Do Even the Unorthodox Have Human Hearts?
"Mental illness. Or a lack of empathy."
From an interview with One-Sword Star, Second of the Unorthodox Path,
in answer to the question: "What is the first virtue of the Unorthodox?"
“…Why?”
“I’ll only take legal work.”
Even if the pay was good, how was this any different from an illegal private contract?
No illegal jobs. Only official commissions sanctioned by a planetary government. That was the right way. The galaxy still had righteousness and the rule of law staring down with wide, bloodshot eyes. Gong Ryun intended to make his money clean.
Having reached that decision, he felt rather proud of himself. His mother would have been proud too, he was sure of it.
Medilla, however, looked unwilling to accept it.
“…Ah…! Aha! So that’s it! So that’s it, my subject! This queen understands now. You’re worried about safety, are you? My, you’re more of a coward than I thought!”
“….”
“Fear not, my subject. This queen is exceedingly skilled in Qi Sensing Arts, you know. She can cast her senses across nearly the entire western under-sewer system. If any of the spiders leave their zone, she will know at once. The reason she could find you every day at quitting time was through that very sensing. If you’re truly uneasy, this queen shall specially keep constant watch over you! It might be a little embarrassing for privacy reasons, hmm? Kishit.”
“No. I’m not doing it.”
“Could it be… that money is the issue? What a greedy subject you are! No need to worry on that front either! This queen shall provide you with clean money free of any aftereffects, and plenty of it!”
“No. I’m fine.”
“Is it the illegality that bothers you? Honestly, it’s fine, this queen keeps telling you. This is a rural planet, you know. And one thick with Unorthodox influence at that. Besides, the age of the Cosmic Locust Wars has largely passed, and the alert levels keep dropping. They don’t shut down and quarantine a whole planet over one or two Locusts anymore. We’ve entered the age of living with the Locusts!”
“It’s still illegal.”
“N-n-no! My subject! Listen well! This is a truly important teaching!! Fail to grasp it and you will lose out on life itself!”
“…? What are you about to say…”
Medilla spread both arms wide and spoke as if delivering a grand address.
“A person!!! Cannot live by doing only the right things!!!”
“…???”
“We all have a handful of conscience in our hearts! Like a single ray of light in the dark, it truly shows us the direction we ought to go! But my subject! Press your eyes too close to that light and everything else grows blurry! Blinded by a small light, you lose the bigger picture!”
“…????? What on earth are you…”
“Walking toward the light is a fine thing! But my subject! The light hangs far up in the heavens, and we are humans stuck to the ground. The path our two feet must walk lies, in truth, within the darkness! If you only look at the light, can you see what lies before your own feet? Sometimes you must let your eyes grow used to the dark before the shortcuts reveal themselves!”
A speech worthy of a musical number exploded into the air.
“So… the shortcut you found in the dark was illegal bio-farming?”
“Precisely so! This is a kind of startup business!”
“I’ll find my light through the legal path.”
“My subject!! In what lifetime do you expect that to happen!”
“Someday, won’t it? The value of honest labor is sacred.”
Medilla thumped her chest in frustration.
“What kind of naive, pure-hearted country-boy thinking is that! Galactic capitalism is not so gentle a beast! At that rate, how many ages will pass before you scrape together enough money from mercenary work to buy secret manuals and grow!”
“Isn’t it fine to live slowly but steadily?”
“Have you ever heard of the Red Queen Hypothesis? Even if we run forward without rest, everyone else is running just as hard, so in relative terms we remain stuck in place! That is why ordinary methods hit a wall when it comes to pulling ahead! In the end, we have no choice but to find a breakthrough!”
“So you’re saying that since you can’t get ahead within society’s framework, you’ll operate outside it?”
“Well, only stepping out a little, for a little while! The light of conscience still exists in this heart!”
“….”
“It’s true! If this queen truly had no conscience, she wouldn’t have limited the harvest to five eggs per nest! She would have expanded much further! This scale is exactly the conscientious Maginot Line! The proper amount that won’t cause a public nuisance in the sewers!”
“…Isn’t that just you being as careful as possible so you don’t get caught?”
“Well, that too, among other things! Kishishi! Listen well, my subject. Another thing: with one deed you must gain at least two benefits, or you will fall behind, and…”
Hmm. Enough. No need to hear any more.
Thinking as much, Gong Ryun cut her off.
“No, Medilla. I’m not doing it. My mind is made up. Still, since you spared my life, I’ll keep your secret. But I won’t work here any longer. I won’t hold it against you further, so let’s end this cleanly here. How about it?”
“….”
“….”
“….”
“….”
“Ugh…”
“?”
“Whyyyyyyyy!? Waaaaaaaah!!!”
“??????”
Medilla began to wilt and wobble.
Gong Ryun was thoroughly rattled.
“Whyyyyy!! How could youuuu!!! My subject!!! How could you do this to us after everything waaaaah!!!”
“U… us?”
What “us”…? What kind of “us” was she even talking about!
“Where have all the memories gone that we built with our daily scare-play!!! Are we not practically childhood friends by now!!!”
“What are you talking about!”
Gong Ryun nearly jumped out of his skin.
The scaring was just a boss-satisfaction event, wasn’t it? He’d been startled at first, sure, but he’d adapted later and barely thought anything of it. And they’d known each other less than a month—childhood friends? What childhood friends?
“I even shared my inner energy with you!!!”
“No, that was because you were the one raising Arachne in the first place. Of course you had to take that much responsibility.”
“Yes!! Responsibility!!! Take responsibility!!! You were the first person this maiden ever shared her inner energy with!! Take responsibility for this girl’s heart!!!”
Gong Ryun was beyond speechless.
Whether he was or not, Medilla’s aggrieved clinging continued.
“That can’t be true, can it!? Saying you’ll cut our bond now—this is a cruel joke, isn’t it!?”
Denial of reality.
“You playboy!! You toyed with my heart!!! Truly, men outside the screen cannot be trusted!”
Anger.
“I’m offering money, so why won’t you take the job… hic! I’m saying I’ll designate it a dream position for you!! Hic…!!!”
Attempted renegotiation.
“Hic… hic… waaaaaaaaah!!!”
Lying on the floor and crying.
“Well… I suppose it could be that… the sewers… are pretty dirty and smelly, aren’t they…?”
Acceptance.
“No!!! The under-sewers are surprisingly clean!!! And this queen washes herself quite well, thank you!!! You mustn’t leave after all!!”
Acceptance revoked.
And then…
“Waaaaah…!! No…!!! I don’t want to lose you!!! I don’t want to lose you, I said…!!! Don’t say you’re going…!!! You mustn’t say you’re going..!!!”
“Please let go of my pants. They’re going to tear.”
Grabbing his pant leg.
From the same sprawled-out, floor-crying posture, she shot over with lightness skill—whoosh—and latched hard onto Gong Ryun’s pants. Her eyes were big and watery.
Even so, she was unconsciously applying the principles of water-walking qinggong; not a single drop of toxic fluid clung to her clothes or body.
“Waaaaaaaah…!!! Don’t wanna lose youuu…!!!”
…In the end, Gong Ryun lost.
She clearly was never going to let go.
And with her wailing so pitifully that even a bystander would have been embarrassed for her, even a tough guy like Gong Ryun couldn’t bring himself to shake her off coldly.
“…All right.”
“Wuh…?”
“I won’t leave for good, then…”
“Truly! Quick, the employment contract!”
“Ah. I’m not saying I’ll work full-time. Honestly, that’s a bit much. I won’t do the Arachne-raising work. Instead…”
“Sniff. Instead?”
“I can work as a mercenary. Like short-term part-time gigs. Call me when you’re short-handed sometimes. Stuff like the mole-hunting I’ve been doing. You’ve got plenty of other work besides the Arachne, don’t you? Right?”
“Ugh… I am busy expanding the breeding grounds, so I do need a mole mercenary, but…”
“Then hire me for that! Still, I can’t come in every day, all right? I’ve got to take high-grade commissions too and build up my mercenary reputation. Call me sometimes. Sometimes.”
“High-grade commissions… Well, a mercenary aiming higher does need that kind of work, but… even so, I’ll take good care of you, so come often!”
“A good Medilla wouldn’t stand in the way of a friend’s rise in life, would she? She wouldn’t sacrifice a friend for her own desires, right?”
“N-nooo!!! Ugh… uuuuugh. A… all right… It can’t be helped…”
Gong Ryun deployed the “A good child wouldn’t do that, would they?” tactic. Given Medilla’s mental age, he judged it would land well. And indeed, the effect was outstanding.
“I believed in you all along, Medilla! Aww, our queen is such a good girl.”
“Ahem…!”
“Then whenever I come, we can do the scare-play and have fun, right? Aww, nice!”
“Precisely so!”
“Aww, our good Medilla…”
“Eeeenough!!! The baby treatment can stop right there! This queen is no fool!!!”
After thoroughly enjoying the praise, of course.
Well, it had worked, so that was fine.
Medilla beamed as if she had never been sniffling at all.
Then she hopped about with lightness skill to boot.
"What a relief! What a relief that this queen did not lose you!"