Evidently, the pontiff noticed the same thing.
“Indeed. If we had more time, I would rather like to sit down and talk with you a while.”
“Perhaps we ought to do just that, if we both make it through this battle safe and sound.”
The pontiff and Balto smile at each other.
Safe and sound, eh?
Knowing the pontiff’s personality…no, I should leave it at that.
I can’t be sure of anything just yet.
Now, as for the others…
Shun is surrounded by a swarm of girls.
Katia, Sue, Yuri, and Fei.
…I should kick that kid’s ass.
Better to just leave them be at this point.
You’re on your own, pal!
Which only leaves one more person…
Prince Hugo, who’s leaning against the wall with his arms folded.
He hasn’t spoken a single word since this group came together.
In fact, from what I can tell, he’s been like that for a long time now.
He almost seems more like a statue than a living person.
Honestly, I don’t really want to get near him.
I don’t know Prince Hugo very well, anyway.
The first time we met face-to-face was during the battle at the elf village, and we haven’t had a single proper conversation since then.
I don’t know how to approach someone who I’ve mostly only heard about secondhand.
“Hey, kid.”
So I decide to go the safest route and greet him casually.
At that, Prince Hugo gives me a glance, then drops his gaze back down as if he’s already lost interest.
He doesn’t even say a word.
Oof, he’s really going to ignore me like that?
I’ve had people ignore me out of envy before, but his attitude is as if he sincerely has no interest in me whatsoever.
The person who ignored me out of envy still paid attention to what I was doing, at least.
Prince Hugo doesn’t seem to care what I do.
Maybe he doesn’t care about anything at all, not even himself.
Like he really doesn’t think of himself as a living person.
“You’re too young to be acting like such a recluse, you know that?”
I can’t resist saying it, even if it feels nosy.
Though I expected he might ignore me again, Prince Hugo turns his gaze back toward me.
“How long I’ve lived has got nothing to do with it.”
“Oh really? But doesn’t it seem like a waste to be so pessimistic from a young age when you still have your whole life ahead of you?”
Prince Hugo snorts at that.
“Let me ask you something, then. Has the ebony god found happiness in that long life of his?”
“Well…”
Damn, I wasn’t expecting this kid to ask such a tough question.
“…I kinda feel for the ebony god, myself. Yeah, I know our circumstances are nothing alike. But I think we both know how it feels to have already passed the happiest part of your life, and there’s not a damn thing you can do to get it back.”
…I suppose he might have a point there.
Güliedistodiez’s happiest times were probably the daily life he led before the goddess Sariel was trapped within the system.
The days when he would frequently visit the orphanage Lady Sariel created, and the kids would all come to greet him, including the now Demon Lord Ariel.
Those irreplaceable moments are Güliedistodiez’s happiest memories.
But they can never come back again.
Even if the world does find peace, I doubt he will ever be as happy as he was in those days.
From what he says, it sounds like Prince Hugo feels the same way.
“Still, that doesn’t mean you should just give up on trying to be happy, does it?”
“I don’t care. I can’t be bothered to even make that much effort.”
It doesn’t sound like anything I say is going to get through to him.
Though he doesn’t seem to be doing this out of pure self-reproach like Ms. Oka, he’s clearly closed off his heart completely.
Prince Hugo certainly has done too many terrible things to be forgiven, and it doesn’t seem like he wants anyone to forgive him, either.
But from where I’m standing, Hugo is a victim, too.
An innocent youth in another world was killed because of this world’s problems, and reborn here only to be used to try to solve those same problems.
I’m sure it’s complicated for people like Shun who suffered at Hugo’s hands, but to me it still seems worth sympathizing with him.
When I think about it, most of the reincarnations have had some major influence affect their lives.
The reason they were reincarnated in the first place is primarily because of this world’s troubles, yet even in their new lives, they’ve suffered needlessly just by dint of being reincarnations.
And now, the fate of this world is in their hands.
Another grave sin perpetrated by this world, it would seem.
As a resident of that same world, I have no right to lecture any of them.
“I see. Don’t mind me, then.”
I attempted to lightly dismiss my own words so he wouldn’t overthink them and act out in some strange way.
Urgh. Honestly…
None of this is easy.
We each have our own lives and have walked different paths.
No matter how much has happened and how I might feel about it, worrying about things won’t magically lead to the right answer.
It’s entirely possible to worry about something for a long time and still come up with the wrong answer, too.
In many cases, there isn’t even a right or wrong answer at all.
Something might seem right from one point of view, only to seem wrong from another.
But we cannot simply stop thinking about anything, either.
Although life might be a little easier if we could worry about things a little less.
Really, what a mess…
I’d like to stop thinking about things myself…
“Ready to keep moving?”
But there is no time for that.
At Wrath’s prompting, we resume our journey.
I cannot stop thinking, not right now.
For what we carry on our shoulders is the fate of all mankind.