Chapter 602: The New Covenant
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 602: The New Covenant
With 'Sis's' death, this memory, too, came to an end. Did what just happened truly occur in the past, or was it nothing more than a fleeting dream?
One thing was certain: this conversation had brought no change to my life.
It was nothing more than a fragment of 'Sis's' memory, merely a clue that would allow me to understand her death and resonate more deeply with it.
After all, 'Sis' was like a thread severed by a knife. To reconnect it, you have to focus on the severed ends.
She died a rather anticlimactic death for a King of Humans, but that’s how Beast Kings are. Stupid and simple, they easily fall into traps and die. It just goes to show that 'Sis' was nothing more than a naive, stupid beast herself.
“How rude! I may be naive, but I'm not stupid!”
“Huh? What the—you were listening?”
'Sis' burst into my field of vision from the edge of my consciousness. How could she be so lively in a Spiritual World? The dead are usually depressed or resigned, but she was almost brazenly cheerful.
“Of course! This is my memory, after all! It looked like you and El were having a moment, so I was watching quietly!”
“That's creepy. You could have at least come out and explained things.”
“It's not creepy, it's considerate! I had already spoken with El for a long time, and the conversation that followed was for you. I was just giving you two some space, as per ancient etiquette!”
Already spoken for a long time? Gave me space because it was after that? As I processed her words, I realized she'd said something I couldn't just let slide.
“A conversation? When? In my memory, all that happened after we reached the summit of Yullim was me being blinded by a flash of light.”
“I didn't show you that part. It's a matter of privacy, you know? You have to respect it!”
What? She didn't show me? I've never asked for permission to look into someone's memories before...
“And it wasn't exactly a conversation. El wove light into cloth and drew pictures to show me. Since it's not technically my memory, it's hard for me to show it to you.”
After a moment's thought, she clapped her hands and added.
“Just like how you can't read 'Shei's' memories!”
Uh, well... I'd been trying to ignore it, but I couldn't any longer.
I said reluctantly.
“So you're reading me, too.”
She stared right at me and replied.
“Of course. You're reading me, aren't you?”
“I'm not complaining. It's just an unfamiliar experience, so I was a little taken aback.”
“But you are annoyed, aren't you?”
...Well, maybe a little. I have a right to my privacy, too.
“Is it because I saw your inner thoughts? Do you want to hide them?”
If you know that, then stop reading my mind... Not that complaining will do any good.
I was reading her, and she was reading me. We knew the same things about each other. Because, in essence, she and I were the same being.
“Order is just a tool. Tools are useful. Therefore, order can be put to good use! That's what you think, isn't it?”
She was right. Tools are always necessary. With a mental standard like order, it becomes easier to make judgments, no matter what happens.
You can toss it aside when it's not needed, but you have to use it when it is.
“You've never once rejected order. You're not a barbarian!”
Of course I'm not. I'm a civilized man. "Barbarian" is just a name they arbitrarily call me.
...More to the point, just how much did you see?
“I read your memories! From your childhood, when you grew up among ordinary people, to everything you experienced on your travels.”
She just looked through my memories without permission? I wanted to call her out, but then I remembered that's exactly what I do. Complaining would just be hypocritical.
...Ptooey.
“It was a novel experience, seeing things from an ordinary person's perspective! Unlike you, I've never paid such close attention to every single individual!”
I suppose not. As the king of all humankind, you couldn't possibly pay attention to every single person.
“In comparison, your perspective is closer to the ground, but all the deeper for it. I could feel things much more vividly!”
So she experienced my life vicariously, as if reading a scroll.
As if she were reading a scroll at Nevida's bedside, 'Sis' recited in a clear, sweet voice.
“The country of your birth, the Military State, was home to many people. It wove an intricate net to bind and strictly control them all. Everyone lived in fear of and obedience to this invisible order. You could have destroyed the very pillars holding up that net, but you chose not to.”
It wasn't a country I particularly liked, but its tool was remarkably intricate and systematic. It would have been a waste to simply destroy it.
That's why I entrusted it to someone who could use it better. Abbey will struggle and suffer with every choice, but she'll wield it far better than Saintess Yuel ever could. For Yuel, who lost something precious, there is no joy left. But for Abbey, who has gained something precious, everything will be a source of joy.
“The Fallen Dominion is a nation of refugees who lost their homeland. The order ruled by the Golden Lord roamed like a beast of the desert. Because of this golden order that created all things, no other order could be established. You destroyed that golden beast so they could build an order of their own.”
The Golden Lord's power wasn't creation; it was destruction. His perfect creations were incompatible with humanity. He had to be set aside for a time so that people could build an order of their own, not one of gold.
But he, too, is a tool. Wielded properly, he's a versatile instrument capable of creating things humans need, not just gold. Peru, who shatters everything, will surely strike a balance.
“In the Duchy, you just returned a heart to the heartless monarch and left. How irresponsible! Especially after making her heart flutter like that.”
Shut up. Things are just getting started there. Without a heart, Tyr was a god—something emotionless and unchanging, more like a natural law than a person.
The Elders under her, the Ain under them, and even the Yeiling below—all were subjugated, unable to dream of even the slightest defiance.
I'm fond of Tyr, but an order that allows no rebellion is meaningless. If the world and its people change, order must also change. Besides, Tyr wanted to escape her own tedium, so it was a win-win.
“The order in the places you touched didn't collapse. It merely changed. It became more human.”
Having recounted my past, 'Sis' sized me up.
“So, when you say order is just a tool, you mean the fault lies not with the tool, but with the person who wields it to cause harm, right? You entrusted order to human hands.”
I wasn't exactly defending order. I still have no qualms about destroying any order I deem useless.
“What you hated wasn't order itself.”
However... when people wield order and claim they aren't following their own will but some higher calling... when they claim that all the desires they've unleashed upon the world were unavoidable, something forced upon them by that very order...
“Knowing they'll be hated, they shift all the responsibility and guilt, the pain and suffering, the blame and the anger, onto order—which is nothing but a tool.”
I just want to expose their lies, shatter their order, and see what happens.
“You despised the humans who clung to order.”
It's not a matter of hating villains and liking heroes. Good and evil are both just parts of being human.
But if you want to pursue justice and avoid sin, then just do it.
Saying "it couldn't be helped" after they've already done it. Claiming they were just swept along by the will of others, that they were only answering a call to faith or following orders.
They're part of the world, too. The strange ones are those who blame the world for being evil.
If the world is evil, then so are humans.
“My little brother is so strict and cold. You're telling people not to run away, but to keep fighting.”
Fight the world? I meant they should fight their own hearts and learn to compromise. The only absolute truth in this world belongs to the Divine. My own heart, the orders created by humans—any of it can be wrong.
“Yes. Thank you. I understand perfectly now!”
I think I've answered enough of your questions. Is it my turn to ask one?
“Of course!”
Why did you make that promise?
“A promise? Which one?”
The one to abandon all your power and become ordinary. The one you made with the Saintess of Origin.
“Ah!”
You remember? After making that promise, you died, and only the promise remained.
But the five kings divided your power and your right to rule, so the reason for a King of Humans to exist vanished. A long time passed, and with kings driven out of every nation, that representation was lost. As a result, I was born into this world powerless, possessing only the title of humanity's representative.
My form solidified again within the Spiritual World as I spoke.
“So, you're the one who made me like this.”
You made me live in this world powerless and ordinary, with nothing but the ability to read minds.
The Saintess of Origin wasn't the one who took my power. She might have known I would appear one day, but she would never have wished this upon me.
You were the one who did this to me. Not even the Saintess of Origin could stop your wish; she only succeeded in delaying it.
“Yep. That's right!”
She admitted it without hesitation. When I mentally asked why, she replied, looking a little troubled.
“I needed a standard, too!”
“A standard?”
“Yes! To me, all humans are the same. They're all just... human.”
It wasn't that she couldn't tell them apart. To her, the King of Humans, every person was like a cell in her own body. They might have different roles, and each was a precious part of her, but losing one or two wasn't a significant problem.
“But now, humans fight each other. Not against harsh storms or savage beasts, but against other humans.”
“The surface world is humanity's domain now.”
“And when they fight, they come to me, asking me to stop their quarrels.”
The problem was that her "cells" were fighting amongst themselves. How could she possibly take a side?
“I don't know whose side to take. They're both human, aren't they? But they want me to choose, saying it's a king's duty. They all stop fighting and wait for me to decide.”
Without a powerful being like her, they would have fought to the death, and the victor would have celebrated over the loser's corpse.
But as long as she existed, they couldn't do that. No matter how strong they were, they knew an absolute ruler watched over them. She was merciful, but she was also a beast. If they bared their fangs, she would retaliate. Everyone had no choice but to obey and tread carefully around her.
Humanity's greatest strength is its ability to watch and learn.
Humanity had learned of the existence of an absolute ruler, the King of Humans. And because of that, none could return to barbarism.
“Because I'm different, I can't like or dislike certain people the way you can. So no matter how much they ask it of me, I can't give them what they want. I don't have the kind of standard you possess.”
When she returned to the 'Nation' after defeating the monsters on the frontier, she was met with countless requests of that very nature.
They fought, quarreled, stole, and killed. Humans harmed by other humans appealed to her. A tide of grievances and accusations, as numerous as the people themselves, washed over her.
She could do anything, yet she could do nothing—just as she had understood the monsters that harmed people on the frontier.
She was like the omnipotent God from the scriptures: perfect, all-powerful, and loving all of humanity, but for those very reasons, merely an observer.
“But... most humans wanted me to.”
However, the world wanted her to intervene. Nearly every human in the 'Nation' believed in and followed her, and this 'Nation', in the autumn of its civilization, was home to an immense population.
More than half of all humanity.
The King of Humans represents humanity. The majority of humanity desired her intervention. She, the embodiment of humanity's collective will, was moved by that same collective will.
The chicken or the egg. Trapped in that cycle, she found an answer.
“If I don't have a standard, I'll just have to make one!”
“What?”
“You, weak and insignificant as you are, are the standard I created!”