825 Eight Original Sins (1/2)

Perhaps choosing to use Ice Sword Northlands had been a mistake from the very beginning.

At the very least, it would be impossible to expect much from my Ice Sword since my opponent was Karwenz.

We had the same background and upbringing. It would be impossible for a Northlander not to be accustomed to ice and snow. Our warriors would play around in the snow ever since young. Only outsiders from other places would be allowed the newbie excuse of having trouble advancing due to the weather here.

Even though Karwenz hadn't returned to the Northlands for a winter battle for many years already, it was impossible for me to expect that Karwenz had already forgotten about how to fight in ice and snow weather calamities.

The knowledge and techniques carved most deeply in oneself would always be the ones from childhood, after all. What one learned ever since young wouldn't simply be knowledge and techniques, as it would also create the basic foundation for a person's personality and way of thinking.

Fishermen living by the sea would fear the unknown of the endless fickle sea. Veteran sailors and ship captains would always be a bit superstitious about luck being more important than power level in the sea.

Eich's mainlanders viewed Northlanders as taciturn, barbaric, unreasonable, and as sturdy as the tundra on the icy plains, as a people who were even less civilized than barbarians.

This was indeed a type of bias, but in a way it was also a choice made in order to survive.

As a Northlander, when you constantly met nothing but bad weather, and had to face endless despair due to the extreme lack of resources, no outsider would possibly understand how resolute your personality would become. Such a personality became a necessary condition for surviving in the Northlands.

You couldn't count on good weather here, as bad weather was always far more common.

You couldn't hope for good luck, as the dangerous natural conditions would always make anything worse with the fastest speed possible. Any young livestock or young plant exposed to the weather outside wouldn't possibly live for a single day. You would have to think everything over many times and prepare as much as you possibly could in order to receive a harvest.

One accident or a sudden snow calamity might make one's plans fail completely. So, your hard work for the entire past year had become useless? You'd better hurry up and crawl back up because winter was coming, and you would freeze to death unless you prepared enough food for winter. The cruel Northlands would never give you enough time to sigh and complain.

Was it really depressing to always be pessimistic about everything? When the great majority of situations would always worsen beyond one's expectations, such pessimism would actually become a ”normal” way of thinking.

”...It's all actually the same. Even in places other than the Northlands, cruel reality is everywhere in this damned world. If you want to live a good life, then there's no such thing as too many preparations or backup plans. Only by calculating for as many things as possible and planning as carefully as you can will one survive.”

”Well, the world is just as unpredictable as the Northlands' blizzards. Misfortune might descend at any time, so shouldn't we just focus on having fun in the moment? At the very least, when I die, I will be able to loudly declare to the entire world that 'I, Karwenz, had a far more enjoyable life than any of you did,' and 'I had plenty of fun in this life!'”

Karwenz and I were identical twins who grew up in the same environment with the same status. Yet, we ended up having completely opposite personalities and ways of thinking. Was this a joke of Fate? Or was it because of the Goddesses of Order and Chaos? Or, was it simply just a… coincidence?

”Roland, your ice and snow is useless against me. You should stop it, otherwise you'll be dragged to your death by this meaningless mana consumption.”

Karwenz wasn't lying at all. He was enjoying this fight against me, and he didn't want to obtain victory too easily because of something like this.

Any ability that changed the entire area, no matter what type, would always require tremendous mana expenditure to maintain.

Rather than opening the door to the dimensional barrier, Karwenz probably wanted more to have a proper fun fight—the crueler, the better. He was such a single-celled organism…

”You bastard single-celled organism, other people justify the means with the end, but you're actually forgetting about the end because of the means!”

”Other people? Are you talking about yourself? Your current objective should be quite clear. You can only stop the door to the dimensional barrier from opening by killing me. Why are you hesitating? Bring out any aces that you have! Let me have my fun!”

I confirmed once more that Karwenz was the type who didn't want to use his brain rather than being brainless. He desired stimulation and amusement far more than anything that had to do with reason. He had incredible logic and intelligence, yet he only ever used those to think about ”how to have more fun”, that selfish bastard.

”If a human allows their sense of logic and reason to be subordinate to instinct, then what difference is there between him and a beast?”

This blizzard was obscuring our vision. A snow mountain was collapsing. Amongst all this snow, our voices were one of the only weapons we could still spar with.

”Thinking so much about everything and living according to so many rules? What difference is there between you and a puppet?”

I kept buying time while speaking seemingly useless things. My Ice Sword Northlands was incredibly ineffective against Karwenz.

”Aaaah!”

My shout of pain came slightly after the pain in my body.

Every judgement would take twice as long as the next one while also doubling the effect. The next judgement would come after 16 minutes, but I would likely be unable to wait that long.