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This chapter is sponsored by Thomas N. and Brian N.. Thanks for the support!
“What meaning does happiness have?” The demon finished her tea and leaned back, not bothering to pour herself anymore. “It’s fleeting. It can be taken away at any moment, and once happiness is removed, suffering is amplified. The benefits happiness bring don’t outweigh the struggles and suffering.”
What does she mean what meaning does happiness have? “It seems to me like you’re saying everyone would be better off if they were dead.”
The demon crossed her arms. Her face still betrayed no signs of any emotion. “Do you think that’s not true?”
What happened to her that she has such a bleak point of view? “If that’s true, why are you still alive? If you subscribed to that ideology, you would’ve let those chosens go, accepting your fate once the elders came down to retrieve them. Yet you haven’t, so clearly you don’t believe what you’re saying.”
“Someone has to do the dirty work,” the demon said. “For people to be saved, there has to be a savior. That’s me. I’m willing to endure suffering for the sake of relieving people from their pain, aren’t I noble? Come, praise me.”
…This demon isn’t debating in good faith. She’s taking jabs at me, trying to anger me. It’s hard to think clearly when blinded by anger and other emotions. This demon wants to dominate my view so badly that she’s playing underhanded tricks. However, I won’t be goaded by her. I’m an immortal. My heart is firm and steady. “If you have noble aspirations such as those, it’s possible other people have similar aspirations. Wouldn’t it be wrong to kill those who don’t wish to suffer? I’m sure amongst the many people you’ve harvested souls from and killed, there were many who didn’t wish to be saved. A real savior would stop someone’s suffering without killing them. You’re just twisting your evil deeds through the use of semantics.”
The demon stared at me, and I matched her gaze. I’m not going to lose in a debate against a demon. People often said demons couldn’t be reasoned with. We have to kill them or they’ll kill us. However, this demon is intelligent. She might be stubborn, but I don’t believe I can’t convert her to the side of righteousness. It’d be a loss for humanity if I’m not able to bring her over to our side. Her applications of formations and tool-creation knowledge is extremely valuable. The demon narrowed her eyes at me. “Your ideas of good and evil, they seem to be centered around humans, no?”
“What do you mean?”
“If an intelligent tiger kills a human child to feed its family, it’s labeled as an evil creature that must be killed. Once it tastes the flesh, it’ll consider humans as prey, and people won’t allow it to live. However, if a farmer kills a deer to feed his family, why is he considered a hard worker who is a benefit to the world? I imagine the deer isn’t very happy.”
This….
“If a human slaughters millions of demons, the humans will regard him as a hero, but demons will label him as evil.” The demon’s eyes seemed to glow with a strange light. “You asked me if I regarded my actions as evil, and I said no. I don’t believe in good and evil. To me, good and evil is a concept created by a group of individuals to enforce their ideas onto another population. The innocent don’t want to be slaughtered by the strong, so they say slaughtering the innocent is evil, hoping to convince a few of the strong to stand by their side. As a nonhuman, why should I follow human concepts of morality?”
I don’t think I’ve thought as deeply into the concepts of good and evil compared to the demon, but what she’s saying can’t be true. To deny the whole concept of right and wrong? “What Bloodmoon did to my family, you don’t think that was an act of evil?”
The demon blinked before uncrossing her arms. A gust of wind enveloped the teapot and lifted it into the air. Another gust of wind circled around the teacup, sending it into her waiting hand. She poured herself a cup of tea and sipped it before smacking her lips once. “Let’s say there’s a fox.”
A fox? Where is she going with this?
“And let’s say you own a chicken coop. One night, you’re fast asleep. The fox sneaks into your chicken coop, eats all the chickens, and leaves. Would you think the fox is evil, or would you think the fox is just doing what it was born to do?”
Unbelievable. “Are you really comparing Bloodmoon to a fox and my family to a coop of chickens?”
“Yes. Humans are born with an insatiable greed and lust for power.” The demon took another sip of tea. “Anyone who had the same methods of increasing their strength as Bloodmoon would do the same thing in his position. It’s in their nature.”
“I wouldn’t.”
“You don’t know that.” The demon placed her teacup down on her chair’s armrest. “If you were born in Bloodmoon’s position, who knows what you would’ve become? You’ve already killed Kuang Feng, but you haven’t taken revenge on me for placing you into such a position. Why is that? Is it because Kuang Feng was evil? No, it’s because the guilt in your heart was squashed by your greed.”
“That’s—”
“I’m sure you’ll try to justify it by saying you needed the ten thousand contribution points. If you eventually got strong enough, you could avenge him or make it up to him somehow. However, justify it as you may, you took Kuang Feng’s life and received renumeration for it. You didn’t even try to turn it down. How are you going to deny your greed and lust for power?”
…I heard the humanoid beast called the demon a mind reader, but I never took her seriously. Could it be true? The demon hasn’t read my memories since the last time. How could she know what I’m thinking?
Thanks for the chapter!
If you don’t mind? I will be giving my opinion about the topics mentioned.
There are a few different types of good and evil.
Typically, we use the culturally. Culturally good and culturally evil. In general, killing ones neighbor in just about any culture is evil. Helping others is good. If we are going to compare people with animals, then we can’t use two different types of animals, but the same type. If a chicken in coop kills another chicken, then the farmer would need to kill the killer chicken. Cultures cannot allow for a killer to be in the midst.
As for happiness and sadness and whatnot? Life is meant to be lived. People grow and change. Someone’s emotions in a given situation is more based on their perspective or awareness. Someone could live a happy life while in squalor. Or, in sorrow while they had everything they could want. One controls their own state. The situation may influence. But the person is the ultimate power in their own life. Their choices. Their knowledge. Their awareness.
Ilya obviously sees things as half empty… based on how she argues anyway.