Omniscient First-Person's Viewpoint - Chapter 217

WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

Chapter 217: A Story of the Past, Pied Piper of Hameln - 3

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Long ago, humans were animals by nature.

People praise the hands that can grasp tools and the tongues that can shape language as gifts from the gods, but for all their boasting, those were not particularly exceptional traits compared to other animals. They were merely useful characteristics, much like the ones ordinary animals possessed.

Humans were simply one of the animals that walked this land.

When food lay before them, they ate. They struggled to spread their seed. To live, to survive. It was a desperate struggle in the truest sense, so they did not bother choosing their targets or circumstances.

That struggle included hunting other humans and making food of them. Murder, rape, extermination, robbery. All of it was common practice in savagery, without even being given separate names.

No one blamed them for it.

It was perfectly natural.

Just like every other animal.

Then, at some point, humanity found dignity.

They came to despise savagery and established laws and morality. When the First Holy Maiden descended upon this land and the King of Humanity vanished, humanity truly became the ruler of the earth.

They treated every kind of savagery as taboo and buried it in prehistory. Standing above the world, they decided what was right and what was not, what was just and what was unjust. In doing so, humanity found prosperity and order.

Yet it was only buried beneath the sand.

The taboos still... existed.

"Th-that's insane.... Nicholas. You're going to do something like that?"

After hearing the unexpected news, Lankart's eyes widened as he covered his mouth with the open book in his hands. His eyes trembled with disgust and fear, as though he were looking at a monster wearing human skin.

"I don't understand. No matter how I think about it, I can't understand! Even if he can't afford to be picky about his methods... This, this is too much!"

He was so terrified that even he, who rarely showed fear, trembled violently. Clutching his own arm pitifully and sobbing, Lankart let out a rough roar.

"How, how could he think of having them consumed in such an inefficient way?! If you have the ingredients...! At the very least, so their lives won't be wasted! You should make the consumption perfect!"

Lankart was a mage. By virtue of their profession, magic officers had the right to examine all kinds of ancient documents. By chance... though it was a little too deliberate to call it chance, Lankart had uncovered a taboo.

When he came across classified information about that taboo, he cheered and immediately went to Nicholas. He placed it before him, pretending he had stumbled upon it while investigating something for a friend.

The plan had succeeded, though only in part.

Having poured out his emotions, Lankart organized the knowledge in his head aloud.

"Class-1 Taboo. Gluttony. A forbidden ritual where you kill, quench yourself with blood and flesh, and gain their power. The easiest, and most horrific taboo."

It was difficult to even call it a taboo. Gluttony itself was something that happened every day.

Crops painstakingly cultivated over a long time, or the meat of animals raised on those crops. Humans consumed them and grew stronger. They chewed with their teeth, swallowed them down their throats, and took them into their bodies, developing their flesh, gaining the mana and energy within them, and becoming healthier.

Put simply, Gluttony was a collective term for the act of eating something.

"But fundamentally, what is outside your body differs from what is inside it. You need a process to break it down and make it your own. That's why Gluttony is very, very inefficient. Transforming something always demands a corresponding loss."

That was why it was taboo. Those who sought power through Gluttony had devoured thousands, even tens of thousands of lives just to become a speck stronger. Throughout history, those called tyrants, calamities, or demons often gained their strength that way, and most were put down. Even if they consumed a hundred to gain power equal to one, the karma they accumulated became too great to bear.

...Still, Gluttony did not need to be carried out on such a vast scale. Some people who valued efficiency had found more efficient methods.

"They learned the same energy arts for three years, cultivated similar mana, ate the same food, and followed the same biological cycles. There are far, far too many similarities to call them different people. It's the perfect situation... as though this had been planned from the beginning."

It was not uncommon. Among secret organizations with any real scale, there were countless cases of taking in orphans, raising them together for years, then feeding all but one to the sole survivor. It was hardly worth mentioning.

It was clear that Gluttony was one of the reasons the military state had established schools. The only difference was that the taboo had never been performed until now.

It was surprising, considering how much preparation had gone into it, but Lankart fully understood why.

"Of course. Neither I nor that boar woman need it at all. Eating a mere hundred or two hundred people wouldn't change anything. That bitch Historia really did defeat two hundred people by herself...."

The world stood on rationality.

The reason the military state had never sacrificed a hundred students to concentrate power in one person was not some flimsy matter of justice or morality. One mediocre artificial superhuman created that way simply was not worth more than those hundred people.

It was irrational.

Then what if...

"But it means something different for Hui. That guy... only lacks the scale of his power. His ability to handle it is more than sufficient."

What if a situation arose where consuming power was more rational?

What choice would the military state make then?

Because they had grown some pathetic attachment.

Because it was a taboo everyone shunned.

Because no one had tried it until now.

Would they turn away from rationality, rejecting it for no reason other than rejection?

"The military state passed the test. This country is worth working for...."

After a brief period of consideration, Nicholas decided to feed the students to Hui. Still, he had chosen a slightly less efficient method. Rather than making them kill one another, he intended to put them in a situation where they faced death.

Excluding Lankart, Historia, and thirty-eight students advancing into other fields, the remaining 162 students would be stranded while traveling upstream along the Hamelin River for their field exercise. They would have to survive for two days in a forest inhabited by wolves, boars, and crocodiles.

...There would probably be a taboo formation at the camp, so someone's blood could become nourishment.

"That method is as crude as it gets, but I can fix that with a little work. Still, Nicholas, why did he use such an ambiguous method... Don't tell me?"

While searching for rationality, Lankart thought of one possibility and went pale. It was an absurd hypothesis. Dumbfounded by his own thought, he clutched his stomach and began laughing loudly.

"Could it be, Nicholas? Do you think Hui would turn down that opportunity? Haha! Hahaha! No, no! There's no way! He's a genius. Annoyingly, even more so than me! Do you think a monster like that would let something as trivial as this bind him?!"

After laughing for a long time, he abruptly stopped.

The silence that came so suddenly felt even more chilling beside his earlier laughter.

Lankart smiled as if denying the hypothesis, or as if he meant to make it false.

"This is a test, Hui. I, I believe in you. If it's you, with more talent than anyone else, even me... You won't let this chance slip away."

Lankart murmured more darkly than ever....

"Thanks for believing in me, Lankart. But I don't know if I can live up to your expectations."

"Huh? Why is that bastard's name coming up here?"

After the written exam ended, everyone walked out looking drained, while Historia and I sat comfortably in the shade outside the exam hall. We looked entirely removed from the test.

In reality, we were.

Historia was an irregular whom people debated daily over whether she should receive a general's star before even entering an officer academy. As for me, I was the walking score cap, for whom first place was a given.

I shrugged at Historia's question.

"Ah. I think I'll come first again, just like expected."

Historia gave the biggest smile she had worn all day.

"That's a shame! That bastard's been carrying books around every day, saying he'll beat you this time!"

"Yeah. He's been working hard."

Thanks to that, I benefited too. I only had to read what he studied and use it as my own. If there were gaps, I could refer to someone else's work.

To me, exams were like putting together a puzzle. I picked up suitable pieces and checked whether they fit. If they did not, I discarded them. If they seemed right, I clicked them into place. The mental satisfaction of filling an empty spot perfectly stimulated me.

It was quite fun.

I could read minds, not know the correct answer. If someone was certain that answer three was right and I blindly followed them, we could both end up wrong together.

An exam was not an event for finding the right answer, but for learning the gap between belief and reality. That probably was not what the military state intended, but it contributed greatly to my mind-reading training.

"So, in my opinion, I'll be first again this time. Tell Lankart that he can only take first where I am not."

"Can I tell him exactly that?"

"If you want, you can embellish it a little."

"That's my specialty! I never get tired of watching that bastard get frustrated every year!"

"...Ria. But without your practical-exam bonus points, your score's lower than Lankart's."

Still smiling, Historia grabbed my shoulder. The grip strength that could crush even a tin canteen was about to test itself against my bones.

"Hmm? Hui. Say one more word, and I'll expose all seven moves from the sparring exam."

"I'm sorry. I was wrong."

"You could have come second too if you hadn't coordinated your moves with mine. Be careful from now on. Don't get cocky."

As she always did, Historia joked around and laughed foolishly, then lowered her head and rested it against my chest. The crown of her head, covered in jet-black hair, filled my vision.

With her face buried against me, Historia whispered softly.

"...Be careful during the graduation field exercise."

Whoosh. As if she had never shown weakness, she immediately threw her head back and smiled. Her long braided hair bounced as energetically as she did.

"Hey! Once this is over, you need to decide where you're going! Your future will change depending on which officer academy you attend!"

"Yeah. I need to think about that too."

"You'd better think carefully! If you really can't find anywhere to go, become my adjutant! I'm going to be a general, so I can make a place for you!"

Historia spoke excitedly about a bright future while suppressing her unease. Why was she anxious? When I read her mind, she knew nothing about Gluttony. Had she sensed something instinctively?

Or was she simply a little afraid of graduation and separation itself, like the other children?

I didn't know. Human emotions were so complicated.

Following her lead, I forced myself to answer brightly.

"Come on. I have my pride. How could first place become the adjutant of third place?"

"Second place!"

Still, her current cheerfulness was probably only possible because she knew nothing about Gluttony.

If...

What would Historia become if she learned about Gluttony?

Would she accept it, or reject it?

I didn't know. I was a mind reader, not someone who knew the future. I could only guess.

"Historia. If something goes wrong... will you help me?"

"...What are you suddenly talking about? Are you going off to die?"

But I could not tell her. This was a secret among secrets, something Nicholas and Lankart had both hidden tightly. If a mere student like me realized there was a plot surrounding me, they would surely question where I got that information.

I could not let them discover that I had mind-reading abilities, nor could I let them suspect it.

I could not allow my only weapon to become useless.

I shared everything, and precisely because of that, I was alone.

Even if I wondered why it had to be me, no one would answer.

I shrugged and spoke as though it were nothing.

"I'm just scared. It's the infamous graduation field exercise, isn't it? I heard people die there pretty often."

"Don't act like such a coward."

She said that, but Historia looked happy. With a fresh smile, she gave me a broad wave.

"I'll save you. But if I save you, you'll become my adjutant, got it?"

"Now that I think about it, it's ironic for first place to ask third place for help. Forget it. I'll handle it alone."

"Hey!"

Waving broadly at Historia, I headed toward the assembly point.