Chapter 214
Chapter 214
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 214
Chapter Title: Revelations of Betrayal
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Sarucho seemed not to understand it fully.
"Are you saying that defying the will of the gods is the path to following them?"
Owen simply smiled without a word.
Sarucho pondered for a moment.
Come to think of it, it didn't sound entirely unreasonable.
The gods might seem nearly omnipotent, but they weren't truly so.
'Foolish thoughts indeed.'
Sarucho lightly traced the sentence of the Wrathful One on his chest with his finger.
Even so, his thoughts continued.
'The Wrathful One commands us all to fight with our lives on the line, yet at the same time, to prosper our offspring. If everyone truly risked their lives, we couldn't multiply our descendants. There's always a contradiction. We priests must find that proper balance.'
Sarucho spoke.
"Even if it ultimately aligns with the will of the gods, you defied it first and aided me and the Wrathful One in the process. Assuming there's no other motive."
"There is no other motive. So you could see it that way."
"Then I owe you an immense debt, elder. On top of saving my life."
"Your life?"
Owen clapped his hands lightly.
"Ah, so you're thinking of those two things separately?"
"Pardon?"
"Me telling you about the Collegoton Independent Republic's Revolutionaries trying to connect with the Ruveil revolutionaries, and saving your life—as two separate matters."
"...They're not?"
"No, they're from the same issue. It seems you're duller than I thought."
Sarucho decided to accept the assessment of being dull without much resistance.
"Please explain."
Owen said,
"First, the ones targeting your life were from the Republic's intelligence office."
"I know. It's the karma from my past catching up to me."
"That you were a lackey for the Union Kingdom? Hm, maybe something to settle someday. But not this time."
"Weren't you listening to the whole story?"
"The intelligence agent trying to kill you probably said that. But how did that agent know? They mentioned an investigation, but didn't say how they found out."
Owen tapped the windowsill where he sat.
"In other words, someone leaked information to have you killed."
"...Who?"
"You're not the only one who knows the truth about you."
"...There are more who suspect, but a few comrades definitely know. To grow the revolutionaries, we had no choice but to contact those connected to the first revolution's comrades."
"And who among them is in the intelligence office?"
Sarucho hesitated before saying,
"...Rolz?"
"You finally got it right."
Sarucho frowned.
He knew Rolz well.
Rolz had been recruited by Dain when the second revolutionaries, led by Dain and Sarucho, were formed.
He was a retired human officer, competent enough to rise to the rank of captain.
But it wasn't just competence.
He was a fervent supporter of the revolution, throwing himself into dangerous battles at the revolution's formation as much as Sarucho had. No one doubted his passion's sincerity.
"He wouldn't do that."
"Why? Because he's a true 'comrade'?"
"Yes."
"The one who cares most for the revolutionaries, so he wouldn't threaten you, a revolutionary delegate?"
"That's right."
"But you're wrong. You're seeing people too flatly. Rolz tried to kill you for the sake of the revolutionaries."
Sarucho instinctively shook his head. For bugbears, it was a reflexive action when fur got dusty or wet, equivalent to a human shaking their head.
"That makes no sense."
Owen snorted.
"Accept it, young one. You nearly died not because of your past mistakes. To people like Rolz, you're just an obstacle hindering unification with other revolutionaries. The Collegoton Independent Republic is full of hope for now, but look outward, and problems pile up. Dodging the Wrathful One's power doesn't guarantee survival. The Union Kingdom is mighty. Beyond them, they're at war with the Empire, and internally chaotic with revolution, but they don't seem ready to collapse just yet."
"...Do you think the same, elder? That I should die for the revolutionaries?"
"Me?"
Owen said,
"Of course not. Why would I have saved you if I thought that?"
Owen continued,
"You need to survive for the revolution."
Sarucho said,
"I have no power. I'm not as clever or wise as my other comrades. I lack Dain's charisma to sway people or Rolz's talent for strategy."
"Foolish talk."
"Pardon?"
"Do you think all those people followed Dain and his comrades because of that?"
"Yes. I have no merits."
"No, you know how to count."
Sarucho asked,
"Count?"
"You know right from wrong. In modern terms, you know justice."
"Everyone knows what justice is."
"No. People don't know what justice is. They've just heard of it. Seeing a fisherman doesn't mean you can fish. Seeing a printing press doesn't mean you can print. To say you 'know,' you have to have tried it at least. You know what justice is and you've acted on it. People were lost, not knowing justice, and followed you when they saw it."
Sarucho opened his mouth to retort, hesitated, did so a few times, and finally closed it.
He couldn't fully accept Owen's words, but couldn't come up with an immediate rebuttal.
Sarucho said,
"Elder, if anything, I'm too sinful to be called just... ."
"Who isn't? Or..."
Owen said,
"Are you afraid of being called a hypocrite?"
Only after hearing that question did Sarucho admit it.
Even if a lowly reputation didn't fully describe him, it didn't matter anymore.
That wasn't the important thing.
"...If Rolz truly thinks that way, we must stop him."
"Even if it means the revolutionaries lose to the union government?"
Sarucho said,
"When human armies clash, it's human karma. But when divine armies clash, it transcends human fate. Above all, countless people who didn't need to die will perish."
Human battlefields are horrific.
But divine battlefields are incomparable.
Countless lives are trampled like ants under giant guardians' feet, uprooted like weeds by apostles' calamities.
The value of life becomes dust, replaced by fanatical sacrifice to the gods.
Sarucho added,
"And I don't think the revolutionaries will lose."
Owen responded with neither strong agreement nor denial.
"Well, who knows."
"Do you think Dain is part of this plan?"
"I don't think so. Dain created the intelligence office but failed to control it properly because he trusted Rolz."
"Then there's still hope. If we go to Dain..."
Owen waved his hand.
"That seems dangerous."
"Ah."
"The intelligence agents are already near Dain under the pretext of protection. Can you approach? They meant to kill you. No guarantee they won't do the same to Dain."
"Then what's your plan, elder? What should we do?"
Sarucho recalled the old lizardman facing the intelligence agents.
He looked aged, but wasn't truly old.
Armed with astonishing skill and technique, and who knows what other powers.
'Will he say to kill Rolz? Or that we should meet the Ruveil revolutionaries first?'
Both seemed plausible.
This lizardman could likely assassinate the agents and their chief Rolz single-handedly if Sarucho lured him out somehow.
It would create a vacancy in intelligence, hindering recruitment, but better than letting this land become the gods' playground.
Or they could meet the Ruveil revolutionaries first.
'If talks go well, great. If not...'
If terrorism struck a leader like Hui Juran Muel, the distance between Collegoton Republic and Ruveil revolutionaries would widen greatly.
Negotiations would halt naturally, as Owen and Sarucho intended.
Sarucho didn't like using violence in either case, but if necessary, he'd have to.
"First..."
Owen said,
"You should do what you originally planned."
"...Pardon?"
"Weren't you going to set the state religion in parliament? You wanted to leave it undecided or designate the Wrathful One's cult."
"Yes, but... I can't decide that alone."
"Don't people trust you?"
"Not everyone."
"Then make it everyone."
Owen read Sarucho's tension and realized his odd imaginings, then said,
"I'm not telling you to pull off some impossible feat you've never done. Start with what you can."
—┼
After Owen vanished saying, "At this rate, my disciple will catch on. Time to move," Sarucho followed his advice.
Fortunately, losing two agents seemed a big blow to intelligence, so they didn't approach Sarucho directly. He mobilized a security detail for protection.
Meanwhile, he tried to sway people's hearts as Owen suggested.
At first, it was simple logic.
Allowing the Wrathful One's priests to say revolutionaries influenced by the Demon God would bring great punishment.
But it didn't take.
Collegoton was among the least faithful regions in the Union Kingdom.
Their ancestors were immigrants from afar or rootless folk, attending the Wrathful One's rituals out of urban custom. They believed only superficially.
They wouldn't betray long-held faith now, but calculating Ruveil revolutionaries' tangible gains and the wild heaven's apostate appeal, prospects weren't bright.
'Moving people with a clash of faiths... impossible.'
So Sarucho played a new card.
Secularism.
Religion and life must be separate; gods' fights shouldn't interfere in human ones.
This novel idea intrigued people, and they finally listened to Sarucho.
Sarucho seized the opportunity.
'Now, tell them how terrifying the gods are.'
No one knew that better than Sarucho.
On Unity Day, when all wore black mourning clothes, Sarucho gave the commemorative speech.
But he began with an unforeseen opening.
"Two years ago on Unity Day, I bear greater responsibility than anyone for the 817 lives lost that day."
Thus began Sarucho's confession.
He revealed the full details of capturing revolutionaries, how Union Kingdom's fang agents and cult priests were involved.
And that it wasn't just the Kingdom's purge, but by the Wrathful One's revelation.
'Just this story will create apostates from the Wrathful One's cult.'
Sarucho defended the Wrathful One.
Even the Wrathful One had no choice against the fearsome Demon God.
The root issue: we're pawns in gods' fights. We must escape, let humans solve human problems.
Only then to avoid repeated tragedies.
"...That concludes the commemorative speech."
The crowd was silent. Sarucho closed his eyes and waited.
He expected to be dragged off the podium or stoned immediately.
But when Sarucho opened his eyes, he heard applause.