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SSS-Class Suicide Hunter (Web Novel) - Chapter 265: Family Interview (2)
Chapter 265: Family Interview (2)
This chapter is updated by NovelFree.ml
Translator/Editor: Ryuu
"Hmm."
The Heretic Inquisitor stroked his chin.
“Why I became a psycho…”
-Yes, Lime.
“Hmm. That’s a difficult question.”
From beyond the hologram, he groaned and pondered deeply. The Heretic Inquisitor's serious face was the same, whether he was facing a complex math problem or this situation.
It was both his strength and weakness.
At least, it wasn’t the face his children wanted from a parent.
-Why are you so obsessed with success?
Thus, Seimslam continued her offensive.
-Why do you pour all your energy into distinguishing [what’s useful] and [what’s not]? It would be fine if it were just distinguishing, but why are you so eager to categorize everything [quickly]?
In the presence of all Mountain Calamity Tribe members.
No, even other races watched as Seimslam interrogated their god---a deity who once ruled the continent with absolute faith in an ancient empire.
-We are not omniscient. We don’t know many things. It's impossible to instantly discern what potential a child in front of us might have. Therefore, we become humble and patient, giving the child time to develop their abilities. This should be called education. Laimu. But why, KyKna, are you so quick to sort everything into [useful] and [useless]?
She questioned the parent.
-Father, why do you live like that?
"......"
-Can’t you live differently? Really?
Night began to fall in the jungle.
The last rays of sunset slipped away from the damp palm leaves. Flutter! The Fairy Tribe hurriedly placed torches around. Whoosh! Then, the races that were hidden in the forest shadows, including the Mountain Calamity Tribe, became visible in the dim light.
-......
-......
Hundreds of thousands of Mountain Calamity Tribe members.
A race that could crawl on the ground and climb walls, capable of going anywhere but—living their entire lives carrying their homes on their backs, like snails. These races, destined for freedom and bondage, were now silently listening to the conversation between Seimslam and the Heretic Inquisitor.
-Lime…
-Laimu.
It wasn’t because they were overwhelmed by Seimslam’s power.
Nor were they overawed by the Heretic Inquisitor’s divinity.
Simply, Seimslam was speaking on behalf of the entire Mountain Calamity Tribe—voicing questions, grievances, and accusations they wanted to ask and blame their parent for, all gathered into a form of inquiry.
Effectively, Seimslam became the spokesperson for their race, or more precisely, the elder sister. As the elder sister pointed out the parents' faults, the other Mountain Calamity Tribe members sat quietly around like younger siblings.
It was just on a massive scale.
Literally, a parent-teacher meeting.
"Hmm."
Thud.
The Heretic Inquisitor slowly descended from the air and sat opposite Seimslam. He had cut off the [Holy Technique-Teleportation]. Now, nothing separated the parent and child—not a difference in eye-level, not heaven and earth.
Only the torches someone had lit flickered quietly.
“Seimslam. I can apologize to all of you anytime. It’s my fault that the empire fell. The privileges you enjoyed vanished, and since then, the Mountain Calamity Tribe’s life has been reduced to a mere barony, mining salt on the outskirts and supplying it to the Earth Spirit Tribe. It’s my failure. Regarding that, I have nothing to say even if I had ten mouths, so I apologize…”
-No, that’s not it.
Seimslam stroked her face with her tentacle.
She seemed to massage her forehead with her tentacle due to the stress.
-The first empire, the glory of childhood, the failure of youth, and the return to a mere laborer now… I’m not blaming such changes. No. On the contrary, father did really well.
“Huh?”
-In this world, which race has ever been the conqueror of a continent, even just once? Mountain Calamity Tribe. Earth Spirit Tribe. Aren't those the only two? Father reached a height only two beings have ever achieved in this world. Even though you fell later, Lime. We respect your abilities.
"......"
-We’re not questioning your success or failure. Look at us.
Seimslam approached closer.
-Look at us. KyKna.
Her one remaining, battle-scarred tentacle gently covered the Heretic Inquisitor's hand.
"......"
The Heretic Inquisitor looked.
-Look at us, Father.
And then.
Seimslam wore a smile exactly like the one the Heretic Inquisitor had made.
Faced with that smile, the Heretic Inquisitor was paralyzed for a moment.
-We throw useless children into blue stone caves and laugh, saying, ‘Lime, it can’t be helped.’ It might be our wickedness. It might be laughter born from cruelty. But it’s different, Father.
"......"
-It’s the innocent laughter you implanted in us.
『Ah! Unfortunately, this is useless!』
『Shall we throw it away?』
『Ahaha.』
-We might look a little different, with more or fewer arms than you, Father.
Seimslam playfully wiggled her one remaining tentacle.
-But still, we’ve inherited almost everything from you. What you intended and what you didn’t. Your laughter, gestures, the weight you chose to carry in this world… everything.
"......"
-So, Father, you don’t need to thank us for establishing the first empire, nor apologize for our fall from it. Those are trivial matters. I, we, want to know.
-Why did you become such a psycho.
Because.
-So we can understand why we are psychos like this.
All the Mountain Calamity Tribe’s tentacles turned towards the Heretic Inquisitor.
-Speak, Father.
"......"
-We want to know ourselves.
Silence followed.
In the sticky stillness, the Heretic Inquisitor opened his lips.
“I am.”
-......
“I am……"
[The 40th floor quest is currently in progress.]
And then.
-No, why are you so obsessed with making money?
The Fairy Tribe surrounded the Countess.
The air in the jungle was noisy, like a hearing, and the Fairies, despite their beautiful faces, scowled viciously, launching a relentless assault on their [god].
-It’s always about money. Doing or not doing, it's always money. The world is all about money, seriously.
“So, does that make you feel bad?”
The Countess puffed on a water pipe, exhaling smoke. It was a product developed by the Fairy Tribe, but he had just bought it for an extra sum. Although it was a product developed by his children and bought by a parent, the mood didn't seem too pleasant.
“Earning money should feel good, right? Isn’t it?”
-Well, it feels good to handle money, but… can’t you teach us something other than money? Like music? Songs? Art? Exaggerated self-promotion like the world is so beautiful I could die? Or ways to screw over others by saying I'm too beautiful for this world?
"......"
“You don’t understand. I can’t teach anything other than making money.”
-Why is that?
“I was born a nobody’s kid.”
Through the smoke of the water pipe, the Countess smirked.
“My house was so poor, actually, we didn’t even have a house. Ever heard of a garbage city? Maybe not. The world I was born in was much larger than your continent and had far more people. So much so that the garbage discarded by people could build mountains.”
-Ah....
“But among the garbage, there were sometimes recyclables. Stuff that could make money. Naturally, traders get attracted. Garbage left by others eating, wiping, playing, or even making love... sifting through all kinds of garbage, trying to find the ones that could make money.”
-Oh…
The Fairy Tribe all had bright expectations. They quickly ran calculations in their heads.
-Is that a profitable business? The profit margin seems too slim.
"Heh heh."
The Countess chuckled, seemingly in a good mood.
“It won’t make money, right? It's lousy, isn’t it?”
-Yes.
“Right. Spot on. That's why our daily wage was even less than a kid's booger."
-.......
“At least if the adults extort from you, there's nothing left in your hand. What can you do? You have to sneak out while the adults are sleeping, secretly rummaging through the garbage piles. If you get caught, you’re done for. You have to sleep in short spurts throughout the day and act like nothing's wrong. That's the only way to gather the most valuable trash.”
-.......
“Listen well, my children. At least, those who are like my children.”
The Countess slowly put down her water pipe.
Then, bending her waist, she whispered to the Fairy Tribe— tens of thousands of them looking at her.
In a dark voice. Using telepathy.
“Don’t whine about why I didn't teach you anything else. The moment you whine about such things, you're already proving that you’re nothing more than a brat.”
-.......
“Making money is hard. The act of making money itself is a stroke of luck."
The Countess’s eyes brimmed with demonic energy.
“A moneyless child. Say, a little kid living in the heart of a garbage city like me, suddenly wishes one day to [learn the piano] intensely. That's a delusion, isn’t it? It only looks beautiful in dreams. If that child really wants to learn the piano, they’d have to luckily find a used piano in a trash heap, luckily find an old man nearby who knows how to tune pianos, and, furthermore, luckily gather readable sheet music from the trash, and, finally, be lucky enough to have musical talent.”
-.......
“For someone without money, the mere wish to learn something, to want to do something, is a lifetime gamble. It’s betting all your time, luck, life, everything, on a gamble that might just be within reach.”
-.......
“What about you?”
The Countess scanned the audience.
As some of the Fairy Tribe met her gaze, their shoulders twitched. Among them were certainly fairies who had lived longer than the Countess, but the pressure emanating from the 5th ranked being of the tower was too much to handle.
“What do you think?”
It’s easy to overlook this fact when she sometimes transforms into a cat and leisurely taps on dog grass.
The Countess, born a commoner in some trash village, had risen to the position of a tycoon, holding all the trade in the tower.
There were few humans on this continent, in our tower, or even in the outside world who could withstand the venom in the Countess's breath.
“Want to learn music? Pay up. Use money to find a teacher. Buy music sheets. Buy an instrument. Yes, picking an instrument might be a bit troubling. It's quite expensive. Choose your instrument while alternating between considering your passion for music and your family’s financial leeway. Carefully... Yes, carefully.”
The Countess laughed.
It was a laugh refined from long-aged poison.
“Money allows you to worry.”
-.......
“Money gives you countless possibilities. Music? If you try and don’t like it, quit. It might cost some money, but you have enough, don’t you? Many people mistake this, but money is not a goal or result. It’s a [starting point]. I, as your parent, have simply gifted you with a starting point.”
The Countess pulled out a fan from her bosom.
“So, [why did our parents only teach us how to make money]? Is that your worry? Good. Very good. Go ahead and worry. Even if you waste time worrying, you won’t starve to death because you didn’t earn your daily wage, right? Waste it cheerfully.”
-.......
“Worry, thought, contemplation. All of these are [pleasant] luxuries. Every time you immerse in worry, every time you dive into contemplation, you subconsciously realize how lavishly you’re living your life. See? These subtle luxuries are what make you great. Or at least, they plant the illusion that you’ve become great.”
The Countess smiled.
Then she opened her fan and covered her lower face with it.
“To think when you want, to live where you desire, to do what you wish. I call this freedom. Money frees you. Only money does.”
-.......
“Let me ask once more. My children. Or at least, those who are like my children.”
The Countess, with cat-like eyes, surveyed the tens of thousands of Fairy Tribe members.
“Were you unhappy to be born as my child?”
“Or did you [think] you were unhappy?”
“If so, how did you feel at the moment you thought, [I was unhappy because I was born as that person’s child]? Did it feel bad? Or maybe…”
The Countess chuckled.
“Did you start feeling a bit prouder of yourself for even having such thoughts, a bit more proud, or did it make you a little happy?”
-.......
“As I said, thoughts and worries, contemplation, are all pleasant luxuries.”
It was a smile like a dark crescent moon.
That crescent moon chuckled out loud, "Aha."
“In my view, your lives seem quite pleasant?”
And then.
[The 41st floor quest is currently in progress.]
-Why did you choose us?
The Gill Fish Race asked the Paladin.
-We are beings who live in water. In contrast, the great dolphin... You seem to be a being who lives on land. Our worlds are too different.
The Gill Fish Race resembled mermaids.
With wave-like tattoos all over their bodies, when the Gill Fishes swam together, it looked like beautiful waves washing the shore. They were a water tribe.
-Kekerkker chose the Earth Spirit Tribe. Lime chose the Mountain Calamity Tribe. While they look very different, both were born and live on land. They have more similarities than differences. But, why did you choose us?
The Gill Fishes were still gathered in the river.
-Why us?
The Paladin sat on a huge rock that had emerged above the river, surrounded by thousands of Gill Fishes--- perhaps tens of thousands, including children swimming underwater.
"......."
The Paladin gazed down at the river.
