He loved the mother who gave birth to him.
That’s why he had never once hated or disliked being a demigod. Rather, he despised the divine bloodline that was mixed halfway within him.
The gods always believed that they were more benevolent and righteous than humans, and that everything they did must have deep meaning.
However, through the incident he experienced 13 years ago, Cairens realized how foolish that belief was. The gods’ thoughts weren’t as profound as people imagined—rather, they were emotional.
Both gods and humans have their shortcomings.
When both have their deficiencies equally, what reason is there for humans to revere the gods?
What makes them so special that they judge and punish humans arbitrarily by their own standards? They don’t even try to understand the hearts of humans who suffered because of the gods’ mistakes and had no choice but to make such decisions simply because they wanted to live.
Sadness briefly crossed Cairens’s face as he recalled the past when his hometown disappeared entirely.
“Rather, I’m more proud of having human blood than divine blood.”
Because he had treated them carelessly, the gods eliminated his hometown and the people of that land without even giving them a chance to beg for forgiveness. Would the gods ever know that their arrogant act, claiming it was for his sake, only made Cairens more lonely and isolated?
“Hmm…”
At the words that he was more proud of his human heritage than his divine blood, Seianes’s expression turned puzzled.
It was an unexpected reaction.
Ordinary humans yearned for and praised the gods endlessly. Thanks to that, Cairens was also regarded as a special existence by humans. While the weight of those expectations might be burdensome, he would have received benefits more than enough to offset that burden.
“You’re quite strange.”
“Though it may be presumptuous, this is my belief.”
Cairens did not bend his will until the end. Even as a half-god, he had never once been ashamed of having human blood mixed in.
Above all, he didn’t want to show weakness in front of Seianes.
“…I see, I understand well that this is what you think.”
Of course, Seianes, who had no way of knowing this fact, merely tilted his head.
He didn’t know whether to call him humble unlike other humans, or rude for a demigod, but he didn’t feel the need to dictate what Cairens should think one way or another.
“Yes, because I don’t want to treat life—no, humans—arrogantly.”
“…?”
But at the words that followed, his eyebrows twitched.
“I want to become a hero for humans. So I have no desire to shed my human shell and become a true god.”
“Arrogantly?”
Seianes’s lips moved as he asked again. Without hesitation, Cairens nodded and opened his mouth again.
“Yes, arrogantly. Because I don’t want to carelessly make people’s homes uninhabitable and casually sacrifice humans in the process of achieving my goals.”
“I don’t understand why you’re saying such things.”
“Then think carefully, Seianes.”
Cairens’s nerves stood on edge at the tone that truly knew nothing. Did it make sense for the very person who stood by when Atlante was destroyed and made humans make that terrible choice to claim he knew nothing?
When the fault was so clearly theirs, the gods blamed humans instead of Seianes.
Anger suddenly surged up. The resentment he had kept buried for so long stirred again.
Separate from his determination to fight Ircadeon for the sake of humans, his ill feelings toward the gods had not disappeared. Hatred and vengeful feelings toward them still resided in Cairens’s heart.
He had merely suppressed them for the sake of the future.
“Seianes, do you remember? The day you and I first met.”
He recalled their first meeting 13 years ago, when he had to look up endlessly at Seianes.
The difference between then and now was Cairens’s growth.
“Back then, I looked up at you.”
Cairens, who no longer looked up at him or revered him, was facing the man before him head-on. The changed eye level and perspective struck him anew, and he was briefly immersed in emotion.
“So what are you saying now?”
“Why did you cause such a great disaster back then and plunge so many people into suffering?”
It was something he had wanted to ask all this time. So he decided to ask this time around.
He wanted to know the reason why he had caused such a great disaster and made people suffer.
As expected, Seianes had no answer. Because he had lost Abrisius, because of the terror of not being able to find his child, he had not been in his right mind at that time.
And that fear was transmitted directly to the earth within Seianes’s sphere of influence. It was clearly negligence, but not intentional.
“My sorrow. It simply reached the earth as well. I have no reason to explain more than that to you.”
Seianes explained calmly. He didn’t want to give a detailed explanation about losing Abrisius. He had no reason to explain that to Cairens in the first place.
“Didn’t you even think about how people suffered because of that incident?”
“I know that humans suffered. I think it’s regrettable that many lives met unfortunate deaths.”
“…Only in words?”
He was dumbfounded at the shameless answer.
At least Seianes had no right to dare say such things.
Many people died because of his power, and the oracle concerning Cairens was issued because of that incident. As a result, Seianes’s irresponsible actions gave Henelion justification to destroy his hometown.
That’s how Cairens’s hometown turned to ashes. To witness with his own two eyes that Seianes, who had provided the cause, was doing so well like this—it made him even more hateful.
Cairens glared fiercely at Seianes. Though it might be irreverent as an attitude to show before the great God of the Earth, Cairens could not contain his anger at Seianes, who spoke of regret regarding the deaths of so many people.
There was no way Seianes, who noticed that blatant hostility, would let it pass quietly.
“Cairens.”
Seianes’s voice settled heavily in the air.
He could no longer overlook such rudeness. As Seianes, he couldn’t understand Cairens’s behavior. To put forth the strange determination to live as a human, and to show hostility at the offer to become a complete god.
“Are you saying you don’t want to become a god?”
“That’s right. To be precise, an arrogant god like you people, gods like you who think human lives are worth less than ants’ lives.”
“What if I say I’ve never done such a thing?”
“13 years ago, when many people died because of you, did you shed even a single tear?”
Cairens lightly deflected Seianes’s words and asked a question.
Seianes’s expression became subtle, as it was a topic he had never thought deeply about. Back then, he had wandered the world without thinking about anything, desperate only to find Abrisius. He had no time to think about what happened to the humans.
That said, he had never truly treated human lives as worth less than ants’ lives. At least, that’s what Seianes thought. It was an unavoidable special circumstance, and after finding Abrisius, he had devoted his attention to restoring the earth he had destroyed.
“Whatever reason you had, the fact that you treated humans carelessly doesn’t change.”
An excuse not worth listening to. As if he didn’t want to hear anymore, Cairens cleanly ignored his words.
