novelzi Chapter 136
Chapter 136
The Little Elf Poster Girl
All sorts of magic, mostly wind-based, were flying around. Schelmelhorn’s blades of wind and tornadoes, the Demon King countering them with a variety of magic, deflecting them, altering their trajectory, sometimes even obliterating them. Neither of them moved from their spots, and they weren’t even out of breath. I’m mentally exhausted just from using magic so many times earlier!
“You should have just rampaged like a proper idiot.”
“Hmph, it’s true that I’m an idiot. I’ll admit that.”
“Ah, because you’re a doting father,” Kron-san, who’d retreated from the front lines after the Demon King’s arrival, muttered with a blank expression. I couldn’t help but to chuckle! What’s with this lack of tension? Schelmelhorn and the Demon King are still battling it out!
But somehow it felt like the Demon King had the upper hand. It was reassuring somehow...
“Well, the fact that you even want that means I have a chance of winning, wouldn’t you say?”
“...What are you saying, you garbage?”
But neither of them could land a decisive blow. The Demon King, with his physical abilities, and Schelmelhorn, with his special ability to read minds, were skillfully dodging and deflecting each other’s attacks.
I wasn’t sure how long it’d been. Time passed, but there was no resolution. Had anything changed in that time?@@@@
No!
“There’s no way a person can become a god! You’re the same race you were the moment you were born! You’re acting like a spoiled child!”
“Shut up, brat! You know nothing! Fate can be changed!”
“You’re a sulky High Elf!”
“You’re the sulky one, you oversized worm!”
Their insults were escalating. It was getting... childish, wasn’t it? Everyone else was starting to look fed up.
“You have no right to take away Meg’s future!”
“Hmph! There is no greater happiness than using their powers for my sake!”
Oh? They’re talking about me now.
“She was born with such a high potential. For her to be raised in such a lukewarm environment, to not be able to utilize that ability, there’s no meaning to her existence!”
It was the Demon King who said this with a smile on his face. And then, he relaxed and turned towards Schelmelhorn.
“Schelmelhorn, why don’t you stop? Don’t you think it’s absurd? Using a child, us fighting because of it.”
“You call our long-cherished dream absurd!!”
“Not true!”
I couldn’t help but interject. I suddenly remembered a conversation I’d had with Dad.
“Tell me. Why do you want to be a god?”
“...That’s a stupid question. Those of your kind wouldn’t understand, you imbecile.”
Ugh, so stubborn.
“But you can’t be a god without those imbeshiles, can you?”
“...What did you say?”
That’s right. A god is someone who is worshipped. It’s a source of comfort, something that allows people to live peacefully. Dad had told me that when I was a child, when I’d asked those child-like questions about whether or not gods exist. It had made so much sense that I still remember it. So no matter the truth, I still believed it.
“You can’t call yourself a god if people awen’t grateful, if they don’t worship you. If you call yourshelf a god even so, it’s just a name. ...Awe you being thanked by those imbeshiles?”
Schelmelhorn frowned, looking incredibly displeased, but he didn’t speak.
“Gods awen’t amazing. They’re just shomeone who people rely on, pray to, shometimes cling to. Just shomething they worship. They’re not beings who can contwol others.”
Honestly, I don’t have any religious faith. I’m a former Japanese atheist. Maybe I’d pray to god if I had a stomachache... that’s about it.
But I do believe in the existence of gods. I believe they exist, but don’t interfere with humans. They probably just watch, as we act on our own will, thinking various things. And maybe they occasionally intervene, or even make mistakes. Ah, the gods in my mind are surprisingly human.
That’s why, even if you became a god, you wouldn’t be able to do anything. If they were omnipotent, everyone, every living creature, would be happy, right? So, so, you know?
“Inshtead of trying to become a god, why don’t you become the person you want to be?”
If the person he wants to be is a dictator who controls people, then it can’t be helped. It would lead to war. But even if it did, I’d try to stop him, even with my limited power. Because I want to become a member of Ortus, someone who makes people smile. Everyone has the right to overcome the obstacles that stand before them.
After hearing the last of what I said, Schelmelhorn was silent for a moment before finally speaking.