Chapter 67
Chapter 67
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 67
Chapter Title: Failed World
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I want to live.
I want to survive. I want to save my life. I don't want to die. I want to live on.
Ever since I was transmigrated into this world,
surviving has been my top priority.
But surviving in this world isn't easy.
It's not a matter of ability or circumstance.
This world is ridiculously lacking in sensitivity to something called 'human rights' compared to my previous life's South Korea.
No. It's no exaggeration to say it doesn't exist at all.
Without human rights, people don't value others' lives,
and because they don't value others' lives,
people can easily kill each other and take lives.
In other words, it's perfectly normal to have your life taken away at any moment.
That's the kind of place a pre-modern fantasy world is.
Murder isn't a last resort; it's just one of the everyday options chosen as needed.
That's why I've always been walking on a knife's edge.
This is a world where losing your life to a single mistake isn't all that rare.
"The emperor has handed over most of the duties and rights of ruling the empire to the council, but he hasn't handed over that original sin. Killing non-humans is the imperial family's duty, privilege, and fate. The emperor is the emperor of humans, and the imperial family is for humans. To unite humanity, we must kill all non-humans."
"……."
"Do you think we're harsh?"
"I think it's ruthless."
"Because we're cold-blooded."
"……."
"Haha. Just a joke. Laugh."
"……Haha."
Right. Maybe, by this world's standards, the imperial family is one of the groups with the most 'human rights sensitivity'.
At least they have goodwill toward 'humans'.
They try to kill anyone who's not human,
but if the opponent is human, they try to act according to some procedure and justification.
But── maybe because I nearly died just moments ago.
A bit of irritation welled up.
What the hell are those lizards, arbitrarily defining and selecting who counts as a 'human'?
Animals that act like humans, talk like humans, think like humans, eat like humans, and shit like humans──
just because they don't meet the imperial standards, they define them as 'not human'?
If that's the case, aren't the people of this world just lowly beings whose lives can only be saved when they look good in the imperial eyes?
"That's right."
"……."
And the princess nodded lightly, agreeing with my impulsive thought.
"Humans can only save their lives under the imperial protection. The imperial family is the noblest in this world, and the others are lowly. Humans can't survive on their own, so they seek protection from authority, and in exchange for providing that protection, the imperial family holds the power of life and death over those lives. It's even stipulated in the empire's constitution."
"……Ah."
The princess's answer was about 'status'.
Noble people have rights and duties over lowly people.
Protecting the empire and humanity is the imperial family's duty,
and owning the empire and humanity is the imperial family's right.
Privilege and duty are not different.
In the end, the reason the imperial family can wield such power
is because they can only provide protection by wielding that power.
"Since humans have different statuses, their dignity is also different. Simple logic, isn't it?"
"……Simple, you say?"
"Yes. Simple."
……Yeah.
Maybe the princess is right.
It's simple logic.
People have different values to their lives, different degrees of dignity, different depths to their existence.
Since not everyone has the same role, not everyone is equal.
Really, simple.
But my head had trouble understanding that 'simple logic'.
The more I heard, the dizzier my mind got.
The more I thought about it, the stronger the feeling that 'this can't be right' became.
"The fact that you own slaves, use soldiers and vassals like limbs, and receive respect from the populace is ultimately because you were born more 'dignified' than others. Even if one of your subordinates managing your business dies, you can just hand it over to another subordinate."
"……."
"That's what it means to stand above others. That's what it means to be born dignified. I can kill any number of my 'subjects' for my 'subjects'. For the safety and authority of the imperial family, I can kill even more subjects. Because that's ultimately protecting the subjects. That's taking responsibility as one who stands above others."
"……."
"Killing non-humans, conquering foreign lands to 'civilize' them, burning heretic temples to 'enlighten' them── it's all the same. For the unity of humanity, we kill the enemies obstructing humanity's unity. No matter how much you abhor 'murder', that doesn't change the fact that this saves and rescues more people."
Revulsion toward murder.
Only then did I realize why the princess was rambling on about her philosophy in front of me.
The princess had read it through her blessing.
That I was someone who hated 'murder' to an extreme degree,
my obsession with life,
my intention to 'terraform' this world──
she knew it all.
So.
This wasn't an excuse for 'trying to kill me'.
This was persuasion.
She was asking the 'human' from another world to conform to 'this world's order'.
She respected me.
With an extremely polite and earnest tone,
she was trying to make me understand.
"Don't assign the same value to every human life."
"……Why are you trying to persuade me?"
"Because I like it."
"You mean the person you just met for the first time moments ago?"
"My blessing allows me to 'hear' deep into someone's heart even from one meeting. I like your heart, so I don't want you to die."
This was a simpler story.
I like it, so I hope you don't die. I don't want you to die.
So.
If I didn't get persuaded now,
it was a threat that I could die anytime.
"Do you think we leave corrupt nobles who commit all sorts of injustices alive because we lack justification? Is it because we're too weak to tug-of-war for power with them? If we swung the sword, who could dodge it?"
"……."
"This world needs customs. Not because we've inherited lizard blood and grown lazy, not because we lack the will to reform the world for the better, but because crude as they are, customs are necessary to run this world. Let's take it slow. Humanity is advancing step by step anyway. What do you think I've seen in 80 years?"
"……."
In the form of a girl who looked more childish than young,
she spoke of 80 years.
She said the world had been advancing steadily for 80 years.
That the world could improve without denying customs,
without denying status,
without denying the varying worth of lives and the lowliness of some.
That's a span of time I couldn't know even combining my past and present lives.
So.
It was something I couldn't dare refute.
"You might think the world is stuck in the past and unchanging, but you're wrong. The world is slowly getting better. Not crumbling into ruins from war, but advancing more fiercely by using the heat of war as an engine. Not being weeded out by old customs and authority, but advancing step by step without mistakes through long-standing customs and traditions. Don't force your world on this one. You might become good friends with this world."
"……My hometown had no superhumans like you."
"Yes."
"There were no 'noble humans' who could watch civilizations and history change over long ages, experience firsthand with eyes, ears, and body why old customs exist, and thus make wiser choices. Humans couldn't endure 100 years and died, and in fact, most monarchs didn't even live half that properly."
"Interesting."
"So── my hometown experienced a lot of failures."
Earth's wars were messier than this world's.
Earth had no demons that ate people,
no absolute evil like the Demon King,
no heroes,
no blessings or divine power.
So, Earth's foolish humanity didn't learn enough from one war,
and even had two world wars.
"And there was one lesson those failures taught."
I didn't experience those wars myself,
but I know the lesson they gave through history.
"The truly horrific thing isn't humans hating and despising each other. The truly horrific thing is when humans don't see each other as human. That's how countless war crimes, human rights violations, and moral collapses happened."
"Don't focus only on the bad sides. In the end, this too──."
"No. That's not it. I'm not talking about bad sides…… it's just bad. The very notion that human dignity differs from birth is a horrific failure and vice."
This world is a failed world.
Because it has an absolute evil called the 'Demon King' and superhumans called the 'imperial family',
it hasn't fractured,
and doesn't even realize its failures as it keeps marching forward.
"The moment humans stop seeing each other as human, vice gets packaged as virtue. Killing another race for one race, sacrificing slaves for the master── if that's truly unavoidable, at least feel shame. At least don't glorify it or take it for granted; see it as committing a sin against someone. The moment you don't feel shame for your own vice, humans 'must' die."
"……."
I don't know if my words are logical.
I don't know if they make sense.
I don't even know if I understand what I'm saying.
But I don't need to understand.
"……That's your heart, then."
"Yes."
The lizard in front of me can read human hearts.
"Hard to persuade."
"You said you liked my 'heart'. I think the 'me' persuaded by you wouldn't be the 'me' you like."
"Yes. Probably. That's why it's a shame. I feel like you'll end up clashing with the imperial authority."
"I know my life is precious too. That won't happen."
"No. It will definitely happen."
The princess, who had been smacking her lips regretfully,
suddenly tossed out an abrupt remark as if it just occurred to her.
"By the way, want to marry me?"
"Pardon?"
"Ah. I actually came here directly to steal you from your original fiancée."
"Pardon?"