“I… forgot about that,” Selene said.
Kyle just laughed.
“So, no worries, right?” he asked.
“She will kill you!” Theodor shouted. “As soon as you stop being useful, she will kill you! Do not trust her!”
‘Fucking paranoid schizo,’ Kyle thought with annoyance. ‘I mean, he’s the paranoid schizo, but I’m a guy who’s having a voice in his head constantly telling him that everyone is out to get him.’
‘Am I the paranoid schizo?’
“I don’t know,” Selene said with an uncertain voice. “I’ve been taught that everyone with an Aristocrat’s Body is my enemy.”
“Sounds like class warfare,” Kyle said.
“Class warfare?” Selene asked.
“You know, a rich merchant tells his underpaid employees that the other merchant company is hurting their business, and that’s why they are not getting paid well. He says the employees of the other company work for even less money, and that’s why he can’t pay them more.”
“The employees get angry at the other employees, and none of their frustrations are targeted at the actual problematic party, which is their boss.”
“While the employees are busy hating each other, the two owners of the merchant company both get cheap labor.”
“Make the lower class hate the lower class to protect the upper class from the lower class. Class warfare, you know?” Kyle explained.
Selene didn’t seem convinced. “I can see how that can work in this scenario, but people with Aristocrat’s Bodies all come from the most influential and powerful families. They are at the top.”
“But are they, though?” Kyle asked. “What about the kingdom itself? What about the Transcendents that already exist?”
“Do they want more Transcendents to join them?”
Selene wasn’t sure what she should think about this.
She could see how Kyle’s argumentation could make sense, but it also felt too far out there.
The kingdom was keeping the powerful families in check by making them fight each other?
“I got a question,” Kyle said while Selene was still thinking. “We theoretically have four Ether Essences, right?”
“We do,” Selene said.
“Then, what’s stopping the Kingdom from just making four more Transcendents and stomping the Winterfire Kingdom?” Kyle asked.
“That would have devastating consequences in the long term,” Selene said. “With all our Ether Essences gone, we would not be able to produce new Ether Gems and Ether Crystals. Within just a short time, everyone would stop advancing.”
“The long-term growth of the population would stop.”
“Yeah,” Kyle answered, “but wouldn’t we also get even more Ether Essences by conquering the Winterfire Kingdom?”
“Not necessarily,” Selene said. “The Winterfire Kingdom might do the same thing, and no Ether Essences would be left in the world.”
“Or, they wouldn’t,” Kyle said. “Not sure how long such a breakthrough takes, but I don’t think the Winterfire Kingdom can pull out four Transcendents out of their ass within hours.”
Selene shook her head. “There would also be the issue that all the new Ether Essences would be under the control of the few Transcendents, and with no enemies left, they would turn on each other.”
“What?” Kyle asked with skepticism. “Why would they do that?”
“People are like that,” Selene said. “We need an enemy. If we don’t have any enemies, we search for new enemies.”
“You know,” Kyle answered, “I’ve heard that a couple of times before.”
“But I don’t believe it.”
“It seems like the reason and the outcome are switched.”
“Reason and outcome?” Selene asked.
“Yeah, you said people search for enemies, but why are they searching for enemies? I don’t think people just want to have enemies for no reason.”
Kyle remembered how politics on Earth worked.
“Feels more like they’re just greedy,” Kyle said. “It’s not that they want enemies. They want money, power, and status, but there are only limited resources.”
“People don’t want to make enemies. They just want more stuff, and other people have stuff. So, they want to take that stuff.”
Selene raised an eyebrow. “So, they make enemies. Like I’ve just said.”
“Oh, yeah,” Kyle said with a laugh. “Guess I actually made your argument for you.”
Selene just looked at Kyle with an uncertain expression.
“Anyway, who cares?” Kyle asked. “Empires rise and fall. Let’s assume the Skysand Kingdom conquers the world. Literally, what changes?”
“I’ll tell you,” Kyle said. “We are going to have a period of peace and prosperity. Then, some of the Transcendents will band together to take everything from the other Transcendents, and bang, we’ve got another war.”
“Everything returns to how it was, but with different names.”
“How are you so sure?” Selene asked.
“I’m not, but I went through high school,” Kyle said. “Seems like this constantly happens in history.”
“High school?” Selene asked.
“Eh, forget it,” Kyle said. “The important part is that we are not enemies.”
Selene looked at Kyle with furrowed brows.
His words made sense, but it still felt wrong. The main reason for that was that Kyle was so casual.
He was acting like this was not a big deal.
And yet, Selene couldn’t find an argument as to why they should be enemies.
There was actually no reason except for her teachings.
Should she?
It felt like a bad idea to listen to Kyle.
Her family would be against it.
In the end, Selene took a deep breath.
“I’m glad to hear that,” she said, a small smile appearing on her lips.
“Oh, hey! You actually didn’t forget how to smile,” Kyle commented with a smirk.
Selene chuckled a bit. “Sometimes, you have to be serious.”
“No, I don’t,” Kyle said.
“You, as in, the general you. Not you, Kyle,” she said.
“True,” Kyle said.
Selene blinked a couple of times. “That’s…”
Then, she just shook her head a bit. Kyle’s humor was… special.
“So, I guess nothing changes,” she said.
“Yep, nothing changes,” Kyle said. “We’re back to how things were. Sven is part of our team, and we will keep fighting dangerous shit.”
“I wouldn’t want it any other way,” Selene said with a smile.
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