Odis sat down to rest on a wooden chair in the courtyard only after confirming that both attackers were dead.
At that moment, he suddenly realized that the gunshot had not disturbed anyone around him, not even the neighbor's dog.
Arya had recovered quite a bit. She entered the courtyard and said, "These two enemies were coming to kill you. I rushed here as soon as I received the news, but luckily you were strong enough to defeat them both."
The original plan was for her to rescue Odis and make the herbalist owe her a huge favor.
After all, she knew very well how weak the "Secret Seeker" was in combat, but what she didn't expect was that the "Secret Seeker" in front of her didn't need her rescue at all.
Odis felt that the dead "fighting scholar" in front of him looked familiar, but he couldn't recall where he had seen him before. He looked at Aria and asked, "They attacked me because of you, didn't they?"
Aria's eyes flickered slightly: "Perhaps."
Odis stood up, not intending to pursue the matter. As he walked toward the shop ahead, he asked, "I don't want this to happen to me again."
"No, absolutely not again!" Arya said immediately. "This organization suffered a heavy blow today, and I estimate they won't dare to come to Backlund for a while."
Upon arriving at the shop, the two saw Bernadette, with long chestnut hair and wearing a cake dress, sitting on a chair near the window.
Arya immediately bowed and said, "Your Majesty!"
Bernadette had repeatedly told everyone to call her "Your Highness," but her subordinates thought she was just being polite and kept calling her "Your Majesty." Eventually, Bernadette got tired of saying it anymore.
Inside the herbal shop, Aria was secretly surprised; it had been a long time since she had seen the Queen.
Odis pointed at the "peeping to the underworld" at the door and said, "Could you please make sure that innocent, law-abiding citizens aren't affected when you have any plans in the future?"
Bernadette smiled and said, "If it weren't for me, you would have been captured by them long ago."
Odis didn't continue the conversation. Instead, she went to the cabinet, took a bottle of potion, and placed it on the counter: "Which of you two would like to help me?"
As he spoke, he lifted his shirt, revealing a large bruise on his back, which he had just been kicked by the "fighting scholar".
Arya quickly stepped forward; she couldn't let the Queen do such a thing.
But she had only taken two steps when the bottle of medicine floated up on its own, the cap opened, some of it poured out, spread out in the air, and was then applied to the bruises on Odis's back.
That was Bernadette's "invisible servant".
Odis grinned. "Your hands are so cold."
Bernadette, sitting in the chair, smiled and said, "I originally thought you were an informant for the Church of the God of Steam and Machinery, but I didn't expect you to be such a strange person."
"After further investigation, I learned that you were the mastermind behind the 'Nanmu Dance Hall,' the so-called Mr. Gal."
"I'm curious, if you really want to help those women, why would you make them work as streetwalkers instead of letting them earn a living in other ways?"
"If you don't want to help them, but are willing to create an environment for them free from extortion and disease?"
After the "invisible servant" helped apply the medicine, it disappeared. Odis straightened her clothes and asked, "Did someone tell you I'm a good person?"
If he had traveled back to ancient China, Odis certainly wouldn't have done this kind of business. But this was a mysterious world that was relatively unfamiliar to him, and he didn't feel too much psychological pressure facing the streetwalkers everywhere.
This surprised Bernadette slightly: "No, not at all."
She had thought that Odis would say something in her defense, but she didn't expect him to be so self-righteous.
Odis put away the potion: "You don't think that being a streetwalker is a filthy profession, do you? You think that they've fallen to their current state because they're lazy or morally corrupt?"
"Heh, this world doesn't give them many choices at all."
Odis, sitting behind the counter, continued, "I used to think that doing prostitution was shameful, and I believed that with my own efforts, I could definitely live the happy life I wanted."
"It wasn't until I moved from the suburbs to the city of Backlund three years ago that I suddenly realized that there were only three paths to upward mobility in this society: become an extraordinary one; go on an adventure to the southern continent; or become the mistress of a big shot."
Bernadette nodded slowly: "I have time today, so I'll explain in detail."
"Unless you join an evil organization, becoming an extraordinary being is an unattainable dream for ordinary people." Odis said, counting on three fingers, "Going on adventures in the Southern Continent is something only men can do, and more than half of them will die mysteriously."
"So it seems that for women in this world, there is only one path left: don't talk about how knowledge can change one's destiny."
"In the East District, even if a family does everything in their power to send a child to a grammar school, most of them will still be far less well-informed than middle-class children and will still be at a disadvantage when looking for a job in the future."
"Often their wages are not as good as those who load and unload cargo at the dock, but because they have learned knowledge, they are no longer willing to do those manual labor jobs."
Odis took out his pipe, but did not fill it with tobacco: "Knowledge has long been monopolized."
"The knowledge that ordinary people acquire will only enable them to be better competent ordinary people."
Aria, who was standing to the side, was slightly taken aback, not expecting the topic to suddenly become so profound.
Not a single mistake, not a single poem, not a single post, not a single piece of content, not a single look!
Bernadette internally gave Oedipus a new assessment: He was a clear-headed man.
Most people in this world don't know why they have to go through those hardships because they are not clear-headed enough to calmly observe the world.
However, her expression remained unchanged: "What are your plans?"
Odis raised his pipe: "Would the two ladies mind?"
Bernadette waved her hand slightly, and Arya shook her head as well.
As Odis filled his cigarette with tobacco, he asked, "What are your plans?"
"You've seen the ills of this society, what are your plans?" Bernadette asked.
Under her father's influence, she learned that when she discovered societal ills, she should take action—a seemingly self-evident way of thinking.
"What plans could I possibly have?" Odis lit his pipe with a match, took a puff, and repeated, "I'm just a Sequence 9, what plans could I possibly have?"
"A powerful person like you, what are your plans for the current social order?"
The keynote of this world is extraordinary power, which is the root cause of class stratification. Those who possess extraordinary power will always be the rulers, while ordinary people will always be the ruled.
Knowledge and effort cannot break the shackles of this world, let alone a Sequence 9.
Bernadette suddenly smiled: "You're right, I can't change the world at will either."
Then she stood up and said, "From now on, Aria will be your liaison with us. You can contact me if you have any ideas. Perhaps I can help you."
That was the real reason she came tonight. Since Odis had a hidden figure protecting him and she couldn't force him to join "Elemental Dawn," she would maintain close contact with him.
Meanwhile, the conversation just now led Bernadette to decide that she should investigate Odis more thoroughly; he was a very interesting young man.