Slave to Righteousness (I)

“Haaaah…”

I exhale deeply as I stare up at the dirty prison ceiling.

If anyone else was in the cell with me, they might’ve gotten annoyed from all my sighing by now, but since the only company I have are the cold stone walls and the voice in my head, I continue to sigh to my hearts content.

“Hey, are you doing okay?”

Satanya asks me with actual concern in her voice.

“Yeah… I’ve calmed down now. I’m fine…”

After getting dragged all the way back to the central Knight Post, I was tossed in a holding cell and told to wait until further interrogation.

Since then, I’ve just been left down here all on my lonesome, which has given me a lot of time to calm down and think.

It is thanks to that serenity that I’m now able to find the ironic humour of me ending up here after how hard I tried getting in earlier.

And also… I’m able to finally come back to the topic with a clear mind.

“So… slavery is legal in this world?”

I ask Satanya, feeling a slight twinge of pain just from those words leaving my mouth.

“Yes, it is.”

Satanya confirms it easily, in sharp contrast to my struggle and hesitation.

That’s how it is then. It comes as a major shock to me and my modern sensibilities, but in the grand scheme of things, it’s probably not that crazy. Even in my world, slavery has existed until very recently. Some say it still exists, just in a different name. There are plenty of fantasy stories with slaves in them too, so I shouldn’t be shocked.

I guess, seeing it in person was just so repulsive that I had a really strong rejection to it. I’m sure anyone else from my world would feel the same.

“To be specific about the legality, human slavery is illegal while demon slavery is not.”

I see. That does explain a lot about how people were acting earlier.

“But why is one legal and the other isn’t? Who decided that?” I wonder.

“The humans did, of course. They’re the ones who wrote the rules. To clarify, I’m only talking about what’s legal here in the human nations. The laws are different in the demon lands.”

“Demon lands? The Demons have their own nations?”

“Of course. Who do you think the Demon King was king of? She gained that title after she unified all the disparate races and factions. Though, now that she’s gone, I believe they’ve all split apart again.”

So that’s how it is. I didn’t realize the Demon King was an actual king. I just figured she was called that because she was just that evil. I guess I should’ve known better.

In fact, if she was just a ruler of the demons and the war she waged was actually just between the two sides of humans and demons, then maybe she wasn’t so…

“I know what you’re thinking, but don’t misunderstand. The Demon King did unify the different demon nations, but she did so through force and fear. She alone pushed for the war against the human races and dragged her entire people into that bloody conflict. And thanks to what she’s done, the animosity between the two is greater than it’s ever been. She was certainly, absolutely evil.”

“I see. Thanks for letting me know.”

I let out a sigh of relief and vanquish a dangerous thought from my mind.

“But is it okay for you to say that? I mean… you have her thoughts and memories, don’t you?”

“It’s fine. Like I said, I’m not her. And besides… she probably feels the same…”

For a moment, I see what looks like melancholy and regret appear in her eyes.

I don’t know what to make of it, so I quickly continue the conversation.

“Actually, I was wondering, what is the difference between a human and a demon anyways?”

“Depends on who you ask. Most people will insist that one is inherently superior to the other. But when you boil it all down, it’s just a difference in geography.”

“Geography? What do you mean?”

“The World of Ordeau is actually divided into two planes. The human races refer to the people who live in the Overworld. The demon races are the people who live in the Underworld.”

“That’s it? The only difference is where they live.”

“Does there need to be anything else?”

When she says it like that, I guess she’s not wrong.

Even in the history of my world, people waged wars and killed each other simply because they lived on different sides of a border. That really is the only thing that seems to matter sometimes.

I wonder. Is it really that easy to hate someone? Just because they live somewhere else, you can hate someone you’ve never met? Or is it that easy to kill someone you don’t even hate?

I don’t know. But thinking about it makes me sad.

“Well then, do you have any more questions for me?”

“No. I get it now. Thanks.”

“Okay. Then I’ll give you some space.”

I give her a thankful smile and nod, before I start diving into my own thoughts once again.

I don’t have any more questions for Satanya. Instead, all the questions I have now are for myself.

Now that I have a better understanding of the context of this world, what do I think?

How do I feel about this matter? How am I supposed to feel?

I… wanted to save those people – the demons inside that cage.

But I couldn’t. Not just because I lacked the ability, but because I realized my actions weren’t as righteous as I thought they were.

In fact, in this world, I was in the wrong. I randomly attacked someone who was just minding their own business and tried to steal their property. From that perspective, I truly am a crazy criminal.

I can’t blame the people here for thinking that way either. That’s simply the world they were born into. If they were born into my world, I’m sure they’d view things similarly to how I do. It’s not their fault that they were born into this one.

That’s just what it means to be in another world.

In trying to do the right thing, I ended up committing evil.

In lashing out at those I considered villains, I became the villain.

In denouncing everyone who didn’t see things my way, I left myself with nothing but enemies.

A different world has its own set of values. It has its own sense of normal and its own idea of righteousness.

In this world, Slavery is Right.

And I am Wrong.

In this world, I am the Bad Guy.

And I have no choice but to just accept that…