"I don't like a predetermined future, and I can't accept every possibility being fixed in place. But at the same time, I won't readily accept a plan that requires sacrificing the vast majority of all life."
"Any individual with morality and a conscience would make the same choice."
"It seems you don't think you have much morality or conscience left."
"Zandar once had principles and respect for life. Unfortunately, the one standing before you now is Lycurgus, who exists precisely to pursue what Zandar could not."
"You know that if I oppose your plan, then your plan will inevitably fail. This isn't a threat. It's simply what will happen."
"But what does that matter? If you can successfully stop me, then that proves you are more capable than I am, and better equipped to stop Nous from determining the future of this universe.
If I succeed, then the result speaks for itself.
Whether I win or lose, either outcome is acceptable to me. Either would be a good conclusion."
Caelus looked at Lygus's completely open expression and understood.
From the moment the Eternal Dreamscape was created, and from the moment the man before him discovered its unique nature, his plan had already gained a minimum guarantee.
Even if he failed, all living beings would not fall back into that predetermined future.
Instead, someone even more capable than he was would have brought even greater possibilities to the universe.
So even if the plan failed, it did not matter.
The reason Lygus was still carrying it out might simply be that, after pursuing this research for so long, abandoning it so easily would leave him unwilling to let go.
Or perhaps he simply wanted to solve the problem more thoroughly.
Maybe, at this point, he was looking at everything purely from the perspective of a scholar, wanting to see what kind of flower his research would bloom into and what kind of fruit it would ultimately bear.
"Sir, forgive me for being presumptuous, but if you wished, you could tear apart this data-based world in an instant, collapse the Emperor's Scepter's computational logic, and destroy every scheme I've prepared before it ever had a chance to begin.
Yet you didn't choose to do that.
You didn't choose the simplest and least demanding method of stopping my plan.
Is it because of your moral principles?
Do you regard these people, despite being composed entirely of data, as genuine living beings of flesh and blood?"
"Yes."
"May I ask why?"
"Why are you willing to regard these false existences, beings composed entirely of data whose emotions and thought processes are all simulated, as real people?"
Caelus did not answer immediately.
Instead, he reached into his coat and took out another notebook.
Its cover was extremely old, made from what looked like animal hide weathered by the passage of countless years.
Two words were embossed in gold across the worn leather cover.
Heroes.
"Then let me ask you something.
If a person's memories, emotions, goals, aspirations, and dreams were all given to them by someone else, are the things they pursue real?
Or are they nothing more than an illusion without meaning?"
"Oh, that's quite a philosophical question.
And it's one that applies to me as well.
After all, my personality, memories, emotions, and even the goal I'm pursuing now all came from Zandar."
Caelus handed him the book titled Heroes.
Without the slightest wariness, Lygus accepted it and opened to the first page.
[What is a hero?
I once believed that I was one.
But when I chose to run away and refused to confront the mistakes that had always been right before me, I stopped believing I deserved that title.
A true hero should have the courage to face the harshness of life directly and be willing to pay the proper price for everything they have done.
The False Hero, Lancelot.]
[What is a hero?
It's actually very simple.
Helping someone who needs help.
That's what makes a hero.
The Created Hero, Kou.]
After reading the words left on the first page, Lygus began turning through the stories that followed.
He read them carefully, almost as though he were appreciating a collection left behind by many different people.
The entire book told different stories from a first-person perspective.
The language was straightforward.
There were no elaborate turns of phrase and no needlessly obscure words.
Yet within those ordinary words were the emotions each story was meant to convey.
The false Lancelot used his story to tell others that even if he had merely inherited another person's memories and emotions, the self that emerged from them still belonged to him.
The created Kou told others that even if everything about him had been bestowed and created by someone else, if he sincerely believed that what he was doing was right, then there was no need for confusion or hesitation.
He simply had to do it.
Remaining where he was and drowning in uncertainty would never change anything.
"Of the two people in these stories, one was a false puppet I created by absorbing the memories and personality of an existing character.
The second was an entirely new existence I created by using a monster as the foundation and transforming it.
Compared with the data-based lives you created, the two of them aren't all that different.
If anything, data life-forms at least genuinely exist, while those two began as puppets that had merely been assigned roles by someone else.
But both of them later found the meaning of their own existence.
They found themselves.
Even if that self was ultimately something I had given them and created for them, knowing that never shook them.
They firmly believed that what they were doing was right.
That conviction was their self.
And that is the kind of truth within life that I wanted to see."
Caelus continued.
"Returning to the question you asked earlier, I can answer you now.
Even if they're only data life-forms, even if to you they're nothing more than characters inside a computer composed of ones and zeros, to me, they genuinely possess the colors of life.
They cry.
They laugh.
They worry about what happened yesterday.
They feel lost when thinking about tomorrow.
They argue over the things they love.
They throw themselves into war for profit and hatred.
Even if all of that was produced through enormous quantities of data, once something can think closely enough to a human being and understand how the role it possesses should respond, then perhaps that existence can already be considered a person.
After all, what people value most is emotional response."
Lygus closed the book in his hands.
Looking at Caelus, who was calmly watching him, he said,
"Sir, are you using the stories recorded in this book to tell me that even if everything about me was created and given to me by someone else, even if my memories and emotions originally belonged to someone else, I am still an independent individual?
That I can still have a life of my own?"
"That depends on you.
Do you consider yourself Zandar?
A machine Zandar created to carry out his plan?
Or do you consider yourself Lycurgus?"
Lygus placed one hand against his chin and lowered his head slightly.
After thinking for a long time, he raised his head and looked directly into Caelus's eyes.
"I'm certain that I'm continuing this plan through my own will."
"Good."
"Then I'll stop Amphoreus from being destroyed.
And I'll stop you from steering the Emperor's Scepter's answer toward Destruction."
"Sir, what do you believe is the answer to the First Cause of Life?"
"For me..."
"The First Cause of Life is Nihility."
"Oh?"
"Why?"
"Nihility is equivalent to nothing existing at all. How could that possibly become the First Cause of Life?"
"Perhaps because a universe without life is simply too empty, too devoid of meaning.
So from within that emptiness, existence and life were born.
And because I myself was born from Nihility, that's the answer I arrived at.
It isn't necessarily correct.
It's purely my personal view."
"What a fascinating idea."
"I'll remember this conversation."
"I look forward to our next meeting, sir."
"I look forward to our next conversation as well."
"Until we meet again, Lygus."
Their conversation came to an end.
Then both of them disappeared from that place at the same time.
(To be continued.)
◇◇◇
◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 200 Power Stones.
◇ You can read the ahead chapter on Pat if you're interested: p-atreon.c-om/Blownleaves (Just remove the hyphen to access normally.)