Raiden Ei's expression suddenly dimmed, and for the first time, a look of near-shattered agony clearly surfaced in those purple eyes that were always so persistent and determined.
She shook her head, her voice carrying a tremor suppressed for five hundred years:
"King, you've never been weak... so you don't understand."
"I lost my sister, I lost Kitsune Saiguu, I lost Mikoshi Chiyo... I lost almost everyone important to me, all because I was too weak."
"If only I could have been a little stronger, even just a little..."
She clenched her crack-riddled fists, her knuckles making a faint sound as if they were under an unbearable burden.
"The pain of the weak is watching everything you cherish disappear before your eyes, without even the strength to reach out a hand."
The wounds from five hundred years ago still throbbed deep within Raiden Ei's soul.
That was the starting point of all her obsessions, the root of her firm belief that 'power is everything.'
Silence fell over the deck for a moment, save for the snapping sound of the flag fluttering in the sea breeze.
King looked at her, speechless for a moment.
He had never been weak?
What a joke.
Four months ago, he was just an ordinary shut-in writer on Earth, working a day job while staying up late to rush manuscripts, living on instant noodles and going bald from writer's block.
Before transmigrating, he had been a failure for nearly twenty years, worrying about manuscript fees every day, watching the editor's face, and being criticized by readers.
Weakness? He understood it all too well.
Forget a God; even an old man exercising at the neighborhood entrance could beat him at arm wrestling.
Moreover, even in that relatively peaceful world, he saw clearly through the internet what kind of life the people of weak nations lived.
Hunger, war, being manipulated at will by great powers... he wasn't without feeling for those images that flashed by in the news, those sufferings condensed into cold numbers.
He knew the treatment of the weak better than anyone.
"Beelzebul,"
King's voice was rarely devoid of helplessness or ferocity, instead carrying a nearly flat statement: "I know better than you what it tastes like to be weak."
Raiden Ei looked up abruptly, her purple eyes filled with shock: "...What?"
"Do you think power comes out of thin air?"
King raised his right hand and clenched his fist, his bones making a slight cracking sound.
"I have experienced a period of 'weakness' much longer than you can imagine."
"No Talents, no fortuitous encounters, I didn't even necessarily have enough to eat."
He paused, his gaze seemingly piercing through time and space, remembering the days of staying up late to code words while eating instant noodles, the self-doubt when his manuscripts were rejected, and that subtle sense of powerlessness when watching others succeed.
"Precisely because I've experienced it, I understand even better,"
King's gaze refocused on Raiden Ei: "True strength has never just been about having a hard fist."
"You say power can solve everything."
"But you are certainly stronger now than you were five hundred years ago. Has the life of the people in Inazuma improved even a single bit?"
"If you believe that as long as you have absolute power, you can solve all problems—"
King shook his head gently: "Then you will never be able to heal Inazuma."
Raiden Ei opened her mouth to argue, but found that the momentum that had surged from the pain of her memories had rapidly dissipated like a punctured balloon.
She stood there dazed, her eyes vacant; it was the first time someone had so directly negated the creed she had believed in for five hundred years.
She couldn't find the words to refute him.
Because what King said seemed to be right.
If power really could solve everything, why was she, who was strong enough to slay Gods, still unable to stop the people of Inazuma from sliding into their current state?
Seeing Raiden Ei's soul-lost appearance, the irritation King felt from being woken up dissipated quite a bit.
Why bother getting worked up with a stubborn country shut-in girl.
He sighed softly and stood up.
"Forget it, don't think about these things."
King walked up to Raiden Ei and looked down at this country girl who was more than half a head shorter than him, covered in wounds, with a vacant gaze.
"It's useless to just sit here and imagine."
He pointed outside the ship's railing at Inazuma City, which was gradually waking up under the morning sun.
"Come on, walk around with me."
"Go see with your own eyes what the Inazuma under your rule actually looks like now."
Raiden Ei looked up blankly, meeting King's calm eyes.
She hesitated for a moment, but eventually nodded obediently.
"...Okay."
Her voice was very soft, carrying a trace of imperceptible submissiveness.
On the deck, everyone watched the Raiden Shogun, who had just been spouting shocking theories but was now following behind King like a lost kitten, their moods incredibly complex.
Yae Miko clutched her chest, feeling that her fox heart had experienced too much stimulation today and needed to lie down at the Grand Narukami Shrine for three days and nights to recover.
Lynette silently put away the teacups on the table, her cat ears twitching slightly as she decided to lock everything she heard today into the deepest part of her memory, never to actively recall it.
Paimon flew back to Lumine's side and whispered, "Why did Ei suddenly become so obedient? It feels like she's a different person..."
Lumine looked at the backs of the two, a thoughtful light flashing in her amber eyes.
Perhaps the lifting of the Sakoku Decree was just a signal.
Is today the real beginning of change for Inazuma?
King led Raiden Ei off 'justice' and stepped into the cold morning light of the Ritou Dock.
Watching Ei's swaying back from the side, Yae Miko immediately grew nervous: "Ei! Your body..."
"It's fine."
Raiden Ei interrupted her; though every movement caused the cracks on her shell to creak, she still kept her back straight.
"It's just a fatal wound."
Zhongli slowly walked down the gangway, holding a fresh cup of tea, the curling steam dissipating in the morning light.
Clorinde, Lynette, Lumine, and Paimon also silently followed.
Arataki Itto originally wanted to join the fun, but Kuki Shinobu's glare made him shrink his neck, so he had to scratch his head and stay on the deck to 'keep watch.'
The group walked through the early morning streets of Ritou.
The blood and turmoil of yesterday didn't seem to have fully dissipated, and a faint scent of panic remained in the air.
Most of the shops along the way were tightly closed; occasionally, a few bold vendors would peek out, but upon seeing Raiden Ei's figure, they immediately 'whooshed' back and 'thudded' their doors and windows shut.
Worse still, a woman drawing water by a well caught a distant glimpse of the purple kimono; the wooden bucket fell into the well with a 'clatter,' but she didn't care, turning to run so fast that one of her slippers fell off.
Raiden Ei silently watched all of this, her pace gradually slowing.
A trace of hurt flashed in those beautiful purple eyes.
"They are very afraid of me."
Raiden Ei murmured to herself, her voice very light and trembling.
"I am Inazuma's Raiden Shogun, their deity."
"I... I clearly wrote the principle of 'loving people' into the deepest layer of this body."
"Why are my subjects so afraid of me?"
She lowered her head, looking at her crack-riddled palms, feeling only a sense of icy coldness.
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