Chapter 249
Chapter 249
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 249
>Chapter Title: Winter and Spring
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Aster took a moment to silently take in Lucifer with his eyes.
The wind tickling his hair was cold, but the sunlight shining on the alley was warm.
However, Lucifer's single remark echoing in his mind was quite sharp.
- If it's different, please tell me. What's the difference between Decullan, who disregards means and methods for their goals, and the Tower Lord who slaughtered the cartel bosses?
Honestly, it was a completely unexpected question.
‘Me and Decullan... what's different?’
In truth, the answer to that question wasn't so difficult.
They were different.
So many things were different.
Was there any need to voice that difference out loud?
But he couldn't bring himself to open his mouth readily, as mentioned before, because it was so utterly unforeseen.
He never imagined that Lucifer, of all people, would ask something like this.
And so, floundering in faint shock, Lucifer's voice pulled Aster back to reality.
"Can't you answer?"
"......"
Can't answer?
No, that wasn't it.
He could answer. He could, but......
"You can't answer, then. In that case, please understand as I leave the Tower."
Lucifer bowed her head slightly and took a step forward.
Aster finally spoke up just before Lucifer, passing him by, was about to exit the alley completely.
Only then did he realize.
That the important thing right now wasn't answers like 'different' or 'not different.'
That his hesitation to speak up wasn't simply because Lucifer's question had come out of nowhere.
Then, why?
- No. 1, we're orphans of the Black-White Slums from the start. Nothing there. Couldn't wear decent clothes, couldn't eat properly, couldn't learn. Of those, what do you think is the most miserable?
The Lucifer from that day.
"......"
And today's Lucifer were ultimately different people—a truth he only now fully realized deep in his heart.
Once he grasped that, he knew what to say to Lucifer now.
And it wasn't some answer like 'different' or 'not different,' but a single lesson.
With that, Aster's mouth opened.
"A while back, I asked you what was the most miserable thing."
Lucifer halted her steps and took in the Tower Lord with her eyes.
"......Yes."
"I'll give you that answer now."
"......If you're trying to persuade me, I'll pass. The Tower's purpose is noble, but the Tower Lord's actions are not right."
This wasn't about discussing some abstract 'justice.' It was simply whether Lucifer could accept it or not, and she could not accept the Tower Lord's actions.
That was why Lucifer had firmly set her resolve, but the Tower Lord shook his head.
"Go as you please. If your heart's already gone, holding you back would be pointless. This is just to keep the promise I made that day."
"The promise from that day......"
"I said if you followed, I'd tell you the answer."
"......Ah."
Lucifer let out a faint exclamation as the promise came back to her belatedly.
The Tower Lord spoke right after.
"What is the most miserable thing? Well, that ties into the Tower's purpose too. For me, it was 'not learning.'"
"Not learning...... you mean?"
"Yeah. Let me ask you one thing. If you had to make money, what would you do? Say whatever comes to mind."
Lucifer pondered deeply.
Had to make money right now.
Then, what could she do......
"It depends on the amount, but begging, pickpocketing, or maybe stealing."
"Why?"
"Pardon? Why? Well......"
Lucifer, about to reply, soon found herself at a loss for words.
Because even she found it puzzling.
‘......Why is that?’
Back in her beggar days, begging and pickpocketing were natural, but she didn't need to now.
She hadn't learned just to learn, but she had knowledge from the Decullan Family.
So why had something like this come to mind first?
The Tower Lord gave the answer to the pondering Lucifer.
"Because that's all you know."
"......Ah."
"You haven't learned how to live properly. Of course, that doesn't justify wrong actions. There are definitely people who find the right path in the same situation. But if you end up pickpocketing and stealing, the reason's probably thick with not having learned the right way."
Lucifer fell silent.
She was realizing something, and amid that, the Tower Lord's words continued.
"Then, if you take the wrong path because you haven't learned the right one, are you a bad person?"
"That's......"
"You'd be a bad person. But what I'm saying is this: Why did you become bad? Think about that reason."
Learning expands your choices.
The right path and the wrong path.
A more right path and a slightly more wrong one.
Suppose there are a hundred wrong paths and one right path—which is easier to walk?
Obviously, the wrong path.
Now, think about it.
Suppose that person learns the right path, learns and learns until they know a hundred right paths.
Then, a hundred wrong paths and a hundred right paths—which is easier to choose between?
Having said that much, the Tower Lord posed a question to Lucifer.
"Which do you think would be easier?"
"That's...... I don't know. Fifty-fifty, isn't it?"
"No, the wrong path would still be easier."
"Why......"
"It's not about probability. It's human nature. Someone who's known more wrong paths from the start will lean toward choosing them. Because that's how they've lived."
"......Ah."
Lucifer let out a faint exclamation.
The Tower Lord waited a moment for her to sort her thoughts, then spoke again after some time had passed.
"The example I gave assumes luck letting you learn and choose a hundred right paths, but someone who hasn't learned doesn't even get the chance to walk them. Enjoying wealth, glory, luxury, and pleasure from learning a lot is secondary."
That's why......
"Not learning is the most miserable for this reason."
"......"
"Because you don't even get the chance to choose your own life—you just live as it comes."
Some say.
How many people walk the right path even in such environments.
But what he was talking about now wasn't those rare special cases.
It was about ordinary people who sometimes waver to temptation, sometimes despair in frustration, sometimes stumble and fall.
"I'm not special."
"......"
"You're the same."
"......"
"So for guys like us, the most miserable thing is not learning. You can't see wrong as wrong, right as right. Then......"
The Tower Lord's words drilled into Lucifer's ears.
"Can you really say you're living your own life?"
"......"
"That's why not learning is miserable for me."
So......
"Learn."
With that, the Tower Lord walked past Lucifer.
This was the Tower Lord—no, Aster's final farewell to the Lucifer of his past life, and his final lesson as Tower Lord to the Lucifer of this life.
And after Aster vanished.
Lucifer stood stock-still for a long while, motionlessly taking in the alley with her eyes.
Endlessly, just staring.
* * *
After exiting the alley.
Aster climbed to the rooftop of Svetlana's hideout and took in the full view of the Black-White Slums.
It wasn't long before a shadow flickered beside him.
"You okay with that?"
"With what?"
"Not that I was watching because I wanted to...... but you just let go of someone you put a lot of effort into."
"What effort."
Aster chuckled as if it was nothing, but Shine narrowed his eyes pityingly.
But that lasted only a moment.
"Actually, it's for the best."
"......?"
"As long as you don't die, the Tower will grow day by day, and this kind of issue was bound to erupt sooner or later. Better that it happened now."
He meant it.
Truth be told, he'd been displeased.
‘Since when did that guy become so noble...... Tsk.’
Why volunteer for karma like that.
Aster's mouth opened right then.
"Parasite."
"......What?"
"It's a problem with no answer anyway."
"......"
Aster continued calmly.
"What I hate doing, others hate too, but unfortunately, someone has to do it. I just did it myself. You're not about to say I should've left it to others, right."
"......No."
"Just think of it that way."
With that, Aster shifted his gaze again.
The Black-White Slums scenery was peaceful.
On the other hand, such a thought crossed his mind.
‘Maybe I'm really walking the same path as Decullan.’
But that thought didn't last.
Aster soon realized.
Whether he truly was the same as Decullan or not wasn't that important.
So what if he was, so what if he wasn't.
Just then, a breeze suddenly tickled Aster's hair.
‘Yeah, it's spring.’
The Lucifer that past-life Aster saw had passed fierce summer, skipped ripening autumn, and entered barren winter.
But this Lucifer was full spring.
So, it was right to let her go.
He could only hope.
That the Lucifer who wasted spring without blooming a single flower in her past life could bloom brilliantly this time.
The spring breeze brushing past Aster wound through the alleys and reached Lucifer.
Lucifer, who had been standing blankly for a long while, suddenly lifted her head at the breeze tickling her hair.
A single doubt arose right then.
‘Maybe......’
Not learning the right path and thus not walking it...... might not be just her.
The doubt brought by the spring breeze soon guided Lucifer's steps.
And when those steps reached Svetlana's hideout.
Lucifer's eyes met the Tower Lord's, who overlooked the Black-White Slums.
"......"
"......"
A brief exchange of glances.
Lucifer cautiously opened her mouth.
"Still miserable?"
The Tower Lord answered.
"It's always like that."
With that one line, Lucifer solidified her resolve.
"About what I said earlier...... can we put it on hold?"
"......Why?"
"That's......"
Lucifer couldn't answer easily.
But in her heart.
......If the Tower Lord was someone agonizing between a hundred wrong paths and one right path......
At least until he learned a hundred right paths, she'd watch. Judgment could wait till then.
Did he understand her intent?
A faint smile seemed to form at the Tower Lord's lips, and soon his mouth opened.
"Then kneel."
"......Pardon?"
What did that mean?
As Lucifer failed to grasp it right away, Aster's voice echoed through the space.
No, it started to echo.
"Punishment for doubting the sky-like Tower Lord...... Gahk!"
A massive impact struck his skull.
Shine stomped hard on the fallen Aster while spitting curses.
"You dumbass! I told you! To quit! That damn habit of yours! Nicely!"
"Gahk, gahk...... Ack!"
"......"
Lucifer thought.
‘This...... was the right thing, right?’
No one knew the answer yet.
......No one.