Chapter 289: The Blessed Country and the Cursed Human - 12
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 289: The Blessed Country and the Cursed Human - 12
No matter how obvious an answer may be, the time it takes to arrive at it varies from person to person. We call those who are quick to decide rational, and those who take longer, emotional. But when the matter at hand is as weighty as the fate of a nation, anyone is bound to become emotional.
A long silence passed. Yuel finally spoke, her voice laced with resentment.
“…Is this nation so wrong? So wrong that you must destroy it with your own hands?”
“What is right or wrong in this world? Things just are the way they are.”
“I… I only wanted to build a nation led by the people… to fulfill his dream… There’s nothing wrong with that, is there…?”
“Like I said, there’s no right or wrong. Oh, and one more thing.”
You keep talking about a nation led by the people, and you seem to genuinely believe it, so let me be clear.
In what way is the Military State a nation of the people?
“The Military State isn’t a nation led by the people. It’s a nation that no one leads. From what I’ve seen, not a single person is leading this country. They’re being crushed under its weight, not guiding it.”
“…That’s…”
“Don’t talk as if that was the only way. You simply couldn’t trust anyone. Not the soldiers, not the citizens, not even yourself.”
For the people to lead, they must be the masters. But the masses are not ideal. On the contrary, the larger the group, the more readily individuals make cruel choices they could never imagine alone.
Unable to trust humanity, Yuel created a fictional entity: the Military State. The Military State would watch over them, monitor them, and judge them.
Just like a god.
I suppose it's fitting for a Saintess; even her inspirations are steeped in faith. The only difference, I guess, is that the Military State delivers its judgment in the here and now, not the afterlife.
“I don’t know what kind of person this ‘he’ you speak of was, but one thing is certain. He wouldn’t have wanted a country like this. Unlike you, ‘he’ would have trusted people more. Otherwise, he never would have had such a foolish dream.”
What he wanted to build was a beautiful sandcastle, not a cruel, eternal fortress made of steel.
Faced with words packed with undeniable truth, Yuel cried out in despair.
“How could I possibly trust them! I ‘saw’ everything! I saw them approach with smiling faces, only to see the schemes they plotted behind everyone’s backs! I watched it all…!”
Even as the old kingdom fell and the Military State rose in its place, selfish human natures persisted. There were those who only looked out for themselves, those who longed for the power of the old days, and those who sought to become the new elite, filling the void left by the old.
I suppose to the Saintess of Foresight, who had only ever seen the most beautiful things, the raw viciousness of the human world must have seemed utterly alien. Perhaps she wanted to excise their freedom, their responsibilities, and their sins, as if cutting out a cancer.
“What can be done? That’s just what it means to be human.”
But what could I say? All of that is part of being human.
Her sobbing trailed off. Yuel clenched her fists, her head bowed. Her muttered words echoed off the stone floor.
“…Abbey. You will either destroy the Military State, or it will destroy you.”
“I have no intention of doing either.”
“How wonderful it would be if things always went as planned. But they don’t. If you are incompetent, you will be crushed by outside pressure; if you are competent, it will eat you alive from the inside. Every sin born in this nation will become yours. Tragedies that occur without your involvement will become your responsibility. Careless words of resentment will become daggers in your heart. You will not be able to bear it. Especially not if you can see more than most.”
Usually, the advice of an experienced person sounds like the bitter lecturing of a veteran to one without experience, but this time, miraculously, the message got through. It was likely due to Captain Abbey’s capacity for empathy—a pure, innate empathy that had nothing to do with her Synchronization Magic.
Captain Abbey steeled her resolve.
“I am prepared to be resented. I will simply do what must be done.”
“‘What must be done,’ you say. Abbey, what do you intend to do first? Are you going to stop a war that has already begun, just as that kid demanded?”
The Regressor’s stated goal was to stop the war between the Military State and the Fallen Dominion. I was sure the State would never accept such a demand, but that was her claim.
Captain Abbey glanced at me before nodding.
“War is a tactical action that incurs extreme costs. This is doubly true when a powerful being is staging attacks to prevent it. If this situation can be resolved amicably without resorting to war, then there is no reason to proceed with one.”
“Oh, there’s a reason. You wouldn’t have heard, since your communications were cut. But the reason is perfectly clear.”
“What is it?”
Yuel looked at the questioning Captain Abbey with an expression of pity.
“The problem with war is that it only takes one side to start one. Even if the Military State does nothing, war will begin the moment the Fallen Dominion decides it.”
“So the intention is to launch a preemptive strike? That is the height of irrationality. To act on something that hasn’t even happened…”
“No. I ‘saw’ it. The Fallen Dominion has already begun the war. They’ve gathered their forces without any declaration and are marching toward the Abyssal Wastelands.”
“What?”
Now that I think about it, Clairvoyance is a total cheat power.
The Military State’s weaknesses were its short history and its lack of Arcane power. This meant it had few ways to counter asymmetrical threats who wielded the Arcane, like Tyr or the Regressor. This vulnerability was particularly pronounced in intelligence warfare; without the ability to take an enemy by surprise, espionage is all but impossible.
…However, the story changes if a Saintess with Clairvoyance has been feeding information to the Signallers. So that’s what she was doing, hiding in here and spying on the entire world. That was the source of the Military State’s formidable power.
“A nation of nomads, not by choice but by circumstance. Mobility is one of the few advantages the land-forsaken Fallen Dominion possesses. Our only superiority lies in our system. Thanks to the Signallers rapidly mobilizing our forces, exploratory skirmishes are likely already underway in the Abyssal Wastelands.”
Yuel recalled what she had ‘seen’ with her Clairvoyance.
While we were making our way to the headquarters, the legions assembled by the Meta Conveyor Belt were already marching north. Even before we reached our destination, the vanguard had established a fortified position in the wastelands, well ahead of the heavily armed main force.
And then, the cavalry of the Fallen Dominion arrived. The armies of two nations now faced each other across a land once forsaken by Mother Earth and ignored by all. The situation was explosive.
Even as our assault on the headquarters was in progress, Yuel couldn’t tear her eyes away from the front. After all, a small group causing a disturbance was merely a guerrilla raid; the battlefield was where an all-out war for the nation’s survival was about to erupt. She was too busy monitoring the Fallen Dominion’s movements to pay us much mind.
Perhaps the reason we’d managed to penetrate the State’s headquarters so easily was that the bulk of its military strength was facing the other way.
“This wasn’t a war we started unilaterally. It’s an all-out conflict born from entangled interests. The Fallen Dominion is desperate for land to settle. When the Abyss was there, this territory was worthless, but now that the curse of Mother Earth has been lifted, it’s a tempting prize. While you were being charmed by her, I ‘saw’ all of this and relayed it to the Signallers. After cross-referencing the intelligence, every Signaller concluded that war was inevitable. So, when an unidentified armed faction suddenly appears and demands we stop, are we supposed to just obey?”
This belated information forced Captain Abbey to re-evaluate every decision she had made up to this point.
When Captain Abbey had made contact with the Regressor, she had heard the demand to stop the war. Cut off from the other Signallers, she had accepted the Regressor’s proposal at face value. In her mind, a ceasefire must have seemed like the only way to stop the assault.
But the war had already started. The Regressor’s demand was impossible to meet. That meant their only options were to either defeat her or persuade her.
“If you had explained the situation, wouldn’t she have understood?”
“How was I supposed to prove something that hadn’t happened yet? Should I have revealed myself? Stood before the Progenitor and explained everything? That I was once a Saintess, that I had seen a future yet to come!”
So she reveals she’s a Saintess. I already knew, so I was unfazed, but the Princess looked quite shocked. It’s not like a Saintess is as common as a local pastor.
The secrets were all out now. Yuel snapped.
“Ha! I guarantee you, that would have been far more dangerous! What’s to say the Progenitor wouldn’t have summoned the Duchy? Could you have handled the entire military might of the Duchy of Mist descending upon us, cloaked in darkness?! If we were ever going to defeat her, our first and last chance was right then, while she was alone! Not that it matters now—it’s already too late!”
It was a truly difficult situation. Captain Abbey had to admit that.
‘Yuel’s reasoning is sound. Stopping the war now is impossible. Shei’s demand is both irrational and unfeasible, which means the State’s only recourse is to defeat her…’
However, that wasn’t the only way Captain Abbey was different from Yuel.
Captain Abbey had been the overseer of the Abyss and had interacted with the Regressor frequently, even exchanging words with her through me on several occasions.
Yuel, witnessing the Regressor’s immense power, seemed to have classified her as a natural phenomenon, like a typhoon, a bolt of lightning, or the Progenitor Tyrkanzyaka. For someone who could only ‘see,’ this was perhaps the most logical conclusion.
But Captain Abbey knew the person named ‘Shei,’ even if she didn’t know the future. She knew that despite being sharp-tongued and blunt, Shei was surprisingly rational and possessed a strange vulnerability.
A single person is small and difficult to believe in compared to a force of nature.
But it is a person, not a phenomenon, who can answer a wish.
“It is not too late. I believe there is still room for negotiation. In fact, negotiating may produce a better result.”
“Negotiate? How?”
“If her demands are sincere, and if she is truly willing to work toward her goal, then there is a way to diplomatically redirect the power she is currently aiming at the Military State.”
Captain Abbey then made a proposal the Military State of old would have never considered.
“We appoint her as a special envoy and dispatch her to the Fallen Dominion. If she genuinely wants to stop this war—if she is willing to use her power to achieve that goal, just as she has against us—then she will be the most effective tool we have for breaking the Fallen Dominion’s will to fight.”