“Then what do you want from me?”
As Cairens continued his rude attitude, Seianes asked sharply.
“Do you want to point out my faults right now?”
“To be precise, I’m telling you to admit your own sins. Seianes.”
Cairens neither hesitated nor backed down. Even though he should have been afraid before a god, he stood firmly in that spot.
“If many humans suffered because of your arrogant actions, would you willingly pay the price if you must admit that sin and pay the consequences?”
At Cairens’s audacious question, Seianes was at a loss for words.
A price… Seianes felt no guilt whatsoever about what he had done, nor did he even feel the need to look back on it.
Humans were, in any case, beings that lived by borrowing the mercy and power of the gods. The gods cared for and loved them. But that didn’t mean they had an obligation to worry about humans.
He pitied the humans who were swept up by his sorrow and power, but that wasn’t something Seianes could do anything about. It was a natural phenomenon that his grief was conveyed to the earth.
Besides, no one thought it was wrong that humans had paid many sacrifices due to a god’s wrath in the first place.
That’s why no one had ever blamed him for wrongdoing until now.
Though Henelion had blamed Seianes for abandoning his duty of responsibility, even that came with no particular punishment. Perhaps Seianes himself had unknowingly imposed punishment on himself.
But since he was living well without any particular harm, he still didn’t know what the punishment was. Since Seianes had no malicious intent, he only thought that He must have handled it lightly on His own.
That’s why a subtle anger and interest arose simultaneously toward the demigod who dared to try to teach him.
Cairens wanted Seianes to take proper responsibility.
“So you want me to take responsibility equal to how much I hurt humans?”
“Of course. Just as they lost something precious, I want you to pay an equivalent price as well.”
“An equivalent price…”
Something precious.
Suddenly, Abrisius’s face flashed by.
Seianes’s most precious existence. His treasure and love that couldn’t be compared to anything else. That child who, even though he had grown now, was still endlessly weak and fragile like the first time.
The air around Seianes sank. Cairens’s words clearly meant that Seianes should also try losing something precious as the price for his wrongdoing.
His logic was so irritating that Seianes’s expression crumpled.
It was no different from telling him to lose again that child he had nearly lost.
“Cairens, how impious.”
His tone was calm, but anger was embedded within it.
To dare bring up his child. Even if Cairens didn’t have that intention, Seianes had already once nearly lost his most precious thing. It was natural for him to react this sensitively.
“Are you angry about losing something, but think it can’t be helped when others lose things?”
But even at his warning, Cairens didn’t stop there.
Rather, he pointed out Seianes’s brazen attitude. How could he react so sensitively to his own matters when he didn’t care at all about human sorrow and pain?
Such a way of thinking probably wasn’t just Seianes’s problem. Most gods would be just as hypocritical and shameless.
That fact evoked even more aversion toward gods in Cairens.
While getting so angry about his own matters… why doesn’t he think even a little about what humans think? Arrogant and selfish to the very end.
Would the day ever come when he, when they, would pay for those sins…?
“Cairens, let’s stop here for today.”
In the end, Seianes was the first to step back. He didn’t want to cause any more friction with Cairens.
One who was born solely to become a hero by his father’s will. It wouldn’t do to arbitrarily refuse to acknowledge him with his predetermined fate. Seianes had no intention of being more emotional here and causing setbacks in Cairens building his power.
Though he was arrogant and insolent, Cairens had to learn power from him. Now that he knew how Cairens thought about humans, just being aware of the hostility he held toward him was enough.
There had definitely been times when he caused humans pain. Seianes acknowledged that point. Whether to apologize or not, it was humans’ fate to be caught up in his power in the first place.
Of course, if he said more here, a quarrel would certainly be unavoidable.
Not wanting to needlessly create trouble, he decided to hold back his words. Instead, it was necessary to let the arrogant and insolent Cairens know his position.
To tell him to accept his fate that couldn’t be helped no matter how much he refused and denied it.
“…Whether I paid for my sins or not, you must learn the Power of the Earth from me, Cairens. Even if you don’t want to become a god, that too is predetermined.”
No matter how much Cairens refused, fate couldn’t be changed.
“You said you wanted to protect humans. If you really want to protect humans, do as we say. I’m aware of that ill will you hold toward me too. But if you’re bound by those feelings, you won’t be able to protect the remaining humans. For your whole life.”
He pointed out the facts to Cairens, who wanted to become a hero protecting humans.
It wasn’t a request but a compulsion, and it was the reason Cairens was born.
To win the future battle against Ircadeon, whether Cairens liked it or not, he had to accept this reality.
“…”
Having lost his words, Cairens lowered his head. Each of Seianes’s words pierced like daggers and stung. His words were accurate facts. Cairens had to protect humans.
And to do that, he had to fight Ircadeon.
In the end, Cairens’s opinion wasn’t needed anywhere. The only important thing was the fact that he was the being who would defeat Ircadeon.
“For now, today, control your divine power as I told you and purify part of the contaminated land.”
Finally, Seianes spoke toward Cairens.
He didn’t want to talk with him any longer. If he stayed here any longer, only their mutual feelings would be hurt needlessly. It was better to leave quickly before the rift deepened further.
He wanted to see Abrisius even sooner.
* * *
After Seianes left the contaminated land…
In unbearable humiliation and anger, Cairens ground his teeth.
Seianes, who far from admitting his sins, told Cairens to become a god.
Each of his words was filled only with self-righteous arrogance, and he showed not a trace of guilt about Atlante’s destruction. Rather, the ignorant expression of not even knowing what the problem was made it even more disgusting.
And yet when his precious things were mentioned, he became sharp and called it insolent. Wasn’t that outrageous?
“How can I…”
How could he shatter that arrogance that refused to admit its faults? Cairens wanted to see Seianes lose something precious and crumble. To be precise, he wanted to confirm it with his own two eyes.
Just as humans had lost precious things due to the self-righteous and selfish actions of beings called gods. May they also lose precious things. And may they look back on their actions…
