading to the outside world and even encountered another village.

This village was rich in resources and had abundant food, allowing every villager to eat their fill. However, it had a fatal flaw: its population was small, less than two hundred people.

The new village chief, upon hearing this news, pondered two possible choices: one was to coexist peacefully with this newly discovered village, opting for barter trade.

The other was to declare war on this new village, seizing their wealth and ample food supply.

After much consideration, he decided on the latter, reasoning that no matter how peaceful the coexistence, the new village would not simply give away their food, and food was finite, only enough to sustain a certain number of villagers.

Their village, having reduced in numbers over the past decades and with suppressed anger weighing on their hearts, needed an outlet for release.

Thus, under the leadership of the second village chief, they leveraged their numerical superiority to defeat the new village and seize all its wealth.

The young and strong of the new village were mostly killed, leaving only the elderly, children, and women.

The second village chief then decided to enslave these survivors, while also enacting a new village rule: any villager who defeated an enemy could keep them as slaves to work for them.

With the introduction of this rule, those villagers who lacked wealth and status, and felt discontent, immediately cheered and supported the new regulation.

In the following decades, they discovered several more villages and, with the wisdom of the second village chief and the support of the slavery rule, they successfully annexed these villages.

By this time, the village had grown to several thousand inhabitants, a mix of villagers and a large number of captured slaves, becoming increasingly difficult to manage.

The second village chief once again demonstrated his intelligence by announcing the construction of a large city to house everyone.

He also established many new city rules to maintain stability and his own rule.

For example:

The position of city lord could only be succeeded by descendants of their village chief lineage; others could not overstep, or they would face the death penalty.

Any villager who owned more than five slaves automatically became a slave master, possessing the power of life and death over their slaves.

Those close to the second village chief were appointed as city managers, holding a status above slave masters but below the city lord.

Thus, the new city had five distinct social classes.

At the top was the city lord, followed by the managers assisting in city governance, the slave masters with numerous slaves, the ordinary villagers without enough slaves, and the slaves at the lowest rank.

With the new city rules, the once shaky group was unified once again, and the city's citizens yearned for more wars to acquire enough slaves to become new slave masters.

The slave masters also sought to plunder enough wealth through war to become city managers.

The few in the city lord's lineage and the managers incited wars based on the desires of the majority.

Decades passed, and they conquered many cities, which united to form a city-state.

The city lord's son became the leader of the new city-state, establishing many new rules and orders. He also devised a divine right of kings, proclaiming himself the chosen one favored by the gods, thus maintaining the legitimacy and supremacy of his rule.

Those who followed and were close to the new leader also secured positions just below the gods in the fabricated myths.

After the city-state stabilized, they began a new round of conquests, for not attacking others meant waiting for them to grow strong and attack first.

They were fortunate; after a century of war, the city-state had seen several generations of leaders. By the fourth generation, they had defeated all city-states that dared oppose them.

Then, a kingdom emerged, surpassing the city-states, and with it, new rules and order were brewed.

They had a new name for it: law.

…

Hastur completed the untold story in his mind as Professor Wayne had left it unfinished. The potion was mostly digested, with only a little left.

He estimated that in another half month, his lawyer potion would be fully absorbed.

By then, the sky had darkened, and the number of onlookers nearby had not decreased but increased.

Workers from the docks, hearing of the situation, came with cups of cheap beer to join the excitement.

Professor Wayne had paused the lecture, allowing Instructor Furen to take over answering questions and disseminating the new laws recently modified by Rune for the working class.

Some left midway because they couldn't understand, some were full of questions, some furrowed their brows as if gaining insight, and only one or two shone with the light of understanding, like stars rising in the night.

"Do you want to go up and speak?"

Professor Wayne approached Hastur with a cup of beer, handed to him by someone unknown.

"I still have much to learn; I'd rather not embarrass myself," Hastur declined the offer.

"If you're intent on studying law, then sooner or later, you'll have to stand on stage and present your views to strangers," said Professor Wayne after taking a sip of beer.

"Before that day comes, I need to learn more, so I'm not chased off stage with stones."

Professor Wayne chuckled, looking at the earnest dockside residents, and sighed, "Do you think they understand?"

"You've opened a window for them. What they see beyond it is no longer within your control."

"Haha, I can't open a window, at most I can only draw a window frame in the room. To truly open it, they must strive themselves."

Professor Wayne finished his large cup of beer with a laugh, exhaling the alcohol, "Would you like one too?"

"Thank you for the offer, but I'm not accustomed to the taste of beer."

Professor Wayne's expression turned peculiar, and Hastur offered no explanation.

He simply disliked the taste of beer, even the renowned Southwell beer of Rune.

He preferred fruit wine, especially if it was sweet.

After a while, Professor Wayne brought another cup of beer and a plate of fragrant sausages, rich in smoky and meaty aromas.

"Would you like some?"

This time, Hastur did not refuse Professor Wayne's kindness.

By the time Instructor Furen finished lecturing and answering questions, it was past eight o'clock.

The three of them had not yet had dinner. The two administrators accompanying them from the charity house had intended to treat Hastur and the others to the local specialties of the dock area, but Professor Wayne declined, having already eaten his fill.

Hastur counted briefly; Professor Wayne had drunk three large cups of beer and eaten four sausages and two slices of toast.

He had also eaten a bit with Professor Wayne and wasn't very hungry, unlike Instructor Furen, who was both thirsty and hungry after two hours of lecturing.

Seeing that neither Professor Wayne nor Hastur intended to dine out, and considering the dock area's likely poor nighttime security, Instructor Furen chose to return to the charity house for food.

Back at the charity house, Hastur checked his pocket watch: nine eighteen.

The charity house's work and classes had ended, the children had returned to their dormitories to rest, and the adults who had worked during the day were queuing in the washroom, eager for a bath before sleep.

The return of Hastur and the others did not disturb them, and Dean Darn had not reappeared, but rooms had been arranged for their overnight stay.

Their rooms were connected, located in the same area as the charity house managers.

Beyond lay the children's rest area, and on the far side, the adults' living area.

The room was not large, about a third the size of his study, with a neatly made, clean bed and blanket, a small table, and an oil-filled kerosene lamp for use when visiting the washroom at night.

Aside from these, there was nothing else.

The walls were made of stone, not very smooth, and slightly cold.

In rainy weather, the walls might seep water, making it rather chilly at night.

Hastur paced the room, tapping the walls.

They were hard, and it was difficult to make a sound with just a fist; one would need to knock with a wooden board to alert others.

He wasn't paranoid, but Professor Wayne's behavior that day had caught his attention.

After ensuring there were no hidden doors or basements, Hastur approached the bed, lifted the blanket to his nose, and sniffed.

There was a fresh soapberry scent, with a hint of rose essence sprayed on the blanket, no signs of mold or foul odors.

He folded the blanket neatly and placed it at the head of the bed on the right side.

Lying his head on it and stretching out, Hastur felt much more comfortable.

In a new place, without his soft, warm bed at home, he found it hard to fall asleep.

After lying awake for twenty minutes, Hastur got up from the bed, wanting to take a bath before sleeping. However, since Professor Wayne hadn't mentioned staying overnight, he hadn't prepared a change of clothes.

It wasn't that he needed a bath to sleep, but rather, being unable to sleep, he thought a bath might help.

"When away from home, one must endure," Hastur sighed, lying down again, closing his eyes to try and sleep once more.

About half an hour later, he faintly heard someone knocking at the door.

He instantly awoke from his daze! His first thought was that something had indeed happened!

His second thought was to grab a suitable weapon.

Finally, he gripped his hefty cane, his gaze wary, watching the door.

(End of Chapter)