Chapter 672: The Tower Without a Ceiling and the Intermingling Humans - 3
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 672: The Tower Without a Ceiling and the Intermingling Humans - 3
Humans need order?
No. That's wrong. They just need an order that sides with them.
They want the goddess of fortune to wave only at them, for the whole world to be on their side. They want to use the name of order to get rid of anything they don't like, leaving only what benefits them.
It's not a need, it's a demand. Humans demand an order that is good for them.
From whom? Well. That's a question I have myself.
"Nonsense!"
"What are you scheming?!"
"You talk big, but in the end, you're just saying you won't take anyone."
"You plan to monopolize Saint Rene's relics."
"I knew it, you hypocrite!"
Shouts of blame, condemnation, and aggression. They were furious, agitated, and ready to attack me at a moment's notice.
Order? What order? I'm telling you, it's just a tool. If they don't like it, they immediately rebel, protest, and try to change it. Watching the humans actively plotting treason, I thought to myself.
An excellent attitude. That's exactly it.
"There are over sixty people here! What right do you have to choose who gets to go up?!"
I didn't allow a single death on the way up here. I mediated, soothed, shared supplies, and calmed complaints. Thanks to me, a group of nearly sixty people was formed without anyone fighting.
"You think you're so great!"
I solved the tower's puzzles that you couldn't, didn't I? Normally, I would have had Lankart do it and hidden behind him, but this time, I put in some effort to show you all. How about it? Don't you feel embarrassed saying that?
"You have no room to talk! You brought Lankart, who climbed the Gate of Ascension last time!"
Ah, the mages from the Floating Castle. So you know Lankart. But is that really something you, of all people, should be saying? If things get dicey, I can just abandon Lankart.
"I thought you were a righteous man seeking the teachings of a saint. Turns out you're just a mage who interprets God's will as he pleases."
That's my line. You used your faith to try and kill Kuram and Dokjine.
I'm not saying you're bad. They are villains, with no hesitation about killing others. According to your definition of justice, you could certainly punish Kuram and Dokjine.
But so what? That's just your opinion.
The important thing is, you've shattered the order of this group.
"Are you watching? This is the reality of the order you spoke of."
The Saintess of Light made a misjudgment. She must have wanted to show me that for the sake of order, the sins of the wicked must be questioned and punished.
She was wrong. To humans, order isn't such a grand thing.
Humans use order like a tool. They're always thinking of how to change it to their advantage. They only submit to a greater order because they lack the power to resist, that's all.
"I don't think this is ugly or evil. It's just... inevitable. They're human, after all. They didn't make this choice because they're lacking or foolish, but because they're being true and honest in their desire to break the order."
This is how it should be.
If there's something you must obtain, and you think you can overcome the obstacle in front of you, then you should actively try to overcome it. Even if that obstacle is an order set by someone else.
This is what it means to be human.
If you try to deny such an obvious truth, you're bound to fail.
Those who heard my monologue were taken aback.
"Who are you talking to?"
"You. I understand you all perfectly. I'm satisfied that you've all reacted this way. It's very human. So, I won't attack you. However."
I pointed to a select few. Shei and Lankart, of course, as well as Avant-garde, who was trying to stop the fighting, and even Hilde and the Blue Tower Master, who were quietly observing the situation while hiding their identities. It was a selection filled with my personal bias, picking only those who had not yet committed a sin.
"I will take my friends, and these few who have not yet sinned. Only they will accompany me to the 10th floor. Well, I won't stop you from climbing up with your own skills. Let's have a fair competition."
I call it a fair competition, but it's a fight I'm guaranteed to win. You haven't even figured out the puzzle, and you won't have time to solve it while you're busy fighting.
That's why I solved all the previous puzzles in one go—to give you this conviction.
"Well then, I'll be going. Only the innocent may join me."
Right now, I am just and flawless. Like an angel, selecting the ignorant masses from the Lower World to guide them upward.
The angel, disappointed in humanity, intends to ascend to heaven with only a few of his followers.
Now, they must choose. Will they attack me to fulfill their desires? Or will they resign themselves and accept their fate?
'No.'
'We can't let him go.'
'We've come this far. It's just one more step! If we can just get past him!'
To my great satisfaction, they were human. The abandoned, including even the paladins, steeled their resolve once more.
"Heh heh. How ironic."
Except for those who had already been abandoned.
Rather, it was Kuram, who had never believed in order to begin with, who was the calmest. He sneered lightly, mocking the paladins.
"Hilarious. So you make the same choices when you're caught up in it. Good or evil, medicine or poison. It's all just a matter of what you call it."
Kuram was an apothecary in the kingdom. In an age when violence disguised as duels was rampant, he concocted medicine for injured knights.
It was called medicine, but it was closer to a painkiller. What medicine is needed for a sword wound that's become infected, not a disease? All you can do is apply disinfectant and a clean cloth.
However, knights who had just finished a duel were highly agitated and would often fly into a rage from the pain of disinfection. It got so bad that people said the doctors treating them died more often than the injured knights. Like the knights, doctors had to find ways to protect themselves.
Kuram used painkillers. The stronger the painkiller, the easier it was to calm the knight and treat them. Kuram's skills as an apothecary were exceptional, and knights treated by him once would always seek him out again.
And a powerful painkiller has all the makings of a good narcotic.
Kuram, who had simply wanted to make a living as an apothecary, ended up turning dozens of knights into drug addicts and working them like slaves.
"You who call yourselves the medicine of the world are the poison here."
To maintain his competitive edge, Kuram compounded even more addictive drugs and used the addicted knights to kill people. After committing all sorts of crimes, he was finally tracked down by the knights and dragged into a duel, but he emerged victorious after modifying his own body with the drugs he had concocted over the years.
Kuram is a villain.
But he was also a human who was faithful to his own goals, moment by moment.
Kuram shrugged and said to me.
"I'm out. I covet what's at the top of the tower, but I'm not as desperate as you all."
Order is also nothing more than the logic of power. Kuram being evil was a separate issue; he was no different from the others here.
Cardinal Elton was lost in thought. He couldn't let me pass. But stopping me would be a struggle. He didn't even have sufficient justification, and his will to attack me, someone he had traveled with until just a moment ago, was lacking.
He was lost. Wavering between what he had to do, what he could do, and what he wasn't sure he was allowed to do, Cardinal Elton closed his eyes and prayed.
'O Saintess of the Sky, who has blessed me. What am I to do here?'
It was a question without an answer.
—Fulfill your duty.
Miraculously, a revelation descended.
Cardinal Elton opened his eyes. When he did, there wasn't a single shadow of doubt in them. His body was filled with faith and belief, overflowing with a power that made him feel like he could do anything. Though he had retired from the front lines due to old age, in this moment, he felt he could summon his prime and strike it down in a single blow.
It was the kind of revelation a cardinal might receive once in a lifetime, if at all. He would hesitate no longer. Cardinal Elton moved to fulfill his duty: to obtain the holy relic of Saint Rene.
"When the pitch-black darkness falls, the light shall guide us. Sword of the Sky God. The revelation has come. We will fulfill our duty."
Cardinal Elton declared solemnly.
Faith is like a lantern. It becomes a guide when you don't know which way to go in the pitch-black darkness. There was no need to hesitate any longer. Cardinal Elton had resolved to claim the holy relic.
"For the promise of a tomorrow as certain as today."
The priests and paladins finished their short prayer.
Raising their cross-hilted swords, the paladins charged toward me. A flash of holy light was aimed at Lankart as he tried to block them. Cardinal Elton, a white halo floating above his head, stepped in to stop Lankart.
"...Hah, tsk. And here I thought we'd get to the top without any trouble."
'There must be a reason why Hughes provoked everyone here.'
Shei grumbled, but as if she knew it would come to this, she finished her preparations for battle. She faced the mages who were eyeing me covetously and raised Chun-aeng and Jizan.
Those mages. Since I'm the biggest obstacle, they're joining hands to drag me down. I like how honest and consistent they are.
To become a public enemy simply because order didn't take your side.
Isn't it laughable, Saintess of Light?
I posed the question inwardly to the Saintess of Light, who I was sure was watching this scene. Was it because I didn't believe in God? Sadly, there was no reply.
Instead, the paladins swung their swords.