Chapter 62 :

Episode 62 - Trash

Jing and Ratel walked very slowly out of the forest path they had rushed into in a frenzy.

Feeling the warm body temperature of the child on his back calm his stiffened mind, Jing organized his thoughts.

Agony Feedus had never once doubted the world he lived in.

Even when he wandered the empire wielding his sword as Duke Feedus, and even now, when he had gone against their will, stepped down from the ducal seat, and become the wandering Jing, he had not had the slightest doubt that they were descendants of God.

No, had there really not been even the tiniest doubt?

Or had there been a brake placed on him, preventing him from even doubting?

“When I found this child floating on the water, I felt that I was a little strange. It was something that overwhelmed simple bewilderment.”

When he first found the child’s corpse in the capital, when he received the book from the elder beneath God Amica’s temple, and when else had it been?

Searching through his memories, Jing spoke slowly.

“Thinking about it now, this is not the first time.”

Ratel quietly listened to Jing, who continued speaking calmly with the child on his back.

“Do you remember when we were in the study with the elder in Amica’s space? When that man......no, when that person handed me the book, and even before that, I had experienced something similar. The elder answered me that it was a part I should not touch yet.”

Feeling as though fog had settled inside his head, Jing shook his head once and continued speaking.

“You seem to know the answer. Am I right?”

Ratel did not lie.

He slowly nodded.

“That is correct.”

“Do you think I am still not ready to hear the answer?”

Jing could not be certain whether he was making the right choice.

His heart was still pounding, and an uncomfortable sense of dissonance was clouding his mind.

His head was complicated by the strong premonition that if he listened to Ratel’s story like this, he would no longer be able to live as he had before.

Shrring.

But at that sound, which sent a chill down his spine, he had no choice but to snap fully awake.

“......What are you doing right now?”

Jing asked without taking his eyes off the sword in Ratel’s hand.

“I am preparing for any possible situation.”

“No, in this relationship where I am listening to what you are teaching me, what situation would require you to arm yourself and prepare?!”

“If you do not like it, I can simply keep my mouth shut. I am the one holding the sword.”

Jing was the one who wanted to hear something, yet Jing was also the one being threatened.

Was it not usually the opposite?

Thinking that, though it was late, he now wanted to press a sword to Ratel’s neck and threaten him to tell everything he knew, Jing eventually obediently raised one hand to show that he would follow Ratel’s proposal.

Because he had to use the other hand to support the child on his back.

Ratel checked the position of Jing’s hand and opened his mouth.

“Have you never once thought it was strange while living?”

Because lately, it had reached the point where it was hard to find anything in his life that was not strange, Jing frowned.

“There are very many things.”

“I am talking about Abiran.”

Abiran?

When Jing narrowed his brow further as if he did not understand, Ratel very slowly continued speaking while studying Jing’s face as though confirming something.

“Everyone is loyal to the imperial family. If they told them to die, there would be no small number of people who would immediately take their own lives.”

“It would be more surprising if you told me there were three moons in the sky instead. Did you make all this fuss just to talk about that?”

Even at Jing’s face, which openly showed boredom, Ratel’s expression did not change.

“Is it not strange? A country where not one proper rebellion has occurred for 1,000 years. I am asking whether you have never thought something was strange.”

What was he talking about?

Thinking that, compared to how tense he had been, the content was too absurd, Jing let out a hollow laugh.

Just the battles Jing had commanded over the past 50 years were countless.

How many rebels had he......many.......

Jing stopped breathing.

Had there really been anything that could be called a rebellion?

Ratel quietly watched Jing swallow his breath and clutch his head.

Jing did not even notice that Ratel’s sword had lowered at some point, and he controlled his breathing to calm his turbulent chest.

“That was natural. All who rebel against God are rebels. And rebels must......all be put to death......”

Looking down at Jing, who was mumbling his unresolved confusion, Ratel asked again.

“I am asking whether there were truly people who raised their swords against the imperial family, Jing.”

Cold sweat running down him, Jing raised his head.

And he forced out a difficult answer.

“No....., there were not. Not even once.”

At the sight of Jing dropping his heavy head, Ratel’s sword also lowered with him.

“This country is strange. As if it were a purple perfectly made according to someone’s preferences....and it removes anyone who tries to ruin it even a little.”

Jing blankly poured Ratel’s murmured words into his head.

The desire to make Ratel shut his mouth at once and the desire to continue thinking a little more were bound together and fighting.

Unable to withstand that fierce collision, Jing closed his eyes.

Beyond his blurring vision, he saw terrifying golden eyes looking down at him.

* * *

What woke Jing’s consciousness was the noise and slight pain created as his body was scraped by the hard ground and rough branches.

He had thought his body was floating, but when he realized he was not floating at all and was instead being dragged along the ground, the other senses of his body gradually began to awaken as well.

Jing turned his head and looked at the owner of the hand roughly gripping the back of his neck.

And at the child hanging over his shoulder like luggage.

“.....Do you know this? If I had been any other old man, I would definitely have died.”

“If you have come to your senses, get up and walk on your own two feet. You are not as light as other old men either.”

When Ratel let go, Jing’s body sprawled helplessly on the ground.

The sprawling might have been because of Ratel, but the reason he could not get up was because of his heavy heart.

“Get up. We have delayed longer than expected, so people will slowly start finding it strange.”

“Give me a moment. Is there not an old man here who has experienced his entire life being shaken to its roots twice in just a few months?”

At Jing’s mutter, Ratel furrowed his eyebrows.

“I am curious when the other time was.”

“There was someone who beat you to it.”

He was someone with black hair like you. Muttering that, Jing rose from his seat.

“So what do the priests of Amica want to do with this Abiran? Do they want to overturn the empire?”

“They never said it exactly like that. They merely taught me. That there was a prophecy God Amica delivered a very long time ago. They said I was the owner of the prophecy.”

“I....... To be honest, I still cannot believe it. In my eyes, they still look like gods, and refusing their orders feels like a very great sin. And I think this is the same for every other person of Abiran. Are you saying that you intend to fight the entire empire alone right now?”

“And I am saying this now, but you must not say such things carelessly in front of others.”

Remembering how Ratel had told him everything so readily just because he had asked to be taught, Jing changed the subject.

“Within Abiran, you must choose your words, choose your people, and choose your situation before speaking.”

“That is what I did.”

Well, it did seem that way.

Jing recalled Ratel’s thoroughly prepared appearance, holding a sword in one hand before confessing a secret.

“You did not try to kill the child, Jing.”

Only after hearing Ratel’s next words did Jing realize that what he had chosen was neither his words nor the situation.

And the reason Ratel had persistently watched his demeanor as well.

“You are.......”

“Mister?”

Jing’s words were drowned out by the whining voice of the child who had woken up, and could not continue to the end.

Jing did not know whether that was fortunate or unfortunate.

Ratel gave no answer.

Jing felt uneasy because he could not tell what Ratel was thinking.

“Jing!”

The young Jing, who greeted Jing cheerfully, looked at Ratel and his demeanor and smiled in circles.

“It seems you made up?”

Whether he had tact or not, the young man approached him and whispered softly, but Jing headed forward without giving any particular answer.

Because he had received too great a shock, and everything else had already been pushed to the back of his mind.

“Made up or not, I told you we never fought.”

Answering roughly, Jing tried to move forward to return the child to the group.

If only Ratel had not grabbed his shoulder.

While he hesitated for a moment, the young Jing approached Jing’s side.

The young Jing pointed at Ratel with his finger.

“But why did you bring that trash back?”

“What are you talking about right now?”

Jing hurriedly turned his gaze to Ratel.

For someone who had suddenly been called trash, his expression was calm.

Because Ratel acted so unbothered, Jing actually became a little angry.

He had never once thought Ratel was a good person, but still, calling him trash was too.....much?

He was a little confused, but Jing had many reasons to take Ratel’s side.

“Ratel is not a good person, but that does not mean he deserves to be called trash.”

“No one called me trash, Jing. You are the only one who interpreted it that way.”

At Ratel’s answer, Jing’s eyes widened.

Then was there someone else here who had done something worthy of being called that?

“Did you not say it yourself, Jing? That when speaking secrets, you must choose the person you speak to.”

Ratel pointed with his chin at the frightened child on his back.

“This one failed to do that.”

“What are both of you saying, making the person speaking feel embarrassed?”

The young Jing cut in between the two of them.

Then he walked right up in front of Ratel.

Only then did Jing realize that what he had pointed at was not Ratel, but the child hanging over his shoulder.

“I am talking about this trash. The trash that dared to steal God’s ability.”

“Mister Jing.......”

The flustered child called the young Jing, but he did not even blink.

“I was sure I threw him into the river earlier, but he is still alive.”

Jing looked around with his face stiffened rigidly.

Everyone’s gaze was fixed on the child.

Not a single person was looking elsewhere.

They quietly and coldly stared at the child as they surrounded Ratel and the child.

Killing intent filled their eyes and turned toward the child.

Jing realized that he had once again been placed at a crossroads of choice.

* * *

“As of this day, this hour, the food distribution center will cease operations.”

At the administrator’s announcement, the people who had been waiting only for free food began murmuring.

Sighs and complaints erupted here and there.

“What are you talking about?! Are you saying you will not give us food from now on?!”

“It is for internal repairs.”

When people joined in with someone’s shout, the man who had informed them of the food distribution center’s closure frowned and answered.

In the end, it meant they would no longer provide free provisions as they had until now.

People gradually scattered.

“Damn it. I could not even beg properly because I was standing here since dawn.”

“Is it only a day or two that nobles do whatever they want? We are the only ones dying.”

To those who needed someone to blame, there was no more perfect target than a noble already once abandoned by the imperial family.

“This is why they get abandoned by God.”

When someone muttered, everyone glanced around and grew uneasy, but it was clear that most of them were thinking similar things.

It was laughable.

The people who had driven them out onto the streets were separate, yet they resented the one who refused to give them the food before their eyes.

It was an illogical and blind trust toward the imperial family that was difficult to explain with ignorance and foolishness alone.

“Damn it. I should not have expected anything from such a filthy family.”

A grumbling man brushed past me.

Unfortunately, that is normal.

Because this entire world was made for the imperial family.

Absolute belief, unchanging faith, loyalty staked on one’s life.

These were the things the people of the great empire, Abiran, had as their roots from birth.

If this was shaken, they could not endure it.

Their parents’ parents’ parents had all lived that way.

A thousand years had passed while they were deprived of the very method of rebellion, without even knowing that fact.

And the person who could save this was none other than Ratel, the protagonist of this novel.