Chapter 558: Murderous Intent
Chapter 558: Murderous Intent
Three days later, Roel feasted on the delicacies the chef had specially prepared for him on the breakfast table while distractedly gazing out of the window. Adola stood behind him as she went through a summary of the key happenings last night.
As the majority of the Mother Goddess’ faction were nocturnal, they carried out their activities at night, so there was always an influx of news every morning.
However, Roel was much more interested in the food before him than the news, because the information was simply not of much use to him.
Shortly after his previous meeting with Edavia, the Mother Goddess left the Moonsoul Tower. There was a large-scale military mobilization afterward, where troops were dispatched to the battlefield.
Even when he looked down from the sky garden now, he could still see new armies comprising members from different races marching eastward, together with a steady stream of supplies. Before anyone could notice it, the peaceful night was already weighed down by a heavy atmosphere.
Roel had neither the power nor a reason to stop the war, so he decided to immerse himself in food instead. His meals had been nothing short of amazing, to the point where he wouldn’t have minded idling his life away here.
When the Mother Goddess reshuffled the manpower guarding Roel, She also went ahead to assign Her personal chefs to him as well, presumably due to his having complimented the food during the banquet. Honestly speaking, Roel hadn’t thought that the Mother Goddess would pay such attention to his passing words, and it left him feeling even more conflicted.
Roel had already been feeling guilt-ridden toward the Mother Goddess, and Her meticulousness in caring for him only further shook his heart.
It might have been because he was ‘in substitution’ in this Witness State, but he felt personally involved in this matter. Before he knew it, his priority had already shifted from just clearing this Witness State to uncovering the truth behind this piece of history.
Supposing Edavia’s deduction was true, and the Mother Goddess and the Savior were opposing existences who had inherited different traits from Genesis Goddess Sia, the next thing Roel had to do was to uncover who Sia’s spiritual successor was. This information was crucial to him in determining whom he should choose in the end.
He had been thinking over this matter for three days now, but he hadn’t been able to come to a conclusion.
His heart was more inclined toward the Mother Goddess, for Her reluctance to execute him despite his betrayal seemed to mirror Sia’s reluctance to sacrifice Her children, but it was still too early to say since he hadn’t been able to meet this era’s Savior.
He didn’t think that it was wise to only listen to one side of the story, not to mention that the Mother Goddess’ maternal instincts didn’t exclude Her from being a tyrant. A villain was equally capable of loving their children.
Besides, when he overlooked his personal interactions with the Mother Goddess, there were some things that were dubious about Her. For instance, he had learned during his journey to the Moonsoul Tower that the Mother Goddess had formed an alliance with the demonic beasts and the evil gods.
He didn’t look favorably upon this alliance particularly because Sia had been opposed to their existence, but it would be premature to put down the Mother Goddess based solely on this. It wasn’t unreasonable for the Mother Goddess to seek an alliance with Her past enemies in order to counteract the Savior’s growing influence.
“Eesh. How am I supposed to pick a side?” Roel murmured in frustration.
For the past three days, he had almost torn out his hair trying to figure out who was Sia’s spiritual successor and who was the trash that had been taken out, but this was not an easy question to answer.
Thus, he decided to change his perspective and analyze this matter from another angle. In the Moonsoul Tower, there was only one person he knew who was unlikely to lie to him.
“Adola, have you fought with the Savior’s army before?”
“Ah? W-well, I have fought with the Savior’s army once.”
Taken aback by Roel’s abrupt question, Adola grabbed her skirt and replied in embarrassment. Roel’s eyes twinkled, knowing that she was likely to have some information to offer, so he began probing her under the guise of idle chatter.
“How was the battle? With your strength, I reckon that you would have made great contributions on the battlefield.”
“It was still fine, I guess. I was in the back lines, so I didn’t face the bulk of the pressure.”
“I see, I see. I’d like to ask a question that I hope you can honestly answer. Do you like war?”
“…No, I don’t like war,” Adola replied with a deep sigh. “War is brutal. I don’t think that I’m weak, but the enemies are formidable too. Be it the Giants, the Dragons, or the Saint Beasts, those are adversaries that we struggle to deal with.”
“Is that why the Mother Goddess allied with the demonic beasts and the evil gods?”
“There was no other choice. There aren’t many giant races out there, and most of them have chosen to side with the enemy.”
“…” Roel nodded.
Adola’s explanation made him more empathetic toward the Mother Goddess’ decision of allying with the demonic beasts and the evil gods. He was more than familiar with the sheer destructive might the Giants harnessed.
The mention of the Giants sparked a thought in Roel’s mind, and he blurted out a question.
“Who is the current leader of the Giants?”
“Are you referring to the Giant Sovereign? His name should be Botrelaim. What’s wrong?” Adola asked.
Botrelaim? What the hell is that? Isn’t this Grandar’s era?
Reluctant to give up just like that, Roel tried asking Adola if she had heard of ‘Grandar’, but the latter had no impression of that name at all. He could only sigh in resignation, though he wasn’t too surprised by the situation.
He had no idea how long the war between the Savior and the Mother Goddess stretched out for, but from the current look of things, neither of them was anywhere close to being defeated yet. It made sense for Grandar to not have appeared yet.
It was disappointing to learn that he couldn’t meet Grandar in the flesh, literally, but then again, it was doubtful that he could sneak out to meet Grandar even if he existed in the current era.
I’d have to first resolve the problems on my side.
Roel continued questioning Adola about the Savior. Through their interactions, he finally understood why the Mother Goddess’ faction was slightly weaker than the Savior’s.
The reason lay in Their different ideologies.
“The Savior seeks to govern the world by implementing a hierarchical order, in which He is the absolute ruler, the one existence that everyone has to worship. Anyone who tries to undermine His order will be executed without fail.
“On the other hand, the Mother Goddess propagates the ideology of equality amongst all races. Regardless of whether it is the almighty Giants or the feeble Scalemen, they are all granted the same rights, and disputes will be resolved through a common council.”
Roel’s face turned grim as he finally understood the fundamental reason behind the conflict between the two supreme beings.
The Savior envisioned a world that operated under a strict social caste system, where all races would be ranked in a hierarchy. Those who were ranked higher in the hierarchy would be granted greater privileges and resources, even if it came at the expense of those beneath them.
In contrast, the Mother Goddess sought to form a republic, where She would take on the role of a supervisor and a governor. All races would be guaranteed equal rights under Her rule; there would be no special privileges, similar to how the world operated back in Sia’s era.
Roel leaned against the chair as he pondered deeper into the two ideologies.
If he had to give his take, he thought that the Savior’s governance model was mature, whereas the Mother Goddess’ ideology bordered on naivety. Peaceful co-existence amongst the races as equals was merely a pipe dream in the face of resource scarcity.
While there was peace and prosperity under Sia’s rule, that had only been possible because there were more than enough resources to go around. The races didn’t have to compete to fulfill their needs. However, this precondition was undermined by the growing world population, which strained the available resources to be shared.
Even if Sia hadn’t departed, the peace and prosperity the world had enjoyed under Her rule wouldn’t have lasted much longer. This was an inevitable change that not even the powerful Mother Goddess could stop, especially when She lacked Sia’s influence and legitimacy.
In contrast, the Savior promised to prioritize the more powerful races in His hierarchical order, entitling them to special rights and greater resources. This caste system was so unequivocally beneficial to the Giants, the Dragons, and the other powerful races that it was no wonder they chose to side with Him.
Only the Angels, as Sia’s old envoys, had refrained from explicitly choosing a side to avoid going against Sia’s will, but it would be no surprise if they had been secretly siding with the Savior all this while.
Even faith crumbled in the face of overwhelming interests.
However, the Savior’s hierarchy would deprive the weaker races of the resources they needed to survive. The weaker races would find themselves stuck in an endless cycle of suffering with no way out, with their lineage slowly creeping toward extinction. It was a system that trampled on the weak, though it admittedly followed the winds of change.
In contrast, the Mother Goddess’ goal of forming a republic might have appeared fairer on the surface, but at its core, it was siding with the weak over the strong. By imposing equal rights, it deprived the stronger races of their ability to compete for resources for their people.
One favored the strong, whereas the other favored the weak. No middle ground was possible for this conflict, so war became inevitable.
I don’t know what the original Kingmaker chose, but there’s no doubt that the Kingmaker Clan stands to benefit more from the Savior’s caste system. What would the original Kingmaker have done after being imprisoned here by the Mother Goddess?
Supposing that the original Kingmaker was imprisoned from the start to the end, he wouldn’t even have a chance to make a decision. Is it possible that he caved in and joined the Mother Goddess’ faction halfway through?
Roel massaged his temples in frustration. He knew that he had to do something to increase his evaluation score in this Witness State, but he didn’t know what he should do. He could only continue gathering more intelligence while figuring out a solution out of the quandary he was in.
Soon, it was nighttime.
…
Roel had been suffering from frequent dizzy spells over the last few days.
Ever since his first bout of vertigo where he toppled over a chair, he had been suffering from dizzy spells every day. The Moonsoul Tower’s doctors had diagnosed him many times and even held a medical conference over it, but they were unable to ascertain the cause of the dizziness.
It couldn’t be helped that the doctors were struggling, as Roel’s circumstance was unique.
Rarely would a transcendent’s powers be sealed, and that mostly happened only to prisoners. When would a prisoner be so privileged as to receive treatment for dizzy spells?
It also didn’t help that Roel was weaker than usual with his powers sealed, which left the doctors hesitant to treat him. News about the Mother Goddess’ favorable attitude toward Roel had already spread throughout the Moonsoul Tower. Should any mishap occur in the midst of their treatment, they risked incurring Her anger.
Roel’s description of his affliction was perplexing as well, such as the freezing of time and the inversion of the world. The baffled doctors could only attribute it to hallucinations arising from the dizzy spells.
In the end, the doctors simply provided him with a nutrition plan and advice to rest more, which was not proving to be very useful in alleviating the dizzy spells.
Before the setting sun, Roel lay down on his bed as he endured the intensifying dizziness with a frown. Beside the bed, Adola worriedly looked at him.
“Milord, I have already informed the doctors. Please bear with it a while longer.”
“Mm.”
Roel replied with a feeble nod as he awaited the doctors’ arrival. His dizziness felt worse than ever. He could already tell what was going to happen as his symptoms intensified.
I’ll probably see time stop and the world invert again.
He closed his eyes in preparation for what was about to come, but much to his surprise, those two phenomena didn’t happen this time around. While he was feeling perplexed, he suddenly heard words echoing in his ears.
“Prepare yourself. He is here.”
It was the gentle voice of a man. Along with those words came an inexplicable feeling of warmth that made one feel intimate toward the owner of the voice.
But before Roel could figure out who was the one who had spoken or the meaning behind those words, he noticed the changes in his surroundings and widened his eyes in astonishment. At some point, the world around him had turned grayish-white. The setting sun was fixed on the horizon, and the clouds were no longer drifting.
The female high elf standing next to his bed had vanished into thin air, to be replaced with a black silhouette overflowing with murderous intent.