The Demon Prince goes to the Academy - Chapter 616
Chapter 616
The snow stopped on the ecliptic and the strangely warm climate continued for several days.
The new year was already bright, and the political atmosphere in the new January was frozen, but the weather itself continued to be warm at the level of extreme weather.
Ludwig was walking along the streets of Temple, where the climate suddenly became warmer. The gate of the main entrance to the temple was in front of me.
‘Ludwig seems to have visited.’
‘… … A guest?’
It was a story passed on to the few remaining dormitory workers.
‘Because you don’t have permission to enter. You said you were waiting outside.’
‘ah… … .’
Upon exiting the Temple Gate, Ludwig saw a woman in uniform sitting on a chair in the square in front of the dormitory.
It was the uniform of the Templars.
She stood up and smiled brightly at Ludwig.
“Ludwig.”
“… … .”
“I’m busy with this and that, so I’m finally coming to see you. sorry.”
Rowen came to see Ludwig alone in the uniform of the Templars.
“What business do you have with the new Templar Commander?”
Following the sudden retirement of Ileion Bolton, I heard the news that Archbishop Rowen had been nominated as the successor to the Templar Commander.
There was neither hostility nor malice in Ludwig’s expression as he looked at Rowen.
Only the cold attitude of a person who had closed his heart to everything in the world remained.
* * *
In the first place, the Knights Templar had the authority to investigate the murder of Rowen.
Being able to announce who died in the burned temple was a matter for the Templars and the Main Order to figure out.
Rowen was someone who had never died beyond faking death in the first place.
And now, following the sudden retirement of Ileion Boelton, she was nominated as the next Commander of the Knights Templar.
Such a decision was made at the Papal Council.
How can a papal conclave be held when there are no popes?
To Ludwig, who had seen five popes die at her hands, the story was nothing but a farce.
Whether Ileion Boelten really retired or was murdered, Ludwig does not know.
But now I wasn’t even interested in that.
Sitting on a bench in front of the Temple Gate, Rowen said various things to Ludwig, who didn’t even want to listen.
About what happened and why you did it.
Why he was nearly killed, why he faked his death, why he needed time, why he approached Ludwig.
Hearing all the reasons, Ludwig stares at Rowen.
There was no shock, astonishment or betrayal at knowing the truth on his face.
“So what do you mean?”
Ludwig just said that.
“… … I just said that. Isn’t it sad when you don’t know anything? Frustrating.”
“Are you saying this because I am worthless? That you did it by inciting the cultists, and that’s why the empire killed so many people, and that’s why it ended up like this. Even if I tell anyone, no one will believe my words, so are you telling me?”
“hmm… … .”
Rowen hesitates for a moment, then finally nods.
“I can’t say for sure. In an era where there are so many rumors, no matter who spreads a rumor, people don’t believe it as much as they believe it. So even if Ludwig says that the new commander of the Knights Templar is the one behind the scenes in the refugee camp, no one will believe it.”
“Leaving aside what I don’t believe in, the Heretic Inquisitors will try to arrest me.”
“You know that.”
It doesn’t matter if you know it, so you can let me know.
Ludwig stares at Rowen with a firm expression.
“Anyway, did you think I would understand it if I heard it? Did you think that there was such a situation and that what you have been doing was done with good intentions?”
“I don’t think so. I thought you would hear harsh words or try to kill me.”
“If I try to kill you, will you die?”
“no. Not at all.”
Ludwig does not show any reaction to Rowen’s reaction, which seems to be embarrassing.
He just kept talking in a calm and cold tone.
“Even if I hear the truth, I can’t kill you after hearing it, and even if I tell people the truth, they won’t believe it, so you can say this?”
“I can’t say no.”
“It would be better to kill him, but not doing that… … .”
“… … .”
“Isn’t it worth killing?”
“Roughly speaking, yes.”
Even Rowen’s cruel words did not anger Ludwig.
“Yeah, whatever that is.”
“… … .”
“Isn’t that strange?”
“What?”
“A few days ago, I was treated as a useless person and someone I didn’t need to know, but this time, I am treated as a useless person and it is okay to know. Who the hell decides that?”
what truth.
You don’t have to know because you’re not an important person.
It’s okay to know that you’re not an important person.
In the end, Ludwig found the behavior and attitudes of people handling the truth more strange than the truth itself.
In the end, truth has no value.
“I’ve been thinking about it for days.”
“yes.”
“Your work, the devil’s work, Ellen’s work, the empire’s work. I’ve been thinking about all those things… … .”
Ludwig opens his mouth with a dead expression.
“Even if Ellen can’t tell you, it’s like saying it’s all her fault… … .”
“Everyone had their own reasons. I don’t know why, but it seemed like there was a reason and a story.”
“I couldn’t have said that or acted that way unless there was something like that.”
“Because there’s no way we’re looking at each other with that expression.”
“Because everyone looks sad, so no one seems to be happy. I think everyone had their reasons.”
“But I don’t think that much of anything matters anymore.”
Ludwig looks at Rowen and says.
“You seem to think you are in a position to decide something like that.”
“That’s what matters.”
“That is the problem.”
“It’s not about what the truth is. The attitude of trying to control the truth, not what the story is. It pretends to be for people, but it’s not really like that, and the attitude that you think you can decide whether to let people know something or not know something is the problem.”
“I felt that from you guys.”
“A disgusting sense of superiority that is very unpleasant and eerie.”
“You don’t know.”
“But you are doing something very great and noble that you don’t know about.”
“So you don’t have to know. Get out.”
“You don’t know.”
“But you did something very great and noble that you didn’t know about. It looks bad on the outside, but in fact it’s not. So you understand.”
“So listen. How did you hear me? Is this what you did to me right now?”
“Isn’t this unpleasant?”
“Sometimes they don’t tell me, sometimes they tell me.”
“The reasons are the same, but the actions are different.”
“If the reason is plausible, but the behavior is the exact opposite, then it is just arbitrary.”
“So the attitude is the same.”
“It means that people who are nothing and useless people like me are not treated as human beings.”
“To tell or not to tell.”
“If you go further than that, you think you have the right to save or kill someone.”
“As if the Popes actually killed them by your judgment, no matter what they did wrong.”
“You guys are just weird guys who are delusional about something very presumptuous.”
“truth?”
“I don’t even care about that much anymore.”
“It doesn’t matter anymore what you’re trying to do, what you want, or what you’ve done.”
“The important thing is that you are all drunk on something.”
“Whether it’s a sense of duty, malice, hatred, vengeance against the world, whatever.”
“Or the illusion that you are making a great sacrifice to save the world.”
“I am intoxicated with a disgusting delusion.”
“It is nothing new that you are demons deserving of hell. But I can’t punish you like that. Yes, like you said, I am nothing.”
“But that doesn’t mean the truth escapes.”
“The truth doesn’t disappear.”
“You are sinners. yes?”
“Criminals must be punished. yes?”
“But you didn’t get punished. yes?”
“The truth is like this.”
“I don’t know what happened to your relationship, emotions, relationships, or things that I don’t know and don’t want to know anymore, but it’s not complicated things like that. This simple and clear thing is the truth.”
“There are so many people who are buried in what you guys have done, but you keep burying someone, and you guys keep telling each other the truth, and you guys eat it back with each other, understanding and licking each other. That is disgusting.”
“The truth must be explained in one word.”
“You guys should be punished, but you didn’t.”
“That is the only truth.”
Ludwig eventually found a simple truth in the labyrinth of thoughts and judgments.
Sin requires a price.
If sinners are silent about each other’s sins.
Someone has to hold that accountable.
“Ellen, whom I saw a while ago, looked pitiful.”
“It looked pitiful. So don’t be upset There is no reason to be resentful.”
“Just as Ellen looked like that, you guys must have a story like that. You may also be pitiful and pitiful.”
“but.”
“Was there a single person who died that was not like that?”
“They are pitiful, but they must have been unfair. Because I had to die without knowing anything and being caught up in it.”
“So I’d rather not know the truth about you guys.”
“Now, even if you guys step forward and tell me everything, I will close my ears.”
“Even if I sympathize with you and understand you, the truth that you should be punished doesn’t disappear somewhere.”
“Because the truth is as clear as that.”
“I will become your enemy without knowing anything.”
“Whatever the truth is, whatever the truth is, no matter how worthy it is, you guys have to pay the price.”
“There are so many people who have paid the price without doing anything wrong. No, there are so many people who were forcibly sacrificed without even paying for it.”
“You guys involved in these things have to pay a price, right?”
“Whatever the reason, you guys must be punished.”
“No matter what your intentions are, you guys have to pay the price.”
“That is my conclusion.”
there is a sin
There are also sinners.
But there is no referee.
It is difficult to find the right line between the many complicated things that occur when the forces of the Emperor, the Imperial Order, and the Demon King are intertwined.
It is only easy to find sin.
Finding the guilty is easy.
And the truth that no punishment was given to them remains unchanged.
no matter who
It doesn’t change the fact that everyone is cheating, trampling on, and using the little ones in the name of saving everyone.
Looking at Ludwig like that, Rowen laughs.
“It’s like seeing the old me.”
A person who was saddened by his own smallness.
And Rowen, who eventually became a monster, looks at Ludwig as if looking into the distant past.
seems like fun
seems interesting.
“What are you going to do? How are you going to punish these monsters, Ludwig?”
A worthless existence cannot be punished or given.
“… … .”
“To be a friend of a monster, you have to be a monster.”
To be a monster’s friend, you must be equal.
Rowen did.
“You don’t know that the same is true if you try to kill a monster, right?”
To kill a monster, you have to be equally equal.
You have to be a monster anyway.
Rather, if you want to kill, you have to become more of a monster.
“know.”
Ludwig stares at Rowen with dark, abysmal eyes.
Looking at Ludwig like that, Rowen felt a thrill in a different meaning than when he faced the demon king directly a while ago.
“I know you well.”
It was the thrill of creating a monster with your own hands.
Someone who was nothing is trying to become something.
Whatever the reason, whatever the intent, whatever the purpose.
It will be fun whether you succeed or fail to become something.
Rowen laughs at Ludwig.
“Cheer up, Ludwig.”
Ludwig got up from his seat as if he was walking away from something dirty, as if he didn’t deserve to listen to Rowen’s gossip anymore.