WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

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Chapter 671: A Tower Without a Ceiling and Intermingling Humans - 7

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"I simply wanted everyone to achieve what they wanted. And that includes you."

You were among the people I meant. The Holy Maiden of Light, who watched over this place from far away and guided people with her light.

"You knew what was up there, knew of those two's evil, and knew your own strength. So you came down and acted yourself. You killed Kuram and Poison Centipede, then warned me about the danger above. That was your judgment, and you earned it by confronting it yourself. It's a perfect result."

Kuram and Poison Centipede had committed sins in the past, and they would probably continue to do so in the future. That was why Ruel killed them.

The knowledge above was dangerous. Ruel made that known and stood in my way.

As a result, Kuram and Poison Centipede had been judged, and no one would be able to climb higher unless she allowed it.

Ruel had obtained everything she wanted.

"Order is completed by judging the sinners who violate it. I don't particularly want to judge someone myself on order's behalf. Someone who desires order, like you, should do it personally. That must be what you want."

That was a result obtained through force.

Forcing others through strength. The order Ruel spoke of could not be anything else. Ruel had realized the endpoint of my logic.

"King of Humanity. Did you want me to commit a sin?"

"That's right, but don't misunderstand. I don't want only you to do it. To me, you're just another human being."

I wanted everyone to achieve their wishes. Not the responsibilities imposed by order, or wishes warped by oppression until they had forgotten what they originally desired. I wanted them to live for their honest, pure wishes.

Not act as though they had become machines simply because they had received orders.

Not rely on faith and wield power without a shred of doubt or thought.

Not find every possible justification for simply hating or despising someone.

If they were going to use order as nothing more than a tool for shifting responsibility, they might as well stop and act honestly and barbarically.

"My goal has always been the same: for everyone to achieve their wishes. Don't blindly trust order, don't confuse your assigned duties with your desires, and pursue your own pure wishes."

Everyone acted according to their wishes. Then what happened when they clashed? What if fulfilling one person's wish meant breaking another's?

It couldn't be helped.

They had no choice but to fight.

Just as the mages and holy knights opposed me, and Ruel came here, killed Kuram and Poison Centipede, and stopped me.

"After everyone has fought for their wishes like that, the final victor becomes order! Order is barbarism too. The scale and strength are different, but it isn't any different from barbarism!"

Order was not noble. It, too, was something to struggle against. It was simply too large and powerful.

It always had to be challenged. Order had to prove its worth as well, so it could be discarded the moment it was no longer needed.

After hearing everything I said, Ruel gave me a faint smile tinged with pity.

"You don't distinguish humans from sin. You even deny the attempt to distinguish them, don't you?"

Huh? Of course.

What creature liked shackles that bound it?

"Hate the sin, but not the human. It's a phrase that says sin and humans should be treated as separate beings. Yet the King of Humanity does not distinguish humans from sin. You regard the judgment carried out by order as the same barbarism as sins committed by humans."

Right. They were the same. There were only two reasons humans could not defy order. Either they understood its necessity, or they simply lacked the power to overcome it.

It was the same if you replaced "order" with "other humans." We were no different from the days long ago when we followed tribal chiefs.

"As long as you believe that, we will still be unable to separate sin from humanity. A conceptual separation will not occur... Hmm. It was a future I already knew, but reaching it still leaves a bitter taste."

A conceptual separation.

Using Beast Kings, beings of concepts, to create an entity that embodied the concept itself.

So this was the Sanctum's purpose after all.

"That's why you need two Kings of Humanity."

Ruel smiled quietly.

At the top of the tree of sin, a King of Humanity slept. Not alive, but not dead either.

Nevida had tried to save "Sister," and the Holy Maiden had stood by and watched. That was how there came to be two Kings of Humanity.

A powerful Beast King who ruled the world in the age of barbarism before Year One.

And a Beast King who had lost its meaning and weakened after civilization arose.

More than one of the same Beast King could not exist.

Dogs and wolves had the same roots, but they were different species. Among wolves that lived in packs, humans had tamed the most loyal individuals, those that liked humans the most. Over countless years, they formed bonds and left their mark, eventually giving rise to a new species. That was why dogs and wolves could exist as separate Kings.

Yet beasts were also beings of concepts.

By clearly distinguishing humanity before and after Year One, building civilization, accumulating knowledge, and gathering strength.

Humanity had finally changed.

Enough that "Sister" alone could no longer represent humanity.

"You are our success, King of Humanity. A new King who finally appeared after humanity underwent long evolution and maturation. You are proof that humanity today is different from the barbarians before Year One."

Ruel stared at me with sparkling eyes, then tilted her head slightly.

"Even so, you are still barbaric. Though humans have reached civilization and become beings completely different from barbarians, they have not been able to cast away their barbarity. The arrangement made by the First Holy Maiden cannot promise an unchanging tomorrow. Not unless we take one more step."

"So you're saying you'll use the one remaining King of Humanity to create the King of Sin?"

Ruel answered calmly.

"The opposite. What we intend to create is what remains after sin has been removed."

What remained.

Not the King of Sin, but a pure and good King of Humanity left behind after sin had been removed...

A King of Divinity who received the Holy Maiden's power and support, then led all humans toward virtue? Seriously. They called it a King of Divinity, but wasn't it just the human version of the King of Dogs?

"You intend to play with someone else. Did you get my consent?"

"I offer my deepest apologies."

"You're pretty reckless. That's your barbarism too, isn't it? But are you sure it's all right? The human version of the King of Wolves, the King of Sin, destroys the world."

Ruel asked, sounding puzzled.

"Did Shei tell you that?"

"Yes. That the King of Sin would appear and destroy this world. That was the future you wanted to avoid. That's how she explained it."

The King of Sin was a wolf version of the King of Humanity. Me, or "Sister." My power was insignificant, so it was most likely Sister.

I didn't know whether Sister would really try to kill every human, or whether she had the power to destroy this world alone. Still, Shei's memories were undeniably real. She might not have shown me everything, but everything she had shown me was true.

"Shei didn't tell you everything either. But isn't that all right? The King of Sin exists, and peace will come if that being is defeated. Isn't it far more hopeful to believe that?"

Ruel answered brightly. What she said next was pessimistic and despairing in a way that did not suit her expression.

"Compared with humanity destroying itself after carrying out species-wide suicide!"

Then I read the thought Ruel had recalled.

* * *

This world was endlessly fragile and precarious. The moment she became a Holy Maiden, Ruel realized that the end was remarkably easy to bring about, and that a Holy Maiden could reach it with ease.

Ruel had been intelligent from the start, and she understood that fact far faster than any other Holy Maiden. She reread the books left behind by the Prophet.

Flip. A page turned, and the letters trapped on the paper came into view.

The world stopped.

The thin page stiffened. Flowing light slowly illuminated the letters. In a severed fragment of the world, in time where everything had stopped, Ruel alone sank into thought.

The Great Master of the Earth Mother judged the Conquering King and his army with the Abyss. Then she wandered the world to prevent war, killing evil monarchs. But she was killed by an assassin, and ten Abysses that could never be erased were left across the continent.

The Earth Mother's grace did not reach the Abyss. Flowing streams fell into the holes and descended deep underground. In empty air where even insects and bacteria had nowhere to stand, they perished, and the land within a radius of several hundred kilometers became barren.

One alone was enough to do that, and the continent was too fragile to endure ten Abysses. Ten vanishing points where earth energy and underground water veins disappeared. Like deeply driven stakes forming a magic circle, they stole all life force from the continent.

With the Great Master's death, the Earth Mother's forgiveness could no longer be sought. Followers of the Earth Mother were killed by furious people, and their corpses and knowledge were all thrown into the Abyss.

Now, even the means to reach the bottom of the Abyss in search of the Great Master's relics had vanished. Humanity would barely survive upon that dried-up landmass, having lost both civilization and knowledge.

"One Demon God. And she was armed with goodwill. Yet the end still comes. How strange."

The Earth Mother was not particularly dangerous. Every Demon God was like that.

For example, if the Progenitor of vampires devoted herself until she awakened and became a true Demon God. If she gained the power to grant immortality to every human.

Birth would no longer be blessed. Children would grow into adults in less than twenty short years, then demand land when the world was already cramped. Their numbers would rise while resources dwindled. People packed ever more tightly together would clash more often. Yet no one would die. Humans would simply grow irritated with circumstances that did not go their way.

At some point, humans would no longer welcome children. They would not love them. Even if they bore the burden and effort of raising a child, that child would only become a rival coveting what was theirs.

That was how children disappeared. Even children who were born would be found and killed before they could receive immortality. Like hamsters eating their young in a cramped cage, people would devour even others' children. And the world would become peaceful.

No life would be born, and no one would meet a natural death. The world would slowly die in boredom.

In a world where the sound of children crying had vanished, the Progenitor, unable to find love, would one day feel regret. But the world would already have hardened. Being kind, she could not go against the demands of her people. Humanity would fade like twilight, holding only a slight lingering regret.

"What matters is what one can do."

-Contemplation complete.

Flip. The turned page settled softly. Contemplating within stopped time was something only Ruel could do. Already intelligent and curious, she often used foresight to cultivate herself.

Having read a full page and finished contemplating it, Ruel tried to turn the page again.

"What do you think, Ruel? Have you finished thinking?"

The Holy Maiden of Heaven, Maiél, stood beside her.

Ruel was briefly startled by the sudden appearance, but she soon realized what had happened. Maiél had not moved within stopped time. Ruel had foreseen Maiél being there. The future she saw became reality.

When Maiél saw the future of herself as reflected in Ruel's eyes, Ruel came to see her. Whether this was Maiél herself or simply an illusion formed from gathered light, she did not know. It was probably the latter, but even that would change depending on what future Maiél saw.

The power to force the future she wanted. Even among Holy Maidens, it was an abnormal wonder, one Ruel, who could stop time, did not dare to measure.

What kind of being was the First Holy Maiden, who foresaw and blessed such a thing? To begin with, how had she granted Ruel the power to foresee stopped time? Ruel could feel nothing but reverence.

"Yes. I understand."

Ruel closed the book as she faced Maiél, then answered.

"That welcoming a today identical to yesterday is itself a blessing. And that only we can undertake that noble and despairing ordeal."

A single Demon God could destroy the world. Even wrapped in goodwill, it would shake the world and transform the humans within it.

The world survived through a miracle-like coincidence, and through the order created by the Sanctum. To bring an unchanging tomorrow to this world, they had to keep foreseeing that miracle.

Pleased by Ruel's wise answer, Maiél beamed.

"Ruel. The Temple of the Demon God you met claims on the surface to seek the study of Demon Gods, but it has another intention. Hwaran, the Red Tower Master, wants to create a world law. A rule bound together by Demon Gods."

"The Temple of the Demon God? I haven't heard of it yet."

"Oh. You haven't met them yet. I'm sorry, I brought up something you don't know again."

Not only had she not met them, she had not even climbed the Dragon Gate yet. Her plan to ascend to the floating castle had not been realized.

But it seemed Maiél could see that. It happened often, so Ruel listened patiently and calmly.

"Most of it, you will learn after ascending to the floating castle, seeing things and experiencing them. What you need to learn is world law. Rules created by Demon Gods. That is what you must be wary of. They will never achieve it, but... If they obtain Pride and Jizan, they will gain the power to destroy the world."

Ruel knew what Pride and Jizan were. She could infer what the Temple of the Demon God was from its name as well.

There was only one unfamiliar term: world law. But it was not difficult to understand.

"World law. Like the Celestial God system created by binding together five Demon Gods, it must be a method of projecting the power of Demon Gods onto the world."

The Holy Maidens already managed rules created by binding Demon Gods together.

The number of Demon Gods that had sworn to protect the world instead of destroying it was five, including Lightning, who had joined most recently. A newly formed group like the Temple of the Demon God could not compare. Of course, even one Demon God was enough to destroy the world, so they still had to be watched.

"There are only three Demon Gods they might possibly find. But if you persuade the Cyan Tower Master, that number will fall to one. Ah, the Cyan Tower Master refers to Elisha Celsius, the Fourteenth Tower Master!"

Maiél's explanation remained unkind, with the past and future mixed together. But it did not matter.

It must have already been decided that Ruel would act as Maiél said.

Footnotes:

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