B7 Ruminate: Thus History Moves Again
The creation of the system was a major turning point in this world’s history.
…When it was first constructed, D gave me a script and forced me to read it, and it was broadcast to everyone in the world.
Let the record show that those were things D made me say, not my own thoughts.
Ahem! Let us not delve any deeper into that incident.
At any rate, when the system was instated, this world changed dramatically.
Sariel, dragons, and humans…
The delicate balance that kept the world running was completely upended when D appeared.
It may sound wrong to say that the world became D’s plaything, but it did indeed belong to her from that point on.
As a result, no other gods could interfere with this world.
None of them would ever be reckless enough to meddle in D’s domain.
Thus, though our world became a plaything, it was also placed under D’s protection.
In that chaotic sequence of events, humans used up MA energy, and brought the planet to the brink of destruction.
The dragons left a massive scar on the world and absconded, and Sariel tried to sacrifice herself to save it.
Though ultimately, it seems the device Potimas supposedly prepared to save the world would not have actually had that effect.
Hmm? What now?
Could Sariel not have seen through that lie, you ask?
…Well, you see, Sariel technically specializes in combat.
To put it bluntly, she is something of a muscle head…
I doubt Sariel would have understood the particulars of the conjurings built into Potimas’s technology.
At any rate, when she activated the device, D interfered and whisked her away as the core of the system. Otherwise, she would have died for nothing.
And Potimas alone would have reaped the benefits.
…Truly, what an unforgiveable act.
Think of how Sariel felt when she offered herself up as a sacrifice, how the children of the orphanage felt when they said goodbye to her…
Even Dustin’s determination, too.
Potimas’s plan made a mockery of all their noble feelings.
Inexcusable. Completely intolerable!
…And yet, I am forbidden from interfering with Potimas.
“We administrators are supposed to observe and make adjustments. Just like real gods, wouldn’t you say? So you mustn’t try to kill a particular individual, I’m afraid. Sariel wouldn’t want that either, would she?”
That is what D said to me…
No doubt she thought things would be more amusing if Potimas was alive.
D thinks of this world as a source of entertainment, through and through.
If I had chosen to erase Potimas anyway, I know not what might have happened to Sariel and the system.
So in the end, I did nothing.
Although I did get to give Potimas a warning, at least.
If you do anything extreme, I told him, I will kill you.
If you try to leave this planet, I will kill you.
I must say, this threat worked extremely well.
Thanks to that, he holed up in the barrier of the elf village and could no longer attempt such large-scale schemes.
In truth, I could not do anything to Potimas under D’s orders, but he did not need to know that.
Besides, even if I could not harm Potimas himself, I could at least crack down on any excessive mechanical weapons and so on.
While I could not destroy the root of the problem, I could at least interfere with his actions.
After all, Potimas could still destroy the world if he were so inclined.
I am sure I was at least of some use in deterring him.
…At least, I must tell myself that much, or I cannot go on.
Being an administrator is a very stressful position.
Which is why I occasionally try to mix things up.
Namely, by making a second body for myself and mingling with human life.
Like what I am currently doing as Hyrince.
Living as a human brings a fresh new perspective, and insight I never would have gained from the outside.
And living as I please as an ordinary human, instead of an administrator, is certainly freeing.
Besides, by coming into such close contact with humanity, I have come to feel willing to forgive them.
It became clear to me that they, too, are doing their best to live their lives.
I have been a merchant, a farmer, an adventurer.
In all my many different lives as a human, I have inevitably had many fortuitous encounters.
Of course I sometimes met unpleasant humans as well, but in almost every life I have lived, I was always able to make at least one human friend who I could trust completely.
In the case of Hyrince, I suppose that would be Julius.
Yaana, Jeskan, Hawkin… Meeting all of them was a blessing, too, but it only happened because I met Julius first.
It really was a coincidence that Hyrince’s childhood friend Julius became the hero.
Normally, I would never attempt to get close with the hero, a human with particularly strong influence on the world, but this time I happened to get involved and ended up meddling a bit.
I simply could not leave him to his own devices.
That ability to draw people in was probably Julius’s greatest strength.
…He truly was a great person.
Which is why I dearly hoped he would be happy, but alas…
Still, I doubt my past self would believe I might ever come to wish happiness on a human.
But so much time has passed that it would be difficult to carry on being angry all this time.
I think it has been long enough that I, and this world, can forgive the humans.
Whatever she might say, I believe Ariel does not truly hate humans very much, deep down.
…Or perhaps that is just my wishful thinking.
But Ariel has been watching over this world for as long as I have.
She too had enough power to wreak destruction on humanity, if not as much as Potimas.
The fact that she did not do so seems like answer enough to me.
Amid the children of that highly unusual orphanage, Ariel was once the quietest and most ordinary of them all.
No matter how much power she has gained, deep down she is still a kindhearted girl who could never do anything so monstrous.
But now, I have allowed her to be stuck with the role of demon lord…
I truly hoped that she could live a quiet and peaceful life, too…
Nothing ever turns out the way I want.
Sariel, Julius, Ariel…
Everyone I have wished happiness on has drawn the short end of the stick and suffered in some terrible way.
…But it seems that, too, is coming to an end soon.
While I have only been able to stand by and do nothing for so many long centuries, that creature has brought about dramatic changes in this world in just a few short years.
There is no stopping it at this point.
I do not know what form this ending will take.
No, I will not wish for a perfect ending in which everyone and everything is saved.
I cannot.
We have already lost far too much for that dream to ever reach fruition.
But if I may wish for as many to be saved as possible…
Then I will pray.
And if praying alone is not enough, then…
Then I shall have to prepare myself.
The time may yet come when even I am forced to act, after being dormant and useless for so long.
Do I even have the right to act now, when I have never done so before?
I cannot say those doubts do not plague me, but the time has come to forget such thoughts.
Ariel and the others have been drawing the short end of the stick for so long.
The time has come for me to draw a lot of my own.
No matter what might happen to me because of it.
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