NOVEL NEXT Chapter 42
Chapter: 42
Justice. The right way.
What even is the right way? For me, who’s been cultivating life for unthinkable ages after giving up being human, it’s a concept that feels completely elusive.
What is right? What is justice? It all just seems so vague.
But can this simple, self-absorbed, troublesome kid even be responsible for such a slippery concept?
I think that’s unreasonable.
[Anyway, I’m amazing now! It’s okay for Mom to praise me! When the small and weak humans fear the darkness, they call my name!]
I mean, I get the title “God of Light”… but I already knew this kid is basically the embodiment of light itself.
What worries me is the whole “God of Justice and Law” bit.
“What do you think justice is?”
[Justice? Hmm… What I think is right!]
See? No thought at all.
“What do you even think is right?”
[Well, obviously, that I’m beautiful!]
Can this kid really be the god of law and justice?
[Anyway! Now that I’m so awesome, I’ll rule the world in Mom’s place!]
Huh?
“Shamash, what are you on about?”
[Mom has been nurturing the world even before we appeared, right? I don’t know how long it’s been… but it must have been ages! But that can’t continue! Mom needs a break too!]
“Rest…?”
Do I even need that…?
The world is big, and there are a ton of lives. Making sure all those lives can thrive with no major issues isn’t exactly a walk in the park.
But I thought I was doing a great job at it.
Rest? For me…?
Great joke kiddo.
[No matter how great Mom is, thing is, it’s tough to just keep going non-stop. So, let me take over and give Mom a breather!]
Hmm… This kid actually thought that out for my sake. So, maybe she’s not just a total airhead after all.
But that’s still impossible.
“How do you plan to rule the world?”
[How? Hmm… I’d just sprinkle warm light around!]
“And?”
[And? Uh, hmm… Probably set some rules and, if someone doesn’t follow, chop their heads off?]
“Anything else?”
[Anything else… Uh… They should just live well on their own, right?]
At Shamash’s words, I let out a small sigh.
“See, that’s why that won’t work.”
[What? Why?! If everyone just lives well, what’s the problem? Even if they tussle a bit, I can scold the wrongdoers! Isn’t that enough?]
“It would be nice if world affairs could be sorted that simply.”
If only knocking some heads together was the answer to everything.
“Here’s a challenge for you. If two women are fighting over a baby, each claiming it as their own, what kind of judgment would you make?”
The famous judgment of Solomon. A wise decision based on a mother’s instinct to save her child. It’s not rocket science, but what will Shamash say?
[Huh? Two women and one baby? Uh… Hmm… Does that mean there are two moms? That would be nice, right?]
Two moms…
“That’s not it. One of them is the baby’s real mother, while the other is just the greedy thief. But nobody knows who’s who. What would your verdict be?”
[Uh… So one is the real mom… Hmm…]
Shamash sat there for a while, thinking hard before saying,
[I’d just tell the two women who called upon a god for this silly matter to make like a tree and get lost!]
“Are you serious?”
[I’m not done! First, I’d say that. Then, if it seemed like we really would go through with it, the thief would probably confess to save herself from death, wouldn’t she?]
Uh… um… Why does that actually sound kinda convincing?
[Since I’m the god of law and justice and all, it must be a serious crime, right? Anyway, the thief ends up in jail while the real mom takes the baby home. Doesn’t that work?]
“What if the real mom claims she’s the thief?”
Then where’s the logic in that?
[Then she wouldn’t deserve to be the mommy anymore! She’s willing to give up the baby to save her own skin.]
“Then what if both stubbornly refuse to give up the baby?”
Shamash thought for a bit and slowly replied.
[That would be super tricky. Um… No choice here. Since we can’t tell who’s who, we’d have to chop both heads off. The baby might end up in an orphanage, but sometimes sacrifices must be made.]
Whoa… what a little psycho… Wait, I thought I educated her all those years ago! How did she end up so cold-hearted?
[Well, there are countless humans around. One less won’t even matter. At this point, if they called for me, the god of law and justice, for such a trivial case, they must’ve been prepared to gamble with their lives anyway.]
It’s like a difference between a human king’s view and the god of law and justice, right? Humans and gods live in totally different worlds. Perspective shift… Hmm…
I can’t even tell. Shamash’s logic feels somewhat valid, but I still have a bad feeling about it.
[If not that, then we threaten to split the baby in two, and if neither of them back down, it’s only the innocent baby who gets screwed, right?]
Uh… wait, what? Is this really how it goes?
Now that I think about it, Solomon’s judgment was based on the assumption that the mother had deep love for her child. But what if she’s a total monster? Just the thought makes me shudder.
[Kill the clueless baby, or off both the mother and the thief. It’s one or the other, right? Plus, if we threaten to chop the baby and neither mom folds, the poor kid’s dead anyway…]
“Is it really that straightforward?”
[Yep. Maybe just go for definitely killing the thief, even if we don’t know the real mother. Better to sacrifice an innocent than let a guilty one free.]
Whoa there, that’s a terrifying statement. What happened to the presumption of innocence?
Uh… does a god’s perspective even operate like this? Does she think losing just one of the countless humans is no big deal?
This needs a serious fix. We can’t have a scenario where 100 innocent people buy the farm just to nail one guilty person.
Alright! I’m gonna knock some sense into Shamash. The principle of presumption of innocence is non-negotiable! Even in a time when human rights don’t exist, the god of law and justice can’t think like this!
Oh, maybe it’s because human rights aren’t even a thing in this world that she thinks this way?
The concept of human rights is probably light-years away.
So, it’s not too surprising for Shamash to think like this. Gah…
But this still needs to be corrected. I can’t allow innocent lives to be lost.
[If it’s such a fuzzy issue, wouldn’t it just be easier to create a way to separate lies from truth, Mom? Can you help me out?]
“Huh? A favor?”
[Yeah! When issuing judgments, there are tons of criminals who try to trick me with lies. I wish there was a way to read their minds and spot the fibs!]
Reading minds and spotting lies… Hmm…
That doesn’t seem too hard to pull off.
Sure thing! Now that Shamash has hit the big leagues as the god of law and justice, I guess it’s better to give her tools for easier judgment instead of going round in circles.
But that’s no excuse to let her off the hook!
“Yeah, if such a tool existed, it would definitely make judgments easier.”
[Right? Please, Mom! With that, I could handle human trials all on my own! The world wouldn’t bug you anymore! I could distinguish right from wrong for real!]
“Got it. I’ll figure out how to create something like that.”
Crafting magic to read thoughts and verify them shouldn’t be too hard. I’ve already made magic that connects different bodies and minds… Just need to tweak it to read thoughts temporarily and unidirectionally.
That said…
“Creating that method aside, I absolutely can’t stand the idea of sacrificing innocents to penalize the guilty.”
[Huh? But… there are so many people in this world. If they keep calling me to handle judgements. It’s quicker to just off the guilty and interrogate the unsure; if they confess, we just kill them. And killing a few more won’t really make a dent in the population, anyway.]
“That’s exactly what’s wrong! Instead, you should properly weigh the crimes and leave the minor offenses to humans, while you deal only with serious life-threatening crimes. That way, you’d have much less work!”
[But… then I’d get to watch fewer trials! Watching the trials is way too fun!]
Watching…?
[Shamash. Show yourself before me.]
I summoned Shamash with a voice deep with authority.
Suddenly, a dazzling mass of light started taking shape in front of me. I grabbed that shape with one hand and created an avatar.
And then—boom! A golden-haired young girl appeared before me. It was Shamash, now sporting a human form.
“Uh, Mom?!”
Startled by suddenly materializing into a physical body, I swung a fist packed with power toward the top of Shamash’s head.
Thud!
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
And so, to punish the misguided god of light, the Creator Dragon unleashed its might.
For a brief moment, the world was plunged into darkness.
Thus, an eclipse descended upon the realm.
– An ancient stone tablet inscribed by a Lizardman.