EP.285 Blessed Land, Cursed Humans - 8
An urgent situation where the ceiling seemed ready to collapse at any moment. Moreover, this place was dozens of meters underground. If the ground collapsed, even my Earth Art wouldn't be able to hold.
Captain Abby tried to restrain Yuel's actions with her innate magic. It was an effective method between signal soldiers who possessed the innate magic of synchronization, and Captain Abby herself had fallen victim to it once. Morning glory vines spreading along the floor bound Yuel.
The morning glory vines coiled around her two hands gathered neatly together. Fine rootlets struggled to burrow into the saintess's skin.
"Love in full bloom, an intense will to live... How romantic."
However, Yuel didn't budge. Neither strength nor innate magic worked.
The origin of the Holy Imperial Court, the First Saintess. Those who believe in her can reproduce a fraction of the miracles she performed. What Yuel was doing now was the fortnight's prayer permitted only to the saintess.
—While the saintess prays, no one can hinder her.
The miracle born when the First Saintess ascended the pagoda of corpses and offered her prayers for a fortnight. Hunger, disease, curses, and even stones thrown by unbelievers could not stop her prayer. The miracle that resulted from this has been passed down every time a saintess offers her prayers.
A miracle that allows a single human to wage a siege defense. If there is such a thing as true "invincibility" in this world, that would be it.
Against something like that, even if I pried and stabbed with a skewer, not a single hole would open. Even innate magic that overlays the world's rules doesn't work. If it were an attack that reached the level of principles, there might be some possibility, but that wouldn't be easy either.
As might be expected in reality, Yuel spoke with an attitude as if not a single drop of blood would come out even if pricked.
"That's mental contamination, Abby. Signal soldiers must value confidentiality and orders above even their own lives. Because if you consider yourself more precious than anything in the world, synchronization becomes meaningless."
"Yuel...!"
"If you are truly a signal soldier, then rejoice and be buried."
'Attack, ineffective! Adjusting strategy!'
Having confirmed that coercion through synchronization didn't work, Captain Abby sought and found another method.
"Stop! At this point, eliminating me won't change the situation! Director Historia is waiting outside, and both the Progenitor and the Beast King are still alive! If that person dies here, even minimal negotiation with them will be impossible! Rather, take me as a hostage! That is far more strategic!"
She was telling me to take her as a hostage and guarantee my safety instead. The best judgment a mere signal soldier could make. Because Captain Abby lacked information.
The problem was that Captain Abby didn't know too much.
For a moment, regret flashed across Yuel's eyes. Moving her lips, Yuel answered in a deflated voice.
"...I regret that I cannot explain to you. Even though you are fated to die soon."
'What you cannot explain? Is it information I don't know? Then, an attack unrelated to me...?'
Yuel didn't reveal the secret, but Captain Abby was still a signal soldier.
Having only interacted with humans through golems her entire life, she wasn't particularly good at reading human psychology. However, she had the ability to deduce crucial information by connecting the information given so far.
"The target of the attack... wasn't me...?"
Exactly.
If Captain Abby had come alone from the start, she would have been subdued in reverse. The opponent was the first signal soldier Aemeder, and Saintess Yuel. She wouldn't commit mutual destruction just because her identity was exposed to a mere signal soldier. Unless she chose murder and obliteration instead.
Naturally, the target was....
Hmm. I would have liked her to explain more of the inner workings herself, but if I linger, it seems like the ground will collapse. I'll pass on being buried alive. I need to stop this first.
"Doesn't the Celestial God Church forbid suicide? If the ceiling collapses, even if your body is fine, you'll eventually starve to death. Is this acceptable? Or are you planning to dig through the rocks with angels?"
Yuel didn't even turn her gaze toward me. Being openly ignored even in this situation makes me a bit sad.
"Stop trying to bewitch and disappear. Barbarian."
Such a chilly voice. Yuel was definitely more favorable toward Captain Abby. Compared to how she treats me, that was downright soft.
"Barbarian? That's too harsh to say to a civilized person like me."
"A civilized person is one who follows norms. One who accepts the constraints necessary to live together. Yet, you deny all norms. Where does civilization exist in you?"
"Right here?"
I tapped my deck of cards. A deck worn from using several cards, but still more than half remained. Medicine, weapons, magic, and knowledge. All of them are tools of civilization.
Recognizing the identity of my card deck, Yuel retorted cynically.
"It exists only through power. That is the reason you must not exist."
Immediately after her words ended, the trembling intensified. Now it seemed ready to collapse at any moment. If I killed the saintess shaking the temple's pillars, this vibration might stop, but there was no means to inflict damage while the saintess prayed.
In a word, a desperate situation.
"Humans are not beasts, Barbarian! Just be buried along with me!"
"I'm sorry. I can't say I can't do that, but there's already a man in the seat next to you. I don't touch people who are already taken."
Seeing me making jokes even in this situation, Yuel was highly suspicious.
'Strange. The survival instinct is an imperative for beasts. It would be normal to struggle using every means possible to survive... Why is he just standing there?'
Jokes come out. That's because I'm not in danger.
A beast like Ajina Nabi might have sensed the crisis and thrashed about. Dogs and cats react sensitively to immediate crises right before their eyes. No matter how sturdy and elastic the rope you tie them with, if you try to throw a dog or cat from a high place, they would struggle.
But I am a human with intellect and logical reasoning. Even if I'm dozens of meters high, if I've confirmed that the rope binding me is sufficiently sturdy, I can jump without hesitation. Well, if something goes wrong with the lifeline, it'd be an accidental death, though.
Fortunately, my lifeline has just arrived.
'I don't know what your scheme is, but it doesn't matter. Oh First Saintess who blessed me. Oh Heavenly Saintess who excommunicated me. Though I am sinful, I will ensure I have no shame before you at the end. Forgive me.'
Just as the saintess was about to finish her prayer, footsteps were heard from outside. Someone else who had dashed into the underground passage had finally arrived. Murmuring voices drifted in from outside.
"S, Siati...! It's shaking. Was it right to come here?"
"It must connect to somewhere else! Faster!"
A princess with a cozy and noble atmosphere. In contrast, Siati was as sharp as a well-honed blade.
The two, who had fled from the commotion above, burst through the door. Searching for a place to escape, they hesitated at the sudden sight of the temple spread before them.
"Hiyeh...! Is this a temple? Why is there a temple in the Military Nation?"
"Keep moving! Huey went this way too, so it must connect somewhere...! Huey?"
And then the princess entered the saintess's range of awareness.
Grandiomor, one of the five lords who supported the First Saintess. The weakest king who followed the First Saintess, drove out the human king, and devoured the "Heart." That one.
A human whom no other human could hostile, invincible in a different sense.
The moment she spotted the opponent, Yuel groaned for the first time.
"Ah...!"
"You know her well, don't you? The only remaining princess of the Grandiomor royal family. The last king."
Even a princess isn't invincible. Just as the King of Grandiomor was swept away by a mob and died, the princess could also die from an unintended accident. If it was during the collapse of this ground, the princess would have been swept along too.
But the saintess still had the ability to stop this situation.
And attacks directed at the princess, even if they were the result of inaction, were impossible.
"Now. Saintess Yuel. If you collapse this place, that princess will die. Wow, an innocent princess who knows nothing being crushed under heavy rocks and turned into a bloody pulp!"
Just in case she might turn a blind eye, I kindly explained to the saintess. So that she couldn't have even the slightest misunderstanding.
"Y, you...!"
"Hey hey? It's not stopping? Someone will die? Really die? Not me, the princess will die, I said? You'll still collapse it?"
'You brought... the princess...!'
Because she's the ultimate shield. I should make good use of her, shouldn't I?
The trembling subsided. The thick pillars that had seemed ready to fall at any moment stood firm and regained their function. The ceiling that had shaken once was still unstable, but it didn't seem like it would collapse in a short time.
The princess let out a sigh of relief.
"Phew! The shaking stopped!"
"We don't know when it might collapse again. Let's think about escaping for now. More importantly, Huey, what are you doing instead of running away? What is this place anyway?"
The two strode toward me. Then they flinched when they saw Yuel despairing while hugging a corpse. From their perspective, she must have looked like a ghost.
I welcomed them happily.
"You're here. I've been waiting a long time."
With this, everyone was gathered. Those who would question the Military Nation.
Some say that humans are not beasts. That humans, the lords of all creation, are superior to and more special than all other beings.
But the fact that the majority of humans are dominated creates a flaw in their argument.
What exactly dominates those special humans?
More special humans? Regrettably, most of those who claimed to be such beings have died. Even the five lords who stole true special power from the human king have disappeared. Well, one remains over there. But she's practically leftovers.
Something greater yet invisible? However, what drives humans in extreme situations is desire. The countless evils that exist in the world prove not only that they are invisible but also that they don't exist.
Some who dislike complexity ultimately argue that all of this is the logic of power. Whether a powerful individual or a group united by the same intent, they dominate others through power.
That's not wrong. However, if that statement is correct, then humans are beasts.
If that is the case...