Joker wore flamboyant clothes and danced through the streets.
We rode behind him, watching him sing and dance:
"My most esteemed and mighty lords, allow me to introduce my noble and virtuous master.
"He is a prince from a neighboring kingdom, come to seek the princess's hand after hearing of her beauty."
The passersby watched us. They seemed to recognize the former Imperial Guard officer and pointed at him.
Roland remained resolute and unmoved.
"Archer, King of Football—when people no longer need something, they discard what is useless to them.
"This has nothing to do with affection or fear. So long as they feel their needs are still far away, they will remain so, until danger draws near.
"If the King of Football they adore cannot defend their land, they will abandon him as well.
"So whether the people are good or bad by nature, you need not take it too seriously.
"Everyone must have a home they can return to.
"Even if the masses are stirred into fervor by rebels,
"they will grow cowardly and weak when they consider their families and the consequences they might bring upon them.
"Then there is nothing to fear from them.
"Anger can make people do anything.
"Nothing is more frightening than a mob without restraint, scruples, or leaders.
"Yet having a leader is not necessarily a good thing.
"Some can indeed be bought through agreements, while others can unite the mob and devise means of defense and attack."
"They did not drive you out," I said to Roland as I watched the people by the roadside.
"Despising and humiliating an insolent man—this rule applies everywhere."
"I was not insolent," Roland said.
"You defied the king's order of exile. If you were in my realm, you would have been arrested before entering the