WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

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Chapter 678: Story of Stopped Time. Holy Maiden's Tea Time (Part 2)

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[Trust? What about him do you trust? He has no intention of taking responsibility for anything.]

"I know Hughes. I've watched him for so long. I've been through countless situations with him."

She smiled as though simply watching the King of Humanity made her happy. Shei looked less like a Holy Maiden than a girl in love.

"He isn't kind. He isn't cruel either. He's just ordinary. Cowardly, honest, compassionate, and cold. Just as he always says, he's an ordinary King of Humanity."

[Even if he is ordinary, he is still the King of Humanity. He became an agent of barbarity and challenged the order of every nation. The military state, the Lesser States, the Principality. He attacked the flawed order on the Empire's outer fringes. That much can be understood. The problem came after.]

There was a prophecy.

A prophecy spoken by the First Holy Maiden, who had blessed all. There was a beautiful, dignified order that would bring a tomorrow like yesterday and allow humanity to endure forever.

It had no name. No one had found it yet. Even the First Holy Maiden had only glimpsed its possibility. She did not know how it worked or why it was possible.

Yet it certainly existed.

A sacred order where everyone was happy, no inequality existed, and laughter and song rang out without end.

The prophecy said it would appear alongside the King of Humanity.

[He could have become the leader of the military state. He could have become the Lord of Gold of the Lesser States. He was even qualified to rise as the Prince of the Principality. Or perhaps he could have simply become the King of Humanity, gathered the humans living in the lands of barbarity, and established order. We waited for that as well.]

Nevida was not the only one waiting for the King of Humanity. The Holy Maidens had waited too. Because Nevida preserved the King of Humanity who died in the Age of Barbarity, they foresaw the King of Civilization who would be born afterward.

He was a king born into a world where humanity and civilization were one. Unlike the other Beast Kings, who were not bound to nations or society, he was born within civilization. Just as fish swam through water and birds cut through the wind, he would breathe within civilization.

[Yet he established no order.]

Great expectations returned as even greater disappointment.

[He left Communications Officer AB, the Verdigris Lord, and the Progenitor Tyrkanzyaka behind and simply walked away. He broke down fences, raised flags, and gathered people, but he never accepted responsibility.]

The King of Humanity did not establish order.

The military state was capable of an unprecedentedly stable transfer of power. No one knew the true nature of Headquarters, nor did anyone understand the communications officer system. Yet the King of Humanity alone had made contact with the communications officer system and Yuel. If he had wanted to, he could have become the king of the military state. He could have absorbed and developed the system prepared by his predecessor, leading the country called the military state perfectly.

Yet he did not. He left Captain AB alone beneath that dark earth and walked away.

The Lesser States were the same. It was a cursed land without an owner, yet bound together by the Lord of Gold's enormous shadow. Having obtained the Lord of Gold's Demon God, he was the king and god of the Lesser States. On that pure white land, devoid of order or civilization, he could have drawn whatever he wished.

Yet he did not. Instead, he attacked Claudia, the Cloud Village, brought out and scattered the Demon God hidden there, and walked away to the Principality.

He did not even need to take responsibility in the Principality. Favored by the Progenitor Tyrkanzyaka, he could have become her consort and ruled the Principality. With the devoted favor and full support of an absolute ruler no different from a god, he could have developed the stagnant Principality. The Progenitor Tyrkanzyaka would likely have granted him anything he asked for.

Anything except one request: to leave her side.

He made that one request.

It was irrational. Even without a thirst for power, if one had desires, it was better to be the one giving orders. The authority to control a nation, the Demon God's power to recreate all things, or the favor of a beautiful ruler. He refused everything anyone could ever want and left.

Almost as though he were wary of it.

[If he had taken that position and established order...!]

Following the prophecy, the order no one had yet seen would have appeared in the world. As Ruel condemned the King of Humanity, Shei smiled faintly at a happy memory.

"Yeah. If Hughes truly sets out to establish order, it becomes a paradise."

"It was paradise. No one was unhappy, no one committed sins, and those who worked hard were rewarded. After endlessly exploring possibilities, everyone enjoyed happiness. It was humanity's final golden age before the end. Hughes did suffer a lot, but he usually spent his days lazing around, so he had it coming."

[Have you seen that future?]

"Yeah. It really... was fun. Happy, beautiful, wonderful. I always wanted to die, but only there did I want to live for a thousand, ten thousand years."

The King of Humanity read minds.

Without any basis or trigger, Shei simply realized it by instinct.

She also understood how perfect order was achieved.

Reading minds meant distinguishing goodwill from malice. It was something order could never do. That was why the King of Humanity created perfect order.

There was a merchant who made a great deal of money by lying about the origins of the goods, but before long, the merchant was reported. Before the King of Humanity, the merchant pleaded innocence, claiming to know nothing, to have been deceived when buying the goods, and to have none of the money left.

Uncovering the truth required far too much labor. One had to track down the merchants the merchant had met, hear testimony, cross-check it, interrogate people, find evidence, and recover the remaining money. The work required to ensure even one innocent person was not punished was immense.

Yet the King of Humanity knew the answer.

He recovered every bit of the ill-gotten profit and distributed it to those who had been deceived. That was all. There was no need to make an example of the merchant with a cruel punishment. Having lost the public's trust, the merchant was denounced and suffered great losses. The merchant vowed never to do it again. Everyone wanted to judge the merchant, but the King of Humanity did not need to dirty his hands.

After all, no one could deceive the King of Humanity.

If he knew the answer, he could uncover it. Malice was judged, and goodwill was cared for. Every loophole in the law disappeared. Sacrificing a scapegoat, shifting responsibility, keeping silent, silencing others... None of it worked. He judged and punished intent itself.

By filling every gap in order, the King of Humanity guaranteed goodwill. Malice disappeared on its own. The gains earned by deceiving, tricking, and harming others fell past zero and became losses, so no one needed to choose malice as a survival strategy. Goodwill remained the rational, practical choice.

Naturally, only goodwill remained in the world. People trusted one another. Even being wary of malice became a loss. In a world without suspicion, people embraced one another.

"Order exists because it doesn't trust humanity. But Hughes trusts humanity. The final piece that order lacks. Trust. Hughes's order has that."

The order of trust ruled by the King of Humanity.

It was a miracle made possible because the King of Humanity read human hearts.

[You saw that, so why...?]

When Ruel asked, a trace of sadness settled over Shei's face, which had been smiling so happily.

"But... if Hughes truly trusts humanity, he mustn't become order."

[What do you mean?]

"If you trust humanity, you have to leave things behind. Hughes leaves people behind because he trusts them. He entrusts things to them because he trusts the will of those with goodwill. Not being able to entrust something to them means not trusting their will. That contradiction will eventually kill Hughes. It will make humanity abandon Hughes."

The world could not yet accept a king who read minds. People could not endure knowing someone else could read the ugliness in their hearts. Evil people were afraid, and good people were ashamed. The comfort of thinking it was fine because no one knew no longer worked.

The King of Humanity read minds.

It did not matter whether they were good or evil. Humanity would ultimately reject the King of Humanity, and the King of Humanity would accept that rejection.

It remained the same even after repeating it dozens or hundreds of times. Unless humanity itself changed, even if Hughes led an order, it would end in ruin.

"I can't entrust humanity to Hughes without trusting humanity. Hughes is the King of Humanity."

That was why Shei hid her memories. There was no point in going any further.

Even if Shei and Hughes achieved enlightenment and became superhuman, as long as humanity remained unchanged and Hughes was the King of Humanity, the ending would never come.

"Trust Hughes. As much as Hughes trusts humanity."

[Trust... him.]

What word was more irresponsible than trust? Telling someone who could see the future to have faith was like telling them to simply watch a child heading toward the water's edge. And it was being said by a Holy Maiden who had returned from a future of destruction.

[The moment Pride falls, it's all over. Humanity has no chance. The moment that Demon God reveals itself to the world, she will recognize Pride and wield it as well!]

"No. There is a chance. As long as I'm here. As long as I... am with Hughes."

Shei, the regressor, returned whenever the world ended. If humanity brought about its own destruction, if the King of Sin slaughtered humanity, or if Hughes met his death. She used her own death as a trigger and returned.

How many times? Dozens? Hundreds? She could no longer remember. She could not count them. Thousands of tragedies had torn Shei's heart to pieces until nothing remained.

"I am the Holy Maiden of Opportunity. As long as I watch over opportunity, humanity will not end."

Yet her torn heart was pieced back together every time. Death was not the end. Familiar yet new encounters awaited her. Whenever she went beneath the Abyss and spent a moment choosing what story to tell, he fell from the sky like a gift.

Hughes read Shei's heart and understood her past. Comforted by him, Shei began the current round. That was why she did not break. Even if she failed, she could still be with him.

"As long as Hughes is here, I will keep being opportunity."

...Though he would probably soon discover that she had been deceiving him all this time.

Footnotes:

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