New WorldShadow - 407 (Patreon)

Chapter 407: Yes, Shadow-sama

Having recovered from the shock, Śakra studied Cid, who was still reeling from what he had just learned.

Even after Cid came back to his senses and noticed the strange look directed at him, Śakra showed no intention of stopping.

There’s potential here. Definitely potential...

His eyes grew brighter and brighter. At this point, Śakra was practically looking at Cid the same way he looked at the throne beneath him that symbolized his position as King of the Gods.

“What are you trying to do?”

Cid made no attempt to hide his disgust.

Śakra’s blatant stare was giving him goosebumps.

“I merely wanted to ask you something, little brother Cid. Would you be interested in coming to the Hindu pantheon and becoming an Immortal?”

Śakra spoke mysteriously as he stared at Cid.

He recalled the analysis that member of the Cult of Diablos had presented to him, along with the flaws in that analysis, and a bold idea suddenly occurred to him.

Perhaps...

He could simply cut the Cult of Diablos out and do everything himself.

After all, cooperating with an organization of unknown origins that constantly concealed its intentions carried far too much risk.

“Huh?” X2

Neither Cid nor Giada had any idea what Śakra was thinking.

Cid had already decided to bury his head in the sand and pretend his earlier mistake had never happened, while Giada had been quietly watching the show with her eyes closed as she drank red wine.

Yet both of them opened their eyes wide at Śakra’s outrageous proposal.

“I’m serious. I’ve thought about it carefully, again and again, and I’ve reached a conclusion.”

“Little brother Cid, with the way you think, you genuinely fit the behavioral logic of the Immortals on our side. In fact, you’re even more reliable than they are.”

“???”

Śakra ignored Cid’s bewilderment.

The more he talked, the more excited he became, as though some earth-shattering wisdom had suddenly blossomed inside his head.

His ambition continued rising with every word.

“Hold on. Setting aside the fact that nobody sane would agree to this ridiculous request of yours, I remember the position of Immortal in the Hindu pantheon doesn’t even fall under the authority of the King of the Gods.”

“Do you think I’m stupid?”

Cid firmly rejected Śakra’s abrupt proposal.

It was worth clarifying that an Immortal in the Hindu system was nothing like the carefree, unrestrained immortals of Chinese tradition.

The Hindu system placed great importance on future lives.

Under its unique power system, the more hardship someone endured, the more magical power they accumulated. “Immortal” was a general term for people who gained tremendous magical power through suffering and ascetic cultivation, while their physical bodies remained inferior to those of the Celestial Gods serving in Heaven.

To put it simply, if someone wanted to become what Chinese tradition would call a carefree “divine immortal,” then within the Hindu system, they should be aiming for the position of Celestial God instead.

Celestial Gods only had to fulfill their duties.

After that, they could spend every day throwing parties, drinking fine wine, and enjoying themselves.

Same terminology, completely different meaning.

The profession of Immortal was basically reserved for suckers.

They might be respected, and their mechanics were absurdly powerful, but if they did not suffer, they gained no strength whatsoever.

And if you were deliberately suffering just to gain power, wasn’t that putting the cart before the horse?

More importantly, the authority to make someone an Immortal did not belong to the King of the Gods.

It belonged to Śakra’s superiors, the Trimurti.

Śakra himself was the one Immortals regularly found arbitrary excuses to harass.

There was even an internationally famous joke about it.

Question: Why does an Immortal with nothing better to do deliberately cause trouble for the King of the Gods?

Answer: If I don’t cause trouble for the King of the Gods, how will everyone know how hard I’ve been cultivating?

Even Śakra, who possessed enough power to rank among the world’s top fifteen, could do absolutely nothing about the blame constantly dumped on his head by Immortals.

That was simply how the Hindu system worked.

Mechanics were everywhere.

Raw stats?

The Trimurti themselves were the force behind those mechanics.

Unless you could defeat the Trimurti, no matter how high your stats were, the mechanics would still crush you.

Śakra’s attitude toward the matter was simple.

If an Immortal said it was his fault, then it was his fault.

The words of an Immortal were like those of a terminal cancer patient.

They were already suffering that much. Why couldn’t you just humor them?

During those endless years of bitter cultivation, you had to give them a few happy moments when they could remind everyone that they existed.

The problem was that the Immortal profession occupied an extremely awkward position.

Go one level higher, and you became a Celestial God.

A Celestial God had responsibilities, yes, but they were respected, and the Three Realms genuinely could not function without them.

Once they finished their duties, nobody cared what they did in Heaven.

Throw parties every day, drink fine wine, surround themselves with beautiful women. No problem whatsoever.

Go one level lower, and you had the innately evil Asura clan.

Everyone hated them, and they spent their days loafing around instead of doing anything useful.

But at least they had self-awareness.

They knew they lacked the ability to permanently replace the Celestial Gods.

So every once in a while, they sacrificed an Asura King, stormed Heaven for fun, enjoyed themselves for a while, and then got beaten back down.

Immortals, meanwhile, were stuck awkwardly in the middle.

They thought the innately evil Asuras were beneath them because the entire world despised that race.

But if they tried to mingle with the Celestial Gods...

Sorry, you’re not invited to the orgies.

And if an Immortal forced their way into one, they would lose their qualifications as an Immortal, at which point the Trimurti would personally send a trident their way.

So Immortals spent their days suffering through ascetic cultivation with nothing else to do.

Once they accumulated enough magical power, they would come out and cause trouble, finding some random excuse to curse whichever Asura or Celestial God happened to catch their eye.

Why?

Because that was the only way they could assert their existence.

And once they exhausted their magical power, they had to go back, suffer some more, and slowly accumulate it again.

They were practically temporary substitutes caught between the Asuras and the Celestial Gods.

Except they were defective substitutes.

At least the Asuras got to enjoy themselves when they attacked Heaven.

Immortals gained nothing from nitpicking everyone except draining the magical power they had suffered so long to accumulate.

People had discussed what Immortals actually wanted.

The final conclusion was that they mainly wanted attention.

At the same time, they liked waving around trivial authority, constantly finding fault with the Celestial Gods and Asuras so they could satisfy their superiority as Immortals.

Everyone simply humored them.

After all, even a dog could get invited to the orgy before an Immortal would.

Cid knew enough about these amusing stories to reject Śakra immediately.

Śakra, however, refused to give up.

He slung an arm around Cid’s shoulders.

“Don’t say that, little brother Cid. Sure, I might not be able to do anything about those idiot Immortals, but I am still the King of the Gods. Pulling a few strings behind the scenes to arrange something for you wouldn’t be difficult.”

Śakra spoke like a caring older brother.

The more he talked, the brighter the gleam of “wisdom” in his eyes became.

“That’s enough, Śakra. Can’t you see that he’s uncomfortable?”

Giada’s expression suddenly turned cold.

“Take your hand off him. Or has your dignity fallen so low that you need to pressure an ordinary Human?”

Śakra glanced at the unexpectedly serious Giada, gave a faint smile, and released Cid’s shoulder.

“I’m only thinking about what’s best for the kid. Being an Immortal might be a little harsh, but it’s still a respected position.”

“Surely nobody would be stupid enough to refuse, especially someone like little brother Cid, whose way of thinking fits Immortal cultivation so perfectly.”

“He’s suited to more than just the Hindu pantheon’s Immortals.”

Giada replied without hesitation.

“A natural-born sage would be respected anywhere. Or has the Hindu pantheon become so desperate for talent that you need to steal people from other places?”

“Wow... a natural-born sage?”

Śakra raised an eyebrow.

“Third Primogenitor, that’s quite the evaluation. I only wanted to test him a little.”

“Surely a natural-born sage isn’t someone whose mindset qualifies while everything else about him is this insignificant?”

“Everyone has different standards.”

Giada calmly lifted her wine glass.

“For me, the right mindset is enough.”

“What’s the point of pursuing strength if all it brings is suffering?”

The atmosphere became razor-sharp again.

Two beings standing near the very pinnacle of the world’s power structure were now on the verge of fighting inside a roadside night bar over an insignificant background character.

The sheer absurdity of the situation was strange enough that even someone as unconventional as Śakra found it bizarre.

The Third Primogenitor’s regard for Cid had completely exceeded his expectations.

Even if Cid had turned out to be the one genuine case hidden among intelligence Śakra had assumed was fabricated, that alone should only have been enough to make Śakra look at him twice.

After all...

Cid was far too weak.

Maybe if Cid obtained some powerful Sacred Gear, he could suddenly soar to the top.

But he hadn’t.

Was there really any reason to care this much?

Willpower might be one component of strength, but even Śakra had no idea what to make of someone this strange.

Cid possessed endless desires and enough drive to act on them, yet was simultaneously lazy enough to remain content in some insignificant corner of the world.

At most, his potential might eventually reach their level.

Keeping an eye on him was reasonable.

Śakra only wanted to give Cid a push because a brilliant idea had occurred to him, and he wanted to conduct an experiment.

But what did the Third Primogenitor want?

“Fine. Since this is the first day we’ve met, I’ll give you some face, little brother Cid.”

Śakra smiled.

“But if you ever change your mind, you can come find me anytime.”

His expression remained friendly, but something meaningful flickered in his eyes.

If it really didn’t work out, then he could simply give up on Cid and continue cooperating with the Cult of Diablos.

It made little difference to him.

“Actually, I don’t understand something.”

Cid tried to follow the thought process of this middle-aged man who seemed to do whatever idea popped into his head.

When he failed, he finally asked.

“What exactly do you gain from recruiting me to become a corporate slave?”

“Benefits? Plenty.”

Śakra laughed.

“For example, perhaps the Trimurti would reward me with a nice sum of money. Hahaha...”

Cid immediately knew Śakra was making things up.

He exchanged a glance with Giada.

She shrugged.

“If you don’t want to say, then forget it.”

Giada changed the subject.

“For example, as the King of the Gods of Heaven, why aren’t you staying with the Hindu pantheon to stop troublesome people from causing problems?”

“Why did you come all the way to Japan alone?”

She stared at the laughing Śakra and finally asked the question she had been ignoring all this time.

“Well... I think I mentioned it earlier.”

“I came to investigate Gijera, which nearly destroyed the entire world a few days ago, and to get some firsthand information from little brother Cid.”

“Does something like that really require the King of the Gods himself to investigate?”

“Don’t say that.”

Śakra grinned.

“The mighty Third Primogenitor also came all the way from the Chaos Zone to this tiny place, didn’t she?”

They were exactly the same.

Neither had any right to criticize the other.

“Then may I ask what Your Majesty thinks of the current situation?”

“Not bad.”

Śakra smiled.

“At the very least, I met an interesting little brother.”

“Heh...”

That answer had absolutely nothing to do with the question.

Both Śakra and Giada knowingly looked away.

Neither pressed further.

If they continued questioning each other, they would inevitably end up fighting.

And technically speaking, both of them had entered the country illegally.

“So what do you actually think?”

Cid had noticed the tension between them, but he did not care.

He was genuinely curious.

“...I think I understand a little of what Shadow is trying to do, but overall, I still can’t make sense of him.”

“So you don’t know.”

Cid’s extensive experience with people who spoke in riddles automatically translated Śakra’s vague answer.

“Heh... Of course not.”

Giada was delighted to see Śakra stumble and casually explained.

“Who could possibly understand the thoughts of monsters who defy common sense?”

“Is it really that difficult?”

Cid asked.

“Maybe Shadow meant exactly what he said. Perhaps he’s simply acting as a Judge and giving the world a trial.”

“How is that any different from trying to kill everyone in the world?”

Śakra’s blunt retort cut straight through the idea.

Now that he had fully relaxed, he joined the conversation properly.

“Little brother Cid, how large do you think the gap is between the universally recognized Five Strongest and people like me or the Third Primogenitor?”

“We might rank differently within our respective regions, but generally speaking, we’re all considered part of roughly the same level.”

Depends on the circumstances.

One-on-one, give them boss treatment.

If more than three attack together, downgrade them to minor enemies and slap them one by one.

Depending on how many there are, maybe several slaps. Maybe one slap wipes them all out.

“The gap is big, but I wouldn’t say it’s impossibly big.”

Cid gave the kind of answer perfectly suited to an ordinary background character.

“Didn’t everyone say that during the first Three Realms Peace Conference, all of you joined forces and drove Shadow away?”

Giada smiled strangely.

“That was propaganda.”

“The truth is that Shadow defeated everyone.”

“It was only afterward, because we finally had a common enemy, that the Peace Agreement was successfully signed.”

“If that’s true, then if you simply ignore what the public is demanding...”

Cid stopped mid-sentence.

But he was confident they understood what he meant.

He had actually been curious for a while about how these people viewed Shadow.

Giada’s answer was simple.

“What’s the problem?”

“Shadow really is the enemy of the entire world.”

Once Giada tore through the first layer of pretense, Śakra followed with an amused tone.

“Based on the information we have, we still can’t understand Shadow’s true intentions.”

“But that doesn’t change the fact that we’re enemies.”

“I see.”

Cid’s expression slowly changed.

“Then how do you plan to defeat Shadow?”

Without realizing it, a bloodthirsty smile had appeared on his face.

He could barely contain his excitement.

He knew it.

His plan really was working.

“Cid, I think you misunderstood me.”

Giada noticed his expression.

“What I meant is that we’ll continue encouraging the public’s resistance toward Shadow.”

“Beyond offering material support, that is.”

Seeing Cid’s confusion, she thought carefully and continued.

“Do you know why all the major factions are so perfectly coordinated when it comes to Shadow?”

“Because they hate him?”

“No.”

Giada set down her wine glass.

“It’s because we need the public to believe we can protect them.”

“What about Shadow?”

“That has nothing to do with the public.”

“Shadow knows we can’t beat him.”

“The important thing is making the public believe we can fight the world’s strongest.”

In only a few sentences, Giada had casually revealed something that sounded utterly ridiculous to Cid.

“Wait.”

Cid abruptly stood.

“If I’m understanding this correctly, your plan is to bury your heads in the sand and pretend not to notice anything Shadow does?”

Once again, Cid became aware of a deeply troubling possibility.

These people who stood at the very top of the entire world...

Were they actually just a bunch of useless idiots?

“That phrasing is a little harsh.”

Giada nodded.

“But broadly speaking, yes.”

She admitted Cid’s accusation.

She merely wished he would phrase things a little more politely.

Cid, however, could no longer stay calm.

If what Giada said was true...

Then what the hell was going to happen to my plan to turn Shadow into an external threat and force the entire world to unite?!

“If I remember correctly, the Three Realms signed the Peace Agreement to protect the interests of every faction in the world.”

“The whole point was that if an external invasion occurred, everyone would cooperate to fight the enemy together.”

“That’s why the agreement was signed, right?”

“Yes.”

Giada nodded.

“That’s why we currently rotate forces to resist the otherworldly enemies.”

“Then what if Shadow wants to destroy one of the factions?”

Cid looked at Giada expectantly.

He desperately wanted to hear the answer he had imagined.

Faced with his intense gaze, Giada looked away somewhat awkwardly.

“...Shadow is simply too powerful.”

“And if nobody follows an agreement, then it’s nothing more than a piece of paper.”

“But if nobody does anything and the agreement falls apart, won’t everyone die anyway?”

Cid stared at her in disbelief.

“Why can’t all of you work together and defeat Shadow?”

Giada did not answer.

Śakra’s eyes, however, suddenly lit up.

He raised four fingers.

“I have experience with this.”

“Stage One: We announce that nothing is happening.”

“Stage Two: We say something might be happening, but we shouldn’t take action.”

“Stage Three: We say maybe we should take action, but there’s nothing we can do.”

“Stage Four: We say perhaps we could have done something earlier, but now it’s too late.”

“Shut up!”

Cid finally broke.

He screamed at Śakra while clutching his head with both hands, his entire body trembling.

What the hell was this?!

If everyone in the world thought this way, did his plan have any chance of succeeding at all?

A warm touch landed on his shoulder.

Cid looked back.

Giada was smiling at him.

“Cid, you’re a good kid.”

“But you need to understand something.”

“If one faction disappears, the rest of us might come under a little more pressure, but the world will keep turning.”

“If even one of the Five Strongest decides they don’t want to play anymore, though... the world might genuinely stop turning.”

I’m not a good person at all!

My plan is going bankrupt!

All that effort I put in is going straight down the drain!