"Party leader."

"Party leader?"

"You're already so drunk, how are you going to give a speech later on."

In the hotel, a girl with a big smile on her face bent over and looked at Merka, who had fallen to the ground.

She didn't seem to have any intention of helping Merka up, just looking at him like that.

"Stengel... is it time for the speech already?"

Merka wiped his forehead and felt blood on his hand.

He awkwardly wiped his face, leaning on the table to stand up. The dizziness from blood loss and drunkenness rushed to his head, almost making him fall to the ground again.

Rubbing his eyes wearily, Merka looked towards the television set placed in the middle of the bar.

It was still showing footage from two months ago, when Turing won the championship in the shooting competition (fifth match).

Turing's performance in the footage was outstanding, far ahead of the other competitors, with a majestic demeanor that made many women flutter and many men dreamy.

But when receiving the award on the podium, she looked expressionless, like a puppet, as if any earthly honor and joy had lost their meaning to her at that moment.

Seeing this scene, Merka's expression twisted. He painfully gripped his chest—where there seemed to be a black hole absorbing all his vitality and energy.

Merka knew.

After losing Turing, he had completely lost the ability to smile.

He lost his sense of humor.

Becoming a gloomy and vengeful common man.

It had been over three months since his defeat to Oedipus.

Turing was now confined in Oedipus's castle, becoming a machine for his mother to win the competition.

And as the loser, Merka was sent back to Crotto City by Oedipus to fend for himself.

Maria's remaining private soldiers and remnants of McNewdeau's conservative faction fought, surrendered, or fled.

During the three months of gradual assimilation and erosion by the Kyopa army, religion lost all its power, and Merka transformed from a disciple knight back into a commoner once again.

However, one could argue that he wasn't even a commoner anymore.

Because Oedipus had begun a bloody crackdown on the Curseborn.

Due to the meticulous preparatory work for the crackdown—all Curseborn were confined to the orphanage area—the slaughter proceeded smoothly.

Merka today was likely the last of the Curseborn.

Under Oedipus's violent judicial regime, Acadia had become a theocracy.

The elders and politicians of Acadia, who had enjoyed too much peace, were mostly spineless. They did not resist much, soon denying Maria's legitimacy as the Pontiff and switching allegiance to Oedipus.

The remaining few tough individuals among the Crotto City commoners gathered in this tavern.

They believed that Acadia must not regress to feudal imperialism... at least, if there were to be reforms, it should be a constitutional monarchy like that of Britain.

And so they formed a party, recognizing Merka as their leader, aiming to overthrow Oedipus's rule and install Turing as the queen.

Yes, Turing had a great image and high status in the hearts of the people of Acadia; they were willing to hail her as queen...

But Oedipus's rule aimed to dedicate Turing to the gods, which contradicted their intentions.

"Party leader...?"

The scene cut back, and the girl referred to by Merka as Stengel (to simplify, let's call her Sten) looked at Merka, who was staring blankly at the television screen, with a puzzled expression.

As Merka watched Turing's match on screen, his heartache intensified.

Then his gaze shifted; he saw the men and women in the bar, pointing and chatting about the competition on TV as they drank beer.

He was filled with rage.

"Get me the stick... quickly."

Merka reached out to the side and said to Sten with a hint of annoyance.

"What stick?"

Sten looked in the direction of Merka's finger and saw an untouched baseball bat in the corner of the bar.

It looked fierce, terrifying, shiny, and exuded a daunting power and presence at all times.

In this noisy tavern, it was rebellious and unorthodox.

"Ah, alright."

"It seems our party leader wants to make a grand entrance that will shake hearts."

Sten said excitedly, bouncing over to pick up the baseball bat and hand it to Merka.

Merka's lips were tightly closed, his eyes slightly trembling. The facial muscles that were once best at smiling were now contracted, bursting with a fierceness akin to a wolf's bite.

He grabbed the bat, took three steps to the center of the bar, swung it in a full arc, and slammed it down forcefully, smashing the television to smithereens.

The shattered glass fell on Merka, casting a silver veil over his fierce figure.

Seeing this man, who was more audacious than most women, the onlookers in the bar were shocked. They looked at each other in bewilderment, setting their glasses down, not daring to take a breath.

Oedipus... it is your actions that have created this monster.

I want you to regret not being able to kill me...

Just like those people in the lab couldn't kill you back then.

Merka gently closed his eyes, looked up at the sky, adjusted his mood, and prepared to begin his speech.