Book 16 Chapter 39
Chapter 94
Science VS Ability, Ain's Technology is the Best in the World (7)
[I simply cannot fathom why you ignore my proposal, Nils. What could possibly have made you so irrational?]
Ignoring Greta Weiss's hologram and passing through the 1.5th and 2nd underground floors was sheer agony.
The enemies that appeared were Ain guards armed with high-level artifacts or Ain scientists who were performing surgery.
Of course, dealing with these guys wasn't the agonizing part.
[I have taken control of this facility through a single transaction.]
Witnessing each and every tragic scene of test subjects transforming into 'non-humans' with screams from test tubes and lab benches…
[Look at this facility. The technology of the <Those Who Came> lies infinitely dormant. It can be called a paradise for dreamers like us.]
No, let's be honest.
In one corner of my heart…
Perhaps from an even deeper place…
It was agony to see myself agreeing with Greta Weiss's pragmatism (現實論).
"How could such…!"
That pragmatism appeared the moment Lista, unable to contain her indignation, shouted.
"…How dare you speak of paradise while committing such acts, worse than beasts?"
Greta, who had been ignoring me and Lista and only looking at Nils, suddenly stopped.
[Beasts? What kind of beast can achieve such a highly advanced form of salvation?]
"Salvation?"
[This work is truly the path to paradise, so what's the problem?]
Nils shouted as he cleared a path with his X-Blast Plasma Cannon.
"Don't listen, Greta Weiss is a master of sophistry!"
In the fleeting isolation chambers, humans were confined like animals. All hope lost.
[There are countless surplus resources in the world. Primates are no exception. Perhaps "defective products" is a more fitting term than "surplus resources."]
As my gaze reached through the glass, I saw some turn their heads in terror.
"What should we do, destroy them?"
"No, there's a chance we'll get caught in a fight. Saving them comes later."
While Lista and I were having that conversation, Greta Weiss's words continued.
[However, for primates, there are simply too many idle surplus resources and defective products because of that absurd sympathy.]
I had never truly listened to anyone's words in my life, except for the Dean…
[On the contrary, normal, high-quality items are being used to support such things. The Great Abyss War hasn't ended yet precisely because of such irrationality.]
I wondered if this was truly sophistry.
[The 'things' confined here are all worthless 'things'.]
Strangely…
[Street urchins from the slums, homeless people with no will to work…]
Greta Weiss's words began to feel like a blade aimed at the irrationality (不合理) of modern times that I had harbored doubts about.
[Manuki Warrior, if there is a 'being closer to a beast than a primate' that you referred to me as earlier, it would be these.]
I disliked the weak.
I hated those who were weak and also lazy, who took it for granted that they would remain weak.
I hated those who casually tried to rely on someone's 'strength' for the 'weakness' caused by their own laziness.
[Wouldn't utilizing them as recycled products in some way contribute to humanity's progress more than simply discarding them if they cannot be used?]
Was that why I couldn't get along well with my fellow students at the magic tower? Was that why there was such loneliness in a corner of my heart at the magic tower?
[Just as useless scrap metal can become a formidable weapon from a blast furnace, primates can also transform into valuable beings only through meaningful regeneration.]
Was that why I was listening to Greta Weiss's words as if they were the truth (眞理)?
[I have given them that opportunity. The opportunity to live a meaningful life. So, don't you think they should be grateful?]
It was at that moment, as countless Ain fire teams, heavily armed with artifacts, approached from the front and back of the corridor.
"The reason I cannot forgive you is…!"
Lista sliced open the opening of the cargo elevator (said to have a similar structure in the Papal State) on the outer wall with a blade of magic.
"…Because you completely fail to understand the meaning of killing these poor people!"
While I absorbed the fire team's barrage (掃射) with a magical force field, Nils jumped into the elevator and manipulated the control console. A keyboard-like interface appeared in the air; he seemed to have experience handling similar artifacts before.
"It has value because it's useful, and no value if it's useless? By what right, by what standard, do you dare to decide such a thing?"
The moment Nils shouted, "It's done!", Lista pulled me inside.
[By standards that are extremely common throughout the world.]
At that moment, I felt as if an immense weight was pressing down on both shoulders, and the elevator plunged rapidly before the fire team could rush in. Greta's hologram was already onboard.
"Your thoughts might be correct if all emotions are excluded. But that's precisely why you are wrong, Greta Weiss."
[Indeed?]
"Humans, people… just by being born into this world and breathing, they are already precious. Whether they are useful or not, that doesn't matter at all. People are created according to the will of creation, who wishes for all life to be loved, and sent to this land. That is what 'being born' means."
Those words… Lista's idealism, which completely denied Greta Weiss's absolute pragmatism, changed my world.
That one phrase…
That imperfect idealism… that sophistry, which sounded like a fairytale of paradise because it was corrupted by the Abyss's interference, took me back to a moment in the past.
- Why the sulky face?
When was that?
It must have been during my completely innocent childhood, before I was even part of the hero's party.
- I'm good at magic, aren't I? I'm more helpful to the Magic Tower and the Dean than those who just feed chicks. But why am I always treated the same?
I had once made such an absurd… a statement so awful that it couldn't even be excused as childish immaturity.
At that time, the Dean smiled.
Always, instead of harshly scolding my shortcomings, she had disciplined me with utmost love and a smile.
- Lin, the providence of creation is not fair.
- ?
- To some, they give much in the name of talent, and to others, they give little. Why is that? I've always wondered. I once asked my master about it. The answer I received then determined the path of my life.
- How so?
- To those who received much, much is demanded, but to those who received little, only little is demanded. To have received much means to have received a great calling.
- A calling?
- Yes, a calling. It's also called 'the purpose for which you were sent to this land'. If you fail to achieve it, or put it aside for your own desires, you will one day be scolded for being lazy on the day you reach paradise.
- What about those who received little?
- Those who received little are not like that. Since they received little, even the size of their calling is small. So perhaps they will live a more peaceful and enjoyable life.
- It seems unfair.
- It is. But do you know what's amazing? The providence of creation loves all of them equally.
Ah, Dean…
The truth (眞理) was not in a distant place… but right before me… always present in the everyday moments I shared with you… why did I not know it then?
If only I had realized the truth a little sooner… and could have shown you that side of me… how much… how much better would it have been…
- I strive to be like that heart. So, you see? Even if Lin had no magical talent at all, I would have loved Lin just the same as I do now.
At that time, I didn't believe it.
Perhaps I couldn't believe it.
In fear of being abandoned if I became useless, of being thrown back to that place…
- Lin, you become such a person too.
Looking back now, I might have known but denied the reason why Lista's sword shone with a light similar to the Dean's magic when she used it.
Their hearts were similar…
Because she strived to emulate the heart of the Mother of Creation, who fashioned all life with love, such light naturally emanated from her.
"That's why I, Greta Weiss, cannot forgive you. By killing so many people, you dared to trample upon the very heart of Creation, who fashioned each and every one of them with immense love!"
Sophistry among sophistry.
A rumor that completely antagonizes reason.
In the past, I would have dismissed it as such. In the past, I would have agreed with Greta Weiss, but then I…
───Screeeeeech!
…The elevator suddenly braked, and the sound of the inner wall rupturing reawakened my consciousness from the echoes of the past.
[Extremely, unpleasant. I have never been this unpleasant in my life.]
The elevator lights flickered, and Greta Weiss's hologram swayed threateningly. That coincidental synchronicity felt so ominous.
[Is the current state of the world, where dozens of strong individuals are consumed to protect one weak individual, truly right? I believe it is 100 times more correct to sacrifice 100 useless weak individuals to make one strong individual stronger.]
Nils shouted that the central control console, meaning Greta, seemed to have forcibly stopped the elevator.
[An old custom, politely put, is conservative thinking, and realistically, it's outdated thinking. A warrior can be said to be a protector of such old customs. I must definitively eliminate you from here to lay the groundwork for eternal progress.]
Nils fired his X-Blast Plasma Cannon at the bulkhead. To create a hole that we, like small fry, could easily pass through.
[Come, I will open all paths to where I am.]
The bulkhead was thick, so after squirming like worms and barely getting through, the corridor that opened before us was brightly lit.
Thud, thud, thud…
And there, the massive bulkheads leading to the deeper parts of this facility were opening one after another.
[Initially, I intended to obtain data from test subjects through you, but the plan has been completely revised. I will fully exterminate you, the pests of the old era.]
▶ ▶ ▶
"Father, what are you thinking so deeply about?"
My firstborn asked.
As her growth neared its completion, her voice itself carried a gravitas, just like her mother's, and its very resonance carved a mark upon the world.
Not the coercion of ancient kings, who twisted, trampled, and suppressed the weak, but the warmth of a flame that gently embraced those trembling in the cold of winter – such a mark.
"Aki."
She had now become a being whom most of the world knelt before and revered, but to my eyes, she was still a baby. My cute and beloved… firstborn.
My irreplaceable firstborn.
It wasn't that I favored her over the second and third children, but there was no one who could take her place as the 'firstborn'.
"You are strong. You know that, don't you? You're probably much stronger than me now."
"That's because you gave up most of your power to seal the Spider Lord, Father."
"No, even if I hadn't… what I'm trying to say is this. You and I, beings born strong like us, are easily intoxicated by that power."
"Like alcohol?"
"Yes, alcohol. Wait. Are you perhaps drinking alcohol these days?"
"Hehe, I wonder? Am I, or am I not?"
"Is she becoming like Friede…? Anyway, intoxicated by power, there's a high possibility of disregarding the weak. Even if you pretend to be considerate in your actions, you might despise them in your heart. That's the path to becoming not a silver vessel, but a clay pot coated in silver foil."
I couldn't take her on a journey of enlightenment, like the hero party's expedition, but…
"So Aki, never become like that… become a being who can genuinely love and embrace life itself, whether it's useful or not, strong or weak."
If I could convey the insights I gained to this child… if I could engrave that learning process into this child's life… then my life, which began anew after 300 years, would not have been in vain, I thought.
"Dad, you know, don't you? That from the moment I was born, I always watched the direction of your life from your side."
"…?"
"I, you see, always wanted to be like you, Dad. Do you know? Dragonkin are said to live eternally, using their childhood memories as pillars."
At that instant, the smile of my gracious teacher (恩師), who had spoken the same words in the unknown snowy plains at the northern tip of the land, overlapped in my mind, and the world blurred.
I trust and entrust…
I believe this child, whom I named Freedom (自由)… will grow into a being capable of loving all life with her own free will… and I entrust my daughter, Achillea, to you.
"I will cherish all the moments of our journey together in my soul, and I will live a life that conveys your life, Father, and the love of Creation to the lowest and darkest places of this land. It's a promise. So Dad, don't worry."