WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

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Chapter 667: A Tower Without a Ceiling and Intermingling Humans - 3

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Do humans need order?

No. That is wrong. They simply need an order that takes their side.

They want the goddess of fortune to wave only at them, for the whole world to take their side. They want to sweep away what they dislike in the name of order and leave behind only what benefits them.

It is not a need, but a demand. Humans demand an order that favors them.

From whom? Well, I wonder that myself.

"Don't talk nonsense!"

"What are you plotting?!"

"You made it sound grand, but all you're saying is that you won't take anyone with you!"

"You're planning to monopolize Saint Rene's Holy Relic."

"I knew it, you hypocrite!"

Shouts condemned, denounced, and attacked me. They were furious and worked up, and they even intended to attack me if the chance arose.

Order? What order? It was a tool, I told you. When they disliked it, they immediately resisted, protested, and tried to change it. As I watched these humans actively plot rebellion, I thought to myself.

That is a very good attitude. Exactly that.

"There are over sixty people here, so what gives you the right to choose who gets to ascend?!"

I had not allowed anyone to kill anyone else on the way here. I mediated, soothed people, distributed supplies, and eased their complaints. Thanks to that, nearly sixty people had formed a group without anyone fighting.

"You think you're so great!"

I had solved Tower problems they could not solve. Normally, I would have had Lankart do it and hidden behind him, but I had put in a little effort this time so they could see. How was that? Aren't you embarrassed by what you just said?

"You have no room to talk either! You brought Lankart, who climbed the Dragon Gate last time!"

Ah, the floating castle mages. They knew Lankart. Still, that was not something floating castle mages should be saying. If it came down to it, I only needed to abandon Lankart.

"I thought you were a righteous man seeking teachings from a saint. It seems you are only a mage who interprets God's will as you please."

That was what I should say. They used faith to try to kill Kuram and Poison Centipede.

It was not that they were bad. Those two were evil, and they had no hesitation about killing others. By their idea of justice, they could punish Kuram and Poison Centipede.

But so what? That was only what they thought.

The important thing was that they had destroyed this group's order.

"Are you watching? This is the reality of the order you spoke of."

The Holy Maiden of Light had judged wrongly. For the sake of order, evil people should be held accountable and punished. She must have wanted to show me that.

She was wrong. Order was not such a grand thing to humans.

Humans used order as a tool. They were always ready to change it in whichever direction favored them. They only submitted to a greater order because they lacked the strength to resist it.

"I don't think this is ugly or evil. It simply cannot be helped. They are human. They do not break order because they are lacking or foolish. They break it because they are sincere and honest."

This was right.

If there was something I had to gain and it seemed I could overcome the obstacle before me, I should actively try to overcome it, even if it was an order set by someone else.

This was what humans were.

Trying to deny this obvious truth would only lead to failure.

The people who heard me talking to myself looked bewildered.

"Who are you talking to?"

"You. I understand all of you well enough. I'm satisfied that you responded like this. It is human, after all. So I won't attack you. But."

I pointed out several people. Shei and Lankart, of course, as well as Avant-garde, who had been trying to stop the fight, and Hilde and the Cyan Tower Master, who had quietly watched the situation while concealing their identities. I selected only people who had not yet committed a sin, with plenty of personal bias mixed in.

"My friends and I, along with only a few people who have not committed sins yet, will go to the tenth floor. Well, I won't stop you from climbing as far as your abilities allow. Let us have a fair competition."

It was called a fair competition, but it was a fight I would win without fail. They had not even noticed the problems, and while they were busy fighting, they would have no time to solve them.

I had solved every problem in an instant to give them that certainty.

"Then I will be going. Only the innocent may come with me."

At this moment, I was just and flawless. I was no different from an angel choosing the foolish people of the lower world and sending them upward.

Disappointed in humanity, the angel intended to go to heaven with only the few who followed.

Now they had to choose. Would they attack me to fulfill their desires? Or would they give up and accept their fate?

'No.'

'I can't let him go.'

'We've come this far. It's only one more step! If we can just get past that!'

Most satisfyingly, they were human. The abandoned humans, including the Holy Paladins, steeled themselves once more.

"Heh heh. How ironic."

Except for those who had already been abandoned.

Kuram, who had never believed in something like order from the start, was the calmest of all. He sneered lightly and mocked the Holy Paladins.

"How amusing. You make this choice too when you get caught up in it. Good or evil, medicine or poison. It all depends on what you call it."

Kuram had been an apothecary in a kingdom. In the days when violence disguised as duels ran rampant, he prepared medicine for injured knights.

They called it medicine, but it was really closer to a painkiller. What medicine did a person need for wounds caused by swords, wounds that had festered afterward rather than illness? Applying disinfectant and wrapping them in clean cloth was enough.

Still, knights were highly agitated after a duel, and they often caused trouble over the pain of having disinfectant applied. There was even a saying that more doctors died treating wounded knights than the knights themselves. Like the knights, doctors had to prepare some means of protecting themselves.

Kuram used painkillers. The stronger the painkiller, the more easily it calmed the knights and the easier it was to treat them. Kuram's skill with medicine was excellent, and knights treated by him once would ask for him again.

And powerful painkillers possessed every quality needed to make good narcotics.

Kuram, who had only wanted to make a living as an apothecary, turned dozens of knights into drug addicts and used them like slaves.

"You people who call yourselves the medicine of the world are poison here as well."

To maintain his edge, Kuram mixed increasingly addictive drugs and used the addicted knights to kill people. After committing every sort of crime, he was eventually tracked down by knights and dragged into a duel. Yet after modifying his own body with the drugs he had concocted during that time, he won.

Kuram was an evil man.

But he too was a human who had remained faithful to his own goal at every moment.

Kuram shrugged and said to me, "I'll sit this out. I want what is at the top of the Tower, but not as desperately as you do."

Order was also nothing more than the logic of power. Evil as Kuram was, he was not much different from anyone else here.

Cardinal Elton fell into thought. He could not let me go, but stopping me would be difficult. He did not even have sufficient justification, and he lacked the resolve to attack me after we had shared hardships together until just moments ago.

He was lost. Caught between what he had to do, what he could do, and what he was unsure he was allowed to do, Cardinal Elton closed his eyes and prayed inwardly.

'Holy Maiden of Heaven, who blessed me. What should I do here?'

It was a question with no answer.

-Fulfill your duty.

As if by a miracle, a revelation descended.

Cardinal Elton opened his eyes. There was not a trace of shadow in them. His body was filled with belief and faith, and strength overflowed through his whole being as though he could do anything. His aged body had withdrawn from the front lines, but at that moment, he felt as if he could bring down even himself at his peak in an instant.

It was a revelation a cardinal might receive only once in a lifetime, if ever. He no longer hesitated. Cardinal Elton moved to fulfill his duty and obtain Saint Rene's Holy Relic.

"When pitch-black darkness falls, light shall guide us. Sword of the Celestial God. A revelation has descended. We shall fulfill our duty."

Cardinal Elton solemnly declared.

Faith was like a lamp. When darkness made it impossible to see even an inch ahead and one did not know where to go, it became a guide. There was no longer any need to deliberate. Cardinal Elton had decided to claim the Holy Relic.

"May we promise a tomorrow where a day like yesterday returns."

The priests and Holy Paladins finished their brief prayer.

The Holy Paladins raised their Cross Swords and rushed toward me. Holy radiance flashed toward Lankart as he tried to stop them. Cardinal Elton, a white halo floating above his head, blocked Lankart's path.

"...Hah, tch. I thought we'd make it up without any trouble."

'Hughes must have had a reason for provoking everyone here.'

Shei grumbled, but as if she had expected this to happen, she finished preparing for battle. Facing the mages who were waiting for a chance to target me, she drew Skywarbler and Jizan.

Those mages. Since I had become the greatest obstacle, they joined hands to drag me down. I liked how honest and consistent they were.

To become a public enemy simply because order did not take anyone's side.

Wasn't it funny, Holy Maiden of Light?

I asked the Holy Maiden of Light, who must have been watching this scene, in my thoughts. Perhaps because I did not believe in gods, there was regrettably no reply.

Instead, the Holy Paladins swung their swords at me.

Footnotes:

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