Chapter 123

"I do not concern myself with good and evil."

The man wearing the bones of a beast over himself said.

"I am not the sort of person who worries over such boring matters. I am at least aware that I am fickle and self-willed. I only ever do things I think I can enjoy."

"..."

"If a thinking being has no desires, is he not a corpse? I am faithful to my instincts. I grow greedy for what I want, rage at those who make me angry, and if I cannot uphold my beliefs, I do nothing at all."

His clothing was made of bones and feathers and looked primitive, but with the splendid cloth wrapped around him, the kind noble humans might use, it also seemed old-fashioned and elegant. The man wearing a mask made from a sheep's skull smiled.

"What do you think?"

"I think it is an interesting life."

"Oh, yes, you and I understand each other."

"Life should be enjoyable."

Jio, wrapped in a black cloak, nodded.

"Have you ever killed a person?"

"I must have killed quite a lot. There were truly many people who were angry with me."

"Why were those people angry with you, Arjio?"

At that, Jio's second Adaptor, "Arjio," answered.

"They called me the source of all evil in the world."

Beyond the bone mask, his golden eyes could be seen curving deeply.

"They said I was a monster."

"..."

Inside the palace made of bone and blood, Jio murmured.

"That is an extremely abstract metaphor."

"I think so too, my friend."

When "Arjio" laughed, it made a rumbling sound like a tiger's growl.

"Is it not truly troublesome? If they are angry, I wish they would tell me exactly what they are angry about. They should tell me what I did to them, and what part of me made them angry."

"Why is that?"

"Only then can I be angry with them as well. I can clash with them with all my might, exchange emotions, and make the situation better. Could that not be called the greatest power anger possesses?"

On a chaotic, splendid throne adorned with all manner of silk, feathers, and leather, "Arjio" put on an affectedly tired expression. As though troubled, he said.

"But most people could not do that. They were all fools who could not even control their own anger and were devoured by it instead. If they are swayed by an emotion that is part of me, how can they be said to possess the qualifications of humans?"

Then he smiled again.

"And so, all those many people were beasts."

"Oh..."

"Is that not so?"

"It is a new way of thinking, but I respect it."

"It is a good thing to be respected."

With a vivid smile, "Arjio" propped his chin on his hand. His long, sharp nails, like those of a feline beast or a bird of prey such as an eagle, caught the eye.

Bravely, Jio did not hold back his curiosity.

"Do you grow out your nails?"

"... Ahahahahaha!!"

"Arjio" burst into laughter and answered in a voice full of amusement.

"No, well. If you say I grow them out, then I suppose I do, but it was not for the sake of beauty."

"They suit your current fashion very well, so I thought it was intentional."

"It is not that I dressed like this and then groomed my nails. I decorated my clothes because my body was originally like this."

"I have no fashion sense, so I only go around wearing black clothes. I truly envy you."

"... Oh dear, you do not know how to adorn yourself? Are Earthlings usually like that?"

"Seeing as the people who know how to dress themselves do just fine, I think it is my own personal problem."

"..."

The smile vanished from "Arjio's" face, and he looked at Jio as though he were something pitiable.

"... If you are with me, I believe that plain personality of yours will improve somewhat."

"Do you dislike my current outfit that much?"

"Even if I brought in any beast at random, it would have more color than you."

"I was told that if I wore neutral colors, I would at least pass."

"Unless there is some cultural reason for it, or you are performing a ritual, what is with all the black?"

"I like black, so I couldn't help it."

"Black itself would weep at being used that way. How pitiful."

Clicking his tongue, "Arjio" returned to the previous topic.

"My nails are one of the abilities I was born with. If you are with me, you will eventually have to use it as well, so you had best listen carefully to my explanation."

"I will focus."

"A good attitude. To explain it simply, the power I possess is the power to imitate beasts. I can imitate a predator's claws, as I am doing now; imitate the great wings of birds that fly through the sky; or imitate the keen instincts of prey to avoid danger."

"How could I not covet that?"

"I, too, truly treasure this power, but strangely enough, my family feared it greatly. The house called me a curse and drove me into a forest filled with dangerous beasts."

"..."

Jio pressed his mouth shut. "Arjio" asked.

"You look displeased."

"I do not understand why the people called 'Jio' all bring up heavy personal histories at a first meeting."

"That, too, is a unique thought. Is that not what this place was made for in the first place?"

"Arjio" laughed as though amused.

"Or do you hope to assimilate with me without any explanation at all?"

"When you put it that way, I think listening to the explanation is better."

"Precisely. Judging by how you behave, you will not act like a fool and meet a stupid death."

"Arjio" nodded and introduced himself.

"So I will say this. I am a curse without a name. I am the descendant of a royal family that once ruled a great nation, nature itself, raised with clever and dangerous beasts as my family, and in the end, a 'Jio' who died beneath humanity's hammer."

He added.

"In the end, 'Arjio' is a name that is not my name."

"Does the word 'Arjio' have a meaning?"

"In an ancient, primitive language, ar means cruel. Jio means beast. In short, it means cruel beast."

"Beast..."

Jio studied the other party seriously.

"You certainly do look strong."

"It likely carried a stronger meaning of contempt than such pure admiration."

"You look as though you have a lot of muscle. If you are with me, can I use that strength too?"

"If you prefer such a body, why did you not exercise earlier?"

"I did not want to sweat for anything except farming."

"..."

Soon after, "Arjio" nodded.

"If we assimilate, may I be in charge of managing your body?"

"Do we perhaps assimilate into another self?"

"No, I doubt it. I am worried that I must not assimilate into that lazy mind."

"I think I am not that lazy, I simply do not exercise."

"Then what are you diligent about? Farming? Well, I do not particularly like that..."

Though his mask hid everything but the eye holes, Jio could feel that "Arjio's" brow had furrowed.

"Do you enjoy fighting, at least?"

"There are truly many things to enjoy in the world, so why choose that of all things?"

"I suspected as much from the moment I was called here, but this is truly disheartening."

"Why would I go looking for conflict?"

"At the very least, should you not know how to be properly angry at a conflict that comes upon you?"

"I do get angry."

"Have you ever harvested the tongue and teeth of someone spouting nonsense?"

"On Earth, you get arrested if you do that."

"Hm, certainly, law and rules are important."

"That is another unexpected answer."

Jio was impressed.

"You are so belligerent that I thought you would not be bound by law or morality."

"I do not think I am very bound by morality."

"Ah?"

"But that does not mean I deny the necessity of goodness and rules."

In a calm tone, "Arjio" continued.

"I am quite fickle. On some days, I want to get drunk in a village full of smiles, and on other days, I head toward a hell filled with screams with a clear head."

"..."

"Have you never wanted to act like an irrational beast? Never wanted to throw off all your cumbersome clothes? Never wanted to cry out in cheers and screams, smell the sweet reek of blood, and fight until your whole body crumbled?"

"No."

"I understand that way of life of yours as well. In the end, what I wanted to say is that for a fickle person like me to enjoy everything to my satisfaction, good and evil must coexist in the world, and peace and chaos must be together."

To do that.

"In the end, we need those who believe in goodness and those who follow rules."

Only then would I be able to enjoy what I want on that day, at that time.

"So it was only natural that I came to be called an evil god."

"Did I come here to become one with an evil god?"

"Astoundingly enough, yes."

"May I leave?"

"You cannot leave unless I allow it, my kind Root."

"This is unreasonable. I believe I should have a choice as well."

"I truly pity you, but your authority only extended as far as entering this place."

"Arjio" laughed happily and continued.

"So why not listen to more of my story first?"

It should be quite fascinating.

There was once a great house that ruled humans.

This house had a curse passed down through the generations, and that was that when one of the house's children turned ten, they would become an evil beast.

"That is why my house encouraged people to have as many children as possible. If they had only one child and that child became an evil beast, they would surely have to kill them, so it served as a precaution."

A child who revealed their terrible true form at the age of ten was abandoned in the filthiest, most terrible hell among the places humans could reach. It was a vast rainforest called the "Black Forest."

"I was praised for my beautiful appearance and exceptional painting skills, but when I turned ten, horns grew from my forehead. That was the cause. The stories that monsters lived in the 'Black Forest' were famous, but no one imagined that the monsters there came from my house... I was abandoned without knowing why."

The place where he was abandoned was indeed as dangerous as the rumors said.

"In the darkness where the sun never rose, dangerous beasts and insects constantly watched for a chance to devour flesh. Everything contained poison so potent that nothing could be easily drunk or eaten, and from time to time, ear-splitting screams rang out, as though vengeful ghosts were shrieking."

But he did not die.

"Was I not a beast as well? Since I knew I was not human, I behaved instinctively and greedily like a beast, and I fought over prey with the families of the forest from an equal position. It was not difficult for me to make a new family."

And he learned an astonishing fact.

"Deep within that forest, traces of an ancient, worn-out dynasty remained. I learned that the power I possessed was not a curse but a blessing, and that the monsters who had been abandoned here all this time were, in truth, saints meant to hold back the dangerous calamity of the Black Forest."

There was too much evidence left behind to call it a self-made play by ancestors who had gone mad in the dark forest.

"But too much time passed, and people forgot that. Once they forgot that the reason they offered children was to stop the calamity, they considered our alien powers a curse, and said that the ominousness of the Black Forest was not because of the calamity, but something we had created."

Of course, it did not matter.

"What would change just because I knew?"

It was not that he was not angry at the family that had cast him out, but "Arjio" had gained a new family. He painted on the walls of the great old dynasty, obtained what he wanted like a beast, and sometimes shared as well while he spent his time.

"In the process, I did sometimes run out of the forest, but..."

Well?

"I swear upon the soul of a warrior that I never harmed the innocent. Not that I would say I harmed no one. How could I leave those who attacked me alone?"

The problem came after that.

"Rumors began to spread that I was the origin of some plague."

The humans were enraged.

"Before I could even notice, I had to watch my home burning. Yes, since they were not confident they could fight me directly, they decided to burn the entire forest down. In the process, I suffered severe burns and lived a little longer before eventually dying in the arms of my family, but..."

It was not as though "Arjio" felt no anger at that indiscriminate outburst of rage.

"Listen, do you remember? The Black Forest existed from the beginning to stop a calamity that would destroy the world. The evil beasts who appeared at least once in every generation were forest keepers meant to aid that... and also something like the final barrier."

Now it had burned away, leaving no forest, and no forest keepers to block the calamity in its place.

"In the end, the calamity that had been hidden since the distant past revealed itself. Beasts gained intelligence like humans, they began to speak, and they came to possess more subdivided and more intense emotions."

Among them, "Arjio's" family burned with vengeance toward humans as well.

"What do you think happened to the world?"

For countless ages, humans had raised and slaughtered beasts for food. Yet now, not only had that food disappeared, but they began speaking to humans, cursing them, and carrying out terrible "exchanges" with them.

There was no way the human world could be maintained.

"In that process, I became an evil god. To be precise, I could be called the collective body of all the evil beasts who had been abandoned in the Black Forest, all the saints who were never recognized for their value and met terrible deaths."

It was a truly unfortunate thing.

"Almost every human seemed unaware that 'Arjio' was a single crowd. They merely whispered of this source of all evil, and created the being that was me."

An evil god who caused calamities from the Black Forest and led massacres.

"The cruel beast."

That was "Arjio."