When the plot-skips players into the game world-Chapter 1331 - 53 Scaring Yourself

"... has not yet died."

Old Argon repeated the conclusion given by Sherlock: "I see..."

He slowly exhaled, his fists first clenching tightly and then gradually relaxing. It seemed as if he had finally let go of some troubling concern, yet as if he had anticipated this... or perhaps he felt a tinge of regret.

— Clearly, this was neither the answer the Old Duke expected nor the one he feared.

"If I am not mistaken," Sherlock looked at Argon, his words sharp and merciless, "the answer you seek... should be the organization that the person behind all this belongs to.

"Whether it’s the conspiracy of the Hawkeye Organization, or the manipulation by some Duke behind the scenes excluding you... I think, giving you a specific person’s name might better suit your needs."

Hearing this, Aiwass was stunned for a moment, lifting his head to look at the Old Duke.

He was the first to understand the implication hidden within Sherlock’s words.

The Old Duke "inviting" Sherlock here was probably... not simply about getting an answer.

— Or rather, his need was not just to "know the truth," and the motive driving him to take such a dangerous move was definitely not just curiosity.

"... What do you mean, father?"

Annie sensitively perceived the sudden change in atmosphere, and looked up in some confusion.

Arsene opened his mouth, but then wisely closed it again.

As a son-in-law, he decided to give his father-in-law some face. After all, there were people present whom even his "prestigious father-in-law" couldn’t afford to offend, and it wasn’t his place to speak.

And then Aiwass spoke softly: "It’s simple. If there’s someone behind this, and this person has gained enough benefit from it... then once Sherlock sees through the truth and exposes this person... do we not then have confirmation that the ’Third Rebellion’ itself is a conspiracy?

"People were manipulated by the hidden hand, which led to the end of the Iris Dynasty. Yet after the Monarch left Irisflower, people’s lives didn’t improve much.

"Though the nobles’ fiefs were reverted back to the state, they were bought back by those same nobles, and those rich merchants; while they’ve lost their private soldiers, they now have security companies’ ’long-term mercenaries’; although the inherited noble titles have ceased to exist, the identity of members of parliament is still passed down through generations.

"The Irisflower People no longer have nobles, but the power that originally belonged to mayors and town chiefs has expanded; even when people see the three Dukes, they still have to respectfully bow."

— Perhaps the only difference is that in the past, the wealthy had to humble themselves before the nobles, whereas now they are faring much better than the old nobility."

Aiwass sighed and began to explain the essence of this matter to Annie from the beginning.

What Irisflower experienced during the "Third Rebellion" is essentially no different from what the Lohar Society did in Avalon last year.

This is in fact an inevitable path. In the past, high-end technology was mainly monopolized by Alchemists and Mages, and the role ordinary people could play was essentially limited to agriculture, livestock, fishing, forestry, and hunting, all of which required the lord’s permission.

But with the development of industrialization, the value generated by factories gradually began to surpass the former. Thus, the status of workers gradually surpassed that of farmers, herders, fishermen, and hunters... and factory owners, who controlled machines, began to clash with nobles who controlled land—it’s a zero-sum game, the more over here, the less over there. But up to this point, the advantage of the nobles was largely greater than that of the factory owners.

Until after a certain tipping point... the nature of what money could buy suddenly changed.

While nobles would suppress factory owners, they generally didn’t dare to directly eliminate them because they also wanted to use cheaper, more reliable industrial products rather than having to import those not-so-advanced yet extremely expensive obsolete alchemical products from abroad, buying some second-hand junk at the price of gold. Conversely, factory owners could manipulate or even eliminate all nobles with impunity and urgency.

Looking back, how did the knight class in Avalon come to be controlled by the Lohar Society, a merchant union without real power or strength? Clearly, if they united and used force to control these merchants, they could reap the current benefits without any risk.

The reason is simple, because these knights were wary, opposing each other, and the benefits brought by the merchants were not enough to satisfy everyone.

Like the Knights of the Round Table, who argue in the Round Table Hall, debate each agenda, and decide from their own position whether it should pass. These knights could never reach the same conclusion on all matters, which inevitably resulted in opposition and hostility. And due to these oppositions, the knights actually didn’t know how many already were under manipulation, thus, they didn’t dare express their intention of "not wanting to cooperate."

They could undoubtedly use violence to control these merchants—just five Arbitrators could safely decimate the Lohar Society. freewebnoveℓ.com

But the question is what happens afterward? How do they distribute?

If the tributes from merchants were equally divided, no one would be satisfied; but if only a small part was provided to them, who could guarantee they wouldn’t be ostracized from the group? If those five monopolized everything, would the other knights unite to take them down?