509 Vicious Dog (1/2)

”…You make it sound quite nice, but it's all meaningless.”

Perhaps a passionate idealist's speech would receive applause, but whenever his ideals clashed with people's personal benefits, cruel reality and practical brute force would forever tell him that the world was really ruled by violence.

Did nobody hope that this cruel world would become slightly better? Did no genius ever discover a path to improving the world? Of course people did, but intelligent people were typically physically weak. In this cruel world, any righteous path that wasn't backed up by force wouldn't get anywhere at all.

”I need power in order to spread reason. I need to have even more power than those who act as they please.”

I knew that no matter how moving the speech was, it would never move the heart of the greedy. That was why I wished for the power of Law to envelop this entire world. That wasn't because Law was high and mighty, nor did I think that it was the representation of advanced civilization. It was because I believed Law to be a power that could give more power to ordinary people in this cruel world.

”I seek a power that can protect the weak. I wish to create a sword of judgement which will protect the kind and slay only evil. I wish for light to cover the land, even if some people are destined to become the shadow to make it happen.”

Since this was a world where the strong ruled the weak, I would help ordinary people to become stronger, strong enough to take charge of their own fates.

But when I really started taking this path, I discovered that there had been far too many before me who tried this path already. Some of them were killed by their own ideals, some lost their ideals, and some were still struggling to their utmost in confusion. They were all searching for that almost impossible path to improve the world.

So many civilizations had become nothing more than rubble. So many had despaired. Perhaps the Gods high above simply viewed them as nothing more than mortals overstepping their boundaries. But, what I saw were generations of heroes that were willing to resist against fate itself. No generation would ever lack for idiots willing to angrily roar at the heavens.

”Why, why can't we have a way to just survive!”

Perhaps some people would believe that I was an incredible person. After all, the successful creation of Hell was a major world-changing event destined to enter the history books, and I was the one who planned it all.

But only I knew that I was simply lucky… I just happened to meet companions who were able to help me achieve my dream.

Without Estrada, Holy Light wouldn't have received salvation… and Estrada was nothing more than another Holy Knight like countless before him, walking the path of protection. Only when his silver war hammer became mine did I discover the true weight that it carried.

The first Holy Knights who protected humans in the frontier age were the source of this path of protection. Estrada had simply inherited this path. The true nameless heroes were those first Holy Knights who took up this job on those plains of despair. Perhaps none of them had the power to defeat a God, but their anger and resistance against the God of Holy Light meant that Holy Light could finally take a new path.

”With the path of Holy Light that I carry, I swear to protect the weak, I swear to expel the darkness, I swear to act with kindness for my entire life, and I shall fight for the sake of protection and ordinary people!”

Only from that moment onward did the Dawn Generation truly begin. Holy Knights were finally freed from the God of Holy Light, and could follow the path of protection in their hearts. That was the new future of the Holy Knights. And, the Holy Knights who died on the plains of Bardi together with Estrada were the true heroes who opened up this path to the future.

And now, on that plain, even if the God of Holy Light forbid anything to be erected there in memorial, the ordinary people who were there and experienced the event kept spreading tales of honor and glory about those heroes' angry roars as they died, even if these heroes' names were all unknown.

The Holy Knights' sacrifices were only the first among all the ordinary people…

Ayer sacrificed eternal life to finally break the unchanging Cycle of Reincarnation. Orloss, who had seen through everything, ended up gaining the reputation of the most foolish emperor in Bardi's history.

My empty dreams would have been nothing without my companions' sacrifices. It was thanks to all my companions who also desired a better world that we finally managed to realize my dream, which was so inconceivable. My companions included Gods, demons, and devils, but most of all, truly ordinary mortals. They all desired to only be able to survive in this f*cked-up world.

”We only want to survive. Why is that so difficult? Dear Mother Eich, don't you love us all? Why do our parents…”