Chapter 14: 2-5: Settling In For The Long Haul part 2

As soon as the ancient Dragon left the room, both Servants relaxed slightly. Shalltear placed a hand on her chest, exhaling in relief. "Ah, that was so intense…"

"Indeed." Sebas agreed, straightening. "I had heard of the Ancient One's skill at Item Creation, but I was not aware that he took it so seriously."

Shalltear nodded, reaching down to pinch the invisible sleeve of her new World Item. "I heard numerous Supreme Beings complain about the number of World Items he had amassed, but to think that he gathered them all by facing incredible odds… it's no wonder he has so many."

Sebas glanced down at the innocuous belt around his waist. "I believe the Sword King was a foe that my creator, Touch Me-sama, once tried to defeat. He was quite put out when he failed to do so alone and had to enlist the help of Momonga-sama. To have a memento of a foe that my creator respected so greatly is something I would treasure even were it not a World Item."

"Hmm." Shalltear tapped her chin. "Come to think of it, didn't Aura receive a similar Item from him? Right about the time when she changed her outfit and started decorating her room with pictures of Ancient One-sama."

Sebas nodded. "Indeed. Do you think that she was given a lesson as we were?"

"Worth asking, at least." The Vampire sighed. "Though I do wish she would show a bit of restraint. She can quite literally speak of him for days if you let her."

Sebas raised his eyebrows. "Is that a bad thing?"

"Not on its own, no, but when she starts showing you her collection of dolls…" She shook her head. "Never mind. Let's try to catch her before she leaves, maybe then we can avoid seeing her room."

Sebas decided not to ask. Finely-honed battle instincts told him that this was not a danger he wished to experience. "Let us be off, then."

Shalltear turned, striding out of the room. Sebas followed, keeping pace with her oddly hurried gait. She stopped short as soon as she arrived in the Throne Room, cursing quietly. "She's gone."

Sebas raised an eyebrow. "Is that an issue? You do know Teleportation Magic, yes?"

"Yes, I do." The Vampire looked… disturbed. "I do hope she at least puts away the fanart she drew…"

"The what?"

"Oh, nothing. [Gate]."

A large black portal swirled into existence, which the Vampire stepped through. Sebas followed, brow furrowed in confusion.

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I stared at my World Map, tiny icons glimmering innocently. One for the city of Re-Estize, not yet a kingdom, one for the Baharuth Empire, just beginning its acquisition of land, one for the Roble Holy Lands, and one for the Slane Theocracy.

Much to my dismay, they were already a fully-developed kingdom with their religious doctrine just as disturbingly toxic as in the novels. There was nothing I could do there, and if anything they were an even bigger problem now than in the future.

They had placed diplomats in each of the developing kingdoms, slowly introducing them to Demihuman slavery and human superiority. The ideas were still new and the Shabti who reported about them were doing their best to take down the slave rings, but the problem remained. So long as there were people advocating for the slavery of 'lesser races', there would be a market for Demihuman trafficking.

The source of all my problems came from the Slane Theocracy, and now that my World Map was complete, I no longer had any excuse to delay judgement.

Fuck.

I exhaled, closing the map and turning away. Ethical dilemmas could wait until I puzzled them out. I needed a distraction for now, though.

Might as well check in on a few things.

I raised my Guild Ring. The world around me shivered, and I found myself in the main room of the Treasury. Innocence shimmered into view a few moments later, waving cheerfully. "Ah, hello Ancient-sama!" She chirped. "What brings you here?"

I hesitated for a moment. "Tell me… do you know where Albedo is?"

Innocence's wings drooped slightly. "…Yes." She said, voice uncharacteristically somber. "She went to take Pandora to the Waiting Room." She glanced to the side. "Pandora… she didn't want to wait out here, but she was afraid to go in alone… so Albedo-nee said she'd follow her to the door."

Ah.

"She wasn't going to go at first." Innocence continued. "She didn't want to abandon Nazarick just because she felt grief. But when Pandora… she was too young. She didn't understand what was going on, not really. And Albedo couldn't just let her suffer."

"I see…" I trailed off. "I'll have to talk to her later, then. Have her contact me when she's available to speak. Is anyone covering Pandora's duties yet?"

"Sebas and I have been covering them. She doesn't do much unless there's a siege, so we haven't had too much of an issue." She hesitated. "…My lord, if you will, can you please let me keep covering her duties? It wouldn't feel right to let someone take Pandora-chan's place."

"That should be fine." I smiled faintly. "If it helps you cope, then I'll allow it."

Innocence bowed slightly. "Thank you, Ancient One-sama. It means a lot to me." She smiled back at me. "Also, it lets me check in on Shalltear-nee every now and then. She's been doing fine so far, but I still worry about her."

"All right then." I paused. "Tell me, did you hear my announcement this morning?"

"Yes, I did." She reached into her gown, pulling out a Mirror. "Did you mean for me to have one as well? I wasn't sure."

"Yes. Keep it." I reached into my Inventory, then handed her another Mirror. "Do you know where my personal Treasury is?"

She nodded hesitantly. "U-um, it's where Nigredo-chan lives, right?"

"That's the place." I agreed. "In there are the World Items I deemed too dangerous even for my fellow Guildmates to know of. But as of right now, you're acting as both the Guild Treasurer of Nazarick. You need a World Item of your own. Momonga keeps yours in his Inventory, so you need to learn to use a different one until he gets back. So. Tomorrow the entrance to the Treasury will be in the twenty-second gate. Top-left of the Floor, under a great big snowdrift. Take that Mirror and make a copy of a weapon."

"W-which weapon?" She asked.

I smiled sadly. "Lovely World Item… it's called [Hymn for the Missing]. Looks rather like a harp. I'll explain what it does if you ever need to use it. I'm afraid you've already learned the lesson needed to hold it, though."

"Then, thank you Ancient-sama." She bowed once more. "I'll stop by tomorrow morning."

"Excellent." I nodded to myself, turning away. "I'll see you soon."

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I needed to stick to the plan. The plan I had made all the way back when I was in the orphanage, opening YGGDRASIL for the first time. Plotting out my own future like the plotline of an anime. But as unfortunate as it was, I wasn't an edgy protagonist who could burn the world while still remaining convinced that they were the ones in the right. The downside of being human is that you need to live with every action you've ever taken, and I was about to take a very large step in a very dark direction.

In these circumstances... who else could I even talk to?

I found my answer rather quickly when I set my mind to it.

"I'm sure you know why I made you." I murmured, closing my eyes.

The Shabti across from me sighed. "You made me because you wanted to talk with someone who understood."

"More or less." I paused. "This isn't a game anymore."

"No. It isn't."

"It's easy to act like a bloody psychopath in a game." I snorted. "Hell, it's fun. I was a mass murderer with victims who revived mere moments later. Then I get here, with more plans than common sense, thinking that it'd be the same…" I trailed off. "I do believe that life is sacred, you know. That innocents should be preserved at all costs. I could never kill for pleasure like I did in the game…"

"You had a plan for that, too." My Shabti's voice was cold. Clinical. "You learned the Spell you needed, just in case."

"[Mind of Undeath]." I agreed. "The moment I cast it, all of this… annoying conscience bit, will all go away. No guilt, no morals, no limits. I could nuke the planet with a smile."

"You could." The Shabti agreed. "But you wouldn't."

I laughed quietly. "I suppose you would know, wouldn't you?"

The Shabti shrugged. "You needed someone to talk to, and you needed confirmation that [Mind of Undeath] was a state of mind you still recognized as your own. This was the simplest solution."

I nodded. "And what do you think? You cast the Spell, you have a perfectly logical view on the situation. You know everything I do, and you know the current state of events. What's your opinion on the matter?"

The Shabti fell silent for a time. "The Slane Theocracy needs to go." He eventually said. "It has a religion, and that religion is lethal to our cause. It has all the worst parts of racism mixed with all the worst parts of zealotry. They occupy a location of strategic power that allows them to stand as an absolute authority over other countries."

"They should go." I agreed. "But does it have to be me?"

"It is expected." He said simply. "You are a being of immense power who once pulled off something similar in full view of every NPC in Nazarick. Our conversations with Rubedo told us that our fictionalized past also used [Mind of Undeath] whenever we needed to carry out a massacre."

"And we're supposed to do what we're expected to?" I asked incredulously. "That's the main reason why I dodged a leadership role in the first place. Getting railroaded into a course of action I hate is something I'd prefer to avoid."

He shook his head. "You expect it of yourself. I wouldn't speak of others in an argument about morals, there would be no point."

"Yes." I snorted. "I expect myself to nuke another civilization. Right."

"You're talking to me, aren't you?"

…Bastard has a point.

"But I don't really want to." I persisted. "Isn't there any other option?"

"No." A flat response. "None. Even if you were to appear before them as a prophet of their gods, they would never change their beliefs. The leaders of the kingdom are the only ones who do not believe, and that makes it impossible to use religion as their weak point. Furthermore, they would begin to use their World Items if they are provoked. A long, drawn-out war would merely drain time and resources. Even were you to win and capture the city peacefully, it would take up far too much manpower to keep the city under control."

"Momonga managed it in the novels."

"Momonga never invaded the Theocracy, merely a few other kingdoms. And he did spend the manpower to keep them under control. He just passed responsibility down to Demiurge to handle the finer details. Momon the Adventurer, no? Ruling through a false hope of rescue?" He shrugged, leaning back. "Not exactly our style, though, is it? We're more likely to burn it all down and rebuild from the ashes."

I didn't argue with that. If I chose to do this, I would leave zero chance of survival and even less chance of retaliation. "We would be killing thousands of children."

"Children grow up to seek revenge, fancy themselves heroes."

I blinked, a thought sparking. "Not if we wiped their memories."

He raised an eyebrow. "Is it really worth that much effort? You'd rather cast numerous Spells to pull out the innocent few, wipe their memories, then return them?"

"Is that even a question?" I smiled faintly. "Look at it this way. You want the Theocracy destroyed, I want to save the innocents. This way we both get what we want. Plus, we can use them to start anew."

"We're the same person, and we want the same things." The Shabti pointed out.

I sighed. "Well yes, but we can't both argue for the same side. It's simpler this way."

He nodded once. "Very well. In that case, what would happen if a single one of them regained their memories?"

I burst out laughing. "A-are you fucking kidding? I plan to use a Tenth-Tier Spell to wipe them, which is boosted to beyond Super-Tier by my staff. If they remember the name of their species they'll be lucky. I plan to wipe the humans and their Demihuman slaves. Wipe them, hit them with a Healing Spell, and return them to the remains of their kingdom. They'll be lost and confused, yes, but if we return them after we've already started rebuilding, they'll flock to the new kingdom like moths to a flame."

The Shabti smiled. "We have a plan, then."

"A plan, a justification, and a means to carry it out." I agreed. "Talking with myself seems to be incredibly helpful."

"How will you determine the innocent from the guilty? You can't possibly judge every being within range."

I shrugged. "Make a new Item, probably. A Golem Core that's designed to judge people based off my criteria. It will scan their innermost thoughts, their Karma Value, their plans for the future. I don't care if the whole kingdom rots as long as not a single good person dies."

"But if you're wiping their memories anyway, why stop at the innocent? Wipe their Karma Values, their personalities, heal them all, and stick them somewhere else." My Shabti challenged. "Everyone is innocent with no past and no future. That's the reason you wish to spare the children, no?"

I shook my head. "Even without memories, personality remains. Muscle memory is a series of chemicals in the brain, and habit is a well-worn path. A rapist with no memories and a positive Karma Value will still find himself slipping back into old ways. Taking advantage of drunk women at first, perhaps, just to rediscover how it feels. A serial killer will stand around in broad daylight, watching the world around them for the weakest of the pack. Some habits just… remain."

"And how do you know this?"

I smiled faintly. "Shabti are highly susceptible to Spells from their creator, and I have an entire Tomb full of the worst beings known to this world. Do the math."

He blinked. "I don't remember those experiments."

"No, you don't." I agreed. "I wipe my own memory after every experiment. If my creations knew what I could do to them, they might turn against me." I shook my head. "That's beside the point. From a purely logical sense, if we were to take all of them, they would be too difficult to govern while we attempt to rebuild a kingdom."

"We're going in circles." The copy tilted his head. "Bouncing ideas off a brick wall. You're still hesitant to do it."

"Of course I'm bloody hesitant!" I gestured towards the map. "I'm seriously considering mass genocide! This isn't a game, some manufactured past. These are real people dying here, real people with lives and families."

"Real people with real problems." The clone agreed. "Real problems require real solutions. You don't have the means to properly restart their culture while also culling the evil from their midst. You need their position to further your plans. Their leaders preach death and xenophobia in order to further their own goals. They must die."

"Yes." I agreed quietly, sinking back in my chair. "And we have to be the one to do it."

"Because there is no one else."

"Because if I don't do it with my own hands, I'm terrified someone else will get it wrong."

"Because." He smiled wryly. "If you don't do this yourself, you're afraid you never will. That you'll always pass along the order to kill while convincing yourself you conscience is clean."

"Because I need to hold the gun in my hand in order to know what it means to kill a man."

The Shabti nodded once. "Then what are you waiting for?" It smiled, slowly crumbling away to dust. Leaving me, once more, alone.

I sighed, burying my face in my hands. "Fucking hell…" I rubbed my eyes, leaned back, and stared up at the ceiling. "This'll never get any easier." I mumbled to myself. "So I might as well get it over with. [Mind of Undeath]."

And like that, everything was crystal clear.

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