Ch.360The Path to the Karkata Continent (1)

Faerun, Miriam, Meridia, Yenisei, Hyacinth, Reision, Hurichel, Terius.

The sun and moon had traversed all eight continents. And now the Iron Walker Party was flying toward the Karkata continent aboard the Sky Warden, carrying the solar forces.

“Already the ninth continent, huh? Time flies like hell.”

On a night where stars shone distantly.

Viktor was sighing as he blew into an empty bottle of apple brandy.

Was this how a father feels when he drinks beer with dried squid late at night, after pretending to be strong in front of his children?

Viktor, truly an orphan without father or mother, would never know.

“Empire and Emperor… damn it all.”

Gulp. Gulp.

He knows it’s self-pity.

After all, he understands why beggars want to grab pitchforks when rich people whine about their troubles.

But someone else’s suffering doesn’t make your own disappear. The well-off have their own hardships.

…Especially when that hardship involves rising to a position above all mankind.

Even ordinary citizens typically wonder “Should someone like me seize this opportunity?” when unexpected chances and luck come their way. If Viktor, whose origins were as a lowly street orphan, became the master of humanity through strange fate and trials, it would be criticized as excessive protagonist favoritism even in fiction.

But the possibilities of the world are endless, as are the humans who inhabit it.

Even gods who originated from humanity suffer from the absence of humanity, which ultimately means this world exists for humans.

However, this world was not so easy to live in, people’s hearts were hardened, and the abyssal monsters below were waiting for the hateful sun to be extinguished.

The sun and moon must exist, but they need not be maintained on the foundation of others’ suffering. That’s why humans should create their own sun, illuminating this world through everyone’s dedication. And then extinguish the sun that has burned in the sky for 400,000 years and melt the frozen moon to return them to human form.

That’s what the throne is for. That’s what the empire is for. His use of the excessive title “Master of Fervor” to unite all humanity is simply because he believes maintaining the world through someone’s suffering is immoral.

When he first set this goal, it seemed incredibly easy. A clear destination. And he thought his immense power could solve everything.

But that wasn’t the case.

Humans are truly strange beings—when happy, they question why they’re happy until their gaze eventually falls upon the unhappy, and when unhappy, they wander in search of happiness until they find happiness where they are not.

Everyone has the right to be happy, but not everyone has the ability to be happy.

Whether due to personal incompetence or social corruption, should those who cannot cultivate happiness through their own strength fall as the weak?

What is the appropriate level of welfare that preserves individual dignity without losing social vitality, and how should those resources be allocated?

Countless humans have sought answers, but produced countless failures, and even gods couldn’t solve this problem.

Because humans are human, they need food, shelter, and clothing. Any regime that doesn’t provide these is merely empty rhetoric. Even gods cannot satisfy everyone.

Viktor knew all too well that some derive pleasure from others’ pain, some from their own suffering, and some simply want to watch the world burn.

“Becoming Emperor…”

Honestly, it would be a lie to say it isn’t tempting.

Looking down on everyone while no one can look down on you—isn’t that a rather favorable situation?

Even pure children mobilize hamburgers, pizza, and chicken just to wear a small armband as class president. How much more tempting to be the supreme ruler of 13 continents, with such a solid position that there’s no worry of impeachment or rebellion.

It’s the perfect breeding ground for a dictator. Not taking a bite of this sweet fruit would be troublesome in its own way.

“Haah…”

Viktor sighed deeply.

If he could turn back time, he would return to when he first started his adventure… no. He would go back to when he first met his wife, abandon the pilgrimage, and feel the majesty of the endless world while roaming the caves and mountains of Faerun.

And then grow old together, have children, watch those children grow into adults like himself, and finally exhale his last breath while holding his wife’s hand as his body gradually grew heavier.

What would it be like to form a family—something he had never experienced and could never experience?

The most painful thing in Parcival wasn’t the contemptuous gazes directed at him, nor the bone-deep poverty.

It was watching chubby children playing on the beach, and parents smiling as they brushed sand off their children’s bodies. Growing up seeing that was torture for him.

Viktor will never understand why children look for their fathers when they face injustice, or their mothers when they’re sick. He might learn, study, and master the mechanisms and principles, but he cannot truly comprehend it.

For someone who had never received parental love, the idea that others would handle his pain and problems was inconceivable.

That’s why he wanted to know even more.

What is it like to live “normally”? Because he wanted to know what living was, he worked 240 hours a week, and because he needed to survive, he cut down and killed everyone who stood in his way. Some with meaningless suffering that far exceeded life’s joys.

And he failed.

He might have succeeded as an adventurer, knight, apostle, and god, but he failed as a human.

As one Wood Elf and two High Elves who have now departed once told him, he is deficient as a human and lacking as a person.

He recognizes this but cannot fill the void.

Why? Why can’t he have the same emotions, the same heart as others?

In fact, there’s a very clear solution to this. If he thinks, if he concludes that he is not human but a monster, everything falls perfectly into place.

Because he’s not human, he doesn’t have a family like humans do. Because he’s not human, it doesn’t matter if his emotions are deficient or defective. Because he’s not human, it’s okay not to have a heart.

Concluding that he is fundamentally different from other humans from birth would solve everything.

It’s not particularly strange. Even now, nobles somewhere are probably secretly abandoning babies born through excessive genetic manipulation, and the world is overflowing with various enhanced humans and cyborgs. So it makes perfect sense that he was an orphan if he was a fetus someone was experimenting on in a laboratory and then casually tossed at a nearby port.

“Damn it…”

He could deny it, but then how would he find his parents? What is his origin, and why was he alone in Parcival?

Despite knowing that philosophical contemplation only breeds fantasy, Viktor didn’t stop his fantasizing, his thoughts continued to churn, and proportionally, his glass continued to empty.

But soon, the bottle was completely drained, and all that remained was Viktor sitting pathetically under the moonlight.

“You placed a curse on me.”

The moon did not answer.

“You placed a curse on her.”

As if knowing shame, clouds covered the moonlight.

“In the world I create, there will be no place for you. Those who have abandoned human karma and become cosmic guardians will fill your place—those who have ascended and can never return.”

He spoke with hatred. She had cursed her.

He could understand. But he could not accept it. She was a bewitching witch who stole his chance to form a family. He couldn’t help but despise her.

“Are you that afraid? Of having a child?”

The moon was completely hidden by clouds. No longer visible. But knowing she existed there, he didn’t close his mouth.

“I hate you. How foolish to be so immersed in your own pain that you cannot see the pain of others?”

Viktor is soon Saburo.

She has heard words of hatred from the man she loved.

Soon the clouds dispersed and moonlight began to pour through the window again, but Viktor was no longer there.

He had simply gone to the bedroom where his wife was waiting, drawn the curtains, and tried to sleep.