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Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

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◈ SSS-Class Revival Hunter ◈

Chapter 220: Golden Rule (4)

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5.

I looked at the girl.

The scenery transformed and shifted violently, from the snowy street where Marquis Baek Seol-To brought down her whip, to the cave where Viscount Chun Heuk-Shin tore into human flesh, and then to the battlefield where Viscount Dae Ha-Ran drove her forces onward, massacring soldiers and civilians alike.

"Kill them all without exception!"

The competence of a general lies in two things: the ability to kill effectively and the lack of hesitation in doing so.

Viscount Dae Ha-Ran was a competent general.

"This is a rebel village. I will not permit our operational intelligence to leak. Peasants or paupers, highborn or lowborn, men or women, young or old, kill every one of them, leaving none alive! I will bear the responsibility."

Thousands of cavalry pursued the rebels.

Surrounded by soldiers, the villagers trembled in fear. Among them were those who genuinely conspired against the kingdom. Many more were just common folk who believed if the lord said there was a war, there must be one.

"Please spare us! My lord! We are just simple villagers who know nothing!"

The competence of a politician lies in distinguishing between friend and foe, and acting in the interests of allies.

Viscount Dae Ha-Ran was an incompetent politician.

And when a person is competent in one aspect and incompetent in another, they become most cruel.

"Burn it."

The village was set ablaze.

The very palisades built for their protection now trapped the villagers inside. Kingdom soldiers, wielding long spears, pushed back the residents trying to escape through the palisade gaps.

"Oh, God!"

Old people and women choked on the black smoke within their burning hometown.

The soot filled the elderly village chief's lungs. Until their last moment, they couldn't tell whether they should have rebelled against the lord's command to join the rebellion, or if dying by the hands of the lord's men was a more dignified death.

Did they ever have a choice?

"Please save us, oh God......"

God was indeed present.

Jaa Soo-Jeong sat far away on a tree branch. As she had declared herself, she was a [God Who Does Not Return]. More precisely, [A God Who Does Not Move for Anyone Even If She Returns].

Immovable.

"Viscount."

I pleaded, gripped by the wrist by the deity.

"Please help them. This is unjust."

"I know."

"Why should General Dae Ha-Ran live and they die? Why must they alone suffer and die in agony?"

"Advisor."

I tried to activate my Aura to break free from the Viscount's grip.

But Jaa Soo-Jeong, with a gentle touch, never let go of my wrist.

The god's grip was stronger than all my martial strength.

"There's no reason that one must live, another must die, and yet another must suffer. Such reasons don't exist, do they?"

"Then......"

"Still, it seems you people often need a reason to blame."

Ashes from the burning village drifted all the way to the forest.

Jaa Soo-Jeong lifted her index finger, gently capturing the grey ash.

"You can't accept the fact that the world just flows by chance, can you? That there's malice behind one's misfortune, manipulation behind another's luck, and thus one is deserving of sympathy while another deserves all the curses in the world? That's right."

The scenery changed once again.

"You are right."

Inside the kingdom's grand parliament.

"I'll make you right."

Witnesses requested by Count Ah Ru-Ho entered the parliament.

An old person who lost their granddaughter was just the beginning.

The Count, utilizing her power, or rather, her faction's power, had gathered the victims. Among them were descendants of refugees who had lost their homes due to General Dae Ha-Ran.

"Your misfortune is not just a happenstance, but a result of my negligence and tacit approval."

The parliament turned more chaotic.

Count Ah Ru-Ho, leading the charge, denounced Jaa Soo-Jeong. Behind her, many nobles scolded her.

"There's no direct crime committed by Jaa Soo-Jeong!"

Count Ah Ru-Ho argued.

"But she covered up for the criminals. And not out of ignorance, but knowingly. Why does she protect Marquis Baek Seol-To? Why does she favor a mere cannibal? When they have clearly committed evil, isn't she, who protected them, also an utmost villain?"

Unspoken by Count Ah Ru-Ho, but included in the list of criminals, was the Sun King, seated on the throne.

A monarch secluded for sixty whole years. Under the Sun King's rule without governance, landlords exploited peasants without restraint and nobles squeezed their subjects without interference. Across those sixty years of neglect, popular uprisings and rebellions fermented throughout the kingdom.

"......."

The Sun King sat alone on the throne, enduring the silence.

And not just the king.

Duke Mu Wi-Sik had lived for a thousand years as an ascendant and committed countless acts of slaughter. Not one of the six dukes had refrained from killing.

Within this grand parliament of the kingdom, among the hundreds of nobles, there was not a single person who hadn't caused someone's death.

"Jaa Soo-Jeong is at fault!"

Count Ah Ru-Ho was no different.

She was a hardened warrior who had personally taken command in several battles. There could not possibly have been no unjust deaths on those battlefields. She had ruined people's lives, destroyed their families, and now carried their misery upon her shoulders.

"Even so, she dared to call the guilty 'lovable'! How shamelessly does she flaunt her love for the criminal! Even now, rather than repenting and correcting her mistakes to uphold the kingdom's ethics, she dares to love a criminal!"

Count Ah Ru-Ho attacked Jaa Soo-Jeong. In truth, however, the Count was stabbing every royal and noble present, and herself most of all.

"Viscount is a criminal!"

Count Ah Ru-Ho showed no pain.

Like a hunting dog intoxicated as it licked the blood from its own wound, she tore into Jaa Soo-Jeong again and again.

"Yes."

Jaa Soo-Jeong, who knew all of this better than anyone in the world, did not retort with [Aren't you the same kind of sinner?].

Nor did she declare [We are all the same sinners].

"That’s right."

She simply affirmed.

"It's my fault."

The young deity willingly accepted all the finger-pointing and cries of the victims, as if savoring a sweet beverage.

"I am the sinner."

The evil deity was reveling.

"Then, I must be punished."

Perhaps Count Ah Ru-Ho was too focused on her rhetoric.

"......."

Had she paid a bit more attention, she might have wondered why the nobles belonging to Jaa Soo-Jeong's faction did not utter a single word of objection.

"......? What?"

However little authority the king possessed, the sovereign was still the master of the royal domain and held rights guaranteed by the law codes. The Sun King had ample opportunity to halt Count Ah Ru-Ho's speech and defend Jaa Soo-Jeong.

But the Sun King did not defend the royal favorite encountered for the first time in sixty years.

"Why do you say that, Count? I just agreed with your opinion."

Duke Mu Wi-Sik was a mass murderer and a duke. Furthermore, she was a powerholder who did not regret a single killing or slaughter she committed.

She enjoyed rolling dice to decide people's fates, a habit long established and intended to continue far into the future. If anything had changed for Duke Mu Wi-Sik, it was only that she no longer rolled the dice for Jaa Soo-Jeong alone.

Even so, Duke Mu Wi-Sik did not defend the first darling she had taken in a thousand years.

"By agreeing with my view, you mean..."

"Everything is my fault, my responsibility, and as I am a sinner, I should rightfully be punished."

Marquis Baek Seol-To, who killed a child at a much younger age, had since become the head of her family. The Rabbit Marquisate had monopolized the northern port of the capital for generations. Three-tenths of the great river flowing through the kingdom belonged to her. The Marquis was very wealthy.

Viscount Chun Heuk-Shin, a former cannibal, knew how to use her infamy to her advantage. She eliminated the deep-rooted rot in her territory. She purged landowners owning windmills and executed local tyrants controlling the waterways. The Viscount took control of all the mills and waterways in her territory and offered them to the peasants at a cheap price. She had a lot of rice.

Viscount Dae Ha-Ran, once a commander in the royal army, had at one time plotted a rebellion within the royal capital. She remained adept at killing. She knew every stratagem needed for war: how to split a united enemy, bring down a territory acting as one, and annihilate seasoned soldiers. The viscount possessed a great many tricks.

"......So, you're acknowledging my argument?"

"Completely."

Yet, none of them defended their master.

If it wasn't due to a lack of love for their lover or loyalty to their master, there must be a reason for their collective silence.

"As such a heinous criminal in the history of the kingdom, I will submit a bill."

Jaa Soo-Jeong commanded silence.

"Clerk, please distribute the bill I've prepared."

Had the Count paid more attention.

No matter how notorious Jaa Soo-Jeong was as the [Madwoman of the Capital], it was unlikely she would keep smiling amid a stream of witnesses and evidence unfavorable to her. Perhaps she would have suspected that the entire political battle in the parliament was exactly [what Jaa Soo-Jeong wanted].

"A bill......?"

"Yes. I propose this bill as a party line."

The Count didn't suspect.

"The bill's name is the Golden Rule."

And thus, she was hunted.

"Dear fellow members of the Noble Parliament."

Documents were distributed among the nobles. Splash! Royal clerks hurried back and forth through the amniotic water. The Gongyeon, Banseok, Naegyeong, and Inoe factions all received the papers equally.

"Someone might question."

As the highest-ranking individuals in the kingdom flipped through the pages, Jaa Soo-Jeong began her speech effortlessly.

"Do we really need a new duke in this era?"

Some nobles didn't read the document. They even lowered their eyes as if terrified to see it. Among the nobles were Duke Mu Wi-Sik, Absolute Sword Duke, Inner Duke, Steadfast Duke, and Black Dragon Duke.

This indicated that the bill had already been discussed among the Dukes.

"My answer is clear. Yes, a seventh Duke is needed."

"......."

Among the dukes, the All Gods Duke led the Religious Faction and belonged to the same faction as Count Ah Ru-Ho. Dazed, Count Ah Ru-Ho turned and looked up at the leader of her faction.

The All Gods Duke, resembling the Heretic Inquisitor, grinned broadly.

"Sorry, Count! My sister asked to keep it a secret!"

"......."

Only then did the Count realize.

How easily the witnesses and evidence related to Jaa Soo-Jeong were assembled. Who had planned this political victory. The kingdom was already in Jaa Soo-Jeong's possession.

"If there are no particular problems in the current era, yes. There's no need to establish a new ducal position."

The deity who controlled the kingdom from the shadows spoke.

"But there's been too much rebellion, reaction, and rotten stench accumulated. Isn't that right? Respected members of the Noble Parliament. There are hundreds of thousands involved in the rebellion and millions of citizens who have lost loyalty to the kingdom. Someone must take responsibility for this era."

Impatient nobles read the summary on the last page first.

"The way to take responsibility is simple."

And then, confused, returned to the first page.

"Those victimized by the kingdom's administration over the last sixty years. Those whose lives were ruined after they were unjustly implicated in rebellion. Their families and descendants. Soldiers sacrificed by unjust orders. Those dispossessed by forced-resettlement policies. Those whose property was seized, whose bodies were maimed, who were driven from their homes, or whose relatives were killed because royalty or nobility ignored them or silently condoned the abuse. Those subjected to racial discrimination. Mine slaves and serfs. To give specific examples: two orders to subjugate the Golden Dragon during the last sixty years, one civil war, three rebellions by noble houses, and the unrest caused by the Red Nails and other rebel bands. The subjects unwillingly sacrificed by all of these."

In other words, all unjustly sacrificed citizens of the kingdom.

"The kingdom fully acknowledges its responsibility for them and will delegate all these responsibilities to the newly established seventh Duke."

In other words, Jaa Soo-Jeong.

"The principle for undertaking responsibility is as follows."

The kingdom's nobles looked at Jaa Soo-Jeong.

"Those whose lives were ruined by the kingdom can transfer as much pain as they've suffered to the seventh Duke."

Torture.

"The method for delegating responsibility is as follows."

Nobles in Jaa Soo-Jeong's faction bowed their heads.

"Any subject who wishes to take revenge on the seventh duke may identify the principal culprit who ruined their life and demand that culprit's attendance when the Golden Rule is enforced. To give a specific example, the freeman named Nam Seok may compel Marquis Baek Seol-To to attend as a witness."

Vengeance.

"And no matter how much pain the seventh Duke suffers, the witness cannot stop the citizen or interfere with the execution of the Golden Rule. The witness can only observe."

The cost of sin.

"The date and place for implementing the responsibility are as follows."

The reason why today is a particular evil deity's trauma.

"Every year on December 24, the day the year-end Noble Council closes. Beginning at midnight, the seventh duke will make one clockwise circuit of the royal capital. The route will begin at Platinum Square before the Platinum Tower and end at that same square. During the circuit, any subject of the kingdom, regardless of age, sex, or station, may step before the seventh duke and demand that the Golden Rule be enforced."

Today is December 24th.

"I will judge whether the citizen has the right to execute the Golden Rule."

Jaa Soo-Jeong possesses the [Breath of the Glacier Dragon].

She can directly witness the other person's past.

She can know if the kingdom truly ruined that citizen's life.

"If they are eligible, I will judge how much pain they suffered, and therefore, how much pain they can return to me. An arm for an arm, an eye for an eye. If once is not enough, continue next year, and the year after, until it's sufficient."

Jaa Soo-Jeong possesses the [Eyes of the Golden Dragon].

She can understand the color and size of the other person's emotions.

She can know how much pain the kingdom caused the citizen.

"While executing the Golden Rule, my body will be damaged, and I probably won't be able to walk properly, so I'll designate someone to support me. The one who caused the most pain to the citizens will support me."

Jaa Soo-Jeong had asked every powerholder she met to love her.

She asked for nothing else.

Now, they must smell the blood of their beloved lover from the closest place.

"I hereby place this bill on the agenda. As leader of the Mirror Faction and head of House Jaa Soo-Jeong, I formally request, under the rights the First King guaranteed to every noble, that you decide this measure by vote. If it passes, the Golden Rule will take effect tonight."

The parliament fell silent.

The sound of flowing water echoed.

Perhaps outside, the snow of December was falling.

"Dear colleagues of the Parliament."

The Nation-Toppling Duke.

The noble who would become the seventh Duke smiled brightly.

"Let's punish the sinner."

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