Chapter 20
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 20
Chapter Title: 6. Ella
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"What?"
Ella thought for a moment that she'd misheard.
It was that ridiculous.
"Sure enough, once you go past one person playing two roles, or three, it gets hard to control. And if I cloned myself, things would just turn into a total mess."
Rion started muttering with a laugh.
Not a single word properly registered in Ella's ears. She let out an awkward laugh as she asked back.
"R-Rion? What are you talking about? When did you find out..."
"Ahaha! It's a joke, sis. Why take it so seriously?"
Rion burst into laughter. A starkly different vibe from moments ago.
As if it had been a joke from the start, Rion wiped away tears with his hand.
Ella let out another awkward laugh. She just couldn't keep up with the conversation's tempo.
"Why the serious face, sis? Is it because of that attack?"
"Ah, haha... Yeah. Right. I guess I've been a bit on edge since that incident."
Ella reached out to stroke Rion's head but suddenly froze midway.
She just couldn't bring herself to pet him. It felt like this wasn't Rion at all.
Ella stood there, hand outstretched, doing nothing... before finally pulling it back.
Rion looked at her curiously.
"What's wrong, sis?"
"Must be fatigue. Don't worry about it, Rion. Go eat first. I'll be right there."
Ella turned her head and splashed more cold water on her face.
The chill cleared her mind right up.
Yeah. It's all in my head. I'm just too worked up from what happened that day.
The moment Ella convinced herself of that and lifted her head.
She realized Rion was still standing right there.
Rion was still smiling.
"...Rion?"
Rion shook his head.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
Rion shook his head again. A gesture like that wasn't it.
But what wasn't?
Before Ella could even ask, Rion spoke first.
"Enough denying reality. Now tell me who I really am."
"...R-Rion. What the hell? This isn't funny anymore."
Rion shook his head again. With an irritated expression this time.
"No. No, it's not. I told you. Say who I really am."
Ella, who'd been desperately denying the possibility, suddenly fell silent.
Rion's face was expressionless. As if he wouldn't tolerate any more denials.
As if telling her to speak his true identity.
And so, Ella—
"...Cult Leader."
—named his existence.
"Correct."
The Cult Leader smiled.
The first time I saw Ella, I'd imagined all sorts of developments.
The branches were all similar, differing only in the endings.
Like, for example, how she'd figure out I wasn't Rion.
In the end, it came to this.
Ella growing suspicious of the Cult Leader and Rion after the attack played a big part.
If it weren't for that attack, I could've enjoyed this role-play a bit longer.
I felt some regret, but no lingering attachment.
I started pondering how to spin this situation into another game.
"Then... what happened to Rion?"
"Resurrection doesn't exist. Dead people don't come back."
I laid out the truth for Ella.
"Rion is dead. He died the moment you came running to me."
Ella clenched her fists. Her nails dug into her palms, drawing blood.
Blood dripped down, making hollow sounds.
"...Then how are you here? How can you be alive in Rion's body?"
"It's my ability. I can possess the bodies of the dead."
Ella gripped her bleeding hand tighter.
Anger, confusion, and deep betrayal flashed in her eyes.
Just three minutes. But it felt far longer.
An eternity-like silence, broken by Ella's question.
"Why... why do this? Tricking people, stealing a dead child's body... what's the reason for any of it?"
I ran my index finger over my lips, pondering the best response.
A eight-year-old child's small body, but my demeanor was anything but.
Ella shuddered visibly at the dissonant mismatch but tried not to show it.
Better to just say it straight.
"Because it's fun."
"...Fun?"
Ella's voice cracked.
"Fun? Toying with people's lives like playthings? Toying with my brother, my only family... that's all just for fun?"
"Yeah, fun."
I continued calmly.
"But why not? Humans raise and eat other animals. Humans are animals too, right? So why make an exception for humans?"
Ella was startled by the question but soon hardened her expression and retorted.
"...Humans aren't livestock."
"Easy to say. But do you really believe that? That humans aren't livestock?"
Humans are animals.
I can't understand those who claim otherwise.
They eat, sleep, shit, and fuck. No matter how complex society gets, those four things stay the same.
And those are just like any other animals. Eating, sleeping, shitting, fucking to maintain the ecosystem.
So, to me, humans are livestock.
Livestock raised not for food or labor, but for entertainment.
"...!"
Did my thoughts show on my face? Ella paled and took a step back in horror.
Maybe the momentary fear pissed her off.
She steeled her expression and stepped forward again.
Tears streamed down her face, but it was flushed red.
"So if it's fun, anything goes? Fooling people into thinking you're their savior, faking miracles of raising the dead... all of it just for fun?"
I nodded.
Irrefutable, perfect logic for me.
"Yeah. I do it because it's fun."
The moment I answered, I realized Ella's question cut deeper, more fundamentally.
Not why I did this. But how I could.
How I could do this and stay so calm, why I'm still fine. Something like that.
"And because I'm strong. I can pull off shit like this and not get punished. Why? Because I'm strong. When you're strong, you can do anything."
Strength makes anything possible.
I know this is bullshit too.
Act too wild when you're strong, and you'll get hunted down. That's why humans formed societies.
Cooperation beats confrontation. Obvious truth.
'Strength means you can do whatever.' Sounds like a kid throwing a tantrum. Childish logic, but it doesn't matter right now.
If it's fun, that's enough.
Misdirecting the truth, spinning long-winded arguments—all of it.
"..."
"That's how the world works. Survival of the fittest. Your brother died because you didn't have the strength to protect him. If you'd been strong, you could've gotten expensive medicine when he got sick. But you couldn't. Why?"
Ella's face went deathly pale.
She thought it was her fault her brother died.
Which wasn't true, but.
Rion died because of this society's injustices. Not Ella's fault.
That doesn't matter either.
"Because you're weak. So you couldn't protect your brother and ended up begging me for salvation."
"That's... that's not strength..."
Ella's voice trembled.
Push her a little more.
"No, that's exactly what strength is."
I stood and walked toward her.
The height of an eight-year-old child. But Ella stepped back instead.
"Strength is the power to get what you want. Laws and morals are just chains made by the weak."
Ella couldn't say a word. Tears kept flowing.
"When you're strong, you can do anything. Fake resurrection miracles, indoctrinate a whole city into your cult, declare war on the Empire. Why? Because you can."
I smiled.
"I do it simply because I can."
Ella slowly sank to her knees.
Silence filled the room. Ella couldn't respond anymore.
Ella couldn't find a rebuttal.
Her shallow knowledge and experience couldn't dismantle my shallow, childish logic.
In the end, what she said after the silence was simple.
"...G-Give me back my brother."
A simple plea.
She's broken.
I knelt down in front of her.
Met her tearful gaze.
Flashed an innocent child's smile.
"...!!"
I continued with that innocent smile.
"You begging like this, falling for my stupid cult scam—it's all because you're weak. If you'd been strong, you'd have taken him by force. Right?"
Ella's face crumpled. She lost her words and let out a wail.
"Waaah! Waaaaaah!!"
I was just getting up to leave the room.
When a voice full of killing intent came from behind.
"I'll kill you...!"
Ella glared at me and spat it out. Her words mixed with sobs and pleas.
"I'll kill you, Cult Leader...!!"
Laughter burst out of me.
Various lines came to mind, but I didn't voice them.
Instead, I made another offer.
"Want me to help? With that revenge."
The devil's proposal.