Humans are weak and foolish. Even if a mere beast were to possess the power to ruin the entire world and humanity, it would only crumble, unable to even preserve itself.
Even the Demon Gods, no, perhaps precisely because they are Demon Gods, they might have no choice but to rely on the Heavenly God.
I do not deny that humans are weak and foolish. I am rather on the side of affirming it. Their choices are individually right. Even I, with mind-reading abilities, deeply understand those emotions.
I know. I know, but...
Then what about humans?
A light shone upon me as I stood still. A warm and bright light flowed down from my head to my toes. As I raised my head, there stood the First Saintess I had seen in 'sister's' memories.
[Sage. Teach us with your wisdom.]
[Benefactor. Protect us with your mercy.]
[Saintess. Illuminate us with your light.]
As the Demon God of Light appeared, the other Demon Gods slowly retreated, making way for her. Wind, waves, lightning. As the Demon Gods, whose very existence could distort the world, distanced themselves of their own accord, the holy light seeping through the dark clouds illuminated the world.
[This is the first time we meet in my present. Have you been well?]
The mastermind behind everything. At the same time, the saint who overturned the shape of this world. She looks at me with an elusive presence, as if she is still not quite here.
But it is a little different from then. Her eyes look more worn out, more exhausted. Although she is already dead and etched into the world, the traces of what she experienced before her death remain as they were.
After the death of the King of Humans, the believers, including the First Saintess, became fugitives. Having committed rebellion, they became heretics unwanted anywhere and were persecuted, and the First Saintess was eventually killed.
Did the Saintess see that future too? Probably. Because she even foresaw the memories of someone peeking from the distant future.
The First Saintess is the Demon God of Light. An existence etched into the world even after death. She answered as if she had seen this ending.
[Though My Lord reigned as the King of Humans, you carried nothing on your back. Humanity built a pillar to lean on themselves.]
This heaven is a lie piled up by the Holy Imperial Court. However, it is a massive idol that became truth because the majority believed in it.
No matter how strong the belief, it is a concept. It cannot take on a clear form, but the First Saintess gathered all the other Demon Gods and made it possible.
[Thanks to Chiwoo's cooperation, the sky became our roof.]
Cheon Giryung became the Saintess's steadfast patron, becoming the foundation of the Holy Imperial Court, which was still persecuted at the time. The Saintess who saw the future and Chiwoo who read the heavens became prophets and gained respect.
[Thanks to the Dragon King's efforts, rivers and lakes became our paths.]
The Dragon King's power is not waves. It is currents. She divides the flow of water into countless currents and controls them. The Holy Imperial Court took her in and obtained holy water. Even the rivers and lakes, which were merely paths to draw water, became human domains.
[Thanks to the Thunder Blade's contribution, lightning became the pillar supporting the world.]
Lightning striking from the sky is powerful enough to knock a person's soul out, but in reality, it is more common and precious than that. After trapping lightning inside glass, humans no longer had to wait for morning to find light.
[Light shall illuminate the world in that space.]
And light simply drives away the darkness with light and illuminates the world.
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The World Rule was completed. The concept of the Heavenly God actually exists. A concept completed by the gathering of the Saintess and the Demon Gods, and the consciousness and faith of countless people.
If a conceptual existence symbolizes the concept itself, then if a concept is molded into a single existence, would that not also be a conceptual existence?
"The World Rule has already been completed."
[Not yet. The last, the most important and core piece is missing.]
"The King of Humans."
[A conceptual existence. An existence that represents and implements the massive concept of the Heavenly God. Without a conceptual existence, ideals cannot be manifested in reality. Only that will make this World Rule perfect.]
Heaven is a power that has taken form. Tens of thousands of believers are using the power of the Heavenly God under the name of divine power.
The Heavenly God had already become a more convenient and powerful god than the Demon Gods, giving power in return for faith.
But even this was not enough.
[Since My Lord chose to reign but not rule. We have only one choice left.]
It's Sister.
The Inheritor I saw while reading 'sister's' memories last time, the First Saintess El. She asked me across time, and I refused.
That refusal I made back then must have created this world.
Which came first? If I had deceived them with a lie back then, would this situation be different?
No. There is nothing as meaningless as lying to the past.
The First Saintess clasped her hands together and gazed at me steadily.
[I will ask just in case. If...]
If your mind has changed, do you have any intention of protecting the order even now? That was the question.
It was only a few months ago that I encountered her at the top of the Tree of Origins, in sister's memories. The answer to the question asked back then couldn't have changed. If anything, it has become more resolute.
However, while it has only been a few months for me, it has been over two thousand years for the First Saintess. She might have hoped that my answer would have changed during that time.
"Yes. My thoughts are the same."
[Even if many suffer, struggle, and despair because of it?]
"What's with the sudden concern? It's someone else's business."
It is someone else's business. They'll surely figure it out and do well. And they have to figure it out and do well on their own.
"As for me. I will not wear the shackles of sin to begin with. The rules and laws are different for every country, so what sin? Can you judge or evaluate this country by another country's laws?"
The Military Nation, the Wild Nation, the Dukedom, and even the Magic Federation. Their rules, regulations, and morals are completely different.
The Military Nation raised the slogan of a nation for the military, but the people living inside it are ground down like parts. The Dukedom is a better place to live than any other nation, but a person's status is no better than livestock. The Wild Nation abandoned all rules to survive, and the Magic Federation had to conform to rules to survive.
Just as the appearance of life differs depending on the environment, every nation is bound to be different. An order that penetrates all of that can clearly only be obtained by crushing various characteristics.
"Since there is no such thing as sin from the beginning, there can be no King of Sin or anything like that. Everyone just acts according to their own desires. Small desires gather to form a massive shape. It's the same for civilization and order."
I can read other people's minds.
No, I represent that person. I read their memories, empathize, and become that person myself. And I read the desires hidden within them.
As I read them, I acutely realize how precious the things given for granted are, and because of that, how meaningless they are.
Peace was written in blood. After killing each other long enough, they concluded that cooperation was better than harming each other.
It is not important because someone decided it was important. It is just a microscopically small and precious desire. A large flow born from the countless collisions of a single human's desire to survive somehow with other desires.
I do not deny that. I am rather on the side of affirming it so desperately.
"I will definitely make them bear those desires, those responsibilities. But I won't carry them myself. I won't take on such things. Naturally, I won't let anyone else shift them onto someone else either."
Therefore, everyone must know. That human nature is not a given. That it is merely a method chosen by a stupid and foolish beast to survive in its environment.
If it goes astray, it can be overturned at any time.
[Harsh, yet gentle person... Sharing sin with everyone will be harder than taking the sin upon yourself alone.]
"Where else can you find something as easy as shifting the blame to others?"
Shifting the blame and running away is my specialty. I'll do it as much as you want.
Then, the First Saintess
[The countless people connected to you. Are even they strangers?]
And for a moment.
My field of vision expands. The light shimmers. As if observing through a magnifying glass from this distant heaven in the sky, somewhere on that far continent is reflected.
The Abyss Plain visible in the distance. And the circular Meta Conveyor Belt. It is the terrain of the Military Nation. My gaze is sucked into the headquarters inside the artificial river of earth.
The Military Nation. Abby and Historia are there. Beside Abby are the many signal soldiers she saved. But they looked very bewildered. Contact with signal soldiers who have not yet returned from all over the Military Nation is being cut off.
Signal soldiers whose identities are revealed are targets of attack. From external enemies, and from internal allies. External enemies are securing the signal soldiers to extract information, while internal allies are securing them to manipulate the information to be delivered to the headquarters.
Abby is responding with all her might, but the forces she can move covertly are only Historia and the Public Security Bureau. Abby gives an order that is not quite an order, and Historia chews on a mana herb and heads alone to the place where the signal soldiers' contact was lost.
Historia, whose rank was demoted as the price for taking my side, has no troops or units. She silently packs her bags and departs. She walks into the darkness, having received a mission alone.
The Wild Nation. Peru is trying to normalize the Wild Nation by gathering Claudia's alchemists. However, the jackals who have lived without a country for a long time are both the people of the Wild Nation and the most troublesome enemies. If they try to create a foundation using the Bell of the Golden Mirror and alchemy, the jackals quickly run over, grab anything of value, and leave.
The jackals are fast, sly, and cowardly. They received no proper education, and they have lived their lives suffering losses if they followed rules or norms. The jackals who lived such lives would never become peaceful just because the Golden Mirror disappeared.
Let alone the other branch leaders? Rather than following Peru who holds the Bell of the Golden Mirror, they are only full of thoughts of stealing that bell. Peru was trapped inside a small fortress wall with the remaining residents of Claudia.
The Dukedom. That place cannot be seen. Covered in sea fog all year round and shrouded in the darkness of the Progenitor, it cannot be seen with light. Pitch-black darkness crouches and blocks the approach of light.
However, only stories of someone's sobbing and screaming coming from within the fog are handed down like legends. Even stories of seeing a giant monster.
And the Magic Federation.
Nothing major has happened yet. Because the things that almost happened were prevented. It's continuing on well enough, albeit with some creaking.
However, the true crisis has not yet arrived.
The threat of the Empire comes moment by moment. It's chilling. Politics, economy, military, diplomacy. As soon as the Empire made up its mind to do so, hundreds of attacks crushed the nation called the Magic Federation.
If a nation were compared to a single person, the Empire was a god. With a point of a finger, limbs are tied, senses are disrupted, and the body collapses from the inside. The Empire's attacks haven't even reached yet, but it feels like it could collapse right now.
[The burden you carried is too overwhelming and painful for them. No one can handle it.]
The ones I left behind. They, whom I must have seen off well, were constantly agonizing and suffering.
The First Saintess does not mock me. She does not enjoy their pain. Rather, she deeply empathizes with their sorrow, and sincerely laments such agony.
Without any hypocrisy or pretense, sincerely and truly.
[You have the power to right all of this. King of Civilization. If we set the world right together, we can defeat the King of Barbarism and establish a just order in this world once again. You can make those who willingly endured pain to follow you happy.]
Is it because I saw familiar faces? Even I, who would normally have refused without hesitation, hesitated for a moment this time.