Chapter 221 - The God Standing in the Square (1)

1

As Viscountess Ja Sujeong spoke of offering herself as a scapegoat for the kingdom, she was smiling brightly.

The sight of her smiling face suddenly brought back all my memories of the trauma.

'Yes.'

It went beyond simply remembering that I was Kim Gongja, the Young Cult Leader of the Demonic Heaven and the moon of House Ivansia. I remembered the visions I had witnessed as I fell into this trauma.

'I've seen almost the Tower Master's entire life.'

The moment Ja Sujeong entered the nobility. The moment she first received her baronial title, plunged the royal capital into a whirlwind of political strife, and married a relative of the same sex.

'Viscountess Ja Sujeong was smiling in every memory.'

And I had seen every moment when she smiled happily, even though my ability was supposed to show me [trauma].

'That's not all.'

I had even seen, and therefore knew, that Ja Sujeong would eventually receive a ducal title. I had already [seen] what came after this moment once before.

'Why?'

Why had I seen even the moments when Ja Sujeong was happy? Why had I seen even what came next?

'Could it be...?'

Now that I knew Viscountess Ja Sujeong's authorities, a possibility dawned on me.

It was a possibility bordering on the impossible. An ordinary person would probably struggle even to conceive of it. But having subjected myself to four thousand days of regression, I could readily arrive at the answer.

'The Tower Master's entire life is trauma.'

No matter how happily she smiled.

'From her birth right up to this moment, there hasn't been a single [time that wasn't trauma].'

The moment I realized that, I spoke before I knew it.

"... How long?"

Viscountess Ja Sujeong turned to look at me. I asked her,

"How long do you intend to enforce this Golden Rule?"

She smiled.

"Forever."

"Until there isn't a single wronged subject left on this earth?"

"Yes. And not only subjects. I told you, Adviser—no, Mr. Gongja, didn't I?"

She leaned against me and whispered in my ear.

"That I would reach beyond the kingdom and encompass every world."

"..."

"Forgive me, but I peeked into your memories, Mr. Gongja. Since you're peeking into mine right now, I suppose we've made a fair exchange."

I had expected it. Viscountess Ja Sujeong possessed the authority to perceive another person's past directly. With an irregular like me appearing before her, there was no way she hadn't looked through my past.

"The Young Cult Leader of the Demonic Heaven. You lead quite an interesting group, Mr. Gongja. Well, I suppose it would take bonds like those to make you this lovely."

She looked at me as though I were a cherished junior.

"I know you want to stop me. Someone like you could never tolerate the sight of another person suffering. But Mr. Gongja, please remain faithful to your office."

My office.

"More than anyone, you must stand on the side of the powerless. More than anyone, you must take the lead in enforcing the Golden Rule. Giving voice to the screams of the weak. Isn't that the burden you have taken upon yourself?"

"I..."

"Don't try to stop me. This is a warning."

Viscountess Ja Sujeong caressed my ear.

"You see, when I see a lovable child, I have a habit of breaking them without thinking."

"..."

"Surely you don't think you're the first person to try to stop me, Mr. Gongja? Do you know how many royal tears His Majesty on that throne has shed? If I collected all the tears my lovers have given me, we wouldn't need to worry about a drought next year."

That was probably no lie. Nor was her warning to me likely an empty threat.

A god always gives one warning before breaking a human being.

The Tower Master had already warned me once, trying to stop me from viewing her trauma.

"Are you..."

And just as I had then, I spoke with full knowledge of the warning.

"Are you happy doing this?"

"Yes."

A small fingernail gently scratched beside my ear.

"Can't you feel it when you look at me? I'm enjoying myself. I have taken possession of my lovers' happiness, and of their unhappiness. A single smile from me is enough to make those children happy, and a single glance is enough to make them miserable. How could that not be enjoyable?"

"Even if you're tortured forever?"

"Even if I'm tortured forever."

"Why... do you accept even pain as happiness?"

Viscountess Ja Sujeong smiled.

"Pain hurts. But a reward sweeter than that awaits right before my eyes."

"What is it?"

"The tears my lovers will shed. The hearts that will crumble and the faces that will break as they watch me suffer. It will be a sight so sweet that I'll want to keep watching."

"... You love your lovers. Making someone you love suffer is..."

"Wrong, yes. But every child I love is someone who has killed or ruined another person."

"..."

"In a sense, isn't their suffering only natural justice?"

"..."

"I told you, Mr. Gongja. You aren't the first person to try to persuade me, and you won't be the last. I have made myself for this moment."

"Made yourself...?"

"Yes. A penchant for indulging in misery. A taste for finding beauty in broken people. The looks and eloquence to conquer them. Talent. Achievements no one can deny, and strength no one can challenge. I worked to attain all of those things, and I attained them."

"..."

"Shall I prove it to you?"

At that very moment, a commotion arose in the middle of the seats.

"All the calamities are over!"

The noble had horns on his head and an enormous build. His voice was as powerful as his physique; when he shouted, the surface of the amniotic water rippled.

"The rebellions have been suppressed! All the great upheavals are over! All we have to do now is deal with the aftermath. What need is there to prepare such an extreme law...?"

Using Baron Eternal River's information magic, I read through the noble's profile.

+

[Mountain-Shattering Ox]

Status: Noble. Margrave.

Relationship: The viscountess's political enemy.

Danger Level: White.

Notes: Head of the County of Ox. Was deeply involved in the abduction of a young lady from another house in the past. Abetted or abetted the abduction, resulting in the complete destruction of one of his fiefs. Borders the County of Bear to the northeast, renowned for its mining industry. Captures every mine slave who escapes from the neighboring territory and hands them back to the County of Bear.

Neutral.

Can be killed.

+

Count Mountain-Shattering Ox wasn't the only one.

"This is absurd. No..."

A noble who looked about the same age as Viscountess Ja Sujeong muttered in dismay. She had been turning through the bill one page at a time, but began turning two, three, four pages at once, before finally clutching the entire document.

"The members of the viscountess's faction... You people? This?"

Those seated behind Viscountess Ja Sujeong gave no reply. The noble gritted her teeth.

"A girl barely any different in age from me, whatever your reasons might be. No, it would be the same even if she weren't a girl. I don't care what your logic is. I hate this bill. I just hate it!"

I read that noble's information as well.

+

[Fresh-Tide Crab]

Status: Noble. Marchioness of the Near Border.

Relationship: None.

Danger Level: White.

Notes: Head of the March of Crab. Adventurous as a child, she wandered the seas, where she encountered the Sea-Mine Dragon and was cursed. Lost her memories and her sense of self. The young lady's reckless behavior caused her house's fortunes to decline, after which the Dragon Kingdom used covert means to erode the foundations of both the house and its territory.

Despite her appearance, her mental age is no more than thirteen.

Failed to notice rebel forces gathering in her territory, contributing to the outbreak of a major rebellion in the eastern sea.

Neutral.

Can be killed.

+

Many more nobles spoke after that. Each time, I read their information, and in every profile I found [the same thing].

'There isn't one.'

Not a single one.

'There isn't a single person without guilt.'

These were the records written by the original owner of this body, Baron Eternal River.

'In this vast assembly. Not even one person.'

Marchioness Snow Rabbit had murdered a child. Viscountess Pure Black God had practiced cannibalism. Viscount Giant Shrimp Roe had massacred civilians. Count Mountain-Shattering Ox had ruined an entire fief. Marchioness Fresh-Tide Crab had failed to prevent a rebellion. Baron Sea-Echo Flash, the Idle-Eater Duchess, the Sun King...

Some had been ignorant. Some had been incompetent. Some had simply been indifferent. A hundred nobles had a hundred circumstances, and for those hundred circumstances they could no doubt offer another thousand excuses.

But the common thread was clear.

Among them, not a single person had committed no sin.

"Everyone."

That was why Viscountess Ja Sujeong was so composed.

"For the past thousand years, particularly the past six hundred, and most especially the past sixty, you have been far too idle."

None of them had saved more subjects than Viscountess Ja Sujeong.

"What were you doing while tens of thousands of demihuman slaves died digging ore in the County of Bear? Did you not know? Did you lack the power to intervene? Were you unprepared? Perhaps so. But centuries are far too long for those excuses to hold."

None of them was more capable than Viscountess Ja Sujeong.

"All the calamities are over? All the rebellions have ended?"

"..."

"Does defeating the enemies you can see mean that all calamities are over? Do you think they have vanished? Everyone, they haven't vanished. They are merely enduring. Someone who has felt a whip on their back never forgets the pain they suffered."

Yes.

"Someone who has lost their family never forgets the temperature of the earth that formed their graves."

That was why, in a world other than this one, someone had bowed and said, "Heavenly Demon."

"Someone forced to retreat to the roadside to avoid a carriage never forgets that humiliation. A mother never forgets the sight of her son asleep in his bed one day, before he was conscripted and never returned. A person never forgets the pain of winter bark scraping through their mouth when they had nothing else to eat."

And so someone had bowed and said, "Heavenly Demon."

And so someone had bowed and said, "Heavenly Demon."

And so someone had bowed and said, "Heavenly Demon."

"Have they vanished? Is it all a story of the past? Are their grudges too old to need resolution, and their resentment too tedious to be worth hearing?"

Of course not.

"Of course not."

That was why they had bowed.

"Tell them not to be ridiculous."

This world was no different. No world was different.

Someone was bowing.

It was the same in this world.

In the Barony of New Moonstone, a stone rolled of its own accord without anyone touching it. The subjects whispered that a stone wandering freely through the territory of Bedrock was an ill omen.

And Lady Snow Rabbit whipped a commoner's child to death.

Every night, the great river boiled for no reason. Frogs leaped from every waterway and died by smashing their heads into the ground. Lightning struck the royal capital twenty-six times in a single day, and a fortune-teller at the north gate babbled, "Thirteen stacked atop thirteen makes twenty-six. It is an ill omen."

And Viscount Giant Shrimp Roe massacred civilians.

The fortune-teller's offense was grave, for presumptuously divining the nation's fortunes. The capital guards dragged the fortune-teller out and chopped off their head. That day, though the rainy season had yet to arrive, the river flooded violently, blocking the roads to the royal capital in every direction.

And the Sun King did not leave his palace.

"You, those who hold power, must take responsibility for the time that has passed."

Bad harvest followed bad harvest. Epidemic followed epidemic. The years were like a rotten spine, pus gathering in each successive joint.

The subjects' corpses floated down the overflowing river.

"You must choose someone who intended all of this and left it unchecked, someone whom all the people have every right to condemn."

In the midst of a collapsing world, one December, a Pillar in the shape of a girl sought to hold it up.

"And you will choose me."

The amniotic water fell silent.

How much time passed?

Marchioness Fresh-Tide Crab spoke in a trembling voice.

"I hate this."

Viscountess Ja Sujeong nodded.

"Yes. That's right."

Then she said,

"What other ending did you think was waiting for you?"

2

The original owner of this body must have searched desperately.

'Even one would be enough.'

Baron Eternal River loved Viscountess Ja Sujeong. I did not know why, nor had I seen how it came to be, but I could feel the weight of her love in the words she had left behind.

'Even one would be enough. There has to be someone innocent among the rulers of this goddamned kingdom.'

And so the baron began keeping records. Using her magic, she investigated the deeds of each and every noble, and wrote down what she found.

Having inherited her body, I too looked at the nobles attending the assembly one by one. I read through their information.

But the records Eternal River had left remained unchanged.

'A murderer.'

A mass murderer.

'Someone who started a rebellion.'

Someone who crushed a popular uprising.

'Someone who bought slaves.'

Someone who sold slaves.

'Someone who did wrong out of ignorance.'

Someone who caused wrongs through incompetence.

The information Baron Eternal River had recorded was an indictment of their crimes. Of the hundreds of feet immersed in the amniotic water, not one was unstained by the subjects' blood.

And so Baron Eternal River had given up.

She had been unable to stop her master.

'Perhaps the reason I've regained control of this body now is also...'

The moment my thoughts reached that point, I moved.

"Oh?"

Viscountess Ja Sujeong tilted her head. Her violet eyes reflected me standing in her way.

"Didn't I warn you, Mr. Gongja? I—"

"Trauma," I said.

She tilted her head farther.

"Pardon?"

"Viscountess. I have seen your trauma."

"I know. You're seeing it even now, aren't you?"

"Not just this moment. The moment you first received your baronial title, the moment you married your wife... I've seen almost your entire life."

I took Viscountess Ja Sujeong's wrist.

"If you were truly happy, those scenes could never have appeared before my eyes."

"Who knows?"

She cocked her head.

"Perhaps I've only recently begun to feel a little happy? Despite appearances, my life has had every hardship and ordeal on display. True happiness begins today."

"No."

Your smile has not changed since that day.

"I have even seen you eventually receive your ducal title."

Your smile has not changed after that, either.

"Today, and beyond today, your time of trauma continues."

"That's a strange thing to say, Death King."

Viscountess Ja Sujeong spoke the epithet I had never told her. Her claim to have read my past had not been an empty boast.

"Are you suggesting that I'm actually unhappy, and merely pretending to be happy with my words? That's rather offensive. If I were lying like that, surely my lovers would have noticed? I—"

"[The god who never regresses]."

"..."

I stepped a little closer to Viscountess Ja Sujeong.

"The reason your entire life is suffering is simple. It's only natural. Wherever you are, at every moment, you are watching [someone else's past]. You saw Marchioness Snow Rabbit's past, you saw Viscount Giant Shrimp Roe's past, and without my knowing, you even saw mine."

In other words.

"There has never been even a single moment when you weren't watching someone die."

"..."

"That couldn't possibly be painless. That's why your life is stained with hundreds of millions of traumas."

Closer still.

"But it's strange. You acquired [Golden Dragon's Eyes] and [Glacier Dragon's Breath] relatively recently. Surprisingly little time has passed since you gained the ability to look freely into other people's pasts. Yet you are groaning in pain throughout your entire life."

I had also seen the days before Viscountess Ja Sujeong took in the dragons. That meant she had been reading other people's pasts and suffering even then.

How?

Ja Sujeong shouldn't have possessed the dragons' authorities in those days. How had other people's suffering been transplanted into her, just as it was now?

There was only one possibility.

"[The god who never regresses] is an utterly absurd lie."

"..."

"You are [the god who keeps regressing]."

I looked at the young noble.

"You returned to the past with a dragon's authority. That's why you've been able to see other people's traumas continuously, from childhood until now."

When Viscountess Ja Sujeong faced the Idle-Eater Duchess, she grasped the duchess's life in an instant. As though she had known it from the beginning.

When she had an audience with the Sun King, she already knew the king's life. As though she had understood it long ago.

"You are endlessly [repeating] this life."

"..."

"You regress, and return. You return, and live the same life. Each time, you live knowing every word you must say, every action you must take. You repeat this life forever, ceaselessly watching other people's suffering."

"..."

"That's why your entire life is trauma."

Viscountess Ja Sujeong fell silent. I asked her,

"Which repetition of your life are you on, Tower Master?"

She did not smile.

"Have you ever even counted how many?"

Her face was expressionless.

At some point, time in the Grand Assembly Hall had stopped. Marchioness Fresh-Tide Crab, weeping with her head bowed in anger, and the Sun King, merely sitting without a word, had all frozen.

"Mr. Gongja."

In that time of broken clocks, Viscountess Ja Sujeong parted her lips.

"Have you ever counted the grains of sand in the river that flows to the other shore?"

As countless as the sands of the Ganges.

"My answer is fixed."

There was no expression whatsoever on Viscountess Ja Sujeong's face, as though she had been expressionless from birth. As though this were her true face. Her violet eyes reflected the world indifferently, and her lips neither mocked nor blessed nor sneered at anything.

"Forever."

At that moment, the scenery shattered.