Chapter 436: Coconspirators

 “I’m different from everyone else.”

If there was one thing that everyone had in common it would be that they’d either faintly or directly feel that they were different from others. That they were special and unique.

Indeed, not a single person would be identical in talent, education and environment. But while differences helped make the world varied and colorful, it wasn’t always a good thing.

When people too stubbornly focused only on themselves, they’d be unable to see the truth for what they really were, blind to other people.

“I’m different. I was born above others. Commoners’ lives don’t have any value compared to mine. They should dedicate their lives to me.”

Nobles, royalty and religious leaders would usually think this way to either a minor or great extent. Perhaps thinking this way to a minor extent would help them carry out their responsibilities better, but too much of it and they wouldn’t even treat other humans as humans. They would think themselves as forever justified, no matter how villainous their actions.

“I’m blessed by the God of Fate. The next round, I’ll absolutely make everything back!”

Gamblers had the same mentality as the ambitious. They would feel as if they could overturn everything in one go, never satisfied with what they currently had. They would continuously take risks and gamble, with the end result either losing everything they owned, including their very life, or winning everything.

Everyone had this type of “self-aware blindness.” This was part of human nature, and nothing was right or wrong about it. It could even help humans grow. But as age and experience increased, cruel reality would wear down this type of “self-aware blindness.”

“I… so I’m nothing more than an ordinary person. I’m just one among the crowd, and nothing’s special about me.”

Ordinary people would learn their limits and give up on the fantasies from their youth. Abilities, talent and status—seemingly coarse concepts—would always determine the limits a person could strive for. But some people just happened to know from the very start what position they were supposed to have and remained unsatisfied with their difficult lives.

As a young child, Orloss Milan was known as “Jinxer” by his own friends and relatives. And not long after he was born Orloss had understood his position and fate—he was nothing but a puppet.

Orloss was the seventeenth child born to the Bardi royalty. This didn’t mean that he was unlikely to inherit the throne. In fact, things were the opposite. He had an uncle who was an archduke, so his chances of inheriting the throne were in the top three.

When Orloss was young, his mother took him to meet his uncle, who, when looking at the boy, would show an icy expression, distant and cold. It was nothing like how a first meeting between relatives should go at all. His archduke uncle looked at him as if he were an object, as if he were just a tool to be used. And his uncle’s first words in their first meeting were so coarse as to prove his way of thinking. His younger sister’s child was only someone to be taken advantage of.

“Remember this well. You’ll lead a good life if you obey me. I’m capable of both giving you the throne and taking it away from you.”

Orloss was simply a child back then. All he desired was a good family relationship since he barely ever got to see his busy father. He had always heard his mother talking about how great his uncle was, but this was how their first meeting turned out. Naturally, he received quite an impact from this, but he soon adapted.

“…At any rate, he’s just treating me as a tool and puppet. That’s not different from anyone else, so who cares? As long as I properly act out my part and satisfy everyone, Orloss is a good child.”

The ironic part was that Orloss’s uncle was overly arrogant and tyrannical, which enraged everyone and caused his uncle to be one of the first to be executed during the fight for the throne. Orloss himself lost out in the vicious fighting between his brothers and laid there dying in the street.

Just as Orloss was on the verge of death, Undead Emperor Aso reached out to him and saved his life. Unfortunately, saving Orloss’s life had come at a price. From that moment on, Orloss learned for the first time that his own country had been secretly infiltrated by the undead that had been targeting Bardi for the past several centuries.

And Orloss’s reaction was…

“What can I even do? I’ll just continue being a puppet. I’ve simply changed masters.”

From a certain standpoint, Orloss was quite open-minded about it all—open-minded to the point where others thought he was a fool. To use his future mage teacher Selis’s way of describing him, it was because Orloss saw things far too clearly. Precisely since Orloss saw things far too clearly he knew that he wouldn’t be able to change things no matter what he did. Naturally, others saw Orloss as the most wooden and dense emperor in Bardi’s history at the beginning of his reign.

“Is there a single person in this world who isn’t a disposable chess piece under someone else?”

When Orloss first became emperor, he was called the most wooden emperor in Bardi’s history because he didn’t do anything on his own. He would do what his retainers told him to do. He would accede to all requests from domain lords that had sufficient factional strength. It was as if Orloss was nothing more than a rubber stamper who didn’t care about politics whatsoever.

But Orloss was quietly observing this world and its residents, observing the chess board and the pieces without them realizing it.

Orloss’s favorite hobby was to hide his identity and take vacations in his private house in the capital. He would have fun chatting with his commoner neighbors who didn’t know his real identity. Orloss felt that these ordinary people were more “alive” than he was.

“The farmers actually have an easier time in times of disaster. That’s because even the severest of tax collectors under a domain lord will still leave enough for the farmers to survive. And also during times of disaster, the Gods’ churches’ priests will stop coming around to collect their required donations so that the farmers’ souls won’t fall into the River Styx after death and instead join a Divine Kingdom.”

“For ordinary mercenaries and rangers, although the priests’ lifesaving healing Divine Arts are ‘free,’ if they don’t donate sufficient money speedily enough, they’ll find that the next time they need healing they’ll die on the streets right in front of the Holy Church branch without a single priest of Holy Light coming to help them. And instead of the Holy Church’s healing, ordinary people find that alchemists and herbalists’ potions are the most reliable for their injuries. The most basic potions have very low costs of production and are more than sufficient to heal normal injuries. However, the Holy Church will often turn individuals from these job professions that ‘steal business’ from them into ‘heretical wizards and witches.’ For this reason, most herbalists will no longer sell potions to ordinary people as it’s both unprofitable and ridiculously dangerous and bad for reputation. Herbalists will only sell buff potions to adventurers and body-strengthening and life-saving potions to major personages because that’s where the money’s at.”

“In fact, many of my citizens don’t even know who the current emperor is. They’re only concerned about if a calamity will suddenly descend upon them, if the nobles’ tax collectors will leave enough money for them to live on, and if their secret money stashes will be sufficient to satisfy the priests to give them a blessing so that their souls can enter Divine Kingdoms or be reincarnated into a better life.”

Those who held the real authority in Bardi were more than happy to allow the puppet emperor to “relax and have fun” as he pleased without paying attention to politics. But what they didn’t realize was that Orloss had obtained plenty of wisdom and knowledge as he lived among the commoners in disguise. In fact, he had even established a faction loyal only to him by recruiting from the poorest districts.

Once Orloss had a sufficient amount of power, he started feeling embarrassed when facing the commoners, who worked so hard to live every day. Since he had managed to obtain the position of emperor, he felt that he should do something for them.

“Perhaps I won’t be able to change everything, but I can at least help improve everyone’s lives.”

And so the puppet emperor chose to make a trade. He didn’t only trade with the undead hidden in the shadows; he even traded with the mighty dragons and dragon knights. Of course, what he traded were promises to be even more obedient as a useful puppet. For him, this didn’t cost anything. They were only verbal promises.

The secret assistance from the two powerful hidden factions of undead and dragons were very effective. Powerful individuals from these two factions joined his side, concealing their identities, which helped slowly reestablish royal authority. Orloss then obtained a total victory after a bloody battle against his own domain lords and gradually increased royal authority to the point where he now held actual authority as the emperor and the domain lords started to pay him respect—at least on the surface.

But…

“How our days are going, you ask? Isn’t everything still the same? Oh, I think I heard that we have a new domain lord now, some handsome young fellow. I even heard that he’s the emperor’s personal knight. Hmph! He immediately doubled the taxes the moment he became the domain lord. I bet that bastard wants to decorate his new castle. Hey, old man, don’t get so angry that you harm your body. Haven’t nobles been the same throughout the centuries? It’s a pity that none of us were born with such a good life.”

The furious Orloss rushed back to his palace after hearing this, wanting to execute whichever domain lord he assumed was faking to be his knight in order to ruin Orloss’s own reputation. But he didn’t expect that…

“What! That domain lord they’re talking about is my knight, Caso? Isn’t Caso the knight I trust most?”

Orloss’s officials informed him that domain lords were basically complete masters over their domains. What Caso did was completely legal in Bardi, and he could even be considered one of the kind ones. Orloss’s other loyal knights that became domain lords to replace the ones he executed raised taxes even more because…

“Apart from the fact that they all need to move in to their new homes, they’re accumulating funds to prepare a grand celebration party for your victory. And with their loyalty to you, they’ll definitely donate more funds to the royal treasury than their predecessors… What’s the matter, Your Majesty?”

“Was all of this my fault? Did I cause all of this?”

Right before he fainted, Orloss wondered if he would have been better as simply a puppet, a puppet who didn’t need to do anything.

“I’ve come back to the starting point and made things even worse for the commoners because I tried to change the world. Perhaps I shouldn’t have done anything, after all? Maybe the status quo is for the best? No—no—I can’t be depressed over this. There must be a way.”

Orloss then tried to declare war on the neighboring countries, using victorious combat loot to appease his greedy new domain lords. However, this only brought about an even more vicious cycle. His greedy domain lords conscripted the commoners as free sacrificial cannon fodder in order to obtain this so-called glory and combat achievements. At this moment, Orloss truly felt that he had made a mistake somewhere.

For the first time ever, he started deeply wondering. Was something wrong with the entire world? Why was it that no matter what he tried to change, everything would always return to the starting point?

Orloss wondered if the wise mages would have an answer, so he used a shadow substitute to act the part of Emperor Orloss while he hid his identity and started studying at the Cloud Tower. He was fortunate enough to meet archmage Selis who was deeply researching the same topic, and became Selis’s disciple.

For the first time, Orloss learned that the feudal domain lord society wasn’t the only social structure in the world. Elves, dwarves and other species all had their own social structures suitable for them. But in this ridiculous and dangerous world, a feudal domain lord society was the most suitable one for humans.

The strong would protect the weak, while the weak would give everything of theirs to the strong. This would also make the weak desire to become strong, helping give birth to countless strong individuals.

Only here did Orloss learn that commoners in the powerful Bardi Empire already led excellent lives compared to commoners in other countries. In remote mountainous districts that faced powerful enemies, domain lords there would demand even more from their citizens. And the commoners who wanted to survive could only tolerate it.

“So it wasn’t us that chose this societal system. It was the world itself that chose it for us.”

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This wasn’t a problem that could be easily dealt with, but Orloss just happened to find a way… That’s right—it was how he centralized all authority on himself and forced all powerful individuals to register with and belong to Bardi. At the very least, after many years, he succeeded in establishing his way of thinking in the Bardi Empire.

Without regards to whether he was right or wrong, since this could only be proved with time, the end result of Orloss’s studies in the Cloud Tower was that his frustrations increased instead of decreasing. He learned the truth from the mages, the dragons and the undead even though he found it impossible to accept.

“The Holy War? The Cycle of Reincarnation? Is this a joke!? What are we humans supposed to be? Wheat waiting to be harvested? Cows and sheep waiting to be butchered?”

From that moment onward, Orloss abandoned his belief in the Gods as well as any possibility that he would ascend to heaven. He secretly began to resent the Gods that were high up above but never did anything.

“You dare say you protect the people of the world? You claim your priests are the servants of the people? But I’ve only ever seen your priests demand donations. Your churches are so glorious, yet your ‘servants’ never work hard and only mutter your names on a daily basis, talking about how good you are. Since they are your servants, then why don’t you financially support these pigs? Do you know that old John worked hard for his entire life and even donated the final residence in his name, just for the sake of having his son receive a blessing from your priest to live the next two years without any illnesses or disaster and so that he can ascend to your so-called heaven after death!?”

“A beautiful divine kingdom in heaven? I’ve never seen such a thing; I can only see this hell before me! Since none of you Gods are capable of protecting the people of the world as you promised, then stop acting like overreaching parents and interfering with us. We have nothing to do with you. Or perhaps you’re all nothing more than a group of scammers who only make empty promises. Or you’re nothing more than shameless parasites that even leave the scamming to your so-called servants!”

Currently, all the highest-ranked individuals in the royal capital had nervously assembled in front of a tremendous door. They were all suddenly notified that this location was the Bardi Empire’s secret ace of aces, a Dimensional Door leading to a world of dragons. The old emperor had summoned all of them here, saying that he had some important announcements to make.

After a long period of time, the old emperor arrived, and the moment he did he glanced over at the extravagantly-attired crowd under his podium and chuckled.

From a certain standpoint, the people of Bardi now led much better lives than before his rule. This wasn’t because of the Gods high above. This was because of everything their puppet emperor fought for them, one tiny part at a time, by struggling to manipulate so many factions.

Orloss had used ten years to calm down this chaotic country. He had forced the domain lords to dismiss a large majority of their private armies and finally stopped all internal warring.

Orloss had used almost thirty years, with the assistance of the undead and the dragons, to expunge all Holy Church and other Gods’ churches factions from Bardi.

Orloss had secretly helped the teachings of the Pure Holy Light spread even though he knew this would anger the undead.

Indeed, while undead mages were able to control their undead creations, Aso’s half-living curse (or blessing, depending on how you looked at it) made it so that Orloss was technically half-living and half-undead rather than fully undead. This meant that Orloss wouldn’t be exposed. Although Aso would be able to kill Orloss at any time he wanted by canceling the spell, Aso wouldn’t be able to control Orloss’s actions or thoughts. This was also because Orloss had gained the support of a super powerful archmage that even Aso wouldn’t have confidence dealing with—Selis.

The undead acted secretly in the shadows as they had terrible reputations that made them unable to act in public. This helped limit their overall influence on the Bardi Empire. Meanwhile, the dragons remained lofty and arrogant and were too lazy to do anything that wasn’t directly related to their personal benefits.

In order to escape from the threat of Aso, who was able to end his life at any moment, the half-living Orloss had even secretly put on the cursed God Equipment—the Crown of Thorns.

The Crown of Thorns was a truly powerful God Equipment. It forcefully transformed the half-living Orloss back into a completely living person. But unfortunately this still technically living person lost his senses of smell, taste and pain because of it.

From then onwards, the emperor dined on the most delicious of foods but was unable to taste a single thing. He lived in the most extravagant of palaces but was unable to feel any comfort. No matter how beautiful his clothing, he was unable to feel any warmth or coldness. However, the Crown of Thorns also provided him with a limitless amount of energy which he put to use at improving his country.

From a certain standpoint, Roland forcing Aso to commit suicide was a tremendous help to Orloss. But even without Roland’s appearance it would have only been a matter of time before Orloss and Aso’s relationship fell apart. And judging by what happened in the game’s history, Aso didn’t even “win” in the end due to getting stuck facing the Titans afterward.

As a “mortal” who understood his own limits, Orloss’s greatest talents were patience, adaptability and playing everyone against each other. He was like this in the game’s history, and he was like this today as well.

But unfortunately ideals couldn’t be eaten. Some things still appeared impossible to change.

For instance, despite the fact that Emperor Orloss wasn’t dead, the domain lords were already trying to take action. They desired war to expand their territory. They refused to accept Orloss’s proposals of Bardi citizens’ free movement between domains and outlawing the use of slavery. The domain lords were still local emperors in their respective domains.

Even if the Gods’ churches were no longer allowed in Bardi, their believers would still travel thousands of kilometers to other countries in search of priests and scammers pretending to be priests. Such believers still exchanged their lifetime’s worth of savings from hard work all for a single sentence of “Child, the Gods shall bless you.”

By now, Orloss found it impossible to receive an answer from anyone, until a new religion and a booklet from the Underground attracted his attention.

“They’re not going to establish any churches? They don’t solicit any donations? Then how are this church’s priests and divine warriors supposed to survive? Accept intermediary fees as judges? Provide business services? They don’t even need to incant the name of their God? Is this really a True God’s church?”

The Church of Law attracted his attention, but its teachings and divine laws allowed Orloss to see hope for the first time.

“Those who intentionally take the life of others shall be severely judged by the God of Law. Even after death, those convicted of such a crime will suffer under a constant mountain of knives and in a sea of flames. [Thirteenth Divine Law of the Church of Law.]”

“So there’s finally someone who intends to do something…”

That was Orloss’s first impression. But immediately afterwards he felt that something was off.

“Wait a moment! If a criminal is going to be judged and suffer even after death, won’t that be going against the teachings of the Gods’ churches? It’s clearly possible to enter a True God’s Divine Kingdom after death as long as you donate enough money and receive blessing from a priest.”

Obviously, Wumianzhe’s teachings far exceeded the power that he had back then as just a Weak God. In that case, he was either an insane God who didn’t care about the potential consequences of claiming something so crazy or he had other intentions.

“Have all criminals enter Hell and receive the punishment they deserve? Although this can indeed strike fear into the hearts of villains, the Church of Law’s teachings will basically antagonize every other True God out there. Just what is Wumianzhe’s goal?”

Then, Orloss learned that the Church of Law was connected to the legendary Prince Roland. Orloss also obtained Roland’s personal notes and drafts from the Church of Pure Holy Light. After Orloss finally met and talked to Roland, he decided to participate in Roland’s insane plan.

“The heavens and earth are unjust. Fate is blind. The Gods only care about collecting souls and faith. They care nothing about mortals’ lives. Villains and criminals can simply spend some money and praise some God and obtain what the poor can’t obtain in their entire lifetimes. What need is there to worship such Gods? We mortals can only rely on ourselves…”

As Orloss shakily stood on the platform with the Dragon World Dimensional Door wide open behind him, he couldn’t help but recall his discussion with Roland as he looked down at the crowd before him.

“Roland, I actually love your saying in the Southern Sect: ‘This world belongs to mortals, and those Gods high up above are nothing more than hypocritical maniacs. People worship them, yet the Gods are bound by their own Divine Concepts. The natural laws of Order have bound them into becoming nothing more than slaves. That’s why I’ll never rely on them.'”

The old emperor paused for a moment here. He had read Roland’s notes far too many times already and had long memorized this quote. What Orloss looked forward to was the aftermath—Roland’s choice and way of thinking after so many years.

When I first met and discussed with Orloss, I had smiled from the bottom of my heart. I could faintly see my own image in this old emperor. People who were alike would always have the easiest time communicating.

And so I directly said what I truly thought:

“We mortals can only count on ourselves. Since in this world innate kindness and morality do not exist, let us create divine and human laws for an equal society. Since in this world villains and criminals don’t receive judgement and punishment, let us create a Hell that even the most evil of individuals will fear.”

“Even if this will make you into the enemy of all the Gods? Even if this will turn you into the number one enemy of the entire world?”

“Indeed, but we won’t be the number one enemy of the entire world. At the very least, aren’t you going to become my companion?”

“No. Since we’re scheming to overturn the entire societal structure of the world and commit a crime against the Gods, we should call ourselves coconspirators.”

After Orloss chatted some with his Aunt Lilith, he understood Roland’s stubbornness even more.

“Au—Sister Lilith, tell me, if we achieve our goal, creating a new Cycle of Reincarnation to replace the old one where criminals will be tortured in Hell and good people will be able to live in a beautiful heaven and truly experience a better life after death, will we be able to directly ascend to heaven as the creators of all this?”

But the surprising answer was that Lilith shook her head.

“No. Roland has already said that he has long since prepared a spot for himself in his Hell. He even remembered to save another spot for his pet cat. With his personality, and considering your actions, it’s quite likely that you’ll be neighbors in Hell together for a long time to come.”

“Hahahahaha! That’s truly an excellent piece of news—truly delightful to hear!”

Orloss still remembered how he had uproariously laughed after hearing this. He hadn’t been this happy in so many decades. Perhaps this was because it was the first time he’d ever heard that a villain who’d committed countless heinous deeds would actually go down to Hell and be punished, even if this villain was himself.

“Coconspirators? Perhaps we’ll be jailmates in the future.”

After Orloss finished poking fun at himself, he knew that his time had come.

“Perhaps, from tomorrow onwards, people will think that I’m the most foolish person in the world. Still, it’s not like there aren’t people who won’t know who I really am… Hehehe! Dear coconspirators, this old man shall leave first. I’ll be waiting for all of you in Hell.”

And finally, when he lightly removed the Crown of Thorns from his head, the entire world was destined to change.