Chapter 341
CHAPTER 341
TO CHANGE THE WORLD
Lino sat on the far edge of the Holy Holm, overlooking the small divide between it and the mainland . Mountains rose immediately on the sh.o.r.e-side on the other end, s.h.i.+ps humming across the waters repeatedly without a stop, carrying on and off hundreds of people as it was forbidden to fly over . Sitting next to him was a young, bald girl with peculiar eyes eating a raw fish, a custom Lino found more disturbing that most other things in his life .
She ate it with strange delight and gusto, chewing right through the bones, swallowing it all freely . It was her third, Lino mused inwardly, yet she seemed incapable of stopping any time soon .
" . . . no wonder my Mark didn"t work on you," she commented after swallowing a mouthful, glancing at Lino; the latter sighed and whipped out a handkerchief, wiping the girl"s cheeks . "The Empyrean, huh? You sure don"t look the part . "
"There goes the kettle calling the pot black . . . "
" . . . but, then again, my image of the Empyrean is probably slightly distorted . "
"What"s it like?" Lino quizzed .
"A big, hairy monster with six legs, four heads, eighteen arms and a perpetually exposed p.e.n.i.s . " the little girl replied .
" . . . yeah, slightly distorted . Anyway, what are you doing here?"
"I ran away . "
"Why?"
"Because they wouldn"t let me leave . "
"Why did you want to leave?" Lino persisted, much to the little girl"s annoyance .
" . . . ugh, what"s with all these questions? What if I started asking you, huh?! What are you doing here? Why? Why again? Just d.a.m.n why?! See, isn"t it super annoying?"
" . . . I"ve come to bargain . " Lino replied with a grin .
"Bargain what?"
"My skills in exchange for lots and lots of wealth . "
" . . . why do you need money?" the girl asked quizzically . "Can"t you just make what you need?"
" . . . oh, yeah, sure . In my head I just imagine the world going boom, and boom the world goes . That"s how s.h.i.+t works in real life . "
"What other life is there?"
"The imaginary one you"re apparently living in . "
" . . . touche . " the girl nodded, finis.h.i.+ng the last bite of the fish . "So, will you let me go now?"
"No . "
" . . . aww man . I apologized and everything . "
"I got a hold of a Great Seer . Why in the G.o.d"s name would I let you go?"
" . . . because I"m adorable?" the little girl puffed her cheeks and smiled sweetly, crossing her arms over her chest in a feeble attempt to p.r.o.nounce her non-existent b.r.e.a.s.t.s . She kind of looks like a potato . . . Lino kept the thought to himself, though .
"How about instead of letting you go, you come and work for me?" Lino asked, dangling fish -- literally -- in front of the girl"s beaming eyes .
" . . . y-you . . . you can"t bribe me . . . "
"You clearly don"t exactly think I"m a big, bad wolf setting himself up to swallow the world, and even if you did, you don"t seem to have a problem with it . So, why not just hop sides?"
" . . . what for?" she scoffed, finally managing to tear her gaze away from the fish and onto the water divide . "You"ll just be like them . Tell me what to do all the time, where to go, how to do it, what to say, what to think . . . I may as well just stay a beggar . "
"I"ll give you a job," Lino said, putting the fish down . "A mark -- pardon the pun . How you go about it . . . I don"t care . What you do to complete the job . . . I don"t care . What you think about the job, the world, me, or even the Mark itself . . . I don"t care . "
" . . . humph, what, you tryin" to say there isn"t an Empyrean School of Thought all your followers have to abide by?"
"Of course there is," Lino said . "Technically, every group has its own School of Thought . But, I"d wager mine is pretty relaxed . You know, do as you will so long as you don"t betray us . And we"re good . "
" . . . I highly doubt that the world"s number one enemy is so lax about his members . Aren"t you afraid you"re gonna be betrayed all the time?"
.
"Why would anyone betray me?" Lino suddenly picked the girl and placed her on his lap as she cried out lowly . "You know, no amount of fear and terror and rules and regulation will ever create a society no one will betray . Hearts are fickle, and instead of trying to regulate them, I chose to believe them instead . I give my heart out in return for yours . "
" . . . a-a-a-are you conf-confessing your l-l-love to me?!" the girl suddenly curled up inside Lino"s lap, hiding her head away in her knees .
"I want to reign the world, Y"sha," Lino mumbled lowly . "I want to batter through everything and everyone standing in my way . And, one day, when I hoist the Crown, I want to live inside the world where young kids like you don"t have to beg on the streets for food . I want to live inside the world where young men and women aren"t forced to die bearing arms for the dreams of another . I want to live inside the world where everyone can make something of themselves, so long as they"re willing . "
" . . . "
"But, in order to get there," he said, looking up . "I have to do things that make me the same as them . I don"t mind, honestly . I"m not above it, nor am I better than it . Rather, in many ways, I prefer their ways than some condescending, holier-than-thou non-sense that never gets any results and just mockery . And, even more importantly, to get there . . . I can"t do it alone . So, I"m not asking you to be my slave . . . instead I"m asking you to be the wind in my back . "
" . . . tsk, I can"t believe you"re actually using that sly tongue of yours to charm and woo young girls," Hannah suddenly chimed in, causing Lino to sigh . "Have you no shame?"
"You were getting too emotional and decided to lash out?" Lino grinned .
" . . . humph, you already have a girlfriend and you"re flirting with me . Shameless!" the little girl tore herself away from his arms, a tinge of pain flas.h.i.+ng through her eyes .
"Does that mean you won"t help me?" Lino asked, putting on an expression that made Hannah gag for a moment .
" . . . I-I . . . I didn"t say that . . . "
"Why don"t you go with big sister?" Lino said, smiling sheepishly . "I bet you"ll look real pretty after a good bath . "
" . . . y-yeah . . . thanks . . . "
Lino smiled apologetically at the glaring Hannah as she took Y"sha away . He remained seated, taking out a gourd of ale, slowly sipping it . While meeting a Great Seer was a happy accident, it hardly changed his plans . He already knew who he wanted her to Mark, but it would have to wait for the time being . Realizing he"d learned as much as he could about the Holy Continent here, Lino knew it was time to depart . Cross the divide and enter the land of over eleven billion souls, most of which were h.e.l.lbent on finding him and killing him .
Rather than terror or even excitement, most of all he felt a strange sort of melancholy; he couldn"t quite explain it, or even understand it all that well himself, yet it was there, pressing against his heart .
Though he indeed did so in an attempt to manipulate her, he didn"t lie to Y"sha -- he wished to reign the world and re-make it, at least in small parts and pieces . However, the nagging feeling that had started festering years ago wasn"t leaving; if anything, it was growing stronger -- one that told him this was the world"s predestination, the idea that it has to be this way for it to exist . To be at perpetual war, ensconced in wanton chaos, intertwined in eternal web of conflicts .
It was almost like a whisper inside of his head, humming "it is meant to be" repeatedly . He still refused to believe it, though; he didn"t believe everything was determined already, and that no one could do anything to change the outcome no matter what .
" . . . if you wish to change the world," a now long-silent voice spoke out once again inside Lino"s mind, surprising him . "You need to understand all its shortcomings first . "
" . . . are you telling me to chat to that bundle of insanity again?" Lino suddenly shuddered as hollow light of terror flashed through his eyes . ""Cause, quite frankly, I"d rather just leave the world as is . "
"Lyee is a quintessential element toward increasing your strength rapidly," Ataxia said . "If you can properly embody her, you"ll easily be able to master up to eight forms of the rather than having barely minimal mastery in the first two . In addition, she can teach you to finally engrave the t.i.tan Heart into your armor . "
" . . . yeah, of course, all of that sounds great . " Lino nodded . "But, on the other hand, she quite literally unloaded more words onto me in a day than I have spoken in my lifetime . Me, Ataxia . Not some random, shy lad . But a dude who makes it his business to lecture people just to watch their pained expressions at least once a day . "
" . . . you, khm . . . you just need to learn to filter her out . . . "
"Yeah, that sounded really convincing," Lino sighed . "Not yet, though . I promise I"ll talk to her once I open the smithy . "
"Have you finally decided on the city?"
"I"ll open it in the heart of the sole Empire of the continent, in Do"r city" Lino said, smiling lightly . "And bedazzle the nation like it was never bedazzled before, nor will it ever bedazzled again . . . "