What is order?
It’s lining up to buy things, following the law, paying taxes after earning money, and not recklessly coveting others’ belongings.
But the ‘order’ we think of is merely what appears to human eyes.
If you dig deeper into the concept of order, what ultimately emerges are physical laws. Ideologies and emotions are meaningless. In the end, everything is bound by physical laws.
So, the Fanggriffon thought.
If the order that the goddess loves is for humans to live orderly, wouldn’t it be better to touch something much more microscopic to make all of that ‘meaningless’?
Wouldn’t it be the greatest chaos to create the Fanggriffon’s ‘order’ and prove that the goddess’s order is wrong?
And he had no strength to execute such a delusional plan.
Thus, he thought of ‘using’ the order of this world to manipulate the goddess’s power in reverse.
“If order is so wonderful, isn’t the best way to usurp the goddess’s power within that ‘order’? And with that power, he planned to reshape the world as he wanted. Back to the beautiful days he longed for.”
The emperor, speaking like that, really seemed to enjoy himself.
Now, the position of the Pope no longer existed. Thanks to a ‘mechanism’ that had risen from below, it had collapsed pathetically to the side, becoming a rather unremarkable entity despite its splendid decorations.
In fact, the mechanism itself had no embellishments.
However, every vividly colored part used in the mechanism was shining brilliantly under the light.
Large and small gears were intricately entangled. It looked like a giant version of the moving part of an expensive wristwatch. It reminded one of the inner workings of the ancient Greek relic, the Antikythera mechanism, seen once on the internet.
The delicate movement of that machine was so regular that it was hard to believe it was made for thoroughly blasphemous reasons.
“Ah, ah…”
But it wasn’t surprising that such a sound came from Sophia’s mouth upon seeing the machine.
According to the emperor, the device created by the Fanggriffon was merely to oppose the goddess.
Nothing else, no grand purpose, just pure vandalism in its most basic form.
…And the result of that vandalism was—
“Do you wish to plunge this world into chaos too?”
“No.”
The emperor stepped back and smirked.
“An empire cannot exist in a chaotic world. The very existence of an empire is ultimately built upon the delicate order of humans. But yes, I covet the goddess’s power. With it, I can place the world under the order I desire.”
That’s right.
The emperor had taken the equality of his envisioned world as his ultimate goal.
While it sounded absurd in general terms—
Clang! Suddenly, the sound of blades clashing resonated.
“Kuh…!”
The person who was flung back, spitting out a groan, was Sophia.
Creak, the sound of her shoes scraping against the smooth stone floor was heard. Sophia stumbled for a moment but didn’t completely fall.
“Oh, you shouldn’t interrupt His Majesty while he’s speaking. That’s quite rude, isn’t it?”
With a swish, the whip-like blade gathered again. With a clank, the sword, which had been writhing like a snake, returned to the ordinary form of three swords.
“Bella.”
“Our sisters have gathered.”
Bella, who had blocked Sophia’s attack, waved at us.
It wasn’t only Bella.
Until just before we entered, there were hardly any people in the building. I almost believed the emperor had sacrificed everyone in this city.
…But that wasn’t the case.
The eyes of those slowly pouring into the room had no focus. Although they were all faces I had never seen before, it was easy to tell they were originally from the Papal State.
They had color, so they were not dead.
But that didn’t mean they were conscious either.
“…Why?”
“Hmm, why do you think?”
As Sophia mumbled in a daze, Bella shrugged her shoulders and replied.
“Honestly, I can’t fully understand it either, but if I think about what Father said, this could be ‘order’, don’t you think?”
“…Does that mean it’s already succeeded?”
“Not perfectly, though. It seems that a final piece is needed.”
The emperor said this as he took something out from within his robes.
What the emperor held was a ‘completed’ part.
A gear, slightly larger than an adult male’s palm, fully formed.
“I received help from my future self.”
Seeing my expression, the emperor genuinely seemed entertained.
“If I can use parts sent from the future, why would I need to search for new parts here?”
Future, huh—
Ah.
Without realizing it, I turned to Alice. It looked like she was a bit flustered by my sudden gaze.
No, no, no.
Right, she was suspicious indeed. I get that. I couldn’t use my powers properly when I was next to her. It wouldn’t be odd at all if she had some part of the Masked Girl’s essence.
But if that was a ‘part sent from the future’—
Have they eaten time paradox for breakfast?
No matter how much quantum mechanics and parallel universe theories aren’t well-established in this worldview, isn’t it a bit too cavalierly assembled? Is there really that much overflowing confidence in oneself?
But the real problem wasn’t such things.
I turned my head again.
What the emperor held was clearly a completed part.
…It wasn’t the time to think about whether or not there were two ‘Jibos’.
“Once this part became complete, the goddess ultimately had to change her words. Her promise to grant freedom whatever one does under ‘order’ had to be broken, and the Jibo had to be broken as well. That’s only natural. No matter how outstanding and magnanimous a king may be, he won’t overlook those who challenge his authority. And the Fanggriffon was satisfied.”
In the end, he was able to shatter the goddess’s ‘order’ with his own power.
“The most important part of order is to ‘maintain’ it. If the principle isn’t upheld, it becomes chaos. At that point, the goddess’s power is nothing but an impure substance that intrudes upon order.”
The emperor turned his body and began to step up towards where the mechanism was located.
“Since then, until now, no one has seen the blue light. The holy power remains, so we can tell that the goddess is somehow watching us from somewhere, but that’s it. We don’t know if it’s due to the shame of breaking her own principles or if this machine’s one-time activation had such a considerable impact. That story isn’t passed down. I think the latter is closer to the truth.”
The emperor stood before the mechanism.
Inside that complex device, there was a space just right for a single gear to fit in.
“And one thing is certain.”
The emperor placed the gear he held into the device.
“The goddess will never abandon this world. That’s probably why you’re here.”
The emperor turned around and looked directly at me.
“If the goddess still possesses enough power to intervene in this world, she would have sent out the most important being at the most critical moment.”
…The emperor had birthed children who carried his blood from numerous women.
In the original story, there were no children between the emperor and the goddess. This is still just speculation, but it seems that by chance, Claire, who inherited the imperial bloodline, was born, and the emperor would attempt to use her to utilize the device. Since the device itself was created by the Fanggriffon, it can be seen as an understandable condition.
So I struggled not to look toward Claire. The emperor was now mistaking me for a being ‘born from the goddess and himself.’
As much as possible, that misconception should be maintained to the end.
Because whether I win or lose, it doesn’t matter; the emperor will fail regardless.
“But I won’t sit idly by. The goddess’s power isn’t perfect. This is a device that even the goddess couldn’t perfectly destroy.”
The emperor quietly gazed at me and said.
“First, why don’t you say something? Don’t you want to join hands with me? I am different from the Fanggriffon. I intend to do my utmost to establish a new order and create a wonderful world.”
Of course.
In his own way, he would think that way.
For that, devising and executing plans was the emperor’s hobby.
“…What if I refuse?”
“Then I will usurp your power. Do you understand? This mechanism has a ‘space’ to do that. Originally, it would have been sufficient with just someone who is a descendant of the Fanggriffon, but if there is an existence that carries both bloodlines, it would be a different story. Wouldn’t you agree there’s worth in testing it?”
Is he saying he’ll use me as a part?
…If he knew that Claire was such a being, he would try to use her for that purpose.
I silently raised my gun.
“Is that your answer? Understood.”
The emperor nodded.
“Then it seems there’s no choice but to converse with power.”
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