Published at 9th of July 2020 7:00 am

Chapter 774: Differences

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10 years ago, there were also many wars in Eich, but things were now fundamentally different.

Ever since I started becoming active in the mortal plane, it seemed like there hadn’t been a single day where there were no wars here. This wasn’t because of anything like how I always made fun of myself for being a jinxer, but rather because this damned world had entered the Holy War period again, meaning that there would be no peaceful place left at all.

Since the entire world was embroiled in war, it would be a joke to want individual peace and stability.

Of course, there were still “saints” and “saintesses” who called out for world peace. There were also plenty of ambitious schemers who took advantage of the political situation. When entire tribes, countries, and even species had to battle for the sake of survival, individual futures naturally became impossible to ascertain.

You could sing loudly about peace and give fresh flowers to the invaders. That was your freedom. But, would the invaders greet you with friendly smiles, or… a shiny sword?

History informed us that no matter how much an invader pretended to have great reasons for invading, or how friendly their policies were to other species and other countries’ citizens, once the invader truly had control of the situation, then a difference in treatment and all sorts of outright stealing would then occur.

“Ridiculous. Wouldn’t it be a waste of their time if they didn’t gain something? You really think that invaders would come all the way just for charity work? War is also a type of expensive investment that requires the expenses to be recouped.”

In Eich, this maxim was even more bloody and obvious. Wars here were already about different species fighting over survival space and world domination, only more cruel and direct.

Equality between species? The winning species would obtain plenty of survival space. The ruler and powerful individuals from the winning species could ascend to Godhood and obtain undying bodies. The losing species and their Gods would all be swept into the trash bin of history. So-called equality between species was nothing more than impractical and unrealistic pretty phrase.

If the winning species of this Holy War was the humans, just like how humans won the previous Holy War, then things would still probably remain relatively stable. At the very least, the humans would respect previous historical agreements and contracts with their “allies”, the elves, beastmen, and dwarves. The allied species might not receive very good treatment, but it wouldn’t be that bad, either.

The elves, beastmen, and dwarves were all forced to survive in small corners of the land, so that didn’t count as very bad? Actually, the victors of all past Holy Wars would always immediately start slaughtering the former ruling species and all enemy species right after the Holy War ended. So, in comparison, this really wasn’t all that bad.

Previously, I was on the human side, or perhaps I should call it the Order Faction. This was because I was a human myself, as well as because I didn’t want to see past hatred be repeated anymore.

The former humans of the Tark Republic who were now undead all hated the ogres. The ogres hated the undead back. The elves hated all other species as there were blood grudges between the elves and ogres as well as elves and humans. The dwarves and beastmen were also the elves’ mortal enemies. The reason for all of this could be traced entirely back to the damned Holy War mechanism of this world.

Every victory meant that some other species had failed. Grudges and curses would accumulate. Perhaps some would be lost over time, but most of the time, such grudges would transform into deeper and deeper racial hatred.

“My entire family died. My tribe leader died. It’s all the humans’ fault.”

“Our homeland is the Golden Plains. That’s where our species originated from. The wicked humans betrayed our alliance and stole our land away!”

“We were forced to this remote place. It’s all the humans’ fault.”

“My mom froze to death. It’s all the humans’ fault.”

“I’m so hungry. It’s all the humans’ fault.”

As the generations passed, the losers would keep reminiscing about their glorious past, while the losers’ descendants would blame all of their misfortune on past accumulated hatreds.

It was scary to even imagine what this hatred might become like in the end. This was probably also why the victor of every Holy War would always start a major slaughter afterwards.

This was a never-ending vicious cycle.

Even if one species won a Holy War, there would always be a next time. The current victory would always produce even more grudges and people seeking revenge. Would the current ruling species be able to win again in the next Holy War? That was quite difficult to say. Even if the current ruling species did win again, what about the Holy War after that one? Or in a third Holy War?

Eich’s history was like a mirror. There had never been a dominant ruling species that could rule forever. It was impossible for any species to forever win in the Holy War. This was a cycle of misfortune and hatred.

Would it be possible to end this all just by killing off all other species?

It would be utterly foolish to think so. Even if all other species apart from humans were killed, there would still be differences in human skin color and tribes. Even if all humans of other skin colors and tribes were killed off, there would still be differences between where a person was from and their accent. Even if all such differences were removed and all humans were identical in appearance, as long as there were benefits involved, and something worth fighting over, or maybe even one person drank one more cup of water than another… People would fight over things like where someone was from, even to the death.

This was human nature, or perhaps the instinct of all living creatures to develop themselves. This was a natural end result.

The Creator Goddesses of Order and Chaos had simply given this foundation a little push.

Humans were like this. Other species were like this as well. Everyone wanted to live, but resources were limited. In that case, some excuse would be found to differentiate “us” from the “enemies”. After killing off the “enemies”, there would naturally be more resources for everyone who remained.

I loathed this type of world, which made me feel like I was a primitive and naked animal living in a primeval jungle.

“I can’t change this world no matter what I do? Damn it, damn it, damn it, damn it…”

Perhaps it was despair at the logic of the world which seemed impossible to overcome that sent me into insanity back in the day.

In the end, I discovered the power of Law in the Underground. That was the answer I arrived at for myself.

“Human instinct can’t be relied on. Since morals can’t restrain humans, then let Law be the restraint. We can create various laws. As long as everyone can obey these laws, perhaps Law can eliminate this eternal Holy War forever.”

Actually, my actions were just like those of the first proponents of Legalism in China back in the warring states period. It was due to all the chaos and warring back then that the first Chinese legalist scholars began to search for the rule of law in order to salvage society.

Laws in every generation were different. That was because the laws necessary for each generation were different.

“It’s precisely because morals and self-restraint no longer work that we need Law as a restriction upon people.”

Law wasn’t anything that divine. Law was simply a set of restraints created for certain people. Law appealed to human nature that one should “do beneficial things for oneself and avoid negative punishments”. Basically, this was an exaggerated version of the stick from the carrot and the stick analogy, and maybe some wise systems would also add a little “carrot” so that those who obeyed the law could enjoy some small advantages.

This was simply a possibility, a possibility that was almost impossible to achieve.

This world had tangible Gods in it. In order for everyone to be restrained by the Concept of Law, there needed to be a completely fair judge who surpassed all the Gods.

If the Gods could casually use backdoors in the law as they pleased, then not only would the Concept of Law become meaningless, it would even become a tool for tyranny.

Fortunately for me, Ayer was truly moved by the possibility of creating such a world. Wumianzhe’s ascension to Godhood made the impossible possible. In the end, after experiencing and paying far too much, Hell was finally established as a world where people would be judged after death.

One day, souls would finally stop entering Divine Kingdoms and instead go to Hell, where they would be judged on personal character and good and evil deeds rather than how much they worked and sacrificed for their God. Only then would the gears of hatred finally stop.

One day, everyone would finally fear being judged after death, which would truly make them pay attention to the potential consequences of their own words and actions. Perhaps that could truly eliminate war.

Of course, such things were only possibilities. This was the utmost limit of what I could do.

Now that Hell had been successfully established, the war fanatics from both the Order Faction and Chaos Faction were quite bothersome. As long as they continued to fan the flames of war, then this Holy War wouldn’t stop, and all sacrifices so far would be meaningless.

And so, as I was in a hurry for revolution, the old Gods and their Divine Kingdoms seemed like they were really in the way…

Thus, we had always been searching for an opportunity to eliminate as many existences from the old generation as possible so that this Holy War would be the final Holy War of all.

But at this time, Karwenz provided an alternate choice.

“Won’t everything end simply by opening up Eich’s dimensional barrier, which will completely eliminate the need for the Holy War?”

I had constantly been thinking about Karwenz’s words and actions recently.

Would his method truly end the Holy War? Was his method correct? Rather than my “possibility” that might not even happen or be realized for so long, perhaps his choice would be far more effective, with fewer sacrifices.

“Even if there are incredibly fearsome dimensional invaders outside, at least all species in Eich will stop their internal warring when faced with powerful enemies that threaten their ability to survive. Perhaps this can even be an opportunity to create an effective communication mechanism afterwards if neither Creator Goddess wants to stir up trouble anymore. Back in my original world, it was only after the Allies defeated the Axis that the United Nations was born.”

To describe myself nicely, maybe I could be termed as overly cautious. To be more blunt, maybe I was the type who always overthought things, leading to poor sleep and premature balding… Cough cough, Roland was the best, Roland wasn’t bald at all!

But after much thinking, analysis, and comparing, I decided to give up on Karwenz’s idea.

The reason? Maybe it sounded quite laughable, but I made up my mind due to memories of my original world.

“Earth never had any tangible Gods or a Holy War, but isn’t it the same with major wars every decade or two? Will opening up the dimensional barrier really solve this world’s problems? I highly doubt it. Although my method is slow, it will be concretely effective. At the very least, Law is commonplace in my original world, and the United Nations did improve things slightly by providing somewhat of a military deterrent. If the dimensional barrier is opened, the chains of hatred will only change to having a new target, and the stage will become even bigger. Even more competing species will get involved. What meaning is there to that? There will forever only be one victor, and there will only be more losers.”

After much thinking, I decided in the end to reject Karwenz’s idea. My understanding of him due to how close we were only made myself even more resolved to fight him until the end.

“Karwenz, from start to finish, you’re probably only doing this so that you can have more fun. The stage of Eich is too small for you, so you’re bored. Thus, you want to play on a bigger stage. What if you accidentally break everything along the way? That’s fine to you, as long as you had fun while doing so. How can I possibly leave the future of the world up to a person like him…”

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